At this moment, Yang Ruotong opened the several packages she had brought back and took out some clothes and jewelry.
"These clothes and jewelry are for Mother. Please try them on."
Looking at the clothes and jewelry, Li Chun'e was overjoyed. Her family's situation was much better now, but her sons didn't know how to do these things. She rarely left the village, and she either sewed her own clothes or asked the village tailor to make them for her.
So she didn't have any decent clothes herself, and this time her eldest daughter-in-law bought her so many clothes and some jewelry, how could she not be happy?
“These clothes are for Lingling. Her clothes are too small and old, and they should have been replaced a long time ago,” Yang Ruotong said.
“These clothes are so beautiful. I’ve been staying in the village all this time and never go out. Why do I need to buy so many nice clothes? How much money does this cost?” Li Chun’e said this, but she was secretly overjoyed.
"Mother, I also brought some pastries. These pastries are produced by a century-old shop in Qing'an Prefecture. They taste very good. Please try them." Yang Ruotong said as she took out several packets of pastries.
These pastries were wrapped in oil paper and smelled wonderful. Li Chun'e couldn't resist trying one. The taste was indeed good. It was no wonder that these pastries were produced by a century-old shop. They tasted much better than the pastries produced by some pastry shops in the town.
"It's so delicious, I have to save some to take to Grandma later so she can have some too."
“I also bought a few packs for Grandma, and I’ll deliver them to her later. These are for Mom, she’ll keep them for herself.”
As the two were talking, Zhao Lingling and Ouyang Xiaoyu came home from school. As soon as Zhao Lingling saw Yang Ruotong, she immediately ran over to her.
"Sister-in-law, you're back. I missed you so much."
“Sister-in-law misses Lingling too,” Yang Ruotong said.
Ouyang Nan and Ouyang Xiaoyu only stayed in Qing'an Prefecture for one day, so they didn't have a deep impression of Yang Ruotong.
Ouyang Xiaoyu watched as Yang Ruotong picked up Zhao Lingling and they did so affectionately, and she felt very envious.
Only then did Yang Ruotong notice Ouyang Xiaoyu, and picked her up.
Ouyang Xiaoyu is only five years old this year. She is the youngest student in the school. Zhao Lingling takes good care of Ouyang Xiaoyu and does not allow other children to bully her.
"Sister-in-law," Ouyang Xiaoyu called softly.
"Little Yu, look what your sister-in-law bought for you." After saying that, Yang Ruotong put Ouyang Xiaoyu down and took out a few clothes from the package.
"Clothes!" Ouyang Xiaoyu exclaimed with delight. Last time, when she and Ouyang Nan first arrived in Qing'an Prefecture, Yang Ruotong bought them a set of clothes, but they had never been willing to wear them and had been wearing their old clothes ever since.
"Xiaoyu, quickly change your clothes and see if they fit." After saying that, Yang Ruotong helped Ouyang Xiaoyu change her clothes.
The outfit fit perfectly, as if it were tailor-made for Ouyang Xiaoyu. Once she put it on, she was reluctant to take it off.
“It fits perfectly, so wear it like this. I also bought a set for Ouyang Nan, so he can change into it later.”
"Brother has one too, that's great!" Ouyang Xiaoyu said excitedly.
Yang Ruotong stayed in Qing'an Prefecture for a month and had already realized the importance of literacy. Zhao Dani and Liu Xuan went to Qing'an Prefecture at the same time. Since Zhao Dani was illiterate, she could only do some simple things.
But Liu Xuan was different. Not only could she read, but she could also do accounting, so what she did was completely different from what Zhao Dani did.
Some time ago, she learned some characters at home with Zhao Lingling, but that was far from enough. She wanted to continue learning to read with Zhao Lingling. Only by recognizing more characters and understanding accounts could she help her husband and share his burdens.
"Lingling, Xiaoyu, what you learn in school, please teach your sister-in-law when you get back, okay?"
Okay, the two nodded seriously.
Two days later, everything at home returned to normal. Under the management of Qin Shiyu and Qin Yingying, the workshop continued to produce white sugar, pickled vegetables, and liquor. Qin Shiyu kept a close eye on market changes and adjusted the workshop's output accordingly.
The soap-making process was already in place, but some things happened at home recently, so it was delayed. Now it's time to get started.
Once soap is introduced, it will replace soapberry and become a household essential. To ensure that ordinary families can afford it, the price of soap cannot be too high.
The cost of making a bar of soap cannot be determined at present. We need to produce a batch of soap first and then calculate the cost.
Zhao Xian had already decided to use the name "Narcissus" as the brand name for his soap. He first had a carpenter make some molds so that the soaps produced would be exactly the same.
Li Guang was a good calligrapher, so he planned to have Li Guang write the two characters "Narcissus" and engrave them on the mold, so that the soap produced would have the two characters "Narcissus" on it.
With this in mind, he went to the farm, found Li Guang, and explained his purpose. Li Guang immediately took out paper and pen, wrote down two characters, and handed them to Zhao Xian.
Li Guang's calligraphy was indeed excellent; the two characters "Narcissus" were vigorous and powerful, seemingly perfectly formed, prompting Zhao Xian to give him a thumbs up.
"That's great. In the future, when people use soap, they will see the word 'Narcissus' and the brand will soon become a household name."
Zhao Xian's words startled Li Guangda, and his expression immediately changed, as if he had a feeling that a great disaster was about to befall him.
Zhao Xian was still admiring the character and did not notice Li Guang's change.
“Brother Zhao, those two characters you just wrote were just showing off your calligraphy. It’s hard to carve out the strokes of the characters. It wouldn’t look good on soap with characters like that. How about I write two more characters? This kind of font would be more acceptable to the general public.”
"Oh, is that so? Then rewrite two words." After Zhao Xian finished speaking, he handed the paper to Li Guang.
Li Guang took the paper, quickly crumpled it into a ball and threw it away, then picked up his brush and rewrote the two characters "Narcissus".
At this moment, Li Guang was very serious, and every stroke was meticulous. It seemed to lack soul, but after writing the two characters, the overall effect was still very harmonious. It would look good carved on soap.
Zhao Xian was very satisfied. After bidding farewell to Li Guang, he left the farm.
Seeing Zhao Xian leave, Li Guang wiped the sweat from his forehead. He knew he had to be more careful in the future, because if his calligraphy were to be leaked, it was hard to say he wouldn't run into trouble.
Although I wrote the last two characters myself, all the calligraphy practice books sold in the market use this font, so there was no risk to me.
Zhao Xian took the calligraphy written by Li Guang to the carpenter's shop and asked him to make two hundred soap molds for him.
Then he had someone go to town to buy ten catties of pork fat, and rendered all of it into lard, which is the main raw material for making soap and also the part that requires the most input in soap making.
Other raw materials, such as caustic soda, hardener, preservative, and foaming agent, will be purchased by myself through the market trading system.
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