Master Shu took Fu Chengyi away.
Before leaving, Master Shu was extremely polite. He thanked Qi Jiao and Pei Xia, saying that their Seventh Young Master had caused them a lot of trouble and that he would surely visit their home to express his gratitude in a few days.
Qi Jiao quickly said there was no need. "Seventh Young Master has helped a great deal in our shop. He must have suffered quite a bit these days."
Fu Chengyi grinned at Qi Jiao and patted Pei Xia on the shoulder. "Brother Pei, we'll surely meet again. Let's catch up another day."
After saying that, still dressed as a slovenly young servant, he hastily bid farewell to everyone and boarded the Shu family's carriage.
After a busy day, they finally had time to rest.
As night fell and lanterns were lit, the small courtyard was peaceful.
After taking a bath, Qi Jiao got into bed and then opened the money box given by Lord Hui to take a closer look.
Inside lay some thin silver notes, worth over three hundred taels.
Qi Jiao was overjoyed. She leaned on Pei Xia and laughed. "I really didn't expect this dividend to come so soon and be even more than I thought!"
Pei Xia's eyes were gentle as he stroked her long, silky black hair one by one.
"This is what you deserve. You've just been too busy, running around everywhere."
Qi Jiao turned around and hugged Pei Xia's waist. Her smile was soft. "As long as you're with me, everything is fine. I don't mind being tired." In her heart, she calculated that she was one step closer to owning a treasure ship.
Her eyelashes fluttered like a flapping butterfly.
Being so whole - heartedly relied on and adored by such a charming woman, Pei Xia's heart fluttered. His eyes were more radiant than obsidian.
He lowered his head and gently kissed her pink and white cheek.
*
After several consecutive rains, the weather turned cooler and autumn soon arrived.
On a leisurely day, Qi Jiao checked the inventory and sorted out all the gifts sent by those high - ranking officials and nobles last time.
Pei Xia had recorded them one by one before, in case they needed to return the favors.
Fortunately, these people were all shrewd. The gifts they sent were neither overly expensive nor shabby.
Qi Jiao took out many brightly - colored bolts of cloth and let Huier, Shuangshuang, as well as Third Sister - in - law and A Yao choose for themselves.
Then she took out three more bolts and sent them to Mrs. Lin and March.
After all, when running a business and welcoming customers, everyone should dress brightly and nicely, which would make people feel comfortable.
The rest were all taken back to Silver Bay.
On this day, the pattering rain finally stopped.
The carriage drove over the dirt road, flattening the small mud puddles on the ground.
Qi Jiao was eager to see the olive trees on the hillside. Her heart had already flown back.
She lifted the curtain of the carriage and let the cool and clean wind blow across her face.
Pei Xia was lying in her arms, sound asleep. His handsome features were not as cold as usual, but rather more casual and comfortable.
Uncle Zheng drove the carriage steadily. The young couple leaned on each other and didn't mind the bumps.
This time, Ye Yun, Leng Yao, Ye Pa, and Huier had all returned.
The four of them were in front, riding in a large carriage that was loaded with a lot of things.
Finally, the long - awaited Baiyun Village arrived.
Pei Xia got out of the carriage first and paid Uncle Zheng a few copper coins. Qi Jiao also gave him a small bundle of snacks.
Uncle Zheng declined, saying he didn't need them.
Qi Jiao said, "Take them back for your granddaughter."
Only then did Uncle Zheng accept, with a wrinkled smile on his face.
When they got home, there was naturally a lot of lively chatting and laughter.
Tang Guiniang had specially stewed a large pot of cured pig's trotters, which took a whole half - day.
She had put in soybeans, dried bamboo shoots, and dried scallops. The soup was snow - white and extremely fragrant.
Qi Jiao ate a full bowl, and her face became rosy after that.
After the meal, she wanted to go to the kitchen to help with the washing.
Aunt Zheng stopped her.
"Go and rest. Or go for a walk. You've been tired for a month and just came back. How can I let you do these trivial things?"
Qi Jiao laughed and had no choice but to take A Yao, Huier, and the others out for a stroll.
Although A Yao was from Lingle County, she had rarely been to the seaside.
Hearing that Pei Jin and the little girls in the village were going to the seaside at low tide, A Yao was tempted and called Ye Yun to get a small bamboo basket.
Huier felt a bit bloated after eating and wanted to take a walk to digest, so she went with Qi Jiao to Xiaofeng Mountain.
After being washed and nourished by the rain, the olive tree leaves were clean. The clusters of small summer flowers had withered and turned into mud. The branches were now full of green, oblong fruits, shaped like small spindles, which were very pleasing.
Huier was curious. "Sister Jiao Niang, what can these olive fruits be used for?"
Qi Jiao said, "Green olives can be eaten raw or pickled. Olive pits can be used for carving and also have medicinal value. The fresh fruits can be cold - pressed. The oil can be used for cooking or making soap."
Huier exclaimed, "No wonder you leased such a large area of mountain land earlier. Olives are simply treasures! They can be eaten, played with, and used to make soap. But is olive soap the same as fragrant soap?"
Qi Jiao laughed. "It has a similar function to soap, but it's more convenient."
Huier looked at her in admiration. "Sister, you're so ingenious! Just a trip to the olive forest and you can get everything."
Qi Jiao looked around at the growth of the olive trees and confirmed that only a small part of the olives were ripe - these were the mature trees transplanted at that time, which had grown faster.
The rest still needed more time to grow.
The next day, Qi Jiao informed Aunt Cai to pick all the ripe olive fruits.
Everyone was looking forward to seeing what delicious food Qi Jiao would make with the olives.
Unexpectedly, Qi Jiao only kept a small basket. After washing and drying them, she made two large jars of pickled olives.
Then she casually grabbed a few, smashed them with a kitchen knife, and used them to stew fish. It was refreshing, greasy - removing, and extremely delicious.
Qi Jiao asked Pei Xia to send most of the remaining green olives to the oil - pressing workshop in the town.
Since olive kernels only needed cold - pressing and the process was simple.
Pei Xia was back in less than half a day.
He brought back fifty catties of olive oil.
That night, Qi Jiao used olive oil to stir - fry dishes and grill food, making a seafood midnight snack that smelled delicious for miles.
Tang Guiniang suddenly realized, "So oil olives are like rapeseed. They're used for making oil to eat."
Qi Jiao smiled. "Mother is right. But olives have many more uses. When the weather is good tomorrow, I'll show you."
Early the next morning, Qi Jiao prepared all the things for making soap.
She had a certain understanding of ancient washing and cleaning products. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to make soap so easily.
In the streets of Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, people sold soap balls the size of oranges made from natural Chinese honey locust powder.
In the book *Wulin Jiushi* written by Zhou Mi of the Song Dynasty, this kind of soap ball was recorded as "soap ball".
If various spices were added when making the soap ball, this scented soap ball would immediately increase in value and become a high - end cleaning product specially used for washing the face or taking a bath.
In addition to Chinese honey locust and soap balls, there were also bath beans and soap as cleaning products.
Bath beans first appeared in the Western Jin Dynasty. They were small balls or powdery substances made by grinding pig pancreas into a paste and adding bean powder, spices, and medicinal powder.
The production cost of bath beans was relatively high, so they were generally used by nobles.
Interestingly, in the book *Shishuo Xinyu* written by Liu Yiqing of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a small story about using bath beans as rice:
When Wang Dun, a minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, first married Princess Wuyang, the daughter of Emperor Wu of Jin, once when he came out of the toilet, the maids on both sides were holding a golden basin of water and a bowl of bath beans in a glass bowl, waiting to serve him to wash his hands. Maybe he had never seen bath beans before, so he thought they were dry rice and poured the bath beans into the water and ate them, which made the maids on the side "all cover their mouths and laugh".
Soap was an "upgraded version" of bath beans. In the book *Qimin Yaoshu* compiled by Jia Sixie, it was already mentioned that pig pancreas could remove dirt.
The pancreas of animals contains various digestive enzymes, which can break down fat, protein, and starch, so it has a dirt - removing effect.
Soap was a spherical solid made by grinding pig pancreas and sugar into a pulp, and then adding natural crystalline alkali, which replaced bean powder, as well as lard and spices.
By adding various spices, scented soap was obtained.
Qi Jiao was going to try making two kinds of soap today.
One was olive and bay leaf soap, and the other was olive and goat milk soap.