A time-travelling peasant girl becomes a wealthy woman

After they were seated, the waiter took out the menu, but thinking that most farmers were illiterate, he simply recommended a few home-cooked dishes that were not particularly expensive, went well with rice and were filling.

Huang Bo and others accepted his kindness and ordered a braised pork, minced meat and eggplant, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and three bowls of rice.

After the waiter poured each person a glass of water, he went to order the menus.

The family of three chatted while looking at the scenery of North Street outside the window. After a while, the food was served.

Every dish has the aroma of a wok, unlike the many pre-prepared dishes in the previous life. The aroma hits your nose as soon as it is served, which whets your appetite.

He Hui Niang first picked up a little bit for Huang Mulin and each of them, especially the braised pork, which almost covered the rice, and then they ate separately.

Huang Mulin tasted it carefully. The braised pork should be the chef's specialty. This dish is very authentic, fatty but not greasy, and has the right sweetness and fragrance.

She was not sure if her fourth brother could do this, after all, the family did not have enough money to buy meat for him to practice every day. But today she got the money from selling pearls, so she could let her fourth brother start to practice cooking in the future.

After the three of them had eaten and drunk their fill, they called the waiter to settle the bill.

The meal cost ninety-five cents. When He Hui Niang took out a piece of change to pay the waiter, he was a little surprised. He didn't realize that this couple of farmers in ordinary clothes were quite reserved.

In addition, he had to say that the little girl in this family was really pretty. When she took off her face towel during the meal, he happened to see her face, which was really impressive.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper was right. Don't underestimate anyone, otherwise the eagle will peck your eyes.

There was still some time before the gathering, so Huang Mulin discussed with his parents and went back to South Street to buy some cooking spices. He also cut three strips of pork belly and two ribs on West Street, wrapped them in leaves, and took them back to practice with the fourth child, Huang Jinlin.

The four brothers in the family pulled out the weeds in the fields, picked up a lot of firewood, cleaned the yard, tidied the house, and even cleaned the stove, but their parents and sister had not come back yet.

Huang Jinlin cooked some thin rice porridge for his brothers at noon, and they ate it with cornmeal buns until they were eight-tenths full. Except for the third brother who was reading a book on a stool in front of the door, the other three brothers were lying on the bed in all directions.

"Second brother, do you think it can be done?"

"Yes, I believe my sister."

The room fell silent.

After a while, they heard voices and footsteps.

The four of them quickly got up and walked towards the door. It was Huang Bo and the others who had returned.

Huang Bo ordered the door to be closed tightly, went to the kitchen to put down the meat and spices, and returned to the house. Everyone was there.

He Hui Niang took out the money she got from selling pearls and said that they went to the big restaurant in the town to try the food and bought meat and spices for the fourth child so that he could practice cooking.

"Unless your family is in trouble and needs help, keep all of this 1,000 taels as Mu Mu's dowry. The remaining 280 taels will be used as official money, and you can use it for your studies and food business."

Before the children could speak, Huang Bo said, "Your mother and I have decided on this matter. You can't always think about this windfall. You four brothers need to achieve something through your own efforts."

"If it weren't for Mu Mu, this money has nothing to do with our family. Don't be greedy, understand? If anyone has any evil thoughts, I will definitely kick him out of the house!"

Although the sons in the family have always been very caring towards their daughter and always give the good things to their sister first, she still needs to be disciplined.

The sons patted their chests and promised, and were almost about to raise their fingers to swear.

Huang Mulin originally wanted to give all the money to the Zhonggong family, but since her parents had their own ideas, she just went along with them.

Then we started discussing what to eat.

The whole family looked at Huang Mulin.

It's a bit stressful~

"Although I also want to send my brother to a private school right away, but if I suddenly take out so much money, I'm afraid outsiders will be suspicious of where the money came from."

Huang Mulin said as he pondered.

"I suggest that you start a food business first, and then send your brothers to private school a year later. This way you will have a reasonable source of money."

"But..." Huang Bo said carefully, "The tuition fee for the private school in town is about five taels of silver a year, and your four brothers need twenty taels. Can you earn that much money from food?"

It’s not that Huang Bo doesn’t want his daughter to go to school, it’s that private schools don’t accept girls. Otherwise, Huang Mulin is so smart, she will definitely be able to study well.

"Second brother, what do you think?" Huang Mulin pointed at Huang Haolin.

"A bowl of beef noodles in town costs three cents. There's not much meat, but the noodles are enough to fill an adult. A steamed bun costs one cent, and an adult can eat about 80% full. A meat bun costs one cent, and an adult can eat half full. A pancake is slightly better than a meat bun, but it's still not enough to fill a stomach."

Huang Haolin explained everything to his family: "Mu Mu and I have discussed it. We will make a box lunch, a filling portion of rice, and prepare spoons of the right size, one spoon of pure meat, one spoon of potatoes with minced meat, eggplant, etc., a few green vegetables, and a spoon of gravy to mix with the rice. It must be cheaper than ordering food at a tavern, and it will be more filling than just eating noodles or buns, and it won't be so easy to get hungry."

"Then... how much does it cost?" Huang Bo asked. "It's meat, and a few dishes, and they have to feed you. If the price is too high, you won't be able to sell it."

Huang Haolin hesitated for a moment and said, "It should be priced at about ten cents per copy."

"What!? Ten cents?"

A pound of brown rice costs five cents. If you eat it sparingly in years with poor harvests, it is enough food for an adult man for two days. If you cook it into a very thin porridge, it will last more than two days.

"Is it too expensive?"

"The daily wage for dock hands is 25 wen, foremen 30 wen, and supervisors are paid more. Ordinary dock hands only eat a black flour bun or steamed bun for breakfast. They must have a full meal at noon, otherwise they will not have the strength to carry goods in the afternoon. This is why the stalls at the dock are not open until almost noon."

The last time he went to the market, Huang Haolin took the opportunity to talk to the fishermen about the eating habits of the dock workers and the hours when nearby vendors set up their stalls.

"Ten cents for meat, vegetables, and enough rice. Probably a profit of two to three cents."

Huang Haolin did a lot of calculations in his mind and told his family about his previous ideas for reference.

"There are nearly 300 guys working at the dock. We do 50 jobs a day. If we make 2 wen per job, we can make 100 wen a day and 3 taels of silver a month. After deducting the monthly rent of 150 wen, we can still have 2 taels, 850 wen."

"I suggest that the number of lunch boxes should not exceed 50. If there are too many, we will be overwhelmed. At the same time, we also need to allow other small vendors to do business, otherwise there will be trouble."

Huang Mulin couldn't help but sigh that Huang Haolin was really a good material for doing business, as he had taken every aspect into consideration.

She took over the conversation, "When the lunch box business gradually stabilizes, we will consider making some inexpensive food that others don't have. We will earn more, which will be enough to support my brothers' studies."

"But if Fourth Brother is going to private school in a year, he won't be able to sell lunch boxes during the day. During this year, Daddy and Mommy will also have to learn how to cook."

The couple nodded.