Smuggling Daming

Bracelet'er was also very happy to hear that Zhou Zhong's brother finally remembered to help her prepare a return gift, and said, "That's great, I've been thinking about how to return the gift to Sister Lingyun for the past two days. I forgot about it, but I didn’t expect you to remember it.”

Seeing Biao'er's happy look, Zhou Zhong pinched Biao'er's small nose dotingly and said, "Brother, why did you forget to promise Biao'er? I'm going to buy all the materials this afternoon, and it should be ready soon." Made it, and the process of making this gift is very interesting, then you can watch it with Duoer!"

Duo'er saw her brother and sister talking, so she lay down on the table to play with Zhou Zhong's pen and ink, but when she finally heard her brother mention her name, and then heard the word "gift", she immediately asked Reflexively said: "I know, I know, my brother hid my sister's gift under the bed!"

"Pfft~" Zhou Zhong almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, thinking that children are just unreliable, and it took a little effort, so she forgot about the previous agreement.

"Gift, what gift, brother, what are you doing hiding under the quilt?" Zhuan'er was also very surprised when she heard Duo'er's words, and walked to the bedside to pull Zhou Zhong's messy quilt.

Seeing that Jin Pingmei's manuscript was about to be discovered, Zhou Zhong flew onto the bed, then turned his head and smiled at Bracelet: "There is no gift, don't listen to Duo'er's nonsense!" Zhou Zhong turned his head and stared at it at this point Duo'er, Duo'er also discovered her mistake at this time, so she stuck out her cute little tongue, and ran out to play with Bai Qiu with a smile.

Seeing Zhou Zhong's performance aroused Zhuan'er's curiosity even more, and stepped forward to tear the quilt with Zhou Zhong, insisting on seeing what was hidden under the quilt.Naturally, Zhou Zhong couldn't let her succeed, so he pressed his body firmly against the quilt, and the two of them refused to give in to each other, stalemate for a while.

After all, Zhuo'er is only a 14-year-old girl, and she soon became tired and out of breath, and the strength in her hands became loose. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhou Zhong grabbed Zhuo'er's little hand, and then she walked out and said: "Auntie should have already prepared lunch, let's go eat!"

Although Biao'er was full of reluctance, she really had no strength to struggle at this time, so she had to be dragged out of the yard by Zhou Zhong with her lips pouting, and Zhou Zhong locked the yard for the first time in order to dissuade Biao'er from returning secretly. On it, the result made Zhuan'er even more unhappy.

After lunch, Zhou Zhong and Steward Xu pushed the car out. Originally, one only needed to go to buy some flour, but Zhou Zhong didn't know the location of the grain and oil store. Although Steward Xu knew it, he was old. In addition, Wu Shan was bedridden and recuperated, so he couldn't help Butler Xu. In addition, Zhou Zhong had to prepare materials for making gifts, which he might not be able to carry alone, so the two of them dispatched together.

Soon Zhou Zhong followed Steward Xu to the grain and oil store and bought half a bag of flour. Just this amount of flour cost nearly two cents of silver. If it was replaced by rice of the same weight, it would only cost one-third of the price. From this we can see how expensive the flour in the south is.

In addition to flour, Zhou Zhong also bought a large jar of oil. There are many types of oil in grain and oil stores, including animal oil and vegetable oil. Among them, Zhou Zhong bought the most common and cheapest rapeseed oil in the Yangtze River Valley. It was more than 50 catties, which caused Butler Xu to complain all the time. First, there was still some oil in the house, and second, he also thought that Zhou Zhong bought too much oil, and the family might not be able to eat so much oil for a while.But Zhou Zhong just smiled and didn't explain, he didn't buy these oils for eating.

After buying flour and vegetable oil, Zhou Zhong was a little surprised to find that the grain and oil store also sold alkaline noodles, that is, sodium carbonate.In fact, it is not surprising to think about it. When making pasta, alkaline noodles are originally used, so it is normal for grain and oil stores to also sell alkaline noodles.It just so happened that this saved Zhou Zhong from looking for it again. Unfortunately, alkaline noodles are not used much in making pasta, so the grain and oil store did not buy too much. A total of more than 20 catties of alkaline noodles were all packed by Zhou Zhong. gone.

After putting all the things he bought in the car, Zhou Zhong asked Steward Xu to take him to a place where lime was sold, bought a big bag of quicklime, and returned with a full load.Steward Xu also saw that something was wrong at this time, and asked Zhou Zhong the purpose of selling these things along the way, but Zhou Zhong was mysterious and did not explain.

After returning home, Zhou Zhong pushed the car all the way to his yard. Except for the flour that Butler Xu sent to the kitchen, Zhou Zhong kept everything else. Then he went to the front kitchen to bring a large pot and a few There is a water tank, and there is also a porcelain vase with a thin mouth and a large belly.

Just when Zhou Zhong had just transported these things to his yard, Zhuo'er and Duo'er also ran over. When Zhuo'er saw Zhou Zhongla's things, as well as the oil tanks and limes randomly placed in the yard, he finally I couldn't help asking: "Brother, are these the materials you are going to make as a gift?"

"That's right!" Zhou Zhong put down a big vat, wiped his sweat and said with a smile, "Today, my brother will perform a trick for you. Using these seemingly irrelevant materials, you can create a trick that you can never imagine. Good stuff!"

"Okay, okay~, Duo'er likes to watch tricks the most!" Xiao Duo'er always believed in Zhou Zhong's words, jumped up and clapped her hands and cheered after hearing it.But Bracelet was a little skeptical, she really couldn't think of what good gifts these seemingly ordinary things could make?

Zhou Zhong also saw that Zhuang'er was not convinced, but he didn't explain it either. Facts speak louder than words. When he made something, Zhuang'er would understand that his brother was not bragging.I saw that Zhou Zhong first put the quicklime in the tank, and after pouring in the water, soon the inside began to 'gurgling' and steaming.

Quicklime is actually calcium oxide, which forms calcium hydroxide when water is added.Zhou Zhong waited until the chemical reaction in the tank was completed, then poured the alkaline noodles in, and then stirred gently to allow the calcium hydroxide and sodium carbonate to fully react.Biao'er ran up to help, but Zhou Zhong didn't dare to let Biao'er stir, because the sodium hydroxide produced is also called caustic soda, which is a highly corrosive strong alkali. The belt meat will be corroded.

With the stirring of Zhou Zhong, the reaction in the solution is accelerated again, and the calcium carbonate which is not easy to dissolve in water precipitates, and the above is the sodium hydroxide solution.However, sodium hydroxide easily absorbs carbon dioxide in the air and turns into sodium carbonate, so Zhou Zhong poured the obtained sodium hydroxide solution into a large porcelain bottle, and then plugged it tightly with a lid and cotton cloth. Although this cannot completely prevent carbon dioxide from entering, it will always Much stronger than wide mouth placement.

Seeing Zhou Zhong being so careful with the caustic soda solution, Duo'er, who kept tilting her head and not speaking, finally couldn't help asking, "Brother, what did you put in the bottle, is it good?"

Zhou Zhong burst out laughing and said, "This is called caustic soda solution, and it is extremely poisonous. Let alone drinking it, even if it splashes a little on the skin, it may burn the skin. , so you must not touch Duo'er and Biao'er!"

Hearing what Zhou Zhong said was so terrifying, Zhuo'er was startled at first, and then said worriedly: "Brother, since this caustic soda is so dangerous, don't touch it again, what if you hurt yourself?" ah?"

"It's okay, brother is not a child, and although caustic soda may hurt people, it is a very useful thing. Brother will use this thing to perform tricks for you soon!" Zhou Zhong said nonchalantly.With caustic soda and oil, he was able to make soap in the Ming Dynasty. Zhou Zhong didn't need to say more about the use of soap, and he was the only one who could make it in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Speaking of ancient people washing hands, face and clothes, ordinary people usually use saponins, and there are also merchants who grind saponins into powder and sell them as saponins powder, but the washing performance of saponins is not strong, for example, it is difficult to wash oil stains clean.

In addition to saponins, there are also pancreas made from pig’s pancreas and various spices, but these are expensive and the raw materials are limited, so generally only wealthy people use them when washing their faces and bathing.There is some unused soap in Zhou Zhong's house, it looks black and ugly, but the decontamination ability is really strong, not worse than soap, but unfortunately it is too expensive, a small piece costs more than ten taels Silver is completely a luxury in ancient society.

After preparing the caustic soda solution, Zhou Zhong dug a stove on the ground with a shovel, put a large iron pot on it, and pulled a few bundles of firewood from the kitchen to light it under the stove. The alkali solution and oil were poured in separately, but because there was a lot of oil, Zhou Zhong only poured in a part, and then kept stirring with a stick.

Originally, the caustic soda solution and the oil were separated into two very clear layers, but with heating and stirring around, the oil layer gradually decreased, and finally the oil layer disappeared completely.Seeing this miraculous phenomenon, Zhuo'er and Duo'er both stared wide-eyed, with expressions of disbelief all over their faces, even if they wanted to break their heads, they probably couldn't figure out what happened to the oil in the pot. Will it disappear?

In fact, this kind of saponification reaction is not magical at all, it is nothing more than the chemical reaction between strong alkali and oil, which can be learned in middle school textbooks in later generations, and most people can DIY soap at home.

However, Zhou Zhong did not stop at this time, because he was worried that the caustic soda in the solution had not reacted completely, so he continued to add oil little by little until the added oil no longer disappeared, then he stopped and put the pot Pull out the firewood below and extinguish it.

At this time, Zhou Zhong took out the salt he had just brought from the kitchen, then turned his head to Zhuo Er and Duo Er who were in a daze, and said, "You two girls, pay attention, brother is about to perform a trick!"

Hearing Zhou Zhong's words, Zhuo'er and Duo'er, who had been conquered by Zhou Zhong's series of "miraculous" skills, widened their eyes even more, staring at the steaming "clear soup" in the iron pot without daring to blink. .

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