Chapter 32: Making Goat Milk Soap 1

After tidying up, everyone sat in the main room.

Lin Mama and the others shared their experiences with Lin Nuo and the others.

Noticing that it was getting late and worrying about Lin Nuo being pregnant, Lin Mama sent everyone back to bed.

Lin Mama and the others went to sleep in the new house, while the siblings still slept in the old house in the courtyard.

They were indeed tired from running around all day and soon fell asleep under the moonlight.

Meanwhile, Lin Mama and her husband struggled to fall asleep.

Looking at the spacious and tidy room, now resting on a soft bed, and having found the young lady and young master, the couple felt as if they were dreaming. Eventually, they succumbed to the exhaustion of their recent travels and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, everyone still felt as if they were dreaming.

Lin Nuo was the first to wake up, cooking shredded chicken porridge and steaming buns. The buns were quick-frozen ones taken from her space, but they looked no different.

Lin Mama and the others, arriving late, felt a bit embarrassed seeing the breakfast spread on the table.

After breakfast, Lin Lei went to school.

Lin Nuo took the others to clean the new house inside and out again, which left her utterly exhausted.

“Aunt, if you hadn’t come, I would have been in trouble,” Lin Nuo said playfully to Lin Mama.

Lin Mama smiled gently and helped Lin Nuo sit down in a chair.

“Lin’er, this house is really nice. Although it’s not as grand as in the capital, it has a toilet, kitchen, and washroom all set up, and there are so many trees and shrubs planted. The rockery and fish pond in the middle are also quite exquisite. It looks very charming.”

“Yes, yes! Cousin, this house is really beautiful. The beds are soft, and there’s something long like a bench that is also comfortable to sit on,” Lan’er said excitedly, her eyes sparkling and her expression quite adorable.

“Sister Lan’er, that’s the sofa. It’s soft because it’s filled with cotton, and the backrest is also padded with cotton,” Lin Nuo explained to them.

The courtyard was filled with cheerful laughter and warmth.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. Lin Nuo and Lin Lei had moved into their new home.

Lin Mama and the others gradually became familiar with the village. Uncle Lin would often check on the crops in the fields, while Lin Mama and Lan’er took care of the household chores, not allowing Lin Nuo to do any work at all. She now felt like a pig, eating and sleeping all day.

Previously, Lin Nuo had used the washing machine in her space to wash clothes with laundry detergent. Now, Lan’er had taken over that task, so Lin Nuo couldn’t openly take out the laundry detergent. Instead, they used soapberry water to wash clothes, which had a somewhat pungent smell after drying, making Lin Nuo uncomfortable. She planned to make some soap for washing clothes and for facial cleansing.

Now that everything was settling down, she was preparing to make some small creations. Previously, she didn’t have money to sell medicine or gold, but now that she was at home resting, it wasn’t convenient to take those things out.

Without hesitation, after finishing lunch, she went back for a nap and then entered her space to look up methods for making soap.

After checking the information and napping for half an hour, Lin Nuo got up and instructed everyone to help her buy materials.

“Uncle Lin, I’ll need you to go to town to buy 10 pounds of pork lard, and later Auntie, please go to the village to buy a bucket of goat milk from a family that raises goats. Cousin, please help me by fetching a handful of straw to burn into ashes.”

The others looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what Lin Nuo needed these for.

Lin Mama asked, “Lin’er, what are you planning to do?”

“Aunt, I’m preparing to make goat milk soap, which will be used for washing clothes. You’ll know when it’s done.”

After saying this, she gave Uncle Lin 20 taels of silver and Lan’er 30 wen. Uncle Lin was now responsible for household shopping and errands, so Lin Nuo always gave him more each time.

Upon hearing Lin Nuo’s words, everyone stopped asking questions and went to do their tasks.

As for her, she took a knife and went to the bamboo forest on the back mountain, cutting down several bamboo tubes to prepare for making molds.

Lan’er soon finished making the ash, and Lin Nuo then asked her to find some lime powder. She added the plant ash to water and filtered it several times, waiting for the alkali to settle before adding the lime.

The alkali water and lard would create a chemical reaction that produces fine bubbles; the alkaline nature helps to remove grease, and goat milk is gentler on the skin.

Once the alkali water was filtered, Lin Mama returned with a bucket of goat milk.

Seeing the fine beads of sweat on Lin Mama’s forehead and her panting for breath, Lin Nuo went to meet her.

“Aunt, you’ve worked hard. Go have some water and take a break.”

“I’m not tired; I just carried a few things. However, that goat milk was not easy to find; I only managed to ask at the edge of the village,” Lin Mama said to the two of them.

A quarter of an hour later, Uncle Lin also returned, and as a martial artist, his movements were fast.

The goat milk had a strong odor, so it needed to be cooked a little first.

After handling both the alkali water and goat milk, Lin Nuo taught Lan’er how to deal with the pork lard.

The lard was cut into small pieces and then rendered down, with the leftover oil sediment being strained out. Later, they could use the residue to make dumplings or stir-fry with greens.

The lard was scooped into a large ceramic jar that had been prepared in advance.

Hot goat milk was poured into the lard and stirred until fully mixed, and then the alkali water was added in proportion.

At this point, continuous stirring was necessary, which was hard work, so they let Uncle Lin take over the task.