Chapter 95: Uproar

August 7, 2023Ai Hrist

Xiao Hanzheng was also happy when Mo Qingling praised his little wife.

“My wife often has some whimsical ideas, but I think it’s very good.”

Mo Qingling nodded: “It’s really good.”

He then added: “The recipe for making ice has been presented, and the reward will arrive in the county in a few days.”

Now people in the palace can have ice every day to cool off the heat, and many people in the capital also bought saltpeter to make ice.

He also heard that many restaurants in the capital used ice to make iced drinks like iced mung bean soup and sour plum soup, which were very popular.

There were also Shi Qinglou’s herbal tea and popsicles. They also spread to the capital, and there were often hawkers selling popsicles on the streets.

Then he changed the topic: “The reward is gold.”

Xiao Hanzheng was not surprised at all.

He said with a smile: “When we took out the ice-making prescription at the beginning, we didn’t think about what reward we wanted. We are happy that we are rewarded, even if it’s just gold.”

Mo Qingling looked at him: “Aren’t you disappointed?”

Many people offered prescriptions, but they all wanted to be greatly rewarded by the emperor.

Xiao Hanzheng’s facial expression didn’t change, as he calmly said: “Why should I be disappointed? I think rewarding gold is just right.”

He added another sentence bluntly: “The reward is too high for a scholar like me to bear.”

Does he want rewards as high as high-ranking officials’ salaries? It was just a prescription for making ice, so how could that be possible?

Their purpose was just to be recognized by the emperor. Even if he forgot about it, when it was mentioned again, the emperor will remember that he, Xiao Hanzheng, offered the method of making ice!

This was enough.

He was only a scholar now, and he doesn’t have any great family background. If the Emperor rewards him too much, it will be bad.

Mo Qingling looked at Xiao Hanzheng with a little more appreciation in his eyes: “You are very smart.”

At this age, it was rare to be able to maintain such a calm and rational mind.

Xiao Hanzheng smiled, “Thank you for your compliment!”

Mo Qingling was very busy, so Xiao Hanzheng didn’t bother him anymore and went to the open space in front of the county government office.

Now, his little wife, Xiao Baili, and Xiao Hanyi have already sent out a lot of mosquito coils.

After all, it was delivered for free, and it was given away by the county government. Everyone held the attitude of wanting something for nothing.

Some people even ran over to get it after hearing about it.

As for using it tonight, there was no need to talk about it.

Xiao Hanzheng then went to teach people how to make ice.

Because of the publicity of the ice-making recipe, many people in the county have benefited or made money, so they were very polite to the husband and wife.

In the afternoon, they went back home after doing some shopping. While passing by the Bai Family’s Mansion, Shi Qingluo also took some bundles of mosquito coils and asked the servant to deliver them to Bai Xu.

That night in the county town, many families lighted the mosquito coils they had given away for free.

But they didn’t take it seriously in their heart, thinking that it would not be so miraculous. After all, how can mosquitoes disappear after lighting just a piece of incense?

But in the Bai family, after Bai Xu got the mosquito coil, he didn’t have any doubt.

After all, he already knew a lot about Shi Qingluo, she would not do anything unsure.

So he sent the mosquito coils to his grandparents and parents.

His mother looked at the not-so-exquisite mosquito coils, and was a little skeptical, “This thing can repel mosquitoes, is it true or not?”

Then she smelled it: “It doesn’t smell as good as the incense in my room.”

Bai Xu said with a smile, “Mother, this is meant to repel mosquitoes. So the smell can’t compare to the incense in your house.”

“As long as it works, that’s enough.”

Madam Bai thought about it: “Okay, let’s try it tonight.”

She was happy that her son was filial.

Soon, those people who doubted whether the mosquito coils were useful the next day were in uproar.

“Did you also light the mosquito coil last night? It works.”

“I didn’t light it, I forgot, is it really useful?”

“It’s useful. I didn’t hear any mosquitoes when I lit it last night, and I didn’t get any mosquito bite on my body when I woke up in the morning.”

“Yes, my child is very susceptible to mosquito bites. I can see mosquito bites on his face and hands every day. But when I lit mosquito coils last night, I didn’t see any.”

“Where can I buy this mosquito coil? I’m going to buy some.”

“It seems that it’s not available in the town, and only Xiaxi Village has it.”

“I’m going to buy some. There were rarely any mosquitoes last night. I had a good night’s sleep.”

The effect of mosquito-repellent coils has spread like this.

Smart businessmen and peddlers also drove towards Xiaxi Village in horse-drawn carts and ox carts.

In the Bai Family.

Bai Xu went to have meals with their grandmother and mother.

Old Lady Bai smiled and said: “The mosquito coils you gave yesterday are effective, so send me some more.”

In the past, when there were mosquitoes at night, they will smoke some wormwood, and the maidservant will help drive them away in the middle of the night, but it still affected her sleep to some extent.

But after lighting the mosquito coils last night, she didn’t need to call a maid, so she had a good night’s sleep.

Madam Bai also smiled and said, “Give me some more too. This mosquito coil doesn’t look good, but it’s really useful.”

Bai Xu also used it last night, and the effect was really good.

He smiled and said, “No problem, I’ll go buy some more today.”

He also saw the business opportunities and planned to talk to Shi Qingluo about cooperation.

After finishing his meal, he leisurely arrived at Xiaxi Village in a carriage and found many carriages and ox carts parked in front of the Xiao Family Sugar Workshop.

After asking, he found out that these people were all queuing up to buy mosquito coils.

Bai Xu asked again, only to hear about Shi Qingluo gave away mosquito coils for free yesterday.

He was stunned for a while, but he quickly figured out the method of publicizing it.

He walked in the door, and the people in front of the queue asked him not to jump in line.

Bai Xu was speechless: “I’m not here to jump in line, but to visit friends.”

“Hanzheng, Hanzheng!” When he saw Xiao Hanzheng standing not far away, he shouted a few times deliberately and squeezed in.

When everyone saw him like this, they thought he was visiting friends, so they didn’t stop him.

Bai Xu quickly walked up to Xiao Hanzheng: “Where is Shi Qingluo?”

Xiao Hanzheng replied with a smile: “She is arranging the shipment inside, did you also come here for the mosquito coils?”

Bai Xu whispered: “That’s right.”

“Take me to talk to your wife.”

Xiao Hanzheng handed over what he was doing to others, and brought Bai Xu into a room.

Shi Qingluo was busy arranging for people to ship according to the serial number queued outside.

Seeing Bai Xu coming in, she opened her mouth first and said, “You want to buy mosquito coils? Then you don’t need to ask, no.”

Bai Xu: “… …”

He said speechlessly: “You can just leave it to me, why bother.”

Shi Qinglou rolled her eyes at him: “If I want to leave it to you, why would I go to the county town to distribute mosquito coils for free?”

“Don’t try to swallow everything, leave some meat for others to eat and drink some soup.”

Bai Xu was puzzled, “It’s easier to leave it to me, why bother?”

Shi Qingluo replied: “I am a hardworking person who can’t take time off.”

Bai Xu: “… …”

I believe you are a ghost.

“Come on, let’s talk about the reason.” This woman likes to save trouble most of the time, and she was not someone who will make herself busy just to find something to do.

Shi Qingluo finished arranging the list in hand.

Then she sat down next to Xiao Hanzheng: “Okay, I just want to bring more people to our village, and turn our village into a trading center in the future.”