Chapter 339: Chapter 176: Thriving Everyday_2
"This is good, we can pull them up by another notch," Lady Zhang immediately agreed.
Lian Manman smiled. The third branch had never been independent before, so even if they wanted to pull up, there wasn’t much they could do. For example, whether it was Lian Shouli or Lady Zhao working in the shop, the wages must go to Lady Zhou. What Lian Manman and the others could do was to ensure that Lian Yeye and Lady Zhao had enough to eat.
"Mother, will Second Brother and the others agree?" asked Lian Shouxin, a worried expression on his face.
Lian Manman smiled and muttered softly, "The Emperor’s new clothes."
"Manman, what are you laughing at?" Lian Shouxin felt uncomfortable with Lian Manman’s laughter.
"Nothing, I wasn’t laughing at anything," Lian Manman quickly replied.
She was laughing at Lian Shouxin. Hearing Lian Shouxin speak that way clearly showed that he understood the temperaments of Lady Zhou, Lian Shouyi, and others very well, but he still always tried to cover for them and drape them in a beautiful gauze, even though this gauze was transparent and could fool no one.
"Father, don’t worry, Grandma and the others will definitely agree," Lian Manman said, "The work at the breakfast shop starts before dawn and half of the night is over, it’s not for those who can’t endure hardship. Only third uncle’s family is still willing to do it. No matter who from the family works, the wages cannot be kept by themselves, so only third uncle’s family is willing to come, the others wouldn’t want to."
"Then I’ve thought too much," Lady Zhang said.
No, she hadn’t thought too much. Not wanting to work in the shop didn’t mean they weren’t willing to come to eat.
...
After resting at home for a while and having a simple dinner, as dusk fell, they headed back to the breakfast shop. They needed to prepare everything that would be used in the shop for the next day in advance.
Lady Zhang and Lian Shouxin were responsible for preparing the dough. Whether it was bread or buns, they needed to ferment. At this time, there was no yeast powder, so they used dough starters, which is to say, old dough.
Old dough means saving a piece of well-fermented dough each time, which is added to the next batch of dough to help it ferment better. It is like adding a spoonful of plain yogurt to a cup of milk and, under the right temperature, over a period of time, the lactic acid bacteria in the plain yogurt develop and multiply, turning the whole cup of milk into yogurt, the same principle.
Even with the old dough, the fermentation process was long, so they mixed the dough in the evening, and by early morning it was well fermented. They then cut it into bread dough pieces, ready to be steamed directly in the pot.
The dough for the buns was the same, but to ensure freshness, the fillings had to be prepared in the morning, and the buns were made fresh that same morning.
The big bone broth also had to be prepared in advance. Then, it was stored in wooden barrels, and the next day it was warmed up in a pot before sale.
Even the complimentary pickles had to be prepared ahead of time.
"How many bread should we prepare to sell tomorrow?" asked Lady Zhang.
Today, they steamed eighty bread and sold sixty, and steamed fifty buns and sold forty.
"Let’s prepare ninety bread and still forty buns," Lian Manman decided after some thought.
"If we had eighty bread today and twenty left over, preparing ninety for tomorrow, isn’t that too many?" asked Lady Zhang.
"It shouldn’t be too many," Lian Manman said, "Today, nobody knew that we opened a breakfast shop and had such bread for sale. Now they know, there will definitely be more buyers tomorrow."
Lady Zhang thought about it and agreed.
"Then let’s prepare ninety, even if there are leftovers, we can eat them ourselves, and it won’t be a waste," Lady Zhang said.
"Shouldn’t we prepare more buns?" Wu Lang asked.
"No, just forty," Lian Manman was quite adamant about this. Buns and plain fermented bread were not the same; those who wanted to be satisfied and slightly consider taste wouldn’t buy their buns. Those who bought buns wanted to enjoy the taste.
Therefore, the sales strategy for buns should also be different from that for plain fermented bread.
Every day only forty buns, first come, first served. If you come late, there won’t be any left. Scarcity increases value, it will enhance the buns’ status, slowly build a reputation, and then increase production.
The family listened to Lian Manman’s words, some of them not quite understanding, but these days, in business matters, Lian Manman had almost never been wrong, and they had become accustomed to listening to her. Only Wu Lang and Xiao Qi were listening extra attentively.
By the time everything was prepared, it was already dark.
"I’ll sleep here tonight; you take the kids back home, and come back early in the morning," Lian Shouxin told Lady Zhang.
"I’ll stay too," Wu Lang said.
The shop did indeed need someone to stay overnight, and Lady Zhang did not object. She took Lian Manman, Lian Zhizhi, and Xiao Qi back to their old home to sleep. The next day, it was still dark when the whole family got up, washed up a bit, and headed straight for the breakfast shop.
It was another morning of hustle and bustle, and the closing time was earlier than yesterday.
Ninety plain fermented bread were sold, eighty in total; four pots of big bone broth were sold; and one pot of porridge, along with all forty stuffing buns, were sold out.
The third day, the fourth day, the family got more and more skilled, and Lian’s Breakfast Shop’s business steadily grew.
That day, during closing and inventory, Lian Manman calculated, the day’s turnover was two hundred eighty Wen Money. Ahead of the past two days’ and these days’, each day they were making an extra ten or twenty Wen Money, and after subtracting all costs, the profit was one hundred seventy-nine Wen Money. The quantity of buns was increasing, and like the bread, they were almost selling out, so not only did the numerical total increase, the profitability did as well.
"Minus the wages for all of us today, twenty-five Wen Money, today we made a net profit of one hundred fifty-four Wen Money," Lian Manman announced.
"Even with the fatigue, it’s worth it," Lady Zhang said, patting her sore arms with satisfaction.
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Here’s one Chapter for now; please send pink, pink is powerful, there’s a second update tonight. (The weather is getting cooler, and Ruoyan is very happy in heart. A few more pink tickets would be even more perfect, roar) (To be continued... If you like this work, you are welcome to cast your recommendation votes and monthly votes on Qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
