Chapter 102: Preparations for Opening
Fangfang carried a large pile of small plastic bags as she wove through the crowd and walked up to Jian Xingxia.
She was instantly dumbfounded.
“Sister Xiaxia, where are the things you were selling?”
Jian Xingxia looked down. Her basins, crates, and baskets were all completely empty.
The fruits harvested from the smart greenhouse didn’t carry a single speck of dirt or a single withered twig. Once they were sold out, they left everything perfectly clean.
Just a moment ago, she had been worrying about how to explain away such a large quantity of produce, but now, she didn’t have to explain a thing.
Jian Xingxia lifted the cover of another large basin to show Fangfang the chestnuts inside. “Right here!”
Seeing that not many chestnuts were left either, Fangfang immediately cheered up. “Sister Xiaxia, your business is amazing!”
With that, she placed all the breakfast items she had bought into the basin.
“…The queue for the douhua was so long, so I went to buy fried dough drops first, but it turned out there was a long queue for those too!”
“…I bought fried noodles and pumpkin cakes, but then the queue for the douhua got even longer!”
“Someone was selling lamb offal soup. I’ve never had it before, so I ordered a small portion.”
“Scallion pancakes, savory sauce pancakes, shredded pancakes, sesame pancakes, sugar pancakes… I bought a bit of everything.”
Fangfang didn’t actually have a massive appetite, but her craving lay in wanting to taste a little bit of everything.
Using her own money combined with the twenty yuan Jian Xingxia had given her, she had truly treated herself to a shopping spree at the market today.
Jian Xingxia, however, couldn’t wait to dig in. She casually grabbed a bag, which turned out to contain savory sauce pancakes, and picked up a cup of tofu pudding, sipping at it.
“Fangfang, help me watch the stall for a bit. If anyone comes to buy chestnuts, they’re eight yuan a catty, or fifteen yuan for two catties.”
“If you don’t know how to sell them, you can ask your mom to step in. I need to head back to the village now to haul another cartload of things over.”
Without earning some money, it would be difficult to get her guesthouse open.
Although she had received the system’s rewards—meaning the guesthouse now had a building, a road, and a pick-your-own greenhouse—there were still a lot of items she needed to purchase out of pocket.
Fangfang told Jian Xingxia to go ahead without worry. “Don’t worry, Sister Xiaxia, I know the market much better than you do!”
Jian Xingxia chuckled. “Alright, then you watch the stall for me. When I get back, I’ll buy you a soda!”
“Yay!”
Jian Xingxia didn’t even have time to properly savor the taste of the freshly made, hand-crafted savory sauce pancake. The ones in her university cafeteria never had enough sauce, nor were they fragrant; they completely lacked crispy layers, offering a soggy texture that felt steamed from the surface to the core.
She stuffed the pancake into her mouth in three or two bites, gulped down the cup of tofu pudding in one breath, got into her vehicle, and rushed back to the village.
When she returned to the old house, it was only half past seven.
If she hauled another load of goods now, there would be another peak market rush from past eight to past ten.
The strawberries and blueberries were gone, leaving only tomatoes, cucumbers, chestnuts, and peaches.
When Jian Xingxia hauled a full cart back to the market, Fangfang saw it but didn’t display the slightest curiosity.
She was just intensely interested in the colors of the tomatoes. “So pretty. My dad planted horseshoe tomatoes this year and was really looking forward to them, but after a bout of rain, all the seedlings died.”
Jian Xingxia knew about horseshoe tomatoes. They had been very popular on the market over the last two years; they were sandy-textured, juicy, and commanded a very good price.
“All the seedlings died? How old were they? Drowned? Or did they catch some disease?”
Tomatoes were indeed quite susceptible to pests and diseases. The moment Jian Xingxia heard Fangfang’s words, her professional radar pinged.
But Fangfang was in high school and had no idea about such details. She shook her head. “I only heard my dad say that they had already set fruit, but before they could grow big, they all rotted.”
Jian Xingxia felt an ache in her heart for them.
Ever since her school days, she had known that trying to make a living off farming was incredibly difficult.
Uncle Lu had taken the initiative to try a recent popular variety, clearly hoping to carve out a viable path forward.
Yet, unexpectedly, he had been brought down by pests and diseases.
Based on Fangfang’s description, Jian Xingxia felt it sounded a bit like gray mold, but without seeing the actual plants, it was hard to say for sure. She made a mental note to find some time to go take a look.
Once tomatoes caught a disease, if the soil wasn’t thoroughly sterilized, the pathogens would carry over to the next season.
Jian Xingxia pondered that aside from the excellent and popular varieties available on the market, she could perhaps ask her university professors, seniors, and peers if there were crops specifically suited for mountainous cultivation.
Fangfang would be in her third year of high school when the new term started, and Uncle Lu and Auntie Lu were likely fretting over her tuition and living expenses.
Everyone’s desire to earn money and live a good life was exactly the same.
The two of them chatted away while selling the goods, and two or three hours flew by in a flash.
Fangfang packed up the remaining uneaten breakfast, bundled it together, and went to find Auntie Lu.
Auntie Lu’s business had been quite good today as well.
There were wild mushrooms in the mountains in July. Although it hadn’t rained, they had taken a trip deep into the mountains and, with a stroke of good luck, stumbled upon a patch of termite mushrooms, harvesting quite a lot.
Not long after the market opened today, someone had bought the entire lot.
The other mixed mushrooms and the dried fruits and vegetables they brought were also mostly sold out.
Jian Xingxia still had seven or eight catties of tomatoes and cucumbers left unsold. However, by half past ten, there weren’t many people left in the market, so she didn’t stress over it and decided to take them back to eat herself.
Having sold two cartloads of goods today with an income of 3,400 yuan, Jian Xingxia was very satisfied.
She just felt a bit of heartache for real farmers. Most of her goods were provided by the system, and a small portion consisted of things she had gathered ready-made from the mountain.
The crops she had planted herself hadn’t been harvested yet.
Meanwhile, for people like Auntie Lu and the others, half a year of hard work might only yield a few thousand catties of rice or wheat. At current grain prices, it wouldn’t fetch much money.
If they didn’t have some fruit and mountain products to supplement their income, they really wouldn’t be able to save any money at all.
After Fangfang left, Jian Xingxia began to plan.
The system had provided furniture and a set of bedding for each guest room. Jian Xingxia had slept on it over the past couple of days, and it was incredibly comfortable.
However, for six guest rooms, she needed to prepare at least six extra sets of four-piece bedding for rotations.
There were also towels, bath towels, floor mats, slippers, disposable toothbrushes, toothpaste, small soaps, shampoo, body wash…
The road built by the system was excellent, complete with flowers, grass, and trees, but it lacked trash cans.
Jian Xingxia didn’t want to see tourists throwing trash into the greenery, so she had to prepare them in advance.
She couldn’t afford those expensive outdoor trash cans used in scenic areas, which cost two to three hundred yuan each. For a three-kilometer road, plus the other lawns and woods, she would need dozens of them.
She turned her attention to those waist-high, super-large water buckets, but they weren’t cheap either, costing fifty or sixty yuan apiece.
Even if she only bought twenty, it would still cost 1,200 yuan.
Jian Xingxia: “…”
Was she the only one who, despite owning several mountain peaks and possessing a system, still found it this difficult to open a shop?
Jian Xingxia could only lower her standards once more—perhaps she could use bamboo baskets instead? Those shouldn’t be expensive.
There were bamboo baskets, winnowing baskets, and bamboo baskets for sale right in the market.
Jian Xingxia inquired on the spot, only to be utterly defeated by the prices.
A single bamboo basket, even a small one, cost 30 yuan, and the kind large enough to serve as a trash can was at least 50 yuan.
The winnowing baskets and colanders were the same, starting at thirty yuan with no upper limit for the 80-yuan ones.
Handheld bamboo baskets were even more expensive. Since they carried an extra decorative and aesthetic purpose compared to the first two, the prices varied wildly.
But none of them were cheap.
Jian Xingxia: “…”
Never mind.
This felt exactly like being gifted a priceless luxury sports car out of nowhere, only to find that she could neither afford to rent a parking space nor pay for a car wash.
Jian Xingxia sighed. Ah, a child from a poor family, even with a system, still had to work harder than everyone else.
Jian Xingxia stingily jotted it down—the next time she hired temporary laborers, she had to hire a basket weaver.
Next up was arranging the decor.
The tables, chairs, and counters had been made by Uncle Lu, but Jian Xingxia had searched online for photos of guesthouses over the past couple of days. Other places were decorated with distinct character and looked very cozy, so Jian Xingxia felt compelled to spend a bit more money on decorations.
The small lounge on the second floor was taken care of by the system, so she didn’t need to worry about it, but the tables and chairs on the first floor required tablecloths, seat cushions, and throw pillows.
Once again, she compared prices online first.
“This pillow insert is cheap… Huh? Why does it look so flat in the buyer reviews?”
The thicker ones cost around twenty yuan each.
Jian Xingxia gritted her teeth. They were only needed for the first floor, so buying ten would be enough. Two hundred yuan was manageable.
But looking at the pillowcases next, Jian Xingxia’s heart nearly broke.
Anything with a slight ancient or ethnic style, featuring woven patterns and tassels, was far from cheap.
A few yuan could only buy the simplest, plainest, thin-fabric promotional styles.
Since she was opening a shop after all, Jian Xingxia felt it couldn’t look too cheap. She couldn’t have a tourist sit on the sofa and suddenly pluck a big clump of cotton out of a ripped pillowcase, right?
Eh?
Cotton?
Jian Xingxia immediately switched her search parameters—
Pearl cotton was only fifty yuan for ten catties, which was enough to make several thick, large throw pillows.
For the pillowcases, she could use traditional coarse cloth, which was durable, attractive, and featured woven patterns.
Coincidentally, someone was selling clearance remnants in the market, likely sourced from somewhere unknown. Fabric pieces one to two meters long ranged in price from one to five yuan.
Jian Xingxia picked out the patterns and bought ten pieces of attractive coarse cloth directly, spending only twenty to thirty yuan.
She spent another dozen or so yuan online to buy some needles, thread, and tassel borders…
Buying twenty catties of pearl cotton cost a bit over a hundred yuan, allowing her to create the ten thick, large throw pillows she wanted.
Jian Xingxia placed the order decisively.
When it came to shopping, utilizing a few unconventional methods could save half the money.
As for the cups, toothbrushes, disposable slippers, and toiletries, Jian Xingxia didn’t plan on skimping too much.
These weren’t things she herself, the villagers of Lu’an Village, or her ancient temporary laborers could manufacture. It was better to honestly rely on the standards of modern light industry.
However, Jian Xingxia still had her own preferences.
Barring any surprises, she could only afford to hire ancient people to work. When the number of tourists increased later on, it would inevitably be hard to keep under wraps.
She might as well start building an “ancient-style guesthouse” right now, allowing tourists to have an immersive experience.
Therefore, the cups, plates, and bowls Jian Xingxia bought were all simple white porcelain or plain, coarse stoneware, and the toothbrushes and chopsticks were also chosen in bamboo and wood.
The replacement towels and bath towels were all selected in solid colors or simple, clean styles with minimal embroidered patterns.
In addition, she properly purchased some pure white, fine cotton cloth to be used for making sheets and duvet covers.
As for tissues, this time she bought three boxes each of facial tissues, toilet rolls, and paper towels, along with backup sanitary pads and some mosquito repellent supplies…
With all the bits and pieces adding up—dozens here, one or two hundred there, two or three hundred elsewhere—the three thousand-plus yuan Jian Xingxia had earned this morning was entirely gone, and she had even had to chip in an extra two hundred.
Brilliant. After this whole round, Jian Xingxia’s balance plummeted rapidly, leaving her with only eight hundred yuan.
With this eight hundred yuan, she still needed to wholesale a cartload of mineral water and various beverages.
Furthermore, she still owed Uncle Lu the wages for making the furniture!
Jian Xingxia fired herself up mentally.
This time, it wasn’t the system pushing her to open; she absolutely had to open—if she didn’t, her balance was going to hit absolute zero!
