Chapter 31: The Meaning of Wealth

Chapter 31: The Meaning of Wealth

“What?” Li Li’s expression changed sharply after hearing him. “Boss, who can meet these requirements—down to the gram? Even when I cook for postpartum mothers, I’m not this strict.”

Gao Yun was indifferent. “It’s actually quite easy to calculate. After a few tries, you’ll understand. I just don’t want to waste time cooking myself.”

“There’s only an hour and a half left. The time is too tight.” Wang Lina pulled out her phone and checked the time, then frowned. “Besides, it’s really too strict. It’s hard to balance so much protein, carbs, and fat in only nine hundred calories. Even if you weigh each ingredient precisely, it’s very easy to go over the limit.”

Many who don’t understand might miss the difficulty, but a simple example makes it clear.

A typical household bowl of cooked rice weighs about 180 grams and contains 200 calories, with only 26 grams of carbohydrates; protein and fat are negligible.

To get 80 grams of carbohydrates, you need three bowls of rice, totaling 600 calories.

Fifty grams of protein require 250 grams of chicken breast, which is 332 calories.

Sixteen grams of fat is the easiest to meet since chicken breast and rice already contain trace amounts of fat, so no extra intake is necessary.

But here’s the problem: 600 calories from rice plus 332 from chicken breast equals 932 calories. Just plain rice and boiled chicken breast already exceed Gao Yun’s calorie limit.

Moreover, who could actually eat just those two items?

White rice with chicken breast? Even if the taste isn’t a priority, would a nanny really serve that? If you set those steaming plates in front of someone, they’d be lucky to get hired.

Gao Yun said, “The monthly salary is fifteen thousand yuan, with food and accommodation provided. You can also live at home and work from eight to five. I live alone in an eight-hundred-square-meter villa overlooking Shoushan and the sea. Your job is just laundry, cooking, and cleaning.”

In Hushi, civil servants only earn seventy to eighty thousand yuan annually. For a nanny to make fifteen thousand a month was indeed tempting.

Wang Lina and Li Li had previously worked as postpartum caregivers, earning at most eight thousand yuan, responsible for the diet and daily care of pregnant women, with heavy and tedious work. This new job was much easier and offered a grand villa to live in.

But the key was that when cooking for mothers, they only roughly calculated daily calories and nutrition, following fixed menus provided by their training. There was no deviation.

Now, with Gao Yun’s fitness approach, every meal had to be measured to the gram for each nutrient, with a very low calorie limit.

Neither had ever heard of such exacting standards, let alone be able to do it.

Though both were tempted by the salary, they exchanged uneasy glances.

Wang Lina smiled bitterly. “It’s not about the money. Your requirements are just too high. No one can do it unless they’re a nutritionist for professional athletes.”

Gao Yun was helpless. He wished he could hire a professional sports nutritionist, but such positions only exist in a few provincial or national sports teams and carry real weight.

Most nutritionists on the market were just for show, and Gao Yun thought he knew more himself. Even some provincial team nutritionists didn’t meet his standards; he needed someone truly national-level to be effective.

Otherwise, it was better not to hire anyone, as it might even harm his physical condition.

After much discussion, Gao Yun and the two finally decided to lower the requirements.

He would specify the daily food combinations and quantities himself, and they would just weigh and cook accordingly. The salary was reduced to seven thousand yuan.

Only then did the two agree.

Seeing half an hour had passed, Gao Yun worried about delaying his daily training. To save time, he didn’t let them cook but instead asked a few questions.

For example: what seasonings to use for chicken breast, the nutritional content of beef, different ways to cook eggs, and how much carbohydrate is in oats.

Wang Lina, having passed a nutritionist certificate exam, could barely answer the nutrient questions and her light, low-oil cooking style suited Gao Yun’s taste.

Li Li was much weaker, stumbling over nutrient details. When describing cooking methods, she preferred to add many seasonings and sauces to enrich flavor. Perhaps the dishes tasted good, but they weren’t what Gao Yun wanted.

On Saturday, under a rare clear sky, the bedding company delivered and installed a series of designed quilts, curtains, and other items.

Since moving some essential clothes a few days prior with the help of a moving company, Gao Yun only bought daily necessities like toothbrushes and cups today. He put Wang Lina to work as the nanny and officially moved into the new home.

On the first day in the new house, Gao Yun wanted to invite his parents and sister’s family over for a reunion.

But his parents said they were still looking at villas themselves, planning to buy one suitable and come another day.

He called his sister and learned that her family had already gone to the capital for shopping and a trip, buying a new car, and would return to Hushi in a week.

“This is the meaning of being wealthy,” Gao Yun sighed deeply. Although he couldn’t share the joy of moving into the new house with his family, he felt no regret or negativity because their voices over the phone sounded genuinely happy.

Actually, money isn’t important; happiness is. But without money, happiness is unlikely—that’s the truth.

The ancient saying “Poverty breeds sorrow in married life” was understood over a thousand years ago.

Since family couldn’t share the moment, he would share it with friends!

As a social creature, Gao Yun was eager to share his joy. He still hadn’t delivered the gifts he bought for friends in Hangzhou, so he opened his phone’s video function and filmed a tour of his villa’s terrace, living room, entertainment room, and other rooms, making a short video.

He opened WeChat and sent the video to two group chats: “The Useless Alliance” and “The Rowdy Band and Three Dogs.”

Gao Yun: “New house, Saturday, sunny. Anyone free?”

As a fitness coach, Gao Yun usually had only two days off a month, and even then, he was busy with miscellaneous tasks requiring urgent attention—no real rest.

Only on rare occasions when he had no pending matters would he shift his days off to Saturday and Sunday to go shopping for ingredients, buy wine and meat with friends.

Then, on the rooftop balcony at Diao Jun’s house, they’d have a barbecue or hotpot party—eating meat, drinking, chatting, playing guitar, and singing.

Such gatherings happened about five times a year. Only then would Gao Yun, usually a teetotaler, drink heartily without concern for alcohol’s harm.

After sending the message, Diao Jun replied first: “Barbecue? This villa—where did you buy it? Awesome. @Liu Ximing, bet it’s bigger than yours.”

Liu Ximing: “Mine is just over five hundred square meters. This one is obviously bigger.”

Diao Jun: “(smiling) People say only five hundred square meters?”

Liu Ximing: “(blushing)”

(End of chapter)