She Only Cares About Cultivation

By the time the workers got up at 7:30 a.m. and came over with their Western-style porcelain bowls to get their meals, she had already arranged all the dishes neatly on the central running water platform.

Everyone knew she had just arrived yesterday, and today was her first meal, so most of them were curious and expectant. In fact, she indeed did not disappoint. There were two kinds of cold dishes, the eggs were marinated, and the Millet Porridge even had pumpkin in it, which did not sink to the bottom because it was mixed with starch.

Then look at these flower buns and fried buns, made very delicately, divided into spicy and non-spicy types.

"One flower bun is four taels, I've weighed them all. When you take them, each person can only take two steamed buns and one egg, okay?"

Since the cost limit for this meal was set at forty-three yuan, she also had to account for the costs of rice, flour, and oil. The only thing she didn't have to bear was the cost of electricity and coal balls.

Fortunately, the workers were very cooperative. Each took two steamed buns and one egg, and they let her serve the two types of dishes. Basically, it was one serving of each dish with chopsticks, then they could drink as much Millet Pumpkin Soup as they wanted.

Calculating the cost of this meal, first, the eggs are 2.4 yuan per jin, and one jin has about eight eggs, so the cost per egg is thirty cents. Forty-three eggs cost thirteen yuan.

Millet is one yuan per jin, and she used about one jin to make a thin porridge, so the cost is one yuan.

Pumpkin is twenty cents per jin, and one pumpkin is about three to four jin, adding up to approximately one yuan.

Radishes are ten cents per jin, and she used a total of five radishes, coming to almost ten jin, which cost one yuan.

Kelp is three yuan per jin, but kelp swells up a lot after soaking, so she only used about two yuan worth of kelp.

For the steamed buns and flower buns, two pieces per person, at four taels per person (200 grams, one tael being 50 grams), adding up to 17.2 jin for forty-three people. If we count the cost according to one yuan per jin of flour, that comes to seventeen yuan.

The seasonings—such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar—combined would cost at least three yuan, so the final cost was thirty-eight yuan, while the boss set the price at forty-three yuan. In other words, if she could officially start working, she'd be able to earn five yuan, making three to five yuan per meal, which is an okay cost control.

After all, Xiao Xiao still had to pay a share of the food expenses. Others might not say anything, but she couldn't avoid it, whether the boss would waive it was another matter altogether.

The meal she had prepared was honest fare. Deng Guoqiang, who she met yesterday, also came to get his meal. Like the other workers, he took a flower bun, a fried bun, an egg, two servings of vegetables, and a bowl of soup. He seemed quite satisfied with this standard; after finishing his meal, he nodded in approval.

"Xiao Gong did well. This standard is good enough,"

Often going out to buy groceries, he was quite familiar with the prices of vegetables, eggs, and meat. A quick glance told him that she hadn't skimped on this meal.

Gong Mingxia breathed a sigh of relief and waited until the workers had finished eating before calling her daughter over for their meal. There were four steamed buns left, which wasn't many. Two eggs were just right, and there was slightly more leftover cold dishes and soup than expected. The two of them couldn't eat four dishes, so one flower bun each was enough to fill them up. The rest was packed into a lunchbox, thinking of giving it to her daughter when she got hungry in the afternoon.

After they finished eating, Gong Mingxia hurriedly cleaned up the kitchen. By the time everything was tidy, it was almost nine o'clock.

After that, she didn't have time to rest and immediately began preparing the Noon meal. She took the meat out of the fridge and put it directly on the fire to cook, to thaw it out and filter out the blood water. Once it was cooked through, she then sliced it. It was a five-jin piece of meat, which when sliced, filled a stainless-steel basin to the brim.

Then she began peeling onions, a process not too pleasant. She wouldn't let her daughter help; braving the risk of tears, she cleaned and washed the onions. Then she sliced them and put them in a basin to set aside, and next, she took out green chilies from the bag and chopped them into cubes; they smelled rather spicy, making her swallow reflexively.

Then Lao Ganma, Pixian bean paste, light soy sauce, sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, starch, and other seasonings appeared one by one, neatly arranged and ready for use.

——Tip——

Lao Ganma was invented by Tao Huabi. Tao Huabi's company was established in 1996 and began mass production that year. As soon as it was launched, it became immensely popular. The beginning of my story was in 1997, so Lao Ganma's presence here is not anachronistic.

Bean paste has been around since the late Ming and early Qing. Pixian bean paste is just a brand, and it does not represent all bean pastes.

Light soy sauce is a derivative of soy sauce, which is divided into dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. The dark soy sauce is mainly used for coloring, while the light soy sauce is saltier and used for enhancing flavor.

The reason it is not specifically mentioned is that I felt there was no need, yet there are always people who are pedantic and like to argue over such details. Didn't you see that I already mentioned that Lao Ganma was from 1996?

Moreover, this is a fictional narrative, a fictional narrative, a fictional narrative. If scrutiny is not to one's taste, then please don't read further. Thank you for your cooperation!