CHAPTER 357: CHAPTER 357: CONSIGNMENT

Third Grandpa joined the conversation cheerfully, "Since you can’t bear to part with your Silver Coin, if you lose, this old man will pay the money."

Gu Jinli said, "Third Grandpa, if you are putting up the money, then we should raise the bet to two taels of silver."

Third Grandpa shook his head with a smile, "Your Third Grandma was right; you really do have an eye for money, not even sparing us old folks’ silver. Alright, it’s just two taels of silver. We can afford it, let’s bet."

Naturally, the winner was Gu Jinli.

After drying the mosquito incense for two days, on the following night, they lit up the incense in their home. Wispy light smoke wafted from the burning incense, carrying a light fragrance of flowers and herbs. In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the room was filled with mosquitoes.

Holding a lamp, Third Grandma looked at the dead mosquitoes on the floor and jumped in fright, "Xiao Yu, what kind of mosquito incense is this? It’s too potent; all the mosquitoes are smoked to death. Could your incense be poisonous? Could we be poisoned?"

Third Grandma turned back looking at Gu Jinli, her face full of worry.

Gu Jinli nodded assuredly, "No, the mosquito incense is made from herbal medicine. The three kinds of herbs used can only kill mosquitoes and insects, they are harmless to humans and livestock."

It seemed that selling her mosquito incense would be tough, and she would need help from Doctor Wu and the Jiang Family; otherwise, people wouldn’t dare to buy her incense.

Fortunately, the Qiqiao Festival was in a couple of days, and Mrs. Jiang had already sent them an invitation at the end of June, inviting her and her sisters to the Qiqiao event at Jiang Mansion.

It was a good opportunity to bring the mosquito incense to the feast at Jiang Mansion.

Before going to Jiang Mansion, she first went to Xuanhu Fang to show the mosquito incense she had made to Doctor Wu.

Gu Jinli bought her medicinal herbs at Xuanhu Fang. Doctor Wu knew what kind of mosquito incense she was making, so when she brought two bundles of incense, he wasn’t surprised and asked, "Is this the mosquito incense you made?"

Gu Jinli nodded, "Exactly. It’s made from white rod daisy, Mingya Grass, and red back vine. These three herbs are harmless to the human body, and won’t produce any toxins when mixed together."

"White rod daisy, this herb can really be used to smoke out mosquitoes." Doctor Wu was quite surprised. White rod daisy is commonly used to remove heat-toxins and treat boils, but no one has tried using it to kill mosquitoes before.

"The method you used to make this mosquito incense is interesting, and the medicinal ingredients are fresh. Let me test it first," said Doctor Wu as he took the incense to a drainage ditch in the backyard and started burning it.

The drainage ditch was a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and shortly after lighting the incense, mosquitoes started dropping down continuously.

Doctor Wu’s eyes showed surprise, "This mosquito incense is quite powerful, it has killed so many mosquitoes in a short while."

Seizing the opportunity, Gu Jinli asked, "So what do you think, can this mosquito incense be put up for consignment at Xuanhu Fang?"

Doctor Wu didn’t agree immediately; instead, he lit two more sticks of incense and went to a side room in the backyard, closing the door behind him.

After a while, Doctor Wu came out and said, "Alright, Xuanhu Fang will help you consign it for a while. But if it sells well, will you continue to make it yourself, or will you find a pharmacy to do it?"

Doctor Wu made no secrets and straightforwardly told Gu Jinli, "The most valuable part of your mosquito incense isn’t just its ability to smoke out mosquitoes, but its production method. Previously, these herbs were always prepared into a recipe and then boiled into a decoction for ingestion. Topical antiseptic medicine was just ground into a powder. None of the medicines were made into an incense form before."

"Although making incense isn’t difficult—temples and Daoist shrines are filled with incense offerings—no one has ever made medicine into this form. This method is very special; do you understand what I mean?"

Gu Jinli nodded, "I understand. I don’t hide it from Elder Wu; in the future, I plan to make some convenient medicines that don’t need to be boiled. If someone gets sick, they can just take out the medicine and eat it directly. And similar to this mosquito incense, it’s just one type of convenient medicine I want to make."

Elder Wu’s eyes lit up upon hearing her, "Girl, are you saying you know other methods of making medicine?"

Without hiding anything from Elder Wu, Gu Jinli directly nodded, "Yes, I know a few methods, but I can’t guarantee that I can produce them just yet."

Elder Wu was so pleased, "No matter if you can make it or not, you should try. If you are worried about the cost, I can give you some medicinal herbs for free, as long as you can make the Convenient Medicine you mentioned."

Elder Wu had traveled north and south in his younger years, and had seen many people who got sick on the road. Just a simple cold would cost lives because they couldn’t find a pharmacy to buy medicine in time.

Even for him, trying to save someone without medical herbs was very difficult.

Gu Jinli couldn’t ask for more, "Alright, I promise you, Elder, I’ll definitely make the Convenient Medicine. And when the time comes, I need you to help me check the recipe. You’re better at diagnosing, I just make clever items."

On hearing this, Elder Wu smiled and stroked his beard, saying, "With those words, I feel much relieved."

Although Little Xiao Yu made mosquito incense, he really couldn’t compliment her medical skills.

"How do you plan to sell this mosquito incense?"

Gu Jinli responded, "Five cents each, I take four cents, and Xuanhu Fang takes one cent. What do you think?"

"Earning a cent for nothing, I’m naturally pleased," Elder Wu said as he sent Gu Jinli out of the backyard. "Once they’re sold, or if there’s any problem, I’ll send someone to inform you."

"Alright, thank you for your trouble, Elder." After leaving Xuanhu Fang, Gu Jinli went to Gu’s Restaurant to help out.

After selling all the food in the shop, in the afternoon before it was even time, she went home with Luo Huiniang to start preparing gifts for Jiang Family for the Qiqiao Festival.

On the day of the Qiqiao Festival, Third Grandma woke them up sisters before dawn to have them wash and dress up.

After struggling for 30 minutes, Third Grandma saw Gu Jinli and Gu Jinxiu in new clothes standing together, couldn’t help but tear up, and said to Mrs. Cui behind her, "Look, don’t our Sister Xiu and Little Xiao Yu look beautiful?"

It was the first time Mrs. Cui dressed up both daughters; seeing them in well-fitting long dresses looking beautiful, she couldn’t help wiping away tears, "They do look beautiful."

Back in their old home, she wouldn’t have believed her daughters could ever wear such beautiful dresses. The nice clothes always belonged to second, third and fourth family; her children being able to wear patched coarse hemp clothes was already fortunate.

Gu Jinli said, "Third Grandma, Mother, why are you crying now, come on, wipe your tears, we need to go."

"Alright, no more crying." Third Grandma dried her tears and urged them, "Hurry up and have breakfast, Scholar Shang’s Family should be coming to pick us up soon."

Gu Jinli and her sisters hurried to have breakfast.

Not long after finishing, Scholar Shang’s mule cart arrived.

Gu Jinli, Gu Jinxiu, Jin’an, along with Luo Huiniang, rode the mule cart to the county.

Luo Huiniang was very excited sitting in the mule cart, "Last year, when we went to the county government to handle the new household registration, it was all hurried; I was hungry and dizzy, I didn’t even see clearly what the county looked like. Finally, we can properly check it out."

Then she asked, "Xiao Yu, it’s just us going out to have fun, not calling Yu Mei, is it okay?"