Chapter 160: Eating and Packing to Go
Jian Xingxia silently grabbed another massive handful of candy for A-Feng. “Take as much as you can. Whatever you can’t carry, just leave it in the storehouse and take some whenever you want to eat!”
At the same time, she grabbed a massive handful for Taoya too. “Both of you, eat up! When you come to the manor, there’s no need to stand on ceremony with food and drinks!”
They weren’t like Da Hei after all. No matter how much they could eat, how much could they possibly pack away?
A-Feng’s eyes crinkled into crescents. “Sister Xiaxia, you’ve said that so many times! I eat my fill every single day. My grandma even said I look like I’ve put on some meat these past few days.”
“That’s a certainty!” The plump auntie looked highly proud.
A child of thirteen or fourteen had originally looked like he was barely past ten, but over these two days, one could visibly see some meat hanging on his face. The auntie’s feeding hadn’t gone to waste.
For the remaining 30 yuan, Jian Xingxia fetched medicinal herbs for A-Feng, along with some brown sugar and coarse salt. A-Feng had already carried grain back the past few times, so the grain at his house should be enough to eat. Giving them brown sugar and coarse salt—supplies that were common yet could easily be bartered for other things—made it convenient for them to adjust and improve their daily life.
After A-Feng left, Lin Sanniang standardly would have had to leave a short while later as well. But since she had just upgraded to a formal worker today, her hours were flexible. Taoya had arrived late and it wasn’t time to head back yet, so Lin Sanniang stayed behind to keep Taoya company.
The plump auntie, however, wanted to head back early.
“Young Mistress Owner, there aren’t many people tonight. I’ve already prepared the dishes—the main meats and the soup are all simmering on the hearth, leaving only two that need to be stir-fried on the spot.”
The auntie felt rather self-conscious. “I’ve only just split from the main household, and there are still chores waiting for me at home!”
“Xue Laosan tidied it for two days, so it’s barely livable, but to my eyes it looks a right mess. I still have to go back and tidy it myself.”
Having bustled all day yesterday, she had squeezed out some time to visit Dahong. Today featured another large half-day of bustling, and now that the sun was dipping in the west, the auntie wanted to clock out early.
Jian Xingxia asked Lin Sanniang, “Sanniang, if you take over, will it be alright?”
“That would be wonderful, I can even score a free meal,” Sanniang said with a smile.
Previously, under her six-hour temporary shift, arriving in the morning meant she could only catch the midday meal. At most, she could grab a little bite to line her stomach before leaving. After all, she would feel too embarrassed to go through the massive trouble of cooking another meal in the middle of the afternoon. Remaining behind now meant she could catch the evening meal as well.
The plump auntie also knew Lin Sanniang was joking—speaking this way was to tell her not to worry. The auntie thanked Jian Xingxia and Lin Sanniang, and carrying today’s lunchtime leftovers along with the trimmed leaves and vegetable ends, she departed.
At five in the afternoon, dinner was served at the guesthouse.
Although there were many people from the Insomnia Support Group, only half of them actually ate—the other half were still fast asleep.
Jian Xingxia asked the remaining members, “No need to save some food for them?”
Several heads from the Insomnia Support Group shook vigorously. “No need, no need. They are sleeping right now, but they’ll wake up around ten tonight and head back to the city on their own. No need to worry about them.”
“It’s the same for us. We’ll take over the shift to sleep at ten o’clock, sleep straight until tomorrow morning, and then leave on our own. No need to prepare breakfast for us.”
Working was important, but sleep was a matter of life and death. Eating could just be handled casually.
Jian Xingxia was amused. “Alright then, I won’t save any food.”
On Sundays, very few day-trippers stayed behind for dinner. Combined with the overnight guests, the total came to less than twenty people. Since there was an excess of food prepared by the plump auntie, Jian Xingxia told Lin Sanniang to carry some back.
“Formal workers who work within six hours a day have one meal included, which they can carry away. For over six hours, two meals are included.”
The system was relatively generous in this regard. It stated it was an individual meal package, but it followed the exact standard the manor used to receive guests—several bowls of dishes! Complete with soup, rice, and fruit.
To modern people, this was merely a slightly abundant farmhouse meal. But to the ancients, the meat and oil content of this single-person meal could match what they used over half a year, or even an entire year.
Taoya offered her witness: “The auntie’s family next door has a household of seven or eight people, and they only use a single bowl of oil from the beginning of the year to the end of the year… By the end of the year, the bowl of oil hasn’t decreased a single bit; it actually increased!”
Why? Because they couldn’t bear to use that oil to stir-fry dishes. The vegetables at home were all boiled in water. When eating, they would use their chopsticks to dab a tiny bit of oil, and then clip a vegetable to pop into their mouths, treating it purely as having an oily flavor. During this process, saliva from the chopsticks would drip into the oil bowl. Since water has a higher density than oil, the water accumulated more and more at the bottom, causing the oil to float higher and higher instead.
Lin Sanniang let out an “Eww” and cut Taoya off. “Hurry up and stop talking about that!” It would disgust the young mistress owner and the guests.
Taoya shrunk her neck. “Oh, alright.”
After finishing dinner, it wasn’t even six o’clock yet. Jian Xingxia urged Lin Sanniang and Taoya to head back early.
“It’s unsafe for you mother and daughter to walk the mountain path at night. Take advantage of the remaining sunlight and head home early.”
Since Auntie Chunhui handled the dishwashing at night now, Lin Sanniang could set her mind at ease, so she headed back with Taoya. She didn’t collect wages today, only carrying away two portions of meals—her working hours today had exceeded six hours, so she could receive two portions of food. Owner Xiaxia didn’t mind at all that they had already eaten at the manor, insistently pushing them to take it.
Lin Sanniang felt quite self-conscious. On her very first day of promotion, she was already eating and packing things to go.
What Jian Xingxia thought inside, however, was—given how tightly the system blocked loopholes, being allowed to take a portion home after already eating a meal was already the biggest loophole available. Before the system reacted, she had to hurry up and let them take it! There was no telling when the system might patch this loophole. When that time came, they wouldn’t be able to take it even if they wanted to!
Some guests departed only after finishing their dinner. Auntie Chunhui washed dishes inside the kitchen, not paying much attention. By the time she finished washing and came out, Lin Sanniang and Taoya had already left. She simply assumed they had hitched a ride with a repeat customer’s car, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
Jian Xingxia calculated the accounts at the front desk.
Today was the same: all six rooms were booked out, and over forty people ate lunch. The numbers for breakfast and dinner were a bit lower. Breakfast was low because the overnight guests had it included, and lacking the excitement of the opening day, many people arrived leisurely only after eating breakfast elsewhere. However, breakfast itself wasn’t a profit driver, and Jian Xingxia didn’t care whether she made money here as long as she didn’t take a loss.
Dinner saw even fewer people; most visitors headed back around three or four in the afternoon. After all, this was deep in the mountains; the moment darkness fell, the atmosphere felt entirely different, so people traveling with children preferred to head back early. The number of campers was also slightly lower than yesterday.
On the other hand, the picking volume had risen. Yesterday, some overnight guests hadn’t picked too much, fearing it would be difficult to store. But today, virtually every single guest checking out carried away a full five catties. The afternoon was even more remarkable; the guests who came during the day all maxed out their five-catty quotas.
Jian Xingxia did the math. The turnover was two thousand less than yesterday, yet it still reached over eight thousand yuan!
A turnover of eighteen thousand yuan in two days! Jian Xingxia felt a sensation that she was about to make a fortune. But after carefully analyzing the accounts, she discovered that it was, in fact, an illusion.
