The beginning is always the hardest. After the first group of customers arrived, the number of customers quickly increased.
When customers are short on cash, Li Youran recommends vegetarian dishes. Although they can't eat meat, they are at least good snacks to go with drinks.
I originally planned to keep the leftovers to improve my meals. But to my surprise, apart from the half pig's head I deliberately left in the pot, everything else was sold out.
Li Youran did a rough calculation: one jin (500g) can yield seven liang (350g) of cooked meat. The price of cooked meat is three times that of raw meat, meaning that one jin of meat can earn more than double the money.
Li Youran bought a total of 100 catties of meat. The price of offal was relatively cheap, averaging eight copper coins per catty, which meant he made a profit of one tael of silver.
"It's still a small business after all. To make money, you either need to increase investment or increase sales volume..."
Li Youran was no longer satisfied with the status quo and wanted to earn more money. However, her financial situation didn't allow it; after buying the house, she didn't have much money left.
"Little sister, you've earned three taels of silver these past two days, that's forty-five taels a month!" Zhao Lanzhi exclaimed in surprise, "That's more than I earn selling steamed buns!"
Zhao Lanzhi and Li Tairan worked hard all day, but only sold six hundred steamed buns and earned three hundred coins.
Although he could earn nine taels of silver a month, he still had to pay three taels of silver in rent, leaving him with only six taels of silver.
"I'm planning to hire a few helpers; one person just can't handle it all," Li Youran said, then mentioned that a group of workers would be coming tomorrow.
"Little sister, your cooked food tastes really good. Why don't you sell some to your brother and put it in the shop?" Li Tairan tasted the braised pig's head meat made by Li Youran and thought it tasted better than the braised pig's head meat he usually ate.
“Sure, I’ll get you a wholesale price from my brother and sister-in-law.” Li Youran continued, “You can buy them individually or sell them as fillings in sesame seed cakes.”
Zhao Lanzhi had mentioned this idea yesterday. Upon hearing Li Youran's words, Zhao Lanzhi said, "Let's also stir-fry some shredded potatoes and other vegetarian dishes, and sell both meat and vegetarian sandwiches."
“My sister-in-law is really clever after all,” Li Youran began to impart her business wisdom: “If you want to make money, you have to think of ways to be creative. A steamed bun costs one coin, and you can only make half a coin at most. But if you add meat, you can sell it for four coins, and you can make at least two coins.”
"A sandwich with fillings costs at least two coins, so you can make at least one coin profit."
"Would anyone really be willing to spend two coins to buy a sandwich with fillings?"
Hearing Li Youran's words, Li Tairan frowned slightly. A sandwich cost four coins, which was acceptable if there was more meat inside. But spending two coins on a vegetable sandwich was another matter.
“Of course it is,” Zhao Lanzhi said after taking a bite of pig’s head meat. “Our steamed buns are big, and we can add more vegetables inside. One vegetable bun is a meal. If that’s not enough, we can add more oil to the vegetables.”
"Think about it, a steamed bun that costs two coins can't compare to our steamed flatbread filled with vegetables." The more Zhao Lanzhi thought about it, the more she felt that improving the steamed flatbread into a stuffed flatbread was a good idea.
The next morning, Li Youran would get up again, and Hua Ruyu would arrive.
"Didn't we agree on the fourth watch? Why so early?" Li Youran said, and quickly pulled Hua Ruyu into the kitchen. "Come in and warm yourself by the fire, you must be freezing!"
"I'm used to it." After Hua Ruyu finished speaking, her expression suddenly turned awkward, and she looked at Li Youran as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Hua Ruyu didn't know how to tell Li Youran the fact that she couldn't make steamed buns...
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Li Youran said, touching her fair and smooth oval face, leaving flour on her face.
“No…” Hua Ruyu thought to herself that she didn’t have one before, but now she does. “I can do anything except make steamed buns.”
"Hmm..." Li Youran was thinking, besides making steamed buns, what else could she do? "You can help me start the fire!"
There was nothing she could do; since the other party wasn't asking for wages, she figured she could at least help with some work. Thinking this way, Li Youran felt much better.
Many customers were those who bought steamed buns yesterday, while others came to try them out of curiosity because the steamed bun shop was crowded.
Twenty baskets of steamed buns, double the number from yesterday, but they sold out extremely quickly, basically as soon as they came out of the steamer.
"By the way, you said you have a huge appetite, so how many buns can you eat? We'll save them and not sell them." After the last batch of buns came out of the steamer, Li Youran asked, "You can't possibly finish this whole batch of buns anyway!"
“Fifteen buns will be enough, but if we eat as much as we want, we can finish a whole steamer.” Hua Ruyu said seriously.
In fact, Hua Ruyu's stomach started rumbling as soon as the first batch of buns came out of the steamer, because Li Youran's buns smelled so good.
Li Youran was startled at first, but seeing Hua Ruyu's serious expression, she knew she wasn't joking.
"Sorry everyone, we're sold out of steamed buns for today. We'll come back tomorrow!"
With a shout from Li Youran, the few people who hadn't managed to buy any steamed buns were slightly discouraged and could only turn around and leave.
Li Youran was a worldly person and knew that gluttons could eat a lot, but Li Dazhu and his group had never seen a girl with such a large appetite.
"Girl, slow down, have some soup to help you relax."
"Thank you, Auntie." Hua Ruyu picked up a bowl of salty bone broth and drank it all in a few big gulps.
The fragrant, juicy pork and cabbage buns were so delicious that Hua Ruyu could eat them in just four bites. She devoured all thirty buns one after another, all under everyone's watchful eyes.
"My goodness! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that someone could actually eat thirty steamed buns." Zhao Lanzhi usually only eats three steamed buns in one sitting.
"Am I eating too much...?" Hua Ruyu said somewhat awkwardly, "Actually, I can't usually eat this much, it's just that these buns smell so good..."
All explanations were pale and powerless. Li Youran felt a little sorry for her, after all, a steamed bun could sell for at least ninety coins.
"Being able to eat is a blessing. From now on, I can eat as much as I want." In a very short time, Li Youran figured it out, and from now on, he would also return to Hua Ruyu when chopping wood!
After finishing the morning's work, Li Youran could finally breathe a sigh of relief and simply drove the carriage to deliver Hua Ruyu.
"How did you two become friends?" Hua Ruyu asked casually. "He's a loner and rarely makes friends on his own initiative."
Li Youran thought for a long time but couldn't remember when she started getting close to Tang Lei.
"Huh, why is there such a magnificent carriage?"
A beautifully decorated carriage was parked in front of Tang Lei's house, a stark contrast to Li Youran's carriage.
"Oh no!" Hua Ruyu jumped off the carriage and rushed into the courtyard.
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