Quick Wear: The first person to love the host

Chapter 442 The Substitute Bride Becomes a Reality (43)

Three days passed in a blink of an eye.

Despite her illness, Qi Jinyu bid farewell to Su Ziyu and led the delegations from both countries on their journey back to the capital.

The capital was rife with undercurrents, so he only took the resourceful Qin Wujiu with him, while capable deputy generals such as Li Mang were ordered to stay behind to guard the northern frontier.

Before leaving, he specifically instructed that if he encountered any difficult issues, he could consult Su Ziyu. He even left his personal token with him, saying, "Seeing the token is like seeing the king."

Su Jinyu had actually considered accompanying him back to the capital, but Qi Jinyu did not want him to get involved in the court's intrigues. Su Ziyu himself also felt that rather than going to the dangerous and treacherous dragon's den, it would be better to stay in the northern frontier and make money in a down-to-earth way.

After seeing off the carriages and horses, he turned around and threw himself back into his busy work, and a new round of planning had quietly begun.

Glass is a wonderful thing.

Once successfully fired, it will be crystal clear and priceless, greatly reducing the pressure of supporting the troops under his command.

But this is, after all, a delicate craft, not as simple and easy to learn as the work in a wool workshop; one must seek out artisans with the relevant skills.

Su Zi wanted to entrust the task of finding talent to the clever Liu Ye, instructing him to invite even those who only had a slight understanding of kiln firing and smelting first.

He put aside the matter of glassmaking for the time being and started tinkering with another "trinket"—soap.

He first hired people to build a special factory, while he himself bought all kinds of materials in the courtyard of the mansion and rolled up his sleeves to test them himself.

A few days later, the first version of the simple soap was completed.

Su Zi wanted to call Liu Ye to fetch water to test the washing.

Liu Ye did as instructed, wet her hands, picked up the pale yellow soap and rubbed it. Fine foam instantly appeared. After rinsing with water, the sticky feeling that usually couldn't be washed off her hands disappeared without a trace, leaving only a refreshing feeling.

"Young master, this is incredible!"

Liu Ye was overjoyed. He had assisted throughout the process and had seen many products on the market. "None of the soaps on the market have such good results! This soap..."

He suddenly sniffed his palm, his brow furrowing slightly. "But young master, this soap... doesn't seem to smell very good?"

Not only does it not smell good, but upon closer inspection, it also seems to have a very faint, unpleasant fishy odor.

Upon hearing this, Su Ziyu stroked his chin and pondered, "That makes sense. It seems we still need to come up with a few 'high-end' designs. Go and have someone pick some winter plum blossoms, the more the better."

It was the dead of winter, and all the flowers had withered, except for the winter plum blossoms which braved the cold to bloom.

Liu Ye accepted the order and led her men to pluck almost all the winter plum trees in the mansion.

Su Ziyu, still feeling that the quantity was insufficient, asked Liu Ye to search the market and purchase another batch.

For a time, the courtyard was filled with the rich fragrance of winter plum blossoms.

After several more days of dedicated work, and a process of distillation and extraction, the "high-end soap" infused with the essence of wintersweet blossom juice was finally produced.

Su Ziyu shook his neck, secretly sighing that he should put the glassmaking business on the agenda as soon as possible. If he had a flask or something, why bother with such a complicated distillation?

Liu Ye tried it again, and after washing it, she couldn't help but bring the back of her hand close to her nose and take a deep sniff. Then she widened her eyes and gave a thumbs up: "Young master is truly a genius! The fragrance of this winter plum is elegant and long-lasting, and it leaves a lingering scent on your hands! If you were to sell it, it would surely be unique, and wealthy families would definitely love it!"

Nowadays, common people mostly use soapberry, which is cheap but has ordinary effects; while the cleansing products used by wealthy families are slightly more effective, but expensive and mostly have an unpleasant smell.

Aside from the waste of some floral materials, this soap is almost flawless.

Su Ziyu was quite confident in his new product, but large-scale production of soap required a sufficient source of oil—pig pancreas.

He examined a map of the outskirts of northern Xinjiang, selected a piece of wasteland adjacent to several villages, and began constructing a pig farm.

After the farm was built, he invited the most prestigious village chief in the vicinity and proposed a cooperation: the pig farm could provide piglets to the villagers on credit for free. The villagers only needed to raise the piglets to adulthood, and the pig farm would then purchase them all, deducting the initial cost of the piglets, with the remaining profits going to the farmers.

For the villagers who toil in the fields all year round and often can't even scrape together the capital to buy piglets, this is like a windfall.

Raising pigs doesn't require much cost. Children and the elderly can feed them by gathering some pig feed and mixing it with some bran and leftover vegetables. After a year, it can generate a considerable income.

The village chief was initially skeptical, fearing it might be a scam by some con artist. But when he learned it was business with the Prince's Mansion, he felt relieved.

Everyone knows that the wool workshop was established by the Prince's Mansion.

The old-fashioned folks in the village were initially very insistent on preventing the women in their families from going, saying it was immoral and disrespectful. But before the New Year, seeing the women who went to the workshops bringing back bags full of meat, candy, eggs, and cloth, they were filled with regret.

Unfortunately, a good opportunity has passed, and they are not hiring now.

Su Ziyu was thoughtful and knew that people are easily greedy. He also feared that the villagers' lack of experience would lead to losses and resentment.

He set the rules in advance: each household could only raise a maximum of two piglets on credit; adult pigs must be purchased by the pig farm at a negotiated price; if piglets died due to illness or other reasons during the period, the borrower would have to compensate the borrower according to the price.

Those who agree to these terms will be tallied by the village chief, a formal document will be signed, and the document will be submitted to the government office for filing and stamping. Anyone who deliberately defaults on their debts or commits fraud will be dealt with according to the law.

These terms actually reassured the prudent village chief, who was worried that some short-sighted or impractical villagers might try to overextend themselves by buying more on credit, only to end up losing money and causing trouble.

What motivates the village chief even more is that if the number of adult pigs collected the following year is no more than three fewer than the number of piglets distributed, he will be rewarded with an extra tael of silver as a reward for his hard work.

One tael of silver is enough for an ordinary family of three to eat for several months.

Upon hearing this, the village chief's eyes lit up, and he patted his chest, guaranteeing that he would handle the matter perfectly and without any mishaps.

-

As the pig farm and soap stalls opened, Su Ziyu's thoughts turned back to Liuli.

Liu Ye's legs were almost broken from running around these past few days, but she finally brought back some news: in Laoyaogou, sixty miles to the west, there was an old kiln worker surnamed Hu who had worked as an assistant to a master from the south when he was young.

It is said that the master craftsman could fire something that was "as bright as crystal and as clear as water." However, the master craftsman later passed away, and the craft was lost. Old Hu himself has not touched the kiln fire for many years.

“Young master, that old man Hu has a very strange temper. He was unmoved by the name card from the Prince’s mansion, saying that he was too old and had long forgotten it, and that we should find someone else.”

When Liu Ye reported this, her face showed a hint of helplessness.

Su Ziyu, however, became interested: "A clue is better than nothing. Strange temper? Most likely he has something to rely on or something to ask for. Make preparations, I will personally meet this old Mr. Hu tomorrow."

The next day, Su Ziyu traveled to Laoyaogou with only Liu Ye and two guards, keeping to a very small entourage.

The gully was even more desolate than the outskirts of the city, with a dozen or so households scattered around. Old Hu's house was at the very back, three dilapidated mud-brick houses with half of the courtyard wall collapsed. Inside the courtyard, however, many broken pottery jars and porcelain shards were neatly stacked, like an open-air museum of scrap.