Chapter 18 Cleaning the Fluff
Lin Zisu got out of the car with an empty bowl in her left hand, disinfectant in her right hand, and dishwashing liquid tucked under her arm. She saw her second aunt Yang hurried out of the yard and closed the gate gently.
After a hard night's work, Second Auntie won't take a rest? Are you going to help in the fields?
Lin Zisu didn't care and walked towards the backyard.
I didn't pay attention to the backyard last night, but I finally saw it clearly during the day.
The backyard was half the size of the front yard, with a large vegetable patch surrounded by wood and a gravel path next to it leading to the cattle pen. After last night's busy work, the pen was now empty.
Next to the pigpen in the backyard, Lin Qiuyue sat on a straw stool, boiling water in front of the earthen stove for cooking pig food.
There was a well next to the fence of the vegetable field a few steps away from the kitchen. On the ground beside the well, there was a large wooden basin filled with coarse pottery bowls and wooden chopsticks. Lin Cuihe was washing the dishes, while Lin Xiatao rinsed the washed dishes with clean water.
Lin Cuihe saw Lin Zisu coming over and said, "Sister, put the bowl in the basin."
"Sister, what are you holding in your hand?" Lin Xiatao stood up and looked at Lin Zisu's hand curiously.
"Soap for washing hair."
Lin Cuihe glanced at the washing liquid and said, "Qiuyue is boiling water by the pen. Once the water boils, we will wash the fur."
"it is good."
"..Soap? Is it the soap that Fourth Aunt bought for Grandma, which city people use to wash their faces and take baths." Lin Xiatao remembered a piece of soap that Fourth Aunt gave Grandma. She had only seen it once, and Grandma hid it and never saw her use it. It was such an expensive thing, but Grandma was reluctant to use it. Now... you use it to wash these furs... If Grandma knew, she would scold me to death.
Lin Cuihe quickly stopped him and pointed at the basin beside her, "...just use the wood ash water. Take this back, you can't use it!"
"Yes! Yes!" Lin Xiatao immediately agreed, lowering her voice, "If grandma knew about this, she would scold me to death!!"
Lin Zisu was stunned, "It's okay, just say my mother wants to use it! These hairs will be hard to get rid of the smell if you don't use this to wash them!" Too lazy to talk nonsense, she picked up a large plastic bag of fluff next to her. The plastic bag was a large transparent plastic bag that cost a few cents in the supermarket.
Goose down is the best choice for making down jackets. Goose down is the best and has the most amount of down. It also doesn't smell as bad as duck down. Ducks have a varied diet, eating small fish, shrimp, snails, earthworms, and even carrion. There is grease on the down, and the odor comes from the grease. Boiling water, washing powder, and dishwashing detergent can effectively dissolve the grease and remove the odor. Geese love to eat grass, and their down has less grease. If they are raised in the river, they won't have much odor.
Now that we don't have the conditions, duck and goose down can be put together to fill a piece of clothing. The feathers are placed in a wooden basket and put aside. After washing them all, they can also be stuffed into quilts or clothes. This is better than stuffing grass or sand to keep warm.
That's right, sand. In ancient times, poor people would stay in the straw piles of their mud houses to keep warm in the winter. Later, when there were kangs in the north, people would light the kangs and stay at home to hibernate. Winter clothes and trousers were made of linen stuffed with straw, or filled with heated sand to keep warm. In the years before cotton became popular, winter was hell for the poor. Many people died of starvation, freezing, and illness in winter. Of course, when cotton became popular, things would be a little better, but for the poor people, it was only a little better.
Lin Qiuyue came over with a bucket of hot water, and Lin Cuihe cleaned the large wooden basin.
Lin Zisu squeezed some detergent into the basin and said, "Sister, use this to wash the basin. Pour some hot water and rinse it a few times." Although the dishes and chopsticks do not contain much oil or water, this basin has many uses.
"So many bubbles!" Lin Qiuyue squatted down and played with the bubbles in the basin.
After washing the basin, Lin Cuihe went to the pen and fetched a bucket of hot water, pouring it into the basin. "Qiuyue, go boil some water."
"okay."
"Sister Cuihe, do you have a clean stick? It's helpful for stirring!" With such hot water, it would be very tiring to use your hands directly.
"Yes, can I use a clothes-beating stick?"
"Okay. Sister Cuihe, you stir it gently with a stick, and I'll put the fluff in." Lin Zisu picked up the dishwashing liquid and pressed it into the basin. Then she opened the plastic bag, grabbed the fluff and carefully put it into the large basin.
Lin Cuihe stirred it slowly, and soon the basin was full of bubbles.
“Okay, let it soak until it reaches water temperature, then rub it. After rubbing it vigorously, rinse it with hot water several times, soak it with disinfectant, and rinse it with water several times again, until it is rinsed with clear water. Take it out and put it in a cloth bag, wring out the water, and finally put it in the pot and steam it like steamed buns for half an hour.” It’s a pity that there are no lemons here, otherwise I would cut some lemon slices and put them in a cotton bag to steam them together, and the duck down and goose down would have a lemon scent.
After the down is steamed, rinse it with water, wring it out and air dry it, then pat it after it is dried. Purely sun-dried duck and goose down is not fluffy enough, so put it in the dryer for a while, and the down will be completely spread out and fluffy enough. If you don't have a dryer, you can use a hair dryer, but it's more troublesome.
"Yeah." Lin Cuihe felt heartbroken when she saw how much soap was poured in. She couldn't say anything else and could only wait for the water to warm up.
Lin Xiatao just wanted to wash the fur before her grandma woke up, so she didn't know how to use soap. However, "Sister Zisu, you are so awesome!" Lin Xiatao lowered her voice, "The grandma and aunts, every time you wash the fur, it still stinks after drying."
Lin Zisu quickly waved her hands, "No, no, no, it was my mother who forced me to wash my fur a few times that made me remember it."
Lin Xiatao glanced around and whispered, "It's great to have Fourth Aunt as a mother."
"Wow, there are so many bubbles!" Lin Qiuyue came over, reached out to touch the bubbles, and quickly retracted her hand, "It's so hot!" Looking at the plastic bag on the ground, "Zi Su, what kind of cloth is this bag made of?"
"Um... I heard that it seems to be made of... the white juice of a tree in the south?" Lin Zisu thought about the words.
"Juice can be used to make cloth?" Lin Qiuyue blinked her big eyes.
"This is not cloth. This is all I know, and I heard it from others. Otherwise, you can go ask my dad. He might know..." Lin Zisu frowned, looking like she didn't know either.
Lin Qiuyue quickly shook her head, "I'm not going."
"We have to wait for the water to warm up. I'll wash the bag and hang it up." Lin Zisu picked up the bag and stood up.
Lin Cuihe stood up and said, "I'll wash it, I'll wash it, don't fall into the well."
"I can wash, sister, please help me get a bucket of water." Lin Zisu stuck her head out to take a look at the well below, then retracted it.
Finally, Lin Cuihe rubbed the plastic bags with wood ash water, rinsed them several times, and hung them on the wooden fence to dry.
Lin Xiatao was full of curiosity. "Wow, this bag is great. It can even hold water!"
Lin Qiuyue said excitedly, "It's so light to hold, and it doesn't leak even when filled with water! This bag is more useful than a wooden barrel!"
"Do people in the city use this kind of bag? It's very expensive, right?" Lin Cuihe asked, looking at the dripping plastic bag.
"I don't know. My mother gave it to me. This bag is not made of cloth. It can hold water, but it is easily scratched and cannot be used as a bucket!"
The three of them turned around and looked at Lin Zisu, "Ah?!" They should have said so earlier.
"It's okay. I'll ask my mom to get a cloth bag to put the fluff in later." After saying that, Lin Zisu ran to the front yard.