Shi Qingluo started a sugar-making workshop which mainly produced refined sugar without decolourisation and rock sugar.
White sugar was now monopolised by the Bai family and sold at a high price to the entire Daliang, so she didn’t decolourise the sugar anymore.
The low production cost allowed them to sell at a lower price than those shops in the county town.
After harvesting all the beets, she nurtured a batch of seeds and planned to plant them next month.
The sugar workshop operated in an orderly manner.
Meanwhile, the Taoist temple’s reconstruction was also ongoing.
Shi Qingluo was very generous whenever she had some money in her hands.
This old priest had helped her take so many blame and would continue to do so in the future.
Therefore, she purchased the best materials to build the Taoist temple.
On top of being busy with the sugar production, Bai Xu would also drag her to his floor tile workshop to research frequently.
Ever since her relationship with Xiao Hanzheng became better, Shi Qingluo went to the county town to buy some cotton fabric.
She asked Mother Xiao to make a few short-sleeved nightgowns for her and Xiao Hanzheng.
When she woke up that morning, Shi Qingluo found several mosquito bites on her legs and arms.
Xiao Hanzheng had woken up an hour earlier to practise his swordsmanship. After that, he would accompany Shi Qingluo to practise taiji.
When he pushed the door open and entered, he saw his wife scratching her arms and legs.
“I’ll prepare some cooling medicine for you later. Stop scratching.”
Nowadays, many mosquitoes were still poisonous.
Shi Qingluo nodded. “Alright, these days the mosquitoes are really annoying.”
Their buzzing throughout the night had affected her sleep.
Xiao Hanzheng hung up his sword and said with a smile, “I’ll go cut some silvery wormwood and smoke it in the rooms tonight.”
He noticed that her little wife could endure hardships when she was poor.
However, after her family’s conditions became better, her delicate, minor problematic habits would slowly bubble to the surface.
For example, she would become picky with food, complain about the heat, want him to coax her, and so on.
Of course, he also liked that she was delicate and was willing to pamper her.
Shi Qingluo got up with a look of despair on her face. “There will still be some in the middle of the next after smoking it.”
Then, she knocked her head. “Aiya, how could I forget that I know how to make mosquito incense?”
“Old Xiao, let’s make some mosquito incense ourselves.”
When she was at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, she had gone to the countryside with her colleagues to help the poor.
After mixing many plants in the area, they developed a mosquito incense workshop for the villages.
The handmade mosquito incense was harmless and non-toxic. They broadcasted it live for sale.
They also purchased a batch of machines to make other mosquito incense and anti-mosquito liquid for overseas exports.
That was how she knew how to make mosquito incense.
Xiao Hanzheng had never heard of it. “Mosquito incense?”
Shi Qingluo smiled and said, “It’s used to repel mosquitoes.”
“Burn one every night and we won’t be disturbed by mosquitoes for the entire night.
“We can also take advantage of the hot weather and make a few batches of mosquito incense to sell. We will at least earn some extra income.
“We can also use this opportunity to publicise ourselves.
“After we make the mosquito incense, we can name it Nanxi mosquito incense.”
Xiao Hanzheng’s thoughts were in line with his wife, so he nodded, “Alright, then we’ll make the mosquito incense.”
Shi Qingluo was instantly energised. After washing up, she dragged Xiao Hanzheng up the mountain to pick some herbs.
The mosquito incense was made of dried moxa grass, dried wild chrysanthemum, and fish bone powder.
After drying and mixing these ingredients together, grinding them into fine powder and adding 95% of the dried wood shavings (i.e. sawdust), these were all the steps needed to make mosquito incense.
Before going up the mountain, she called Xiao Erlang over.
“Erlang, go and tell the children in the village that from today onwards, our family will be collecting eels or fish bones.”
“Eels are priced at 3 wen per catty, and fish bones 1 wen per catty. Collect the more the merrier.
“Of course, if they want to exchange them for sugar or tofu, that’s fine too.”
Eels and soft-shelled turtles were the best animals for making powered fish bones.
It wasn’t easy to catch soft-shelled turtles, but the villagers would be able to catch a lot of eels.
The locals weren’t eel lovers, so not many people caught them to sell them as food.
3 wen per catty was considered a pretty good price.
Although Xiao Erlang did not know why his sister-in-law wanted eel and fish bones, he only had one thought: My sister-in-law would definitely do the right thing.
“Okay, I will go to the village in a while and ask everyone to collect them.”
Shi Qingluo thought for a moment. Since they were doing it, they should make more.
“We can also get people from other villages to help spread the word. As long as they bring these ingredients over, we’ll buy it from them.”
Xiao Erlang nodded. “Alright!”
Ever since his sister-in-law came to their house, not only had their lives improved, but the children in the village also liked to play with him more.
Of course, he knew that more people in the village liked to play with him had a lot to do with the candy that his sister-in-law gave him, the books that she helped him make, and the toys that his big brother made for him.
Shi Qingluo took a handful of handmade fruit candy from her purse and gave it to him. “Then I’ll have to rely on you. Take these sweets and share them with your friends.”
Xiao Erlang took the fruit candy. “Thank you, sister-in-law. I’ll definitely do it well.”
He liked it when his sister-in-law praised him and felt that he was contributing well to his family.
After Xiao Erlang went to the village with the candy happily, Shi Qingluo also grabbed Xiao Hanzheng out to the door.
Xiao Hanzheng was happy to see his younger brother becoming more cheerful.
His little wife was better at parenting.
He suddenly sighed, “If we have kids in the future, you will be the one to teach them.”
She would teach their children very well.
Shi Qingluo was stunned. “What kids?”
Xiao Hanzheng felt that she looked very cute and raised his hand to pinch her nose.
He leaned close to her ear and said with a smile, “Of course it’s the child between me and you.”
It was the first time Shi Qingluo heard a man saying that he wanted a child with her, and her face turned red.
She pushed Xiao Hanzheng away unnaturally. “It’s still early.”
She curled her lips and said, “With my current appearance, I’m afraid you won’t be able to fool around with me.”
Her skin was fair and her legs were long and beautiful. Ah, when would she be able to restore it back!
Xiao Hanzheng chuckled softly. “I think you’re doing quite well now. It’s kinda possible for me to fool around.”
It wasn’t like he had never seen a beautiful woman before, but he just liked his little wife like this.
If she wasn’t too young, he would actually still want to do it.
Shi Qingluo’s face was dyed with a faint blush. “Pervert!”
Then, she stretched out her hand and pinched Xiao Hanzheng’s waist. “You’re still not allowed to that yet, I’m still young.”
Even she was embarrassed by her current appearance.
She did not want to leave this kind of first impression on her young husband.
Moreover, at her current age, it wouldn’t be good if she were to have a child.
Therefore, it was better to talk about sleeping together in the future.
Xiao Hanzheng grabbed her hands that were causing trouble. “When you give the green light, then I’ll fool around, alright?”
Shi Qingluo glared at him. “Old Xiao, I didn’t realise that you were so coquettish!”
Her young husband was actually so coquettish.
She thought that he was a gentle and modest young man with a pure heart and few desires.
So he was thinking about her so much!
As expected, she was still very charming. He didn’t mind her being so shabby. Cough cough…
Xiao Hanzheng held her hand. “What’s coquettish?”
Shi Qingluo explained, “It means that you’re different on the surface. You look like you don’t have any desires, but who knew that you have the potential to be a pervert behind your back?”
