When Li Jian came back, Li Hao had already used carbon powder to absorb impurities in the oil. Although the oil at this time is not as translucent as normal oil, it doesn't look like a big problem.
So he took the plant ash that Li Jian had given him, and added another tank of water, threw the plant ash in, boiled it, and stirred it. Of course, Li Jian was in charge of the stirring, and Li Hao was on hand to provide guidance. After stirring for a while, sift out the impurities floating on the surface, then wait for the impurities to settle, and then remove the clean alkaline water.
Then put the pot back in to heat some of the alkaline water, pour the oil to remove impurities into the pot, and then ask Li Jian to start stirring thoroughly. At high temperatures, a saponification reaction occurs between alkali and oil, causing the oil to slowly condense into a viscous solution. When you see that there is still grease floating around, add alkaline water little by little and repeat several times until all the grease disappears.
At this time, there is only a translucent solution left in the pot, and salt particles are added to the pot to carry out the salting out reaction. At this time, the light yellow precipitate begins to slowly float to the top of the solution. At this time, the temperature is slowly lowered and the precipitate is solidified. Then it is shoveled down and placed in a prepared wooden box, pressed into square blocks, and then released one by one and slowly waited. Dry in shade.
Looking at the formed soap, Li Hao felt proud. He felt that he could really change history and use technology to change his destiny.
While Li Hao was still so proud, Li Jian was already really tired. After all, it took more than an hour just to keep stirring. If it wasn't so important as Li Hao said earlier, he would be afraid of missing something. He had long wanted to ask Li Hao what he was doing and if he could stop. Mrs. Wei next to her felt sorry for her husband when she saw him. She quickly brought a bowl of water and handed it to Li Jian to drink and asked him to sit down and rest. Then he pointed to the soap on the ground and asked Li Hao: "What are you doing? You use carbon, flour, and salt."
In fact, when she was just making it, Mrs. Wei wanted to stop when she saw Li Hao throwing flour and salt into the pot. This was a wasteful behavior. I just saw that it was rare for a child to do something so seriously, so I resisted asking until now, but I also made up my mind. If this little thing is unreliable, I won't listen to Li Hao next time.
However, Li Hao didn't pay attention to anything else at this time. He just stared at the soap that was gradually drying, like looking at a sparkling gold ingot. But he still replied: "Mom, don't you usually use soap locust for laundry? Isn't it difficult to clean the dirty things on the clothes? It's different with this soap. You have to wet the soap and rub it up twice, and then Just rub it gently and the dirt on your clothes will be cleansed. It is a hundred times more effective than soap locust."
After hearing this, Mr. Wei looked unbelieving and said, "It's really so good, and you've never used it. How do you know? And where did you learn this thing? Did you read it from a book?"
Li Hao said: "Of course, a scholar can know the affairs of the world without going out." After speaking, he raised his head arrogantly. Then he continued: "After it dries, mother will know by trying it directly. When we go to the city, we can bring the soap with us and sell it in the market first. As long as we build a reputation in the front, the sales will naturally follow. No problem. No matter whether we make and sell it ourselves or cooperate with others to sell it, as long as we grasp the formula, we will be rich for generations. And it is not only soap for washing clothes, but also soap for cleaning the body. If you can do it, it will be an inheritance that can be passed down forever.”
After hearing this, Mrs. Wei muttered: "It's a good saying that a scholar can know the affairs of the world without going out. I haven't heard anyone say it before. Maybe you just read it from the book."
After hearing this, Li Hao felt helpless and said, "Mother, have you misunderstood the point? The point is that everything here is money."
At this time, Mrs. Wei said with sincerity: "Since you have the ability to study and manage the world, you rely on fame and knowledge to settle down a family. Although our family is poor, we have never starved you or frozen you. You You can’t put your mind on the skills of money merchants, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, and simple merchants are just humble businesses after all. If you can really be named in the gold medal one day, then you will be the lintel of your family, and you will be the real family fortune, do you understand."
After hearing this, Li Hao actually didn't take it seriously, because he knew that whether he was taking the imperial examination or doing business, he just wanted to live a comfortable life. So the imperial examination or doing business are just means after all. Now because the imperial examination can bring better prospects, he will naturally work hard. But if there is a merchant's trick that can make his life better, he will naturally do it. Of course, he won't argue with the Wei family. After all, this is an era when everything is low-grade and only high-quality students are educated.
So she pretended to be educated, and Mrs. Wei didn't say anything when she saw this.
After waiting for almost an hour, all the soap was basically dry. Li Hao felt that there was no problem with his hands, so he got up and got some clothes, put them on the ground and stepped on them a few times, and then specially rubbed his wet shoes on the clothes a few times. Then he brought the dirty clothes to Wei and asked Wei to try washing them with soap.
Wei took the clothes with suspicion, filled a wooden basin with some water, and then put the clothes in. Then I picked up the soap and rubbed it upwards. When I rubbed it gently, I saw a lot of white bubbles popping up. I put it in water and rubbed it again, and the stain was gone. This shocked Mrs. Wei. She had never thought that this soap would be so useful. Immediately I understood why my son said it was a huge wealth. If there was soap in the future, who would be willing to use soap locust.
Wei immediately began to calculate the cost of this in his mind. If he really wanted to do it later, he would definitely not have to use oil, he would still have to buy oil. Nowadays, one kilogram of oil costs 120 yuan. According to the large pot of oil just now, which is about 5 kilograms, 260 bars of soap were made. If other costs are added, even if the cost is 800 pennies, if each bar of soap sells for 10 pennies. That's equivalent to a cost of 3 cents, and each bar of soap can earn 7 cents. Moreover, since this thing is often used, it must be sold in large quantities. Thinking about it, Mrs. Wei couldn't help but laugh.
Li Jian also came over curiously, took the soap from Wei's hand, and tried it too. Then after trying it on, I took it in my hand and looked through it. I saw that I had made it step by step, from oil to what it is now, and my face was full of doubts.
At this time, Mrs. Wei saw it and reached out to take it. Said: "Don't waste things, we will put them away later. One day you can go to the county town with a few pieces and try selling them." At this time, Wei thought for a while and asked Li Hao: "What do you think of this soap?" How to price appropriately.”
Li Hao had roughly made the calculation at this time and said: "I roughly estimated that the cost of the raw materials is roughly 3 cents, but the labor cost must also be considered. The initial quantity of this thing is small, so my father can make it himself. But if If you want to do it in large quantities, you will have to recruit people, and the labor costs will have to be paid at that time. In addition, you can't just set up stalls to sell. If you really want to do it, you will have to rent shops in the city. All of these will have to be taken into consideration. So the price cannot be set too low, otherwise it will always be troublesome to raise the price later.”
Of course, there is another reason. The family's soap business can only be sold in Yangzhou city at most. Since he wants to take the imperial examination, he naturally cannot take care of the business personally, and his parents have not been exposed to this since childhood. If you want to grow bigger, you must cooperate with others. It is easier to set a higher price and give people a profit share later. You can't let people know the cost all at once, so how can you make money?
Li Hao thought for a while and said: "After all, soap belongs to people from middle-class families and above. If the family is not rich, even if the soap is good, they probably won't change it. As for the price, why not order it for 20 yuan a piece, and just press Calculated as two yuan a month. For a middle-class family, as long as it is easy to use and spends an extra 40 yuan a month, they probably don’t care. When he goes back to the market next time, my father can bring the cloth and try it out for himself. Show it to others, let others see the effect, and then people will naturally buy it. As long as the reputation spreads, and you find some people to sell it on the streets, you will naturally have no worries about not being able to sell it."
Li Hao suddenly thought about it and said: "By the way, we can also make a special mold and mark it, so that each piece of soap can have our special mark, so that everyone knows that this soap is What we do as a family can only be done by us. As long as more people know about it, our reputation will be greater, and there will be no shortage of business in the future. But it is best to find someone to cooperate with us, because we don’t have the manpower. , if we sell too much, it will be difficult to find production and sales manpower. Secondly, if we do it ourselves, no matter how good it is, it will be difficult to sell it in Yangzhou. Rather than letting others make the money, it is better to find someone we can trust. People cooperate and make money together. As long as we keep the alkaline water and salt water in the formula secret, and we configure it every time and give as much as needed, there will be no problem in terms of safety."
After hearing this, Wei and Li Jian looked at each other in confusion, as if they didn't recognize Li Hao. The two looked at each other. Wei said: "How did you come up with these things? You should have never been exposed to the ways of doing business."
Li Hao felt a thump in his heart at this moment and said quickly: "These principles are all in books. Tao Zhugong's Business Training and Guiguzi's Seven Strategies of Jiran actually talked about these things. I just accidentally saw them and wrote them down."
After hearing this, Mrs. Wei was confused, but she didn't say anything. She just asked Li Hao to calm down and she and Li Jian would do the next thing. Ask Li Hao to read the book carefully next to ensure that there will be no problems with the exam seven days later and that he can enter school normally.
However, this also taught Li Hao a lesson. It is better to be more cautious when doing things well. These are parents in this life, so it is not a big deal. For outsiders, it is better to have traces to follow.
Li Hao looked down and saw that he had nothing to do, so he got up and went back to the house to rest. After all, he was a little tired after a busy day. Wei and Li Jian packed up everything again.
