He Xiaoya took off her apron.
Ever since the gosling hatched, she had been cooking around the stove every day, and her apron was stained with a lot of oil that could not be washed clean even with soap beads.
Following Li Yao's instructions, she took a wooden basin, filled it with some hot water, soaked the apron, then smeared some soap on it and slowly kneaded it.
Strangely enough, as some white stuff started to appear, those stubborn oil stains quickly washed off. After rinsing it with warm water again, the apron became clean and looked brand new.
Moreover, the apron washed with soap still retained the unique fragrance of soap, which also smelled very nice.
"Mother, this is too amazing!"
Seeing the apron washed so clean, Li Yao was relieved too.
She knew how soap was made, but actually doing it with her own hands was the first time.
Although it was not perfect, she did succeed in the end.
Next would be to make perfumed soap.
Since there were no whitening or fluorescent agents, she could not directly upgrade the soap. Instead, she needed to use tea seed oil to replace pig oil and remake the soap base.
The soap base made from tea seed oil naturally carried a hint of ivory white.
After the white soap base was ready, Li Yao divided it into two halves. She added honey into one half, which became honey soap.
The dried honey soap presented a pure ivory white color and had a light fragrance of honey. Using it to wash hands and face also provided some moisturizing effects on the skin.
The other half had “rose essential oil” added into it.
Of course, the “rose essential oil” Li Yao used was not authentic rose essential oil. She replaced rose with rose mallow flowers. After steeping the flowers in tea seed oil for a month, she obtained the essential oil.
Since all pigments from the petals went into the oil, the essential oil was reddish. When added into the ivory white soap base and cooled, it presented a pinkish color and had a light scent of rose mallows.
Although the color was a little light without direct colorants, it was natural and harmless to skin.
After the two soaps were molded, He Xiaoya almost felt her heart melting.
My mother, how could you make such amazing things with your clever hands and mind?
"Try both and see."
"Alright!"
He Xiaoya quickly fetched some hot water, and the mother and daughter each took a bar of soap and started washing their faces.
In the almost two months since coming to this world, this was the first time Li Yao felt an extreme cleanliness on her face. It was as if all pores were thoroughly cleansed and greedily breathing in the fresh air.
If she could apply some moisturizing cream now... But that had to wait, as she didn't have the means to extract glycerin yet.
"Mother, it feels so good. I've never felt my face this clean before!"
He Xiaoya also experienced this refreshing feeling for the first time. She excitedly rubbed her little face over and over.
"If it works well, go call Da Zhuang and the rest. Today everyone must wash themselves squeaky clean before going to bed."
The kids were all called over. As wife and sister-in-law, He Xiaoya first taught them how to use the soap to wash their faces, then washed everyone's hair one by one.
Under Da Zhuang's lead, the four brothers even took a bath.
When everyone came out, they were all fragrant. Their faces, necks, hands...had no trace of dirt anymore, and looked much more pleasing to the eye than before.
Especially He Xiaoya. Her skin was good to begin with, and after washing up snow white, she was like an exquisite porcelain doll.
After the children were asleep, Li Yao also thoroughly washed herself.
But after a few days of not seeing herself, she found her figure seemed a bit more full, and secretly decided to double her training tomorrow.
In the next few days, Li Yao and He Xiaoya kept making soap and perfumed soap. Through constant adjustments, they finally determined the most precise ratios.
Now the soap and perfumed soap she made had achieved the ideal hardness and fragrance.
After making the soaps, Li Yao did not rush to take them to the boutique shop for sale.
For a product to sell at a high price, it needed not only high quality, but also exquisite packaging.
It was too late now to make ceramic or wooden boxes. In the end, Li Yao had Da Zhuang buy some xuan paper.
Unlike the words on the soap, the words on the packaging had to be written beautifully. But Li Yao did not know any calligraphy masters, so she could only set her sights on Tutor Lv.
She had seen that Tutor Lv's handwriting was truly excellent.
With the cut xuan paper in hand, Li Yao went to the bamboo shed where Tutor Lv stayed and asked if he could write the words on the packaging. Tutor Lv was delighted to agree.
"Do you want flowing style, formal style, or ancient style?"
Li Yao: "..."
Why did it feel like listening to Mr. Kong boast about the many ways to write the character for fennel?
"No need. Just write in regular script."
Tutor Lv was surprised to hear this and asked, "What is regular script?"
Only then did Li Yao suddenly realize that regular script did not exist in this world yet. But the words were already out and could not be taken back, so she had to gloss over it.
"Um... just horizontal and vertical strokes."
As she spoke, she picked up a brush and wrote the characters for "River Bend Li Family" in regular script on the paper.
Though not a professional calligrapher, the strokes were upright and square, with some imposing feel.
After seeing it, Tutor Lv's eyes opened wide in shock. In his decades of reading, he had never seen such writing. Yet this kind of writing looked surprisingly comfortable, and even gave off an upright and dignified aura.
"Good writing, such good writing!" Tutor Lv praised. "Mrs. Li, who taught you this?"
"Uh... I came up with it myself in my spare time."
Tutor Lv: "......You...you know how to write?"
"A little," Li Yao said. "Haven't I been listening in on your lessons with Wang Er? I memorized some of it. And I practice writing in my free time."
Tutor Lv looked at Li Yao in disbelief, at a loss for words.
Just listening casually and she could remember it, even coming up with a whole new writing style herself. If Li Yao were a man, the top scholar title would surely be hers!
But like mother, like son. Wang Er was also very bright, and would definitely become the top scholar in the future.
Thinking that he might have a top scholar student in a few years, Tutor Lv was energized. He picked up his brush and started writing.
In half an afternoon, he finished writing all the hundred-odd packaging papers.
Moreover, he increasingly felt that the writing style Li Yao came up with seemed better than clerical script for writing and looked more comfortable to the eye. He decided to practice it well and improve on it in the future.
When Wang Er became the top scholar, he would use this style of writing for the exam, surely astonishing all the examiners.