Zhao Lao Er asked, "Is it okay if we don't pick you up or drop you off?"

Of course not.

Before Jiang Bai could deny it, Old Lady Zhao glared at her second son.

If they don't pick you up or drop you off, and you have to travel in the dark, what if something happens to you? You'll have nowhere to turn for help.

That one or two taels of silver a month is certainly important, but what will Zhao Lao Er do if his three children lose their mother?

Zhao Lao Er was turned back and muttered a complaint to Jiang Cheng: "Why are you so eager? You have nothing to do, so you stay at home all day. You have time to pick up your wife, but we work all day and are exhausted. Where do we have the energy to go back and forth to the county town twice?"

Jiang Bai remained unfazed by the insults directed at Jiang Cheng, smiling as she watched the crowd fall silent.

Old Master Zhao puffed on his pipe, tapped the ash on the armrest of his chair, and said, "Otherwise, you can have them open one elsewhere."

Does this mean they want to join as a franchisee?

Jiang Bai's eyes rolled around, and she said hesitantly, "Dad, it's not that it's impossible, but some people have followed my example and opened milk tea shops, but they closed down not long after. The demand for milk tea in the county is already saturated."

"We won't open it in the county town," said Old Lady Zhao.

“If we don’t open in the county town, then we have to open in the village,” Jiang Bai thought for a moment, his expression serious, and said earnestly, “But people in the village have low purchasing power, and the distance between villages is not small. If we combine the two, I’m afraid we won’t make much money.”

The second brother's wife snorted coldly: "You've said so much, but you still don't want to open a shop for us..."

“Second sister-in-law, you’re wrong. How could I not want the Zhao family to prosper?” Jiang Bai interrupted her. “It’s just that milk tea is expensive and difficult to make. If we can’t achieve high sales volume with low profit margins, it’s best to give up early.”

"What kind of cost could there be?" Zhao Lao Er couldn't figure it out.

"Not to mention anything else, just the cups for the milk tea, they cost two coins each. If you order a thousand servings or more, you get a 20% discount," Jiang Bai counted on his fingers for them. "The milk and raw materials have to be the freshest. They have to be made the night before and delivered to the store the next day. If they can't be sold, they have to be thrown away."

The family looked grim. They were all farmers who toiled in the fields, and they had never heard of such a waste of food.

Seeing the various expressions on everyone's faces, Jiang Bai couldn't help but say, "This has to be thrown away. If it gets sick to the guests after a day, no amount of money can compensate for it."

Even if fresh ingredients are used, food safety issues are inevitable; if you want to do business, you have to accept your fate.

Jiang Bai added, "If we want to preserve food for longer, we'll have to dig a large ice cellar." Jiang Bai didn't need to mention how expensive ice was; they already knew the answer.

Grandma Zhao counted on her fingers for a long time, then trembled and asked, "Anything else?"

“Labor costs are also a factor,” Jiang Bai said. “We’ll need to hire an accountant and two or three counter clerks, won’t we?”

"We can't hire too many. If we hire too many, the costs will go up, the employer won't make any money, and all the employees will be working for us."

According to her rough calculation, it would cost at least ten taels of silver, and that was just the initial cost; maintaining operations would also require a large sum of money.

Jiang Bai gestured a number: "We need to earn at least this much each month just to barely break even."

Zhao Laosan was quick-witted. After doing the math, he figured that even if he broke even, he would still have to sell nearly four figures worth of milk tea a month.

He smiled wryly: Even if everyone in the village drank one cup a day, they still couldn't raise that much revenue.

After pondering for a long time, Old Master Zhao said, "Eldest son, your family should pay for this first."

Jiang Bai used flattery and ingratiating words, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but simply saying, "Father, Zhao Yi is not here. He took all the money, and I don't have that much silver on me."

She didn't say anything too harsh: "Zhao Yi hasn't come back yet. Otherwise, when he gets home, we can let him talk to you."

Old Master Zhao asked, "When will he be back?"

Jiang Bai shook his head, not knowing.

Grandpa Zhao and Grandma Zhao looked very unwell.

Jiang Bai's statement that she has no money may be genuine, since she was Zhao Yi's second wife and he couldn't possibly entrust all of her money to her. Alternatively, she may have money but simply don't want to spend it on the Zhao family.

Regardless of the reason, they have no chance of getting money out of Jiang Bai.

Zhao Laosan asked, "What did my brother go off to do this time?"

“He didn’t tell me,” Jiang Bai certainly wouldn’t tell them, “but I think he’ll come back for the New Year eventually, right?”

That's not necessarily true.

The Zhao family members all realized that Zhao Yi hadn't been able to come back every year in the past.

The third sister-in-law hesitated before asking, "Sister-in-law, you're making so much money from your milk tea shop every month, can't you lend us some first?"

no.

Jiang Bai knew that once she lent money, it was equivalent to giving it away, and she would never be able to get it back. She didn't want to spend money on a deal that was guaranteed to lose money.

The Zhao family was extremely harsh on both the original owner of this body and her. These people were Zhao Yi's family, and it was Zhao Yi's responsibility to take care of them; they were completely unrelated to her. She was already exhausted from helping to take care of the two children and didn't want to be a moral paragon anymore.

Therefore, she said with a troubled expression, "I don't earn much. I have to keep the shop running, and all the profits go into the store. Besides, Ping An and Xiao Le need to go to school, and tuition fees are a huge expense..."

"You even took Zhao Xile to school?" everyone exclaimed in surprise.

Especially Old Mrs. Zhao, who muttered, "How could a little brat like her be worthy of her!"

Jiang Bai remained silent, knowing they couldn't drag Zhao Xile out of the school anyway.

Seeing that Jiang Bai was sitting there like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, and no longer expressing any opinions, everyone knew that she was unhappy.

With Zhao Yi's return date uncertain, the Zhao family hesitated, unsure whether to wait or open a shop with their own money, and all looked at Old Master Zhao.

Old Master Zhao took a deep drag on his pipe and said, "I'll pay."

"Grandpa," Grandma Zhao exclaimed, "that's our retirement money!"

“It’s better to move around than to be like this,” Grandpa Zhao said, his gaze sweeping over the crowd and landing on his grandchildren playing and frolicking in the yard. “The children will eventually have to go to school.”

Jiang Bai suddenly understood why Grandpa Zhao was in such a hurry. Excluding Zhao Ping'an and Zhao Xile, he had five grandchildren, only one of whom was a girl. Now that the child was older and needed to go to school, his two sons were both farmers from the lowest social class and couldn't afford to pay for it.

Grandpa Zhao and Grandma Zhao did have some money, but it was given to them by Zhao Yi as a sign of filial piety, and it wasn't much. They couldn't just sit around and do nothing, so they set their sights on the milk tea shop.

Jiang Bai nodded upon hearing Old Master Zhao's words: "Okay, I will send someone over to handle it and teach you all the procedures for running the milk tea shop."

Seemingly surprised that she so easily provided a way to make money, the crowd developed a slight liking for her.