It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Newton's cheeks flushed slightly with excitement. She exclaimed happily, "With this paper, that old bastard Hope certainly won't be able to make things difficult for me!"

If all else fails, I can always go to Oxford to graduate... Li Cheng thought to himself, then said, "It's almost finished with the revisions. Do you have any other questions?"

"I have a few other questions..."

Afterwards, Li Cheng casually mentioned Newton, successfully fooling the other party into leaving the room.

After Newton left, he went to the window.

A huge floor-to-ceiling mirror next to him reflected his figure. He was a tall and handsome young man wearing clothes that didn't fit him well, with the trousers slightly shorter than his legs... Li Cheng had put away his original modern clothes and was now wearing some clothes that he had found on the spot that were in line with the times.

"Newton's 'universal gravitation' is almost finished. Judging by the time, I should be heading to London soon... Ha, helping the suppressed genius girl Newton defeat the evil old professor, this script sounds so cliché. But luckily I'm here, I don't want to be so cliché."

Li Cheng murmured, "But London... it would be a lie to say I'm not curious."

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Li Cheng took out a diary from under his pillow. It contained some unimportant events recorded in simplified Chinese characters since his transmigration. Partly to deepen his memory, and also as... a small memento.

[On August 7th, through some subtle tricks, I temporarily gained Newton's trust and moved into her house... Hmm, could this be considered a free ride in some sense? No, no, no, can you call something like this a prostitution deal? At most, it's just a middleman making a small profit. Besides, I even told her a bedtime story last night.]

On August 8th, the world was even more chaotic than I imagined. Not only did Newton become a 16-year-old genius girl, but she also owned an estate and went from being a poor peasant to a wealthy landlord.

She owns land and a house, is an orphan, and is young and promising. Who knows, she might even be granted a noble title if her research progresses. This template is amazing! Maybe I should just make her the protagonist, and I'll just be a tool to fawn over her... well, fawn over her in every sense of the word, a tool in every sense of the word.

With that in mind, I tried to build a good relationship with Newton. Actually, putting aside my psychological barriers, Newton was quite handsome—a cute oval face with big, beautiful eyes. I had to put in the effort and bring out all the fun things from my past life to win him over... Lolita and rich girl don't matter; I just wanted to find a sense of warmth and belonging in this cold and unfamiliar world.

I still need to find a way to make some money on August 9th. My identity isn't legitimate. Although I'm getting along quite well with Newton so far, what if he gets tired of me and kicks me out one day? Would I end up sleeping on the streets? No way!

On August 10th, I tried to write down those famous works, becoming a plagiarist, and it went quite smoothly.

Newton truly lived up to her reputation as a genius girl; in just two days, she almost mastered universal gravitation. I dared not answer some of the questions she asked, fearing I might give away too much spoiler… I need to hurry too, or I'll embarrass the transmigrators.

......

The record is up to yesterday; I haven't written today's entry yet.

Li Cheng grasped the pen and wrote the first sentence in his diary.

[August 12th. Hehe, who writes a diary if they're a decent person? I'm not writing one anymore... Okay, actually, I suddenly realized that I remember everything that happened before I transmigrated perfectly, so I don't need to use a diary at all—it's a potentially dangerous tool that could get me killed.]

thump—

The room door was suddenly pushed open with a loud bang. In this house, there was only one person who dared to treat a guest like that.

"Li Cheng, I have something else to tell you... Huh, what's this?"

After a few days, Miss Newton had become quite familiar with Li Cheng and was calling him by the nickname revealed by Comrade Eberle Li himself: Li Cheng.

Seeing Li Cheng writing something, Newton tiptoed over Li Cheng's arm and peered at the desk: "It looks a bit like a diary, but it uses a script I've never seen before, somewhat like the ancient script discovered in archaeological excavations across the Euphrates." She mistook simplified Chinese characters for cuneiform, but it wasn't far off.

Li Cheng, sweating profusely, replied evasively, "I'm just recording some research notes each day. What do you need?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just went out and bumped into a few maids standing at the door."

Newton looked away and continued, "They told me they were catching mice. You should be careful not to get bitten."

mouse?

Li Cheng's brows furrowed immediately.

Between 1665 and 1666, a plague broke out in London, the culprit being rats. People at the time were unaware of this, and instead, the hunting of cats and dogs caused the epidemic to spiral out of control.

Newton returned to this country estate for refuge for the same reason... Could I be that unlucky? Historically, epidemics have mainly broken out in the London area, with surrounding areas effectively contained. Could it be that I've strayed from the main outbreak zone?

We need to find Freya right away...

Li Cheng stood up and left the room.

Chapter Eight: The Demon Man

Freya is the head maid of the Newton family, responsible for coordinating all matters within the castle and taking care of Newton's daily life.

When Li Cheng found Freya in the garden, she was tending to the flowers.

Despite her simple black and white maid dress, Freya became the sole focus of attention amidst the vibrant flowers and dazzling colors surrounding her.

Li Cheng looked at the two fruits among the myriad flowers, secretly gave them a thumbs up, and then waved and greeted them, "Very diligent, Freya."

Freya stopped what she was doing and bowed slightly to him: "This is my duty as head maid."

Li Cheng lowered his hand that was waving hello: "There's something I need to tell you. Newton just came to me and said that there are rats in the castle recently. I'm asking if you could find a few cats to keep them."

Freya was taken aback: "The mouse... Miss Newton said that?"

Li Cheng nodded and said, "Yes."

Freya recalled the night a few days ago when Newton asked her to sleep with him; Newton's lie at the time was that he had encountered a mouse.

She couldn't help but smile, then quickly composed herself, pinching the hem of her skirt and bowing again: "Understood, I will arrange it... Also, Mr. Li, the things you asked me to prepare a couple of days ago have been ready and are temporarily stored in the kitchen. Would you like me to take you there?"

What a capable head maid... Li Cheng said calmly, "Hmm."

So the two walked through the garden and corridor to the kitchen courtyard. It was usually bustling with activity all day long, preparing meals for the castle's servants, but since it was just past mealtime, there wasn't much of a crowd.

"Everything you need is piled up here. If you need anything else, just let me know."

Freya pointed to a pile of items in the corner.

Quicklime, several iron basins, lard, molds, soda ash... all the things he needed, nothing was missing.

After confirming that everything was correct, Li Cheng nodded: "Thank you very much."

Freya smiled and said, "You're welcome. Meeting the guests' requests is the Newton family's way of hospitality."

Hmm? That sounds a bit strange... Could it be that I've been too obvious about trying to improve my relationship with Newton these past few days, and he noticed?

After a brief period of fruitless thought, Li Cheng put the question aside.

He demanded these things because he wanted to create his first trump card after time travel, so he planned to make soap.

As a well-known keyboard warrior who knows a little about everything and a third-rate online literature enthusiast, Li Cheng's professional skills are limited to making soap.

It's simple to make (the key) and easy to promote. It only requires simple oils and lye to make. In his previous life, Li Cheng had seen many DIY soap-making groups and read many related novels. Even if he hadn't eaten pork, he had seen pigs run.

He first reviewed the key points of the saponification reaction in his mind: strong alkali + oil, the two react together to produce soap.

The oils were not difficult to obtain; the problem Li Cheng needed to solve was producing strong alkali.

Alkali also exists in this era, such as wood ash, kelp ash, and natural soda ash... but these are not strong alkalis.

The main component of wood ash is potassium carbonate. Not only is the production process difficult, but the quality of the soap is also substandard, containing too many impurities, and it cannot make a strong impression at first glance.

Natural soda ash, also known as baking soda, is mainly composed of sodium carbonate. It is not alkaline enough, making it relatively difficult to produce, and it is easy to make into liquid soap.

Li Cheng needs caustic soda, which is more alkaline.

Caustic soda's chemical name is sodium hydroxide, with the chemical formula NaOH. It's simple to produce: soda ash reacts with slaked lime to produce calcium carbonate and caustic soda.

Na2CO3+Ca(OH)2==CaCO3+2NaOH

The soda ash needed to make caustic soda can be bought because there are natural soda ash mines available. Although it is a bit expensive, it is still acceptable. However, in the previous life, no one would have done this because soda ash was more expensive than caustic soda.

Li Cheng first washed his hands, then found a wooden basin, poured half a basin of water into it, picked up a few pieces of quicklime from the corner of the wall and put them into the water. With a "hissing" sound, steam rose from the wooden basin and water splashed up.

Freya was puzzled and asked, "Mr. Li, what's going on?"

"Just make something simple."

As Li Cheng spoke, he poured half a can of soda ash into the lime water.

Although quicklime wasn't anything valuable, this careless waste was still hard for the thrifty Freya to accept. She frowned slightly, but quickly returned to normal.

Li Cheng didn't notice Freya's behavior. He was concentrating on stirring the pot with a clean stick, praying that nothing would go wrong, otherwise his meager chemical knowledge would be completely wasted.

As the stirring continued, the originally turbid limewater became clear, and small stones were deposited at the bottom of the wooden basin.

Li Cheng understood that this was a sign of a successful response, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

Freya, who had never witnessed such a scene before, was astonished. She exclaimed in surprise, "Mr. Li, what have you done? Why are there stones in the water? Do you possess witchcraft?"

What the hell is witchcraft and sorcery? I do know a little bit about it.

Li Cheng glanced at her sideways: "This is called chemistry. Although it looks amazing, you mustn't tell anyone else and make me sound like a witch."

Although the Renaissance had already dealt a blow to the Papacy's influence, such jokes were not to be made lightly, and Li Cheng did not want to be arrested and tried.

Besides, what if he, a man, was judged as a demon? Would that be outrageous? Who knows, history books might one day say, "On [date], 1666, Abel Lee, who co-discovered universal gravitation with Newton, was arrested and burned by the Church as a demon." That would truly be a disgrace to time travelers.

"Mr. Li, you can rest assured, I won't say anything nonsense," Freya assured him, then added, "There are more and more stones in the basin."

With Li Cheng's continued stirring, the reaction in the wooden basin became more and more complete, and more calcium carbonate was deposited.

Seeing this, Li Cheng said, "Go and start a fire for me, I need to cook something later. Also, boil a pot of water over there."

Quicklime reacts with water to produce slaked lime (calcium hydroxide). The slaked lime then reacts with sodium carbonate to produce sodium hydroxide and calcium carbonate. Sodium hydroxide dissolves in water, while calcium carbonate precipitates at the bottom. Heating the solution and allowing the water to evaporate yields caustic soda. The hot water is used later.

Freya didn't understand, but she did as she was told and went to the kitchen to start a fire.

After Li Cheng poured the sodium hydroxide solution from the wooden basin into another clean earthenware pot and carried it into the kitchen, Freya had already lit the stove, and he only needed to put the pot on top.

Fearing that the little...maid might mistake this for witchcraft, Li Cheng specially explained, "Once the water boils dry, what I want will come out."

Freya: ?

Time passed quietly, and the water in the earthenware pot, which was mostly full, didn't boil dry so easily.

Li Cheng found a stool and sat down, while Freya stood beside him with her eyes wide open, staring intently at the boiling water in the earthenware pot, as if worried that if she turned her gaze away, Li Cheng would use witchcraft to conjure something out of the pot.

How boring... Li Cheng yawned listlessly.

"Freya, how many years have you been working here?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

“Replying to Mr. Li, I have been serving Miss for seven years.” Freya answered earnestly, her eyes fixed intently on the earthenware pot.

Seven years?!

Li Cheng was shocked. Freya looked to be only in her early twenties. How could she have been seven years old?

He asked, "How old are you this year?"

"I'm nineteen years old this year."

19-7=12, holy crap, 12 years old and already working as a maid in a castle? So the Newton family was employing child labor... Oh, there's no law protecting minors, so it's fine... Wait, I suddenly have a bold idea... Never mind, never mind.

After recovering from his initial shock, Li Cheng continued making conversation: "So what do you think of Newton? What do you think of her?"

"Miss Newton is a very intelligent person and knows many things that I don't."

Speaking of Newton, Freya finally looked away from the pottery jar and said, "And Miss Newton has always been very kind to me, so I am very grateful to her and admire her very much."