The group had a wonderful meal. Everyone ate their fill, and Qiao Tiantian made sure not a single scrap was left behind.

This brought Aunt Wang a great sense of satisfaction.

A cook’s greatest joy is seeing diners enjoy their food, so she was absolutely delighted to see the empty plates.

As Aunt Wang cleared the table, the young people stood up to help her.

Xie Changning watched the busy group from her chair for a moment before getting up. She went to her workshop and pulled out several design sketches.

She had drawn all of them from memory.

If these had been mechanical blueprints, Xie Changning could have had the design platform in her space create them based on the current era’s technology, but—

The daily chemical factory wasn’t a mechanical field, so she had to rely on her own memory to draw out her ideas.

The sketches laid out Xie Changning’s ideas for a rose cleansing soap.

As for the form, Xie Changning planned on a rose shape, with the color being a classic rose-red...

’When she was drawing it, Xie Changning thought she was a genius!’

But now that she was looking at them again, she felt her aesthetic was a bit too on-the-nose. ’We could definitely mix in some milk to create a creamy, rose-colored soap.’

While Xie Changning was lost in thought, the others returned to the table.

Qiao Tiantian had a keen eye and spotted the sketches in Xie Changning’s hand at once. She leaned in closer. "This rose you’ve drawn is really nice, though the final model will probably come out a bit more rounded."

Pulled from her thoughts, Xie Changning looked at Qiao Tiantian.

"Foreign soaps aren’t anything special anymore. What if... we design them to be individually wrapped, single-use rose soaps? For hotels, or as a portable version for travel?"

Qiao Tiantian began to grasp Xie Changning’s idea, and her eyes lit up.

"You mean, we make them small, wrap them individually, and then put a bunch of them into a larger bag to sell as a portable set?"

Qiao Tiantian pictured it. ’It’s definitely possible!’

This could be a way to stand out from the competition!

Xie Changning nodded and sketched out her idea.

To save time, her drawing was rough, showing only the basic concept.

But the concept alone was enough!

The group crowded together, chattering excitedly. Finally, a young man named Song Tianyu couldn’t help but exclaim, "Director, that’s genius! Everyone knows carrying a bar of soap is a pain since you need a case for it."

"Exactly! If we make a small, portable version like this, you can just use one at a time. You wouldn’t have to worry about getting your other things messy!"

Everyone loved the idea of a portable cleansing soap.

Xie Changning nodded slightly and addressed the group. "We can make two versions: one regular-sized cleansing soap, and one portable pack. We could sell them as a set, maybe with a ’buy one, get one’ promotion."

Xie Changning explained her line of thinking to them.

The more they heard, the more viable the plan sounded. They asked Xie Changning for paper and a pen and started taking notes on their impromptu meeting.

Xie Changning was pleased with their enthusiasm. She kept throwing out ideas, the others would offer their opinions, and together they hammered out the final production method for the cleansing soap.

The meeting lasted late into the night.

Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao had long since gone to bed, but Xie Changning and her team were still at it. They didn’t finish until the early hours of the morning, yawning as they finally wrapped things up.

Xie Changning had the driver take the others home while she went to catch up on sleep.

Once the plan was finalized, the daily chemical factory’s R&D team began development. Meanwhile, Xie Changning made the rounds between her other factories, inspecting the machinery for anything in need of repair.

As for the development of the water heater—

Xie Changning had taken a hands-off approach, wanting to test the R&D team’s capabilities. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Her thinking was that it would be perfectly normal if they didn’t manage to develop the water heater before the Spring Trade Fair. R&D was a long process; the unusually rapid development of the printer was the real anomaly.

However, given Xie Changning’s track record of lightning-fast results, the machinery factory’s R&D team felt immense pressure.

Even though no one from management commented on their progress, they put pressure on themselves, working day and night drawing blueprints and modifying parts in an effort to finish development as quickly as possible.

Perhaps because the initial blueprints Xie Changning provided were so comprehensive, or perhaps due to the workers’ diligent efforts, Xie Changning saw the machinery factory’s newly developed water heater just before the Spring Trade Fair.

The water heater was bulky, not nearly as portable as the ones from later eras.

Still, its successful development was a victory in itself!

At the very least, in a public bathhouse, this single water heater could supply enough hot water for two or three young women to take a proper bath.

When Xie Changning saw the water heater, she was thrilled. She praised every single member of the R&D team and gave them each a one-hundred-yuan bonus!

With the large model complete, creating a smaller version was just a matter of time.

The core design was sound; it just needed to be scaled down.

With Xie Changning joining the effort, the R&D team managed to develop a small-scale water heater in less than half a month!

Wang Guofu’s heart ached as he watched the R&D team, who had been averaging less than three hours of sleep a night for the past two weeks. "After the Spring Trade Fair, there’s the Autumn Trade Fair," he said. "Besides, we have the printer. We can definitely withstand the pressure to earn foreign currency..."

’If they work this hard, will their bodies hold up when they get older?’

"It’s done!"

Just as Wang Guofu was thinking this, the new R&D team leader, Cheng Jinghao, walked out of Workshop Five, looking satisfied. She delivered the good news to Wang Guofu.

"Really!?" Wang Guofu hadn’t actually held out much hope.

There had been so little time. Tomorrow was the day they were scheduled to leave for Shencheng City!

He had thought that even with their director leading the team personally, they wouldn’t be able to successfully scale down the water heater in time.

He never expected—

Their director had actually managed to do it in just half a month!

Xie Changning followed Cheng Jinghao out, yawning. She gestured for Wang Guofu to go inside. "I’m leaving the finishing touches to you. I need to take the prototype with me when we leave tomorrow, so make sure it’s ready... Yaaawn..."

Yawning again, Xie Changning walked away.

"Leave it to me!"

As Xie Changning went to get some rest, Wang Guofu hurried after Cheng Jinghao into Workshop Five. "Just tell me what needs to be done to wrap up. I’ll bring in a team to handle it. All of you, go get some sleep!"

This kind of schedule would wear anyone down.

As Chen Youli walked past Wang Guofu, he couldn’t help but run a hand through his hair and mutter, "’I don’t know if I’m imagining things, but does my hair seem a little thinner these past two weeks?’"

Wang Guofu couldn’t help but stare at Chen Youli’s hair.

He didn’t know if it was just the power of suggestion, but Wang Guofu had to agree—Chen Youli’s hair really didn’t look as thick as it used to...