Chapter 40: The Herb Garden

Eight people’s small herb garden—first, calculate the expenses.

In this world, the minimum annual living cost for a normal five-person family is 57 gold.

The herb garden’s situation is better, since the land and property are owned outright, so rent—a major expense—can be eliminated upfront.

But food, fuel, and clothing costs are unavoidable.

Calculating this way, the herb garden’s minimum annual living expense is 72 gold, or 1,440 silver, averaging four silver coins per day.

That means he must earn at least four silver coins daily to keep the garden from going bankrupt.

This is only the bare minimum expenditure.

Gao De is now the garden owner; he can no longer eat black bread and pea soup like a slave—he must improve his diet.

That’s another significant extra cost.

The garden’s only fixed output is the one set of basic spider venom potion that Gao De prepares daily.

The Phil Magic Shop pays two gold per set of basic spider venom potion; raw materials cost about thirty silver, yielding a profit of roughly ten silver.

But since some herbs can be grown in the garden itself, eliminating the need to buy from the shop, costs drop to twenty to twenty-five silver, raising profit to fifteen to twenty silver.

Each set of basic spider venom potion that Gao De prepares also yields an extra half ounce of potion.

That means for every twelve sets he makes, he gains one extra set.

“Buy twelve, get one free”—three hundred sixty sets a year, thirty free sets.

Gao De reached this point and couldn’t help sighing.

Fortunately, Master Seda had spent years building up a sizable herb garden and training apprentices skilled in herb cultivation, or else he’d have run away long ago.

With a profit of fifteen to twenty silver, and expenses set at five silver, he still has a daily surplus of ten to fifteen silver.

That’s three hundred to four hundred fifty silver per month.

That’s three thousand six hundred to five thousand four hundred silver per year.

Taking the midpoint, annual surplus is four thousand five hundred silver, or 225 gold in Xien coins.

“Twenty-two thousand…” One Xien gold coin has roughly the purchasing power of a thousand yuan from his past life; after calculating, he estimated his annual income.

“I’ll have to give others a share—ten gold coins each per year, leaving me with 150 Xien gold coins.”

With profit-sharing, everyone is truly tied to the same boat, working harder and seeing themselves as part of the garden—Gao De understood this well.

The thirty free sets of basic spider venom potion are pure profit—his personal gain, no sharing required.

At two gold per set, that’s another sixty gold.

“One hundred fifty plus sixty—that’s two hundred ten Xien gold coins.”

“If I can open Master Seda’s magic box and find potion recipes inside, income might rise further.”

“Also, those two apprentices who can brew the Minor Rest Potion—through practice, their success rate might improve.”

“Some herbs from the garden are raw materials for basic stamina potion, which I don’t know how to brew—so I can sell those herbs.”

“That’s extra income—not much, but stable.”

“Well, this is just a simulation management game,” Gao De chuckled after finishing his calculations.

It felt like the genre had suddenly shifted.

“Something still feels missing.”

Gao De pondered, then rose, grabbed paper and pen, and wrote furiously. Moments later:

Name: Seda Herb Garden

Personnel: 8. Fixed Assets: One herb garden, four herb plots (producing Snake Fang Grass, Mountain Wormwood, High Mountain Ironwood Root, Sunfire Fruit).

Cash on Hand: 8 copper.

Fixed Expenses: 4–5 silver/day (living costs). Income: 15–20 silver/day (fixed output of basic spider venom potion). Irregular income not counted. Irregular Expenses: Herb seedlings, fertilizer, materials for “nutrient soil.” Looking at his homemade spreadsheet, Gao De nodded in satisfaction.

That’s the ticket.

With these calculations, the herb garden still has real potential.

Gao De instantly felt energized.

He had no choice but to feel energized.

The entire garden now depends entirely on his output! As the garden’s sole hope, Gao De immediately rose and went to his workshop to brew a set of basic spider venom potion.

…

Spring Bud Month, sixth day, morning.

Gao De, still not fully recovered from his injuries, carried the one set of basic spider venom potion he’d brewed yesterday and left the garden for the city’s commercial district.

It wasn’t that he was suddenly motivated—it was simply that there was no food left at home.

Either Master Seda had stored all his savings in the magic box, or he had no savings at all.

In any case, when the apprentices cleared the ruins, they found not a single copper coin.

Yet the garden’s daily minimum expenditure of four silver coins was unavoidable.

Fortunately, food had been bought in bulk for several days, and Gao De still had ten silver and eight copper in savings, barely holding out for several days.

But today, they could no longer hold out.

After these days of spending, Gao De’s savings were nearly gone—only eight copper coins remained. Without new income, everyone would starve.

This wasn’t Gao De’s first trip to Hogen City’s commercial district, but it was his first time leaving the garden in the morning.

When Master Seda was alive, Gao De had to work mornings; only after brewing potions in the afternoon did he get any free time.

The morning air was cold, carrying an indelible stench of filth.

He had entered Hogen City’s slum district.

From the garden’s suburban location, avoiding the slums entirely on the way to the city center was impossible.

“Once I have money, I’ll hire a carriage for commuting.” The lord of the herb garden, still relying on his own two feet, set himself a small goal—and held his breath, quickening his pace.

After crossing from the slums to the residential zone and reaching the commercial district, the sun hung high.

It wasn’t yet the busiest hour, but crowds had already begun to appear.

With an empty purse, Gao De ignored the tempting aromas drifting from food stalls lining the street and headed straight for Pierre’s General Store.

He had only one set of basic spider venom potion.

Phil Magic Shop wouldn’t buy such a small quantity.

So even though Pierre’s offered seven silver less per set than Phil’s, Gao De had no choice but to go with Pierre’s.

When Gao De arrived at Pierre’s General Store, Pierre was just opening the door.

He’d always come in the afternoon; he never expected Pierre’s hours to be so late.

In his mind, small shops like this were always “eight to ten,” grinding out a hard-earned living.

While Gao De was surprised, Pierre was visibly astonished to see him.

“Boy, long time no see—I thought something had happened to you,” Pierre greeted first.

Since the fourteenth day of Awakening Month, Gao De had been under house arrest by Master Seda; now it was the sixth day of Spring Bud Month.

That’s over twenty days—no wonder Pierre’s first reaction was shock.

(End of Chapter)