The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 204 Perfume

Because of Changping's help in the government office in those few months, Wang Hengzhi had a very high opinion of this young man. As a result, Zhang Ruomei was also very optimistic about him and felt that this child would definitely have a bright future.

No matter from which aspect, she is happy to provide him with some help in life now, not to mention the affection between her and Chen Cui, so what she said was from the heart.

"Come, come, let me show you something. The caravan brought it back from a shop in the capital. I guarantee you've never seen it before."

Zhang Ruomei mysteriously called Chen Cui to the inner room and opened a box. Chen Cui saw several small glass bottles, which were the size of perfume bottles she had seen before and were painted with various patterns.

"Is this a new perfume?" she asked.

"Why would I show it to you if it's that? This is a snuff bottle from overseas, used to hold snuff. Snuff is made of tobacco leaves and spices, and inhaling it through the nose can improve eyesight and prevent disease. I heard it's very popular among foreigners, and only the nobles can afford it. Come, I'll pick one for you, and you can take it home and play with it."

Chen Cui looked at the glass pots with little angels or images of the Virgin Mary painted on them and thought fortunately they were not the kind without clothes, otherwise she would not be able to accept them.

She randomly picked a pattern that Sui Sui might like, thinking it would be nice to give it to the girl to play with when she got home. She would definitely like it.

"Changping is twenty this year. No matter what, after the imperial examination, it's time to think about getting married. Do you have any plans in mind?"

After the two women divided the things, Zhang Ruomei started talking about Changping's marriage.

Indeed, at the age of twenty, one is already considered old, and even a man should not delay marriage any longer.

"Well, you know that Changping is a man of his own ideas. He has already made plans for his own affairs. I really can't make the decision for him. I can only wait until he finishes the exam and comes back."

Chen Cui sighed. Before her eldest son left, she had discussed this issue with him. His answer at that time was, how can one start a family without establishing a career?

She understood that Changping wanted to pass the imperial examination, and then talk about marriage after he had a status. By then, he would be able to find a girl from a decent family.

Although this idea is a bit utilitarian, Chen Cui feels that it makes sense. Since the child wants to pursue a career in politics, then finding a wife's husband who will be beneficial and helpful to his future is the right choice.

As for the girl's character and personality, whether they get along well, etc., she only talked about it briefly and did not dare to say more, for fear that saying too much would make her son think that her ideas were too open.

When spring came and flowers bloomed, Chen Cui prepared all the tools for making perfume and conducted experiments using peach blossoms, which were relatively easy to obtain.

After four failures, Chen Cui finally succeeded in extracting peach blossom hydrosol and essential oil through repeated distillation.

Yes, it is not a perfume, at most it can be called a mixture of hydrosol and essential oils.

Although the scent is very pleasant, it is too strong and the fragrance does not last long when sprayed on clothes and skin. Such quality cannot be sold as a product.

The perfume that Chen Cui wanted to launch was positioned as a high-end luxury product. The ladies and wives of powerful families had seen all kinds of fragrances.

Those sachets with long-lasting fragrance and complete proportions are not much worse than perfume, and the fragrance is even richer. If the advantages of perfume are not as good as sachets, then why should they pay money for them.

If a perfume wants to gain their approval, it must be outstanding and the long-lasting fragrance is a must.

Chen Cui tried hard to recall what was said in the videos, about the essential items for making perfume, including some musk, sandalwood and the like, which were used as fixatives. However, there were no detailed instructions on how to do it specifically, so she could only experiment repeatedly on her own.

Musk was too expensive, so she chose sandalwood, which was cheaper and more common.

However, to say that it is cheap and common is only relative to the more rare musk. Sandalwood is only available in the southern region and is a common spice in sachets. But no matter how common a thing is in its place of origin, its price will increase significantly after it is shipped to the northwest.

After distilling the sandalwood blocks, the essential oil and hydrosol were obtained, and mixed with peach blossom essential oil, a perfume with a more charming and long-lasting fragrance was obtained.

Chen Cui filled it into custom-made small porcelain bottles, each bottle only holding about ten milliliters.

This small bottle is made of white porcelain. The bottle body is extremely thin. You can even see the height of the liquid inside when holding it up to the light. Various floral patterns are painted on it.

Zhang Ruomei was very surprised and astonished when she saw that Chen Cui really made this so-called perfume.

"You are really... How can I praise you so much?"

Zhang Ruomei sniffed the scent of the perfume while praising Chen Cui with a smile on her face.

Since the Zhang family is engaged in the shipping business, how could she not know the profit of this perfume? It is extremely profitable!

Unfortunately, due to the inconvenience of sea transportation, the quantity shipped back each time is very limited. But the more this is the case, the more it is sought after by those nobles. It really makes people love and hate it!

Now, they can make perfume themselves and the money no longer has to be earned by foreigners. That’s perfect!

Although she hadn't had time to ask Chen Cui how much this homemade perfume cost, she presumably wouldn't be more expensive than shipping it from overseas. If there wasn't enough profit, Sister Cui wouldn't have brought it to her.

Sure enough, Chen Cui then reported the cost of her experiment. All the equipment added up cost no more than twenty taels of silver, but the finished product and bottled perfume amounted to nearly one hundred bottles.

Moreover, these instruments are one-time investments. At the later stage, at most, only additional equipment will be needed, and the total cost will not increase too much. Compared with the selling price of perfume, the profit is more than a hundred times!

Zhang Ruomei paced back and forth in the room excitedly, muttering to herself as she walked back and forth: "Let me think about how to do this..."

When Chen Cui said that she wanted to try making perfume, Zhang Ruomei thought she was joking and didn't take it seriously at all.

Unexpectedly, after several months, she actually succeeded. Not only did she produce the finished product, but she also discovered that the profit was so huge. She was so surprised that she couldn't express it in words~!

At this moment, she couldn't help but feel fortunate that now that the King of Shu had ascended the throne, their Zhang family's status was different from before, so it was possible for them to plan such a lucrative business. If it were in the past, even if she knew there was such a huge profit, she might not have the courage to do it.

A business with huge profits like this would not be in the hands of an unknown small family, but could only be controlled by families backed by big men.

There is no other reason, it’s just that benefits are attractive to people!