Chapter 198: ‘Subtle Fragrance’

Yan Lao’er couldn’t wait and wanted to start working immediately.

Yan Yu gathered her little child workers again.

As soon as they heard the Yan family had work, the children were eager, rubbing their hands in excitement and arriving quickly.

Yan Yu skillfully assigned them tasks.

Wood ash, soapberry powder, and dried flower powder were still exchanged for work points for the kids.

Yan Lao’er was responsible for the lard, sugar, and bean powder.

The task of pounding pig pancreas was left to the older boys—practice makes perfect.

Her only job was quality control.

Everything was progressing in an orderly fashion.

She suddenly smacked her forehead—she had just remembered something important: the shape.

Appearance was crucial. Whether it was what her family had made before or what the shop sold, everything was always round.

So she decided—they would make square ones!

She had watched handmade soap-making videos before and never got tired of the final step: cutting the soap. The sound was especially satisfying—one clean slice at a time, neatly portioning the soap blocks. It was practically therapy for anyone with OCD.

Considering the materials at hand, she realized unmolding might be tricky. Long soap bars were out of the question. The best solution was to use small molds, like mooncake molds, pressing the scented soap into square shapes.

She put thought into action.

She went to find Uncle Qi Wu.

“Uncle Qi Wu, can you make me a wooden frame about this big?” Yan Yu gestured with her hands.

Qi Wu was painting a beam when he heard her request. He put down his work and, after listening to her explanation, casually picked up some wood scraps from the ground.

It wasn’t a complicated request—just a simple square frame. To Qi Wu, it was an easy task.

Yan Yu waited and took it as soon as it was done.

She also picked up a few discarded wood pieces from his pile and brought them back.

Filling the wooden frame with sticky scented soap, making sure the corners were packed tightly, Yan Yu pressed it down with a small wooden stick…

The soft soap dropped out in a roughly square shape.

Failure!

Yan Yu squatted down and examined the deformed soap.

She wasn’t discouraged.

Failure is the mother of success. And since the mother had arrived, her little creation wasn’t far from success either.

She sensed the issue—it wasn’t hard enough yet.

She needed to wait longer, let the soap dry a bit more.

…

Meanwhile, Yan Lao’er had already rolled the scented soap into little balls.

Once Yan Yu felt the timing was right, she began her second attempt at shaping.

She pressed the pre-rolled soap balls into the wooden frame—only to find there was extra space. Even though the balls had seemed smaller than squares, they left room to spare.

Yan Yu pondered this and became even more determined to shape them into squares.

Repeating the previous steps, this time, the soap was firm enough. Success on the first try!

The only issue was a small imprint left by the wooden stick.

Yan Yu recalled how handmade soap makers liked to stamp their soaps…

Looking at the small wooden stick in her hand, she decided to make her own stamp.

Various designs flashed through her mind.

Subtle Fragrance!

The color was a little dull, but it smelled wonderful.

Ahahaha!

No, no—the full line should be “A subtle fragrance drifts at dusk”—now that had real poetic charm.

Though it was originally a description of plum blossoms, she could always make a plum blossom-scented version later to match.

These two characters needed to be beautifully written.

Her first thought was Old Yan.

But then she reconsidered—her uncle was going to be an important official one day. Having his calligraphy stamped on soap seemed beneath him.

Better if she did it herself.

Thinking this, Yan Yu boldly wrote the characters ‘Subtle Fragrance’ on a wooden block.

Then she realized a problem—shouldn’t it be written in reverse?

She scratched her head.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cat lying obediently next to her mother.

A few steps later, she scooped the cat up and brought it back.

“Kitty, take a look at these two characters. Can you scratch them in reverse for me? Reverse, you get it? So when I stamp them, they come out the right way.”

The cat stared at her with amber eyes, then licked its paw.

Its little paw pad touched the other end of the wooden block.

Yan Yu’s eyes lit up. “Yes, yes! Like a reflection in a mirror! You can do it, right?”

The cat nodded. Its sharp claws extended, ready to scratch.

Yan Yu quickly stopped it, holding its little paw. After a moment’s thought, she asked, “This wood isn’t very durable. Can we carve it into stone instead?”

The cat nodded again.

Yan Yu lifted it up and spun around happily.

The girl and the cat then crouched down, searching the ground for a suitable stone.

Finally, they found a perfectly sized, comfortable-to-hold strip of stone.

Yan Yu added another request: “The soap is square, so the stamp should be round—it’ll look better. Also, let’s add an anti-counterfeit mark. Hide a tiny ‘Yan’ character in the border. Don’t get it? I’ll write it for you. Here, shrink it down and place it along the edge…”

With precision, the cat scratched out an oval shape as requested. Then, its paws moved like lightning across the stone, carving out the details.

When Yan Yu pressed a soap ball into the wooden frame again, she felt like a champion returning to claim victory.

A firm press!

A standard oval imprint appeared on the square soap.

The words ‘Subtle Fragrance’ stood out clearly against the grayish soap block, instantly elevating its classiness.

Yan Yu beamed, rushing to show off her masterpiece to her parents.

“Ha! This is the extra batch—cut from the small wooden frame! It looks like more, but actually uses less material. And with my carefully designed brand stamp, doesn’t it look high-end?!”

At first glance, Yan Lao’er smacked his thigh in excitement.

“My brilliant daughter! This is exactly what I was thinking—identical products need unique selling points. This is our edge! This is how we charge a higher price!”

Yan Yu modestly said, “I just borrowed some ideas—it’s nothing. The key thing is, it saves materials. Hehehe, one extra soap sold means extra money.”

At this moment, the two money-grubbers could only see shiny silver taels in their eyes.

Li Xuemei advised, “Don’t take too many at once. Test the waters first. The shop might not be buying stock—they could be making their own. If they do buy, don’t insist on a high price. This shape can be copied anytime—it’s just novel for the first look.”

Yan Yu said, “I added an anti-counterfeit mark.” She pointed it out to her parents.

Li Xuemei: …

Yan Lao’er: …

“Daughter, never mind whether people can even see it—our soap… it doesn’t deserve this!” Yan Lao’er spoke the harsh truth.

Li Xuemei nodded in agreement.

Yan Yu blinked at her square soaps.

Her father had a point.

Why had she even thought of adding an anti-counterfeit mark?

It was just soap—it dissolved with use. It didn’t need to bear such weighty expectations.

It wasn’t like they were the only ones making it—who were they even guarding against?

She laughed awkwardly. “Uh… just did it for fun.”

At least no one could really see it.

The soaps had to endure the cleansing of sunlight and breeze, weathering time before they became a finished product.

And while they waited, something major happened in Crouching Tiger City.