Chapter 118 Clean to the End
The sky began to turn pale and gradually brightened.
The fully armed staff opened the furnace door, picked up bags of hair, and threw the hair and bags into the blazing fire. The staff quickly closed the furnace door for fear that lice would jump out.
Hundreds of men and women were busy cutting their hair and bathing all night. The white steam in the bathroom made the room look like clouds and white.
Lin Zisu finally didn't have to sleep with the smell of stench. There was only a faint smell of herbs in the room. After taking a shower last night, she drank some water in the lounge and rested for a while. Then she was led by the staff to another room to put on a new cotton coat, thick pants, and new cotton shoes.
After going out and smelling the cool and fresh air, we followed the staff to another house, also a cement house. There was a kang in the house, which made everyone very happy, as they were familiar with kangs.
There were clean beddings on the kang, all of which were beige, not dyed. The children rolled around and laughed happily on the kang, but were held back by the adults and not allowed to move.
Everyone wrapped their heads with towels, and evenly sprinkled the powder on their hair that had been dried in the rest room. Then they wrapped themselves tightly with towels and went to sleep to rest. They also had to wrap themselves during the day until they went to the bathroom to wash their hair and take a bath after dinner.
Even the four dogs were bathed and sprinkled with powder, but the bags could not cover them. The staff asked the dog owners to take the dogs into the bathroom for a bath. Just like people, they were given towels and gray-green soap. After the people and dogs were washed, they went to the lounge to rest and dry.
Lin Zisu and Shen Xianglan covered their heads and slept on one side. They also sprinkled their heads with medicine powder just in case. If they had no lice during the journey, they would be devastated if they had a head full of lice after sleeping.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, the staff called everyone to go to the canteen for breakfast, and they went to the canteen to line up for food. When everyone arrived at the canteen, there were already people queuing up, regardless of gender.
Lin Zisu looked at Old Man Lin and asked in confusion: "Grandpa, why are you wrapping your head? Didn't you cut your hair?"
"I cut it, why didn't I? I cut my hair, but I always felt cold on my head, so I wrapped it up!" Old man Lin touched his head. It was the first time in his life that he had his hair cut completely, and he was not used to it. But it was really convenient to wash his hair, and it would dry as soon as he wiped it.
Lin Xianwen had a haircut, showered, and slept for a night. Now he was all comfortable. "Oh! Everyone has a new hairstyle! Not bad, not bad!"
"Stop talking nonsense and go line up." Lin Youcai pushed his son forward.
"Sister Shen, you are here." Liang Laidi came over to greet them, holding one of his daughters' hands.
"Yes! Xiaoye and Xiaoya took a bath and had their hair cut. They look so beautiful!" Shen Xianglan teased the two little girls.
The two little girls also had towels wrapped around their heads. Their black eyes looked particularly big on their thin faces. They looked in good spirits and shyly hid behind their mother.
"Let's go line up and chat while we line up." Shen Xianglan called everyone to line up.
After breakfast, everyone returned to their room. The staff took out a book to count the number of people and checked the cards in everyone's hands. Then they asked everyone to go to the laundry room to wash clothes. The laundry room had a cement platform with wooden washboards, wooden basins, hammers, and laundry soap on it.
The room is not cold because there is a fire wall. There are water pipes and sinks on the table. When you turn on the faucet to wash clothes, the sewage will flow down the sink into the ditch outside the house, saving the effort of fetching water and pouring it.
There is a slope on the other side of the house, not too steep, just to allow water to flow to the sink. There are many wooden racks here for hanging clothes, and the water dripping from the clothes flows down the slope into the sink and out of the house.
Except for lunch, everyone was doing laundry in the laundry room. The laundry room has two large rooms, which can accommodate 200 people to do laundry, but there were many people this time, so they still had to queue up to do laundry.
The old ladies brought all the quilt covers, sheets, blankets, etc. to wash in the laundry room. It was so convenient to wash things in this laundry room. If there was not enough space to dry them, there was an open-air clothes drying rack outside the house.
Lin Zisu and Shen Xianglan were washing clothes in the RV, without having to go to the laundry room. Old Lady Wang's two meat jars were already empty, and she guarded them tightly to prevent them from being thrown away, and then moved them to the oxcart. The cot could be fully put down, and the washing machine could be used.
In addition to the mother and daughter, there were more than a dozen children in the RV. The women were busy washing clothes, and the men were helping to wring out the water and hang them out to dry. The two of them did not need to go to the laundry room, so they just looked after the younger children.
Men would not have done it originally, but were asked to do it by the staff. First, there was no gender distinction in the work, and anyone who could work had to do it; second, more people worked together, so the laundry went faster, and there were many people waiting in line behind them.
The staff asked if you would enter the city tomorrow or not? People and luggage were not clean, so they were not allowed to enter the city.
Everyone worked like clockwork for a day, had dinner, took a bath and washed their hair, and then went back to sleep.
At daybreak, the staff woke everyone up and had breakfast. Everyone lined up to collect yesterday's laundry. There was a fire wall in the room, so the thin clothes and pants were already dry, but the thick ones were still a little wet.
The staff repeatedly reminded us not to take things carelessly or take the wrong things, and if we cause a dispute, we will not be allowed to enter the city today.
There are special staff to check the health of livestock, and dogs, cows and mules are dewormed both internally and externally.
Lin Zisu deeply admired the ruler of this country. He was a very particular person, especially one who loved cleanliness.
When everyone had packed their luggage and lined up to enter the city, one staff member held a loudspeaker, one held a large stack of bills, and one held a notebook to check the signs and register.
Lin Zisu took the bill from her father, and every detail was written clearly. The expenses after boarding the ship: ship fare, food expenses, accommodation fees; for families with livestock, there are also livestock placement fees, feed fees, sanitation fees, and care fees.
Expenses after disembarking: hair cut, bath, towel, soap, new clothes, new shoes, accommodation, meals, laundry, hair deworming fee. If you have livestock, you will have to pay for deworming and care of the livestock.
Lin Zisu's family has a big black cat, two livestock, and a large population, so their expenses are higher than other families.
If she hadn't seen the bill, which listed a lot of expenses but was not expensive, she would have thought that Heguo made a fortune from this.
Although Lin Zisu didn't know how much the prices were in the country, she saw the prices on the list, which were set according to modern calculations and prices. So she thought the price was not expensive, and she added a little to the cost. The boat ticket was really cheap, but the people here didn't understand, and the fuel cost for a family of four was estimated to be huge.
The oil money is even subsidized, probably to attract population. Most of these people are poor people and cannot produce much oil.
Everyone looked at the bill, but few people understood it. It was written in Chinese characters and the numbers were Arabic numerals.
The crowd was in an uproar, and the staff member said slowly: "Don't panic, everyone. There is not much on the bill, and you don't need to pay now. The fees on the bill will be settled in the city. Don't throw away the bill and the sign, bring them with you into the city. After you settle down in the city, you can pay these fees slowly. There are many jobs in the city. As long as you are diligent, you can make money."