My Manor

Selling gems, a total of $332,150,000 in revenue... Buying the manor, $280 million, leaving $52,125,000... Looking at the records in the small book, Jiang Hai couldn't help but rub his temples. It seemed that the money was not enough.

Although he knew the income from the manor would definitely exceed the amount in the books in the future, it seemed that he was overspending now.

Jiang Hai had more than $52 million left after buying the manor. He spent over $20 million on cattle, various purchases, decoration, cars, horses, etc., plus the boat he bought today, which cost nearly $6 million. Last night, he had given the lawyer $2 million in a rush, which made it $7 million. Adding the money spent on cattle, it totaled nearly $30 million. There was still about $20 million left.

The expenses for the seven people under him amounted to more than $5,000 per week, or $250,000 a year, nearly $260,000.

He had to cover the food expenses. In the United States, workers—especially cowboys—couldn't be treated poorly, so they had to be fed meat every day. The food cost $20 per person daily, which, including himself, amounted to $180 per day. With snacks, the total food cost came to $200 per day, or $73,000 per year. On top of that, he would occasionally treat everyone generously, which added up to $100,000. In other words, he would need to pay nearly $400,000 per year for labor alone, plus fuel for the cars and diesel for the boat. He had bought high-horsepower machines, and conservatively estimated, it would cost at least $10,000 per month, which is more than $100,000 annually. There were also expenses for feed for the cows and horses, etc.

Just the food for the workers and the animals, as well as the wages of the workers, would cost Jiang Hai over $1 million per year.

In addition to the taxes he had to pay, although he hadn't reached profitability yet, the land use tax was still a matter of concern. This year, it amounted to nearly $4 million, and there were also social security and medical insurance costs. Jiang Hai didn't care about social security in the United States, but these two items were mandatory. Medical insurance is extremely important here because without it, treating even a cold could cost thousands of dollars. A broken tooth would cost tens of thousands to fix, so Jiang Hai had no choice but to comply.

With this calculation, the more than $20 million he had left to spend was actually less than $14 million. It didn't seem like much, but compared to $330 million, $14 million really wasn't much.

The most important thing was that due to the improvement in forage, Jiang Hai had considerable confidence in his cattle.

If he wanted to make a lot of money, fish farming should be on the agenda, but fish fry were very expensive...

According to Edward, fish farming, or seafood farming, is divided into several types. The first is the most common type—captive farming. Fish raised this way are destined not to sell for a high price, but the farming cost is low. You only need to buy some nets, circle the fish together, and feed them regularly. However, since these fish don't exercise, their fat content exceeds the standard, making them difficult to sell for a profit.

The second type is free-range farming, where nets are placed around the boundaries of your own fishing grounds, creating a small ecosystem to feed the fish. This method, however, can significantly impact the ecological balance of the seabed.

The third type is raising fish completely free-range. Nets are placed outside the fishing grounds to prevent fish from escaping, and a small food chain is established on the seabed. To raise fish, you naturally need to raise larger fish, like cod, which eat shrimp when they're small. So, you need to raise a lot of shrimp in the sea. When the cod grow, they eat squid and octopus, so those also need to be raised.

This creates an underwater food chain, with farmed fish at the top.

This method results in the best quality fish, but it is too expensive.

For example, the best quality and most energy-rich shrimp are Antarctic krill, but they are located in Antarctica, and the transportation costs more than the shrimp itself, so it's not worth the expense. However, Arctic shrimp, which are also a good option, are imported. These shrimp taste sweet, are rich in nutrition, and grow relatively large. The primary import is shrimp fry, and after a batch of shrimp grows, new fry need to be imported to feed the fish. The shrimp fry costs 80 cents per kilogram. A ship of 10 tons of shrimp fry can supply 20,000 cod fry for half a month. Jiang Hai's fish farming, unlike cattle raising, involves 20,000 fish, and it's hard to see them all at once.

Jiang Hai's manor has a very long coastline. There are 300,000 fish fry here, but you can't even see a ripple on the water.

In this case, the shrimp needed to feed these fish fry each month amounts to 300 tons. At $800 per ton, 300 tons costs $240,000, and that's just for one month. Squid and octopus also need to be purchased, and they are even more expensive. Cod differs from other fish in that it takes a long time to grow. Unlike ordinary freshwater fish, which can be harvested in a few months, cod becomes more delicious as it ages. It can grow up to over ten years and can reach lengths of one or two meters.

So, the cod would be raised for one or two years before being harvested. However, the monthly feed cost for cod is about $30,000 to $40,000, meaning the feed cost for catching cod once is nearly $10 million, not including the cost of seaweed.

This is not even the cost of the fry. Jiang Hai couldn't help but smile and shake his head. It seemed the remaining $20 million wouldn't be enough for anything.

"I have to find a way to make some money to spend," Jiang Hai muttered softly, licking his teeth.

"Woof woof..." Perhaps they heard Jiang Hai's words, and Xiaobai and Xiaohuang, who were lying in his room, jumped up and lay down beside his bed, looking at him with strange expressions, thinking he was talking to them.

"What are you doing? Get down." Jiang Hai pat the two dogs on their heads with his feet and said unhappily. After hearing his words, they exchanged glances, lay down again, and continued watching TV.

Jiang Hai fell into deep thought. Actually, there were many ways he could make money.

He wouldn't consider illegal methods. He now had a big family and many businesses, so there was no need for such things.

He thought of many legal transactions, all related to the sea.

Don't forget, Jiang Hai could move freely in water, unaffected by water pressure, so he could explore the deep sea. Whether finding oil fields or natural gas, it was a good way to make a fortune. However, some methods could easily attract the attention of the government, which was risky.

There were also ways that wouldn't attract attention, like salvaging sunken ships. The cultural relics inside could be worth a lot.

Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times—although there are still some sporadic wars, the main regions like North America, Europe, and East Asia are stable, and those are prime areas to make money.

If he managed to retrieve some antiques from a sunken ship, or even cooperate with others to salvage a ship, he could make a fortune. A valuable shipwreck would be worth at least $10 million to $80 million. Getting $100 million from it wouldn't be unreasonable. If he could salvage five or six ships a year, that would amount to $500 million to $600 million, tax-free. How comfortable that would be! However, there's a problem. Jiang Hai's current abilities were just at the human limit.

If he encountered a shark, giant squid, or whale, he wouldn't be able to defeat it.

Although Jiang Hai was brave in a fight, in the sea, he had no confidence.

He valued his life. The last time he saw a shark from a distance in his fishing grounds, he immediately swam back. Not to mention salvaging a ship in the deep sea, he was a little scared.

"This idea should be put off until I upgrade to level three." In his notebook, Jiang Hai drew a three and circled it. He wasn't going to risk his life.

He was unwilling to go after natural resources like oil and gas because it might benefit other countries. He also didn't dare to salvage shipwrecks or antiques, fearing he would be eaten alive by aquatic creatures.

Under the principle of fearing wolves in front and tigers behind, Jiang Hai scratched his head with a pen. It seemed there was really no way to make money. He sighed and leaned back on his bedside.

"I don't want to open up my income. Looks like I'll have to find ways to save money. In the future, except for food, everything else should be simple. Those yachts, airplanes, and big horses in my imagination... I'll have to say goodbye to them for now," Jiang Hai muttered to himself and laughed bitterly. It's said that men go bad when they have money, but that's relative and mainly depends on the environment.

If Jiang Hai had money and lived in the city, he would inevitably meet some upper-class people who indulge in sensual pleasures, surrounded by luxury brands, beautiful women, sports cars, airplanes, and yachts.

But now, he didn't know such people, and he had no connections to those places.

So, he just thought about it. A long time ago, an ancient man said that it's impossible for an otaku to commit a crime or turn bad. It's impossible for them to commit a crime because they are waiting for new episodes and updated novels every week. They can't become bad because there's no environment for it.

"Oh, I really give up on myself. How can there be such a cowardly rich person like me!" He sighed helplessly and accepted his fate.