Chapter 96: That’s more like it

Bai Xu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Aren’t you thinking too much?”

He didn’t think that this would be possible.

How could a small Xiaxi village become a trading center?

“Just because of the mosquito incense?

“Then let me tell you, stop dreaming.”

It was rare that he could strike this woman down.

Shi Qingluo rolled her eyes at him. “How can it be just because of the mosquito incense? I have a lot of good things in my hands.

“Besides, why is it impossible? Only those who dare to dream and try out will be able to achieve it.

“If you haven’t done it before, how do you know that it’s impossible?”

She looked at him meaningfully. “Just wait for your face to be slapped again then.”

Bai Xu was speechless.

“What else do you have?” He was very interested in this.

Shi Qingluo glanced at him. “I won’t tell you. Just wait and see.”

Bai Xu remained silent. He would always be left hanging. How annoying.

He persisted. “If you don’t want to sell in bulk, how about selling the formula to me? I won’t compete with you. I’ll sell it somewhere else.”

Shi Qingluo shook her head. “No ‘how about’.

“You can queue up to make a reservation and then sell it to others. It’s still possible.”

Bai Xu was speechless. “With our relationship, why do I need to queue up to make a reservation? Why don’t you just arrange for me to cut in line?”

Time was money!

Shi Qingluo was speechless as well. “Our relationship is that I’m a pure and innocent business partner of yours. Don’t ruin my reputation.”

Xiao Hanzheng chimed in. “Young Master Bai, please be careful with your words.”

Bai Xu paused.

“What I mean is that we’ve worked together for so many times. It’s just cutting a queue. You just arrange it alright.”

Shi Qingluo said, “If there are no rules, nothing can be achieved. Queue cutting is absolutely not allowed here.

“If you do and cut the queue, others would also follow suit, wouldn’t this waste the time of those queuing at the front?”

When she was in the modern era, she disliked those who cut queues.

Probably everyone disliked queue cutting, so she wanted to prevent similar incidents from happening.

Bai Xu saw her determined look and gave up. “Alright, I’ll queue up.”

“How do I queue up? Don’t tell me I am going to stand at the entrance too?” The day was so hot.

Shi Qingluo said, “First, go to the entrance and queue up. After you get a number, you can go to the lounge next door and wait.

“There is an ice basin inside and some herbal tea. You won’t be shortchanged.

“But since you came at this time, you definitely won’t be able to get the mosquito incense today.

“After you get the number, come back tomorrow then.”

She was actually a little surprised that so many came to buy the mosquito incense.

It seemed that there were still many smart merchants in ancient times who knew how to seize the opportunities.

Other places did not sell mosquito incense. They wouldn’t have to worry about selling it outside.

Bai Xu could only agree to it. “Then give me more goods. I’ll send it to the capital and sell it.”

He was expanding his business in the capital and wanted to establish a foothold there.

Getting some novel things to sell was a good way out.

Shi Qingluo didn’t make things difficult for him. “No problem.

“I’ll get someone to make a batch of higher quality mosquito incense with a more exquisite appearance. You can give others for free first.”

Commoners used ordinary mosquito incense. Hence, the aristocratic families would pursue higher quality. They were also the target audience on goods with a higher price.

Therefore, they had to offer different qualities of mosquito incense to suit different groups of people.

These words made Bai Xu feel better. “That’s more like it. At least you’re generous.”

This woman was indeed smart. She knew how to prepare different types of mosquito incense.

He emphasised, “Prepare better quality ones in greater quantity. If you want to earn money, you have to go the high-priced route.”

Shi Qingluo nodded. “No problem.”

She added, “But even though it’s for you to give it away, you still have to pay me.”

Bai Xu was speechless. She still said that she didn’t care about money.

“I’ll give it to you. How would I short change you?” He was afraid of this woman.

Bai Xu didn’t line up in person and got Number Four to do it instead.

He didn’t go to the lounge either. Instead, he sat there and sipped his tea.

In the lounge, merchants and peddlers from the county enjoyed the cooling room and drank a cup of herbal tea. They felt much better.

They didn’t know that this was called service, but they felt really comfortable.

“Elementary Scholar Xiao’s wife is really not bad.”

“I heard that their sugar is cheap and tastes good. I’ll buy some later.”

“There are still people selling saltpetre in this village. I’ll also take a cart of it back.”

“Don’t even think about taking a cart back. There is not enough supply in their village. Almost every day the saltpetre they dig up would be sold out by when the sky just brightened.”

“Is it selling so well?”

“That’s right. The weather is hot now, so there is high demand for saltpetre.”

“Moreover, many people have bought saltpetre and pulled them on carts to places far away. I heard that many people from the capital have come to buy saltpetre.”

“I didn’t expect this dilapidated looking village to have so many good things.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be dilapidated for long.”

The first person who received the goods immediately left the county town to sell them.

Shi Qingluo’s pricing wasn’t expensive. A bundle of mosquito incense contains 10 sticks, and the mass purchase price was only 1 wen.

The production cost was only about half wen, and they could still earn a profit of half wen.

She had also set a price for these merchants. It would be best if they could sell them for 2 to 3 wen, so as not to mess up the market price.

In the county town, they could only sell them for 2 wen, while those exported further would be sold at 3 wen.

Most of the merchants would still be able to earn money.

They would still earn a lot by prioritising higher sales with a lower profit margin.

The key was that all could afford to use it, except those families who were very poor.

This time, Shi Qingluo really did not sell mosquito incense to earn a lot of money.

Otherwise, she would deliberately create some gimmicks with exquisite packaging and sell it to the rich.

The main reason was to let the people of the Daliang dynasty use mosquito incense every summer to solve the worry of being bitten by mosquitoes.

The women and girls who came to work in the village were very diligent and efficient.

In addition, many villages in the county heard that Shi Qingluo was collecting mugwort leaves, wild chrysanthemum flowers, and eels here.

Hence, they would collect and capture these and sell them to her.

The raw materials were coming in consistently, and the amount of mosquito incense produced was also large.

However, they could only sell what they had made that day. Sometimes, they might still run out of stock.

After Mo Qingling found the mosquito incense effective, he sent people to Xiaxi village to buy it too.

Shi Qingluo guessed that he might bring it back to the capital as gifts, so she selected quite a lot that had better quality and more exquisite packaging.

Of course, she also accepted the money.

For a period of time, people came to Xiaxi village like an endless stream every day to buy mosquito incense.

There were also villagers who saw business opportunities and set up herbal tea stalls at the entrance of the village, so were those selling steamed buns and so on.

In the capital.

Quite a few hawkers carried large buckets along the street and shouted, “Popsicles, selling popsicles!”

“What popsicle flavours do you have?”

“There are cold melons, grapes, pears, and hawthorn flavours (cold melon means watermelon).”

“Then give me a cold melon one.”

“Daddy, I want to eat popsicles, I want to eat popsicles.”

“You’ve already eaten two today.”

“No, I just want to eat, eat, eat…”

Popsicle sales had also become a common sight in the streets and alleys of the capital.

Recently, they had added mosquito incense.

“Mosquito incense, 3 sticks for 1 wen, cheap and easy to use.”

Not to mention that people at the era were still very smart.

A bundle of mosquito incense was broken up into small bundles and sold from street to street.

The quantity they sold wasn’t less than those merchants selling them in their shops, and they earned even more.

“Is this mosquito incense useful?”

“It’s definitely useful. The empress’s nephew, Young Master Mo, will light one every day before he goes to sleep. If it’s not useful, why would he like it so much?”

Mo Qingling’s reputation in the capital was still very great.

“Besides, which noble in the capital doesn’t use mosquito incense?” Those who didn’t had fallen behind the trends.

“Young Master Mo goes as far as using it every day. Then give me 3 sticks.”

“I want 3 as well.”

Mo Qingling, who was currently working in the Nanxi county yamen, sneezed a few times…