Chapter 61
Manager Luo’s instructions are also what Yu Ying is worried about at the moment.
She wasn't worried about the people from the clinic coming to talk to her, but she was afraid that they would be unreasonable and use dirty tricks.
After leaving the inn, Yu Ying put aside all her worries and asked her sister-in-law, "Brother and sister-in-law, is there anything you want to buy?"
The eldest sister-in-law responded, "I want to go to the grocery store to have a look."
Yu Ying wanted to buy shoe soles and also wanted to see if there was anything else she wanted to buy, so she went there together.
When Yu Ying was choosing the soles of her shoes, her sister-in-law also came over.
Wen Xing said, "Sister-in-law, you don't have to prepare it for us. We can buy it ourselves."
Yu Ying nodded and picked out four pairs of soles.
Two pairs of your own, and two pairs of dangerous ones.
After buying the soles, Yu Ying went next door to buy cloth for the uppers, as well as some softer fabrics for making underwear.
Since I have made money now, no matter what will happen in the future, at least I can't treat myself too badly now.
Because she wanted to make facial cream, she went to buy a jar of wine for fifty cents. A jar of wine weighs about one pound.
I bought some wine and ten pounds of pork with both fat and lean meat.
Wen Xing asked in confusion, "What is my sister-in-law going to do with all this meat?"
Yu Ying said truthfully, "I want to make some lard to make facial fat, but buying only pork fat isn't cost-effective. Winter is almost here, after all, so I can cut some lean meat into bacon."
Winter in Lingnan is milder than in the north, but it is also harsh.
The most torturous weather is the biting cold wind accompanied by drizzle. This kind of weather sometimes lasts for several days in a row. It is best not to go out if you can.
Yu Ying bought ten pounds of meat and put it in a backpack, which the eldest brother then carried.
Yu Ying felt relieved and looked around with her sister-in-law in front. This was her first time to visit Yu County in such a relaxed manner.
After buying a saw and some paper, we went to Wuji Restaurant for some noodles. At 3 p.m., we rode Uncle Chen's oxcart back to Lingshui Village.
After returning home, the eldest sister-in-law helped with cooking, the eldest brother went to chop firewood, and Yu Ying picked out two bamboos of just the right thickness from the stored bamboos to make bamboo pots.
Before making facial cream, you need a container to hold it.
When Yu Ying was sawing bamboo, Fu Wei looked out the window. Seeing that she was sawing bamboo with great effort, he looked outside the yard.
There was no one outside the yard. Besides, the Fu family was located at the edge of the village, and people from the village would not pass by the yard. So Fu Wei slowly walked out of the house with his crutches.
After walking up to her side, he said, "Go get a bamboo stool and I'll saw it for you."
Yu Ying looked at the bamboo that she had been busy sawing for a while but still hadn't cut through, breathed a sigh of relief, and handed the job over to the craftsman Fu Wei.
Yu Ying went to bring a bamboo stool. After Fu Wei sat down, she picked up the saw and cut the bamboo that she had not cut just now.
There is a huge difference in strength between men and women, not to mention that Fu Wei was a martial artist, so even though he had difficulty walking, he could saw through the bamboo that Yu Ying had tried so hard to saw in a short time.
He asked, "Do you all want this length?"
Yu Ying thought for a moment and said, "I want to make a bamboo jar to store facial cream. It should be about this high, and the bamboo joints of the lid should be about this long."
She gestured the length of a finger and the length of a knuckle and a half.
Fu Wei nodded, then sawed both bamboos.
After sawing the bamboo, Fu Wei began to peel off the skin on the surface of the bamboo.
Yu Ying took a knife and was about to peel some bamboo skin. Fu Wei remembered the calluses on her palm and said, "I have nothing else to do anyway, so I'll peel it. You can focus on other things."
Yu Ying said, "We need to make the bamboo jar first so we can store the cream. I don't have anything else to do right now."
As she spoke, she also sat on the wooden stool and began to peel the bamboo.
After a while, Fu Zhen came back and came to help.
After peeling the bamboo tube, the rim where the lid and the jar meet must be made, and then it is polished with a rough stone. Both of these tasks are relatively time-consuming.
When the evening meal was ready, everyone put down their work and went to eat.
After dinner, everyone gathered in the yard to help.
Fu Wei peeled the skin, Fu Zhen smoothed the rim, Wen Xing, Luo Shi, and Fu An polished it together.
Although Xiao Funing couldn't help much, he also took a bamboo pot and slowly polished it.
Yu Ying went to boil lard.
Although the weather is quite cold now and pork will not go bad even if left for a day, the lard cooked now is still fresher.
After cutting off the lean meat from ten pounds of pork, only less than five pounds of fat remains.
The lard produced is only about three pounds.
When Yu Ying finished boiling the lard and went to check the progress, she found that the pot was made faster than she expected.
About ten bamboo jars came out before dark. Yu Ying boiled them all in salt water and waited to dry them in the sun the next day. After the moisture was completely dry, she could put the facial cream in them.
Even when it was completely dark, the two brothers were busy making bamboo pots in the dining room, while Mrs. Luo urged the two children to wash up, and Wen Xing made cloth shoes by the oil lamp in the dining room.
At midnight, Yu Ying saw that the two brothers were still working tirelessly, so she immediately called a halt: "I can't make so much facial cream at once, so let's just make these bamboo jars first."
Including the ones I made before, I have made almost thirty. I can’t use them all, and there is no need to do them overnight.
The two brothers then stopped what they were doing.
After everyone took turns washing up, they went back to their rooms to rest.
After Yu Ying came back from washing up, Fu Ning had already fallen asleep. After tucking the quilt for the little girl, she turned around to grind the ink, spread out the paper she had bought today, and began to memorize the facial cream recipe.
This recipe was also one she wrote down from "Qianjin Fang".
Although she had made facial cream before, it was easy to get things mixed up when remembering them, so when she wanted to make facial cream, she had to make sure she hadn't remembered the recipe wrong.
After she wrote down the facial cream recipe, she carefully checked it several times to make sure there were no mistakes or omissions.
While I was checking the prescription, the door opened.
Yu Ying turned around and saw Fu Wei, who had just come back from a shower with water droplets dripping from the ends of his hair.
Fu Wei walked in with a cane, closed the door, and propped the cane beside it. He walked over slowly and asked her, "Why haven't you rested yet?"
Although Fu Wei can now walk without a cane, he cannot walk for too long.
Yu Ying whispered back, "I'll rest in a bit."
After thinking for a while, she wanted to share what happened today with him again, and said, "Today, when I went to see Shopkeeper Luo, I mentioned the matter of facial cream. He pointed me to a famous place and told me to go to the Cangwu County Medical Clinic to find an acquaintance of his."
Fu Wei sat down and pondered for a moment before saying, "Yu County is about four or five hundred miles from Cangwu County. It's a long journey. Even by ox cart it would take about two days."
Yu Ying said, "Before, I had no connections, so I only thought about whether I could sell it in Yu County. But now that I have a way, I still want to give it a try."
Upon hearing this, Fu Wei lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then raised his eyes and said, "That's fine. After all, you have a crossbow to protect yourself, and I have my elder brother to escort you."
Yu Ying smiled and said, "I thought you would persuade me this time."
Fu Wei was silent for a moment, staring at her with his dark eyes, and whispered, "Whatever you want to do, I will support you."
Perhaps it was because his expression and words were particularly serious that Yu Ying vaguely sensed something subtle and was stunned.
After meeting his ambiguous gaze for a moment, Yu Ying suddenly felt a little stuffy in the room.
The ventilation in the thatched house was obviously very good, even a little cold, but it still felt stuffy.
She turned her gaze away and changed the subject, "Shopkeeper Luo reminded me today that someone was trying to find out about me."
When Fu Wei heard this, his eyes suddenly darkened.
Yu Ying sighed, "After all, this deal is being done on someone else's land, so it's bound to cause displeasure. I always feel like there's going to be some trouble waiting for me next."
Fu Wei also fell silent.
He never doubted that there would be no reply to the letter he sent, but he was only worried that the reply would be too late.
*
Early in the morning, Yu Ying started to get busy again.
Because there are only three pounds of oil, not much facial cream can be made, so each medicinal ingredient is mostly four grams, and the most is only five grams.
After all the herbs were prepared, they were chopped up again, and finally Fu Wei put them into a grinding bowl and pounded into granules.
The grinding bowl was carved out of wood by Fu Wei when he was recuperating from his legs, which made Yu Ying admire his hands-on ability.
After grinding the herbs into small particles, Yu Ying put them into a bowl, then poured in a little wine and stirred the herbs, letting them soak for about four hours.
It was not until the afternoon that Yu Ying started to cook the medicinal herbs with the lard paste that was almost solidifying.
As the food was cooked and stirred, the herbs gradually dissipated the smell of lard, and soon a faint herbal fragrance wafted out.
After simmering on low heat for more than half an hour, the originally white lard had turned dark brown.
Yu Ying turned off the fire, took the pottery jar off the stove, and after it had cooled for a while, she began to filter the medicinal residue with several layers of coarse cloth.
After filtering five times, Yu Ying carefully checked again to see if there were any remaining medicinal residues.
Only when she saw no more medicinal residue did she feel at ease to pour the facial cream that had not yet solidified into the bamboo jar.
In the end, there were only thirteen cans, and half a can more.
Wen Xing entered the kitchen and looked at the uncured facial cream on the table. She asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, can this really be facial cream?"
Yu Ying smiled and said, "The weather is quite cool now, so it will be completely solidified by tomorrow morning."
Wen Xing said, "I've only heard of facial cream from others before. They say that after applying it, your skin will be smooth and tender, even in winter."
Yu Ying said to her, "When it's done, I'll give a can to my sister-in-law."
Wen Xing quickly waved her hand: "I don't need it. I'm used to being rough. Don't waste such a good thing. It's better to keep it for my sister-in-law to sell for money."
Yu Ying didn't say anything. She looked at her sister-in-law's cheek again and asked, "Has your face felt dry or burning recently?"
Wen Xing touched her slightly rough cheek, thinking that it was because of the recent change in weather that it became dry and rough.
"The weather has changed, and it's definitely a little dry and a little painful."
"Then sister-in-law, you really have to try it. After trying it, you have to tell me about the effect of this facial cream."
Wen Xing, who had just been refusing, relented after hearing what her sister-in-law said: "Then just dig a little for me. I don't need a whole jar of it."
"Not only my sister-in-law needs to use it, but my brother, Fu An, and my mother should all try it to see how effective it is. If the effect is significant, then I will have the confidence to negotiate the price with others."
Speaking of price, Yu Ying also had to calculate the cost of these less than fourteen bottles of facial cream.
After talking with her sister-in-law for a while, Yu Ying went back to the room to do some calculations.
Because the amount of medicinal materials used was small, the cost of the medicinal materials purchased from Manager Luo was about three cents. The cost of her own medicinal materials was relatively lower, so it was only four cents.
The pork used to make lard was about five catties, and at twelve wen per catty, that would be sixty wen. Wine cost about eight wen.
The bamboo jars were made by myself, so although this cost was saved, it was still the actual labor cost. Not counting this for now, the thirteen jars cost a total of eighty-three cents.
The wage of five cents per person, considering there are five people, is twenty-five cents.
All in all, the total cost is more than one hundred coins, and each can costs about seven or eight coins.
If it costs seven or eight cents, if it is sold in Yu County, it will cost at least fifteen cents per can.
In other words, I can earn about ninety cents from these thirteen cans.
But if they were sent to Cangwu County, they could enter a medical clinic, and the number would be far more than this.
Moreover, if I set up a stall in Yu County, I don’t know if I can sell five cans a day.
What if ordinary facial cream only costs a few cents, but she sells it for fifteen cents at a small stall, and she may not be able to sell it.
Yu Ying doesn’t know the market price of facial cream in Yu County yet, so she has to go to Yu County to find out.
*
After the facial cream was ready, Yu Ying gave a jar to her sister-in-law and Mrs. Luo, then kept a jar for herself and gave the other half to Fu Wei.
In Luo's little house, Yu Ying applied facial cream on her sister-in-law, Luo, and little Funing.
Several people had slightly chapped cheeks, so it felt a little stinging when they applied the lotion.
Yu Ying explained to them, "This is normal. Apply it a few times, and once the chapped skin has healed, the pain will go away."
Wen Xing smelled a faint fragrance, then looked at the facial cream in the bamboo jar, which had solidified and turned crystal yellow. She said, "If I hadn't seen my sister-in-law making lard with my own eyes, I wouldn't have known that this facial cream was made from lard."
Yu Ying sighed softly and reminded: "Don't tell others that it is made of lard. We ordinary people don't care, but those with a few silver coins and status will care."
Since they didn't know what the ingredients in the prescription were or how much they needed, Yu Ying didn't need to give them any special instructions.
However, Yu Ying still felt it would be better to remind her about the ingredients of the lard paste.
Hearing this, Wen Xing nodded and said, "Pig is so dirty. I heard Dalang say that the nobles and powerful families all despise pork. If they knew it was made from lard, they probably wouldn't be willing to apply it."
This is exactly what Yu Ying meant.
"I'll apply it every morning and night, on my hands and feet. After all, homemade ones are cheaper, and I don't have to worry about them running out after I use them up."
Luo had used fine things before, but she had also suffered for twenty years, and her ladylike temperament had long been worn away. So she carefully covered the bamboo lid and said, "This is a rare item, so you have to use it carefully."
Seeing this, Yu Ying didn't try to persuade him any further.
At this time, Fu An ran in from outside and shouted excitedly: "Grandpa He, Uncle He, and Second Uncle He are back!"
Upon hearing this, Yu Ying felt relieved even though it was not her family's business.
When she first picked up her elder brother and sister-in-law from the quarry, she saw He Erlang meeting Uncle He and Aunt He, and her heart was filled with mixed feelings.
In the book, the eldest brother was killed by a stone. Although he has been brought out, it is unknown whether he will suffer any more misfortunes.
Now that He Erlang is back, I naturally feel relieved.
Yu Ying and Mrs. Luo both left the house and planned to go take a look at the He family.
But unexpectedly, the people from the He family came directly to the Fu family.
Yu Ying also met He Erlang.
Compared to the last time I saw him three months ago, He Erlang looked darker and thinner, and his eyes were sunken. It was obvious that his mental state had not been very good in the past few months.
Also, because of the recent changes in the weather, his face and hands were severely chapped.
Because He Erlang had returned, many people came to watch the fun outside the Fu family courtyard.
After all, how could it not be strange that another person in Lingshui Village could come back from the quarry?
Seeing that there were people gathered outside, everyone went into the small dining room.
As soon as he entered the dining room, He Erlang knelt down in front of Yu Ying, which scared Yu Ying.
"Don't kneel, don't kneel, if you kneel, I'll leave now!"
As he said this, he really looked like he was going to leave.
Uncle He saw this and hurried forward to help his son up, saying, "He heard that it was because of Madam Yu's support that the He family was able to get out of the quarry, so he insisted on kneeling down and kowtowing to Madam Yu."
Yu Ying looked at Uncle He and He Erlang awkwardly and said, "Even if you want to thank me, don't kneel down."
Perhaps it was obvious that Yu Ying really didn't want to kneel, so Uncle He said to his son, "Just thank Sister Yu properly, and then you don't have to kneel."
He Erlang's heart was tense. He had been keeping his lips pursed quietly since he came in, with red eyes. Now he couldn't hold it back any longer and burst into tears.
"I never thought I'd be able to go home so soon. Ever since Brother Fu and his wife left the quarry, I've been looking forward to leaving every day, but I'm also afraid that in the end, it will all be in vain."
He Erlang didn't dare to say that he had been in a trance for several months, and he always stared blankly in the direction of his home.
Although he could feel more relaxed thanks to his relationship with Huo Yacha.
But in this quarry, the same heavy work is still repeated every day, and the endless quarrying consumes every day's energy and vitality.
He wanted desperately to get out of the quarry, but every day seemed to be incredibly long.
When He Erlang was almost going crazy, his father and elder brother came.
When I saw my father and elder brother, and heard that they were not just coming to see him, but were really going to take him back, tears completely burst out.
A young man cried heart-wrenchingly.
He Erlang looked at the second sister-in-law of the Fu family and felt that the best woman in the world was the second sister-in-law of the Fu family in front of him.
He choked up and said, "I am really grateful to my sister-in-law. I don't know how to repay her, but I will definitely do my best to repay her in the future."
Yu Ying hurriedly explained, "No, no, no, I didn't do anything. Your father, mother, and elder brother all worked and earned their wages, so they were able to save enough money to redeem you."
Uncle He said from the side, "Sixth Lady, please don't be too modest. There are so many people who can help, but you chose our family alone. This is a great favor."
Yu Ying smiled and said, "If that's the case, Uncle He's family has also helped the Fu family a lot. In the end, my eldest brother also helped Uncle He, so our two families have this fate."
Fu Zhen, who was suddenly named, was stunned for a moment, not knowing why he was mentioned.
But after a while, He Dalang, who had returned home to deliver a message, also came over, and so did Aunt He.
When Aunt He saw her son, who looked much more haggard, and He Erlang, who saw his mother, they hugged each other instantly and burst into tears.
After three months, it was finally the He family's turn to reunite.
*
The common people who had previously sent herbs to the clinic may have heard that a woman had made a success in the herbs business, and they had other thoughts in their minds, so they stopped sending herbs to the clinic.
Instead, they placed their products at the door of each inn, or wandered around in front of each inn, shouting loudly that herbs were three cents per pound or two cents per pound.
Most medical clinics have medicinal fields and make profits from medicinal herbs.
This situation suddenly occurred. Even if the common people's medicinal materials were incomplete and of poor quality, the drug dealers might not be interested in them for a while, but over time it would inevitably become an excuse for the drug dealers to suppress the prices of medicinal materials.
Therefore, several medical clinics in Yu County began to feel a sense of crisis.
After thoroughly investigating the background of the woman who was doing business with Pharmacist Zhao, the directors of several medical clinics sat down to discuss countermeasures.
Director Luo, a man in his forties wearing a plain robe and sporting a goatee, said, "Collecting the herbs is secondary. The main reason is that after this woman's incident, the common people followed suit and bought from the drug dealers at low prices. After those drug dealers got a taste of the low prices, why would they be willing to spend more money to buy herbs from us?"
“They’ll definitely drive down the price!”
Several people began to think seriously.
Director Luo looked around at the people in the private room and said, "Why not kill this woman while she's doing big business to scare the monkeys and discourage those people who are thinking of stealing our business?"
One of the curators, a man in his fifties, disagreed. "There's no regulation on the medicinal herb trade; it's only us who can do it. Anyone with the skills can do it. And that woman did a deal with Pharmacist Zhao, and she didn't deliberately lower the price. What does it have to do with her if others follow suit?"
He scoffed at this and said, "I was thinking about how to discuss the people's arbitrary price-cutting, but you're here discussing taking action against a woman. Isn't that too petty?"
Upon hearing this, Director Luo chuckled softly, "Director Ji is truly aloof. I heard that the herbs from several plots of the Ji Family Clinic's medicine fields have all found new places to go. Since we still don't have any new places to go for our herbs, we must find a way to secure our own interests."
The old man, known as Director Ji, was unwilling to do so. With a hint of displeasure in his eyes, he stood up and said, "My herbs have found a new place to go. My eldest son brought in the drug dealer with his own skill. What does that have to do with this matter? Besides, whether or not everyone has a backlog of herbs is no excuse for you to use tricks against a woman."
At this point, the old man said in a deep voice: "I don't care what you want to do, and I won't give in."
Having said that, he walked straight out of the private room.
There were only three people left in the private room, and the other two looked at each other.
Director Luo continued to smile and said, "Look at what Director Ji said, as if we would do something that would harm the world. My intention was just to scare that woman, and then use this incident to teach those self-righteous people a lesson."
The remaining two people both put profit first and morality second.
Someone lowered his voice and asked, "I wonder what plan Director Luo has?"
Director Luo said, "It's not a brilliant plan, but it just so happens that some street thugs owe me some medical bills, so I can ask them to help offset the medical expenses. We won't hurt anyone this time, we'll just scare them."
At the end, he gave the two of them a final reassurance: "I won't hurt anyone, and I won't leave any obvious evidence. No one will believe the words of a street thug. Besides, my younger brother is a prefect in the county government. As long as this matter doesn't become a big deal, he can help me solve it, so you two don't have to worry."
After hearing his words, the two felt relieved.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
