Fang Xiyue put the same amount of rice and vegetables in each spoon and then fed them one by one.
The three young men happily accepted the food, and even those who couldn't eat much normally ate quite a bit.
After they finished eating, they continued chatting, while Fang Xiyue went out to continue looking for ways to make money.
She currently has a total of 600,000 taels of silver, but she still feels it's not enough. Marrying two more young men would require another 400,000 taels of silver.
Ye Ziming gave a dowry of 200,000 yuan, and Su Zheyu and Song Yifan should also receive the same amount.
Giving only a dowry is definitely not enough; other betrothal gifts must also be included, so we must find a way to continue earning money.
Even if she sold all 10,000 sets of boxes, it would only amount to 100,000 taels of silver. She always felt that she needed at least 2 million taels of silver.
[Yuanbao, what should we sell next?] Fang Xiyue now has complete faith in Yuanbao's judgment.
[Host, let's open a convenience store, where vegetables, fruits, and groceries are all sold in one building, so people can buy everything they need in one trip.]
Yuanbao thinks the supermarket is a good place because it's convenient to buy anything there.
"That won't do. If we sell everything, how many people will we offend!"
These days, shops are all individual entities. If she sells to other shops and their business isn't doing well, they'll definitely come looking for trouble. It's okay if it's just one person, but if all the merchants come, it'll be too much for her to handle.
【Host, you can let merchants move in. We can divide the building into stalls, have the merchants pay us rent, and then we can earn the rent.】
How could Yuanbao not have considered the potential dissatisfaction among other merchants? It certainly wouldn't cause trouble for its host.
I still don't think it's a good idea. If all the merchants come here to rent stalls, then the surrounding shops won't be able to find tenants. It just doesn't feel right.
Fang Xiyue wasn't really short of money, so she didn't want to do anything that would harm others. She had experienced poverty herself, so she didn't want to be the one who made others suffer.
Why don't we sell storybooks? I have tons of ancient Chinese storybooks and fantasy/demon storybooks. Just picking out a few will definitely make a lot of money.
Furthermore, since hand-copying books is too slow, why not develop movable type printing, open a printing factory, and take on jobs from bookstores?
There shouldn't be any conflict of interest between these two people, right? At most, the scholar who copies books won't earn money, but there are other ways to let them work and study.
We can also sell glassware, like glass cups and stuff; after all, nobody knows a mirror is made of glass.
Yuanbao thinks he's a real little genius!
Okay, I'll go prepare it now.
Fang Xiyue read the plan Yuanbao gave her and thought it was very feasible, so she went and bought two shops first.
One location was used as a printing factory, while the other was used to sell high-end glass products in a bustling area.
Movable type printing doesn't require Fang Xiyue to find someone to carve the characters; it's all available in the system store for ten taels of silver per set.
Glassware was even cheaper, with glass beads costing two coins each, ornaments costing ten coins, jewelry costing ten coins, and so on.
As for the storybooks, Yuanbao bought them directly from the system store. The ones he took out were old-fashioned and didn't look like printed text at all.
Moreover, in order to keep people buying it, they made it a serialized story, with each story divided into three volumes: the first volume was released, followed by the second volume a month later, and the third volume a month after that.
The first batch of storybooks published was "Journey to the West, Volume 1," which received widespread acclaim upon release. Many people couldn't buy it at bookstores, and "Journey to the West" became a popular topic of conversation during leisure time.
Even illiterate people had heard these stories from others and found them fascinating.
However, everyone finished reading "Journey to the West, Volume 1" in just a few days. They probably got stuck on the Golden Horn King and Silver Horn King part, as there was only the beginning and no end.
Everyone was extremely anxious, but when they went to the bookstore, they were told that the author hadn't finished writing the second volume and it couldn't be published yet.
"My lord, I just asked, and the bookstore owner said that the author hasn't finished writing the middle volume yet, so we won't be able to see the sequel for the time being."
Xiao Yuan hurriedly returned to the Xiao residence. Xiao Zihan was so engrossed in reading the storybook that he even read it by lamplight at night, but there was no sequel.
He was so upset that he asked Xiaoyuan to check on him every day, but each time there was no good news.
"Come on, I'll go with you. I refuse to believe it. If all else fails, I'll go find the person who wrote this story!"
Xiao Zihan pulled Xiao Yuan out of the Xiao residence and headed towards their family's bookstore.
Fang Xiyue was checking the accounts at the bookstore when she saw Xiao Zihan storm in.
"Shopkeeper, when will the author of 'Journey to the West' finally finish writing it? I'm so anxious!"
Xiao Zihan's voice rose, indicating that she was truly anxious.
"My lord, I'm anxious too, but they won't supply us until they finish writing it."
The shopkeeper glanced at Fang Xiyue. She didn't know that Fang Xiyue was the writer of storybooks; she only knew that Fang Xiyue was the one who delivered the storybooks.
"Then tell me who the author is, and I'll go find her and keep an eye on her writing." Xiao Zihan thought that studying hard and pricking his thigh with an awl would be effective.
"This, this..." The shopkeeper was at a loss. How would she know who the author was? And even if she asked this lady, she probably wouldn't tell her.
"Does Young Master Xiao want to see the author?" Fang Xiyue had the idea of teasing Xiao Zihan.
Xiao Yuan recognized Fang Xiyue immediately upon seeing her; she was the one who had saved him and his lover before. But she seemed so different today, and didn't look so annoying anymore.
"You know what? If you do, can you tell me? I want to become her (his) apprentice so I can see the first-hand stories, hehe."
Xiao Zihan was still very happy to see Fang Xiyue, after all, Fang Xiyue held a special place in his heart, but she still couldn't compare to the author of "Journey to the West" in terms of status.
"Foolish, isn't it too hasty to become an apprentice just for a storybook?"
Fang Xiyue was somewhat unhappy for some reason. If she wasn't the publisher of "Journey to the West" in their dynasty, wouldn't he be worshipping someone else?
Moreover, she knew that Xiao Zihan admired the original author of "Journey to the West" rather than her, and she would feel guilty if she admitted it.
She was willing to publish here because Yuanbao said that her world was a fictional world, and publishing those Chinese works was a way to promote Chinese culture. She didn't need to feel guilty, and she signed her book "Chinese" when she published it.
But at this moment, she suddenly didn't want anyone to know that these things came from her. She didn't want to take credit for their work, and 'China' would become a mysterious legend from then on.
"I'm not stupid, but if she (he) doesn't want to, I won't force her."
Xiao Zihan was indignant. His mother and father always called him stupid, and now someone else was saying he was stupid too. Humph!
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