Traveling through the starry sky just for you, I was a koi in ancient times

Seeing that her daughter finished her question after a few questions, the mother did not stop her. She just sat beside her daughter and watched the servants leave one by one, nodding in return. When everyone in the hall had left and Qing'er stood back by the door, the mother asked,

"Jin'er, what do you think you want to know more about? Mother will call someone to let you know in more detail."

Wang Jinyi remembered that Wu Mei came back yesterday and said that she didn’t know what kind of lamp oil the Cao family used.

I made a note of it in my mind and decided to let Wu Mei know more details.

If we look at the amount of oil used alone, the Cao family uses exactly 100 times more oil than our own family.

If we use tung oil, will it be more wasteful because of its poor burning ability? So I asked,

"Have any of you ever used tung oil? Is tung oil lamp waste oil?"

A voice came from not far away.

“Miss, I have used tung oil before. There is not much difference in the brightness of the two oils. It’s just that tung oil produces more smoke, and the smoke has a smell. If you read under the lamp for a long time, it will choke your eyes.

However, some families with limited conditions still prefer to use tung oil.”

"Why is that, sir?"

"Miss, the black smoke from burning tung oil can be collected and sold to Wenfang."

"what?"

"Miss, copper soot is the material for making the best ink. There is a saying that goes 'a piece of ink is a piece of gold'."

Wang Jinyi was curious and asked,

"Sir, how is smoke ink made?"

"First, mix tung oil and raw lacquer (vegetable lacquer, which is the lacquer produced by lacquer trees, not chemical paint) with animal oil in proportion. When burning, accumulate the smoke, wash the ash, and let it dry for more than a year..."

"More than a year? With this production cycle, how can this ink not be expensive?"

"Expensive? Miss, this is not expensive!

You should know that one pound of oil generally only produces one or two ounces of cigarettes. It’s not expensive! It’s rare! ”

After hearing the girl's question about the long production cycle, Wen Bai seemed to be hesitating whether he should tell the little girl about it.

Wang Jinyi spoke. :

"Please speak your mind, Mr. Wenbai. I am all ears."

"As the saying goes, one pound of oil equals one ounce of cigarettes."

Wen Bai gradually opened up:

“In fact, to make the best smoke ink, you need to wash the smoke after getting it, and then dry it naturally in the shade. After the ash is completely dry, you need to add pure animal glue, cinnabar, pearl powder, borneol and other precious materials.

There are also some special inks that are added with more special and precious materials such as gold powder and musk.

Do you think that waiting for a year for a piece of ink is too long? "

Before Wang Jinyi could answer, Wen Bai continued:

“In fact, most people buy smoke ink only because it is precious and has a symbolic value, not because of its merits.”

Wang Jinyi blurted out a sentence subconsciously:

"gentlemen."

Wen Bai had no chance and continued:

“Using smoke and ink can calm people’s minds, reduce distractions, and help them concentrate.

This kind of ink has an elegant smell when burning and a smooth color. Moreover, because cinnabar is added to the powder, the written manuscripts are not easy to attract insects, the ink is not easy to evaporate, and it is not easy to fade. It can be preserved for a longer time. "

Wang Jinyi immediately thought of the ancient books from his previous life!

"Generally, cinnabar and musk are added to the ink used for Buddhist scriptures in temples, which makes the scriptures less likely to rot..."

Wang Jinyi's eyes widened, and his heart was filled with warmth. My ancestors never lied to me! What I heard in the past turned out to be true!

Wang Jinyi never expected that a piece of ink could contain so many mysteries.

According to the theoretical understanding of Wenbai, the Cao family might have made ink.

If you buy so much tung oil, is it just for making smoke ink?!

So, if one catty of oil produces one tael of tobacco, one hundred catties of oil can produce one hundred taels of tobacco (in ancient times, one catty was equal to sixteen taels). Then the Cao family bought 200 catties of oil and produced two hundred taels of tobacco, which means they could produce less than twenty catties of tobacco.

From a cycle perspective, the harvest will only be seen after a year.

If it is ordinary ink, without adding other materials, one ounce of ink is enough to produce 200 lines of ink.

If it is sold normally in this era, it will not be a loss, but when the time cost, venue, labor costs, taxes, etc. are added, it will be extremely unreasonable.

If precious materials are added, is it possible to have a high return?

Is the Cao family doing this business?

Wang Jinyi still felt that her previous suspicions had not changed. There was something strange about the Cao family!

Wen Bai finished speaking and sat down.

Wang Jinyi figured it out, but doubts still remained.

Today, just think of it as learning a new skill!

Yes! The best smoke and ink is of course a good survival skill if you learn it.

"Sir, if there are 100 kilograms of tung oil, how long will it take for it to turn into smoke?"

Wen Bai discovered that the young lady seemed to have no interest in recording the storybook, and her attention was all on Yan Mo.

Start tidying up the study.

"In fact, collecting lamp smoke is a long-term process. The lamp smoke from the lamp oil sold by the people also needs to be accumulated for nearly a year. Generally, at the end of the year, families clean the lamps and sell them for money for household expenses."

Wang Jinyi nodded. Ordinary families sell cooking oil once every six months or a year.

There is strength in numbers. The ink of ordinary students is basically made of the lamp smoke accumulated by ordinary people.

The ink sticks made of lamp smoke were provided by the common people, so that they could be supplied to the students. But the last sticks were still hard to come by, and the harder they were to come by, the more expensive they were.

Wang Jinyi couldn't help but feel that there were too many things that should be solved by popularizing knowledge.

Let’s first take a look at the current situation and see what Cao An’s family is thinking.

Wang Jinyi looked back at the copper kettle dripping water and temporarily made note of this point.

"Mr. Wenbai. Thank you for your guidance today. We will continue on time tomorrow."

After Wang Jinyi bowed, he saw Wen Bai out.

Then he returned to the second gate hand in hand with his mother.

The scorching sun at noon, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas, made people feel unreasonably anxious. Wang Jinyi knew that she was suspicious of Cao Anjia. She did not think that it was a groundless suspicion. It just required time and manpower, and an investigation would take time.

Manpower is needed to continue the investigation.

Wang Jinyi walked into the hall of her mother's room, smoothed the strands of hair on her face with her little hands, and prepared to sit down.

Someone threw a warm cloth to wipe their face.

Wang Jinyi continued to ponder, supporting her fair cheek with one of her small hands, tilting her head to the side, her eyes fixed on the space in front of her in a daze.

His mother didn't disturb him, but went into the house, changed her clothes, and came out to discuss something in a low voice with Qing'er.

After a while, Zhu Yu and the nurse brought the mung bean drink. The nurse filled a small pot with mung bean drink and put it in a tall soup bowl. She placed it in front of the young lady and reminded her,

"Miss, be careful, it's warm, you can let it sit for a while before drinking."

Wang Jinyi just heard it and let it go.

Yes! Don't worry, we need to investigate the Cao family more carefully, and only after summarizing the information can we find the problem. How can Wu Mei think that she has caught the Cao family's little braid just because she got a little clue? !

Yes, you should put it aside first!

After thinking it through, Wang Jinyi asked:

"Mother, what did grandfather say about the seal we carved?"