Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

It looked alright during the day, but at night, when you looked through the moonlight, the snowman, half silver and half black, standing there looked like several monsters hiding in the shadows, which was a bit creepy.

Xiao Ran glanced at it a couple more times, then simply drew the curtains shut, out of sight, out of mind.

The first thing Xiao Ran did after getting up the next morning was to look at the snowman in the yard.

The snowmen were still standing there, perfectly fine. Thinking back to last night, Xiao Ran considered throwing them away, but then he thought of the little princess and gave up on the idea.

"Forget it, Sizi and the others worked so hard to build it, let's just keep it." Xiao Ran sighed.

He was caught off guard last night, but now that he knows what happened, he'll definitely not be scared anymore.

With that in mind, Xiao Ran cheered himself up and started practicing Tai Chi with Sun Simiao.

Before long, Li Lizhi and the others also joined in.

To Xiao Ran's surprise, the little princess and the other kids also got up and started practicing Tai Chi.

Although the little princess didn't do many of the actions perfectly, her serious expression made her look incredibly cute.

After finishing one round of Tai Chi, Xiao Ran picked up the little princess.

"Why did you wake up so early today, Sizi?"

The little princess said with a grin, "Wow, I love the snowman!"

It turns out the little princess got up early to check if her snowman was still there.

Xiao Ran shook his head helplessly and weighed the little princess in his hand.

"Now that we've finished looking at the snowman, let's go eat and then go to class."

The little princess became even more energetic when food was mentioned.

"Okay~ Seven Rice Duck~"

Xiao Ran carried the little princess to the dining table before putting her down.

Breakfast this morning was the same as usual, and the little princess still had a great appetite.

After breakfast, Xiao Ran changed the little princesses' clothes and took them to school.

The current curriculum for these children mainly focuses on recognizing characters; it's not time for them to learn historical books and classics yet.

Sun Simiao's class was the only exception, so these children really enjoyed attending Sun Simiao's class.

The class time passed quickly. Apart from going to the glass workshop once in the morning, Xiao Ran spent the whole morning at home waiting for the little princess to finish her get out of class.

"Little Nang-kun~ I'm here!"

The little princess ran towards Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran touched the little princess's hand.

"Was it cold on the way back?"

The little princess shook her head, "No way!"

Then, the little princess suddenly twitched her nose.

"It smells so good!"

Xiao Ran affectionately tapped the little princess's nose.

"You have such a keen sense of smell, I made braised pork today."

The little princess's eyes lit up instantly.

“Again~”

Xiao Ran helped the little princess wash her hands, and then they sat down to eat.

In the very center of the dining table were several plates of braised pork, rich and dark in sauce, which looked very appetizing.

Xiao Ran placed a piece of braised pork on the little princess's plate.

"Sizi, see if it tastes good."

The little princess quickly picked up the braised pork and put it in her mouth.

"Good job, Seven Ducks~"

In return, the little princess also put a piece on Xiao Ran's plate.

Xiao Ran tasted it, and it did indeed taste good.

Seeing that the little ones were small and had short arms, Xiao Ran simply moved the braised pork closer to Princess Chengyang and the other little ones.

Anyway, there was more than one plate of braised pork. Those two plates were closer to the little ones, and the rest was enough for Xiao Ran and the others to eat.

The little princess looked at the braised pork that was right in front of her and started eating it one piece after another without Xiao Ran serving it to her.

Xiao Ran took a small bowl and ladled out several bowls of tofu soup.

"You little ones, don't just eat the meat, drink some soup too."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran placed the bowls of soup in front of the little ones, one bowl for each of them. The bowls contained not only soup but also tofu.

A balanced diet of meat and vegetables is essential; you can't just eat meat all the time.

Fortunately, the little ones also love tofu. The little princess even squinted her eyes after taking a bite of tofu.

"Good job, Seven Ducks~"

The tofu is also stewed in bone broth, making it soft, tender, and with a meaty aroma.

Inside, everyone was having lunch and chatting, while outside, it started snowing without anyone noticing.

"Snow~" After finishing her meal, the little princess saw that it was snowing outside and wanted to run out to build a snowman again, but Xiao Ran quickly stopped her.

“Be good, Sizi. We built enough snowmen yesterday.”

Yesterday was a sunny day, so we went out to play for a while. But we couldn't let the little princesses play outside in the snow. What if they got sick?

The little princess tilted her head and thought for a moment.

"No snowman here~ I'm going out to play duck~"

The little princess just wants to go out and play.

She was getting a little tired of playing with building blocks, because they were just a few small cubes and there wasn't much to do with them.

It's snowing outside now. Even if we don't build a snowman, the little princess would be happy to go out and run around for a while, but Xiao Ran still refused.

"It will be very cold when it snows, and you'll easily get sick if you go out. How about we stay home and play?"

The little princess cupped her face in her hands.

"What are you guys playing then?"

Xiao Ran thought for a moment and said, "How about I teach you how to make soap?"

The little princess doesn't care what she does, as long as she has something to play with.

"Okay, okay~"

Princess Chengyang and a few other little ones, including Yan Yao, also came over.

Yan Yao asked, "What is soap?"

Xiao Ran said, "Scented soap is like scented soap, similar to the bath soap you usually use, but it's better and smells better."

The little princess quickly raised her hand.

"I want to make something fragrant~"

Xiao Ran smiled, "Okay, make Xiangxiang."

The other little ones were also ignited with interest, making their own novel things, which was much more attractive than simply playing games!

Xiao Ran instructed people to prepare things, and after the things were ready, the little ones sat around a low table.

On the table sat a ceramic jar of soap, a basin of lye water, a small jar of honey, a dish of fine salt, and several small porcelain bottles. The small porcelain bottles contained dried flower powder.

There were roses, Chinese roses, chrysanthemums, and so on. These were all obtained from Sun Simiao, because these flowers were also medicinal materials.

There was even sandalwood powder.

Although the soap made without essential oils certainly wouldn't smell as good, it was just something Xiao Ran was doing with them, and the process was the most important thing.

Xiao Ran pointed to the basin of alkaline water and said, "Si Zi and Fan Yin, would you like to filter this alkaline water?"

The two little princesses nodded quickly, stepped forward, took the gauze, and carefully filtered the alkaline water into another clean copper basin.

Di Renjie was assigned to pound pancreatic soap, which is made from lard, bean flour, and other ingredients. Di Renjie's task was to pound the pancreatic soap into powder.

Princess Gaoyang and Third Sister Yan Yao were assigned to grind the perfume powder into a finer powder using a small stone mill.

In an instant, the living room was filled with a busy yet orderly scene. The children each received a task and felt that they had a heavy responsibility, so they worked with extra enthusiasm.

Xiao Ran was responsible for heating a basin of water. After the alkaline water was filtered, it would need to be heated again in a double boiler.

Princess Chengyang suddenly asked, "Young master, what happens if the lye water gets hot?"

"Heating the alkaline water allows it to blend better with the oils, resulting in a smooth and delicate soap," Xiao Ran explained patiently.

"Then why add honey and salt?" Princess Gaoyang asked.

"Honey makes the soap more moisturizing, so your skin won't feel dry after washing. Salt makes the soap harder, less likely to melt, and allows it to be stored for longer." Xiao Ran was like a patient chemistry teacher, even though he used language that children could understand.

After all the preliminary preparations were completed, Xiao Ran slowly poured the soap powder that Di Renjie had crushed into the warm alkaline water, stirring it slowly in one direction with a smooth wooden stick as he poured.

"Come on, now we need everyone's help. This is a very patient job. We need to keep stirring until they are completely combined and become as thick as porridge."

The little ones immediately gathered around, eager to try.

"I'll go first!" Princess Gaoyang took the wooden stick and stirred vigorously, but her movements were a bit too forceful, splashing a few water droplets.

"Seventeen, slow down, apply force evenly, and in one direction," Xiao Ran quickly corrected.

Next was Princess Chengyang, who stirred very gently and carefully.

The little princess also clamored to try it, so Xiao Ran took her hand and slowly stirred it with her.

Di Renjie, San Niang, and Yan Yao then took turns making their moves.

The stirring process was indeed long and tedious. At first, the lye water and soap powder were clearly separate, but with continuous stirring, they began to slowly blend together, the color gradually became uniform, and the texture gradually became thicker from a thin soup.

However, the little ones' arms were starting to ache; their initial excitement had worn off, and they were showing signs of fatigue.

"Little Nang-jun~ I'm so tired~" The little princess raised her little arms.

"I can barely lift my arms anymore," Princess Gaoyang said, shaking her arms.

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "Then how about I take care of it?"

The little ones were indeed tired, so Xiao Ran took over stirring.

However, after Xiao Ran stirred for a while, the little ones, having rested, came to help again.

Finally, with everyone taking turns working hard, the mixture in the basin became like a thick rice paste, leaving a clear mark when lifted with a wooden stick.

Xiao Ran dipped his finger in the mixture and gently rubbed it between his fingers, finding it slippery and somewhat sticky.

"Alright! Mission accomplished, first step complete!" Xiao Ran announced.

The little ones cheered instantly, as if they had won a battle.

Next, we will add the auxiliary materials and pour the mixture into the mold.

Xiao Ran added a small spoonful of honey and a little fine salt to the thick soap solution, stirred it well again, and then took out several small bowls to divide the soap solution into them.

"Now, it's your turn to get creative! Each of you choose a favorite scent, add it to your portion of soap liquid, stir well, and then you can choose a mold to pour it in!"

However, since making soap was a spur-of-the-moment thing, Xiao Ran didn't prepare any molds and just used a few bamboo tubes as molds, since there wasn't much else to choose from.

Even though everyone was using bamboo tubes, the little ones still carefully chose the bamboo tubes that caught their eye.

Then it's time to choose face powder.

The little princess chose roses, while the Chengyang little princess and the Gaoyang little princess both chose roses.

Di Renjie chose a powder made from a medicinal herb.

Xiao Ran didn't know exactly what kind of medicinal herbs they were, since they had all been ground into powder.

San Niang and Yan Yao looked around, and one chose sandalwood, while the other chose mint.

They carefully added the scented powder to the soap solution with a small silver spoon, stirring meticulously, afraid of any unevenness.

Then, the soap mixture infused with fragrance powder is poured into the mold, which is a bamboo tube.

Fearing they might not be able to tell them apart, Xiao Ran specially engraved the little guy's name on the bamboo tube, so as not to take the wrong one.

Looking at the rows of bamboo tubes by the window, the little princess couldn't resist touching the still-soft soap, but Xiao Ran stopped her in time: "Sizi, you can't touch them yet. They're still soft. You have to leave them here and wait quietly overnight until they harden before you can unmold them."

"Wokji Island~" The little princess was a little disappointed, but when she saw the bamboo tube engraved with her name, she still nodded obediently.

The bamboo tube was left there, and the little ones would go over to check on it every now and then.

Xiao Ran ignored them and let them play by themselves.

Just then, Li Lizhi came over with a sandbag.

"Young master, the sandbag is finished. It's filled with the millet you mentioned. Is it like this?"

Xiao Ran took the sandbag, squeezed it, and nodded. "Yes, this is it."

Then, Xiao Ran looked at the little princess and the others.

"Sizi Fanyin Seventeen, and Sanniang Yan Yao Di Renjie, do you guys want to play beanbag?"

After saying this, Xiao Ran let out a long sigh of relief.

There are so many children in this family that it's almost exhausting to call their names.

The little princess came running over.

"Little Nang-kun~ What's this?"

The little princess looked at the sandbag in Xiao Ran's hand and said...

Xiao Ran tossed the sandbag up and down.

"This is a beanbag. Come on, I'll teach you how to play."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran began to explain the rules.

In essence, it's just two people throwing beanbags at each other, with the person in the middle either catching or dodging the beanbag. Unless they catch the beanbag, they lose if they get hit by it.

The rules are simple and easy to understand, yet dynamic and competitive, which immediately piqued the children's interest.

The living room is spacious enough that by removing some obstructive low tables and cushions, it becomes a simple playground.

Xiao Ran, Li Lizhi, Princess Yuzhang, and Zhang Erya, two people on each side, played beanbag toss.

The little princess and the other little ones were responsible for hiding in the middle.

A group of little ones ran around in the middle, screaming and laughing.

Xiao Ran and the others mainly wanted to play with these little guys, so they just let them go to sea.

The little princess was too small to run fast, so Xiao Ran deliberately threw the beanbags slower and to a different angle, giving her a chance to dodge or catch them. Whenever she successfully caught a beanbag, she would jump up happily, her little face flushed, like a happy lark.

The most eye-catching among them was Princess Gaoyang.

Her reactions were incredibly quick and agile; she dodged and weaved, managing to avoid almost all the sandbags.

The little ones were having a blast, their joyful laughter, screams, and cheers filling the living room. The cold winter seemed to be shut out, leaving only warmth and energy inside. (End of Chapter)