Chapter 206 206 Vulnerability Argument
The words of retort were about to come out when Yin'e reached out and gently tugged at the Ninth Prince's sleeve, which nearly brought the Ninth Prince back to his senses, which had been overwhelmed by anger.
Thinking of his and Yin'e's "grand plans", the Ninth Prince decided to swallow his anger for the time being and not bother with the Third Prince, this "petty person".
With a furious glare at the Third Prince, the Ninth Prince placed the remaining box of pastries on the Fourth Prince's desk: "Fourth Brother, this is for you."
The Ninth Prince and the Fourth Prince had a so-so relationship and were not close in the past. However, compared with the talkative and troublesome Third Prince, the cold and taciturn Fourth Prince seemed to become more amiable.
The Ninth Prince pushed the gilded coral and rosewood pastry box toward the Fourth Prince and added in a low voice, "Knowing that you prefer light flavors, Fourth Brother, I specially instructed that it not be too sweet. It's still quite nice as a tea snack. You can try it at noon."
The Ninth Prince unusually backed down and didn't explode like a firecracker on the spot, which made the Third Prince feel somewhat uncomfortable.
He craned his neck and turned his head in disbelief to look at the Ninth Prince standing next to the Fourth Prince's desk. His face was full of doubt and confusion: This is truly something I've never seen before. Has the Ninth Prince taken the wrong medicine?
With a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, the Third Prince pulled over the pastry box on the desk, which he hadn't paid much attention to before, and examined it carefully: "What exactly is in here?"
Is it really a snack? Why doesn't he believe it?
Why did the Ninth Prince have to suppress his temper and speak so politely to give them these ordinary little snacks?
They were definitely poisoned! Old Ninth Brother was behaving himself so that he could deliver poisoned snacks to them and kill them all!
Vicious! Utterly vicious!
"It's just a snack, what else could it be?" The Ninth Prince rolled his eyes impatiently.
Yin'e glanced at the Third Prince, knowing that he and the Ninth Prince had made a mistake, and quickly explained, "Third Brother, these are new pastry styles that Ninth Brother and I developed in our shop. We brought them over for you to try."
The Ninth Prince's eyes lit up, and a bright, sunny smile instantly bloomed on his delicate and handsome face: "That's right, exactly! These new-style pastries are especially delicious. You'll know once you try them; I guarantee you'll love them!"
With Yin'e and the Ninth Prince being so attentive, the Third Prince became even more uneasy. He frowned slightly, and his gaze was filled with obvious suspicion.
Blinking his eyes, Yin'e turned his head to look at the Ninth Prince, and the two exchanged a knowing glance.
During that year, the shop that Yin'e and the Ninth Prince jointly opened had already gained a foothold in the capital, and with the help of the Imperial Household Department, it had completely opened up the market and developed a vast market.
With the market opened up, the products sold had to keep up. Following milk candy, the shop successively developed new dairy products, such as milk biscuits, snowflake crisps, cream cakes, milk sponge cakes, milk puddings, and so on, exploring almost every possible way to prepare milk.
But it's just a further processing of milk powder.
During that year, Sarigul led his team to Mongolia three times, developing several trade routes for purchasing raw materials. Without contacting Mongolian dignitaries, he made business with many lower and middle-class herders, purchasing several batches of milk powder and goat milk powder from them at low prices and transporting them all the way back to the capital.
Since its launch, the various candies and pastries made from cow's milk powder have been in high demand, while the goat's milk powder has been gathering dust in the warehouse and has yet to find a way out.
If it weren't for Sarigule remembering Yin'e's advice and not buying too much goat milk powder, they would have suffered huge losses long ago. There was no other way; goat milk had too strong a smell, and the cost of removing the smell was too high, even more expensive than the goat milk powder itself. Removing the smell batch by batch would be counterproductive.
However, Yin'e was really reluctant to give up the goat milk powder business: there are more sheep than cows in Mongolia, the output of goat milk powder is huge, and the price can be driven down to be much lower than that of cow milk powder. As long as the sales channels for goat milk powder can be opened up, he will definitely be able to reap far greater profits than cow milk powder.
The new-style pastries that Yin'e and the Ninth Prince brought to the Imperial Study to give to the princes were goat milk pastries. They were indeed novel, but as for the taste... well, they were not bad, but not so bad that they were inedible.
This is the limit that a dim sum chef can achieve while controlling the cost of removing the fishy smell.
With limited milk powder production, the shop's net profit in its first year of hard work was only about eight hundred taels of silver, far from the booming success that Yin'e and the Ninth Prince had imagined.
This is normal.
After all, their initial investment was limited, and it was originally a small business. Milk-based snacks were just treats, not necessities like staple foods, so the market demand wasn't that high.
In addition, the production of dairy products was not high and the business was not large. If it weren't for getting into the Imperial Household Department's procurement list through back channels, the profits might not be as high as they are now.
From the very beginning, Yin'e positioned this business as a light luxury product targeting middle and upper-class customers; in short, it was a trendy food product.
Are he and the Ninth Prince, two princes, opening a shop to sell pastries? No, they're selling a brand, a reputation, and royal selections certified by the Imperial Household Department!
Among merchants in the same trade, imperial merchants held a higher status than other merchants. Being selected by the imperial family and included in the supply list of the Imperial Household Department was itself a symbol of power.
...The reason why milk candy was able to be included in the Imperial Household Department's supply list was mainly because Yin'e and the Ninth Prince played the "my father is the emperor" card and used back channels.
However, it wasn't so easy to get through the back door. The reason why milk candy was able to be transformed into a popular product carefully selected by the Imperial Household Department and then quickly become popular was because the appearance of candy wrappers not only solved the problems of candy being difficult to store and transport, but also because the taste of milk candy was not bad. At least the masters and concubines in the Forbidden City could accept this new kind of snack.
Goat milk products were out of the question. Although goat milk was more nutritious, the smell of goat milk was not removed, so the Imperial Household Department dared not include it in their procurement list, let alone serve it to the nobles.
If you don't remove the fishy smell from goat milk products, the taste... not to mention the pampered masters in the palace, even the Empress Dowager, who was born in Mongolia but had lived in the capital for decades and was used to a life of luxury, couldn't accept it.
It was impossible to get the Imperial Household Department to endorse their shop's goat milk pastries through normal means and back channels, so Yin'e had no choice but to resort to some unorthodox methods.
And so, today Yin'e brought the Ninth Prince here by trickery—
Since the Imperial Household Department is afraid to include their shop's goat milk pastries in the purchase list for fear that the palace masters will not accept them, then things are easy to solve. They should first find a way to get the palace masters to accept them, and then the Imperial Household Department will be able to make an exception!
What do you call this? You call it "if you can't solve the problem, solve the person who raised the problem" (bushi).
The Fourth Prince silently took the pastry box and sniffed it a few times. Even though the gold-decorated coral and mahogany pastry box was tightly sealed, a muttony smell still wafted out and was easily detected by the Fourth Prince.
Slowly setting down the pastry box, the Fourth Prince remained silent for a moment before saying, "The goat milk didn't remove the fishy smell. No wonder you delivered it yourself instead of it being presented by the Imperial Household Department."
The curve of his lips tightened slightly, and an awkward yet polite smile appeared on Yin'e's face.
The Third Prince understood, and the obvious suspicion on his face turned into a direct refusal: "Goat milk, and it still doesn't have the fishy smell removed? You might as well poison it!"
The Third Prince had tried all the snacks that Yin'e had concocted, such as milk candy and milk biscuits, and his opinion of them was quite good.
Especially the milk candies that are individually wrapped in waxed paper and coated with a layer of sugar (glutinous rice paper), you don't have to worry about them sticking together or getting damp. You can put them directly in your pocket or sleeve. They are small and don't take up much space.
When I was studying in the Imperial Study, I would sneak a candy when I got hungry. It was a rich, sweet milk candy that was very filling, and I didn't have to worry about making too much noise and getting caught by the servants.
But the pastries made with goat milk that hadn't been deodorized... The Third Prince pinched his nose and exclaimed dramatically, "I won't accept this gift from you! I'm afraid I won't be able to eat for three days after eating it!"
His long, narrow eyebrows shot up sharply, and the Ninth Prince finally couldn't hold back any longer and exploded. His handsome phoenix eyes widened: "What are you pretending to be picky about? You can't even eat? You always finish every last bite of the lunch the imperial kitchen sends you!"
"You can eat that pig slop, so why can't you swallow these carefully made snacks?"
The Third Prince's face flushed red instantly; the Ninth Prince's words had hit a nerve.
As the Ninth Prince said, the Third Prince was indeed a bit greedy. However, his gluttony was not the same as that of the Fifth Prince. The Fifth Prince was simply fond of good food and had a strong appetite, while the Third Prince's gluttony was more like an overcompensation for what he lacked in his childhood.
In his early years, Emperor Kangxi's sons died one after another. In order to ensure that the princes grew up, Kangxi entrusted his eldest and third sons to the families of ministers outside the palace.
The Third Prince was raised by the Grand Minister Choerji. Choerji was a cautious and meticulous person who adhered to the rules. He was extremely strict in controlling the Third Prince. In terms of diet, he not only strictly followed the advice of the imperial physicians, but even went to extremes. Before returning to the palace, the Third Prince could only eat until he was 70% full.
He may be healthy, but for the young Third Prince, not having enough to eat and going hungry is not a pleasant experience.
After the Third Prince returned to the palace and moved into the Princes' Quarters to establish his own household, he was able to control his own life and never went hungry again. He always ate his fill at every meal.
The Third Prince's handsome face flushed red, filled with both shame and resentment. But the Third Prince was no pushover; he quickly seized upon the loophole in the Ninth Prince's words and launched a counterattack: "Ha, you said the lunch delivered by the Imperial Kitchen was pig swill. If this gets back to Father Khan, let's see what you do then!"
"Go ahead and complain!" The Ninth Prince was unfazed and sneered, "Do you think I'm afraid?" At worst, he'd be punished; what did he have to be afraid of?
The battle erupted right next to the desks where the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince were sitting. The Fourth Prince, who had been hit by the tail end of the typhoon, raised his hand and pinched his brow. He wanted to speak up and ease the tense situation, but he really couldn't bring himself to praise the two boxes of pastries that still had a strong mutton smell.
How could Ninth Brother so brazenly utter the words "meticulously crafted"? Where is the meticulousness? Is it in the gilded mahogany lacquered gift box that holds the pastries?
The Fourth Prince was a little confused. The price of the gift box was much higher than that of the pastries. Since they had gone to great lengths to make a complete set of standard gift boxes, why did they neglect the most important part?
It feels like... like it was done on purpose.
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