Chapter 27 - 26: Setting the Menu

Chapter 27: Chapter 26: Setting the Menu

When Ning He appeared at the door looking invigorated, Connie knew she had succeeded.

The rest unfolded as expected.

Ning He first let Connie and Ah Huai taste the pure, unadulterated rice wine. The two of them were stunned into silence for a long time.

Alcohol was something only sold in high-end restaurants within the Second Ring; it was hard to find even in the Third Ring.

They had never seen or tasted it before.

This single sip—fragrant, sweet, and slightly heady—filled all their imaginings of what alcohol could be. It was a liquid that left a gentle warmth at the back of their throats and a delicate scent in its wake.

Next came the rice wine cakes, rice wine sweet dumplings, rice wine oatmeal, and rice wine sticky cakes. Connie and Ah Huai ate one delicious dish after another, served up by Ning He, until their bellies were stuffed. Throughout the entire process, they forgot to even speak.

They simply couldn’t stop.

It was an utterly unique indulgence.

With these items, the breakfast menu was quickly decided.

Fried dough sticks: great value and perfect for drawing in customers.

Hearty and delicious brown sugar glutinous rice cakes.

Rice wine sweet dumplings, as good as any dessert, and rice wine oatmeal, perfect for pairing with the fried dough sticks.

And finally, three-flavor rice cakes: original, rice wine, and red bean paste.

With that, the menu would be rich enough.

The mianwo, without scallions and ginger, had lost its signature, soul-defining aroma, so they wouldn’t sell it for now.

Ning He took out the cafeteria’s ingredient list, and the three of them began calculating costs and figuring out prices.

According to the handbook’s regulations, all stall menu prices had to be reviewed by the cafeteria. They had to ensure a certain profit margin but were not allowed to be excessively high. Furthermore, each stall had to have a base-price item to ensure students could afford it.

For example, a Zero-level Stall had to have one item priced at one original coin.

This price was indeed very low. Fortunately, the Mecha Academy had a special status, and the suppliers’ wholesale price for ingredients for the stalls was about sixty percent of the market retail price, so there was still room for profit.

Connie, having run a noodle shop for several years, was more experienced. Ning He followed her suggestion and adopted a tiered pricing strategy for the items.

The fried dough sticks, as the base-price item, would be 1 original coin each.

Original flavor rice cakes, 2 original coins per serving.

Rice wine cakes, rice wine oatmeal, and rice wine sweet dumplings, 3 original coins per serving.

Brown sugar glutinous rice cakes and red bean paste rice cakes would both be 4 original coins per serving.

Ning He did a quick calculation. After labor costs, the average profit margin was around twenty percent, which was about what she had expected.

"The total number of students and teachers at the Mecha Academy main campus is about twelve hundred. If we can just attract a third of them, our monthly profit will be substantial. Let’s do this, everyone!"

Full of high spirits, Ning He took the finalized menu to the First Ring. She found Wood at the academy cafeteria and handed him the list.

The items Ning He requested were all quite standard, but the one for a fermentation starter left Wood very surprised.

"You’re going to brew wine?"

Due to the academy’s special priority, suppliers included all of their products in the list. But no one had ever ordered a fermentation starter before.

In this era, brewing techniques were extremely rare. Anyone with that kind of skill wouldn’t be working in a cafeteria.

Ning He had already prepared her excuse on the way over.

"I partnered up with two talented people. They know how to brew a type of rice wine. It’s not very strong, so it’s perfect for cooking. I want to try using it as our specialty."

’Anyway, Uncle Wood doesn’t know Connie and the others, so Ning He could just pin it on them.’

Uncle Wood was a little shocked, but more than that, he was happy and pleasantly surprised.

"Great! When the time comes, I’ll definitely have to try it. I’ve never had alcohol in my entire life!"

The application was submitted smoothly. After listening to a few instructions from Uncle Wood, Ning He headed back.

With the academy matters settled and nothing to do over the weekend, Ning He decided to go check out the Fifth Ring.

After getting the information from Helen, Ning He thought about it carefully again and felt that the matter of selling vegetables was still risky. The fact that the shop was located in the Fifth Ring was evidence enough. She had to be more cautious and make sure no one realized she could produce a stable, high yield. Otherwise, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

Even a resourceful and skillful housewife like Helen couldn’t guarantee a high yield, even if she got lucky and there were no extreme temperature disasters for a while.

The numbers she reported could only be slightly higher than Helen’s, nothing too exaggerated.

On Saturday morning, Ning He cooked herself a bowl of rice wine sweet dumplings. After savoring the delicious meal, she put on a hat and set out.

The Fifth Ring was huge. Fortunately, Black Stone Lane wasn’t too far. Ning He took the light rail for over forty minutes, then a short ride on a three-wheeler, and arrived at the entrance to the lane.

Although its name had "Lane" in it, it was very wide. After all, the entire Fifth Ring was vast but had a population of only seventy thousand, so there was no need to be stingy with space.

Black Stone Lane was still quite lively at this hour. There were many people on the street, with clamorous noises breaking out from time to time. There even seemed to be sounds of fighting coming from the narrow alleyways. Compared to the Fourth Ring, life here was clearly not as peaceful. Ning He tutted, pulling the brim of her hat down lower as she walked forward along the stone-paved road.

Ning He kept her eyes fixed forward. When a man built like an iron tower walked toward her, she immediately stepped to the side, determined not to get into a conflict with anyone.

"Mutated species detected. Scanning now—"

The system’s voice suddenly rang out. Ning He jumped in fright and quickly stopped in her tracks.

"Scan complete. Mutated Goat, incomplete. Collection progress at 80%. Rewarding Host with 500 experience points. Please keep up the good work."

Ning He was a little dazed.

’This is inside the city. How can there be a mutated species?’

She carefully scanned her surroundings. Her gaze froze when it passed over the entrance of a small shop to her right rear.

’Isn’t that the old man who sells braised pork liver?’

Standing in front of him was that same tower-like man. The man had taken the plastic bag from his shoulder and laid it flat on the old man’s stall. The bag was open, and she could vaguely make out some chunks of red meat.

’That burly man actually brought back a mutated species from outside the city?’

Ning He was both horrified and a little excited.

’Does this mean her collection quest might be unlocked early?’

Her stare was so intense that the tower-like man quickly noticed. He turned to look at her, his sharp, beast-like gaze making Ning He flinch. She hurriedly turned away and continued walking forward, pretending that nothing was wrong.

Fortunately, the burly man didn’t follow. Ning He breathed a sigh of relief. A few minutes later, she successfully found the vegetable shop Helen had mentioned around a corner.

Ning He waited at the shop entrance for a moment. After the customers inside had left, she took a deep breath and walked in.

"What are you looking to buy?"

The shopkeeper was organizing a shelf. Hearing her footsteps, he asked nonchalantly without turning his head.

Only after entering the shop did Ning He discover with surprise that this vegetable shop sold an even wider variety than those in the Fourth Ring.

Usually, a vegetable shop would partner with a single supplier and have an incomplete selection. But here, you could find almost every type of vegetable available on the market, and even mushrooms.

’Mushrooms! You couldn’t even find those in the Fourth Ring.’

It took Ning He a good moment to compose herself. Facing the shopkeeper’s back, she lowered her voice. "Boss, I’m here to buy meat."

The shopkeeper turned around, looked her up and down, and sneered.

"You’ve come to the wrong shop. I sell vegetables here, not meat."

Ning He remembered Helen’s words and repeated, "I’m here to buy meat."

The shopkeeper’s expression soured. His small eyes narrowed, revealing a hint of menace.

"Looks to me like you’re here to cause trouble! Who sent you?"

Ning He steeled herself and said again, "I... I really am here to buy meat."

"Get lost, before I get physical!"

The shopkeeper was clearly angry and started rolling up his sleeves. Ning He hadn’t expected him to actually try to kick her out. She started backing away while continuing to insist:

"Boss, I’m here to buy meat! Boss!"

’Isn’t this the secret code?’

’Snap out of it!’

Just as Ning He was about to step out of the shop, a low whisper suddenly reached her.

"Go straight. Turn left at the third intersection. Black storefront."

Ning He stared at the fierce-looking shopkeeper in front of her. After a two-second daze, she understood.

"Got it. Thanks, Boss!"

"Hmph, now get lost!"

"On it!"

Ning He scurried off. In the blink of an eye, she had left the vegetable shop and arrived in front of the house with the black storefront the shopkeeper had mentioned.