Chapter 27 Increase Budget to Make Mosquito Coils

For dinner, they had pea and pork porridge. Wenrou had shelled all the peas that afternoon and cooked them all in one meal. The peas melted in your mouth and had a subtle sweetness. Yao Tianrui ate with a relaxed expression, and Wenrou happily said she would make it again tomorrow.

Yao Xiaoyu bought a fried dough stick, which was then split into two strips and torn into six pieces, which were placed in each person's bowl. Yao Xiaoli liked the taste very much. When Yao Ping'an saw this, he tore off most of his piece and gave it to his youngest daughter. He rarely asked Zhou Chunhua to buy a few more for them to eat tomorrow.

"Now that we have some money at home, it's okay to buy some food occasionally to satisfy our cravings."

The words were spoken tactfully, but everyone knew perfectly well who was behind it. Zhou Chunhua agreed, and Yao Xiaoyu scooped up a piece of meat and chewed it, pretending not to hear. After clearing away the dishes and chopsticks and reading the story from today's newspaper, she started working on the budget again.

Because of the eight silver dollars next month, and the ten silver dollars every month thereafter, Yao Xiaoyu has exclusive rights to use the table at night.

She didn't need to hope that others had something to do at night and then borrow some light from them. Instead, she could calmly and peacefully light the kerosene lamp and slowly fill in the paper under the stars. Just looking at that lamplight, Yao Xiaoyu always thought of that famous line:

[...dinner is early...it is customary not to light lamps...exceptions...Uncle Zhao...is allowed to light a lamp to read articles...when Ah Q comes to do odd jobs, he is allowed to light a lamp to pound rice.][1]

Is she Old Man Zhao, who was taking the imperial examination, or Ah Q, who was pounding rice?

As she thought about it, Yao Xiaoyu chuckled and then went back to doing her own thing.

She wasn't worried about being discovered while making the budget. The staircase had been built several years ago and was still usable, but it would make a slight noise whenever someone walked on it, no matter how careful they were. This small friction sound was easily overlooked during the day, but at night...

"Crunch, crunch—"

Yao Xiaoyu took a notebook and covered the paper with it. She held the pen in the air and pointed it at the newspaper in front of her. Then she looked at the paper with only a few words written on it, as if she wanted to write something, but she hesitated to put pen to paper.

Aren't you going to sleep yet?

Yao Tianrui asked softly, his voice tinged with drowsiness.

"Just a little more, I'll rest after I finish writing."

Yao Xiaoyu didn't even look up. A dark figure quietly went out beside her and then quietly returned a moment later.

"Crunch, crunch—"

Yao Xiaoyu removed the notebook that was blocking her view, pushed the newspaper forward, and then calculated the amount of money she needed to save.

In her plan, her family members would all have their own businesses within a few years, but it is not safe for one person to go out alone. The best solution is to hire reliable bodyguards, and if they earn enough money, they should also be equipped with guns.

But his family would most likely not agree to this expense—when Yao Daniu went out, he only took his assistants with him, not paid someone to protect him.

Yao Xiaoyu always prepared for the worst, so she needed to have the money ready in advance. Fortunately, her family was still in debt, so at least for the next few years, as long as she was careful and had someone accompany her when she went out, she wouldn't encounter human traffickers or other social scum, and she wouldn't have to worry about being targeted. But things might not be so simple in the future.

It is now 1914. In the history of her time, the first batch of female students will enter university in 1919. If Yao Xiaoyu is lucky enough to catch this wave and graduate without any delay, she will be 22 years old.

If everything goes smoothly, by the time Yao Xiaoyu graduates from university, she should have established herself in the literary world, amassed a large fortune, had no family burdens, and be in the prime of her youth. In some people's eyes, she is an exceptionally dazzling golden girl; marrying her would bring wealth, status, and fame.

And this is still a relatively positive plan. Yao Xiaoyu felt disgusted just thinking about the filthy thoughts of some people. If she wants to live a free and unrestrained life in the future, she has to prepare in advance.

Yao Xiaoyu didn't expect a top-notch bodyguard, but she also didn't want a swaggering, good-for-nothing. However, since she didn't have any information channels at the moment, she only calculated based on a base price of ten yuan per month.

She vaguely remembered that the 1930s would see the devaluation of silver dollars and a surge in prices, but she couldn't recall whether it was the 30th year of the Republic of China or the 1930s, so she just calculated based on the earlier year.

From 1923 to 1930, exactly seven years and eighty-four months, even at the lowest price, it would still be a considerable sum. In addition, she might not be able to get on the good side of the government, and she would also have to buy ammunition at black market prices... At a minimum estimate, she would need to prepare two thousand silver dollars, or the equivalent in gold, before 1920.

As Yao Xiaoyu calculated, she gasped. But when she flipped to the total amount she needed to prepare, she calmed down. She figured that the more debts she had, the less she worried. She wanted the best of everything in her budget, and each item was a significant sum. Two thousand silver dollars was just one more expense.

Save it slowly, you'll eventually save enough.

Yao Xiaoyu updated the total amount of money she needed to prepare, stretched, went to the kitchen to wipe herself with cold water, took her budget book upstairs to rest, and reminded herself to ask Zhou Chunhua where to buy mosquito coils tomorrow, as the buzzing sound was really annoying.

“Mosquito repellent cigarettes are sold at cigarette and paper shops, but they only have the Wild Boar brand. If you want to use them, I’ll bring you a box when I get back.” [2]

At that time, tobacco and paper shops were equivalent to convenience stores or general stores in later times. Almost all commonly used small items could be bought there. Because most of them were family-run, they were also known as "mom and dad shops".

Upon hearing about mosquito coils, Yao Xiaoyu nodded vigorously. She didn't care about the brand; she only cared about one thing:

Is it useful?

It's infuriating that there are so many modern mosquito repellent products like liquids and bracelets, but very few of them actually work. Yao Xiaoyu bought a bunch of fancy items, but in the end, she returned to the classic green glass bottle.

"It works. It's a Japanese brand, and it's great."

Yao Xiaoyu's head froze as she nodded.

She slowly raised her head, hoping she had misheard. Even though the Indian summer heat had supposedly subsided, the temperature in Shanghai hadn't dropped, and the mosquitoes were having their final, frenzied swarms every day. She was truly suffering.

"Grandma, where is this wild boar mosquito coil from?"

Yao Xiaoyu hoped to hear a different answer, but Zhou Chunhua spoke very decisively:

"Japanese."

Yao Xiaoyu's heart finally died.

"Aren't there any other brands?"

Yao Xiaoyu still refused to believe it and tentatively asked, "No matter how much of a monopoly there is, there must still be some market for homemade earthy fragrances, right?"

“They were still available a few years ago, but not many people bought them. I haven’t seen them since the beginning of summer this year.”

Zhou Chunhua felt it was a pity when she thought about it. There used to be an old lady who made very good incense, and the price was cheap. But after the wild boar mosquito coils came, the shop assistants surrounded the old lady to scare her, and the old lady never came back after that.

Other mosquito coils were treated similarly: scare them if they could, beat them if they couldn't, and if they still complained, then advertise how great their mosquito coils were and even advertised rewards for reporting counterfeit mosquito coils. With these few tricks, the mosquito coil market was completely monopolized.

They really live up to their brand name; the mosquito coil sellers are a bunch of ruthless wild boars.

"Then I'll just do it myself."

Yao Xiaoyu finally gave up on the idea of ​​taking shortcuts, and at the same time, she was glad that when she was into incense, she was practical and started with the simplest mosquito coils. After making mosquito coils, she lost interest in other incense recipes.

"Can you do it?"

Zhou Chunhua's eyes widened, as if she were seeing her granddaughter for the first time. Mosquito coil making was a craft, something wealthy families wouldn't bother with, but poor families needed it to make a living. Even if they couldn't make it now, it was mostly passed down to their descendants. And her granddaughter...

"I plan to dry the mugwort and mix it into the incense powder to try it out."

Oh, it's just a little girl playing house.

Zhou Chunhua understood her granddaughter's plan. The next day, she got up early and accompanied Yao Xiaoyu to cut a lot of mugwort, which they then spread out in the corner of the yard to dry.

Once the mugwort was completely dry, Yao Xiaoyu took a handful of mugwort leaves and put them all inside. Then, with the eating end of all the family members' chopsticks facing upwards, she poked the fluffy mugwort leaves repeatedly, turning the mugwort into mugwort floss.

"Grandma, could you buy me some face powder tomorrow?" [3]

It's inconvenient not being able to go out whenever you want; you have to ask others for help to buy anything.

As Yao Xiaoyu stuffed coins into Zhou Chunhua's hand, she leaned closer with a grin, but Zhou Chunhua pushed her head away, her face expressionless.

"Is there anything else you want to buy?"

I don't know who she learned it from, but this girl is still as sweet as candy. Even the three-year-old grandson of the Chen family is not as good at acting cute as this little fish.

Zhou Chunhua muttered to herself, but the corners of her mouth honestly curled up.

"Add another piece of unburnt charcoal and a handful of raw glutinous rice, and that will be enough."

The mosquito coil recipe she learned was the simplest one, with four ingredients being enough. Some older women wanted different effects, so they would add, subtract, or replace the ingredients. Yao Xiaoyu didn't have that talent, and she had already exhausted all her efforts to figure out the right ratio for repelling insects.

"OK."

These things weren't hard to find, and Zhou Chunhua brought them all back that very night. Yao Xiaoyu excitedly took them, ready to teach the mosquitoes a lesson that very night.

The charcoal was used to grind glutinous rice into juice, which was then mixed with crushed mugwort floss and incense powder. The sifting step was omitted because there were no tools available. The mixture was kneaded into a large black ball, pinched off small portions, rolled into long strips, and arranged in the shape of mosquito coils. Once dry, it could be used directly. [4]

"...Is it done?"

Looking at the simple black mosquito coil rings, Zhou Chunhua was prepared for the little girl to play around, but she still found it hard to accept—how could Xiaoyu make the rings so ugly?

She felt a lot of pain in her eyes!

"alright."

Yao Xiaoyu answered affirmatively that ever since the green glass bottle changed its spokesperson, she has been using homemade mosquito coils. They may not look as nice, but they are incredibly effective.

And for some reason, even though the proportions are the same, the less appealing the mosquito coils Yao Xiaoyu makes, the better they are. She herself doesn't even dare to look at this batch of mosquito coils, and there are definitely no mosquitoes that would dare to bother her at night!

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Author's Note: [1] This is from Lu Xun's article "The True Story of Ah Q".

[2] Wild Boar brand mosquito coil: a Japanese product that held a monopoly in my country's mosquito coil industry in the early 20th century, but was later replaced by the domestic product "Samsung brand mosquito coil".

[3] Incense powder: a modern adhesive powder, a natural binder for making incense.

[4] The mosquito coil recipe was found online, and the effects were made up by the author, so don't take it seriously.

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