Simply boil mugwort, cocklebur, alum, and realgar in water, soak the dried grass in the solution for half an hour, let it dry, and then burn the grass. The smoke emitted by the grass will kill the locusts.
However, this method has a drawback: inhaling large amounts of smoke can cause certain harm to the body.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling sighed helplessly and murmured, "Sigh, if only we had face masks in this day and age."
"Masks?" A thought suddenly popped into Jiang Ling's mind as she looked up at the clothes she was drying.
The next morning, Uncle Lu, looking exhausted, drove his oxcart to Jiang Ling's house.
The journey was eerily quiet. Uncle Lu was also unusually listless, sitting hunched over in front of the oxcart, occasionally flicking his whip or letting out a soft sigh.
Jiang Ling knew that the locusts yesterday had already caused considerable panic among the farmers, and her plan needed to be tested as soon as possible.
The oxcart stopped in front of Li Shanren's door. As soon as Jiang Ling got off, Afu came over and asked, "Auntie, do you still have any peppermint balm? Our master might need some more."
"Huh? Your master used that much in one day?" Jiang Ling asked in surprise.
"Auntie, you wouldn't believe it, your peppermint balm was sold out in less than an hour after our master sent someone to the rouge shop yesterday. The shop owner even came to our master's residence to ask if there was any left," Afu said with a smile.
Jiang Ling was even more surprised when she heard this. She never expected that her peppermint balm would become so popular in Changning Town overnight.
As soon as Afu led her to the inner courtyard, she saw Li Shanren waiting for her. Li Shanren rushed to Jiang Ling's side and asked with anticipation, "Jiang Shi, do you still have that... that mint balm?"
Jiang Ling patted the bamboo tube and said, "Yes, I made twenty yesterday. I wonder how many Mr. Li needs?"
Li Shanren smiled at first, but when he heard Jiang Ling say there were only twenty, he shook his head and said, "Oh dear, that's too few. Jiang, could I pre-order a hundred from you?"
"One hundred? This...you think too highly of me. Putting aside the production process, one hundred would require at least three hundred catties of raw materials." Jiang Ling said, gently covering her slightly surprised mouth.
“That’s not difficult. I have plenty of people here, Jiang Shi. Just tell me where to collect this stuff, and I can get you not just 300 jin, but 3,000 jin without any problem,” Li Shanren said, stroking his beard.
After hearing this, Jiang Ling shook her head and said to Li Shanren, "Li Shanren, you don't know this. Although these raw materials are everywhere in the back mountain, I collected them from the children for two copper coins and a basket."
"Farmers have it tough. They toil in the fields from dawn till dusk, and whether they can eat or not depends entirely on the heavens. If you really send the servants and housekeepers to the back mountain, wouldn't that cut off one of their few ways to earn a living?"
Li Shanren looked at Jiang Ling with some surprise after hearing this. After a long while, he came to his senses and stroked his beard, saying, "Jiang, I underestimated you before. I didn't expect that a woman like you would say such things."
"How many can you make in a day?" Li Shanren continued to ask.
Jiang Ling thought for a moment and held up three fingers, saying, "Currently, the maximum should be thirty a day, but I will continue to sell mint water, so the number may be lower than that."
Li Shanren thought for a moment and continued, "How about this, I'll have my servant collect it every five days? I'll buy it for forty copper coins per box, how about that?"
Although Li Shanren's words sounded tempting, Jiang Ling unexpectedly shook her head.
She stroked her chin and said, "Mr. Li, you know that folk remedies and secret recipes are not passed on to outsiders. If this stuff becomes really popular in the future, I can't supply it to your family alone. If you need it, I'll sell it to you for twenty copper coins a box. What do you think?"
Jiang Ling's words startled Li Shanren. He began to scrutinize the dark-skinned, thin village woman in front of him, dressed in patched clothes. He had a feeling that this woman was not simple.
After a long while, he stroked his beard and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Okay! We'll do it your way, but you'll need to give me a hundred first!"
Jiang Ling nodded in agreement. After a brief conversation, Li Shanren happily called over Afu and asked him to guide Jiang Ling to the kitchen while he went to attend to other matters.
Looking at the fully equipped tools in the kitchen, Jiang Ling said softly to several servants, "Now I'll teach you how to crush the chili herbs!"
As she spoke, Jiang Ling took out some mint from her basket, put it in the tools, and began to demonstrate the operating steps.
This step doesn't require any skill, just a little patience. Soon, the maids and servants were all doing it quite well, and in no time they had finished crushing all the mint and set it aside.
Jiang Ling carefully checked everything, then said to them, "Thank you for your hard work today! Go home now!"
After all the maids and servants left, Jiang Ling closed the kitchen door and began to carry out the previous steps. Before long, several large bowls of syrup had been made by Jiang Ling.
Jiang Ling poured two bowls of syrup into a bamboo tube first, then opened the kitchen door and glanced around. The little girl who had opened the door for Jiang Ling last time was sitting lazily not far away, quietly dozing off.
Jiang Ling quietly walked over to the little girl and patted her on the shoulder. The little girl seemed not to have expected anyone to come, and she jumped up in a panic.
Turning around and seeing it was Jiang Ling, she quickly patted her chest and said, "Oh dear, Auntie, you scared me to death!"
"Little girl, now that you've finished making things, who should I ask?" Jiang Ling smiled, pursing her lips.
"Oh, Auntie, you've finished making it so quickly? Wait a minute, I'll go get someone!" With that, the little girl nimbly lifted her skirt and ran off in one direction.
A moment later, Afu and the little girl appeared in front of Jiang Ling. Afu looked at Jiang Ling with surprise and asked, "Sister-in-law, have you finished preparing everything?"
Jiang Ling nodded and led Afu and the little girl to the kitchen.
Jiang Ling pointed to the still steaming syrup and said, "If you have ice at home, you can add less water and more ice to lower the temperature. Just keep the same ratio as before!"
Upon hearing this, Afu quickly had someone prepare a basin containing a lot of ice and some water. Afu went to the stove, carefully poured the bowl of syrup into the basin, stirred it evenly with a spoon, scooped some out, put it in the bowl, and tasted it carefully.
"Hmm, that's the taste, but Auntie's mint water seems a bit sweeter than before," Afu said, putting down the bowl.
"That's normal, because you put ice in the bowl. If the ice melts, the flavor will be a little weaker," Jiang Ling explained.
After listening, Afu nodded. Jiang Ling suddenly thought of something and asked, "Afu, where is your master?"
"Our master is in the inner hall. Are you looking for him, auntie? I'll take you there!" With that, Afu led Jiang Ling toward the inner hall.
"Master Li, I have a request," Jiang Ling said to Li Shanren.
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