I have been farming since I crossed over.

Yang Mingxi opened the account book brought by Yang Mingjiang and read it carefully.

Yang Mingxi prepared an account book by simply cutting a stack of straw paper into rectangles and stringing them together with a shoe awl, making it a thick book. Then, she divided a portion for each snack and pasted a different colored cloth strip on it with glue, which served as both a label and a bookmark.

The first one is cold food skewers. The first page is recorded by Yang Mingxi. The first part is mainly about the ingredients, such as 1200 skewers of tofu, 3600 skewers of beef, etc. Each one is recorded clearly, and the name of the seasoning, the quantity, and the money spent are recorded at the end.

The second part is the gross profit, which must be signed and confirmed by the person in charge and the stall owner.

The third part is the stall owner, each person’s wages, and the stall owner’s signature.

The fourth part is the profit, which is calculated by the person in charge and then signed.

The latter part was recorded by Yang Mingjiang. The template was still based on Yang Mingxi's, but the materials column was recorded according to people's names, and the wages were also recorded directly at the back, followed by their signatures.

Such an account book is easy to check and less prone to errors.

Yang Mingxi opened the account book. Because of the hasty preparation on the first day, there was a shortage of materials. There were 8600 cold skewers of meat and vegetarian skewers. The gross profit was 14 taels, 700 wen, which was not a problem.

On the second day, the materials were fully prepared. There were meat skewers and vegetarian skewers, and the gross profit was 36 taels, 650 wen.

As the ingredients became less and less, the profit also decreased, which was normal, and everything was sold out every day. That meant there was nothing wrong with the cold skewers.

Yang Mingxi looked at the fried chicken and braised food. These two items were sold together, and the daily preparations were all sold out. Due to the limited ingredients, the daily gross profit was only a little over 300 grams. This was due to the shortage of ingredients. Once the ingredients were fully prepared, everything would be fine.

Sales of cold noodles were good for the first few days, but then began to decline. Aunt Liu's pea and guazhua noodles haven't decreased in volume, but the rice and noodles are shrinking day by day, and the takeout is still sold out every day. I need to investigate what's going on here.

Fried potatoes are usually bought directly in the county town, then peeled, cut into pieces, fried and sold. Three hundred kilograms of potatoes are bought each time, and more are bought when they are almost sold out. The potatoes bought each day are sold out.

When I first started selling fried potatoes, I bought 15 kilograms each time. I bought five times on the first day, and the gross profit was about taels.

The next day, I bought four times. The next few days, four times, three times, three times, two times, two times, and the last few days, all once. That means I sold 300 kilograms a day, with a gross profit of around kilograms. Fried potato sales declined because competitors appeared, diverting customers away. There's no solution; we'll just have to take it slow.

After finding the problem, Yang Mingxi was no longer in a hurry. He checked all the gross profits in the account book, and then began to count the silver and money boxes sent by Yang Mingjiang.

The money matched the account book, there was no problem. Thinking of the acquisition plan he had discussed with the villagers this morning, Yang Mingxi got up to see how the workshop was going!

Today, when we went to check on the rice seedlings, Yang Mingxi announced in front of Village Chief Zhang and everyone else: The workshop is purchasing chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, and other livestock, as well as potatoes, on a long-term basis. Fresh vegetables include cabbage, bamboo shoots, cucumbers, lotus root, and green beans. Seasonings are also available on a long-term basis. The purchase prices and names will be posted at the workshop entrance once it opens, so everyone can stop by anytime.

Now that Yang Mingxi had finished the work at hand, she came to the workshop to check.

The exterior of the workshop has been completed, including the stove, the cleaning pool, the cutting table, the processing table, the operating table, etc. The most important drainage and bamboo pipe water diversion are also almost completed.

Yang Mingxi checked each workshop one by one, and Lu Er followed behind, writing down any problems and making adjustments.

After inspecting the workshop, Yang Mingxi said, "Lu Er, ask Lu Jintang. There are almost no problems with the workshop. Let's choose a date to open it!"

Lu Er nodded and replied, "Yes, I'll report to my master later. Do you have any other questions?"

Yang Mingxi walked and thought, and suddenly said: "Warehouse, we still need two warehouses, one normal temperature warehouse, which should be larger, and a cold storage with double hollow walls. The innermost hollow can be used to store ice."

Lu Er took note and thought that with so much ice, it would be fine in winter, but there is no winter here, so what should he do?

After inspecting the workshop, the sun was already setting. Yang Mingxi was just about to go home for dinner when Lu Er said, "Miss Yang, if it's convenient, let's go to the riverside courtyard to eat together. How about talking to the young master about the workshop? Especially the matter of the cold storage you mentioned, I didn't quite understand it."

Yang Mingxi looked at Lu Er and found that his expression had not changed. He did not seem to be lying, so she nodded and said, "Let's go. We will skip dinner once we get there. I have things to do tonight."

Lu Er took a step back and extended his hand as a gesture of invitation.

Yang Mingxi came to the courtyard by the river, and Lu Er led her directly to the study.

Lu Liu had already informed everyone in advance. Now only Lu Jintang was writing and drawing in the study. Hearing footsteps, Lu Jintang stood up and greeted them, saying, "Are you done with the village affairs? You must be tired! Come and have a rest." While speaking, he led Yang Mingxi to sit down, poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her.

Yang Mingxi took the tea, took a sip, and said, "The village affairs were completed this morning. I checked the snack bills this afternoon. Some of them were not very satisfactory, mainly due to a shortage of raw materials."

"If you can't get the raw materials, just buy them from the county! We can't grow them here for the time being." Lu Jintang continued when Yang Mingxi paused.

"It's not impossible to buy from the county, but it's not a long-term solution. Also, I want to open the workshop first so that I can assign people to be responsible for purchasing. By the way, I have talked to the villagers about purchasing vegetables and livestock, but we have to wait until the workshop opens." Yang Mingxi said a little frustrated.

Lu Jintang stood up, patted Yang Mingxi on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, take your time! It's only a day or two late. When I send you back later, I'll go find my uncle to pick a date. When the date comes, we can open the workshop!"

"There are only some minor problems with the workshop, but the warehouse has not been built yet, especially the cold storage. Now that the weather is getting hotter, the ingredients need to be kept in the cold storage to stay fresh."

"Okay, there's no rush for this cold storage, and the workshop will open soon, too."

"Do you have any suggestions for a cold storage? I'm thinking of building a double-hollow structure, where the hollow space near the outer wall is used as a buffer, and the inner hollow space is used to store ice. It's like a hollow structure with small compartments, each with its own door. I'd like to have about three doors, leaving some space in between for a buffer. This way, I'd save more ice."

"That's a good idea of yours. Let's do as you say! It can be built in two to three days, but the ice is a bit difficult to get right now."

"Use saltpeter. Pour water over it and it will turn into ice. It's relatively cheap."

"Isn't saltpeter used to make fireworks? Will that work?"

"Sure, get some and I'll teach you how to make ice cubes. But it's best to wrap them in something soft during transportation."

"Okay, I got it. Let's go eat together, and I'll take you home after dinner."

Yang Mingxi stood up and said, "No need, you guys eat. I have to go to the old house soon, so I'll go back first."

Seeing that Yang Mingxi really looked busy, Lu Jintang didn't try to stop her. He walked Yang Mingxi out from the backyard and said, "There aren't many people in the backyard. I'll carry you over and put you by the river. You can go back by yourself!"

After saying that, without waiting for Yang Mingxi's consent, he picked her up and flew towards the other side of the river.

Lu Jintang put Yang Mingxi by the river, kissed her forehead, and then returned to the courtyard by the river.

After returning home, Yang Mingxi first found Uncle Wu and asked him to help choose an auspicious day to open the workshop.

Uncle Wu looked up the almanac and chose March 23rd to open the workshop. That was one day later.

After dinner, Yang Mingxi and Yang Mingyang went to the old house together. They first found Yang Mingjiang and told him about the snack business, and then called everyone over to announce something.

Because the workshop is about to open, the staff must be arranged first. All the staff in the workshop are paid by piecework, with a quota every month, and rewards for exceeding the quota.

The piece-rate price remains the same as before, but each workshop has a manager who, in addition to the piece-rate wages, also receives a management salary of 20 wen per day.

The manager of the slaughtering workshop is Uncle Yang Liu, the manager of the fine washing workshop is my cousin’s wife Lei, the manager of the frying workshop is Yang Mingyang, the manager of the tofu shop is my aunt Li, the manager of the noodle shop is my aunt Ding, and the manager of the flour-making workshop has not been decided yet, and will be decided after the workshop is launched.

The people who were previously divided into different groups of people will go to the corresponding workshops according to their respective tasks. The workshop will open the day after tomorrow, and all processes related to snacks will be completed in the workshop.