Time unknowingly came to September, and the two poems written by Chen Kan on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival Night Banquet were spontaneously publicized by the civil servants and the court who were preparing to compile the Yongle Canon.
Therefore, Chen Kan inexplicably gained the title of a second-generation scholar in Shilin.
The civil servants did this in a somewhat reciprocal manner. After all, Chen Kan proposed the compilation of the Yongle Dadian, and the most direct beneficiaries were these civil servants.
At the same time, the imperial decree that Chen Kan was about to marry Princess Chang Ning also became known to the world.
Now, the Ministry of Industry is stepping up the construction of the Princess Palace.
The location of the princess mansion is on the edge of the Qinhuai River, not far from Chen Kan's house.
Gaining fame and fortune is nothing more than that.
Among the six rites of Zhou Rites, the first five are Nacai, Asking for Names, Naji, Nazheng, and Asking for Dates, which are extremely complicated things in Chen Kan's opinion.
Being taken over by Fang Xiaoru, his only elder in the world.
These matters will be discussed by Fang Xiaoru and his wife Zheng to His Majesty, Queen Xu and the Ministry of Rites.
Therefore, facing the upcoming marriage, it can be said that Chen Kan has no sense of participation at all.
But this does not mean that Chen Kan has nothing to do these days. On the contrary, he is almost as busy as a dog.
Because not only does he have to go to the Imperial College to attend school, but he also has to intervene in the affairs of the Five Cities Military and Horse Department at any time.
Especially when the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division infiltrated into local areas, and regarding the White Lotus Sect, Fozi's investigation was even more intensive.
At the same time, he also takes time to develop soaps and perfumes.
Just these trivial matters almost made Chen Kan dizzy.
The Jiangnan area in early autumn was shrouded in hazy mist and rain, but this cool autumn rain did not affect the lively scene in the backyard of Pudinghou's old house at all.
Chen Kan was sitting on a lazy Taishi chair with a huge umbrella on his head and steam still coming from his forehead. He had obviously just finished his work.
In front of Chen Kan, hundreds of servants were busy in an orderly manner.
A huge stove was built next to the small lake in the backyard.
On the stove, a large pot was boiling a pot of foul-smelling liquid.
The liquid in the pot was already gurgling and steaming. It was so hot that the servant's head was wet when he added firewood. He didn't know whether it was rain or sweat.
Two shirtless servants braved the mist-like drizzle, holding wooden sticks and constantly stirring the lard mixed with plant ash water in the cauldron.
When the liquid in the cauldron gradually solidified, a layer of white foam formed on the edge of the cauldron. Chen Kan shouted quickly: "Okay, cease fire and start filtering."
Hearing Chen Kan's shout, the two servants put down their sticks, wrapped the edge of the iron pot with a thick rag, and poured the mixture in the pot into a wooden basin wrapped with gauze.
In this way, the remaining liquid in the mixture will be filtered out by gauze.
That's right, Chen Kan was the servant in the command house making soap.
The original soap making method is very simple, which is to boil lard and alkaline water.
Alkali is hard to find in this era, so Chen Kan uses plant ash water instead.
In the open space next to the yard, a pile of sealed wooden barrels were neatly placed on the ground. That's the fermenting perfume.
As for colored glaze, it had no technical content, but the process was too troublesome. It required building a furnace and making coke, so Chen Kan was too lazy to do it.
Perfume and soap are the two weapons Chen Kan plans to use to dominate the great voyage.
At the same time, it was also a generous gift used by Chen Kan to ease the relationship with Jiangmen.
For these two things, the process is simple and the cost is ridiculously low.
But in Ming Dynasty, these two things are definitely considered luxuries. Once sold, they are guaranteed huge profit products.
Like perfume, Chen Kan also uses lard and sun exposure to extract the fragrance of osmanthus. After extracting the fragrance, Chen Kan can also use the filtered lard to make soap.
It's simply killing two birds with one stone.
No wonder these two items are hailed as essential artifacts for time travellers, and even gunpowder ranks behind perfume and soap.
The solid filtered out with gauze is the prototype of soap.
Next, you only need to pour the soap that has not yet completely solidified into the mold that has been made in advance. When the soap is completely solidified, a soap that is far more effective than a bath bean but much cheaper is successfully produced.
The analyzed liquid is glycerol, which can be purified again and added with nitric acid to make smokeless gunpowder.
But the procedure was too cumbersome and the tools were not complete, so Chen Kan planned to make a beautiful packaging box and sell it to the ladies of the capital, so that they could experience how wonderful it is to have smooth and tender skin in winter.
Nicely, not a single bit of raw material is wasted.
Everything can be sold for money!
Finished perfumes and soaps already filled the house's treasury.
Chen Kan looked at the light rain in the sky and seemed to have no intention of stopping, so he told Yuncheng: "Okay, that's all for today's work. Let the kitchen boil some ginger syrup for everyone to drink. Don't get it. Wind chill.”
Yuncheng looked at the raw materials all over the yard, and his pupils had completely transformed into the look of Brother Kong Fang.
It turned out that he was still worried about Chen Kan's prodigal behavior, fearing that the money in the house would not last long.
But after using soap and perfume himself, he has become a loyal fan of both products.
The Chen family's fortune is just around the corner!
Although he, Yuncheng, was not the one who got rich, if Chen Kan got rich, would it mean that he, Yuncheng, would be deprived of the benefits?
Therefore, he happily rushed to the kitchen and personally directed the cook to make ginger syrup.
"Why are you wasting your time? Put more sugar. We don't need enough money to buy sugar in our house!"
Yuncheng's words were very arrogant, but no one was dissatisfied.
Whether it is making perfume or soap, it is a very physical job, and the sugar and salt must be fully replenished.
After a bowl of steaming ginger soup, Chen Kan finally felt refreshed.
When making soap, the servants always couldn't control the ratio of plant ash to water and lard, so Chen Kan had to do it himself, but he was exhausted.
Strangely enough, with the same weight, the soap made by Chen Kan was more beautiful in color than the soap made by his servants.
In Yuncheng's words, the young master is descended from Wenquxing, so he is naturally different from you mortals.
But Chen Kan knew that they were just not yet proficient.
Wiping the corners of his mouth, Chen Kan ordered: "Go to the market and buy a few pigs to kill, and we will have extra food for everyone tonight."
Yuncheng was unmoved, with a bit of embarrassment on his face.
Chen Kan asked curiously: "What's wrong?"
Yuncheng shook his head and replied: "Sir, it's not that I don't want to give meat to everyone. The main reason is that if our family does this, it will break the rules. When other families want to use people again, it will be difficult to arrange the food."
