Zou Youcai was both the proprietor and the owner of the Zou’s Cosmetics shop. After personally testing the effects of the herbal balm, he immediately offered to buy out her entire stock.
“For a box like this, I can offer you 300 wen.”
He had assumed the price was generous, but Li Yao simply shook her head. This time, she planned to harvest a wave of wealth from the affluent, and there was no way she would set such a common, accessible price.
“2 taels of silver per box.”
The proprietor stumbled, nearly falling over in shock. If she’s selling it to me for 2 taels, how much would I have to charge to make a profit? “Even if the product is excellent, it will be in vain if it’s too expensive to sell.”
“That is only because you are using the wrong approach,” Li Yao replied coolly. “If you follow my instructions, not only will you sell every box, but I guarantee you will be struggling to meet the demand.”
As Li Yao laid out her strategy, a hungry gleam ignited in Zou’s eyes. “Very well. I shall test it exactly as you have described.”
It wasn’t long before a buzz began to circulate among the noblewomen and young ladies of Baichuan Market.
“Have you heard? Zou’s Cosmetics has a new herbal balm. The effect is instantaneous—one touch is enough to make a mosquito bite vanish.”
“And it’s so clean! It disappears into the skin, and it’s wonderfully cooling and refreshing.”
“I heard the same! Apparently, it even repels mosquitoes.”
As word-of-mouth spread, patrons began flocking to Zou’s shop. However, they were met with a frustrating refrain: yes, the miraculous balm existed, but they were terribly sorry—there was currently no stock.
No stock? We’ll just wait, they reasoned. But wait as they might, the shelves remained bare.
The balm remained unavailable, but the mosquitoes were relentless. No matter how well one protected oneself, a few bites were inevitable. And the mosquitoes of this season had bites that felt positively venomous; a single nip would instantly balloon into a painful, itchy welt. The more the noblewomen and young ladies scratched, the more they craved that miraculous balm. Some of the more short-tempered ladies brought their servants directly to the shop.
“If there is still no stock, do you believe I won’t smash your shop to pieces?”
“Tomorrow! It will certainly arrive tomorrow!” Zou Youcai wiped the cold sweat from his brow. “It is merely… this item is not easy to produce, and the price will be… a little steep…”
“I don’t care how expensive it is! Just get the goods here!”
“Yes, yes, of course!”
For the past two days, Zou Youcai had been living in a state of terror, fearing his shop would be demolished. It wasn’t until Li Yao arrived as promised with sixty boxes of the balm that he felt the stone lift from his heart. He immediately gave the order to release the news.
“The herbal balm has arrived!”
The news exploded like a thunderclap, instantly sweeping through Baichuan Market. The noblewomen and ladies, who had been waiting restlessly, abandoned their affairs and rushed toward Zou’s shop.
“I was here first! I want two boxes!”
“What do you mean you were first? It was clearly me! Give me ten!”
“Don’t you dare fight me for them! I want the entire stock!”
Zou Youcai was dumbstruck. In over twenty years of running the shop, he had never seen such a scene—never had he witnessed such a frenzied, desperate rush to buy.
“Everyone, please, listen to me!” he shouted. “This balm is truly arduous to craft; it took a great deal of effort to produce even fifty boxes. To ensure that everyone can have a chance to buy, we are limiting the purchase to one box per person. Winter is approaching soon, and the mosquitoes will not be as numerous!”
“However, please rest assured: when spring arrives next year, new stock will surely arrive.”
The crowd considered this and conceded the point. Besides, the price was indeed quite high—3 taels of silver per box.
With that, the money began to flow.
The emerald, silky-smooth balm looked exquisite, and its fragrance was soothing. More importantly, it was fine—finer than the highest quality rouge or face powder—and when applied, it left no visible trace. That cool, lingering sensation refreshed the spirit and calmed the frazzled nerves of the ladies instantly. These women were well-versed in luxury, yet they could not stop singing the praises of the balm.
“The effect is truly wonderful; the itching is gone instantly.”
“It was worth the wait.”
“Xiao He, go buy another box. We’ll save some for the Master to use as well.”
In an instant, the shop, which had been thick with the gunpowder of confrontation, became as serene as a spring breeze. The fifty boxes were snapped up in the blink of an eye. Zou Youcai refused to bring out the remaining ten boxes; he feared that if a high-ranking official came by and he had nothing to show them, the consequences would be dire. Besides, he hoped to send those remaining few to Yizhou, where they might fetch an even higher price.
“Mistress Li, your plan was brilliant, but it nearly scared the life out of me!”
“But you earned a handsome profit,” Li Yao noted. “With just one transaction, you earned several times what I did.”
“Haha, that is only because Mistress Li’s goods are of such high quality.”
“And because Proprietor Zou has the audacity to take the risk.”
After a flurry of mutual flattery, Zou Youcai produced a stack of banknotes—a 100-tael note and 20 taels in hard silver, totaling 120 taels.
Li Yao did a quick mental calculation. Her profit was roughly… 119 taels? The herbs grew wild in the mountains; her only real investment had been her own labor and a few cosmetic containers. This windfall was equivalent to what Dazhuang’s braised food stall would earn in six months. It just went to show that in any era, it was easiest to profit from the wealthy, particularly wealthy women. It seemed she should look into developing high-end cosmetics; they would undoubtedly sell like wildfire.
With the transaction complete, Zou Youcai leaned in, his voice urgent. “Mistress Li, might there be more of this herbal balm available?”
“There is. How much do you need?”
Upon hearing there was more, Zou Youcai was visibly invigorated. “As much as you can provide!”
Scarcity was the key to value, so unlimited supply was out of the question. Li Yao pondered for a moment. “That depends on the circumstances; it’s hard to say for certain right now.”
“Mistress Li, you must find a way to produce more!” Zou Youcai insisted. “How about this—I’ll host a lunch today at the He Family Restaurant. Consider it a small token of my appreciation for your business. What do you say?”
So, Li Yao thought, even in ancient times, wining and dining was the standard way to build a professional relationship.
“A feast isn’t necessary,” Li Yao said. “How about this: I’ll check the market to see how much material I can source, and I’ll get back to you.”
“Fine, fine! I shall await your good news! We’ll meet at the He Family Restaurant at noon!”
Zou Youcai handed her 20 taels as a deposit and insisted on gifting her a box each of his finest rouge and face powder. Li Yao might have looked plainly dressed, but she was his golden goose; he knew he had to keep her happy.
With a large sum now in her account, Li Yao no longer had to pinch pennies. She had been in this world for some time now, and the daily grind of wearing coarse burlap and sleeping under a thatch-filled quilt had become unbearable. It was time for an upgrade.
She led the children into a fabric store and bought three ready-made outfits for each of them. At an average of 800 wen per set, fifteen outfits cost her 12 taels of silver. Shoes were, of course, essential. She skipped the silk slippers—too expensive and entirely impractical—and opted for sturdy cloth shoes with layered soles at 160 wen a pair, picking up three pairs for everyone.
Seeing her spend so lavishly, the shopkeeper seized the opportunity to upsell. “Mistress, the weather will turn cold soon. We have just received a new shipment of mumu (kapok). Would you like to take a look?”
In this era, cotton was not yet common—or at least not widely available. When making padded jackets or quilts, the well-off usually stuffed them with reed catkins or willow fluff, while the poor made do with dried grass. Setting aside the poor insulation, wearing grass-stuffed clothing was genuinely uncomfortable. Kapok was a much higher-grade filling, but it was expensive—500 wen per jin—accessible only to the wealthy.
“Mother, there’s no rush for kapok,” Dazhuang said, watching her spend money like water. He felt a pang of guilt. “Winter is still a long way off.”
“It’s not as far off as you think.”
She was definitely going to buy the kapok. Li Yao had endured the straw-filled quilts for long enough; every night she slept under them, she felt itchy and wretched. This time, she would replace them at any cost.
Four quilts and four mattresses, eight jin each—that was 64 jin in total. Add two sets of padded jackets and trousers for everyone, and they would need even more.
“Give me 80 jin to start.”
“E… eighty jin???”
The shopkeeper was stunned. In all his years running this shop, he had never once seen anyone buy 80 jin of kapok in a single go. Even the local Squire Zhang, when marrying off his daughter, had only purchased 30 jin as part of her dowry; that had been the biggest sale of his career until now. This woman didn’t look like much, but her spending power was staggering—today was truly his lucky day!
“Do you not have that much?”
“We do, we certainly do! Quick, move the goods for this lady!” The shopkeeper’s face was wreathed in smiles. “By the way, we also have top-grade silk for lining jackets—it is the most comfortable material imaginable…”
“I’ll take it!”
“And we have high-quality cotton cloth…”
“I’ll take it!”
Li Yao picked up a bolt of silk for lining the jackets and trousers, and three bolts of cotton cloth. Although the weave was slightly rustic, it was made of pure, natural fiber, making it perfectly soft for bedsheets and blankets. Finally, she bought several large spools of cotton thread for quilting.
The total cost was 60 taels. Half of her new fortune was gone in an instant. But there was no help for it—the family was large.
The children organized the goods on the cart, piling the massive bags of kapok until it was full. Though she felt a sting at the loss of so much silver, the thought of the children wearing comfortable new clothes and soft shoes, and sleeping in warm, soft beds under cozy quilts… the mere anticipation made the children tremble with a quiet, joyful excitement.
“Mother, we’ve bought almost everything. Can we go home now?”
Li Yao shook her head. Going home was out of the question; she hadn’t bought everything she needed yet.
“What else could we possibly need?”
“An ox.”