Xu's Old Store consisted of a shop at the front and residential quarters at the back.
Aunt Lee brought Yan Xing to her family's restaurant table, first serving him a basket of soup dumplings, and soon after, a large bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup.
Yan Xing didn't stand on ceremony with Aunt Lee, grabbing a dumpling and biting into it, then taking a sip of the soup.
Hmm...
Aunt Lee had claimed she was a good cook, and it really wasn't an empty boast.
The simple breakfast was many times tastier than what one would find at an ordinary street food stall.
After swallowing a few soup dumplings and finishing the bowl of soup, Yan Xing took a napkin from Aunt Lee and wiped his mouth.
He said, "Aunt Lee, your meat has an authentic flavor. It's been a long time since I've had such genuine braised meat. I've come to your place this time to discuss a long-term business partnership..."
Aunt Lee was overjoyed at the prospect of a significant business opportunity.
"Little Yan, you can ask around. Our Xu's Old Store is definitely honest and reputable, and we are particular about our ingredients. Otherwise, our meat wouldn't have that kind of flavor. Buying braised meat from me is definitely tasty and affordable..."
Yan Xing laughed and said, "Aunt Lee, we can't just live on meat. We don't have the budget for that, and our bodies couldn't take it anyway. I've come to offer you the catering contract for our construction site.
"Breakfast, lunch, and dinner—can you handle that?"
Aunt Lee hadn't expected Yan Xing's visit to be about contracting her to cater for his construction site.
To be honest, it is indeed big business, but not quite what I had in mind.
Her establishment was a braised meat shop. If she were to take on catering for a construction site, it would mean adding more stoves and cooking utensils. It would also involve purchasing and preparing other foodstuffs like grains and vegetables.
Hiring extra help would be inevitable.
If it's a long-term contract, it's definitely profitable. My only worry is that they might have too few people, or that they might leave after just three to five days of work.
"Little Yan, how many people do you have? And how much longer is the project going to take?"
Yan Xing thought for a moment.
Currently, including the farmers in my territory and myself, there are 31 mouths to feed. Tomorrow, with an additional 14 farmers, it will be 45. We can't let the ten captured werewolves starve either. Their appetites are quite large, so let's count them as fifteen people.
Not planning to let the werewolves starve, Yan Xing said to Aunt Lee, "Right now, there are 60 people working, and the number will definitely increase in the future. As for the duration, it's hard to say, but we don't plan on setting up our own kitchen within the next month or two.
"We will order everything from you.
"The meal standard per person per day is 35 yuan."
Hearing Yan Xing set the meal standard at 35 yuan per person per day, Aunt Lee couldn't help exclaiming in surprise, "Is the food on your construction site that good? Elsewhere, 25 yuan per person per day is already quite decent."
Yan Xing said, "It's just 10 yuan more; I don't mind the difference. When workers eat well and enjoy their meals, they have the energy to work. If you're willing to take the contract, I'll settle it with you now.
"I'll pay you for half a month's meals when I pick up lunch at noon."
The cost of meals for 60 people per day would be 2,100 yuan, totaling 63,000 yuan a month.
Even if I cook honestly, after subtracting costs, the profit would still be over ten thousand yuan!
This is truly a God of Wealth walking right through my door!
Aunt Lee was beaming with joy, especially since Yan Xing was willing to pay half a month's meal costs in advance.
"Little Yan! You can rest assured and leave the catering to me; I guarantee every meal will be like dining in a restaurant."
The territory's food situation was thus entirely contracted to Xu's Old Store.
This decision was one Yan Xing had made after careful consideration.
With the territory facing unknown threats, we must focus all our resources on defense and construction.
Every worker needs to be on the front lines.
At a time like this, it certainly isn't suitable to pull from our limited manpower to spare a few cooks for meal preparation.
Moreover, I don't have the time to procure ingredients.
I've now outsourced the territory's meals to Xu's Old Store. Although it costs a bit more, the quality and quantity of food will be guaranteed.
Eat, then get straight to work; every second counts.
As long as I can hold onto the territory, what's a little money?
After settling the meal arrangements with Aunt Lee, Yan Xing stuffed the last soup dumpling into his mouth and said, "Now that we've agreed, Aunt Lee, you can start preparing today's lunch. We have 46 people today, 60 tomorrow. I'll come to pick it up at noon and will give you the meal payment then.
"Oh, Aunt Lee... Is there a place nearby that sells building materials?"
"Yes, just follow the road in front of our store and head straight west..."
After leaving Xu's Old Store, Yan Xing didn't go straight to the building materials market. Instead, he left the tricycle at the entrance of the braised meat shop to charge and took a taxi back to the city center.
He visited a few gold shops and sold 50 Gold Coins, adding four hundred and fifty thousand yuan to his wallet.
Then Yan Xing went to a used car market and spent a little over twenty thousand yuan to buy a stake-bed cargo truck.
It had a single-row cabin and a load capacity of 5 tons, enough to meet his current needs.
Finally, Yan Xing drove his newly upgraded "steed" to the building materials market.
I should purchase a hundred shovels to upgrade the farmers' weapons.
Having them wave pitchforks around really hurts their military image.
Shovels are good!
They can be used for digging during work.
In a fight... they can be used to shovel, swat, stab, and if necessary, even act as shields to block attacks.
In the future, shovels will be the standard-issue equipment for this Lord's farmers.
I'll buy a thousand pairs of gloves.
Laborers must protect their hands first. If their hands get injured or develop blisters, wouldn't that affect work efficiency?
As a boss who understands how to squeeze the most out of labor, I must first know how to protect my workforce.
Gloves must be standard issue for the farmers.
If they break, they'll just be replaced. This Lord isn't concerned about such trivial expenses.
Then, I need to consider what materials to use for constructing the territory.
My ideal territory would, of course, be built entirely of reinforced concrete. The territory walls should be more than five meters thick, and the walls of the main buildings should all be at least two meters thick.
It would be surrounded by hundreds of gun turrets, thousands of bunkers, and photon towers everywhere...
Of course, that's just wishful thinking; the money I have now probably isn't enough to build even one gun turret.
Time doesn't allow me to slowly work with rebar and pour concrete.
Even if I bought bricks to build a wall, there might not be enough time.
So Yan Xing looked for a foreman in the building materials market who seemed easy to talk to.
He first offered a cigarette and then explained his needs, "It's like this... I've taken on a project and want to quickly enclose the site to prevent people from stealing materials at night..."
The foreman, smoking the cigarette, said to Yan Xing, "I can tell you're an amateur at a glance. If you want to stop people from stealing things, why not just put up a wire mesh fence around the site first?
"You first enclose the construction site with a wire mesh fence, and then wrap coils of barbed wire around it.
"Do you know what barbed wire is?
"It's that steel wire you see in war movies, the kind used to stop infantry. It's covered in sharp barbs that'll tear off a piece of flesh if you get snagged.
"Wrap that stuff around your fence, and most people won't even think about climbing it. They'll take one look and walk the other way.
"It's not expensive. I can recommend a supplier; it's about sixty cents a meter."