Chapter 13
"She's back, she's back! Second Aunt is back!" Not long after dinner, Gu Wenshu, who was sent out as a scout by Gu Chen, came back skipping and jumping, holding a candied haws in his hand: "Second Aunt gave me a candied haws and asked me to tell my sister that she wants her to come to their house."
Gu Daniu's face darkened - he was able to spend money to buy candied haws for Gu Wenshu, which seemed to mean he had made some money today.
He looked at Gu Xinxin, who smiled and asked, "Dad, then I'll go?"
Gu Daniu didn't say anything, and Gu Xinxin got up and went to the next room.
Second Aunt's family had just arrived at the door. After lunch, Second Aunt's son finished his work in the fields and went to Xiaosongzhuang to help.
Although the sun had set and it was getting dark, Gu Xinxin could still see that Second Auntie's face was flushed with excitement. She grabbed Gu Xinxin's wrist, opened her mouth, looked around quickly, and then lowered her voice: "Xinxin, you don't know how good business is today. At first, no one was eating, but then the fragrance came out, and the whole market was filled with this smell..."
She pursed her lips and didn't continue.
He pulled Gu Xinxin into the house, told his son to close the door, and asked his daughter-in-law to light the lamp: "You know your second aunt is not very good at counting, come and help us count and see how much we earned today."
My eldest cousin held the two corners of the purse and tipped it down. A pile of copper coins fell out. In addition to the copper coins, there were also some silver dimes and a few silver melon seeds.
Gu Xinxin took out the conspicuous silver dimes and silver melon seeds and put them aside first, then separated the copper coins: "Let's count them quickly together, put them together in groups of ten, and I'll count them later."
The second aunt and the eldest cousin and his wife nodded quickly and stacked the copper coins together, placing them in groups of ten.
While they were putting them down, Gu Xinxin started stringing them together with hemp rope, tying a knot for each hundred pieces, and making a string of one thousand pieces.
It took about half an hour to finish counting. There were six strings and three knots in total, and there were still eighteen left.
Gu Xinxin counted, "Six thousand three hundred and eighteen copper coins, not counting the silver. Second Aunt, how many potatoes did you bring today? And all the seasonings, did you take all that was originally in the kitchen?"
Second Auntie quickly said, "Today I brought a hundred pounds of potatoes, and I also went to the pharmacy to buy a few things you mentioned, made sour plum soup, and spent twenty copper coins to buy the water and firewood that people loved."
The iron pot is my own, the bucket is my own, and the bowls and chopsticks are my own. I take them home and bring them back again, so it doesn’t count as any cost.
Gu Xinxin calculated in her mind and counted again: "The capital is three taels of silver. The potatoes, seasonings, and the sour plum soup ingredients I bought mean I made at least four taels of silver today. All of this adds up to five taels, which is nine taels of silver."
Catering itself makes money, and the biggest part of the business today is potatoes, but potatoes are not expensive.
With a cost of three taels of silver, Gu Xinxin could earn nine taels of silver, including labor time. She felt that it was acceptable - not too good. If it were good, the profit should be more than four times, so as to cover the labor and time.
But in ancient times, labor and time were the least valuable, so tripling the cost was still within an acceptable range.
The second aunt was so excited that she covered her mouth and trembled to prevent herself from crying out. The eldest cousin stammered, "Is there really so much?"
Gu Xinxin showed him the money chain and said, "Brother, you can count it yourself later. I've already done it. You can save these silver dimes and silver melon seeds for now, and use copper coins to buy seasonings. Also, today is the big market, so the profit is not bad. If it were any other day, you probably wouldn't make so much. You can go to the town and ask if you can get a permanent stall."
The eldest cousin's wife suddenly said, "The lard can still be used. The cost should be calculated as two taels of silver."
Gu Xinxin blinked. If the capital was calculated at two taels of silver, then the profit of nine taels would be more than four times the original amount. This number was quite satisfactory.
Gu Xinxin smiled and said, "This business depends on your skills. If you are good, you can probably make money for a year or two. By then, maybe someone will learn from you, and then you won't make much money. If you are not so skilled, you can only make a few months and earn a little money. In this kind of snack business, the most important thing is the taste. If the taste is good, the business will last long."
The second aunt nodded vigorously: "Don't worry, I will definitely listen to you and make the seasonings according to your instructions. I will never cut corners."
She took Gu Xinxin's words just now as a reminder and warning - if they cut corners and the food tastes bad, they will not be able to do business.
Because fried potatoes are not an exclusive secret recipe, people can tell how the potatoes are cut at a glance. After eating them more often, they will also figure out what seasoning is used.
So if her family wants to keep their business going, the taste must be good.
Gu Xinxin added, "You've been busy all day, so take a break. I won't disturb you any more. By the way, if my dad asks about your money-making..."
Second Auntie hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll go to your house with you."
The second aunt ignored her tiredness and followed Gu Xinxin to find Gu Daniu.
Even though his second cousin was gone, Gu Daniu was still quite polite to his sister-in-law: "Second sister-in-law."
"Daniu, I came here today to talk to you about Xinxin. You know that my family set up a stall today according to Xinxin's idea. To be honest, after deducting the cost, we made nine taels of silver today."
Gu Daniu was a little surprised. He was a hunter. When people heard about hunter, they always thought he was very rich. He could just kill a wild boar or find some medicinal herbs like Ganoderma lucidum and get a few taels of silver.
In fact, this is not the case.
Wild boars aren't stupid, so how can they live in populated areas? If Lingzhi were common, would it still fetch a high price?
Most of the things he hunted were pheasants, rabbits, or snakes from the mountains outside. They could be sold for a few dozen copper coins, or at most two taels of silver. But bows and arrows weren't without wear and tear. Sometimes, if he accidentally struck a pheasant's wing, it would fly away with the arrow, and each arrow would cost forty copper coins. This trip was a waste; not only did he not get any prey, he also lost an arrow.
If he wanted to hunt rare and precious prey, he had to go deep into the mountains, which were dangerous, and he couldn't guarantee that he would survive if he went in. Only a fool would go into the mountains unless he was desperate.
So although hunters don’t have to go hungry, they won’t make a lot of money for no reason.
Adding in the food and drink for his family, ten taels of silver was the limit of his savings throughout the year.
However, what the second sister-in-law meant was that she earned in one day the amount of money that he could save in a year.
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