--Ramon--
[Building: Greenhouse]
Cost: $100,000,
Maintenance: $75,000
Workers: 0/5
Brief: A heated glass structure capable of germinating approximately 45,000 plants a week at full operational capacity
[Upgrades]
Size I: $125,000
Climate Control: $150,000
Automation: $1,000,000
Reading over the description, I couldn't help but think that I wasn't nearly as rich as I thought I was just moments before. 'I'm lucky that the maintenance isn't applied retroactively, otherwise I would be going in the red tomorrow after buying into the farm.'
"It looks like the farm is going to cost us 100,000, add an additional 75,000 to our maintenance fee, and needs at least five farmhands to run at peak efficiency," I listed out before glancing at Ashe, who was still staring at the screen with a focused gaze. "Anything promising on your end?"
"More than promising, it's fucking unbelievable," Ashe muttered, "I don't know what kind of sorcery you got going on, but there's something in here called MiraGrow which will just instantly mature an entire acre's worth of crops to harvest age, and there's another for trees that will advance their growth by a decade per treatment. I mean, don't get me wrong, they cost an arm and a leg, but if we find the right balance and profit margins…"
Ashe trailed off, leaving my imagination to fill in the image she had outlined, "Yeah, I can see what you're getting at. We'll definitely have to do some projections in the near future to see where the most money is to be made. But I still think short term, it's in our best interest to get what we have in the ground as soon as possible."
"Alright then, if we buy the greenhouse, how much will you have left over to put towards hiring some farmhands?" Ashe questioned as she glanced over at me.
"I'll need to pay maintenance, so I can't pay for anything," I replied after checking my current balance and seeing I would only have 12,000 left. "We'll need to wait at least until Monday for the restaurant to open."
"Just how much do you make in a day?" Ashe pondered, looking at me sideways.
"A bit over a hundred thousand," I said with a shrugged fighting to keep the smile off my face as I watched Ashe's eyes grow wide, "100,000 a day?! No wonder you're so damn optimistic all the time."
"That'll look like pennies after what we stand to make with your farm," I pointed out with a grin, "I'd be nice to see who you are without all the hard ass covering it up."
"Sorry to say, but I'm always gonna be a hard ass," Ashe muttered before moving closer and leaning against me, "But maybe not as hard."
I leaned over and kissed the top of Ashe's head, "I think I can live with that."
"You better," Ashe muttered as she stood back up, "Now, how do we go about buying this damn greenhouse? Do we need to clear an area, hire a construction team?"
"Well, normally for my restaurant, I get an option to place it wherever I want, but I wonder how it will work when we're dealing with over 100 acres," I said out loud as I selected the greenhouse and tried to purchase it.
In response, the system generated a map of the entire property and a translucent overlay of the greenhouse. Reaching out with my hand, I treated the map like a touchscreen, dragging my fingers across it and using a pinch motion to zoom in and out, "Are you seeing this?"
"I sure am," Ashe muttered with an impressed whistle, "Are you telling me all we have to do is point where we want this son of a bitch to go and it'll just appear out of thin air?"
"Would you rather have us try and build it by hand, or hire a construction company?" I raised an eyebrow at Ashe, who rolled her eyes, but I watched as the corners of her mouth twitched in the barest hint of a smile. "Alright, now where do you want this greenhouse to go?"
Ashe sucked her teeth in thought, "Can you show me the screen you're looking at?"
I nodded and, with a thought, shared a copy of the building description and gave Ashe a moment to look it over, "45,000 plants a week, that's enough for an entire acre for most leafy vegetables. And I bet at least one of these upgrades will increase that estimate. If we assume that most crops we plan to grow will require germination, we should make the production chain as simple as possible. Any greenhouse we have should be in a centralized location."
Ashe reached out and started to manipulate the map as well, "You may have all these demon magic cheat codes, but I'm still gonna manage this farm like any other. The less movement required to finish a task, the more efficient we'll be, which means transporting tens of thousands of seeds daily. In the best-case scenario, the greenhouse would be right in front of the field, but we're also gonna need a warehouse nearby, garages to work on and maintain farm equipment, access roads for said farm equipment to drive on."
"You've thought a lot about this, haven't you?" I commented with an impressed smile.
"Honey, I've been preparing for this moment since I was a little girl. My whole life, I wanted to run this farm just like my daddy and his daddy did," Ashe paused for a moment, "For the longest time, I thought I lost that possibility, but now I've got it back with more options than I could have ever imagined…all thanks to you."
I glanced back over at Ashe as our eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity, "If you keep looking at me like that, we're gonna need to take another shower."
Ashe frowned but looked away after a second, "Hmm, fine, let's keep on task…But I hope you know…you're staying the night."
I gave out a helpless sigh, "If I must."
--[Day 30 Report]--
Simlife
Revenue: +0
Cost: -$0
Profit: $0
Modifiers: Fortune III [+15%], Satisfaction [0%]
Income: -$56,276[Maintenance]
Total: $56,090
DateLife
Energy Spent: 0
Energy Gained: 0
Tantric Reserves: 5/5
Lust: +15
Total: 80/100
---
"Mhhh, now this is a sight I can get used to.
I glanced over my shoulder as Ashe catcalled me while walking down the stairs, wearing nothing but a button-up shirt that barely covered her bottom half, and I was certain that if she turned around, I would see more than what was hidden. "Good morning to you as well. I'm surprised you're up this early. I haven't even started to make the corncakes yet."
"Trust me, this is sleeping in for me, normally I'd be up right at sunrise, but someone made sure that my body needed a lot of rest and recovery," Ashe muttered as she walked up behind me and reached around to squeeze my junk, "But now I'm back to one hundred percent."
"You are insatiable, woman," I muttered as I let Ashe fondle me over the sweatpants I had borrowed, "Unfortunately I love cooking for the people I love just as much as I love making love to them. So I'm afraid you're just gonna have to take those wandering hands of yours and find something else to do with them."
Before Ashe could undoubtedly reject my refusal, a muffled ringing came from upstairs, and I clicked my tongue in disappointment, "That's my phone, I should probably go answer that. Can I trust you to take over here?"
"I may not be a professional chef, but I think I can manage a few scrambled eggs," Ashe muttered as she moved to the side and hip checked me out of the way, "Go on, shoo!"
I shook my head with a smirk before stepping away from the stove and moving back upstairs into the bedroom, where I found my phone still ringing face down on the bedside table.
Flipping it over, I checked the caller ID only to see that it was an unknown number, "Who the hell could be calling me on a Sunday morning?"
Raising the phone to my ear, I answered the call, "Hello?"
"H-hello, is that y-ou Ramon?"
I blanked for a moment as a familiar voice came through the phone, but one I couldn't put a face to, "Sorry, who is this?"
"I-It's me, Priscilla! I-I know this is odd, and you probably never expected to hear from me again, but I didn't know who else to call and I need your help."