Chapter 127 Sanitary Fragrance

Jiang Weidong walked to the kitchen door and said to Lin Shu and Lin Xia who were washing dishes: "Lin Xia, Lin Shu sister, I'm leaving now."

Lin Xia's ears were a little red, she turned her head to look at him, nodded, "Let's go."

Old Mrs. Jiang looked at her son's back and said with satisfaction: "That's about right."

She thought her son was showing his closeness because she asked the two sisters to fuck her daughter.

At night, Lin Xia muttered to Lin Shu under the quilt.

She felt that she had done something that other women would scold her for being vixen or not decent. Isn't this what it means to keep Jiang Weidong hanging?

It's not that I will marry you, but I'm trying to see if you are suitable to marry me. If not, forget it.

Lin Shu whispered, "Second sister, that's right. You should have been in love for a while before getting married, so that you can understand whether you are suitable for marriage."

Lin Xia: "I feel a little sorry for Auntie."

Lin Shu: "We are sincere to Auntie, what's there to be sorry about?"

She didn't ask for Han Yun's sewing fee to give Auntie face. No one was given face at home, and everyone was charged.

And she also paid for Auntie's ointment.

She knew that although Mrs. Jiang and her youngest son's family didn't seem to be very close, the old lady actually cared about them, especially the two children.

Aren't the ointments that Mrs. Jiang wanted sent to them?

Anyway, she didn't see them here with Jiang Weidong.

Besides, the value of feelings is immeasurable. She and Mrs. Jiang are close friends regardless of age.

When she woke up the next day, Mrs. Jiang felt a little unhappy.

Both goddaughters are leaving.

From now on, no one will accompany her to buy vegetables and make dumplings.

In fact, some people suggested that she follow Qian's mother's example and spend some money to go to the countryside to find a poor daughter, and take her with her, just like her own daughter.

Mrs. Jiang refused. She had her own ideas. She felt that good friends are hard to come by, and it depends on fate.

You may look at some people who are miserable and try to help them, but she is still thinking about her parents. Even if her parents beat and scold her, or her brothers are not nice to her, she is still thinking about them.

It's not like she's ungrateful, but she's lived a long life, and there are very few people who are grateful just for showing kindness to others.

Similarly, those who repay favors are actually putting pressure on others. Along with that little favor goes your sense of superiority and self-esteem.

If others fail to meet your expectations, you will feel that you have lost more than you have gained.

How can she rely on small favors to get along with a lady who is easy to get along with?

It must be fate.

Lin Shu took the truck of Lin Xia's power supply bureau to go there, and Jiang Weidong sent them there.

When leaving, Mrs. Jiang was reluctant to let her go.

Lin Shu: "Auntie, if you are bored in the city, let Brother Jiang take you to my house. Our whole family welcomes you at any time."

Mrs. Jiang was very happy. Although she might not go, Lin Shu's words made her feel that she was welcome and didn't have to stay at home. She still had a sense of freedom and room for choice.

"Auntie, come whenever you want."

Mrs. Jiang waved at them, "Oh, I know."

Lin Shu laughed hard on the way.

Lin Xia: "Third sister, what are you laughing at!"

Lin Shu laughed, "I'm laughing at you."

Lin Xia is not shy, so she hugged Lin Shu, "Don't laugh, or I'll tell my brother-in-law all the embarrassing things you did when you were a child."

Lin Shu restrained her smile, "Okay, I won't laugh anymore, so that Brother Jiang won't laugh."

When they arrived at the power supply office, Jiang Weidong helped carry the bag of cloth over and put it on the truck.

Shen Meizhi also wanted to go to the countryside, with a dark face, rolling her eyes at Lin Xia and Jiang Weidong.

Lin Xia ignored her and took the initiative to send Jiang Weidong out, as he still had to go to the Huangxian branch.

Jiang Weidong: "When I have time, I will go to Qing County to see you. By the way... if it's convenient, I will go visit my uncle and aunt."

Lin Xia is not a shy person, but for some reason, her cheeks got a little hot when he talked about visiting his parents. "We'll talk about it then. Go ahead and be careful on the road."

Jiang Weidong: "Okay, you should also pay attention to the combination of work and rest at work. Don't work too hard. You should know that many people are thinking about you."

Lin Xia saw someone looking at them curiously, "I know, go ahead."

After watching Jiang Weidong leave, Lin Xia returned to the unit, but saw that Lin Shu somehow made Shen Meizhi so angry that she rolled her eyes.

Lin Shu: "Sister, you probably have eye muscle twitching. If you keep being so tense, it will worsen into eye muscle weakness. My father-in-law is the best barefoot doctor in our county. You can go to our brigade clinic for a few days of injections..."

Shen Meizhi: "I'm not sick! Why are you so annoying?"

Lin Shu: "Sister, you're not sick. Why do you roll your eyes at strangers so hard that your eyeballs are about to pop out?"

Lin Xia stepped forward and grabbed Lin Shu, "Third sister, pack up and leave."

Shen Meizhi's impression of Lin Shu and her sister became even worse!

Originally, she thought Lin Xia was hypocritical and pretending, and she kept men hanging. Now when she saw Lin Shu, she felt that Lin Shu must be more pretentious than her sister!

At first glance, she is a vixen!

On the way to Qing County, they would pass by Lujiazhuang. Lin Xia asked the truck driver to stop for a while. She wanted to help Lin Shu send the things back home.

It happened that the team leader was riding a bicycle to inspect the spring planting situation. Lin Shu asked him to help bring the things back so that she wouldn't have to wait for the truck.

After watching her second sister and her truck leave, Lin Shu hurried home.

Panpan and Tiantian, who were playing on the street, saw their mother and ran back like little swallows, shouting crisply, "Mom, mom! Why didn't my second aunt come?"

Lin Shu explained that my second aunt had to report to Qing County first to arrange work.

"Mom, when you are not at home, our chickens, ducks, tomato seedlings, and eggplant seedlings all miss you."

Panpan and Tiantian held Lin Shu's hands on the left and right, and hugged each other happily.

Lin Shu hugged them one by one, and then went home together.

It was already past lunchtime, so she soaked some pancakes in hot water and ate

a few bites, then cleaned up her room first. She was very clean, not to the point of being a germophobe, but she would wipe the furniture, the kang mat, and other things in the room if she hadn't slept in it for a few days, and the bedding had to be dried out.

It rains a lot in spring and summer, and it's easy for moisture to return. If the bedding isn't dried out for a few days, it will have a smell. If the corners of the room are not ventilated enough

, it's easy for them to have a moldy smell. The guesthouse we stayed in this time had a strong moldy smell.

In fact, the mud floor at home also has a smell.

Tiantian: "Mom, grandma and I helped to dry the quilt and mattress yesterday, and they smelled like the sun. Smell it."

How could there still be a smell after it was dried yesterday? However, Lin Shu sniffed it cooperatively, "Yeah, it's true."

After cleaning up the toilet, Lin Shu cleaned up a bag of defective cloth that Jiang Weidong helped buy.

There were cloths of several colors in it, and there were also a lot of cotton threads.

She sorted them out by category, and some of the dyed ones looked like tie-dye effects. She made a few small skirts for Tiantian and Xu Xiaoyou, a few sets of summer vests and pants for Panpan and Baoer, and a few nightgowns for her sister-in-law.

Knowing that Lin Shu was back, Li Auntie, Qiu Pozi and other women who didn't go to the fields came to talk to her and listen to what was going on in the city to broaden their horizons.

Soon they talked about the issue of electricity in the countryside.

Panpan: "Electricity is really coming. My second aunt and her colleagues came with her to the county!"

Lin Shu originally thought that electricity was a good thing and everyone would be happy, but who knew that two old ladies looked worried.

They were worried about money.

"Does everyone have to pay for the electricity?"

"The electricity bill is expensive, right?"

They were reluctant to turn on kerosene lamps at home, so now they have to use more expensive electric lamps?

It's not necessary.

Lin Shu listened to their chatter and thought about it. It's not that they were worrying for nothing.

Now in the city, every household has no electricity meter and pays one yuan a month for electricity. Even if the countryside can't pay that much, it still costs thirty or five cents a month.

More than half of the families in the production team can't afford this thirty or five cents.

Moreover, the electricity in the village is provided by the electric poles and wires, not by each household. If anyone wants to have electricity at home, they have to pay for the wires, lights, switches, sockets, etc.

Even if it is not much, it must be at least ten yuan, which is probably not a small amount for the members.

Even ten or twenty yuan is a lot of money for the members, and it is not so easy to get it.

After all, the New Year has passed, and the money that should be spent has been spent.

Alas, it is still poor. It would be great if the brigade could have a livelihood that makes money in addition to work points.

At present, the brigade seems to have no side jobs that make money except for asking people to weave baskets, mats, straw sandals, etc. when farmers are free.

The consumption of baskets and mats is limited, and each village has a good weaver. Basically, they are consumed by the brigade, and they can't earn much money from outsiders.

Lin Shu is now an advanced person who has been commended by the city. Naturally, she will not only consider her own comfortable life. Besides, if the surrounding environment is more affluent, her life will be more enjoyable, right?

She thought about helping the brigade to do a side job. It would be best if it is simple to operate but can last for a long time, making money without exhausting the water and fishing without damaging the environment...

In the evening, Lin Shu cooked for her family, re-rolled the pancakes, and stewed a pot of egg and toon sprouts.

Spring is the time to eat toon. Pick the tenderest toon heads. Whether scrambled with eggs or fried with egg batter, they are very fragrant.

The Lu family has a Chinese toon tree that is several decades old, with lush branches and leaves. When the leaves are still young, they are picked, rubbed with salt, and placed in a jar to make pickled vegetables. If well preserved, they can be eaten for a year.

Before going to the city, Lin Shu had already finished this with Fang Dihua. Now the Chinese toon heads on the tree are old and not tasty.

In addition to Chinese toon stewed eggs, she also made sour radish soup and salted eggs.

The spicy cabbage, pickled cucumber, and kimchi in the pickle jar had been eaten up long ago, leaving only sour radish, salted radish, and mustard greens.

There are also two pickled cabbages.

Fortunately, the weather is getting warmer, and the vegetable garden will soon be able to provide fresh vegetables for the table.

Everyone in the family was very happy to see Lin Shu come back, especially Brother Lu.

He ate pancakes with Chinese toon and egg stew and drank sour radish soup, "Sister-in-law, my food tastes bland when you're not at home."

Fang Dihua: "If it tastes bland, just drink salt water!"

Brother Lu sighed, "Mom, why don't you seek truth from facts? It's obviously you who should improve your cooking skills, but you insist on scolding me."

Fang Dihua: "I'm not going to work? When your sister-in-law is not at home, you should go home early to cook, and I'll see how you improve your cooking skills."

Brother Lu immediately fell silent. It's okay to let him eat, but forget about letting him cook.

He's not much better at cooking than Sister-in-law Lu.

He just knows how to eat with his mouth.

After dinner, Fang Dihua forced Brother Lu to wash the dishes, "You can't cook, but you can wash dishes, right?"

Brother Lu felt wronged. I have the hands of an accountant using an abacus, how can I wash dishes?

But he didn't dare to say anything and just washed the dishes.

Mrs. Lu didn't go home for dinner. The farm machinery operators followed the trucks and took turns working in more than a dozen brigades. Wherever they went, they would get food from the production team. It

was the busy farming season recently, so Father Lu had an easy time because the members were busy working and had no time to see a doctor.

He even read a book after dinner.

Lin Shu: "Dad, do you know how to make sanitary incense?"

Old Man Lu: "Sanitary incense? I've asked about it, but I've never made it myself. It's not in the medical book either."

Lin Shu: "I do know how to make it, but the ingredients require some herbs."

Old Man Lu smiled and said, "Write it to me. If our clinic doesn't have it, I'll go to the county to buy it for you." Lin Shu

was about to look for paper and pen, and Tiantian immediately took out the palm-sized notebook and pencil head she carried with her from her pocket, and took off the corncob pen cap, "Mom, this is for you!"

Fang Dihua praised: "Look at our Tiantian, she loves to study so much at such a young age."

Second Sister-in-law Lu pouted secretly, to show that she, a daughter, doesn't like to study?

She glared at Lu Cuicui, but Lu Cuicui ignored her.

Ever since she stole her New Year's money during the Spring Festival, Lu Cuicui has been in a cold war with her.

Lu's second sister-in-law complained to Lu's second brother, and although Lu's second brother told his daughter, it didn't work.

Lin Shu wrote down the names of several herbs such as pyrethrum to Lu's father.

In order to reduce costs in the early stage, she decided to make mosquito repellent coils made of mugwort and pyrethrum, and deodorizing incense made of calamus and mint. She needed cypress or pine wood, which is rich in oil, as a combustion aid, and elm bark as an adhesive.

When she made money, she could buy higher-grade sandalwood, cinnamon, and frankincense from outside.

When Big Brother Lu heard Lin Shu talking about making sanitary incense, he was very curious, "Sister-in-law, please tell me about it."

Lin Shu was going to tell him, because it was only 1972 and members were not allowed to do business on their own, but they could set up a team-run factory.

This was different from her making clothes for others. If

someone bought cloth and didn't know how to make clothes, they would come to her for help, which was understandable.

But if she brought home a truckload of cloth and made clothes to sell, that wouldn't work.

The same goes for sanitary incense. It wasn't that everyone asked her to help, but that she made extra products to sell, which was buying and selling, and it was considered speculation.

So Lin Shu wanted to teach Big Brother Lu and Second Brother Lu, so that they could set up a team-run factory.

Although it is called a factory, it is actually more like a family workshop, which can be run by a few people.

Lin Shu believes that this can definitely make money, because the demand is huge, especially in the summer when the house smells moldy and needs this deodorant.

Some wealthy and sophisticated units even light a few toilet incense sticks in the house, toilets and other places every day all year round to remove odors.

Just this time when I went to the city, the auditorium of the Revolutionary Committee, the guest house, the steel mill office and Secretary Li’s home were all lit with toilet incense.

In addition, there are many mosquitoes in the summer, and they can also make a lot of mosquito coils, which can repel mosquitoes and remove odors at the same time, and they will definitely sell well.

If they make money, the work points of the members will be greatly increased by the end of the year, and three cents of work points can become one or even two yuan.

Lin Shu drew a big cake for him, and it turned out that not only Big Brother Lu was fascinated by it, but also Old Man Lu, Fang Dihua, Second Brother Lu and others.

The next day, Big Brother Lu went to discuss with the brigade secretary and the brigade leader.

The brigade leader thought that Big Brother Lu had participated in a commune commendation meeting and started to act arrogantly, and wanted to do an unrealistic side job. He subconsciously objected, "We are busy farming, how can we have the time and manpower to do this?"

Big Brother Lu: "We have to prepare tools and materials in the early stage. After the planting, everything will be ready. It's just right to make a batch of sanitary incense before the wheat harvest."

After the spring planting is over, the work in the field is much easier, and there can always be six or seven laborers to make sanitary incense.

When the wheat harvest comes, they continue to harvest wheat. After the wheat harvest, they plow the land to plant corn with the help of tractors and can even out a few workers to make sanitary incense.

In this way, they can finish the autumn harvest.

The autumn harvest takes a long time, but it is not so urgent, and there is no shortage of six or seven workers. They can be busy until the end of the year.

If they are worried about taking up labor, they can arrange female members to make incense.

The problems of manpower and labor time are solved, but what about the money?

The team leader: "It would cost a lot of money to prepare materials and tools, right? The team's money is all in use. We need to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and hire the commune's agricultural machinery team to plough the land and harvest wheat. All of this costs money, but there is not enough money to do a side job."

The team leader's ideal side job is to do it directly, without any capital. For example, they can weave mats with sorghum stalks and baskets with wicker twigs, etc., without any additional capital investment.

Lin Shu had thought of this a long time ago, and she had also simulated it for Brother Lu.

Brother Lu: "It won't cost much. The millstone for grinding incense flour can be replaced by a grinding disc. At most, we can make a few molds for pressing incense threads. It won't cost a hundred yuan in total. We can harvest mugwort, calamus, and mint from the wild. If we don't have enough, we can buy them from other brigades. If we don't have enough, we can plant them. Elm bark, cypress, and the like are not expensive either. Only herbs like cordyceps that we don't have need to be bought. Maybe we can get seeds to plant ourselves later."

Lin Shu calculated the bills for them. The initial cost was estimated to be less than 500 yuan, and 300 yuan was high.

If we grit our teeth, we can do it with 100 yuan. A little bit of accumulation will add up to a lot.

The team leader was still afraid of losses, "What if we can't sell it? We'll lose money and labor..."

The old branch secretary didn't say anything. He squatted on the ground, smoking a pipe and weighing things.

Which brigade cadre doesn't have ambitions? He doesn't want to lead the brigade members to work hard, make the work points of his brigade more valuable than others, and everyone will be happy when the dividends are distributed at the end of the year?

But ideals are good, but reality is always helpless.

The old branch secretary's hair turned white, but he only helped the members go from being hungry to eating 70% to 80% full. If you want to eat well and have money?

It's too difficult!

Money can't be obtained simply by working hard.

There are too many tricks involved.

Brother Lu's mind was full of the big cake that Lin Shu had drawn last night, so he copied it and said, "How much money can you make from weaving mats and baskets? The whole production team can't make more than a hundred in a winter. If this sanitary incense is successful, there will be a steady stream of orders. Three to five hundred a month is not enough. I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."

Hearing that it was Lin Shu's idea, the team leader made a 360-degree turn, "What did Xiao Lin say? Tell us quickly."

The team leader now has a natural trust in Lin Shu. He thought that Lin Shu must have learned the incense-making recipe from someone in the city. He didn't expect that she was willing to share it with the benefit of the team. What a selfless person!

Well, she is worthy of being an advanced individual commended by the city!

Brother Lu told them what he understood and remembered from what Lin Shu said.

The team secretary who had been silent all this time nodded repeatedly: "It's interesting, it seems feasible."

The team leader also thought it was good.

Brother Lu couldn't help but roll his eyes at their opportunistic behavior, but he didn't dare to show it.