Chapter 242: Lost the Pants and Lost the Person

I have a headache.

I really have a headache.

But even with a headache, I still have to coax them.

Du Shanü racked her brains, finally came up with a plan, and lowered her voice to say:

"Your hanging method definitely won't work—how about this: after Afang finishes packing and comes out, we'll both pounce, one on the left, one on the right, each grabbing one of Afang's legs......"

Chinu raised her eyebrows and gave a seductive glance:

"Wife Master, your idea isn't much better than mine!"

One hangs herself, the other clutches her legs and cries......

At most they're just fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps!

Who would have thought that upon hearing this, Du Shanü firmly shook her head:

"No, no, certainly not."

"We each grab one of Afang's legs; if Afang still wants to walk…… we'll pull off his pants!"

Chinu: "......?"

Chen Weifang, who had been listening intently from the side room, exclaimed: "......?!"

Du Shanü patted her chest and assured:

"Don't worry, I've figured it all out!"

"Afang is so concerned about saving face; as long as we grab his pants, he'll definitely have to guard them, leaving him no hands to hold onto valuables—so whether Afang walks away or not will be up to us, right?"

Brilliant plan!

Indeed a brilliant plan!

Du Shanü exchanged a glance with her obedient slave, then immediately began to chuckle softly.

And then......

"Ouch!"

"...... Ouch!"

As footsteps suddenly approached, a red mark immediately appeared on each of their foreheads.

Chen Weifang was clearly furious, unable to maintain her usual calm, elegant scholar demeanor.

Chen Weifang endured the throbbing vein on her forehead and withdrew her hand:

"I'm always cleaning up the messes you two troublemakers make, and now you actually want to pull off my pants?!"

He has hardly known anyone in the south.

Now it's fine—one Chinu, one Wise Lord......

Perhaps we should also count the spring encounter in Cang Cheng.

Three people, and they all actually want to pull off his pants!

Who would believe it if spoken aloud!

Just thinking about it makes one's blood surge!

Chen Weifang saw spots from anger, while Du Shanü nimbly sprang up from the ground, laughing:

"Afang finally deigns to pay attention to us?"

Chinu just smiled without speaking, and also swiftly got up, supporting Afang who might faint from anger at any moment.

Even if Chen Weifang were foolish, she now knows this is a play the two are putting on for her, and she instantly feels both annoyed and amused.

He refused to speak further, so Du Shanü glanced toward the inner room along the path he had come, and then burst out laughing:

"Oh dear! Afang kept tidying up, but only ended up tidying one outer robe…… Don't raise your hand, Afang! Wrong, wrong—I won't joke anymore!"

Chen Weifang withdrew the impending 'Five Finger Mountain' that was about to suppress the Wise Lord, her chest rising and falling a few times, but in the end she did not continue to dwell on the matter.

Perhaps because they happened to be in the study, Chen Weifang looked around a moment, then walked a few steps toward the desk, and casually took out a wooden box to hand to Du Shanü.

Du Shanü took it, opened it with a tap, and suddenly discovered it was a box full of assorted hairpins.

(Below are four diagrams of hairpin shapes)

Du Shanü is not foolish, so she naturally wouldn't think Chen Weifang gave her the hairpin because of any affection.

But in a moment, she figured out the source of these hairpins:

"These are...... tin hairpins?"

Just as many people in Du Shanü's past life liked to wear gold-plated copper ornaments.

If one says copper is seen as a gold substitute because of its similar color, that's not right—or rather, it's a counterfeit.

Then tin is a natural counterfeit of silver.

Many people think, 'Commoners can't get gold, but getting silver is still easy,' right?

But actually, this idea is wrong.

The most widely circulated coin among the common folk is actually copper cash.

Only rarely can one obtain some small bits of silver.

Even if one gets those small silver bits, since they're easier to hide than copper cash and convenient for stashing away valuables, many families wouldn't readily bring them out.

Thus, making hairpins or other ornaments from pure silver becomes a luxury even in ordinary rural households.

Silver itself is scarce; a hairpin that wants to look even slightly nice must weigh at least one or two taels of silver, not to mention the silversmith's fee.

Unless the family is relatively well-off, which woman who works in the fields would be willing to wear such valuable property on her head, and what if she lost it?

Thus, tin hairpins, or silver-plated tin hairpins, came into being.

The ancients weren't foolish; they early on discovered that both are silver-colored, belong to the metal category, are soft, and can be made into ornaments.

But because tin is more abundant than silver and not used as circulating silver money, its price has long been only one-fifteenth that of silver, and in years of high output it occasionally drops to one-twentieth of silver's price.

This item is much cheaper than silver, and it also gives many women the right to pursue beauty.

In the past, many women might only get a few pieces of silverware as dowry when discussing marriage, but with tin-made jewelry they no longer need to wait for someone to buy it for them—they can own it themselves.

Chen Weifang chose to craft tin hairpins, clearly targeting this group's demand, pursuing high volume with low profit......

Truly worthy of Afang!

Du Shanü was indeed very delighted, but after that surge of excitement passed, looking at those tin hairpins in her hands, she felt a bit regretful:

"...... Silver oxidizes and turns black very easily; tin is even more prone to do so than silver."

"I only rubbed them for a while, got sweat on them, and they started to yellow and blacken—can they really sell well?"

Others, of course, don't know what oxidation and blackening means.

Chen Weifang saw Du Shanü examining those hairpins; her mind had just relaxed a little, but hearing this she shook her head and remained silent.

Chinu came up in time and let out a soft hum:

"I was also planning to discuss this with the Wife Master, but who would have thought the Wife Master would be gone for half a month!"

Half a month!

Half a month!

It made him guard an empty room for a full half month!

Nunu felt resentful, her eyes full of complaint and sorrow.

Du Shanü dared not respond, gritted her teeth and forced herself, actually managing to force out several ideas:

"Rubbing with white vinegar and fine salt can remove oxidation, but nowadays white vinegar and fine salt are far more expensive than tin hairpins—it's not worth it."

"If there is hot chicken, duck, or goose meat broth at home, the broth's fats and organic acids can also dissolve the tin surface's sulfide black spots...... but that too is expensive."

"Soapberry also has some effect; crush soapberry, boil water, warm-soak and wipe to remove some blackening, but it only works on oil stains, not on blackening caused by sweat."

Du Shanü pondered repeatedly, and her mutterings increased a bit.

However, the two people beside her were not as anxious as she was, feeling as if the Wife Master/Wise Lord, having taken charge, would surely find a solution.

Du Shanü indeed felt some pressure, but precisely because of that, it truly sparked her inspiration, and she recalled a method seen in an ancient text.

This ancient work is titled 《Night Voyage Boat》, written by the late Ming–early Qing writer and historian Zhang Dai; it is indeed an encyclopedic book.

It once recorded——

"One can try using a mixture of firewood ash and horsetail grass, boiled with water to make a concentrated ash water."

Du Shanü stroked her chin:

"Horsetail grass is almost everywhere in the south; one only needs to brew the concentrated ash water, repeatedly gently rub the black spots on tinware, rinse with clean water, dry with a soft cloth, and after washing it becomes bright white as new."

"Thus, this cannot keep tinware bright white for long; after washing, if it gets sweat or dirt, it will still blacken, but the advantage is that this liquid can be used more than once, its cost is nearly zero, making it extremely suitable for batch-cleaning blackened tin hairpins."

"We could totally open a shop selling tin ornaments, and launch a gimmick like...... 'Buy one item, enjoy free cleaning for life.'"

?? 《Night Voyage Boat》 indeed exists~

? The book's name comes from the night-travel boat, a means of transport in the Jiangnan water towns—a boat that carries passengers and cargo at night in the Jiangnan region, symbolizing the arduous long journeys of southern water towns. During the slow voyage, passengers often sit and chat to pass the time; the travelers include scholars, wealthy merchants, officials taking up posts, and people visiting relatives—all sorts of people, with conversations covering everything. This book covers twenty major categories and 125 subcategories of knowledge, including astronomy, geography, the three teachings and nine schools, the hundred schools of thought, human relations and state affairs, ritual music and imperial examinations, flora, and ghosts and monsters.

? Those interested can look it up themselves; from now on I won't repeat it~