Chapter 13

“She’s back! Second Aunt is back!” Not long after dinner, Gu Wenshu, who had been sent out by Gu Chenshi as a scout, came bouncing back, holding a candied hawthorn stick. “Second Aunt gave me this candied hawthorn and asked me to tell my sister to go to their house.”

Gu Daniu’s face darkened if she could afford to buy Gu Wenshu candied hawthorn, it seemed she had made money today.

He looked at Gu Xinxin, who smiled and asked, “Father, shall I go then?”

Gu Daniu didn’t respond, so Gu Xinxin got up and went next door on her own.

Second, Aunt’s family had just returned home. After lunch, her son had finished his work in the fields and gone to Little Song Village to help.

Although the sun had set and it was getting dark, Gu Xinxin could still see that Second Aunt was glowing with excitement. She grabbed Gu Xinxin’s wrist, opened her mouth to speak, then quickly glanced around before lowering her voice. “Xinxin, you have no idea how good business was today! At first, no one was eating, but once the aroma spread, the whole market was filled with the smell…”

She pressed her lips together and didn’t continue.

Pulling Gu Xinxin into the house, she told her son to close the door and her daughter-in-law to light the lamp. “You know I’m not good with numbers. Help us count how much we earned today.”

Eldest Cousin lifted the money bag by its corners and poured it out with a clatter a pile of copper coins tumbled out, along with some silver coins and a few silver melon seeds.

Gu Xinxin first set aside the noticeable silver coins and silver melon seeds, then separated the copper coins. “Let’s count together to make it faster. Group them in tens, and I’ll do the calculations later.”

Second Aunt and Eldest Cousin and his wife quickly nodded, stacking the copper coins in groups of ten.

As they grouped them, Gu Xinxin began stringing them with hemp cord, tying a knot every hundred coins and making a string of a thousand.

It took about half an hour to finish counting. There were six full strings, three knots, and eighteen extra coins.

Gu Xinxin reported the count: “Six thousand three hundred and eighteen copper coins, not including the silver. Second Aunt, how many potatoes did you take today? And the seasonings did you use all that was originally in the kitchen?”

Second Aunt hurriedly replied, “We took a hundred Jin of potatoes today and bought the ingredients you mentioned from the pharmacy. We also brewed sour plum soup and spent twenty copper coins on water and firewood.”

The iron pot, water buckets, and bowls were their own taken and brought back, so they didn’t count as costs.

Gu Xinxin calculated in her head and reported again: “The cost was three taels of silver. With the potatoes, seasonings, and sour plum soup ingredients, you earned at least four taels today. Adding it all up, it should be around five taels, making a total of nine taels.”

The food business was inherently profitable. Today, the main cost was potatoes, but potatoes weren’t expensive.

With a cost of three taels of silver and earnings of nine taels, including labor and time, Gu Xinxin thought it was acceptable not exceptional, as a good profit would be four times or more to truly cover labor and time.

But in ancient times, labor and time were the cheapest, so tripling the investment was still within an acceptable range.

Second Aunt covered her mouth, trembling with excitement to keep herself from crying out, while Eldest Cousin stammered, “Is it really this much?”

Gu Xinxin showed him the string of coins. “Eldest Cousin, you can count it again later. I’ve already strung them all up. These silver coins and silver melon seeds can be saved for now, and we can use copper coins for buying seasonings. Also, since it was a market day today, the earnings were quite good. On ordinary days, it probably wouldn’t be this much. You could go to the town and ask if it’s possible to get a fixed stall.”

Eldest Cousin’s Wife suddenly spoke up, “The lard can still be used, so the capital should be calculated as two taels of silver.”

Gu Xinxin blinked. If the capital was counted as two taels, then earning nine taels meant more than quadrupling the profit, a figure that was quite satisfying.

Gu Xinxin smiled cheerfully. “This business depends on your skills. If your skills are good, you might be able to earn for a year or two. By then, others might try to copy you, and it won’t be as profitable anymore. If your skills aren’t up to par, you’ll only make novelty earnings for a month or two. For snack businesses like this, the most important thing is the taste. If the flavor is good, the business will last.”

Second Aunt nodded vigorously. “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely listen to you. I’ll follow your instructions for the seasonings and never cut corners.”

She understood Gu Xinxin’s words as a warning; if they skimped on ingredients and the taste suffered, the business would fail.

After all, fried potatoes weren’t some exclusive secret recipes. People could easily figure out how the potatoes were cut just by looking at them, and after eating them a few times, they could reduce the seasonings used.

So, for their business to last, the flavor had to be consistently good.

Gu Xinxin added, “You’ve been busy all day, so you should rest now. I won’t disturb you any longer. Oh, and about your earnings today, if my father asks…”

Second, Aunt thought for a moment. “I’ll go with you to your house.”

Ignoring her exhaustion, Second Aunt followed Gu Xinxin to find Gu Daniu.

Although Second Older Male Cousin had passed away, Gu Daniu still treated his sister-in-law with respect. “Second Sister-in-law.”

“Daniu, I came today to talk to you about Xin Xin. You know we set up a stall today following her idea. To be honest, after deducting the capital, we earned nine taels of silver.”

Gu Daniu was surprised. As a hunter, people often assumed he was wealthy that he could easily bag a wild boar or find valuable herbs like lingzhi mushrooms and exchange them for several taels of silver.

But that wasn’t the reality.

Wild boars weren’t foolish enough to roam near populated areas. If lingzhi were common, would they still fetch a high price?

Most of what he hunted were pheasants, rabbits, or snakes from the outer mountains. They could be sold, but each trip usually brought in only a few dozen copper coins, with two taels being the most he’d ever made. However, arrows weren’t without cost if he accidentally hit a wing, a pheasant could fly off with the arrowhead, which cost forty copper coins alone. That meant the trip was wasted: no game caught, and an arrowhead lost.

To hunt rare, valuable prey, he’d have to venture deep into the mountains, which was dangerous. He couldn’t guarantee he’d return alive. Only someone desperate or foolish would go into the deep mountains without good reason.

So, while hunters didn’t go hungry, they didn’t make huge sums of money for no reason either.

Moreover, with the family’s daily expenses for food and drink, saving ten taels of silver in a year was the absolute limit for him.

However, his second sister-in-law implied that she had earned in a single day what it took hiChapter 14

He turned to look at Gu Xinxin. Second Aunt waved at Gu Xinxin: “Go pour me a bowl of water. I’ve been busy calling out all day and haven’t had time to drink any water myself.”

Gu Xinxin went out to fetch water. Second Aunt spoke earnestly: “Because of Gu Chenshi, you probably think Xinxin and Xiangrong are unlucky and bring bad fortune. But today I must tell you, our Xinxin is blessed. The reason she’s so accomplished now is because she received guidance from your former wife…”

Gu Xinxin hadn’t gone far and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

Then she nodded in agreement. Yes, Gu Xiangrong was indeed fortunate – otherwise how could he have encountered an elder sister like her?

The original host truly had no blessings, having passed away after falling ill.

If they had sent her to the pharmacy earlier, she might have survived. What a pity.

Who should be blamed? Blame Gu Chenshi, Gu Daniu, and Old Mrs. Gu. As elders, they should bear eighty percent of the responsibility for the child’s death from illness.

“Look at how just one idea from Xinxin earned my family what would normally take two years to make,” Second Aunt continued. “Even if this business doesn’t last, isn’t the silver we’ve earned real?”

Gu Daniu remained silent. Second Aunt went on: “If you make the child feel heartbroken, even if she has good ideas, she’ll never tell you. When you see other families making money while you can’t even get a share, how would that make you feel?”

“Be better to the child. After all, she’s your own flesh and blood – would she really be unfilial and abandon you?” Second Aunt paused, then extended her hand: “To put it bluntly, Xinxin has capabilities. In the future, even if she just lets a little slip through her fingers, it will be enough to support you. You can hunt and earn money now, but ten years from now, will you still be able to draw your bow? Twenty years from now, will you still be able to climb mountains?”

Ten or twenty years later, when he could no longer earn money, would Gu Chenshi still serve him as she did now?

“By then, your quality of life will depend entirely on your children’s filial piety. Even if Xinxin doesn’t personally care for you, if she has money, couldn’t she buy you a servant woman to attend to you?” Second Aunt asked. Gu Daniu pressed his lips together and waved his hand: “I understand everything you’re saying, Second Sister-in-law. But after all these years, I’m afraid Xinxin resents me. Even if she has money in the future, she might not be willing to spend it on me.”

“What are you afraid of? There’s the principle of filial piety! If she doesn’t honor you, the elders in the village won’t let her get away with it,” Second Aunt said. “Besides, I don’t think Xinxin is that ungrateful. Although you haven’t treated her very well these years, haven’t she still grown up? What child can survive on air alone?”

Didn’t all children grow up because their parents’ provided food and drink?

Outside, Gu Xinxin rolled her eyes. Gu Xiangrong crept over: “Sister, are you really going to give Father ideas to make money?”

Gu Xinxin poked his forehead: “You should worry about your studies first. Father might agree to let you study tomorrow. Let me warn you – my future depends entirely on you. If you don’t study hard, I’ll beat you to death, understand?”

Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants – merchants had the lowest status. She had ideas to make money, but no means of protection. The class system was deadly, completely unreasonable, and could never be solved by wealth alone.

m a whole year to save.

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