With the cat out of the bag, Elena didn’t hesitate any longer and began to explain her buisness idea.
"I’ll sell these to the villagers toiling in the early morning to city and town. I’ll also sell them to those who skipped breakfast. It’ll surely sell. It’s fine flour after all."
What could Thomas and Mary say?
Out of guilt, the two quietly acquiesced.
Sarah had a belly full of complaints but couldn’t voice them as her in-laws didn’t say much.
In the end, Elena won and got her wish as she went to sleep with Emma.
She didn’t do the dishes or cleaning as she found it too burdensome and tiring.
Plus, it wasn’t rewarding.
At least cooking would produce something and would be rewarding unlike washing the dishes.
She took Emma for a short walk in the yard before taking the little one to sleep.
Their interactions couldn’t be forced and she couldn’t force a bond anyways.
So she let it be.
When she woke up, once again before dawn, she went to cooking.
She ended up making roughly 30 buns out of the remaining fine flour mixed with coarse grain and cornmeal.
It had a rougher texture since it did have more mixed in than yesterday.
Thirty buns would net her 300-330 cents which was a total of 3-3.3 Luni.
To signify her earning, most farmers barely saved a 50-100 Luni in a year in 1988.
It was just that poor.
But then again you could buy a pound of candies for just 3 Luni 50 cents.
And candies were the ultimate luxury back in the day.
Of course, Elena didn’t seem to care as she stocked the thirty buns on her side in a basket and covered it with a muslin cloth and went out as early as the first rays of sunlight shone through.
She walked straight to the road where the villagers of Happy Village will have to walk to get to Hanging Moon City and Peace Town.
It was impossible to sell it to the thrifty villagers but those earning money, they were easy prey.
And she was certain her cooking skills would win them over and she’d find repeat customers.
Also, refined flour cost only approximately 1.5 Luni per kilogram so she could easily buy it in surplus, supplement it with cheap cornmeal and coarse grain.
Then she’d be willing to buy another hen or two to get eggs for free rather than buying them and maybe get chives and other fillings for it.
She planned to make meat buns and sell them for 17-18 cents per bun.
While it might not seem like much, it was really a lot she was asking for.
The only reason she was confident was because she had it all planned and she was sure of her cooking skills.
It would absolutely stun these rural folks.
She couldn’t help but remember Emma gulping saliva even asleep, dreaming about the delicious food she had made.
A smile crossed her lips as she sat at the roadside, awaiting her first customers.
Seeing a new face, the usual villagers took an extra peak but no one approached her.
They didn’t know her and what if she had malicious purposes or was even a part of a human trafficking gang?
Incidents like these weren’t rare these days at all so it wouldn’t hurt to be extra cautious.
However, not everyone was cowardly.
Seeing a stunning fair beauty by the roadside lulled quite a few bold men to stare over and wonder what she’s doing.
Once Elena was sure enough of an audience had gathered, she removed the muslin cloth and instantly the hot steaming buns made their appearance.
The steam billowed off with the wind, permeating the air with their delicious aroma and delivered straight into the villagers’ noses.
She had decided to play it bold.
"The first person to buy gets another one for free!" She shouted loudly.
The ones who were hesitating instanlty lost all hesitation and braved the wind and rain to be the first one to buy.
"Little girl, sell me, how much could this bun even cost?"
"No, what, girl don’t listen to this geezer and sell to me!"
"You old men should go crowd somewhere else this girl will surely sell it to this lady."
With that the villagers began clamoring.
Already hungry and with the delicious aroma teasing them, they couldn’t take their eyes off it.
"One bun costs 11 cents," Elena said calmly and watched as the excited villagers halted in their tracks.
Their excitement faded, as they sucked in a deep breath at the steep price and took a step back.
"Old coot, i think she should sell it to you?"
"No, no what nonsense! You love these buns, surely they should go to you. Look at your drool!"
"Hmph! Do you think we’re stupid? Who would buy such exorbitant buns? What’s so special about them? I don’t even smell any meat in there!"
"They are vegetarian," Elena explained, "but they are made of fine flour. Surely that costs something!"
Elena wasn’t fazed in the slightest and continued her sales pitch.
A few of the boldest with some money scooted over saying things like:
"Shoo, if you ain’t buying then get the hell out of here!"
"Yeah, you misers won’t even know how good this thing is!"
"What would you old coots know about fine food?"
With that someone offered to buy.
"Miss give me one, see I’m the first to buy from you, so don’t scrimp on the free bun. Hehe."
"Of course," Elena agreed graciously and packed two buns in a paper to hand it over and calmly collected 11 cents.
"Damn! How cunning," cursed someone as they just had been a step too late but they still gritted their teeth and paid eleven cents to buy it, "Miss, me too!"
With that soon her thirty buns sold out for a whooping 319 cents or 3.19 Luni.
She didn’t let anyone haggle as the ones who bought for eleven cents would soon come back for the one cent return and she didn’t want to waste any opportunity to earn some money.
With that she went to Peace Town to buy some refined flour for another batch tomorrow.
She had already promised that she would return tomorrow.
The reason she chose to sell them for eleven instead of ten cents was that it was easier to lower the prices but harder to raise.
Although a few cursed her for being so blackmailing and costing them money, they were shut by the crowd who ate the buns and couldn’t help but praise their deliciousness.
Those who didn’t get anything gritted their teeth and decided to get a taste tomorrow.
And some seemed to get an idea from this that maybe they too could earn money this way.
Alas, Elena would get competitors on day 2 itself.