She needed to have a stable job in everyone’s eyes—not necessarily earning a fortune in a year, but she had to have a source of income rather than staying home and mooching off her parents.
After thinking it over, she decided to open a large banquet restaurant in the village—the kind that catered to wedding banquets and school celebration feasts. Their village didn’t have a restaurant, so anyone who needed a big spread had to go to the neighboring village or into town.
She wasn’t bragging, but opening this kind of large restaurant would bring in at least a hundred thousand a year.
Because every year, there were weddings, school celebration banquets, and eightieth or ninetieth birthday parties for the elderly—their village had quite a few of these, year after year. Her grandparents had given out plenty of gift money for such occasions.
Moreover, once she opened this kind of restaurant, as long as the food was good and the environment was decent, not only would villagers come, but people from nearby villages would come to book it too.
Having worked at a five-star hotel in the capital, Song Ying was very confident in her cooking skills.
As for why she wasn’t opening the restaurant in the city or the county seat instead of the village—it came down to money. Although their city was only a fifth-tier city, property prices weren’t cheap, especially for commercial spaces. The county seat was about the same.
Furthermore, opening a large restaurant in the city or county seat would cost at least two million, and she’d need to hire other chefs and staff. There was no guarantee of business, and she’d have to keep the doors open every day.
High investment, uncertain returns.
But in the village, it was different—low investment, high returns. Opening a large restaurant in the village would cost at most five hundred thousand, and it would definitely pay off.
She could handle being the chef all by herself. For the waitstaff and kitchen helpers, the uncles and aunties in the village could pitch in—no need to hire anyone at all.
The land and building for the restaurant would be her own, so no rent to pay.
Besides, she just wanted proof of income, not to work every day. Opening a restaurant in the village meant the busy seasons would probably only be summer and winter.
In summer, there were more school celebration banquets; in winter, more weddings and big birthday parties for the elderly.
Most of the year would be pretty relaxed.
A stable annual income with plenty of free time—that was the life Song Ying wanted.
“Oh, by the way, Grandpa, Grandma, I also want to set up two greenhouses to grow cherries and strawberries.”
Opening the restaurant was for income, and growing cherries and strawberries was too. First, she loved eating both fruits; second, everyone loved eating them.
She figured that once the cherries and strawberries ripened, she’d find a channel to sell them. She thought selling online might be better. The major supermarkets in the county seat already had stable supply sources, so they probably wouldn’t take her small batch.
No rush, no rush—take it slow. After all, she had money now.
Chen Shuqin and Song Guozheng listened to their granddaughter’s plan and nodded. Song Guozheng said, “Yingzi, opening a restaurant is fine. With your cooking skills, people will definitely come to book it. Setting up greenhouses is fine too—we’re both farmers, so that’s no problem at all.”
“But building a Western-style villa? That probably won’t work.”
“That’s right. They don’t allow two-story buildings around here. The three of us living together—a single-story house is enough. No need for a big villa.”
“Besides, building a villa would cost a lot of money, and we wouldn’t be able to explain where that money came from to outsiders,” Chen Shuqin added.
Although people couldn’t really control how others earned their money, if the amount was too large and there was no reasonable explanation, people would start making wild guesses—like saying she was a mistress, or that she’d sold herself, and so on.
Anyway, the villagers loved to gossip.
Song Ying asked, “It’s not allowed?”
The two elders shook their heads. “Not allowed.”
Song Ying said, “Alright then, I’ll build one story. I’ll find someone to design it—one story can still look great. Grandpa, Grandma, let’s build that American-style country villa.”
“Grandpa, Grandma, look—let’s build this kind.”
Song Ying opened Xiaohongshu and pulled up a villa video she had saved. Song Guozheng and Chen Shuqin took one look and gasped, “Oh my, building a house like this would cost a fortune—at least a million.”
The house in the picture, though single-story, was absolutely gorgeous and looked incredibly upscale.
Song Ying said, “Grandpa, Grandma, money isn’t an issue.”
Song Guozheng said, “We know money isn’t an issue, but we need a reasonable explanation for where the money came from.”
Chen Shuqin said, “Right, first of all, we definitely can’t say we won the lottery.”
Song Guozheng said, “And we can’t say your boyfriend gave it to you, or the villagers will assume he’s in his forties or fifties.”
Song Ying said, “That really does need some careful thought.”
The villagers really did have loose lips—always jumping to the worst conclusions about people.
“Grandpa, Grandma, why don’t you just say I earned it from writing novels?”
She obviously didn’t write novels, but a close colleague at her hotel did, so she knew a thing or two about how it worked.
Chen Shuqin asked, “Will that work? What if they want to read your novel?”
Song Ying said, “That’s fine, Grandma. If they want to read it, I just won’t show them—I’ll say I’m too embarrassed to reveal my pen name. Besides, even if they did read it, they wouldn’t understand it anyway.”
“Grandpa, Grandma, just tell outsiders that the money for this house comes from my novel earnings plus my saved salary plus your savings. How about that?”
Song Guozheng said, “I think that works. The villagers are always saying our family has nowhere to spend money, and with all these sheep we raise, they figure your grandma and I must have saved up a good chunk.”
Song Ying asked with a smile, “Really? Grandpa, Grandma, how much do we have in savings?”
Chen Shuqin did the math, “With the money you’ve sent back, plus what your grandpa and I have saved over these years, it’s about two hundred thousand.”
Her granddaughter was filial—she sent back two thousand yuan every month. Combined with the money from selling sheep, cashmere, and crops, they had saved nearly two hundred thousand.
“We have that much money?” Song Ying said in surprise.
Chen Shuqin said, “That’s not even much. Your grandpa and I were thinking that when you come back to your hometown, we’d buy you a house in the city outright, so you wouldn’t have trouble with work.”
Song Ying said, “Grandma, I’ve saved my own money.”
Her grandparents were always thinking about her.
Song Guozheng asked, “Yingzi, how much have you saved?”
“One hundred thirty thousand—not that much.”
She had set her monthly allowance at one thousand yuan, whether for clothes or eating out, she couldn’t exceed that in a month.
Song Guozheng said, “If anyone asks, tell them you’ve saved five hundred thousand—half from your salary and half from your novel writing.”
“And your grandma has already told the villagers your monthly salary is over ten thousand, so don’t slip up when the time comes.”
Song Ying laughed, “Okay, okay.”
“Oh, Grandpa, Grandma, how about we sell some of the sheep? There are too many now. I’ve graduated and have a job, and we have some money—you don’t need to work so hard. Just enjoy your retirement from now on.”
Chen Shuqin said, “I’ve told your grandpa that a long time ago, but he wouldn’t agree. He insisted on keeping them, saying something about helping you buy a house in the city when you come back.”
Song Guozheng said, “We can sell them now. Keep a hundred sheep and sell the rest.”
“Grandpa, how much does one sheep go for now?” Song Ying asked.
The goats they raised were priced a bit higher than sheep.
Song Guozheng said, “Eight or nine hundred to a thousand, maybe twelve or thirteen hundred, depending on the size of the goat.”
“If we keep a hundred goats and sell the rest, we could make around two hundred thousand.”
Chen Shuqin said, “When we sell the goats and the villagers ask about it, we’ll just say Ying wants to buy a car. That way, no one will come asking to borrow money from us.”
Song Guozheng nodded. “Fine.”
Song Ying said, “Grandpa, Grandma, let’s get our stories straight. We’ll tell everyone that the money for building the house and opening the restaurant comes from my savings, your savings, and the money I earned from writing novels.”
Song Guozheng and Chen Shuqin said, “No problem.”
“Just don’t mention winning the lottery.”
Money stirs people’s hearts. If they found out their Ying had won over ten million from a lottery ticket, there would be plenty of people coming to borrow money. Strangers could be turned down outright, but it wouldn’t be easy to refuse villagers, relatives, and friends.