Chapter 27 Shampoo

Chapter 27: Herbal Hair Wash

"Mom, I'm going to use the garlic mortar in the kitchen." After a quick announcement, Lin Shu began preparing the cypress leaves, snipping them into small pieces with scissors and mashing them together with mugwort leaves. While boiling them would have been more effective, she opted for the simplest method to save time.

Once mashed, she added water, stirred, and then filtered the mixture through gauze. Next, Lin Shu retrieved a bundle of dry straw from the stack in the corner of the yard, burned it on the spot, and filtered the resulting ash water.

She combined the cypress and mugwort juice, ash water, and rice water, stirring them thoroughly to create an unrefined, natural cypress-mugwort hair wash. Adding soap pods and soapberries would even produce lather. If boiled down to a thick, concentrated paste, it would be quite similar to a modern shampoo concentrate.

There was half a basin of the hair wash, enough for three or four people.

"Xiao Pu, come here. Let me wash your hair first."

In the past, Lin Xiaopu would simply squat on the ground and wash her hair with her head bowed. But this time, Lin Shu brought out a long bench from the main room and had her lie back on it, her head slightly overhanging. She untied Lin Xiaopu’s hair, letting it cascade down, and placed a folded dry towel under her neck.

"Just lie still. I promise you'll have a wonderfully comfortable hair wash."

Lin Xiaopu grinned. "Okay!"

Lin Shu used a ladle to pour the prepared warm water over the small head in her hands, then scooped another ladle of the cypress-mugwort hair wash and poured it over, carefully massaging the slightly yellowish ends of the hair.

Although Lin Xiaopu wasn’t a picky eater, the family’s meals weren’t particularly nutritious, and her nutrition was somewhat lacking. Lin Shu had only recently learned from Xiao Pu that while Zhou Ye occasionally ventured into the mountains for wild delicacies, these were typically sold in town rather than kept for the family. Even the eggs laid by their old hen were saved by their mother to sell for money.

This time, they kept some of the wild boar for themselves only because it was different from pheasants and hares—it was larger and more abundant.

Lin Shu believed that no one should suffer, especially not themselves. Saving money was important, particularly since Xiao Pu needed medicine, which was a significant expense. In those days, ordinary people often endured minor illnesses because visiting a doctor or buying medicine was too costly, and those at the bottom of society simply couldn’t afford healthcare.

However, eating well and maintaining a balanced diet were crucial for boosting immunity. A healthy body would naturally fall ill less often, so nutrition was not something to overlook. She decided to stop selling the family’s eggs from now on, keeping them to supplement everyone’s diet, especially Xiao Pu’s. In the future, if Zhou Ye hunted any pheasants or hares, they would prioritize eating them themselves. If money was tight, she could always set up a food stall at the market to sell snacks.

Zhou Ye had washed his face by the river, feeling much refreshed. He should have returned earlier but dawdled by the river for a long time before slowly making his way back.

Hearing the noise, Lin Shu looked up and said with a smile, "A Ye, you'll have to wait a bit. I'm washing Xiao Pu's hair first."

Zhou Ye glanced at her fingers massaging Lin Xiaopu’s scalp and replied, "I'm in no hurry to wash. Aren't we digging a fish pond? I'll wash my hair after we finish digging today. Just save some hair wash for me."

Hearing this, Lin Shu’s smile widened even more. "That's fine. Otherwise, you'd just sweat again right after washing. I'll wait too. After I finish washing Xiao Pu's hair, we can go behind the house to mark out the fish pond!"

Zhou Ye’s gaze swept over her smooth, black hair. "No rush. We can start after you finish washing. We'll need shovels to dig the pond. I'll go borrow a couple first."

The Lin Dashan family had only established their own household a few years prior, and many household items were still missing. They had no shovels or cleavers, and even a large rice mortar, which most households had, was not yet set up in the yard. The kitchen only had a small garlic mortar for mashing garlic or beans. Since these items weren’t used often, they borrowed them from neighbors when needed.

The Lin Dashan family, including Zhou Ye, were honest and kind people. Whenever they received a favor, they always found a way to repay it. Thus, the villagers were always willing to lend them things.

Since Zhou Ye had said so, Lin Shu was in no hurry. After washing Xiao Pu’s hair, the two sisters began processing the half-basket of Grass Jelly Plant.

This time, the pork trade had brought them a clean, large wooden basin. Lin Shu used it to mash the pulp, filling the basin to the brim. She then added cypress ash water, stirred well, and let it settle.

Seeing that Zhou Ye hadn't returned yet, she thinned the mixture with water and asked her mother and Lin Xiaopu to help wash their hair.

Her own hair was long, black, and smooth, and He Guixiang was careful not to rub it too hard while washing.

By the time Lin Shu’s hair was towel-dried until damp by He Guixiang, Zhou Ye finally returned unhurriedly, carrying two shovels.

Lin Shu gathered her hair with the plum blossom silk handkerchief given by Third Aunt and dashed over to Zhou Ye, excitedly asking, "Shall we start digging the fish pond now?"

Zhou Ye glanced at her and nodded. "Go get some ashes from the hearth and mark out where you want the pond. I’ll dig along the lines you draw."

Lin Shu immediately found an empty bamboo tube and stopped He Guixiang from helping. Unafraid of getting her hands dirty, she used a fire poker to move aside the unburned wood in the stove. Holding the bamboo tube with one hand, she used the poker to scoop the ashes into the tube.

"Be careful not to burn yourself! The embers are still hot!" He Guixiang warned. But seeing how skillfully Lin Shu handled it, as if she had experience tending fires, she didn’t stop her.

Lin Shu filled the thick bamboo tube with ashes and turned to ask Zhou Ye, "Do we have any bamboo or wood nails? I want to make a hole in this tube."

Zhou Ye guessed her intention and took the tube from her. Pressing his index finger against the bottom of the tube, he effortlessly poked a finger-sized hole in it. Then, he found a small stick of similar thickness to plug the hole. "Done."

Lin Shu’s eyes lit up slightly.

She took it back with a smile. "Thank you, A Ye."

She hadn’t expected such a practical use for his great strength. With this, Zhou Ye could help her with even more tasks!

The two headed to the back of the house, with Lin Xiaopu trailing behind like a little tail.

Lin Shu had already picked the spot earlier, behind the vegetable patch her mother tended. She removed the stick plugging the hole in the bamboo tube, and as ash trickled out, she gently shook the tube while walking, soon outlining an irregular oval about six *zhang* (approximately 20 feet) long.

Lin Xiaopu exclaimed, "Wow, Sis! Are we digging such a big fish pond?"

Lin Shu felt a bit embarrassed and asked Zhou Ye, "Is the pond I marked too big?"

Zhou Ye didn’t answer directly but instead asked, "How deep do you want it?"

"Not too deep, about four *chi* (approximately four feet). Widen the edges outward and dig them in steps. That way, it’ll be safe and look nice. Later, could you please bring back some gravel and stones from the river? We’ll line the pond with them, especially with smooth, pretty pebbles. That way, the bottom will be clear and visible."

"We’ll channel water from the spring on the cliff at the foot of the mountain. The flow there is scattered, so we should ask if anyone has a large, broken water vat. We can use it to collect water at the source, then set up long bamboo tubes to guide the water all the way to our pond. At the inlet, we can place a bamboo water flow device, with tubes arranged from high to low to create a flowing water feature!"

"Leave an opening at the far end of the pond and secure it with a fine bamboo fence. That way, the fish can’t escape, but the water will still flow. Later, we can go to the river or stream to dig up some *Acorus gramineus* and aquatic plants to plant there."

"It’d be even better if we could find some water willow. Planting a couple by the pond might attract birds to build nests. We haven’t seen any lotus flowers around here, but if we could plant a small patch in the water, the fish could hide under the leaves to stay cool in summer."

Zhou Ye, who had thought it would be a simple matter of digging a big hole, was speechless.