No one can disturb my retirement life in the Red Mansion

Chapter 1008: Start Again

"Mother, are you still awake?" Sun Shangxiang came in with hot water. The doctor asked her to soak her feet in warm water every day to help the body relax and get rid of the erysipelas. Sun Shangxiang cared about this the most and followed it strictly every day.

"Well, I'll wait for you." Could Ou Mengmeng say that she was still thinking about the formula of the paper medicine? Or should she redo the formula of the paper medicine? She quickly put down her pen, sat down, and waited for her feet to be soaked.

The maid came over and helped her take off her shoes and socks. Ou Mengmeng felt that she had been corrupted now, and she could take it easy when the maid helped her with this. Every time this happened, she felt that she had returned to the age of Jia's mother. Obviously, Wu Guotai was not even fifty years old at this time, and was younger than her.

Looking down at her feet, they are indeed feet that have never suffered. They are fleshy, not too big or too small, white and tender. In such a chaotic world, feet can represent life. Her feet that are pampered are probably rare. Think about the wives of Liu Bei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. They really followed him to the grave. So, in comparison, Wu Guotai's life is actually good. She has been protected by others for more than 40 years.

"Mother, don't think about it. There will always be a way out. Look, your daughter, there is no problem with general writing." Seeing that her mother was distracted again, Sun Shangxiang thought she was still thinking about papermaking, so she hurriedly comforted her.

"No, I was thinking that I'm pretty lucky in this life. My elder sister has taken care of me all my life, and I never had to work hard. Now I'm being pretentious." Ou Mengmeng smiled.

"It's all because of my daughter and fifth brother that you have to suffer." Sun Shangxiang was a little bitter. If it weren't for her and her fifth brother, her mother could have lived a comfortable life.

"You're talking nonsense again!" Ou Mengmeng laughed, but didn't say anything else. If it weren't for them, Wu Guotai would have died long ago. Others thought she was heartless, but looking through her memories, she had a lot of resentment in her heart. If it weren't for her children, if it weren't for her children, she wouldn't pretend to be so heartless! And after she took over Wu Guotai's body, wasn't her first thought to make arrangements for her two children? If it weren't for these two, Wu Guotai wouldn't have such a good character.

He looked up and thought about it, then returned to the topic, "You said that Cai Hou added hemp and grass to the paper pulp. Was it because the bark fibers were not long enough? He looked at the fishing net as useless, but the fishing net was made of hemp, which is very resilient."

"Didn't you use a hemp net when wrapping the bamboo? So when you crushed it at the end, the hemp was actually still there." Sun Shangxiang also started to think about it, and she knew that her mother would never give up papermaking.

"Maybe it's because the amount is not enough. Also, the two fibers are different, so the processing methods are actually different." Ou Mengmeng squinted her eyes, wondering whether to add hemp. Rice straw is a war reserve material, and it is strictly managed.

"I think it's because the fibers are not soft enough. Even if the bamboo we use now is still young, it's still too hard. That's probably why our paper is so brittle. I heard that many papermaking workshops have to steam and boil the paper. They steam and boil the bark, so should we do that as well?" Sun Shangxiang said hurriedly. She had been doing this with her mother and was now considered a semi-expert. She had also visited other papermaking workshops and although their paper was not as white and translucent as theirs, it was indeed softer.

"You have some truth in what you said." Ou Mengmeng smiled. She had refused to follow the steps strictly, which made the old people cry and think that she had betrayed her ancestors. Ou Mengmeng ignored them. But her daughter said so, so of course she would not refuse her daughter's wishes, although she could not explain to them what softeners and pectin removal were.

"Then let's try it again in the mansion tomorrow? Use your method and steam it again. Also use my method and try adding some sesame ingredients." Ou Mengmeng said with a smile.

Sun Shangxiang nodded with a smile. She knew that the old lady had set up a room in the backyard to do experiments, and there was an experienced person helping her. They were all very small and would not take too long at a time. The next day, Jiang came with the finished rubbings. She was actually very happy because she felt that her husband had at least proved that there was no problem with the mother-in-law's paper. It just couldn't be rubbed.

Ou Mengmeng and the others took a look at the paper. It had been left there all night due to the high tide in the south, so the paper became damp. When they took it out, the writing looked a little blurry.

"So, there are still some issues with water absorption. It's not just the problem of being brittle." Ou Mengmeng looked at the pictures one by one and nodded to her daughter-in-law, "Well done, how did you think of rubbing?"

"It was Master Wu who heard that you wanted to use this paper for printing. We didn't know what printing was, but Master Wu was smart. He guessed that it might be the same as rubbing, so he asked someone to make a rubbing of a stele in our backyard. By the way, Master Wu said that it was not easy to make paper like this, so you don't have to worry, and said, if there is no way with the paper, we can find a way with the ink. Look, this is the seal that Master Wu stamped before, isn't it very good! Not blurry, not damp. We just need to make the ink the same as the ink pad, and we'll be done with it." Jiang hurriedly found the stamped one, the bright red mark was unusually vivid.

"Xiang'er, what do you think?" Ou Mengmeng looked at the seal and smiled. Woodblock printing, and later movable type printing, actually evolved from seals.

"Fifth brother is so smart that he can even think of making something out of ink. He really is worthy of being your son." Sun Shangxiang said with a smile.

"It's not impossible to use paper. We should be able to do better." Ou Mengmeng nodded and put down the paper. "Xiang'er and I are doing the experiment again. Go change your clothes and we'll start over."

Jiang's face froze, and she thought deeply, okay, this is my mother-in-law. This is my real mother-in-law!

I followed the maid to change Sun Shangxiang's clothes, and then returned to the backyard. The old lady and Sun Shangxiang were chopping bamboo. Well, it was Sun Shangxiang and her maid who were breaking and peeling the bamboo, and the old lady was burning the ash.

Jiang was terrified. Was the old lady going to do it herself? She was giving the employees a day off so they could do the experiment at home? Fortunately, she had managed a workshop before and was considered a semi-experienced worker. After looking at their division of labor, she asked the old lady about it and asked an experienced worker to prepare the lime and hemp.

Ou Mengmeng has actually been thinking about this for more than a day or two. Today, she brought Jiang and Sun Shangxiang with her. In addition to asking Sun Shangxiang to add the steaming method she wanted, she also asked her to add the hemp fiber process she wanted.

In fact, as I said before, she has almost changed the ancient method. Before, she put the retting, soaking, steaming, washing and so on in the caustic soda pool to complete it all at once. Because if we follow the previous method, it will take at least three months to complete papermaking. Because it takes several months at a time, and we have so many processes, and Ou Mengmeng herself does not believe it. Many of them are ancient secret recipes. If there are not more processes, how can they appear high-end?
Jiang worked with an experienced worker to process the hemp silk. She had never done this herself, but she was familiar with it and working with the experienced worker made her do it very handy. Perhaps due to time constraints, what she brought back was ready-made hemp silk, and she followed the method of making Cai Hou paper step by step.

The hemp was brought back from the hemp rope shop. It was already degreased and very dry. They cleaned it again and then hammered it in the stone mortar. She knew the degree of hammering. The wooden hammer on the stone mortar was also stepped on by foot. Jiang thought it was good this way. Everyone didn't talk much and did their own thing. Her heart slowly settled down.

I was reflecting on this. I was clearly writing about the Three Kingdoms, why was I writing about papermaking? Don't worry, don't worry, I'm adjusting.