Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

When she unbuttoned Mu Nan's shirt, her heart started racing and her face flushed slightly.

But she forced herself to remain calm and continued to help Mu Nan take off her top.

Mu Nan didn't resist and let Wang Qing'er unbutton his shirt, but seeing his wife like this, he felt uneasy, so he asked, "Qing'er, what's wrong?"

"I didn't do anything wrong! I just wanted you to try on the clothes quickly so that Mom could alter them if they didn't fit," Wang Qing'er replied guiltily.

"Really?" Mu Nan was still somewhat skeptical.

"Really?" Wang Qing'er was completely flustered and didn't dare to look up at him.

After finally managing to help him take off his outer garment, she reached out to undo his inner garment, but Mu Nan grabbed her hands. "No need to take off your inner garment, I can just put it on and try it on."

Wang Qing'er quickly said, "How can that be? Mother made you an undergarment. How can you try it on if you don't take it off?"

"Qing'er, do you really just want to help me try on clothes?" Mu Nan looked at her with a rather strange expression.

"Otherwise... what?" Wang Qing'er almost couldn't keep up the act. She quickly composed herself and pretended to be angry, trying to break free from Mu Nan's hands. "If you don't want to try, that's fine. If it's not suitable, go find your mother to change it for you!"

Seeing that his wife was about to get angry, Mu Nan hurriedly said, "I'll try, I'll try now, you, you help me!" After he finished speaking, his face turned red to the roots of his ears.

"You think I'll help you just because you ask me to? Do it yourself!" Wang Qing'er pouted and pretended to be angry.

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned her back to Mu Nan, gently patting her chest, "Oh dear! I can't keep up the act anymore! I'm about to burst out laughing!"

Wang Qing'er heard a rustling sound behind her, and after a while she heard Mu Nan say, "Qing'er, I've changed. Do you think it fits?"

Wang Qing'er quickly turned around and saw that Mu Nan was wearing a newly made undergarment.

“Uh…” Wang Qing’er was speechless.

"Sigh, what a failure, this man is really..." She couldn't think of any words to describe her husband.

Wang Qing'er was really angry now, and sat on the bed fuming, too lazy to even look at the man.

"Oh, and pants too. I'll go to the cabin to change now," Mu Nan said, scratching her head.

Wang Qing'er rolled her eyes at him, but Mu Nan had already turned and left, so he didn't see her eye roll.

"Ugh, this is driving me crazy! So stupid!" Wang Qing'er was furious. She lay on the bed, wanting to look up at the sky, but saw the patched bed curtains. She could only close her eyes and thought to herself that she must buy a new bed curtain when she went to the county town in a few days.

When Mu Nan came back after changing her pants, she saw Wang Qing'er lying on the bed with her eyes closed. She thought Wang Qing'er was asleep, so she pulled the blanket over to cover her up.

Wang Qing'er suddenly said, "Brother Mu Nan, I feel unwell!"

"Qing'er, where do you feel unwell?" Mu Nan asked anxiously.

"I feel so bad." Wang Qing'er clutched her chest, pretending to be in great pain.

"In your heart? Point it out to me, which part exactly?" Mu Nan became increasingly anxious as he looked at his wife's pained expression.

"It's alright, Brother Wood, I'm fine!" Wang Qing'er suddenly sat up in bed.

"Are you really alright?" Mu Nan asked, reaching out to check if she had a fever.

"You don't have a fever, are you really not feeling unwell anywhere?" he asked, still not entirely reassured.

"No." Wang Qing'er leaned her head on Mu Nan's shoulder like a deflated balloon, her eyes lifeless. She was really about to be defeated by this man.

Mu Nan reached out and pulled her into his arms, gently stroking her cheek with his rough hands. "If you're tired, take a nap."

"Not tired!"

"Aren't you tired?"

"Ah."

The two sat there quietly.

In the afternoon, Wang Qing'er took Mu Qin to pick two baskets and a backpack full of white magnolia flowers, and also picked some mint leaves before returning home.

She wanted to try making some scented soap to see if she could succeed, since she had never actually done it before and wasn't entirely confident.

Wang Qing'er first went to the kitchen to render the lard. By this time, the new stove had been set up and would be ready to use once it dried.

Blanch the washed mint leaves in boiling water, mash them with a pestle, filter the juice through a gauze bag, and set aside.

The juice of mugwort is also filtered out using the same method.

The soapberries have been soaked in water for so long that they have expanded. After removing the pits, put them in a clay pot, add water, and simmer for about an hour. After cooling, filter the juice through a gauze bag.

Wang Qing'er then asked Zhou Shi for some dried mugwort, burned it to ash, added water, and filtered it to get some wood ash water.

After all that was done, the rendered lard had cooled down, and the cracklings were filtered out.

Next, she mixed the ingredients according to the proportions she remembered, adding soapberry juice to the mint juice, then adding an appropriate amount of lard and wood ash alkaline water, stirring constantly until it became thick. She then added some dried peach petals as garnish, and carefully poured it into the mold.

The molds were given to her by Zhou Shi; they were all left over from the Mu family and had been kept in the storeroom.

At lunchtime, Wang Qing'er wanted Mu Nan to help her cut bamboo in the afternoon, saying it was for making molds.

Zhou said she had molds at home, so she took out a set of molds and asked if they could be used. Wang Qing'er's eyes lit up when she saw them, and she showered Zhou with compliments.

Zhou was so charmed by her sweet talk that she simply brought out all the molds and gave them to Wang Qing'er.

She was dazzled by the sights: hearts, triangles, plum blossoms, circles... all sorts of shapes, all carved from wood. They were just a bit small; it would be nice if they were a size bigger. She would need to find someone to make some molds.

Wang Qing'er was still thinking about why her grandmother hadn't taken out the brown sugar for her when she was making it before.

After preparing the peppermint soap, I mixed the mugwort soap using the same method and poured it into the mold.

There was still a lot of soapberry juice, a little mugwort juice, and mint juice left. Wang Qing'er mixed all the ingredients together and poured them into a round mold.

These soaps, which are rich in soapberry juice, can be used to wash clothes.

After everything was completed, she sealed all the molds and placed them in a cool, ventilated place to wait for them to set.

After finishing her work here, she buried the soapberry seeds she had removed in the open space behind her and then watered them.

She has to try to cultivate more soapberry trees, instead of just relying on the ones in the mountains, hoping that these nuclear energy sources will sprout.

She not only wanted to make scented soap, but also dish soap.

She'll make everything, from high-end scented soaps with various fragrances to soaps just for washing clothes, so the demand for soapberries will definitely be huge in the future.

The next day, Wang Qing'er asked Mu Nan to cut some branches and roots with buds while she was picking soapberries, as she wanted to try propagating soapberry trees by cuttings.

I've seen this method of propagating branches and roots in my past life, but it was only used for tea trees and mulberry trees. I don't know if it's suitable for soapberry trees.

Why not give it a try? It doesn't cost any money, just a little effort.

Suddenly, he remembered that tea trees and mulberry trees could also be propagated by cuttings, so he asked Mu Nan to cut some branches and roots back.

I've propagated dozens of cuttings of several different plants; let's see if they survive!