Before the chubby orange cat could react, Sun Miaoqing curtsied, raised her chin, and confidently turned and left the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Su Peisheng, who was serving her, looked helpless. This Consort Cheng was really getting carried away.
"Your Majesty, regarding Consort Cheng's matter..."
The chubby orange cat slowly sipped his tea. "Ignore her. Let's see what she can do."
*
Chuxiu Palace
Sun Miaoqing first held Hongzhou in her arms until he fell asleep, then had Qiangwei and Granny Li stay by his side to watch over him.
He turned around and went back to his bedroom. As usual, he kicked his legs, turned the flowerpot-shaped shoes up to one side, found a comfortable position, and half-lay on the kang (a heated brick bed).
Linglan stood behind her and massaged her shoulders, while Liuli brought over a pot of milk tea. It had a sweet aroma of longan, and she poured a bowl for Sun Miaoqing.
"Your Majesty and the Emperor have been talking for so long, you must be tired. This roasted milk with longan was prepared by me before you left, it's perfect to drink now."
Sun Miaoqing sat up a little straighter, took the drink, drank a couple of sips, and then casually put it on the kang table next to her. "There were too many longans in it, so it tastes a bit too sweet."
Liuli said, "Yes, next time I will tell them to put out less."
Linglan asked, "Your Highness, what should we do next?"
"The Emperor refused to inscribe this plaque for you, nor did he agree to send it to those princes and ministers. The workshop has already stored more than a thousand catties of milk candy these days."
"And as you requested, there could be even more in the future. If we can't sell them, this won't be a small amount."
It's no wonder Linglan is worried; Sun Miaoqing set extremely ambitious goals from the very beginning. She said that once the business was up and running, she wanted to produce a thousand catties a day.
In those days, cattle were extremely important means of production. For poor people, the value of a cow was greater than that of a human life.
Although the capital city is right under the emperor's nose, there aren't many cows in a village. Of those few, half of them are male and don't produce milk at all.
The remaining half of the cow will only be sold to families who have leftovers after the calf has drunk its fill.
Milk is inconvenient to transport, so these days, after collecting the milk, I rent a house nearby, boil it into milk candy, and then deliver it to the store.
Small-scale collections were insufficient for Sun Miaoqing's needs. Therefore, Zhang's uncle voluntarily lent her a small estate on the outskirts of Beijing.
Part of the original houses were converted into workshops, while the rest were used for living quarters. Another piece of land was designated for the construction of a large cattle shed.
Half of the farmland on the estate was used for growing grain, while the other half was sown with grass seed. The entire estate, spanning several hundred hectares, could support at most a hundred cattle. (Cattle also need to eat grain in addition to grass.)
Even with hundreds of cows, it would still be far from enough to meet her small goal of producing a thousand kilograms of milk candy per day.
After all, cows don't produce milk every single day of the year.
As for manpower, in addition to the farmers in the village, they also hired several long-term laborers from the neighboring village. They also specifically hired several skilled cattle herders.
The money hasn't arrived yet, but the costs have been substantial. Although all of this adds up to less than a tenth of her dowry, she can't afford to squander it.
Sun Miaoqing said, "It's alright. He has his brilliant plan, and I have my countermeasures. Do you think I have no other way to deal with this without that signboard?"
"That's a gross underestimation of me!"
Linglan asked curiously, "Does Your Highness have any ideas? Can you tell us?"
Sun Miaoqing waved to the two of them, "Come closer."
Linglan and Liuli curiously leaned closer, and after listening, they both nodded in agreement.
But considering the Emperor's attitude, Liuli said, "But will it work with the Emperor?"
Sun Miaoqing said, "Why not? I didn't lie. Spread the word and tell my uncle and aunt to do it this way. My milk candy shop will still open as usual."
"Also, the price of a pound of milk candy will be set at ten taels of silver. For the first three days after opening, there will be a 20% discount."
Linglan gasped in surprise, "Ten taels of silver?"
"Will anyone buy it at such a high price?"
Sun Miaoqing said, "Of course I do. I even think I ordered too little. But considering that we have no experience, it's not too late to raise the price if it sells well, so I only ordered this much."
Linglan and Liuli were incredulous; Her Highness actually wanted to raise prices! There were many wealthy people in the capital, but they weren't fools. Buying once out of curiosity, buying twice to give Her Highness face.
But if this goes on for a long time, who will be willing to be a sucker? Money doesn't just appear out of thin air!
Sun Miaoqing didn't think ten taels of silver was expensive at all. After all, the cost of the milk candy was there.
At this time, the price of wheat was about two taels of silver per shi (石), and one shi was roughly equivalent to 100 jin (斤) in the future. Ten jin of glutinous rice plus one jin of wheat could make about four jin of maltose.
Glutinous rice is more expensive, costing about 2.7 ounces per shi (a unit of dry measure). Grain prices also vary from place to place.
One hundred catties of glutinous rice, plus ten catties of wheat. Adding firewood, labor, etc., the cost of making forty catties of maltose would be at least three taels of silver.
In addition to the costs of milk, dried fruit, already invested costs, store renovation fees, and taxes to be paid after the business opens.
Is it profitable to make ten taels of silver? This is clearly a low-profit, high-volume business model!
However, faced with their suspicions, Sun Miaoqing felt that it was all for her own financial future.
It's necessary to educate them on what advertising and marketing are!
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