Chapter 150: Making a Fortune!
On the first day of business, all six rooms were fully booked out. Two rooms were 220 yuan and four were 150 yuan. After the 20% discount, the total came to 832 yuan.
For breakfast, 22 people ate. Most opted for the 10-yuan option, and only two who had smaller appetites ordered from the 5-yuan tier. The total price was 210 yuan, which came to 168 yuan after the 20% discount.
For lunch, there were forty-five people in total. However, four of them were children under five years old, so Jian Xingxia provided complimentary kids’ meals for them. But on the other hand, several other people ordered extra dishes. As it got busier later on, Jian Xingxia wasn’t able to keep tabs on the ledger, but luckily Sanniang recorded it. Looking it over, the forty-five people for lunch generated a total revenue of 1,440 yuan.
Dinner saw fewer people, with only twenty-eight guests plus two young children. Counting the extra dishes ordered, the total revenue after the discount came to 818 yuan.
The revenue from the camping sector was relatively high. Guests usually came in groups of at least three or four, and even the lowest-priced camping package was 50 yuan per person, while the premium ones were 100 yuan per person. This sector was even more profitable than the dining, with just a bit over half of the guests going camping, yet the revenue directly reached over 1,500 yuan.
But the most profitable of all was undoubtedly the picking activity. Even with the 20% discount, it was still a highly substantial sum of money.
The four varieties of tomatoes were all 15 yuan per catty, the cocktail cucumbers were 10 yuan, and the blueberries and strawberries were both 60 yuan per catty. The prices after the discount weren’t considered expensive, and combined with how fresh and delicious everything tasted, the fifteen people in the morning harvested extra, while the thirty-odd people in the afternoon almost all filled their five-catty quotas to the brim. From this sector alone, the direct revenue exceeded 4,600 yuan, matching the combined revenue of all the other business operations.
Beyond that, there was also some retail business.
The weather was blistering hot, so iced drinks sold remarkably well. Even though Jian Xingxia didn’t mark up the prices and charged according to standard retail rates outside the mountains, she still made a tidy profit. Coca-Cola and mineral water completely sold out, and almost all other beverages were cleared out too. There were also snacks like potato chips, preserved plums, jellies, biscuits, and chocolates. The prices weren’t expensive, all coming in medium-to-small packaging for three to five yuan. Yet in a single day, they somehow sold seventy to eighty portions, bringing in three to four hundred yuan. Combined with the beverages, the revenue from this sector neared a cool thousand yuan.
And this was all without Jian Xingxia even launching the sale of agricultural byproducts and handicrafts. Today, quite a few people had inquired about how much the mountain’s tea oil, dried mushrooms, red dates, mung beans… and even the rice cost. Some people also took a liking to the hand-woven bamboo crafts and the hand-embroidered handkerchiefs. Someone even took a fancy to the clothes Lin Sanniang was wearing, remarking that they felt far more comfortable and authentic than the Hanfu purchased online.
Jian Xingxia thought to herself that they were bound to look authentic—those clothes were made for Sanniang by her sisters back in the Great Liang Dynasty. They weren’t made from the fabrics Jian Xingxia had brought back. She had purchased bulk fabrics online meant for wiping machine oil as disposable rags, so most of the colors were black, white, and gray. But when Sanniang’s sisters heard that Sanniang had become the manager lady and was going to work in the guesthouse opened by the young mistress owner, they had gritted their teeth and pooled their money to buy some vibrant cloth to stitch a decent set of clothes for her.
These clothes truly came from the hands of ancients in the Great Liang Dynasty, so the materials and needlework still bore subtle differences compared to those mass-produced by machines. It was precisely these subtle differences that made Sanniang’s attire look more authentic and practical, making it far more appealing than exquisite, machine-made garments.
However, Jian Xingxia truly couldn’t spare the hands to manage this sector right now, so she could only decline them one by one with regret.
“I’m so sorry, everyone. Our manor is still during its trial run phase, so there are many matters that need to be adjusted and planned. We haven’t opened up the sale of handicrafts and agricultural byproducts for the time being. Rest assured, though, we are already planning for it, and it will be launched gradually in the future.”
Only then did the guests drop the matter. As long as they could buy them eventually, it didn’t matter. Anyway, this batch of people who came for the trial run were basically all from Jinmen Town, or at most the neighboring town or the city—none of it was far away.
Just like that, even with those two sectors temporarily unlaunched, purely as a modern guesthouse, Jian Xingxia’s total revenue for the first day of the trial run reached 10,458 yuan, not counting the money paid in advance for room reservations and meals!
Ten thousand yuan!
There was over nine thousand on her phone, and over a thousand in cash. Jian Xingxia tapped away on her phone’s calculator, calculating it over and over again. There was a discrepancy of a few dozen yuan from the ledger; she wasn’t sure if she had forgotten to collect payment somewhere, or if she and Sanniang had made a mistake in their math somewhere.
But! This was a full ten thousand yuan!
From childhood to adulthood, Jian Xingxia had never held so much money at once!
One had to realize that twenty days ago, when she had first arrived at the old house and received the very first upgrade mission dispatched by the system, one of the conditions was for the manor’s revenue to reach 10,000 yuan. To the Jian Xingxia back then, ten thousand yuan was a colossal sum, an impossible goal to achieve. But now, not only had she achieved it, she tangibly possessed ten thousand yuan! It wasn’t cash flow, it wasn’t cumulative total; it was a net revenue of ten thousand yuan.
Jian Xingxia lay on the large bed Liang Chengcheng had purchased, rolling back and forth in pure, unadulterated excitement. She desperately wanted to tell Liang Chengcheng and a few close friends from university right now that she would soon be able to pay off her student loans! Not relying on anyone else, without needing to borrow money, completely on her own!
But Jian Xingxia ultimately held back—Liang Chengcheng had only just visited. If she suddenly claimed to have made ten thousand yuan now, Liang Chengcheng would hop on a flight tomorrow to come “interrogate” her, fearing she had fallen for some pyramid scheme, telecom fraud, or romance scam.
After cooling down, Jian Xingxia recorded the earnings. Then she placed a call to Little Hu Liu. “Little Hu Liu, tomorrow help me deliver five cases of canned Coca-Cola, four cases of Sprite, ten cases of mineral water, two cases of yogurt, and four cases of tea. The flavors are…” Jian Xingxia sent the list over.
Following that was a transfer of two thousand yuan.
Little Hu Liu scrambled out of bed all at once. Beside him, Little Hu Liu’s mother was startled, gesturing to ask him what had happened.
Little Hu Liu grinned from ear to ear. “Sister Xiaxia’s business is booming! She wants me to deliver beverages to her tomorrow!” As he spoke, he sent a WeChat message back to Jian Xingxia:
[Sister Xiaxia, the money is way too much. Wholesaling the drinks on the list only costs around a thousand yuan.]
[Keep it for now and put it on account. There will be plenty of times I’ll need you to deliver goods down the line.]
A moment later, another message popped up.
[You’re making a delivery run for me, so that counts as fifty yuan. This batch of drinks is heavy, so I’ll add another thirty for you.]
[Keep track of the money yourself, and let me know if it’s not enough. I’m afraid I’ll forget when things get busy.]
Staring at his phone, Little Hu Liu was excited beyond measure. He looked at his mother, unable to close his mouth from happiness. “Mom, oldest cousin was right! Sister Xiaxia’s business is doing well, and we’re all benefiting along with her!”
When delivering things from the village, Little Hu Liu refused to accept money. But to wholesale beverages, he had to go to the town and then deliver them to the village, which took at least an hour or two per trip. Normally, when Little Hu Liu drove someone or picked up cargo, he charged thirty yuan for a trip to town, and fifty if the items were heavy. Jian Xingxia directly gave him eighty, which made Little Hu Liu incredibly happy.
When the villagers went to town to do casual odd jobs, the better ones only made a hundred and fifty to two hundred a day, and it was exhausting and bitter. Although hauling beverages was heavy work, compared to those other jobs, it was already exceptionally light. Earning eighty yuan in less than two hours made Little Hu Liu ecstatic.
He calculated carefully: “Mom, if Sister Xiaxia has me make ten delivery runs before the end of August, plus my wages from the milk tea shop and the money I saved before, I’ll be able to afford an electric tricycle!” Once he had an electric tricycle, it would be much easier for him to commute to work at the milk tea shop in town. He could also make a few more runs to haul cargo.
Tears welled in Little Hu Liu’s mother’s eyes. She was deaf and mute, and Little Hu Liu’s father had injured his leg. To afford the surgery, they had incurred a mountain of debt, forcing Little Hu Liu to shoulder the heavy burdens of life at an early age.
However, Little Hu Liu’s mother didn’t want to buy a tricycle. She gestured to Little Hu Liu: “Your father’s health is a bit better, and once this year’s grain is sold, you go back to study. Mom will go work an odd job.”
Having been out of school for a year, seeing his mother gesture the words “study” still caused Little Hu Liu to daze for a moment. But he shook his head. “Mom, Dad’s health is only a bit better. He can only barely sit up, and someone still has to feed him his meals and water. Without help, he can’t go to the toilet or take a bath… The subsequent rehabilitation still requires money. Working alone, you won’t be able to shoulder Dad’s rehabilitation expenses and my school fees.”
Little Hu Liu smiled and raised his phone. “Mom, look, I’m quite good at earning money. I work eight morning and evening shifts a week at the milk tea shop and can make five or six hundred yuan. Now I have delivery money too. It’s wonderful.”
Little Hu Liu’s mother wept. Inside the room, Little Hu Liu’s father wept as well.
