Chapter 197: Not Knowing the Cost of Daily Necessities
Seeing that the plump auntie couldn’t make up her mind, the young mistress owner had said on the spot, “How about we calculate it as one catty of meat per person per meal, or half a chicken or duck, and one fish? Vegetables, rice, and grain will be unlimited—eat as much as you like.”
The auntie had whipped her head around, not even deigning to listen to the Owner’s wild nonsense. The Owner was still too young! How could she possibly know the cost of daily necessities like firewood, rice, oil, and salt!
The auntie turned back around to discuss it with Lin Sanniang. She felt that Lady Lin was at least a “normal” person, whereas the Owner was completely abnormal.
Jian Xingxia: “…”
How did she not know the cost of daily necessities? The crucial point was that in modern times, firewood, rice, oil, salt, fish, meat, eggs, and milk simply weren’t expensive!
Leaving rice aside, buying it normally only cost two or three yuan a catty at any given time. If she didn’t run the manor and instead crouched online all day, it wasn’t impossible to catch promotional prices of a little over one yuan a catty.
Meat was even cheaper, unless one had a particular palate and absolutely insisted on free-range, freshly slaughtered meat. Otherwise, with modern standardized, large-scale farming, the prices of frozen and chilled meat truly weren’t expensive at all!
Take Lu’an Village, for instance. Most of what the villagers ate themselves were free-range chickens and mountain chickens. But there were also those who specialized in raising white feather chickens, three-yellow chickens, and cherry valley ducks. These could leave the pens in two months, costing only twenty or thirty yuan a bird.
Similarly, this was still the regular price. If Jian Xingxia crouched online for a bit, there was no saying she might catch even lower prices. However, having suffered the hardships of poverty, Jian Xingxia was also unwilling to always buy the lowest-priced goods—cheap grain hurts the farmers. Furthermore, racking her brains over price discrepancies exhausted too much energy, and she wouldn’t be able to hold out.
She needed to manage the manor now, so she focused on the big picture and let go of the trivialities. As long as the prices seemed reasonable and not expensive, it was fine.
Half of the chicken, duck, fish, and meat currently at the manor was farmed produce she bought from the village, while the other half was chilled and frozen meat purchased online. Standard frozen meats produced by established brands—ranging from chicken breast at five or six yuan a catty to pork at around ten yuan, and beef and mutton at twenty or thirty yuan—would not bankrupt Jian Xingxia. When she had no money, she relied precisely on these to sustain the 35-yuan guesthouse meals.
Now that she had earned money, she wouldn’t mistreat herself or her employees, and she would also return profits to the villagers. Currently, Hu Da, Qi Shan, and the others were working overtime to certify the vegetable farmers and breeders in the village. Once the manor officially opened for business, Jian Xingxia would introduce standard organic farmhouse dishes using free-range chickens, free-range ducks, live-water fish, and organic vegetables, allowing the prices to be raised a bit further.
Finding ways to profit from these aspects was the absolute truth. Skimping on her employees’ food was something Jian Xingxia couldn’t bring herself to do. Previously she had been too busy and carried no time to cook, but now that she had the auntie, shouldn’t they just make whatever tasted delicious?
But the auntie didn’t think that way.
The auntie felt that having finally found such a wonderful job, she hoped to do it safely, securely, and for a very long time. But the young mistress owner was too young, didn’t know how to manage a household, and blindly squandered money; she couldn’t listen to her on this matter.
One catty of meat per person per meal—my goodness! What difference was there between this and the profligate children of corrupt officials!
The auntie whipped her head around, abandoning communication with the Owner to solely consult Lin Sanniang. The two of them fretted themselves to pieces over the Owner, finally feeling that it should be calculated as one catty of meat per person per day.
Lin Sanniang said, “Spreading it across three meals, and counting the portions carried back, it should be enough.”
The auntie felt it was about the same. Whose family could eat chicken every single day! She wasn’t the type who loved to score petty advantages either; it was only because Dahong was newly confined that she carried a bit extra for her.
Listening from the side, Jian Xingxia’s heart shattered. “One catty of meat per meal… can’t even be eaten down?”
The auntie turned her head: “Rest assured, Owner, you won’t be shorted. We’ll calculate it at two catties a meal for you!”
It wasn’t that the auntie was reluctant to cook meat to eat; she was just worried the Owner was too much of a spendthrift. If she somehow ruined the manor, her wonderful job would be gone.
Jian Xingxia muttered quietly, “I have money…” She could let everyone eat well.
“Even if you have money, you can’t spend it like this!” The auntie insisted on protecting her long-term meal ticket.
“Alright then…” Jian Xingxia agreed.
However, while a cook held a cook’s insistence, she was the boss, and the boss held a boss’s arrangements.
Jian Xingxia pulled out her phone—
The auntie and Lin Sanniang stared at this pitch-black little mirror. Strange, strange indeed; a solid patch of black could unexpectedly reflect a person’s silhouette. It was clearer than a bronze mirror!
Jian Xingxia searched out a recipe. “Perilla duck—auntie, do you know how to make this?”
The auntie shook her head; she didn’t know.
“Mmh, it just so happens Auntie Lu delivered perilla leaves. Auntie, our menu might introduce this dish in the future, so you must seize the time to learn it and practice your skills. Also this one—stuffed green peppers, which means stuffing meat filling into green peppers and then braising them…”
Thus, lunch held the addition of two perilla ducks and a large plate of stuffed green peppers. Not troubling the auntie and Lin Sanniang, Jian Xingxia fried a large basin of glistening fried eggs herself.
Just like that, even with zero guests dining, Lin Sanniang and the auntie still successfully packed two lotus leaf bundles of food.
Clutching the lotus leaf bundles, Lin Sanniang arrived home and knocked on the door first. It was dark, the moon had already emerged, and the alley was entirely quiet.
Brother Shu peeked through the door crack, softly calling out “Mother” before forcing the door open. In the past, they were afraid of traffickers and bandits barging in to steal children, so the door had to be locked and verified before opening. Currently, they were afraid of people learning that the house possessed grain, cloth, and meat, so the door still had to be locked, and only after seeing it was one of “their own” could it be opened.
Lin Sanniang entered, and Brother Shu nimbly slid the door bolt back into place. Xing’er sprinted out from the room, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Lin Sanniang’s heart instantly sank. Stepping hurriedly into the room to take a look, she asked, “Where is Taoya?”
