Iced Porridge

Dusì thought that Ina had something to tell her, so she followed her to Fatil Vineyard without hesitation. Only when Ina asked the steward to prepare wine, fruit, and lounge chairs, did Dusì finally react, "Aren't we supposed to work here? We could check on the progress of wine brewing, examine the land usage, inquire about workers' salaries..."

Ina cut her off by stuffing an orange into her mouth and pushed her down onto the lounge chair before reclining on one herself.

The steward and his subordinates were incredibly efficient. They not only brought two lounge chairs but also set up a large umbrella, a wrought-iron round table with the vineyard's best wine, and a fresh fruit plate on top. Freshly picked tulips and forget-me-nots were placed in a vase.

Seeing Ina finally appearing at Fatil Vineyard, the steward, Morton, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since Miss Ina bought Fatil Vineyard, it had always been the young woman next to her who came to inquire about day-to-day affairs and took the vineyard's fruits and wine. Morton thought that Fatil Vineyard had been forgotten by Miss Ina. A vineyard ignored by its owner can easily decline, possibly not receiving enough funds for day-to-day operations. The steward could also lose authority, unable to manage workers effectively.

Morton was thinking about seizing an opportunity to make an appearance in front of Ina, to subtly mention his efforts in running the vineyard on her behalf these past days. But upon reflection, he realized he didn't really have any accomplishments to show.

The enormous oak barrel brought by Miss Ina had been used only once for white wine and once for red wine, consuming nearly 4,000 liters of the finest grape must, and all the brewed wine was taken away. This year, the vineyard produced less than 6,000 liters of grape must in total. The remaining must be competently fermented by two apprentices without a wine master's guidance, just waiting for maturation before being stored in oak barrels.

The subpar grape with two first-time wine apprentices, Morton could already imagine the quality of this year's wine from the vineyard. With this thought, he made a hasty retreat.

The place where Ina was resting now was close to the oak forest in the vineyard. The sunlight was just right today, filtering through the leaves and casting shifting patterns of light and shadow on the ground. The smell of the mature oak trees combined with the scent of the specially cultivated edible grapes reminded Ina of a prestigious fragrance with top notes of ripe berries, middle notes of the vanilla root, and base notes of warm, clean oak.

Ina took a deep breath, feeling as if she was walking along a forest path in early autumn, with rose-colored berries maturing on the bushes, leaves, and acorns scattered all over the ground, while she leisurely...

An abrupt voice broke in, "Over the past month, the Rize people have earned over 1,200 points but spent less than 700. I believe there are some contradictions in this. Although it hasn't exploded now, it might affect..."

Ina helplessly facepalmed, being awakened from her daydream by Dusì. She glanced at the ledger in Dusì's hand and regretted not temporarily confiscating her space ring. Dusì had to go to the ice field every day to get the vegetables and gather the daily harvest, so Ina exchanged a space ring for her from the store. The legacy of the Space God on the Moro Continent was quite intact, so space rings were not very rare. Ina only spent 500 achievement points to get a space ring with a volume of 10 cubic meters.

However, the Time God had left almost no heritage behind, so many nobles' space rings could only extend the shelf life of stored items through various magic circles, without the ability to stop time.

Ina sighed, "Reading ledgers under the sunlight is very harmful to the eyes."

Dusì moved into the shadow under the umbrella and continued, "The planting area for carrots, bitter gourd, and okra can be reduced. The restaurant cannot consume the current output of these vegetables, and a lot has already accumulated. The planting area for strawberries can be appropriately expanded. The nobles in Neranka all like strawberry-flavored desserts."

Ina sat upright. Since Dusì was reporting work here, she couldn't act as if she hadn't heard. She originally planned to give her a day off, but since Dusì was a workaholic, that day off would have to be postponed!

She pondered for a moment, "According to my upcoming plans, we need to plant more red beans, sweet potatoes, and taro. You can decide whether to reduce or increase production for the other vegetables based on the recent consumption of the restaurant. As for strawberries," Ina paused slightly, "Are strawberries really that popular?"

Dusì flipped to another page, "Neranka had the highest turnover among all the branches in the last week and the week before, with the top three best-selling items being sandwiches, iced porridge, and various strawberry-flavored desserts, among which desserts had the highest profit."

Ina seemed to understand the key point. The strawberry seeds from the system were improved cream strawberries, which indeed tasted sweeter and juicier than ordinary strawberries.

With the [Daily Fortune] and [Thin Profit but High Sales] bonus statuses in the restaurant this month, she should take full advantage of this opportunity, and try to have the restaurant exceed 1000 transactions every day to sweep all the achievement points rewards of the three stages of [Thin Profit but High Sales].

Now the Long Yan Restaurant has three branches beside the main one in Mist Town.

Ina opened the restaurant management panel and pulled up the recent data on the daily number of transactions.

[Dragon Flame restaurant's average daily transactions and turnover in the past week

Mist Town: 57 transactions, 91 silver coins, 3 copper coins

Extreme Cold Icefield: 11 transactions, 0 coins

Neranka: 548 transactions, 3 gold coins, 67 silver coins, 6 copper coins

Silver Imperial Capital: 7 transactions, 64 silver coins]

The characteristics of the four shops were clear. Although the turnover of Mist Town plummeted after the mercenaries left, without the big-spending mercenaries, the profit also decreased a lot, but the advantage was stability. The residents of the town would go to the restaurant for a meal every few days, and the vegetables they ate on weekdays were also purchased from the restaurant.

Extreme Cold Icefield was a bit special. Currency did not circulate among the Rize people. They could exchange the points they earned for working for Ina for food from the vending machine in the wooden house. To establish this new currency system, Ina even set up a scoreboard to record the basic earning and consumption of the Rize people.

After spending 300 achievement points to modify the vending machine, it no longer only offered a few simple types of food that needed to be refreshed when sold out. Instead, it functioned like a food teleporter that could connect to the fridge and cabinets full of various foods, allowing anyone to choose at will.

However, the Rize people preferred to exchange points for vegetables they had grown themselves. Buying only vegetables did not constitute a valid transaction, which not only could not earn experience points and achievement points but also could not be included in the Dragon Flame Restaurant's sales statistics. Few people were willing to purchase the slightly more expensive prepared foods. Seeing the number 11, Ina was slightly surprised for a moment, as it was a big improvement compared to the week before when there might not have been eleven transactions in a month.

The branch in Neranka was now the most promising one. The Dragon Flame Restaurant's iced drinks and desserts had some reputation among the nobles in Neranka, and even people from nearby cities would come for them. Who could resist the unique features of the Dragon Flame Restaurant? Iced drinks melted very quickly, and even if other shops wanted to resell them, they couldn't do it unless they could find an ice mage to help. Ordinary shop owners could not afford to hire an ice mage and could only watch enviously as carriages of nobles drove towards the Dragon Flame restaurant.

The best-selling item in Neranka was sandwiches, followed by cold drinks. Don't think that the nobles, who are the main consumers of ice cream, are the biggest contributors to the restaurant. In terms of sales, the sailors and dockworkers at the port contribute the most.

The Dragon Flame Restaurant's sandwiches were quite large, with fresh vegetables inside. Most importantly, the meat inside was beast meat, not fish. Neranka was by the sea, and ordinary restaurants used to fish in their dishes whenever possible because it was cheaper. Sailors ate fish on the boat and off the boat, and they were practically sick of it. So they especially liked the sandwiches from the Dragon Flame Restaurant.

Ina noticed that the sailors and workers were very envious of the cooling effect of ice cream. The sun by the sea was so harsh, and they were doing strenuous work. When a merchant's ship arrived at the port, unloading was a race against time, regardless of whether it was noon or dusk. The workers sometimes thought, if they could also have the ice cream that the nobles bought, they heard that as soon as you take a bite, it immediately feels as cool as having a mouthful of ice, no wonder it's called 'ice' cream!

The workers were not willing to buy ice cream, and Ina couldn't easily reduce the price. It contained milk and eggs, and the cost was not low. But there were other cold drinks at low costs! The ice cream machine could make not only ice cream but also slushies, so Ina came up with iced porridge. You just need a bowl of slush, poured with coconut milk or strawberry juice. If you don't want to spend more money, you can serve it now, for just five copper coins. If you want to add some ingredients, there are many choices. Blanche liked to eat this, she didn't want coconut milk, she wanted sweet milk, with a spoonful of glutinous rice, a spoonful of honeyed red beans, and a large piece of mango flesh. Ruby always teased her for having the same taste as those sailors, not like a lady of nobility at all.

Although the sales volume in the Silver Empire's capital was a bit pitiful, the amount per transaction was much higher than in other branches. Ina was familiar with the few people who came to the capital branch, mostly professors and their students, the dean, and Lusen's senior Eulanda. However, they all spent generously, ordering a full table of dishes each time they came.

After looking at the four shops one by one, the branch in the capital had the most potential. But if you want to increase sales quickly in a short period of time, you have to rely on Neranka.

Ina suddenly asked Dusì: "Even if we reduce the planting area of carrots, bitter gourds, and okras, the yield won't drop so quickly, right?"

Dusì nodded: "Even if we notify to reduce the planting area of these crops today, we have to wait for the current batch in the ground to mature. For at least the next two weeks, there will be carrots and bitter gourds, and other vegetables that are now accumulating, continue to be harvested."

She frowned: "Carrots are okay, they can be stored for a long time, but bitter gourds and okras cannot be stored for a long time. If this continues, not only will the warehouse behind the restaurant be filled up, but there may also be some vegetables rotting."

The fridge cabinet has long been unable to accommodate ingredients, and now it only stores various dishes prepared by Ina in advance. The Dragon Flame Restaurant in the Mist Town still has three or four empty rooms, all cleaned up for storing ingredients. Fruits and fresh meat that are really easy to spoil are all kept in her game backpack. Time doesn't flow in the backpack, making it the safest storage method.

However, there are not many empty slots in the game backpack. Each type of ingredient takes up one slot, and the stacking quantity has a limit, so it still depends on Dusì noticing redundant food output like today and reducing production at the source.

"Don't worry, I know how to consume these vegetables that everyone doesn't like to eat." Ina showed a subtle smile.