Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 211 Flower Treasure, Leopard

Seeing Rong Jin's happy face, Hualei breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "This puppy was born by General Huang from Yuanying Manor. It was just weaned a few days ago. Isn't it cute?" Zhenzhu and Rong Jin nodded at the same time.

Rong Jin stroked the puppy's soft body carefully over and over again, and gently pinched its chubby paws with one hand, his eyebrows relaxed and his mood was happy. The puppy seemed to enjoy Rong Jin's touch, and relaxed its body and lay there, allowing Rong Jin to touch it, and licked Rong Jin's hand with its wet tongue, looking very comfortable and satisfied.

"It doesn't have a name yet, why don't you give it one?" Hua Lei looked at Rong Jin and suggested. "Okay, let's call it Hua Bao." Rong Jin stroked the puppy and said with satisfaction.

"Leopard, a leopard with patterns, but it's not colorful. And it's a dog, not a cat, why do you call it a leopard?" Hua Lei looked at Rong Jin and found it incredible. If it was a cat with patterns, it would be quite appropriate to name it a leopard, but it's a little tan puppy, isn't it a bit inappropriate to name it "leopard"?

"Well, let's call it Huabao. I think it's a good name. I like it very much. You see, Huabao likes it too." Rong Jin pointed at Huabao, who was shaking his head, and said. He held it carefully with his left hand, calling "Huabao, Huabao" over and over again, looking very happy.

Okay, the dog I give you is yours. It's your dog, you decide. Although Hualei thought the name Huabao was weird, she didn't say anything else and asked Qingzao next to her to prepare a doghouse and food for Huabao.

From then on, there was a new Hua Bao in Qixia Courtyard. With Hua Bao's company, Rong Jin, who was originally anxious, gradually calmed down his impatience and healed his wounds in peace.

It's just that I have spent a lot more time holding Huabao and reading various books. I mainly spend more time reading the imperial examination books and military books for my own studies. I will occasionally flip through the notebooks and picture albums that Hualei gave me, and I will also read some regional chronicles and strange tales.

Qingzao and Qingsheng felt a little aggrieved. Rong Jin doted on Huabao almost like his own son, and Qingzao and Qingsheng suddenly had a dog master without knowing why.

A few days later, Rong Jue and Xiao Yuan from the Imperial College came back from their vacation. The moment Rong Jue saw Hua Bao, he liked her and started playing with her around the yard. The calls of "Hua Bao, Hua Bao" were continuous and pleasant to the ears, making Xiao Yuan frown.

He ran to the small couch where Rong Jin was sitting and asked, "Brother Pei, why did you let a dog follow my and my sister's surnames?"

Rong Jin turned his eyes away with a guilty look and lied, "It's not named after you and Sister Hua. I just thought it looked a bit flowery."

"How can it be flowery? It is clearly yellowish brown." Xiao Yuan retorted with his eyes wide open.

"No, look carefully, there is a darker pattern above Huabao's eyes." Rong Jin argued.

Xiao Yuan looked at Rong Jin's injured leg, swallowed back what he wanted to say, pursed his lips slightly, and ran to the yard again. He looked at Hua Bao's eyes for a long time before he discovered that there was indeed a darker pattern two inches above Hua Bao's eyes. It was darker than the yellow-brown color of other parts of Hua Bao's body, and it could not be seen at all without careful observation.

He was a little disappointed, so he took a brush and dipped it in ink to paint the invisible dark pattern on Huabao. Well, Huabao finally became Huabao in the true sense of the word.

Huabao lived happily in Qixia Courtyard with good food and drink every day. The only suffering day was the day when the Imperial College was closed every ten days. Rong Jue's magical voice of "Huabao Huabao" was so pleasant that it lingered in the ears for three days. And Xiaoyuan would pull it every time he came back and repaint the faded pattern on its eyes with ink.

Seeing Rong Jin recover his spirit and spirit, and recovering peacefully with Huabao by his side, Hualei stopped paying attention and went to Yuanying Manor by herself. After cleaning and disinfecting the duck and goose feathers, Hualei had to put her plan of down jackets and goose down quilts on hold because she had not waited for Liang Xiangyi's fabrics. However, she still had a lot of pig bristles to deal with, so she prepared to make pig bristle toothbrushes, and she could also arrange for goose feather fans.

Since Uncle Zhao from Baihua Zhuang is good at handicrafts, Hualei asked Uncle Zhao to be responsible for making pig bristle toothbrushes.

In the Great Sheng Dynasty, there were toothbrushes made of cow bones and horsetail bristles, but the breeding and slaughter of cows and horses were strictly controlled by the Great Sheng Dynasty. Therefore, cow bones and horsetail bristles were both very rare raw materials, and the number of toothbrushes made from them was very small, and the price was also very expensive. Only the rich and powerful families could afford them, and many ordinary people could not afford them at all. Even ordinary officials of small ranks could rarely afford cow bone and horsetail bristle toothbrushes, so many people used willow branches to brush their teeth.

Hua Lei discovered this situation a long time ago, so when the pigs on her own farm were ready to be slaughtered, she specially asked Tian Xiaohe to collect the pig bristles. After a few months, there are now a lot of pig bristles.

Hualei specifically asked Uncle Fu to go to the blacksmith shop in the northern part of the city to get some chalk, which was then sent to Baihuazhuang and given to Uncle Zhao. First, the chalk was soaked in water to make a certain concentration of lime water, and then all the pig bristles were soaked in the lime water overnight to remove the pig smell, and then rinsed with clean water and dried.

Hua Lei was afraid that she couldn't explain clearly how to make a boar bristle toothbrush, so she spent a tael of silver to buy a horsetail bristle toothbrush made of ox bones for Uncle Zhao to use as a reference.

With samples, raw materials and Uncle Zhao's superb craftsmanship, the first bamboo bristle toothbrush was completed in just a few days. It is not very difficult to make. Except for the slight difficulty in punching holes in the bamboo strips, the rest of the process of splitting the bamboo strips only requires patience and meticulousness, and the process is also very fast.

Hualei tried it and found that except for the bristles being a little hard, everything else was pretty good. So he made a batch of bamboo-handled bristle toothbrushes and distributed them to the people in the two villages. Even the retired soldiers who had just started working in Yuanying Village were given a toothbrush each.

Even though it's just a toothbrush and not very expensive, it means that the club recognizes them and treats them equally, right? The soldiers who just signed the contract were very happy.

Then, Hualei asked Uncle Zhao to replace the bamboo handle with a wooden handle. Although the bamboo handle was good to use, it was not strong enough. A man with strong hands could easily bend the bamboo handle with a little force. A wooden handle would be more stable.

Nowadays, unlike in the past, we don’t have to change our toothbrush every month, so the handle of the toothbrush should be made sturdy.