Although he was eager to conduct research on gunpowder muskets, he still had to live, eat, and earn money. No, after dinner, Wan Lei assigned work to the people, not treating them as students at all.
Instead, I used it as an apprentice, and asked them to complete all the peripheral processes of the facial cream.
Studying and working at the same time is also in line with Wan Lei's concept of talent utilization that combines work and rest. With these six new "employees", Wan Lei's workload has been reduced a lot. Whenever he has free time, he will stay in
In the laboratory, new product development is carried out.
Since facial cream is positioned as a high-end luxury product, Wan Lei will naturally not produce too much to avoid saturating the market and depressing the price. Therefore, a large part of the residual oil can no longer be used to extract tiger balm, but to extract paraffin.
Used to make candles.
The extraction of paraffin wax is much easier than that of tiger balm. As long as the cold pressing method is used, the lubricating oil content can be removed and the crude wax can be obtained. Of course, these crude waxes contain asphaltenes, but they are used for burning, so some impurities are allowed.
, some odor is also allowed, and the asphalt content of the oil produced by this oil well is low and can be ignored, so there is no need for further processing.
After extracting the paraffin wax, the next step is thermoplastic molding. Use high temperature to melt them into a liquid state, then pour them into a mold with a cotton wick in advance, wait for it to cool and harden, and a candle is made in this way. Of course, this is just a sample.
, Wan Lei saw its burning effect and then improved it to make a better finished product and sell it at a high price.
A dozen samples were lit on the fire, and the laboratory suddenly became as bright as day. Wan Lei observed for a while and found that the flame was bright, there was very little black smoke, and the wax melted not too fast. Overall, he was quite satisfied.
The question to consider now is at what price to sell it.
When traveling south to Jinan, Wan Lei checked the selling prices of candles in various places. Because they are made from insect wax, a three-inch candle costs from 70 yuan to 100 yuan, which is considered a high-priced luxury product.
You must know that one thousand yuan is one tael of silver, and one tael of silver is enough for a common people's family to eat for one or two months. If it is not a wedding festival, I believe ordinary people will not buy it.
As a substitute for insect wax, the price of candles made of paraffin can be much lower. But no matter how low it is, only rich families will buy it, because it is not a necessity. Ordinary people go to bed after dark, and even if they need lighting, they can’t buy it.
You can use oil lamps and torches instead, so you don't have to waste money on candles.
Since the customers are the wealthy class, Wan Lei is no longer polite to these rich people, and directly sets the price at fifty yuan a piece, and charges one tael of silver for a bundle of twenty pieces, which is considered a preferential treatment. If you like it, you can't buy it.
If you buy it, you will lose it if you don’t buy it.
Wan Lei also knows that the places where most candles are used are the red light districts in the city, especially the high-end red light districts like Qinhuai River. As a night entertainment place for dignitaries, feasting and feasting are a must, and the candles used in these places are
It is a high-grade wax that emits a variety of extravagant fragrances. Therefore, in order to expand the market share of new products, it is necessary to produce this kind of high-grade wax, that is, add additives such as rosin and sandalwood to paraffin wax to increase its fragrance and make people smell it.
Lingering and forgetting to leave.
Of course, candles also have the opportunity to enter the palace market, but it is even more careless. High-end spices such as ambergris must be added. Wan Lei thinks that he is not evil enough, otherwise he will definitely add opium and other drugs to the "imperial wax" and then take it.
Specially supplied to the palace, this insidious method can easily bring down the emperor's son slowly.
"Hey, why are you lighting so many candles in one room? You can't waste money like this." At this time, Zhao Xueer opened the door and came in. She saw that the room was as bright as day, and she became a housekeeper again.
"Have you finished your work? You're not looking for any excuse to be lazy again, are you?" Wan Lei didn't look at her, but still stared at the candle to observe carefully.
"What do you mean, have you ever seen me being lazy before?"
"What's weird?" Wan Lei still didn't look back, "Why did you come to me again?"
"Hey, Brother Wan, do you like Sister Wei'er?" Zhao Xueer jumped up to Wan Lei three times and twice, and pushed him hard with her arms.
"You little kid, don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask."
"Who is this little kid? I'm already an adult." Zhao Xueer straightened her chest out like an adult, but her figure with a flat front and back didn't look like a woman.
"Besides your big feet and big mouth, what else is big about you?" Wan Lei rolled his eyes at her.
"Ah, I didn't expect you to be a person who likes small feet. In vain, I mistakenly thought you were a man. It turns out that you are just like those stinky men, they are all hypocrites."
"It doesn't matter whether I am a real gentleman or not. You'd better learn to be a real woman early, otherwise no one will marry a woman like you who can't cook or be a female worker."
"If there is no one to marry, then I won't marry. I don't want to marry yet. I want to be like Mu Guiying and lead the army to kill the enemy. That would be called heroic."
"You still take command and go into battle? It sounds better than what you sing. During the defense battle in Peiping a few months ago, why didn't I see you take command and go into battle?"
"I won't go to war with worthless men like you. You guys are all sitting in the city like cowards. Even the city gates are sealed. It's really cheap." Zhao Xueer blushed,
He argued forcefully.
Wan Lei didn't bother to refute such unreasonable strong words, but at this moment he found that the smoke on the candle gradually became thicker and the firelight became darker. After taking a closer look, it turned out that the upper section of the cotton wick did not
After complete combustion, it has turned into a section of carbon strip. The existence of this section of carbon strip not only affects the brightness of the candle, but also hinders combustion and makes the smoke thicker.
Wan Lei took scissors and cut off the black core. The candlelight returned again, but his brows furrowed. It was obvious that this cotton core was still defective. No wonder the poet Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty wrote: "How should we cut the west together?"
"Window Candle" poem, if you light expensive candles and have to cut the wick from time to time, this is obviously a very troublesome thing. It is not as convenient as using a kerosene lamp.
How can we overcome this shortcoming? Wan Lei fell into deep thought again. When Zhao Xueer saw that Wan Lei was ignoring her, she thought she was right, so she refused to let him go: "Huh, I hit the nail on the head, so I'm speechless."
Bar."
Being squeezed out again, Wan Lei still ignored him. Seeing that he was being ignored, Zhao Xueer stomped her feet and walked out with a groan. At this time, Wei'er happened to come in with a midnight snack, and Zhao Xueer was also polite and grabbed one
After making steamed buns rolled with green onions, he left humming a little tune.
Looking at this predator, Wei'er just shook her head and smiled bitterly. She knew that Master Wan had always been very tolerant towards others, especially sister Xue'er, who was simply spoiled. She couldn't help but wonder if Master Wan liked to jump around.
A girl, so she secretly released her feet.
"Master, it's late at night, it's time for midnight snack." Wei'er reminded Wan Lei in a low voice when he saw Wan Lei thinking deeply about the candle.
"Oh." The strong smell of soy milk came, and Wan Lei felt that he was really hungry. He looked up and found that the full moon was in the sky. It seemed that it was really late at night.
"Master, if you encounter any unsolvable problem, can you tell me about it?" Wei'er asked in a low voice when he saw Wan Lei chewing on the bun but keeping his eyes on the candlestick.
"Oh, I really encountered a problem." Wan Lei then remembered that Wei'er was attentive and might be able to help with ideas, so he pointed to a candle and said: "You saw this candle too, the wick is knotted
A section of black carbon cannot be removed by oil, and it will only smoke without catching fire, which seriously affects the brightness of the candle."
"Cut it off." Wei'er took the scissors and was about to cut it, but Wan Lei stopped him and said, "Although cutting it can solve the temporary problem, it still has to be cut from time to time, which is too troublesome.
Now I’m thinking about how to make a wick that doesn’t require cutting.”
"If you don't need to cut the wick, you have to let it burn by itself."
"But it won't burn. As you can see, when it burns down, the black wick gets longer. When it grows to a certain extent, the candle flame goes out."
"Why can't these wicks be burned in the fire?"
"The flame of a candle is divided into three layers: outer flame, inner flame and flame core. The flame core is mainly candle vapor, which has the lowest temperature; the inner flame wax is not fully burned, and the temperature is higher than the flame core. Because there are some carbon particles, the flame is the lowest.
Bright; only when the outer flame is in full contact with the air can it be fully burned. The wick cannot be completely burned in the center of the flame and the inner flame, so it is carbonized into a black core." Wan Lei pointed at the flame and slowly explained.
"Oh, it turns out that there are so many tricks to seemingly simple fireworks. It's thanks to your carefulness, young master. If it were me, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the outer flame and the inner flame." Wei'er admired sincerely, and then said: "
Since the outer flame can burn the wick, why not find a way to make the wick crooked?"
"Your idea is good, but the difficulty lies here. After the wick is carbonized, it becomes straight and hard. It will only break by itself when it is long enough." When Wan Lei said this, he saw Wei'er twisting his hands constantly from the corner of his eye.
He was holding the hair on his chest. Before he could think about whether this little gesture of hers was used to relieve his nervousness, an idea suddenly flashed in his mind and he said to her: "Quickly, tie a braid and let me see."
"Braids? Why braids?" As soon as Wei'er finished saying this, Wan Lei had already grabbed the hair on her chest, divided it into three strands, and started to braid it. Wei'er was stunned for a moment, as if he had been
It's not just your hair that's being plucked, it's also your heartstrings.
After a short period of nervousness, Wan Lei's cheers finally sounded in her ears: "That's it."
"Why is that so?" Wei'er asked subconsciously, but her voice was trembling a little because Wan Lei was still standing in front of her and kept fiddling with her hair. Her heart still couldn't calm down.
"A cotton wick will stand upright and turn into carbon black. What if three cotton wicks are twisted into one?" Wan Lei put a freshly twisted braid in front of Wei'er's eyes. As soon as he let go, the hair flew away.
: "It will spread out like a braid without a tie, and then be burned away by the fire, so that it will not need to be cut."
"Is this okay with her?"
"Okay, of course! Wei'er, you are really the source of my inspiration!" Wan Lei was overjoyed and hugged Wei'er into his arms...