Chapter 94 - The ancients also liked it

After choosing the manpower for making mosquito incense, Shi Qingluo looked at everyone and said, “From now on, our family will need a lot of beets every year, so we will collect them at a price of not less than 3 wen per catty.

“Everyone can use some wasteland orlow-grade land to grow them. I will provide the seeds, and when the time comes, we’ll sign a contract.

“80% of the beets you plant will be sold to me. The price will be written as well. This safeguard both you and me.

“Those who want to grow beets can come to our house and look for my husband to sign a contract and collect the seeds.”

If they wanted to produce a large amount of sugar, just relying on the wild beets on the mountain was definitely not enough.

Therefore, they had to mobilise the villagers to plant them and for her to collect the harvest directly.

The villagers were also happy to hear that.

“It’s really not less than 3 cents per catty?”

A catty of cabbage was only worth a wen. They had seen that kind of beet before.

It did not seem difficult to grow, yet it fetched such a good selling price.

Shi Qingluo smiled and said, “That’s right. Also, for the first batch of planting in the first year, I will harvest it at 4 cents a catty. For the second batch, I will start to fix the price at 3 cents a catty.

“This can also be written in the contract.”

She had to raise the price for the first batch so that more people would plant them.

As expected, many villagers were tempted.

“Alright, then our family will use a few acres of wasteland to grow beets.”

“Ours too.”

As long as someone took the lead, more people would follow suit.

More than half of the villagers indicated their interest to use wasteland or their own land to plant beets.

Now with a sparse population but huge plots of land, the imperial court was also encouraging people to grow crops on wasteland.

Taxes were waived for the first two years, but they had to register at the yamen.

Following that, Shi Qingluo gave 5 sticks of mosquito incense to every household in the village, asking them to light them up at night.

Only when they try out then they would know how good the mosquito incense was for effective advertisement.

The villagers were even happier and felt that Xiao Hanzheng’s wife was magnanimous.

The chief was also happy. As the Xiao family’s workshop expanded, the villagers’ lives would become better.

Shi Qingluo also announced to everyone that she would be collecting mugwort leaves and wild chrysanthemums at 1 wen per catty.

She did not want to bring her whole family to the mountains to pick them every day. It was too tiring.

It was not a problem to collect them with money. It would save time and effort, and also generate income for everyone.

When the villagers heard the price she set, they were all extremely happy.

Just picking some mugwort leaves and wild chrysanthemums in the wild and on the mountains would give them 1 wen per catty. Although it would take some time and effort, it was almost like a pie falling from the sky.

After the meeting, the villagers started to take action.

They either picked wormwood leaves, wild chrysanthemums, or went to catch eels and fishes.

After the people from other villages heard about it, they asked the chiefs and his assistance.

If they were to sell it, would the Xiao family accept it?

After Shi Qingluo gave an affirmative answer, the other villagers also joined in.

Everyone was full of energy.

At the Xiao family’s house, Shi Qingluo led her family to make a batch of mosquito incense.

In the afternoon, they also collected a lot of materials.

The next day, the villagers gathered for a chat.

“Did your family light up the mosquito incense yesterday?”

“Yes, it’s really useful.”

“That’s right. The mosquito incense made by Dalang’s wife is simply amazing. Last night, my family members weren’t bitten by mosquitoes throughout the entire night.”

“In the past, I often heard the annoying mosquitoes buzzing in the middle of the night, but it was all gone yesterday.”

“This mosquito incense is too useful. I don’t know how much each one costs, but if it’s not too expensive, I’d like to buy some for my house.”

“Me too.”

The mosquito incense’s effect was proved overnight.

The women in the village also reported to the sugar workshop on time for work.

Shi Qingluo divided them into four groups, with each group sitting in different rooms.

Those drying mugwort and wild chrysanthemum; those grinding bone powder; those mixing them for paper mounting; and finally those packaging them into bundles.

She also emphasised that they could not exchange with others what they had done, else they would be fired.

This was also to temporarily keep the formula confidential.

However, Shi Qingluo also knew that this formula would only be useful this year.

Those who were interested only needed to research and inquire about the materials she had received, in order to decipher the ingredients.

However, what she wanted to do was to make a brand so that when someone mentioned about mosquito incense in the future, everyone would know about Nanxi mosquito incense.

Competition spurs a lively market.

Daliang was so big, and every household could use the mosquito incense, so its market was also very big.

Today, they made over 10,000 sticks of mosquito incense.

Shi Qingluo said to Xiao Hanzheng, “Old Xiao, let’s go to the county town tomorrow to give away the mosquito incense.”

Xiao Hanzheng was stunned. “Give away the mosquito incense?”

Shi Qingluo nodded. “That’s right. If we get people to buy it with money, they won’t know whether it’s effective and won’t dare to buy it either.

“But if we give them away for free first for them to know its effect, they will definitely come to us to buy it.”

“It’s also beneficial for us to increase its brand awareness and let merchants from other places to come and buy it.”

Xiao Hanzheng was an ancient person and didn’t know about free sales in modern times.

But he quickly figured out the crux of the matter.

They would just lose some profits initially.

But as long as the public knows the mosquito incense’s effectiveness, they don’t need to worry about selling it.

He smiled and said, “This is a good idea!

“It just so happens that I have to go to the county yamen to teach people how to make ice for the last time tomorrow. I’ll send it to the county yamen then.”

He told Mo Qingling that he would go there again tomorrow.

In the future, the county yamen’s bailiffs would teach anyone who wanted to learn how to make ice. They agreed.

Shi Qingluo nodded. “Send some to Mo Qingling and others as well. When they try it they will probably buy it next time. It’s also very good publicity for us.”

She added with a smile, “Look, this is the mosquito incense used by the county magistrate. If you don’t use it now, you’ll fall behind.”

Not only did modern people like to follow the wave, the ancients also liked to follow trends.

She had heard from Xiao Hanzheng that the young masters in the capital liked to follow the trend or show off very much.

Examples include playing with flowers. A small number of people would start playing with flowers first. Many people would then follow the trend.

In reality, how many people actually loved flowers that much?

Everyone would feel that “If I didn’t play with a few pots of rare and expensive flowers, I would be outdated”.

This also led to expensive flowers getting a higher price in the capital, and the moment they appeared, they would be snatched away.

Recently, Bai Xu had been keeping an eye on them and asking her to cultivate more rare flowers.

That pot of chrysanthemums had already been sold at a good price in the capital.

Shi Qingluo would not let go of this market either, so she had recently planted a few rare flowers.

Xiao Hanzheng could not help but laugh when he heard her last words. “I wonder if Mo Qingling will feel like crying when he finds out about your plan.”

Shi Qingluo chuckled. “He should be laughing. I’m doing this to help him boost his political achievements.”

The next day, the two of them brought their handmade mosquito incense to the county town.

Xiao Hanzheng first went to visit Mo Qingling and gave him a few bundles of mosquito incense.

10 sticks of mosquito incense formed a bundle. They were tied together with the words ‘Nanxi mosquito incense’ written on the thin strip of paper attached to it.

It was Mo Qingling’s first time hearing about mosquito incense and he took it over to take a look.

When he saw the words on it, he could not help but laugh. “Your wife is quite thoughtful.”

He was now the Nanxi’s county magistrate, and the name Nanxi mosquito incense was printed on it. He was very happy.

If it really had the effect that Xiao Hanzheng claimed, he would not have to worry about selling it in the market. Everyone would also know about Nanxi county. It was very good.