Chapter 187: Mobilization Step One
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t tell if she was just overly sensitive, or if something was off, but she felt as if someone was watching her. She kept looking around, but there was no one else in the alleyway.
In the end, Bai Ruozhu figured she was just frightening herself. She remembered seeing a nursing shawl in her past life that mothers used while breastfeeding, and decided to make one for herself when she got home. Even if she was hidden in a back alley, it would put her mind at ease.
At this moment, Jiang Yichun had already run off, his face turning red with embarrassment. He was so nervous that he almost missed his intended target. He instinctively touched his warm neck—he didn’t mean to peek, and it wasn’t like he got much of a view anyway, just a flash of skin.
But why did his nose feel hot? Damn, he sniffed and quickly unmasked, feeling his nose with his hand, and found his fingers were red...
It must be the dry autumn weather, Jiang Yichun thought grumpily.
When Bai Ruozhu returned home carrying Dengdeng, the cart was already packed up and the family set off back to Mountain Village, all in good spirits.
"Prepare more ingredients for tomorrow. I estimate we can sell double today’s amount," said Lin Ping’er excitedly.
"Indeed, our little sister is amazing. Her pancakes are delicious, her soup is rich and flavorful, and her hawking had a great effect too," said Bai Zehao, praising his younger sister enthusiastically. He genuinely admired her.
Bai Yihong was also delighted. He scratched his head and said, "If we keep up this pace, we’ll be able to buy more land soon."
Bai Ruozhu stifled a laugh. Her father’s love for land was truly something.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t say much else, instead, she grabbed some of her second brother’s discarded calligraphy paper and a piece of charcoal, and began to write.
Bai Zehao leaned in, but couldn’t understand what Bai Ruozhu was writing. Out of curiosity, he asked, "Little sister, what are you writing?" Seeing that his sister, who is literate and good at drawing, was doodling something that resembled a ghost-drawn talisman made him even more confused.
"I’m just making random markings to calculate something," Bai Ruozhu said without looking up.
In ancient times, there was no such thing as a ninety-nine multiplication table, and rudimentary arithmetic was not taught in most basic schools. So if one could perform calculations, that showed great intelligence. Bai ZeHao, hearing this, admired his sister even more, "Little sister, can you teach me sometimes? So that you won’t be too fatigued."
"Sure thing, once we’re less busy," replied Bai Ruozhu, more than willing to teach her big brother. Her second brother was definitely destined for an official’s career, and while her big brother might pass the scholar’s examination, it was far more likely that he’d join her in business. It was great that he was willing to learn bookkeeping.
Bai Zehao was pleased. He stood attentively by her side, watching her do the accounts and hoping to absorb some knowledge. However, after a while, he was still completely confused.
Once Bai Ruozhu finished up the accounts, she shook her head, prompting her family to look over at her curiously, asking, "What happened? Didn’t we earn much?"
"No, it’s not that. I’ve always heard that the food business yields the highest profits, but since we provide soup and use a lot of ingredients, our profit margin is barely 50%," Bai Ruozhu explained slowly.
The family laughed again. Lin Ping’er gave Bai Ruozhu a playful look, "You should have clarified, I thought we had worked for nothing. A 50% profit isn’t bad."
"However," Bai Ruozhu began, counting on her fingers, "we put a lot of manpower into it, plus the cost of travelling back and forth every day, our earnings don’t seem that substantial."
Upon hearing this, the family became quiet.
Bai Ruozhu suppressed a grin, continuing, "Also, we have to consider the cost of renting the booth. We only use it for a short amount of time each day, the rest of the time it stands empty, which seems like a waste."
"Then tomorrow we’ll prepare more and sell more," Lin Ping’er said quickly.
Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "That won’t be enough. Even if we bring more, how many pots of soup can we bring with us? And the noodles also have to be made fresh on the spot. There is a limit to what we can bring with us. If business is good, what we bring might not even be enough to last until noon."
Seeing her family’s disappointed expressions, she added, "Unless we had a place to live in town. Some people from our family could stay behind to make the soup and noodles, constantly bringing food to the stall. Then we could definitely sell more."
Upon hearing this, Bai Yihong shook his head emphatically, "No way, no way. Living in town would be so expensive. The income we make would go towards rent."
Bai Ruozhu began to reason with her family, "If we lived in town we would have to pay for a house, true. But then we’d save on the cost of transportation. Besides, the time saved by not commuting would allow us to sell more pancakes, so it would essentially even out. Then, we could make full use of the booth by selling pancakes in the afternoon, earning us extra income."
"And also..." she drawled, her gaze falling on her mother, "...rushing back and forth every day can be exhausting, especially for mother who is still recovering. It wouldn’t be good for her to commute every day."
Lin Ping’er didn’t really consider herself, but when she thought about Bai Ruozhu and DengDeng, she agreed, "That’s true. Ruozhu and DengDeng would get too tired. And if we lived in town, Er Lang would have an easier time getting to Mr. Xie’s house."
Bai Ruozhu’s eyes lit up, "Mother’s right. We would also cut down on Er Lang’s transportation costs, saving us even more."
Of course, Bai Zehao agreed. He was not as attached to the land as Bai Yihong was.
"What about our land then?" Bai Yihong was truly concerned about their fields.
This concern was echoed by Lin Ping’er, "Yeah, what about our pigs? Should we bring them to town? And it seems like raising pigs there would be more expensive."
Bai Ruozhu was not familiar with tending to the fields. She considered this, then said, "Father can come back every now and then to take care of things. Or, we could lease out our fields in the village. Our reputation is good there—everyone can see how well our crops grow, so we could definitely get a good price. For the pigs, mother, you could consider selling your pigs to another family. Even though we would lose out a bit, it would save you a lot of effort. I really don’t want to see you getting tired."
Lin Ping’er hesitated, she was really attached to her pigs. In a few months, during the New Year, she would be able to sell the pork. How could she let go so easily?
Seeing her mother’s internal struggle, Bai Ruozhu said, "We could raise them in town. Just outside of town, there is plenty of pig forage. But it will mean more work for Big Brother."
Bai Zehao nodded eagerly, "What’s there to worry about? Getting pig forage outside town is definitely shorter than going from the village to town. How could I find this tiring?"
Seeing that her big brother was siding with her, Bai Ruozhu sneakily winked at him. Indeed, she could always count on her big brother.
Bai Zehao smiled warmly at Bai Ruozhu. His little sister was so clever, her ideas were definitely worth pursuing, so he naturally supported her.
Bai Yihong also started to hesitate. He fell silent for a long time, as if making a difficult decision. Finally, he sighed deeply and said, "For now, I’ll go back and forth. There isn’t much work to be done in the fields, I can handle it by myself. No need to do it every day. We’ll see once the seedlings are planted. If the pancake business is good, we’ll lease out the fields. That way, we will have a good bargaining chip."
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Here’s the fourth installment, was it good or not? Let me tell you, there’s a fifth one coming up too. Isn’t that great?