Rural Farming: My Buildings Can Be Upgraded

Chapter 57: Chapter 56: Good News

On the west end of the main street in Mountain Ridge Town, Ma Sandao saw Lin Dongyue off. He returned home to find his wife waiting for him.

"Sandao, why don’t you just go work for them? I heard there are a lot of tourists up on that mountain now."

Ma Sandao looked at his empty restaurant, his mind drifting back over the years.

In his younger days, he was full of ambition. With his signature All-Beef Banquet and considerable skill, he had built a solid business for himself in Mountain Ridge Town.

Later, unwilling to let his skills stagnate, he closed his restaurant, took his family, and went to work in large-scale restaurants to learn more.

But it turned out to be completely different from what he had imagined. He spent two years stuck on prep work in the back kitchen and never once got to cook on a stove.

After drifting around for a few years, his spirit was worn down. With his children now grown, he returned to this small town.

To his surprise, the culinary skills he’d learned elsewhere produced dishes that no longer suited the tastes of the town’s residents.

Even the All-Beef Banquet business now had several competitors in the county, leaving him at a loss.

"Sandao, our son has been wanting me to come over and help with the kids for a while now. After buying a house, the two of them are under a lot of financial pressure..."

"Alright, stop nagging. I’ll go, okay? I’ll go."

After saying this, Ma Sandao glanced at the "Ma Sandao’s All-Beef Banquet" sign outside his door and headed into the back kitchen.

...

Lin Feng was surprised that Ma Sandao had agreed that very evening and would be coming for a cooking trial the next day.

But that wasn’t the only piece of good news. Hu Zhiming had just arrived for work and ran over to say, "Brother Lin, all the wooden materials for the Lord’s Mansion have been sorted out."

"What? How so fast? Weren’t they supposed to arrive after the end of the month?"

"They hired more people, brought in new equipment, and rushed the order for us."

Of course, Hu Zhiming didn’t mention that he had been hounding them every day, or that his payments were always prompt.

Seeing this, the supplier wanted to recoup their capital quickly, so they put other jobs on hold to focus on finishing this one.

Nowadays, clients who paid so promptly were a rare breed. Some would delay payments for so long they could drive a factory out of business.

"Does this mean the Lord’s Mansion can be completed soon?"

"It depends on the craftsmen. If they’re fast enough, it shouldn’t even take half a month."

The foundation in Lin Xian Village was already laid, so it was just a matter of shipping the materials over and assembling them according to the blueprints.

Even if some parts needed on-site adjustments, it wouldn’t take much time.

Most of the buildings in Lin Xian Village were now being constructed this way, which was extremely fast.

There was actually an even faster method—prefabricated houses—but they didn’t look very good, so Lin Feng had rejected the idea.

The current wooden houses looked very pleasant and fit the development model of a scenic tourist area.

"How are the preparations for constructing the mountain paths coming along?"

"We’re already planning the routes. We’re preparing to clear the northern mountain path first, and then we’ll start building the cultivation zone."

"For the animal husbandry zone to the west, we plan to clear a simple path first and reinforce it later."

"Stick to that schedule. Let’s get the buildings inside the village constructed first."

Lin Feng considered whether he should take advantage of the fact that no one knew about the situation in the mountains yet and go build some Wells.

After all, the appearance of these Wells could be changed based on the materials used. He could build them entirely out of stone, make them look seamless, and pass them off as natural springs.

He decided that if he had some free time today, he would go take care of it and solve the mountain’s water source problem first.

His father soon arrived with Ma Sandao. The man was thin and stood at least 1.9 meters tall, not looking much like a chef.

Lin Feng noticed he had brought his own knives and was clearly curious about Lin Xian Village.

"Sandao, this is my son, Lin Feng."

"Boss Lin, this place of yours is truly impressive. So many tourists come here."

"Uncle Sandao, you can just call me Xiaofeng. Let me show you to the kitchen. The Restaurant isn’t built yet, so for now, you’ll just need to cook for the staff.

"I offer two payment models here, Uncle Sandao. One is a base salary plus a share of the profits, and the other is a fixed monthly salary."

Ma Sandao asked, "What is the base salary for the profit-sharing option? And what’s the fixed monthly salary?"

"For a chef, the first option is a base of four thousand, and the fixed salary is eight thousand.

"You don’t have to decide right away, Uncle Sandao. You can ask the other people who work here before making a choice."

The two salary models had been proposed by his two finance employees after they started, mainly to give people a choice.

In fact, based on Lin Xian Village’s current income, the net profit bonus this month—not counting his capital investments—was already over 3,500. If his investments were included, the profit would be negative.

He wasn’t some heartless capitalist, so his method of calculating profit only factored in monthly fixed expenses and income, excluding large-scale investments.

"Mm, I understand."

When it came to matters involving money, Ma Sandao certainly wasn’t going to make a decision on the spot.

In truth, seeing the number of tourists in Lin Xian Village, he was already leaning toward the first option. He had seen for himself the impact these tourists had on Mountain Ridge Town recently.

As long as Lin Xian Village could maintain its current volume of tourists, the profits would definitely be substantial.

At lunch, Ma Sandao’s trial-run staff meal earned the approval of the entire staff.

Compared to ordinary home-style cooking, a professional chef’s skill was on a whole other level.

"Uncle Sandao, when will you have time to make an All-Beef Banquet for everyone?"

Hu Zhiming had heard that Ma Sandao could make the All-Beef Banquet and used to be famous for it, so he was eager to try it.

Hearing this, Zhao Shiyun, who was sitting nearby, immediately looked up, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes, yes! I want to try the All-Beef Banquet too!"

Ma Sandao said, "That’s up to the boss."

Everyone turned to look at Lin Feng. Indeed, this was a decision only he could make.

"Alright. Once the Lord’s Mansion is finished, we can say that Lin Xian Village’s basic infrastructure is complete. I’ll buy a few head of cattle then, and we’ll have an All-Beef Banquet."

Everyone was thrilled to hear they would get to eat an All-Beef Banquet. They began counting the days, and some even started wondering which farm had the best quality beef.

Nearby, the Daoist priest Feng Ziling, who didn’t eat beef, paid no mind to their discussion about the All-Beef Banquet.

As long as he wasn’t the one eating it, he couldn’t care less what others ate. It had nothing to do with him.

After the meal, Hu Xia pulled Lin Feng over to a nearby pavilion. "About that archery competition," she said, "they’ve contacted me. They said the proposal is ready."

"Then have them come over to discuss it. If it looks good, we’ll start promoting it."

"Okay. The Arrow Tower will need some modifications, especially the target range. It needs to be properly set up."

"If the proposal is solid, just follow their design. We can use it ourselves for future events."

With Lin Feng’s approval, Hu Xia began to handle the matter. Her main task was to have Zheng Kang bring over the event proposal.

Additionally, she had to oversee the renovation of the Arrow Tower area and the promotional work for the competition.

Promotion, however, was simple. Her "Mukbang Whale" streaming account had gained over 600,000 followers from broadcasting about Lin Xian Village.

She just needed to promote it on her stream, and most of the tourists who came would hear about the competition.

She could also give the county TV station a heads-up. They would probably be interested too.

With the commercial street at the foot of the mountain now under construction, the county had clearly increased its investment in the area. Even the mountain roads were being widened.

She had heard they were actively looking for other scenic spots around Mountain Ridge Town that could be developed, hoping to create a synergistic link with Lin Xian Village.