Ding's smile instantly froze on her face—entrusting the family business to a concubine? A slut? What kind of joke is this from her daughter-in-law?
To save face, Ding couldn't be direct. "I understand Yin Jin's good intentions towards Shen, but managing a family business is something that must be learned from family members from a young age. You know Shen's situation; she learned... where did she learn to manage a family business?"
Chenmian nodded vigorously – "That's right! That's right! It's all thanks to our mistress's wisdom! Don't let her manage those things!"
Jiang Yinjin smiled slightly and said in a deep voice, "Mother, recall the matter of the young master. If it weren't for Sister Shen, wouldn't the young master have suffered a lifetime of injustice? Sister Shen may not have learned to manage the family business, but she came from humble backgrounds and learned many new things that we couldn't access. Perhaps she can create a miracle?"
"This..." Ding was indeed somewhat shaken.
Jiang Yinjin pressed on, saying, “Doing business and managing a shop requires reliable manpower and a lot of energy. As female relatives of officials, we can’t compare with regular businessmen. We can’t show our faces too much or socialize, so we have to use some fresh ideas.”
But we're all native Beijingers, what kind of ideas could we come up with? But Sister Shen is different; she comes from Jiangnan, and given her unique experiences, I'm sure she'll come up with something truly ingenious.
Chen Mianmian's lips twitched—isn't that right? In the novel, the time-traveling woman was tricked by the female lead into opening a hot pot restaurant, making these ancient people scream in pain from the spiciness.
Why do modern people like hot pot? Because of a good standard of living, excess productivity, and the ability to eat whatever they want. They get tired of regular meals, and with the fast pace of life, they crave these convenient and exciting foods.
In ancient times, not to mention the poor who couldn't afford to eat, even ordinary people couldn't eat whatever they wanted or as much as they wanted.
People aren't even getting enough of regular meals, who would want to eat something spicy?
Furthermore, the cost of opening a hot pot restaurant in modern times is not high, since labor is the most expensive commodity, and hot pot restaurants do not need to hire chefs.
In ancient times, it was the opposite. Labor was cheap, but goods were expensive, especially ironware, which was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. A restaurant had to report to the government office if it purchased a large amount of ironware, otherwise how would anyone know if it was a pot or a knife?
The ancient people's control over ironware and tools was similar to the modern control over firearms, after all, they lived in the era of cold weapons.
After much effort, they ordered many hot pots and prepared a variety of dishes. After opening, customers initially came out of curiosity to try it, but later discovered that it was just boiled vegetables. Why come to an expensive restaurant when you can cook it yourself?
Rich people are indeed rich, but they are not stupid.
Let's talk about the pricing of hot pot restaurants in ancient times.
If the price is too high, not many people can afford it.
If you set the price too low, it will be difficult to break even. The shop costs money, the custom hot pot costs money, the beef tallow for the broth costs money, and there's also the meat.
Meat was much more precious in ancient times than it is today; not everyone could afford to eat it, and they couldn't eat as much as they wanted.
In general, opening a hot pot restaurant in ancient times was a sure-fire way to lose money.
However, in the novel, the reason why the cannon fodder transmigrated woman, whose intelligence has been reduced, confidently opened a hot pot restaurant and stayed open for more than half a year was still due to Jiang Yinjin's methods.
When the hot pot restaurant first opened, Jiang Yinjin hired many people to pretend to be customers, creating the illusion that the restaurant was packed and doing brisk business, thus giving the time-traveling woman confidence.
For the next month, business was slow.
Just as the time-traveling woman was about to reluctantly close the hot pot restaurant, Jiang Yinjin hired a group of people to eat there for two days, giving the time-traveling woman renewed confidence.
The time-traveling woman thought the hot pot restaurant had been revived, but who would have thought that no one would come to patronize it again for the next month? And when the time-traveling woman wanted to close the hot pot restaurant again, this group of "magical guests" came again.
That's not all. When the time-traveling woman sees a fat sheep, instead of ripping them off, she actually gives them a discount, hoping they'll come back often.
So after all this trouble for more than half a year, they lost a lot of money and made the Anning Marquis's biggest business a laughing stock in the capital.
How could Shen Mianmian allow this plot to occur? "Madam, please understand, this servant only knows how to serve men, not how to do business."
Upon hearing the phrase "serving men," Ding's fair face turned ashen.
Bai Qingzhou also had a livid face. She kept giving Shen Mianmian meaningful glances before anxiously saying, "Mother! I agree with Yin Jin's suggestion. Let Mianmian try. How will we know if she can do it if we don't try? Mianmian is a very smart girl."
Jiang Yinjin felt a wave of disdain and sneer when she heard the prince praising the skinny horse.
"I……"
"Don't speak!" Bai Qingzhou rushed over and covered her mouth in a panic.
"..." Sleepless.
The two were originally sitting on opposite sides of the main hall, but Bai Qingzhou ran over to cover the woman's mouth. Fearing she would say something inappropriate, he simply pulled her to sit down next to him.
On the other side, of the four chairs, Jiang Yinjin was all alone.
Looking at the two who were playfully bickering without regard for their image, and then at Jiang Yinjin who was all alone, Ding sighed and shook her head.
“A light boat,” Ding said in a deep voice.
Bai Qingzhou hurriedly released Chen Mianmian and answered earnestly, "Yes, Mother."
"I can agree to your request, but you have to promise me that you'll spend more time with Yin Jin. Yin Jin has had a tough time."
"..."
Bai Qingzhou was in a dilemma—he wanted to help Mianmian fight for her interests, but... he didn't want to betray her.
At this moment, Jiang Yinjin spoke up, "Mother, it's like this. Recently, your daughter-in-law also plans to copy a scripture and prepare to fast and bathe for eighty-one days. So during this time, I may not be able to accompany the young master. Fortunately, there is Sister Shen to accompany the young master."
How could Madam Ding not see that both of them wanted to avoid each other? But there was nothing she could do.
"Alright, then which shop do you think is the most suitable to be handed over to the Shen family for management?"
Jiang Yinjin's eyes flashed with shrewdness, "Shop No. 31, Yong'an Street."
Ding and Li Mama's eyes widened instantly, and they gasped.
Bai Qingzhou asked, puzzled, "Mother, what's the deal with this shop at No. 31 Yong'an Street?"
Looking at her son, who was clearly married but still innocent and naive, Madam Ding sighed helplessly, "No. 31 Yong'an Street is Kelai Restaurant."
This time, everyone present was shocked!
It should be noted that although Kelailou was not one of the four major restaurants in the capital, it was still a well-known restaurant and the largest property of the Marquis of Anning.
As the young mistress said before, the shops of officials are not comparable to those of legitimate merchants, because the shops of officials can only be managed by their female relatives and cannot be shown in public. In addition, no matter how hard they try to learn, they are not legitimate businessmen, so their business is generally not very large.
You can either rent out the shop and live off the rent, or sell small items like needles, thread, oil, grains, and noodles.
The Kelai Restaurant at the Marquis of Anning's residence was a rare and well-known establishment among officials, earning the Marquis of Anning a considerable amount of money each year.
Let Aunt Shen manage things? Has the young mistress gone mad?
Shen Mianmian took in the shocked, confused, and disdainful looks from everyone, thinking to herself—the young mistress isn't crazy; she just wants revenge. In novels, only a certain brain-dead Phoenix Chick goes mad.
In the original story, after the reborn female protagonist made the proposal, the lady naturally disagreed. However, the young master threw a tantrum, crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide. In addition, the transmigrated woman, who was so trusting that she had no idea what she was doing, swore that she could definitely do it well and even wrote a plan and a feasibility report for the lady. Only then did the lady reluctantly agree.
She invested a lot of money to buy custom-made pots, and after the business opened, a reborn woman found a restaurant to solicit customers, which reassured the lady that she could let the transmigrated woman continue to run the business.
The result after that was quite simple.
The time-traveling woman lost a lot of money, which infuriated the madam. The young master couldn't stand the time-traveling woman's madness, so he ran to another concubine's room to avoid the storm and accidentally conceived a child. Meanwhile, the madam trusted Jiang Yinjin even more.
Shen Mianmian decided to speak up after all. Even though she knew Jiang Yinjin was up to no good, she had to put up a little resistance, even if it was inconvenient for her to confront her directly.
Chen Mianmian whispered, "Madam, if you're not forcing me to manage the shop, could you give me a small, unimportant one? Otherwise, I'm under a lot of pressure."
Ding was so angry her nose almost twisted out of shape, "Forcing you to manage the shop?"
Chen Mianmian blinked her beautiful, watery eyes. "Isn't that right? I've already refused, but the young master and young mistress still insist that I manage it. Isn't that forcing them?"
Afterwards, she muttered under her breath, "This tone doesn't sound like she's begging."
"..." Everyone thought—this Concubine Shen is truly spoiled and arrogant, she has no self-awareness! They really don't know what the young master likes about her... Well, Concubine Shen is indeed very beautiful! Just that face is enough to make men lose their minds.
Jiang Yinjin smiled and shook her head, "Mother, it seems that your daughter-in-law's efforts are not appreciated."
Ding hurriedly comforted her sensible and obedient daughter-in-law, "Yinjin is generous and magnanimous, that's what a proper wife should be like. Don't bother with those petty people."
Bai Qingzhou felt frustrated, and his gaze towards Chen Mianmian was full of disappointment and disappointment.
Chen Mianmian was completely dumbfounded—no, buddy, you're the biggest loser in this story, and you're actually disappointed in me?
Finally, Ding gave Shen Mianmian a shop in an ordinary location, selling women's cosmetics.
That concludes the matter.
Ding frowned. "Yinjin, that courtesan is still in our residence. The Marquis hasn't said how to deal with her. What do you think we should do?"
Jiang Yinjin feigned embarrassment, saying, "This... I'm sorry, our family has never had any contact with courtesans. Neither my grandfather, father, nor my uncles have ever brought courtesans into the household, so I really have no experience."
Suddenly, everyone looked at the Crown Prince with strange expressions.
After all, their young master brought back a thin horse and a prostitute, which was quite a complete set.
Ding's face was extremely ugly, and she glared fiercely at the two people.
Jiang Yinjin said, "How about we let Sister Shen decide? She was the one who exposed the courtesan's tricks back then, so she must have some experience."
Sleepy sleep—no, is this never going to end?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com