Chapter 80: Rushing to Make Money
Life on the estate was just like that.
The actual work consisted of nothing more than farming and cooking, but it was enough to keep a person busy from morning till night. During lighter times, one could properly cook a meal to eat. But during days like yesterday when they were tilling the fields, or today when the young mistress had to head down the mountain to sell chestnuts, there really wasn’t even time to cook.
Fortunately, the young mistress had that thing called an “electric rice cooker.”
It didn’t require anyone to tend a fire. Once you tossed the sweet potatoes, corn, and eggs inside, the pot could heat the water and boil it all on its own. By cooking a massive pot of it, one wouldn’t have to prepare another meal for the entire day. It was far more convenient than eating during the busy farming seasons back in the Daliang Dynasty.
Watching the white steam billowing from the electric rice cooker, Lin Sanniang finally figured out how Jian Xingxia used to cook meals. While waiting for the water to boil, Lin Sanniang used the “chestnut-scoring gadget” to cut slits into the chestnuts. Once a batch of chestnuts was tossed into the pot, the two sat down to eat breakfast together.
As usual, Jian Xingxia ensured she ate her fill.
“Sanniang, things are a bit busy today, so we’ll just make do with this quick bite. Let’s see if I can earn a bit more money today. Once things ease up later, I’ll cook us a proper meal.”
Jian Xingxia actually felt quite guilty in her heart. When she was on her own before, juggling classes and part-time jobs, she would run between three part-time jobs a day during her busiest times. She would be so busy that she had no time to eat, only making do by chewing on a piece of bread or gnawing on a cob of corn along the way. Once her part-time wages were paid, she would go treat herself to something good.
She was used to living like that herself. It was the same after she returned to the old house. It wasn’t until Liang Chengcheng came that she remembered that a normal family meal usually consisted of at least three or four dishes. She was just too poor.
Hearing this, Lin Sanniang looked at the bright yellow corn and the white, tender egg in her hands, feeling somewhat dazed.
Make do?
These were good things that even the wealthy households of the Daliang Dynasty might not get to eat. Even Manager Zhang, she heard, only got a single egg a day. Yet whenever she came to work at the estate, the young mistress provided more than enough eggs every single day. If she only ate one or two, the young mistress would even scold her.
It was just that she couldn’t quite understand the young mistress’s words—
“Oh, you guys just eat way too much starch, and not enough protein and fat. Don’t worry about cholesterol or blood lipids, just eat as much as you can—ten or eight a day is perfectly fine!”
But the meaning was clear. It was to tell her to eat more.
Lin Sanniang ate three eggs for breakfast today. Leaving aside the grain, just the eggs alone cost six copper coins. If she added the sweet potatoes and corn she ate, a single meal would cost ten copper coins! When she performed hired labor for others, a whole day’s wages amounted to only that much.
Lin Sanniang shook her head vigorously. “Miss, this is by no means making do. This is a top-tier meal.”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Mhm! Then eat more! Eat your fill!”
After finishing breakfast, it wasn’t even six o’clock yet.
Jian Xingxia loaded the chestnuts into the large iron basin and the massive iron tubs, hopped onto her tricycle, and set off along the bumpy mountain path. She locked the front courtyard gate, the front door, and the door to the small parlor. Lin Sanniang could only access the kitchen, the bathroom, and the small parlor.
Anyway, aside from the solar panels rewarded by the system and the furniture and appliances Liang Chengcheng had bought, there wasn’t anything particularly valuable at home. Locking it up wasn’t because she was afraid Lin Sanniang would take anything. Even if she took these items, they would be completely useless back in the Daliang Dynasty! It was mainly to prevent any accidental contact that might cause danger.
With the house secured, Jian Xingxia focused on rushing to the morning market to sell chestnuts.
At this hour, business at the compound gates wasn’t easy to do. However, the entrance to the wet market was exceptionally lively. Jian Xingxia rode her tricycle to the market entrance, where there was a designated street vending area. She could only find a corner spot with poor foot traffic, so she cast her self-consciousness aside and began shouting her wares loudly.
She didn’t sell them at a high price, and the chestnuts looked remarkably clean. The pre-packaged bags looked exceptionally neat and tidy amidst the chaotic clutter of the market entrance. Everyone was willing to buy a bag or two to give them a try.
Unlike the returning customers at the compound gates, most of the people here were new faces. Jian Xingxia patiently called out and greeted them without tire. By 9:30, out of the 120 catties of chestnuts she had brought out, only a dozen or so catties remained. She had taken in over nine hundred yuan.
It was just that the uncles and aunties buying vegetables were far too good at bargaining. Jian Xingxia was only selling them for eight yuan a catty pre-packaged, yet some people still tried to bargain it down to five or six yuan.
But Jian Xingxia didn’t dare set such a precedent. The [Income Doubling Card] was still gleaming with golden light right before her eyes. Once she opened the door to bargaining, today’s business would become exceptionally exhausting, requiring a tug-of-war with every single person. It would waste time and prevent her from fetching a good price.
Therefore, Jian Xingxia preferred to lose a few customers rather than compromise on her price line. Her firm stance drew a few grumbles from a handful of shoppers at first. But once they realized her price was set in stone, they actually bought them even faster later on.
At 9:30, Jian Xingxia finally went to a breakfast stall that was about to pack up and treated herself to a heavy meal. After downing two baskets of steamed buns and two bottles of iced soy milk, she still felt her stomach was quite empty. She bought another ten yuan worth of savory sauce pancakes, stuffing half a bag down before she finally felt full.
Sure enough, the food intake of someone performing hard labor was worlds apart from someone who didn’t.
Afterward, Jian Xingxia rode her tricycle back to the old house and loaded up another haul of chestnuts.
The period from mid-morning to noon was the hardest time to do business. For those having lunch, their breakfast hadn’t even digested yet and lunch was right around the corner, so they weren’t willing to eat something as filling as chestnuts. For those shopping, the sun was fierce at noon, so who would be willing to wander around the main streets? Jian Xingxia couldn’t enter the shopping malls either. She could only wander through the streets and alleys, selling them piecemeal.
Over the course of the afternoon, she only sold twenty-odd bags, bringing in barely two hundred yuan. But Jian Xingxia didn’t dare rest. The money earned within the 24-hour window before 4:00 PM today could be multiplied by the [Income Doubling Card]—every extra yuan meant upgrading a bit sooner.
With a throat that felt on the verge of smoking, Jian Xingxia called out her wares along the streets. From the wet market to the residential compounds, then to the roads near the shopping mall, the youth activity center, and the park entrance… She ran through them all, selling another thirty-odd bags.
It wasn’t until 3:30 PM that she finally found a kindergarten letting out. Fortunately, because not many kindergartens remained open during the summer break, this kindergarten running a summer program was absolutely packed with students across numerous classes. Jian Xingxia spent a hundred yuan to swap spots with an auntie selling sushi, snagging a prime location.
Her luck was quite good. There were returning customers from the compound she visited yesterday among the crowd. Catching sight of Jian Xingxia, they greeted her familiarly and even introduced her chestnuts to the parents of their children’s classmates. Once the floodgates of high sales opened, business became easy. Within half an hour, she sold seventy or eighty bags.
The business was still going strong, but Jian Xingxia took a temporary leave of absence to step aside—the expiration time for the [Income Doubling Card] was almost here.
She didn’t dare risk it. Five minutes ahead of time, she asked a returning customer to help watch the stall for a bit. “Auntie, if anyone comes to buy chestnuts, just let them take it themselves and scan the code to pay.” The kind-faced auntie assumed Jian Xingxia couldn’t hold it in anymore and needed to use the restroom, so she agreed very understandingly, “Alright, go quickly!”
Jian Xingxia hurriedly slipped into a narrow alleyway. With no one around, she finally clicked on the golden card hovering in the void.
[The Estate Owner has chosen to use the Income Doubling Card. Calculating the revenue within the 24-hour window, please wait…]
Jian Xingxia held her breath in deep concentration. She had roughly calculated that from yesterday to today, her revenue amounted to around four thousand-odd yuan. If the doubled revenue from the card could also be counted toward the estate’s operating revenue, then her estate was about to upgrade!
