Chapter 150

150. Chapter 150: Soap Better Than Bath Beans

After the beam of the new house was raised, it was time to cover it with tiles. As the tiles were covered one by one, it gradually began to look like a home.

The Jiang family hired thirty workers, plus the manpower brought by Master Zheng, a total of more than forty people. Covering tiles certainly didn't need so many people.

Thus, Jiang Wei led a group of people to start repairing the ground of the courtyard.

The new house built at home used blue bricks, and the courtyard wall used bricks, so the courtyard couldn't be too shabby. It had to be paved with something, otherwise, the mud ground would be splashed with mud everywhere when it rained, which was dirty and messy.

The footprint of the Jiang family's new house was nearly three or four hundred square meters, and the courtyard was also circled very large. Paving the ground with floor tiles was not a small expense.

But Jiang Wei didn't want to use the cheapest floor tiles paved on the streets of the town to fool around. She took out another sum of money and personally led people to the brick kiln in town to pick the floor tiles to be paved at home.

She chose two types of bricks in total. One was blue stone slabs paved in the courtyard, which were not expensive, one foot long and wide, three wen a piece. The other was floor tiles specially paved in the house, two feet long and two feet wide, six wen a piece.

This cost a lot of money again. Jiang Xiaoxiao saw the several large carts of floor tiles that her mother called people to transport home, and couldn't help but feel heartache.

How much money did this cost...

Moreover, this was too ostentatious. Every household in the village had mud ground, and even the Village Chief, whose family was slightly better off, only simply paved a few coarse bricks in the courtyard.

However, hearing that the Cao family in Yong'an Town paved everything with boutique bricks from the county kiln, which cost more than ten wen a piece, she felt balanced again in her heart.

Jiang Xiaoxiao scanned her family's gradually taking shape new house. It was a classical two-story Chinese-style courtyard, with a courtyard and main room. In addition to the traditional main rooms, upper rooms, east and west side rooms, and ear rooms, there were also a kitchen, firewood room, latrine, and bathhouse, etc. The layout was large and practical, and it also looked very atmospheric and high-end.

As for the layout of the second floor, it was much simpler, two bedrooms plus a study, and the rest was the balcony.

Now the family's books, paper, and brushes could be said to be very numerous. Once there was a study, these books, paper, and brushes would have a place to be stored. In the future, reading and learning could also be done in the study. When tired of reading, one could go to the balcony outside to relax and move around, breathe fresh air, and when it was cold in winter, one could move a lounge chair to the balcony to bask in the sun and rest. Just thinking about it was very comfortable.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at the new house that was about to be completed, feeling very satisfied in her heart, and felt that her family's life was getting better and better.

This day, the new house was completed, and her soap was also ready.

The soap in the bamboo tubes had solidified and set. Jiang Xiaoxiao carefully opened them and cut the soap into small pieces with a kitchen knife.

She drew a basin of water to the worker's site and smiled: "Everyone has been busy and tired, come and wash your hands quickly, and then eat."

"Xiaoxiao is really sensible. Being so young, not only helping the family with work, but also drawing water for us rough men to wash our hands. If my youngest son was half as obedient and sensible as you, it would be great..." Master Zheng was the first to stand out, bent down and was about to wash it casually, but Jiang Xiaoxiao handed over a square thing.

"Master Zheng, use this to wash your hands."

"What is this?"

"Soap." Jiang Xiaoxiao said, while simply demonstrating how to use this thing, "Master Zheng, you first wet your hands, and then apply the soap to your hands to wash them clean..."

Master Zheng followed Jiang Xiaoxiao's instructions and first put his hands into the water basin to wet them, then took the soap. He smelled it, it had a faint milky fragrance, and it was slippery in his hand.

He applied it a little, and a layer of fine white foam appeared on his palm. He rubbed it a little more, and the mud and dirt on his hands were easily rubbed off.

"Hey, why is this the same as the bath beans in the capital?" The disciple who followed Master Zheng had seen the world and saw at a glance that this square thing was the same as the bath beans used by the rich families in the capital.

Master Zheng was also full of surprise. He rubbed the foam all over his hands, hurriedly put his hands into the water basin, rubbed and washed them twice, and then took them out. His hands became clean!

"This thing called soap is even better to use than the bath beans sold in the capital." Master Zheng happily touched his hands. He had also used bath beans when he was in the capital, but it was not as clean as this thing called soap!

Moreover, after washing hands with soap, the skin was moist and very refreshing, without the tightness and dryness after using bath beans at all.

"Really?" A group of farmers was also seeing soap for the first time, and they all gathered around to wash their hands with soap.

They had been doing rough work all year round, and their hands were not only dirty but also dark and rough. Usually, they used rice washing water or plant ash water to wash them, which was not so clean. Now, after washing with soap, even the black mud stains accumulated in the fingernail seams for years were washed away a lot!

"Oh my god, Xiaoxiao, where did you get this thing called soap?" Even Qiulian Niang couldn't help but praise it again and again after washing her hands with soap. "I feel that my hands have become a little whiter after washing, very moist and smooth. If I use this thing to wash my hands every day, wouldn't my hands become white and moist!"

Qiulian Niang did embroidery work. Because she often came into contact with embroidery thread and cloth, she was very sensitive to the skin and touch of her hands, and immediately discovered the difference of soap.

Jiang Xiaoxiao smiled: "Since Auntie Qiulian likes it so much, then I will give this piece of soap to you."

This piece of soap was added with goat milk, which had a better moisturizing effect than ordinary soap with nothing added. Qiulian Niang had been doing rough work all year round, and her skin was a bit rough. If she often used this soap to wash her hands and moisturize, her skin would slowly get better, which would be of great benefit to doing embroidery work.

"This can't be done, this thing looks very expensive." Qiulian Niang hurriedly pushed the soap back into Jiang Xiaoxiao's hand.

Just now Master Zheng said that this thing was better to use than the bath beans sold in the capital. Although she didn't know how much it was worth, it was definitely not cheaper than bath beans.

"It's not worth much money, it was all fiddled and made by Xiaoxiao herself. If you like it, just take it and use it." Jiang Wei walked up, facing the crowd, preparing to promote it for her daughter. "The decontamination ability of this soap is very strong. Not only can it be used to wash hands and face, but it can also be used to wash clothes..."

"What? This thing called soap was made by Xiaoxiao?!"

When everyone heard Jiang Wei's words, they suddenly exploded.

"Oh my god! Xiaoxiao, how did you make such an easy-to-use thing?!"

"Xiaoxiao, you are too amazing, worthy of being someone who is literate and has read books!"

"Sigh, if my daughter was half as amazing as you..."

Everyone couldn't stop praising. Master Zheng's little disciples gathered around Jiang Xiaoxiao in a swarm, chirping and asking questions, and some even directly proposed to buy soap.

"Xiaoxiao, can you sell me some of the soap you made?" (End of chapter)