Chapter 98: Silver and Gelatin

Dr. Zhong took it and looked at it. It included the second-class controlled material, electrolytic silver. Silver was not rare, but electrolytic silver was. The non-ferrous metal electrolysis industry had not yet been developed, so this was a resource that dwindled with every use. However, once the bottleneck in the power industry was solved, electrolytic copper and silver would not be a problem.

The items below the list were more serious. The listed items were all first-class controlled equipment and consumables, which, it could be said, could not be self-produced within five to ten years.

According to the regulations, after he, as the professional leader, signed off on such professional materials, unless the inventory really reached the “red alert line,” the Planning Department would directly approve their collection. This made his responsibility seem very great. He read it over and over again, but did not dare to rashly ask questions like, “Is this stuff really necessary…”. In this profession, Dr. Zhong was basically at the same level as a naturalized citizen on the street. Saying too much would inevitably reveal his ignorance. He considered it and felt that he should still trust the professionals. Besides, this project was indeed very important. Once it was successfully developed, it would not be a golden finger, but 21st-century black technology.

“I approve,” Dr. Zhong took out his personal seal from his pocket and stamped it in front of her. “Tomorrow, I’ll have my secretary send it to the Planning Department…”

“If you don’t mind, I plan to take these documents to the Planning Department myself tomorrow. My time is too tight to wait for the official procedures, and some things I need to pick out myself to be at ease.”

“That’s fine,” Zhong Lishi nodded. “But your documents are not complete. How about this, I’ll write you a note first. You take the note and the documents with you, and I’ll have someone complete the formalities later.”

“Thank you so much,” Ge Xinxin said gracefully.

Dr. Zhong took out a notepad with the letterhead of the Ministry of Science and Technology from his briefcase, took out a Hero fountain pen, and wrote with a flourish, finally signing and dating it.

Ge Xinxin took it, blew on it carefully, and smiled. “Thank you, you are truly a good leader.”

“You’re welcome,” Zhong Lishi stood up to leave. “Once your project succeeds, how many people in the industrial sector will be grateful for your great kindness,” he said jokingly.

“I wouldn’t dare take the credit. It’s the result of everyone’s joint efforts,” Ge Xinxin said, carefully putting the documents in her pocket. “I’m going to do my experiment now. Please take care.”

Ge Xinxin returned to her laboratory. Her two naturalized citizen “trainee experimenters” were still waiting for her on a bench in the corridor outside the door. Both were girls. To avoid trouble in her daily work, Ge Xinxin had chosen all female experimenters, all over 1.60 meters tall. The experimental equipment in the laboratory was manufactured according to the average height of the Elders, and it would be very difficult for shorter naturalized citizens to use.

She used her key to open the lock: her private laboratory key number. It was a “special-grade laboratory,” and most of the experimental equipment inside came from the other world. Access was strictly managed. Except for “trainee experimenters” personally brought in by an Elder, no other naturalized citizens were allowed inside.

Not only that, but when an Elder was not present, naturalized citizen experimenters were also not allowed inside. First, to ensure the safety of the laboratory. Even professional personnel in the 21st century often made mistakes of rough operation, let alone the natives of this world.

A naturalized citizen who could serve as an “assistant” was not just one in a thousand, but one in a hundred. If one died or was disabled, it was not as easy to replace as a laborer on a construction site.

Second, in the event of an accident, the laboratory’s equipment and chemicals would be damaged, and some of these things were “more precious than gold.” Even with gold, there was nowhere to buy them. The common 1/1000 balance alone was not something the Yuanlao Yuan’s current industry could manufacture.

Ge Xinxin walked into the laboratory and checked the tidying work done by the naturalized citizen experimenters: sorting waste liquid according to labels, washing instruments, and cleaning the experimental bench. After confirming that everything was in order, she looked at her watch and said:

“You can go off duty now. Be at the laboratory at seven tomorrow morning. Tomorrow you will work for Elder Xu. I have something to do.”

It was now eleven at night. The naturalized citizen experimenters had no fixed working hours; they worked according to the Elder’s schedule. When working with an Elder like Ge Xinxin, they basically only had time for sleeping, eating, and using the toilet.

After the trainee experimenters left, Ge Xinxin sat in her chair for a moment. She was very tired and could have fallen asleep immediately if she lay down, but she had to first sort out her thoughts on the project she was applying for.

The next morning, Ge Xinxin got up early, put on an empty backpack, took her usual handbag, and set off. She took the Ma Niao commuter train to Bairen, then showed her credentials at the ticket office of the Bopu station and bought a ticket to the Gaoshanling station.

The track from Bairen to Gaoshanling had just been laid. Although anyone could ride it, not everyone could buy a ticket to the Gaoshanling station at the end of the line. Only Elders and naturalized citizens with special passes could buy tickets to the Gaoshanling station.

Ge Xinxin smoothly arrived at the Planning Department’s controlled materials warehouse in Gaoshanling and quickly collected the various controlled materials she had applied for.

“Ge Xinxin, what are you doing with so much silver? And you want electrolytic pure silver. Besides the people in the electrical field, no one is really interested in this stuff. And gelatin, are you going to make cold dishes or jelly with this?” At the Planning Department’s materials office, Sun Xiao, who was on duty, asked curiously as he stamped the application form Ge Xinxin had handed him.

“Un secret qui rend une femme femme,” Ge Xinxin placed her right index finger on her lips, smiled lightly, and said this. She then clipped the stamped application form into her binder, put it in her handbag, turned, and walked out of the office, leaving Sun Xiao staring blankly at the door, muttering to himself, “Hmm? Is that perfume? How is there still stock after two or three years? Who the hell is this chick?”

With the collected gelatin and silver, Ge Xinxin returned to her laboratory. She first took out a set of distillation equipment. Despite great effort, the glass factory could only produce standard ground-glass joint instruments of size 14# and above. Micro and semi-micro instruments were still “in development.” But for today’s work, a 24# set was just right. She poured a 500ml bottle of concentrated nitric acid into a 1000ml round-bottom flask, added a few pieces of broken porcelain, and then distilled it in an oil bath. She collected the 115-125°C fraction, which was 68% concentrated nitric acid with most of the metal ions and other impurities removed. She added 100g of chopped pure silver to the receiving flask, changed to a reflux setup with a water bath, and then filled out an overnight reaction form and placed it in front of the apparatus. She took off her white lab coat and hung it on the hook by the door. She boarded the Ma Niao commuter train to Bairen City to have dinner. Tonight, she planned to eat something good at the Merchant’s Guild Restaurant to improve her quality of life, and also to buy some daily necessities at the cooperative. Although the goods there were far from meeting her requirements, at least many of them were勉强 usable.

At 8 p.m., Ge Xinxin returned to the laboratory, stopped the reflux, and transferred the solution to an ice bath to cool. She turned on the water pump. The huge noise characteristic of the machines of this world sounded, and she couldn’t help but frown. “Really, the machinery factory keeps saying they’ll improve it but never takes action.” She poured the cooled reaction solution and solid into a Büchner funnel with filter paper and filtered it under suction, washing it five times with 95% ethanol before drying it. She collected the resulting powder in a brown wide-mouthed bottle labeled “silver nitrate,” opened the lid, and placed it in a desiccator. She then weighed 10g of gelatin and dissolved it in 350ml of hot water, added 32g of recrystallized Ma Niao-produced potassium bromide, stirred well, and kept it at 55°C. She then weighed 40g of silver nitrate and dissolved it in 400ml of warm distilled water. Next, she prepared 40g of gelatin without extra water.

After all the solutions were prepared, Ge Xinxin turned off all the lights and drew the curtains. In the 17th century, a night without light pollution, drawing thick woolen curtains created a perfect darkroom. She turned on a flashlight covered with red paper and began the next step. She slowly poured the silver nitrate solution into the potassium bromide-gelatin solution, stirring continuously at 35°C for 10 minutes. Then she added the prepared gelatin, stirred well, and heated it for half an hour. Ge Xinxin put the beaker in a light-proof box, covered it, and then used the flashlight to find the light switch and turn on the light. She labeled the box and put it in a cabinet, then found the naturalized citizen on the night shift and instructed her to dispose of the waste liquid and wash the instruments according to the procedure.

“It’s 10 o’clock. I might as well finish this tonight,” Ge Xinxin sighed, looking at her watch. She left the laboratory and instructed the Elder experimenter on duty. She returned to the dormitory building on the side.

This building was specially built by the General Office for the Elders working at the Central Heavy Industry Laboratory. Each person had an office with a bedroom. This was much better than the treatment in the 21st century. In the past, like all chemical industry professionals, she was used to just having a folding chair in her office.

As one of the few female Elders in the laboratory, her bedroom had a separate bathroom. The bedroom was warmly decorated in a feminine style, with no so-called “industrial” style. A small hand-woven Persian rug of pure wool was laid on the bamboo floor. A meticulous-style flower and bird painting bought at a trophy auction hung on the wall. A table lamp converted from a vase stood on the solid wood bedside table. The single solid wood bed was covered with bedding of white cloth with blue floral prints—this was the most beautiful pure cotton bedding the light industry department could produce. The IKEA-style solid wood wardrobe made by the woodworking factory held her various clothes. On a special shelf were a dozen bags and handbags. A few of them, fake A-brand luxury bags from Lando’s ship, were carefully wrapped in paper and placed on the top shelf. The rest were local products made by the light industry department.