Lin He looked at the Zi Cao ointment in her hand, which was slightly different from what she had bought from a certain cosmetics store in her previous life. The Zi Cao ointment from a certain brand in her previous life, although claimed to be made from Zi Cao, contained some unknown chemical substance that made it green. However, the effect was still somewhat acceptable. The Zi Cao ointment Lin He made herself was purplish-red, and the scent was also richer than what she bought before.

What she made was purely natural, without any chemical additives, so it should be better than the one from her previous life. However, this was Lin He's first time making it, so she wasn't entirely sure. She decided to try the effect on herself before producing it in large quantities, as this substance was meant to be applied to the body. If she couldn't confirm its effectiveness, she couldn't easily sell it.

Lin He was confident that what she made wouldn't be bad, but to be safer, she would use it herself for a while first. Lin He placed the purchased Zi Cao and other materials into the ointment-making cabinet, wrapping them in several layers of oil paper. She intended to soak a small portion of the Zi Cao in sesame oil first, because for large-scale production, the Zi Cao would need a long soaking time. So, she soaked some first so that when it was time to make the ointment, she could start early.

After getting everything ready, she took Lin Chen and Xiao Jun out, locking the ointment room, saying she would see how things went in a few days. Chen'er and Xiao Jun didn't know what Lin He was making this for; it was different from soap. Lin He told them it was a wonderful thing that could relieve inflammation, stop itching, ease pain, and had many other benefits, as well as moisturizing the skin. If they were bitten by mosquitoes in the summer and applied some Zi Cao ointment, it would stop itching immediately.

Chen'er and Xiao Jun thought this was great, as there were quite a few mosquitoes at home usually, and bites would leave big bumps that they couldn't help but scratch, easily breaking the skin. After about a month, when Lin He confirmed that the Zi Cao ointment was truly effective, she called Hong Yun and Zhou Shi to make the ointment with the previously soaked Zi Cao. In the past few days, Lin He had let the whole family try it, and everyone said the effect was very good. Last time, Lin He soaked one jin of Zi Cao along with the other medicinal herbs in the corresponding proportions.

The batch of Zi Cao ointment she made previously was about thirty grams, and after adding some other herbs, the cost per box of Zi Cao ointment was about twenty wen. She planned to sell it for three hundred wen. After deducting all expenses and consignment fees, the profit would be similar to that from soap, which Lin He thought was acceptable. Lin He knew she could sell it for more, but her original intention was to launch affordable products that most people could afford.

Although the price was low, more people could buy it, and selling more naturally meant earning more money. Similar salves probably existed at this time, but perhaps because the materials used were more expensive, the prices were very high, generally affordable only by the wealthy. The products Lin He made aimed for the common people's market, as ordinary people always outnumbered the rich in any era. Lin He assigned work positions for everyone.

Currently, Chen'er and Xiao Jun mostly helped out or managed the fire. Lin He mostly just gave instructions, setting the proportions for all ingredients. Stirring and similar tasks were done by Hong Yun and Zhou Shi, as Lin He was small and not very strong, so it was better for them to do it. Finally, Lin He calculated that with one jin of Zi Cao paired with the proportionally equal amount of other herbs, she made a total of forty-five boxes of Zi Cao ointment.

Lin He tallied the accounts: the cost of the Zi Cao was sixty-five wen, and with other herbs and box fees, the total cost was around one liang of silver. Selling each box for three hundred wen, she could earn thirteen liang of silver. The profit margin was quite substantial. Lin He calculated that the most expensive component was the boxes.

She ordered all her boxes from that particular shop. Lin He had tried to haggle the price down with the shopkeeper, but the shopkeeper claimed they were already making little profit and refused to lower the price. Lin He felt this was quite unreasonable; wood shouldn't be expensive at this time. If she could procure the timber directly and find someone to make the wooden boxes herself, it would be much better.

Since selling soap, Lin He stopped ordering boxes made of hongmu (rosewood). These items inherently didn't have high margins, and using such expensive wooden boxes was indeed uneconomical. The custom-ordered ones were made from ordinary materials, though they were lacquered, making them considerably cheaper than hongmu. The boxes used for this batch of Zi Cao ointment were also made of ordinary materials.

Lin He thought that in ancient times, materials like hongmu weren't ubiquitous, so their high price made sense. But these wooden boxes were made from common wood; she could source the material herself and just hire someone to construct them. When it came to making such things, she would definitely have to approach Uncle Li's family; they were the most knowledgeable about this, and Uncle Li was a suitable candidate. As long as there was a channel to acquire the timber, negotiating the labor cost for production with Uncle Li would surely be much cheaper than buying them outright.

However, Lin He needed to ask Uncle Li first to see how much she could save by making the wooden boxes herself. The main point was that everything her family produced required boxes, and they all needed to be custom-made, which was somewhat costly, especially for these inexpensive items; if the base cost was too high, it wouldn't be worthwhile. Lin He planned to take the Zi Cao ointment to town the next day and then visit Uncle Li’s house to inquire. The next day, Lin He delivered the Zi Cao ointment and the finished soap to Cai Die Xuan.

The delivery went smoothly this time; she didn't run into that little fellow Wen Ning Mo. Uncle Wen was also there, and without any delay, she settled the price for the Zi Cao ointment with Uncle Wen and collected the payment for the last batch of soap before heading home. Back home, Lin He took out the money she had saved over the past few months and counted it—it was nearly over seven hundred liang. Since summer began, the scented balm hadn't sold as well, but soap had earned nearly a hundred liang in the best month.

Combined with previous savings, she had accumulated close to seven hundred liang over these past few months. Lin He did the math: if she made the wooden boxes, she could chop ordinary timber from the mountain, meaning the raw material was free. She would only need money for lacquer and Uncle Li's labor fee. If Uncle Li worked alone, he could make about fifty boxes a day, paid one wen per box.

That meant in a month, Uncle Li could earn one liang and five qian of silver, which should be considered quite good. Her own family members, her uncle and her uncle-in-law, could chop the timber. She could give them a monthly allowance of two hundred qian in addition to that. Uncle Li would only be responsible for assembly.

However, the boxes needed carving and lacquering, which Uncle Li probably couldn't handle alone. Hiring one more person would cost about one liang of silver as a monthly wage. The cost of lacquer wouldn't be much either. This way, the total monthly expenditure would be around three liang of silver.

For three liang of silver a month, she could produce one thousand five hundred boxes. Buying them would cost nearly twenty liang. Annually, that would be two hundred and forty liang saved. This calculation was definitely worth it, and Uncle Li was trustworthy, with excellent carpentry skills.

Furthermore, Uncle Li's family had always treated her family very well.