Chapter Ten: Going into the Mountains to Pick Fruit
Once the meat is cooked, it's placed in a large earthenware pot.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law carried it together and put it on the oxcart.
Then Aunt Xue drove the carriage, while Li Yan and Madam He rode in the back to escort them.
He was also going to Yuanbaolou for work around the same time, so she hitched a ride on the Xue family's oxcart.
When they arrived at the entrance of Yuanbaolou, Manager Xu personally came out to greet them, and naturally, the people inside Yuanbaolou helped carry the earthenware pot containing the meat inside.
Manager Xu followed her to the kitchen, checked the quantity and taste of the meat, and only after confirming that everything met his expectations did he come out and pay Li Yan the money.
The current market price for meat is 28 coins per pound. Adding the 2 coins needed for seasonings per pound, the total cost for five pounds is 150 coins. Li Yan paid this amount upfront, so Manager Xu gave her the initial capital.
Then calculate the profit.
Five catties of meat can make fifteen servings of braised pork. Each serving sells for eighteen coins, so fifteen servings can earn a total of two hundred and seventy coins. After deducting the cost of one hundred and fifty coins, the remaining one hundred and twenty coins is the profit.
Of these 120 coins, 40% went to the restaurant. Of the remaining 60%, totaling 72 coins, 20% went to Manager Xu, and the other 80%, totaling 57.6 coins, went to Li Yan.
After calculating the result on his abacus, Manager Xu gave Li Yan fifty-eight coins.
While Manager Xu was doing the abacus calculation, Li Yan had already mentally calculated the result. However, she only counted out fifty-seven coins and accepted them, leaving the other coin untouched.
Seeing this, Manager Xu did not refuse. He simply took the paper and handed it to Li Yan, saying, "Madam Li, take a look. If you think it's appropriate, sign and affix your seal, and the contract will be effective."
The writing on the paper was neat and tidy. Although it was written in traditional characters, Li Yan recognized every single one of them.
After carefully reading through the text word by word, Li Yan said, "Everything else is fine, but the daily meat portion... could you please write down that it will be determined based on customer feedback, and we can discuss it later?"
Shopkeeper Xu nodded, "No problem." He picked up a pen and quickly added this to both contracts simultaneously. "Madam, please take a look. Is there anything else that needs to be changed or added?"
The idea of sending Xu Ge'er and Yue Jie'er to school that flashed through Li Yan's mind yesterday wasn't just a casual thought. Once she had earned enough money, she genuinely planned to set aside a portion for their education.
Thinking about studying naturally led to thoughts about what to do next.
People strive for better things; they can't stay in Xinghua Village or Qingshan Town forever, can they?
What if they leave in the future? How will this partnership be handled after they leave?
To avoid future disputes and legal troubles, Li Yan naturally requested that a time limit be added to the contract.
The contract is renewed annually.
Li Yan had considered every aspect, even those that Manager Xu hadn't taken into account. This inevitably made Manager Xu look at her with newfound respect.
A woman, and a country woman at that, who was so unremarkable in appearance, was actually literate and could do abacus and mental arithmetic.
Moreover, she was calm and composed in the face of adversity and considered all aspects of a problem... This was truly unlike an ordinary peasant woman.
There's such an extraordinary woman in Qingshan Town? He must have been ignorant before.
After the contract was drafted, Manager Xu stamped it with the restaurant's seal, while Li Yan signed her name and pressed her fingerprint on the signature.
The contract is made in duplicate, with each party holding one copy.
Having taken the principal and the profit, the total came to 207 coins. After leaving the restaurant and getting into the oxcart to go home, Li Yan counted out seven copper coins and gave them to Aunt Xue.
Aunt Xue declined, refusing to accept the money: "The capital is yours, you cooked the meat, and you're the one who got this job by negotiating it yourself. I'm already very content that you can buy meat and rice for the family and ensure that Xu-ge'er and Yue-jie'er eat well every day. I should be grateful to you, so how can I take this money?"
Li Yan felt she was in charge of the family finances. Just as Aunt Xue said, she was in charge of everything from the initial investment to the final contract signing, so she would never hand over the family's financial power to anyone else.
But that doesn't mean she didn't give Aunt Xue and her grandson pocket money.
She will pay for all household expenses from now on, but she will also give them some money every day.
"Mother, take it quickly, don't push it away. If you keep pushing it back and forth, someone might see us and get greedy and steal our money."
Upon hearing Li Yan's words, Aunt Xue immediately accepted the copper coins. She then looked around, checking to see if anyone was approaching or passing by.
"Besides, my mother accompanied me to deliver the meat, and she worked hard too." He then told her his plan: "From now on, I plan to hand over the task of going to the market to buy meat in the morning to my mother."
Aunt Xue was delighted: "Yan Niang, if there's anything I can do for you in the future, just let me know." Not to mention Li Yan, Aunt Xue was also full of energy and hope for the future.
After returning home, Li Yan took two coins and handed them to Aunt Xue: "Mother, this is the money for borrowing the oxcart. You can pay it daily from now on."
This old ox was quite old and intelligent, able to recognize its owner. Therefore, the Cheng family specifically instructed that the ox be delivered there at night to prevent it from causing trouble.
Her yard wasn't big, and with vegetables and chicks, there was no room for another cow. Returning the oxcart to its owner that evening was exactly what Aunt Xue wanted.
Aunt Xue took the two coins and went to the Cheng family with the money and the oxcart.
Li Yan then slipped into her room, closed the door, and sat on the bed counting her coins.
She calculated the money in and out over the past few days. Apart from the expenses for buying meat, rice, flour, ducks, and chicks, not counting the expenses for her own food, the money she spent was more than the money she earned.
However, this was mainly because they paid a sum of money to Zhang's wife next door; otherwise, they would have made a profit.
But that one tael of silver was fixed money; it only needed to be given once, and from then on, every day's profit was real.
She conservatively estimated a daily profit of fifty-seven coins, and planned to give Aunt Xue seven coins every day from now on. Of the remaining fifty coins, one coin had to be given to Madam He, and two coins were to be paid for the oxcart, leaving forty-seven coins.
She took out seventeen coins for later use, and strung together another thirty copper coins with grass roots, then found a place to hide them.
Not counting the three taels and eight mace of silver she had previously asked the Li family for, this money was what she had earned in this era through her own true abilities.
The meanings are different.
The three taels and eight qian were spent, leaving a little over three taels. This money was put together with the seventeen copper coins that had just been taken out.
She divided the money into two parts: one part was her own private savings, which she had to hide well; the other part was intended for the family's needs. Money would be needed for things like buying rice and meat, medical care, the children's education, and buying a house in the city…
After settling the accounts, Li Yan finally had a chance to rest for a bit.
Lying in bed, her gaze fell on the bronze mirror on the wooden table in front of the window... So Li Yan got up, walked over and picked up the mirror.
She had taken a quick photo of it when she bought it in the morning. Although she was mentally prepared, she was still taken aback when she actually saw its appearance.
The original owner was considered quite robust for a woman, with somewhat masculine features. Dark skin, broad face, large frame... she certainly didn't possess any of the delicate features typically associated with women.
A quick glance reveals that it is indeed quite unattractive.
But now that I have some free time, after taking a closer look, I find that it's not entirely without merit.
At least her eyes are big, and she has double eyelids. Although her face is broad, her facial features are well-proportioned, with regular facial proportions.
He's also tall.
Li Yan estimated that this body was probably 1.65 meters tall, or even taller.
Dark skin can be gradually restored, and being overweight can be sculpted through yoga.
In short... although the basic conditions are not good, as long as you are determined, you can always improve them gradually.
Besides, isn't there a system?
She can also earn [Beauty Points] as long as she completes the system tasks.
It's just strange that ever since I went to the Li family last time and accumulated 5 beauty points, there has been no further news about me.
Li Yan couldn't help but wonder if the only way to accumulate "beauty points" was to interact with the Li family.
However, Li Yan hasn't had time to visit the Li family recently, so we'll leave it for now.
Finally, she bought a bathtub, so after dinner, Li Yan boiled a large pot of water for herself. She carried buckets of hot water into the house and poured them into the bathtub. Once the water was almost empty and the temperature was just right, Li Yan took off the clothes she had been wearing for three or four days and jumped into the warm water.
Although it was hot outside, it was still cool at night. The window was left a crack, not closed completely, and the evening breeze drifted into the room, which was very pleasant.
If you soak it long enough, you'll rub your hands on your body and find it covered in black ash.
Taking a bath in this era was not easy, and was even considered a luxury. Since she had gone to the trouble of boiling water to wash herself, Li Yan naturally adhered to the principle of not wasting any, scrubbing her body repeatedly until the water in the bathtub changed color before she stopped.
The clean clothes were already prepared; they were part of the dowry from the original owner's family when she got married.
She washed her hair while taking a bath, and now Li Yan has changed into clean clothes and moved a bamboo chair to sit in the courtyard to cool off.
Inside the house, Aunt Xue took the opportunity to give her two grandchildren a bath as well.
Xu Ge'er felt he was too old and refused to let his grandmother wash him. Aunt Xue was afraid he wouldn't wash himself properly, and said that she was his grandmother, so what was there to be afraid of? So the two of them argued and bickered in the room.
After Xu Ge'er finished washing up, he rushed out. When he bumped into Li Yan, who was comfortably lying on a bamboo chair, enjoying the cool air and drying her hair, he immediately stopped in his tracks.
Standing awkwardly beside Li Yan, he was wearing ill-fitting clothes that were clearly too short.
Li Yan fanned herself with a large palm-leaf fan while looking him up and down, then asked, "Would you like to go up the mountain with your aunt first thing tomorrow morning?"
Xu Ge'er neither agreed nor disagreed, only looking at Li Yan with a suspicious gaze. After a long while, he finally asked, "You're not selling your body anymore?"
Li Yan didn't treat him like a child, and said seriously, "Your aunt has handed over the task of going to the market to buy meat in the morning to your grandma."
Xu Ge'er asked again, "You're not going to the market this morning? You can rest at home. What are you going into the mountains for?" Thinking that she was new to the area and unaware of the dangers, he reminded her, "There are many wild beasts in the mountains. It's very dangerous."
Feeling the care and concern shown to her by the little boy in front of her, Li Yan felt a warmth in her heart.
This child looks prickly and has a fiery temper, but he is actually kind-hearted.
“We’re not going deep into the mountains; Auntie just wants to pick some mulberries.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Ge'er relaxed his furrowed brows and said, "I'll go with you."
A note from the author:
----------------------
More red envelopes are dropping!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com