It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

He made a lot of these ordinary rouge boxes at one time, but because of their ordinary style, they did not sell well.

To this day, there are still quite a number of these rouge boxes lying idle in warehouses gathering dust.

If this can be sold all at once, it would be a good way to make a profit.

Song Zhi turned around and saw the shopkeeper walking towards her. She counted in her mind and said, "I'll take a hundred first."

When the shopkeeper heard this, he stepped up his sales pitch and said, "If you order two hundred directly, I can give you eight cents each. If you only order one hundred, I can give you a discount of one cent at most."

Song Zhi didn't hesitate to order an extra one or two hundred. She said directly, "Boss, if I order 500 small round lidded boxes directly, can you sell them to me at five cents each?"

When the shopkeeper heard this, he felt a little embarrassed. There were only less than 300 boxes in his warehouse. Should he open the kiln and fire them again?

But if he only burned one box like this, the price would be suppressed too much, so he would make very little profit.

But this is indeed a big business. If I keep so many rouge boxes here under normal circumstances, I'm afraid it will take me a year to sell them all.

The shopkeeper thought for a moment and then said, "If you can order eight hundred of these little boxes, I'll sell them to you for six cents each."

Song Zhi also understood the principle of small profits but quick turnover. Seeing that the shopkeeper was willing to lower the price, she simply said, "Shopkeeper, I'll order a thousand, five cents each. Is that okay with you?"

"If that doesn't work, I'll accept eight hundred at six cents a pop!"

Song Zhi gave the choice directly to the shopkeeper and let him weigh it himself.

The shopkeeper calculated in his mind and finally chose the second option. His kiln could only fire five or six hundred at a time. It was obviously not cost-effective to fire it again for the extra amount.

Song Zhi was not upset that the expected result was not achieved. She first bought more than 200 small round-lidded boxes and then paid a deposit of 500 coins. Both parties agreed to pick up the remaining boxes in three days.

After the matter was settled, Song Zhi left the porcelain shop and went to the meat market to buy pork belly and pork fat.

Considering the time constraints, she has already wasted a lot of time today.

Song Zhiyuan also wanted to find the butcher who sold mutton to discuss the matter of collecting wool, but he had to put it on hold for the time being.

Song Zhi returned home with the goods on her back and in her hands.

She first went to the old house and put the meat in the kitchen.

When Yang saw the full basket of things, she was also shocked and reached out to help Song Zhi unload it.

"Azhi, why did you buy so many boxes?"

Song Zhi waved her hand, then took out the payment for pastries wrapped in cloth from the basket beside her and handed it to Yang, "Auntie, please keep this payment for today."

Then he explained, "It's hot now, and there are a lot of mosquitoes in the house. I bought some herbs to make mosquito repellent sachets. When I hang them in the room, mosquitoes won't come near me."

Yang took the money and felt very happy. It was the first time for her to take over so many copper coins, and they felt heavy in her hands.

Even when her niece said she wanted to make mosquito repellent kits, she didn't ask any further questions.

Seeing Song Zhi about to leave with the basket on her back, she quickly stopped her and said, "I'll give you your share of the money first."

Song Zhi waved her hand. "It's too troublesome to divide it every day. Just give it to me once every three months."

After saying that, she hurried back home.

When Song Zhi returned home, she saw the corridor full of women sitting under the eaves. Her younger sister was walking among these women, guiding them one by one to crochet woolen hats.

Mrs. Wu, who was sitting under the eaves, was the first to see her granddaughter step into the room. She quickly stood up and walked over to her side, asking with concern, "What happened? Why did you come back later than usual?"

Song Zhi shook her head. "I went to buy some herbs and will be making some mosquito repellent ointment. Grandma, do you know where there's a beekeeper? I want to buy some beehives!"

In ancient agricultural civilization, the most important thing was grain planting, followed by mulberry and hemp planting, and finally animal husbandry, among which beekeeping was a type of animal husbandry.

Honey, as an important source of sugar besides sucrose, is also very popular among the people.

Qishui County is mountainous and produces a lot of cliff honey. However, ordinary people cannot afford this honey. Except for local gentry, the rest is mostly bought by merchants from the north.

When Mrs. Wu heard that her granddaughter wanted to buy a beehive, she felt a little confused, but she knew that her granddaughter was always smart and had her own reasons for doing things.

So he didn't ask any more questions. After a brief thought, he nodded and said, "How many honeycombs do you want? I'll buy them for you this afternoon!"

As she was not sure about the current selling price and market conditions of the beehive, Song Zhi thought for a moment and then simply took out her purse from her bosom and stuffed it into Grandma's hand.

"I have about five taels of silver in my purse. Grandma, buy all the money!"

Mrs. Wu was surprised. She had never expected her granddaughter to spend so much money on beehives. Finally, she couldn't help but ask, "Why are you buying so many beehives?"

"I've made an appointment with the owner of the government-run shop today to make a herbal ointment to repel mosquitoes. I need to quickly prepare the ingredients."

When Mrs. Wu heard that this also involved official business, she was afraid that it would delay her granddaughter's affairs, so she stopped asking for details and agreed without hesitation.

After Song Zhi finished explaining her own affairs, she looked at the women under the eaves and asked, "Grandma, why are you all sitting outside?"

"It's so boring to stay in the house with so many people. It would be more pleasant to sit under this spacious porch!"

As she spoke, Mrs. Wu glanced at her granddaughter again, at the basket full of things on her back, and guessed that she might still have a lot of things to do.

So he urged her, "Alright, alright, I've got grandma here to help you, go ahead and do your thing!"

Song Zhi did have a lot of things to do, so after agreeing, she carried her things and went straight to the studio in the backyard.

The young ones who were spinning in the main room saw Song Zhi carrying the basket to the back, so they put down their work and followed her.

Song Zhi had just finished packing up her shopping when she looked up and saw three little heads poking out from the door.

Seeing that they were caught, the two older ones immediately retracted their heads, and only Xiaokang grinned at Song Zhi with his small teeth showing.

Song Zhi was just looking for someone to help, so she immediately captured a few people as strong men.

"Come on, come on, all of you come over and lend a hand."

Hearing his sister's call, Song An immediately led the two little ones, like little tails, following behind to help Song Zhi.

Song Zhi picked out the medicinal materials for making tooth powder, handed them to a few children, and told them to crush them into powder using a stone mortar.

She went to the stream in the back mountain, picked a lot of mint and mugwort, and began to prepare to make herbal ointment.