Chapter 37 - 36: Medicinal Garden Story

Chapter 37: Chapter 36: Medicinal Garden Story

For the small, eight-person Medicinal Garden, the expenses needed to be calculated first.

In this world, the minimum annual living expense for a normal family of five was 57 Gold Coins.

The situation at the Medicinal Garden was slightly better. Since the land and the property belonged to them, the major expense of rent could be exempted. However, the costs of food, fuel, and clothing were absolutely unavoidable.

Calculated this way, the minimum fixed annual living expense for the Medicinal Garden would be 72 Gold Coins, which equaled 1,440 Silver Coins. On average, this meant a daily expenditure of four Silver Coins.

In other words, they had to earn at least four Silver Coins a day just to keep the Medicinal Garden from going bankrupt.

And that was only the minimum expense. Gaode was now the owner. Naturally, he couldn’t keep eating black bread and pea soup every day like a slave; improving the meals was a must. This would be another significant extra expense.

Currently, the Medicinal Garden’s only fixed output was the one batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion that Gaode brewed every day. Phil’s Magic Pharmacy offered a purchase price of two Gold Coins for a batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion. The raw materials cost around 30 Silver Coins, leaving a profit of about 10 Silver Coins.

However, because the Medicinal Garden could produce some of the required herbs on its own without needing to buy them from the Magic Pharmacy, the cost could be compressed to between 20 and 25 Silver Coins. This boosted the profit to between 15 and 20 Silver Coins.

Furthermore, for every batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion he brewed, Gaode could produce an extra half ounce of the potion. That meant for every twelve batches of Basic Spider Venom Potion he made, he could yield one extra batch.

"Buy twelve, get one free." Out of 360 batches a year, he would get 30 extra batches.

Calculating up to this point, Gaode couldn’t help but let out a breath. Fortunately, Mage Seda had worked painstakingly in his early years to establish a decently sized Herb Garden and train a few apprentices who understood herb cultivation. Otherwise, Gaode would have genuinely considered running away.

With a profit of 15 to 20 Silver Coins and counting expenses as five Silver Coins, there would still be a surplus of 10 to 15 Silver Coins a day. That would be 300 to 450 Silver Coins a month. And 3,600 to 5,400 Silver Coins a year. Taking the median, an annual surplus of 4,500 Silver Coins converted to Sean Gold Coins would be 225 Gold Coins.

"Two hundred and twenty thousand a year..." A Sean Gold Coin’s purchasing power was roughly equivalent to a thousand yuan in Gaode’s previous life. Running the numbers in his head, he arrived at a preliminary estimate of his annual income.

Gaode thought, "I’ll definitely have to give the others a cut. If I give out an annual dividend of 10 Gold Coins per person, I’d still have an income of 150 Sean Gold Coins."

With dividends, everyone would truly be tied to the same boat. Only then would they work harder and consider themselves part of the Medicinal Garden. Gaode understood this principle well.

As for the 30 "free" batches of Basic Spider Venom Potion, those were pure profit derived from his own abilities and didn’t need to be shared. At two Gold Coins per batch, that would be another 60 Gold Coins in revenue.

"A hundred and fifty plus sixty, that’s two hundred and ten Sean Gold Coins..." he mused.

"If I can open the magic wooden box left behind by Mage Seda, and if there are Magic Potion formulas inside, maybe my income could increase even more.

"Besides, through practice, the two apprentices capable of brewing the Brief Rest Potion might be able to improve their success rates...

"Some of the herbs produced in the Herb Garden are raw materials for the Basic Endurance Potion. I haven’t mastered this Magic Potion yet, so I can just sell those herbs.

"That’ll be another source of extra income. It won’t be much, but it’ll be stable.

"Wow, isn’t this just a business simulation game?" After snapping back to reality from his calculations, Gaode couldn’t help but chuckle.

There was a sudden sense of a complete genre shift.

"It still feels like something is missing," he thought.

Gaode pondered for a moment. Realizing what it was, he immediately stood up, grabbed a pen and paper, and began scribbling rapidly.

A moment later, he had written:

Name: Seda Medicinal Garden

Members: 8

Fixed Assets: One Medicinal Garden, four medicine fields (producing Snake Tooth Grass, Mountain Wormwood, High Mountain Iron Wood Root, and Fiery Sun Fruit, respectively)

Cash on Hand: 8 Copper Coins

Fixed Expenses: 4-5 Silver Coins/day (living expenses)

Income: 15-20 Silver Coins/day (fixed output of Basic Spider Venom Potion); unforeseeable variable income is temporarily excluded

Variable Expenses: Herb seedlings, fertilizers, materials needed to mix "nutrient soil"...

Looking at the custom stats panel he had drawn up on the paper, Gaode nodded in satisfaction. This was the right vibe.

Calculating things this way, the Medicinal Garden had a lot of potential. Gaode was instantly filled with motivation. He didn’t really have a choice but to be motivated. Right now, the entire Medicinal Garden was counting on his meager output!

As the hope of the entire garden, Gaode immediately got up, went to his workshop, and brewed a batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion on the spot.

On the early morning of the sixth day of the Spring Bud Moon.

Gaode, whose injuries had yet to fully recover, left the Medicinal Garden with the batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion he had just brewed the day before, heading toward the city’s commercial district.

It wasn’t that he was being overly proactive; it was simply that they were completely out of food at "home."

He didn’t know if Mage Seda had stored all his savings in the magic wooden box, or if he simply had no savings to speak of at all. Regardless, when the apprentices cleaned up the ruins, they didn’t find so much as a single Copper Coin. And the Medicinal Garden’s daily expense of at least four Silver Coins was unavoidable.

Fortunately, the food purchases for the Medicinal Garden were made several days in advance. Coupled with Gaode’s own "savings" of 10 Silver Coins and eight Copper Coins, they had barely managed to scrape by for the past few days.

But by today, they truly couldn’t hold on any longer.

After the expenses of the last few days, Gaode’s savings were almost completely drained. With only eight Copper Coins left, everyone was going to go hungry if they didn’t get any income soon.

This wasn’t Gaode’s first time visiting Hogan City’s commercial district, but it was indeed his first time leaving the Medicinal Garden early in the morning. Back when Mage Seda was still around, Gaode had to "work" during the mornings. Only in the afternoons, after brewing Magic Potions, did he have a little time to himself.

The crisp, cold morning air carried a lingering, foul stench. This was because Gaode had arrived at Hogan City’s slum district. Given the suburban location of the Medicinal Garden, it was practically impossible to avoid the slum district when heading toward the city center.

"Once I have money, I definitely have to hire a carriage to commute," he thought. The dignified Master of the Medicine Garden, whose only mode of transportation was still his own two legs, set a small goal for himself. Then, he held his breath and quickened his pace.

By the time he passed through the slum and residential districts and arrived at the commercial district, the sun was already hanging high in the sky. Though it wasn’t peak bustling hours yet, a flow of pedestrians had already begun to appear on the streets.

Strapped for cash, Gaode ignored the tantalizing aromas drifting from the food stalls lining the street and headed straight for the Pierre Grocery Store.

He currently had only one batch of Basic Spider Venom Potion on hand. Phil’s Magic Pharmacy wouldn’t accept such a small quantity. Therefore, even though the Pierre Grocery Store’s purchase price was seven Silver Coins lower than that of Phil’s Magic Pharmacy, Gaode had no choice but to opt for the former.

When Gaode arrived at the Pierre Grocery Store, he happened to catch Pierre just opening the shop’s front doors. Since he had always visited in the afternoon before, he never expected Pierre’s business hours to start so late. In his mind, small shops like this should operate on an "eight-to-ten" schedule, earning hard-fought money through long hours.

Compared to Gaode’s mild surprise, Pierre looked utterly astounded to see him.

"Kid, it’s been a long time. I thought something had happened to you," Pierre called out first in greeting.

Gaode had been grounded by Mage Seda since the fourteenth day of the Awakening Moon, and today was already the sixth day of the Spring Bud Moon. Counting the days, it had been around twenty days, so it was no wonder Pierre’s first reaction upon seeing him was surprise.