Qin Fang almost couldn't hold the bowl steady after hearing this. "Hmm..." He muttered a word. As a young man who had never experienced anything, hearing about giving birth made his heart burn and his body excited.
Yang Haiyan then realized that he was a very shy person, and he was shy because of his innocence. "Look at this lard residue, it's actually free. So, you don't have to be reluctant to eat it."
Qin Fang raised his head, very puzzled: "No money?"
Yang Haiyan: "Yes, because the lard on the fat is squeezed out to make soap, and these lard residues are squeezed out. The cost is included in the soap, so the lard residue is equivalent to free of charge." Then, Yang Haiyan taught him how to make soap.
After Qin Fang heard this, he was really shocked. This soap looked so precious, but it only cost a penny. More importantly, it was made of lard and wood ash. However, Yang Haiyan, who could make this, was really amazing. Suddenly, he looked at Yang Haiyan with eyes full of admiration, curiosity, and pride.
He admired her talent and profound knowledge, and was curious that she knew so much and was still proud... Such an outstanding woman was his daughter-in-law.
After finishing the meal, Yang Haiyan looked at Qin Fang with a smile and said, "Husband, can you wash the dishes?"
Because the original owner was beautiful, she looked even more beautiful when she smiled. Especially her curved eyes, which made Qin Fang unable to look away. He couldn't help but say, "Okay." For someone with a background like his, there are no rules in his family. Besides... His eyes moved to Yang Haiyan's hands. Her hands were so beautiful, they were used for writing, embroidering, and making soap. Of course, these rough jobs were left to him.
Yang Haiyan: "Is it really possible? Is my husband willing to wash the dishes? But wouldn't it be bad if others knew about it? In most families, it's the wife who washes the dishes."
Qin Fang: "Your hands are precious. You can read and write, make soap, and make clothes..." They are like the hands of a scholar. But he was afraid that she would blame herself, so he continued, "And... my father washes the dishes in our family." Father, please forgive him for lying.
When Yang Haiyan heard this, she said, "Husband, you are so kind." Then she waved at him and said, "Bend down."
Qin Fang was puzzled and bent down obediently.
Then, Yang Haiyan kissed him on the face: "Thank you, husband." After the kiss, she pretended to be shy and ran out of the kitchen.
Qin Fang was left in a daze for a long time. When he came to his senses, he did not forget to touch his face and smiled silently. When he smiled, his originally cold face became warm.
In fact, Yang Haiyan's heartbeat was a little fast when she ran out of the kitchen. It was also her first time to kiss the opposite sex. In her mind, the 20-year-old Qin Fang was like a puppy. To be honest, she felt a little embarrassed to tease him like this. However, seeing his nervous look, she thought it was very funny.
Yang Haiyan went to the storage room and scooped out a spoonful of wood ash. In this era without detergent, the only thing that could clean oil stains was wood ash. So she often set aside some cleaner wood ash to use for washing oily dishes.
Yang Haiyan returned to the kitchen and saw that Qin Fang had already cleared the table and was ready to wash the dishes. She said, "Husband, add some wood ash when washing the dishes. This can remove grease stains and make the dishes very clean."
When Qin Fang heard her voice, his heartbeat accelerated subconsciously, and he put on a serious look on his face: "Okay."
While Qin Fang was washing the dishes, Yang Haiyan went to the kitchen to draw two pictures. When she came out, Qin Fang finished washing the dishes. Yang Haiyan pulled him and said, "Husband, look at this. This is a sink, built next to the stove. After dinner, the dishes are placed here, which is more convenient to wash. And this is an earthen kiln oven, built in this corner." Speaking of this earthen kiln oven, Yang Haiyan saw it in a farmhouse when she was traveling in Northeast China. It can bake bread, handmade cakes, roast duck and roast chicken. Yang Haiyan found it interesting. After returning home, she asked the village stove master to help her make one.
Qin Fang listened. He was a farm boy, and because he was used to doing rough work, he understood the sink and earthen kiln oven as soon as he heard Yang Haiyan talk about it and looked at the drawings: "I'll get some materials and make it for you today."
Yang Haiyan: "Thank you, husband, you are the best. When it's done, I will bake bread for you."
Qin Fang thought of her craftsmanship and couldn't help looking forward to the bread she was talking about. However, "I don't have any money on me. It will cost me money to prepare the materials. You have to give me some." It was a bit embarrassing to say it.
Yang Haiyan gave him the one or two taels of silver he had handed in today.
Qin Fang: "Not so much."
Yang Haiyan: "You use it first, and give me the extra when you come back."
Qin Fang: "Okay."
Qin Fang went to buy materials. There were no such materials in the town, so he had to go to the countryside, so he hired a donkey cart. Yang Haiyan was not idle either. She went to the blacksmith shop and ordered three baking pans. One was a rectangular iron pan, which was used for baking bread, fish, and biscuits. There was also a grill pan, which was used for grilling. The last one was an egg tart baking pan, which was used to make egg tarts.
However, egg tart baking pans are difficult to make in this era, so they take time, while universal rectangular baking pans are quick and can be picked up tomorrow morning.
There were three baking trays, two for seventy wen, and an egg tart baking tray for one hundred wen, for a total of two hundred and forty wen.
Yang Haiyan returned home, Qin Fang had not come back yet, she took out the quilt in the room to dry. Just after drying, she heard the sound of a donkey cart, saw the donkey cart stopped at her door, and Qin Fang got off the donkey cart.
Yang Haiyan: “I’m back.”
Qin Fang: "Yeah." He gave the remaining five hundred coins to Yang Haiyan, and then unloaded the things from the donkey cart.
The donkey cart made quite a noise, and Lu's wife came over curiously to see what was happening. Not only her, but also the mother of another neighbor, Centurion Zhang, came over. Zhang's mother had asked Yang Haiyan for something before but failed, and she said a lot of bad things about Yang Haiyan to others afterwards. But because Yang Haiyan didn't go out, she usually either went to the military camp to deliver food or did needlework with Yang Dahua at home, so she didn't know about this.
Zhang's mother didn't dare to get close and watched secretly from the side.
Mrs. Lu: "What are you doing?"
Yang Haiyan said: "Renovate the kitchen and put a sink in it, so it will be more convenient to wash dishes."
Mrs. Lu: "Sink? Washing dishes?" She couldn't figure it out for a moment.
Yang Haiyan: "After it's done, Mrs. Lu can come and visit. If she likes it, you can build one at home."
Mrs. Lu: "Okay."
There was no cement in this era, but there were still buildings and city walls. This was the wisdom of the ancients. People in this world used glutinous rice and lime mortar to build walls.
Glutinous rice lime mortar refers to the process of mixing glutinous rice soup into lime mortar to form a new composite mortar. The strength of glutinous rice lime mortar is much greater than that of pure lime mortar, and it is very strong. Of course, compared with glutinous rice lime mortar, ordinary people use a cheaper lime mortar, which is yellow clay lime mortar. Ordinary people cannot afford glutinous rice lime mortar.
However, Qin Fang used glutinous rice lime slurry this time. First, since he only made a sink and a barbecue, less glutinous rice lime was needed, so the cost difference from yellow clay lime slurry was not much. Second, the sink was used to wash dishes and would come into contact with water every day, so it had to be more moisture-resistant, that is, more sticky and more solid. To sum up the two points, glutinous rice lime slurry is naturally better.
While Qin Fang was building the sink, Yang Haiyan was watching from the side, praising him from time to time:
"My husband, you are amazing."
"My husband, the sink you built is so smooth."
"Husband, are you tired? Have some tea."
"My husband..."
Qin Fang's bones were numb from her calling him "husband" over and over again, so he worked even harder.
It was really quick to build a sink. It was completed in less than an hour. A hole was dug at the bottom of the sink near the wall so that the dirty water could flow out. Then, Qin Fang made a wooden sink plug.
Because the walls of the house were plastered with lime, the house was bright white, so Qin Fang also plastered the exterior of the sink with lime, which made it look more beautiful. After finishing, he looked at Yang Haiyan.
The joy in Yang Haiyan's eyes was obvious. She was very satisfied with the sink: "That's great. Thank you, husband."
Qin Fang: "Well, I'll build another oven. But this sink has to be kept for three days, it can't be used now."
Yang Haiyan: "I see. Thank you for your reminder, husband."
After having a good lunch at noon, dinner was simpler. Eating good meals every day would put too much pressure on this boy. So Yang Haiyan cooked brown rice and steamed sweet potatoes at night. In the eyes of others, this was the coarse grains that ordinary people ate, and they were very poor. But in Yang Haiyan's view, this was the coarse grains that modern people needed to keep healthy.
Brown rice and sweet potatoes alone were too dry, so Yang Haiyan made a loofah and shrimp soup.
Qin Fang was originally thinking that if he ate at noon every day, thirty coins a day would not be enough. But then he thought, she has the ability to eat well every day, but she can't eat well after marrying me, isn't it unfair to her? Now seeing the food on the table, he thought again, she is a frugal person. But for some reason, he still felt a little sour in his heart: "You must have eaten well when you were in the capital. It's really unfair for you to eat such simple meals with me. You... You can earn some money and eat better." Just look at her fair skin and you will know. If she was not well-fed, how could she have such skin
Yang Haiyan: "I follow you wherever you go. I will be happy to follow you no matter what you eat."
Qin Fang was deeply moved when he heard this. He secretly vowed to work hard to climb up.
Yang Haiyan added: "Besides, we don't eat simple meals every day. We have a good lunch."
Qin Fang: "You are the head of the family, you have the final say."