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

For the little princess, shuttlecock was a lot of fun, but she didn't keep it all to herself. Instead, she played it with the little princess of Chengyang and the third sister.

Although they mostly miss, they are happy as long as they manage to hit it once, even if it's just a close touch.

Once again, she successfully lifted her leg and looked proudly at Xiao Ran.

"Little Nang-kun~ Aren't you awesome~"

Xiao Ran smiled and nodded, "Impressive, our Sizi is the best."

The little princess was even happier to receive the praise she wanted.

Seeing the little princess rejoin the shuttlecock kicking team, Xiao Ran looked at Li Lizhi.

"Does Fifth Sister want to play? If so, I'll go get you another one."

There weren't many things to do, and Li Lizhi was actually quite tempted.

Xiao Ran then looked at Zhang Erya and Princess Yuzhang, and then stood up.

"We can't just let you watch Sizi and the others play. Wait, I'll go check and get another one."

With that, Xiao Ran got up to leave.

Although it wasn't freezing cold outside, it wasn't warm either. Just as Li Lizhi was about to stop Xiao Ran, Zhang Jinhe came over.

"Young master, second mistress, fifth mistress, sixth mistress, what are you doing?"

As soon as Zhang Jinhe entered, he saw the little princess playing shuttlecock.

"Is Sizi playing shuttlecock? He's actually doing a pretty good job."

The phrase "acting like a pro" refers to the little princess occasionally lifting her little leg.

After speaking, Zhang Jinhe turned his gaze to Xiao Ran.

Li Lizhi then answered her question.

"The young man said he wanted to make a shuttlecock, but it's a bit cold outside."

As she spoke, Li Lizhi looked at Xiao Ran.

"We don't even know if we can find what we need yet. Let's play something else."

Just as Xiao Ran was about to speak, Zhang Jinhe said with a smile, "Isn't this a coincidence? Look what this is?"

Zhang Jinhe pulled out a shuttlecock directly from behind his back.

"I was saying that it was for Sizi and the others to play with, but then I remembered that you were here too, so I brought one along to play with you."

Xiao Ran glanced at Zhang Jinhe, then at Li Lizhi.

"That's perfect, you guys have fun, I'll go check out the glass workshop first."

After saying that, Xiao Ran was about to leave when Zhang Jinhe stopped him, saying, "Let's play together! It's more fun to play shuttlecock with more people."

Xiao Ran quickly refused, "Forget it, I can't handle these things."

Li Lizhi covered her mouth and laughed, "Don't make things difficult for him."

Hearing Li Lizhi say this, Xiao Ran nodded haphazardly twice and hurriedly walked outside, afraid that they would catch him and make him play shuttlecock.

As for the laughter coming from behind?
I didn't hear it, I didn't hear it.

Xiao Ran hurriedly left the courtyard before slowing down.

He first went to the classroom to check, still feeling uneasy. The window was still standing there, and when he touched it, there was no draft or crack. Xiao Ran was relieved and then went to the glass workshop.

"Sanlang, how are the lenses?" Xiao Ran called out as soon as he entered.

Soon, Li Ke, Qin Huaidao, and Cheng Chumo came out, each holding a piece of lens.

Cheng Chumo chuckled, "Young master, the lenses we've ground are quite good now, come and take a look."

Xiao Ran looked at them one by one, and apart from the different grinding progress, there really wasn't any difference at the moment.

"It seems this tooth powder is really effective; Huai Dao deserves the credit!"

Qin Huaidao waved his hand, "Let's not talk about that now. I remember you said that the angle of this lens still needs to be adjusted. Why don't we go and try it now?"

Xiao Ran was also curious about what the lenses he had ground would look like, so he led a group of people out and stood there, looking up at the mountain through the lenses.

"You know what, these lenses actually work!"

Xiao Ran removed the lens and examined it with his naked eye to compare the magnification and clarity of the lens.

Cheng Chumo and Li Ke's lenses were not yet fully formed. They both tried to take a look, but the difference from what they saw with the naked eye was not significant. Nevertheless, they were very excited.

"Young master, shouldn't we go ahead and do it?"

Xiao Ran nodded, "That should be right. The rest is just a matter of adjusting it little by little. Besides, one lens isn't enough; we need another one."

Now that there was a method, making another one wouldn't be difficult. Qin Huaidao readily took on the task, then looked at his glasses with a curious expression, examining them from left to right.

After his initial excitement wore off, he went back to grinding the lenses.

Xiao Ran hadn't expected the telescope project to progress so quickly. He shared what he knew about the principles and effects of convex lenses with Qin Huaidao, Li Ke, and Cheng Chumo, while he himself leisurely went to find Sun Simiao.

"Grandpa, what are you doing?" Xiao Ran asked without looking up.

Sun Simiao put down his hand that was rummaging through the medicinal herbs. "You've come at the right time. Help me turn all these herbs over. If there are any that are moldy, pick them out."

Xiao Ran never expected that he would be forced into hard labor after just greeting someone, and he had no choice but to resign himself to his fate and rummage through the medicinal herbs.

Fortunately, the task was not strenuous and was completed quite quickly; it was finished in no time.

Sun Simiao patted his clothes to brush off the dust before looking at Xiao Ran.

"You came here at this hour because you need something?"

Xiao Ran sat down on a bench in the courtyard.

"Hehe, old man, let me tell you, our telescope is almost finished!"

Sun Simiao naturally knew the function of a telescope, and was quite surprised when he heard this.

"Really? That would be a wonderful thing."

Xiao Ran said, "Hehe, but I didn't just come here to tell you this good news. I'm planning to do something."

Sun Simiao looked puzzled. "Making something? What kind of thing? Do you need my help?"

Xiao Ran nodded, "That's right, I plan to make some toothpaste. The tooth powder we're using now is quite damaging to our teeth, so I thought I could make toothpaste. Besides, this toothpaste is not only convenient to use, but it can also be used to polish glass."

Speaking of toothpaste, Xiao Ran also remembered toothbrushes. These two are a set, so naturally they should be made together.

In the Tang Dynasty, people still brush their teeth with willow twigs. They would bite open the willow twig, dip it in tooth powder, and then brush their teeth.

Putting aside whether it can clean properly, the willow branches are so hard that they can easily scratch the mouth if you're not careful. It's just that Xiao Ran's car has his personal belongings. After such a long time of cleaning, his family members have long been using toothbrushes and toothpaste, but the others don't.

Sun Simiao would naturally not refuse such a request.

"Since you know how to do it, then do it. If you need any help, just tell me."

Xiao Ran clapped his hands, "Hehe, that would be perfect. We can also put some medicinal powder in this toothpaste, such as honeysuckle. That way, when brushing your teeth, it can treat toothache, swollen gums, and so on caused by internal heat."

"There are some other medicinal herbs. You are a doctor, so you must know more about the properties of medicinal herbs than I do. However, these herbs are only supplementary, so the dosage should not be too high."

Sun Simiao nodded. "Then how do we make this toothpaste?"

Xiao Ran thought for a moment. If it were modern toothpaste, it would contain many additives, so he definitely couldn't completely replicate it. However, he could find some substitutes. In fact, toothpaste was invented during the Song Dynasty, and Xiao Ran still remembered one of the recipes.

"Let's go get some willow branches, locust branches, and mulberry branches first, and then let's boil them."

Xiao Ran didn't need to do this work himself; he simply gave an order to the farmhands at home, and the branches were ready in no time.

Sun Simiao took out an unused earthenware pot, placed it on the stove, added water, and put the branches inside.

First, the branches need to be boiled until they are mushy, and then slowly simmered into a paste. As for how long it will take, Xiao Ran is not sure, since he has never done it before.

Fortunately, he didn't have to watch over it all the time, so after watching everything being put in, Xiao Ran followed Sun Simiao to sort out the medicinal herbs.

The dried and processed medicinal materials should be stored in the medicine cabinet to prevent them from becoming damp or infested by insects.

The medicine cabinet, which is almost the size of an entire wall, has some labels on it, which are the names of the medicinal materials, while some are empty and have no labels.

Sun Simiao wrapped this batch of medicinal herbs in oiled paper, wrote the names of the herbs and today's date on them, and then had Xiao Ran put them in the cabinet.

The two of them worked together and made progress quite quickly.

Sun Simiao doesn't have many kinds of medicinal herbs at the moment, so he starts using the ones from the bottom cabinet, which saves Xiao Ran from having to climb up and down.

After the medicine cabinet was tidied up, the two went to look at the pottery jar.

By this time, the twigs had already been boiled until they were mushy. Xiao Ran stirred them and could feel that they were quite sticky.

"Hehe, it seems we might succeed on our first try." Xiao Ran was extremely satisfied.

Sun Simiao looked at the earthenware jar. "It seems simple enough. It shouldn't be too difficult to boil it into a paste. In that case, let's start grinding the medicinal herbs."

Xiao Ran sighed and resumed his hard labor.

Actually, it's not necessary to use Xiao Ran and Sun Simiao. Putting aside everything else, there are so many people in the family, it's not just the two of them.

However, Sun Simiao liked to do things himself, and Xiao Ran also wanted to see the first toothpaste produced. His current mindset was somewhat like that of someone doing handicrafts.

Sun Simiao asked, "What medicinal herbs are needed? Fresh or processed?"

Xiao Ran scratched his head, "Shouldn't this be prepared already?"

However, the most important thing now is not whether the medicinal materials are processed, but what kind of medicinal materials are needed.

"I remember that it needs ginger juice and asarum. Regular toothpaste also contains mint, and honeysuckle, which I mentioned before. Most of these are used to reduce inflammation and relieve pain."

After Xiao Ran said that, Sun Simiao understood.

In reality, they are just some that have some effect, but the effect is not that strong.

Xiao Ran had a sudden inspiration, "That's right, there are also those with dendrobium."

Sun Simiao shook his head, "Let's not use dendrobium for now, let's try honeysuckle instead."

Xiao Ran was a little puzzled. "Why? I remember that dendrobium is a very good medicinal herb."

While grinding the herbs, Sun Simiao said, "It's precisely because they're so good that we don't use them. Dendrobium is difficult to harvest, and it would be a waste."

In Sun Simiao's view, honeysuckle and mint are worthless and can be found in large quantities, but dendrobium is different. Good dendrobium must be harvested around Qingming Festival, which is already a major limitation.

Xiao Ran suddenly looked at Sun Simiao, and he just remembered that Sun Simiao was very fond of Dendrobium officinale.

Noticing Xiao Ran's gaze, Sun Simiao stopped what he was doing.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Xiao Ran waved his hand, "It's nothing, I'll go check on the branches inside the pottery jar."

Although the earthenware pots don't need to be watched constantly now, they still need to be stirred from time to time to prevent the bottom part from burning directly.

Xiao Ran would glance at the pottery jar from time to time, and then go to help Sun Simiao grind the medicinal herbs.

"The asarum is finally ground." Xiao Ran wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Of course, he didn't just grind asarum; he also ground mint and pounded ginger to make juice.

Sun Simiao, on the other hand, finely ground the dried honeysuckle into powder.

Everything is ready now, except for the final touch: the twigs in the clay pot have been cooked.

But we can only wait and see how things unfold over time.

As the sun sets, the fading rays gradually paint the sky red.

A flock of wild geese flew out from who knows where, soaring across the horizon.

At this time, smoke gradually rose from the chimneys of Kaolao Village, and every now and then you could hear people shouting for their children to come home for dinner.

"Phew~" Xiao Ran straightened up and let out a long breath.

"Thankfully, since it was my first time making this, I didn't put too much water or branches in it, otherwise we would have had to wait forever."

After a long wait, their toothpaste was finally completed!

The color is just... indescribable.

"Is this right?" Xiao Ran suddenly began to doubt himself.

Sun Simiao looked at Xiao Ran, "What, is this toothpaste different from what you expected?"

Looking at the brownish ointment with a hint of green sheen in front of him, Xiao Ran's expression was indescribable.

"This color looks really weird, and this thing looks like it might be poisonous."

Regarding this, Sun Simiao shook his head, "It shouldn't be poisonous, but we don't know how effective it will be."

"Never mind, let's go back and eat first. I'm getting a little hungry."

Xiao Ran rubbed his stomach; he was really hungry.

Sun Simiao and Xiao Ran went back to eat together.

After nearly two hours without seeing Xiao Ran, the little princess ran over to him as soon as he entered.

"Little Nang-kun~ Nifei's here~"

Every time he entered the door, he was greeted by this adorable little creature, which instantly improved Xiao Ran's mood, which had been dampened by the strange toothpaste.

"Yeah, I'm back. Does Sizi know what we're having for dinner tonight?"

The little princess nodded quickly, stretched out her little hand, and counted the items one by one on her fingers.

"Woji Island~ It has yoyo~ and rice~"

Xiao Ran picked up the little princess, placed her on a chair nearby, and then sat down himself.

The most eye-catching dish on the table was stewed chicken. There wasn't just one chicken, but two, since there were so many people and it wouldn't be enough to eat if there were fewer.

Xiao Ran placed a large chicken leg on the little princess's plate.

"Eat it, you little ox."

The little princess took a bite of the chicken leg.

"Little Nangjun is the best~ I love Little Nangjun the most~"

Xiao Ran was beaming with joy at the little princess's sweet words. (End of Chapter)