Chapter 60: Meat Buns
“This popcorn looks like a lot, but it’s actually quite insubstantial,” Bai Lixia’s eyes flashed a hint of disappointment.
Despite the large basket, it hadn’t even sold half the amount compared to the dried sweet potatoes. The difference was quite evident, especially since she felt the popcorn was even tastier than the sweet potatoes and should have fetched more money.
“Although it seems like we didn’t earn much from this basket, the advantage lies in lower production costs,”
Su Mulan explained with a smile. “Selling dried sweet potatoes typically incurs costs of around 30% to 40% of the selling price. But for this large basket of popcorn, including the corn kernels, oil, and sugar, the total cost is less than 30%. Besides, making popcorn is less time-consuming and labor-intensive compared to dried sweet potatoes, and we can do it anytime without worrying about the weather.”
“Next time, let’s bring more popcorn to sell. Slowly, the earnings will increase, right? Making money is something that takes time. Being impatient won’t get you hot tofu.”
That’s true. This basket alone fetched thirty-nine cents. If they had two baskets, it would nearly be eighty cents. With nine markets in a month, just from selling popcorn alone, they could earn close to one or two taels of silver. Deducting costs, that’s about six hundred cents in profit.
Over the years, that would be several taels of silver, wouldn’t it? And if they add dried sweet potatoes, they could easily make more than ten taels a year. With that much silver, life at home would certainly become much more comfortable.
“Mother is right,”
Bai Lixia nodded emphatically in agreement.
Su Mulan saw the bright light in Bai Lixia’s eyes, knowing that she was probably calculating something in her mind. She smiled and gently patted her on the head, “Business tends to expand as we go along. In the future, we’ll have more ways to earn money. Let’s take it slow, no rush.”
“Yeah, I trust you, Mother,” Bai Lixia’s voice sounded a bit more assured than before.
She truly believed, from the bottom of her heart.
Especially after following Su Mulan to the market and witnessing her confident and agile business demeanor, her belief in this idea only grew stronger.
“It’s good to trust Mother.”
Su Mulan smiled and put the two empty bamboo baskets onto her back. “Let’s go, we’ll buy some meat and make steamed meat buns for lunch.”
“Alright, let’s have meat buns,” Bai Lixia smiled with squinted eyes, even bouncing a bit as she walked, showing the lively and energetic demeanor typical of a child.
Since she arrived here, Su Mulan had noticed that these four children were more sensible, mature, and steady than other children of the same age. It had once made Su Mulan quite worried. Now, seeing Bai Lixia’s current appearance, she felt a trace of relief in her heart.
As a mother, she seemed to have met the basic qualification criteria.
Su Mulan raised her eyebrows slightly.
They bought one and a half pounds of pork shoulder and two green onions. After Su Mulan and Bai Lixia returned home, they started bustling about.
The dough, which had been kneaded with alkaline water on the chopping board since early morning, was now fully risen. They rolled it into thin, even circles, filled them with the well-prepared pork and onion stuffing, and pinched the edges of the buns closed.
The round buns lined up neatly on the chopping board.
Bai Shuiliu and Bai Lixia wanted to help make the buns together, but it had been a long time since either of them had eaten or made buns. Given the preciousness of the pork stuffing and the pure white dough, they were afraid of messing up and wasting the filling and dough.