After the New Year, most of the money had already been spent.

Oh, how poor they were.

If only the team had a profitable side business besides labor points.

At present, the team only had occasional side jobs like weaving baskets, mats, and straw sandals during the off-season, but these didn’t bring in substantial income.

Moreover, these items had limited demand, and there were skilled weavers in every village, so there wasn’t much profit to be made from outsiders.

As someone recognized for their achievements in the city, Lin Shu naturally wouldn’t just think about her own comfort.

Besides, a wealthier surrounding environment would make her own life more enjoyable too, wouldn’t it?

She was considering starting a side business for the team, ideally something simple to operate, long-lasting, profitable, but without exhausting resources or damaging the environment…

In the evening, Lin Shu cooked dinner, making pancakes and a pot of eggs with Chinese toon sprouts.

Spring is the season for Chinese toon, where the tender shoots are picked. Whether stir-fried with eggs or battered and fried, it’s very delicious.

The Lu family had a decades-old toon tree, lush and leafy.

During the tender season, they picked the young leaves, salted them, and stored them in jars as pickles, which could last for a year if preserved well.

Before going to the city, Lin Shu had already prepared this with Fang Dihua.

Now the toon shoots on the tree were too old to eat.

Besides the egg and toon stew, she also made pickled radish soup and salted eggs.

The spicy cabbage, pickled cucumbers, and pickled vegetables in the pickle jar were long gone, leaving only the pickled radish, salted radish, and mustard greens.

There were also two cabbages pickling.

Fortunately, the weather warmed up, and the vegetable garden would soon provide fresh vegetables for the table.

The family was very happy to see Lin Shu return, especially Brother Lu Dage.

He was eating a pancake roll with Chinese toon and egg stew, drinking pickled radish soup, and said, “Sister-in-law, when you’re not home, the meals just don’t taste right.”

Fang Dihua replied, “If it doesn’t taste right, just drink some salt water!”

Brother Lu Dage sighed, “Mother, why can’t you be realistic? It’s clearly you who should improve your cooking skills, but you insist on scolding me.”

Fang Dihua said, “Don’t I have work to do? If your sister-in-law isn’t home, you should come home early to cook. Let’s see how you improve your skills.”

Brother Lu Dage immediately fell silent.

He could handle eating, but cooking was another matter.

He wasn’t much better at cooking than Sister-in-law Lu Da.

He just enjoyed eating.

After dinner, Fang Dihua insisted that Brother Lu Dage wash the dishes, “You can’t cook, but you can wash dishes, right?”

Brother Lu Dage felt wronged. “I’m used to handling accounting tasks. How can I wash dishes?”

But he dared not protest and obediently washed the dishes.

Sister-in-law Lu Da didn’t come home for dinner.

The farm machinery operators traveled with the vehicles, rotating through various teams to work, so wherever they went, they had their meals provided by the local production teams.

With the busy farming season, Old Man Lu had an easier time because the farm workers were too busy to see him for medical issues.

After dinner, he read a book.

Lin Shu asked, “Dad, do you know how to make sanitary incense?”

Old Man Lu replied, “Sanitary incense? I’ve lit it before but never made it myself. It’s not in the medical books either.”

Lin Shu said, “I know how to make it, but it requires some herbal ingredients.”

Old Man Lu smiled and said, “Write it down for me. If we don’t have the ingredients in the clinic, I’ll buy them in the county.”

Lin Shu went to find some paper and a pen, and Tiantian immediately pulled out a small notebook and pencil from her pocket, removing the corn cob pen cap, and said, “Mom, here you go!”

Fang Dihua praised, “Look at our Tiantian, so young but already so eager to learn.”

Sister-in-law Lu Er sneered slightly, feeling that her own daughter wasn’t as studious.

She glared at Lu Cuicui, but Lu Cuicui ignored her.

Since the New Year, when she had secretly taken her red envelope money, Lu Cuicui had been in a cold war with her.

Sister-in-law Lu Er complained to Brother Lu Erge, and although Brother Lu Erge had spoken to their daughter, it didn’t help much.

Lin Shu wrote down the names of several herbs, including chrysanthemum, for Old Man Lu.

To keep initial costs low, she decided to start by making mosquito repellent incense with mugwort and chrysanthemum.

For odor removal incense, she needed to use aromatic plants like calamus and mint, and use cedar or pine wood as a fuel, as well as elm bark as an adhesive.

Once they start making money, they can buy higher-quality sandalwood, cinnamon, and frankincense from outside.

Brother Lu Dage was curious when he heard Lin Shi talk about making incense, “Sister-in-law, tell me more about it.”

Lin Shu was planning to explain because it was 1972 and private businesses were not allowed for members; they could only operate collective factories.

This was different from making clothes for others.

If someone bought fabric and needed help making clothes, it was understandable.

However, if she started bringing fabric home in bulk and selling the clothes, that would be considered a private business and was not allowed.

The same applied to making incense.

It wasn’t about helping others; it involved making products to sell, which was considered speculative trade.

So, Lin Shu planned to teach Brother Lu Dage and Second Brother Lu Erge how to set up a collective factory.

Although it was called a factory, it was essentially like a family workshop that could be run by a few people.

She believed it would definitely be profitable because the demand was high, especially during the summer when the humidity made rooms smell musty.

This product would be in high demand for eliminating odors.

Some wealthier and more particular units even burned incense year-round in their homes, toilets, and other places to remove odors.

During their recent trip to the city, they noticed that the Revolutionary Committee’s auditorium, guesthouses, steel plant offices, and Secretary Li’s home all had incense burning.

Additionally, in summer with many mosquitoes, they could also make mosquito repellent incense, which would be very marketable.

If they made money, the work points for the team members could increase significantly by the end of the year, potentially turning 30 cents worth of work points into one or even two yuan.

Lin Shu painted a rosy picture, and it wasn’t just Brother Lu Dage who was captivated; even Old Man Lu, Fang Dihua, and Second Brother Lu Erge were fascinated.

The next day, Brother Lu Dage went to discuss it with the team secretary and the team leader.

The team leader initially thought Brother Lu Dage had become unrealistic after attending a commune commendation meeting and was opposed to the idea, “We’re busy with farming right now; we don’t have time and manpower for this.”

Brother Lu Dage replied, “We just need to prepare tools and materials in advance. After the spring planting, we can prepare everything, and right before the wheat harvest, we can make a batch of incense.”

After the spring planting, farm work becomes much easier, and they can allocate six or seven laborers to make incense.

When the wheat harvest comes, they will return to the fields to harvest, and after the harvest, they will plant corn with the help of a tractor, freeing up more labor to make incense.

This way, they can keep the production going until the autumn harvest.

Although the autumn harvest takes longer, it is less urgent, and they won’t miss having six or seven laborers.

They can work through to the end of the year.

If there is concern about labor allocation,

In that case, let’s arrange for the female members of the production team to make the incense.

The issues of manpower and labor time were solved, but what about the money?

The team leader said, “Preparing materials and tools will cost a lot, right? The team’s funds are tight; we need money for seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, and to hire the commune’s machinery team for plowing and harvesting. It’s hard to spare any funds for side projects.”

The team leader’s ideal side projects were those that didn’t require much capital, such as weaving mats from sorghum stalks or baskets from willow branches, which required no additional investment.

Lin Shu had already considered this and had simulated it for Brother Lu Dage.

Brother Lu Dage said, “We don’t need to invest a lot of money. A millstone can replace the grinding machine, and at most, we’ll need to make a few molds for pressing the incense, which won’t cost more than a hundred yuan. We can harvest mugwort, calamus, and mint from the wild. If we don’t have enough, we can buy from other teams or even grow it ourselves. Elm bark and cedar are cheap, and it’s only the chrysanthemum that we don’t have and will need to buy. We might even be able to get seeds and grow it ourselves.”

Lin Shu had calculated the costs.

Initially, it wouldn’t require more than 500 yuan, and 300 yuan would be more than enough.

Biting his teeth, Brother Lu Dage said they could manage with even just 100 yuan, accumulating little by little.

The team leader was still worried, “What if we can’t sell it later? We might lose money and labor…”

The old branch secretary had been silent, squatting on the ground, smoking a dry cigarette while weighing the situation.

Which team leader doesn’t have aspirations?

Who doesn’t want to lead their team to work diligently, making their team’s work points more valuable than others, and everyone happy with the year-end dividends?

But while the ideal is good, reality is always disappointing.

The old branch secretary had greyed hair and could only ensure that team members were fed enough to be moderately full, not to eat well or be wealthy.

Money isn’t something you get just by working hard.

There are too many complexities involved.

Brother Lu Dage’s mind was swirling with the grand vision Lin Shu had painted the previous night.

He echoed her ideas, “How much can you make from weaving mats and baskets? The entire production team can’t earn a hundred yuan in a winter. If the sanitary incense business takes off, with a steady stream of orders, you could easily make three to five hundred yuan a month, and that’s on the low end. Just be careful not to be overwhelmed with work.”

Hearing that it was Lin Shu’s idea, the team leader made a complete turnaround, “What did Xiao Lin say? Tell us quickly.”

The team leader now had an inherent trust in Lin Shu.

He thought she must have learned the incense-making method from someone in the city and was willing to share it for the benefit of the team.

She was truly a selfless and dedicated person!

Indeed, she deserved the recognition as an outstanding individual from the city!

Brother Lu Dage recounted Lin Shu’s ideas as he understood them.

The old branch secretary, who had been silent, nodded frequently, “This is interesting. It seems feasible.”

The team leader also thought it was a good idea.

Brother Lu Dage rolled his eyes internally at their opportunistic behavior but didn’t dare to show it.