After thinking it over, he decided to take another look around the estate that had been turned into an orphanage.
The house was property Mo Fei's father had inherited. His father had once been a wealthy merchant of some renown, and supposedly even had a trace of noble blood in his ancestry, but... alas.
Years ago, he had met Mo Fei's mother. The two had fallen in love at first sight, then returned to London together and started a business here.
Speaking of Mo Fei's mother, she had also been a well-bred young lady from a prominent family. After marrying his father, she had not been unhappy being a wealthy wife staying at home, yet she had actively stepped out into public to help him manage the business.
Working together in harmony, the two had actually amassed quite a substantial fortune.
Had things continued smoothly, they could even have acquired noble titles again and returned to the social class they had once belonged to.
But heaven had not granted their wishes. An unexpected illness had taken their lives one after the other, reducing Mo Fei to his present circumstances.
He stepped outside. A large open area lay in front of the door, once planted with an abundance of flowers. In summer, it had always been filled with their rich fragrance, one of Mo Fei's most vivid childhood memories.
But after the estate became an orphanage, the flowers had gradually been replaced by all sorts of weeds because no one tended them.
Now it was late autumn, and even the weeds looked rather lifeless.
The estate's main gate had long since disappeared, and the surrounding walls were in such disarray that they barely served as a barrier anymore.
He followed the wall, running his hand along its weathered surface as he made his way to the backyard.
There was quite a large open space here, with an additional patch cleared for growing crops. It was not that he did not want to clear more land, but in London, even out here in the suburbs, clearing farmland on one's own was something that could be done openly.
Even this patch had only been tacitly permitted because it was an orphanage, with the authorities reluctantly turning a blind eye.
He had to admit that the former Mo Fei had been somewhat lacking in talent when it came to farming.
Looking at the soil now, the abundance of stones and poor earth clearly suggested little fertility. On top of that, weeds growing among the crops constantly encroached on their growing space.
Under these circumstances, it was truly hard to expect much of a harvest.
Mo Fei could barely stand to look. He decisively walked off to one side, then saw another plot that had been cleared for medicinal herbs.
Perhaps because his parents had died of illness, he had always worried about falling ill himself. Whenever he saw people using medicinal herbs to treat illnesses, he would bring some home and plant them.
But he did not know how to care for these herbs either, so he simply let them grow freely.
As a result, under this mixture of deliberate and haphazard care, some of the herbs had actually survived tenaciously, even providing enough for some basic uses.
That was why this place had always been the former Mo Fei's treasure. Apart from him, not even Aiwen was allowed here.
Of course, even if Aiwen came here, he would not recognize these herbs that looked just like weeds.
But looking at it now, the herbs grew wild without any order at all. Mixed in with the weeds, they made it hard to tell exactly what they had been using.
Last night's wind and rain had left the place in even greater disarray.
Farther toward the edge of the grounds stood the old stable. A horse had once been kept here, used by Mo Fei's parents for hauling goods and transport.
The horse had been among the first things sold off.
Now the stable was completely abandoned. Even the once-sturdy-looking thatched shelter had long since collapsed, and the rain had washed over the straw here until some of it began to rot.
Mo Fei smacked his forehead hard and could not help smiling bitterly.
"Seriously, I thought there'd be at least some starting capital, but now it looks like there's nothing I can build on at all. Even the land I thought had already been cleared will need to be worked over again if I want better yields... What is this, The Sims? A hell-mode start?"
"If I didn't have that last fallback, I'd really be out of options... I'd want to just delete my character and start over..."
Yes, although this looked like a disastrous start no matter how he viewed it, Mo Fei actually had one last asset.
When his parents died, they had indeed used up most of the family's money. But there was still an inheritance that his mother had clasped his hand and insisted he must never use.
"Mo Fei, listen... cough, cough... I'm going to join your father now. Don't be sad, but... you... I still can't stop worrying about you... Listen to what I'm about to say... cough, cough. Unless it's a matter of life and death, you must never use it..."
At this point, her eyes had suddenly become much clearer, but Mo Fei had only grown more sorrowful. This was unmistakably her final rally before death.
"In the basement beneath the ground-floor study, there's one last thing I've left for you. Those things are your final chance to turn everything around. If you reach your last moment, you can stake everything on them. But once you choose that path, there'll be no turning back..."
As she spoke, she looked at Mo Fei, her eyes full of worry for her child and reluctance to leave him.
"I'm sorry. Mommy couldn't stay with you to the end..."
Before she could finish, her hand had fallen limp, and she was gone.
After his mother passed away, he had never visited the basement beneath the study again, nor had he taken out its contents. He only knew there were two large chests there.
He had never wanted to admit that he was so incapable he had to use even the last things his mother had left him.
But now, the transmigrated Mo Fei had no such scruples. He needed this startup capital to solve his immediate problems.
But money alone was not enough. How was he going to use it to make more money?
Considering his current circumstances, he seemed to have only two options. One was to use belief points to improve his farming, which would both feed himself and the children and provide a steady source of funds.
The greatest drawback of this approach was that it was slow, far too slow. Back in China, farming could only ensure that one had enough to eat and wear, but farming had never been a way to improve things in a short time...
The second option was to improve his cooking skills, then make food to sell.
Yes, this was the method he had come up with after racking his brains. After all, this was Britain, London. Although the food here was not the stuff of exaggerated horror stories, its monotony seemed to offer an untapped market.
Even if he tried to fit in with the local food culture as much as possible, there was still plenty of room to work.
Besides, for an orphanage, making some bread to sell to help cover household expenses seemed perfectly reasonable.
The former Mo Fei had also considered doing this, but unfortunately, his cooking skills had been far too ordinary, and the cost of baking bread had been far too high for him.
But now, didn't he have a system?
So, once he made up his mind, he decisively summoned the system screen-
"Ape God... launch!"
No, wrong channel!
"Add points!"
[Cooking (beginner) → Cooking (basic)] [Belief points: 1.3 → 0.3]
He did not feel any particular sense of comfort throughout his body, but his mind did clear somewhat, and several recipes appeared in it. More importantly, he felt that his fingers had actually become much more nimble.
He had a strange sense that his awareness of his fingers was much sharper now. He wanted to knead some dough right away to experience it.
Putting thought into action, he headed straight back to the kitchen.
Then, looking at the rye flour in the bag, he was about to begin, but an instinctive bodily reaction drove him to wash his hands. Only after washing them did he take out a bowl, pour in some flour, and start kneading dough.
However, when Lina, who had always regarded the kitchen as her own domain, saw Mo Fei enter it, a hint of confusion appeared on her face.
Then she leaned against the doorway and carefully watched what he was doing.