The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 13 Doing Business Requires Calculating Costs

Chunnuan felt that she should always involve the children when doing chores.

She had worked so hard to pick some, but Chun Ning and Luo Xiaogang quickly filled a basket with them.

"go home."

Today was a close call, but we managed to get it right. It was a small test, proving that her idea could be continued.

Luo Xiaogang also made a small fortune, but he didn't know what to do with the money since it was the first time he had it.

"I'm going to hide so my parents won't see me."

"When I earn money, I'm going to buy meat to eat. Hmm, no, I'm going to buy new clothes. I've never worn new clothes before; I always wear hand-me-downs from my older brothers..."

He walked along excitedly, talking about it the whole way, but when he was almost home, he lost his mind.

"Sister Chunnuan, how about you keep this for me? I'll ask you for the money when I need it."

Luo Xiaogang thought for a moment and said, "I don't know where the money is hidden, and I can't tell them that I'm doing something for you. The best way is to not take the money home."

That kid is incredibly smart!

"Aren't you afraid I won't give you the money?"

"No, your family are all good people, and good people don't renege on their debts."

Chunnuan smiled. This child is still too trusting.

"Chuning, let Xiaogang keep his money with you and keep an account for him," Chunnuan said. "Also, keep an account for the money you made selling flower cakes today and see if you made any money."

"Sister..."

Chun Ning thought to himself, "Don't I have several dozen coins in my purse? Isn't that what I earned?"

“When doing business, you have to calculate costs. The ingredients for the fried flower cakes, the twenty coins paid at the dock, these are costs.” Chunnuan instructed him: “When you and Luo Xiaogang go to pick flowers and sell cakes, you also have to pay Luo Xiaogang. This is called labor cost.”

"How do we calculate it?"

"We'll buy oil and flour tomorrow."

"The other ingredients were also sent by Young Master Zhao."

"You can ask about the price of those ingredients, how much it costs per pound, and how much we need to fry each batch of flower cakes. Calculate the cost, and that's how you can determine whether this business will make money or lose money."

It's a very complicated feeling.

It's much harder than studying!
But now he is the eldest male in the Xiao family, and the family depends on him to support it. He must listen to his elder sister's teachings.

Chun Ning nodded to indicate that she understood.

The siblings handed over the money they earned at the dock that day to their grandmother.

“Your eldest aunt used to manage the household affairs.” The old lady hadn’t been involved in the household affairs for many years, and besides, there was really nothing to manage in the household now: “Eldest daughter, you should still take on this responsibility.”

“Mother, it’s not that your daughter-in-law is unwilling to take on the task, it’s that your daughter-in-law doesn’t have the ability.” Madam Xu quickly stood up and replied, “Mother, since we left the capital, we have relied on Nuan Nuan to take care of everything along the way. The way to make money was also Nuan Nuan’s idea. In my opinion, Nuan Nuan should be in charge of this household.”

"Nuan Nuan is still a young lady after all..."

“Mother, your daughter-in-law will assist her.” Madam Xu looked at her two younger brothers and sisters-in-law and her daughter-in-law, Madam Zhu: “Our Xiao family’s inner quarters have always been clean and tidy. After this great disaster, we have worked together to get to where we are today. Now the burden of supporting the family rests on Nuan Nuan’s shoulders. We can’t do anything else, but we must not hold Nuan Nuan back. We will listen to Nuan Nuan’s arrangements for everyone and everything in the family.”

“Mother, sister-in-law, I will listen to you.” Madam Xu felt sorry for her daughter, but she also knew that Nuannuan really had the ability: “I may not be good at anything else, but I will definitely not hold Nuannuan back.”

"Me too. I'll do whatever you ask me to do. Don't worry, I'll learn all the chores around the house." Huang was also the daughter of a minor official. She had four children, the eldest, Chunyan, was twelve years old, and the youngest, Chunqiang, was only two. Her biggest fear was that the family would fall apart. How could she, a woman, raise four children alone?

In the past, they used to be servants, but now they have to learn to do things like washing clothes, cooking, and chopping firewood.

"Grandmother, Mother, Aunt, I will obey your orders as well," said Madam Zhu, who was six months pregnant.

"Alright, alright, since you all think this way." The old lady turned to Chunnuan and said, "Nuannuan, this family is now in your hands."

"grandmother……"

"Good boy, thank you for your hard work."

"it is good."

Having said that, Chunnuan couldn't refuse.

"Oh, right, Nuannuan," Xu Shi remembered something, "Didn't you say we could do some needlework, like embroidering handkerchiefs or something? Where can we find such work?"

I'll ask around later.

Spring warmth reminded me of something.

“Grandmother, if nothing unexpected happens, we should be staying here for a long time.”

That's natural; the only exception might be that the Emperor bestows a special pardon upon the Xiao family one day.

The possibility of this is practically zero. The old man has already been beheaded, and none of his three sons studied medicine. Even if other families were pardoned, they would already be useless to the royal family. They can't even recall a single imperial physician.

"So, my granddaughter is planning to rent some land to grow some grains and vegetables."

“We don’t know how to plant.” Mrs. Xu was a little anxious. How could they, who had never lifted a finger to do housework, not know the difference between time and grains, possibly farm?

“It’s alright, we can ask our neighbors, or we can see what they grow and plant the same things. I know that if we grow some vegetables, we can have fresh vegetables every month or two, so we don’t have to buy them and can reduce our expenses.”

Cost reduction and revenue generation are the top priorities right now.

"Nuan Nuan, if you think it's a good idea, then go ahead and do it." The old lady fully supported it, but unfortunately, she could only offer her moral support; she couldn't provide the manpower or financial resources.

"That's good. Once Chun Ning has made some money, she can rent some land to farm."

Chun Ning went to the street to inquire about the prices of the ingredients and came back to find out that her sister was talking about renting land and that she would have to rely on him to sell flower cakes to make money. This task was getting a bit heavier!

"Sister, the ingredients that Young Master Zhao sent are quite expensive."

"Then write down the price. Once we've recovered, you can give him a gift of equal value as a return gift."

"Okay." Chun Ning learned a lot from her older sister.

He also vowed to repay Young Master Zhao's favor as soon as possible, since he was engaged to the Xiao family and it was not appropriate for him to be involved with his sister too much.

In the Zhao family home, Mrs. Zhao, Zhou, was standing in front of the housekeeper and Aunt Niu.

"Madam, we only bought the ingredients for the kitchen two days ago, and Aunt Niu asked us to buy more today, saying..."

"What else is there to say?" Zhou glanced at the furious Aunt Niu. This old woman's temper is getting worse and worse. Why can't she talk things out properly and instead argue with the housekeeper?
"Aunt Niu said the young master took all the ingredients from the small kitchen, so we need to buy new ones." The housekeeper was quite unconvinced: "Madam, don't you think this excuse is ridiculous?"

"Madam, it was indeed the Third Young Master who took the ingredients. This old servant is not lying!" Aunt Niu said anxiously. "Yesterday afternoon, the Third Young Master packed some ingredients from the small kitchen into a bamboo basket and took it away. He didn't even bring the basket back with him."

Zhou put down her teacup and asked Aunt Niu with a puzzled look.
What did he do with the ingredients?

(End of this chapter)