nucmednet Chapter 47 Initial Success, New Ideas
Chapter 47 Initial Success, New Ideas
The seventh princess was eventually sent back to the palace.
Although she was unwilling, she didn't dare to make a scene in front of Murong Jing.
Su Mowan woke up feeling refreshed. Qinghe had just returned from buying handkerchiefs and brought back two small bags of snacks.
Su Mowan was curious and leaned over to take a look. It was half a bag of roasted chestnuts and a few duck wings.
Smelling the aroma, Su Mowan sniffed, her eyes lighting up as she asked, "Qinghe, are there any braised duck necks for sale in the capital?"
"Braised duck neck? No, we don't have that. Duck necks are all bones, what's so delicious about them?" Qinghe asked, her eyes wide with confusion.
Su Mowan gave a mysterious laugh.
"Alright, hurry up and eat. After you finish, call Butler Luo over here."
When Butler Luo arrived, Su Mowan told him her idea, which elicited a surprised exclamation from Butler Luo, "Consort Su, this...this old servant cannot make a decision. How about this old servant consults the Prince first and then gives you an answer?"
Su Mowan raised an eyebrow.
"Is it really worth going to the Prince to ask for a temporary loan of three thousand taels? Is three thousand taels a lot?"
Steward Luo hurriedly said awkwardly, "It's not much, but the accounting is no longer under my control, and I can't make the decision on my own."
This is strange.
Su Mowan was a little unhappy. "Then who's in charge?"
Seeing that she looked unhappy, Butler Luo quickly explained, "It's Consort Shen who's in charge. After the Prince gave you these shops to manage yesterday, Consort Shen insisted on managing them herself. The Prince didn't let her manage the shops, but instead handed over the household's accounts to Consort Shen."
Su Mowan scoffed inwardly. No wonder Shen Muyue hadn't caused any trouble these past two days; it turned out she had seized control of her food, clothing, and daily necessities and was secretly pleased with herself.
Thinking of this, Su Mowan immediately waved her hand.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Steward Luo, please go and attend to your business."
Su Mowan is a complete foodie, so she suddenly had the idea to open a snack shop. It would satisfy her cravings and make money at the same time, wouldn't that be better!
However, with the financial power in Shen Muyue's hands, there's no way she can get the money to open a shop.
The next day, Qinghe left the mansion early in the morning and went to the jewelry shop. Su Mowan simply asked Yinshuang to go to Zui Jinzhao with her.
Because of the significant price reduction, Zui Jinzhao had more customers than yesterday, but it still seemed rather quiet.
As soon as she entered, the waiter came over to greet her, but Manager Qian hurriedly came to welcome her personally.
"Consort Su, what brings you here?"
After Su Mowan sat down, she asked, "Manager Qian, have you lowered the price according to what I wrote?"
"Of course we lowered the price," Manager Qian said with a troubled expression, "but we haven't seen much more customers."
Su Mowan frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Manager Qian, write down the prices on a piece of paper and post it outside the building. Also, add a note: the first thirty customers today will be charged 24/7."
Although Manager Qian was puzzled, he did as instructed.
Before long, the number of people gradually increased, and Manager Qian finally relaxed, saying admiringly, "Consort Su's method is indeed very effective!"
He had just sighed when he started to worry again, "But if some people don't use the service and don't pay, will the other customers be happy?"
Su Mowan smiled without saying a word, simply watching as more and more customers came in.
So, we stayed in the private room on the second floor for half an hour. Although we weren't entirely satisfied with the results, it was much better than expected.
Next, Su Mowan went to the clothing store, where the situation was similar and had improved.
Yinshuang thought they were going to a jewelry shop next, but Su Mowan waved her hand and said, "No need to go, let's go back to the manor."
Although the clothing store had moved, the styles of the clothes in the store were very ordinary and too mainstream. Su Mowan asked Yinshuang to prepare paper and pen so she could start drawing.
Su Mowan didn't stop writing until it got dark.
Yinshuang came over to tidy up the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, and couldn't help but be surprised when she saw the painting on the paper.
The next day, upon entering Zui Jin Zhao, he was greeted by a hall full of customers, and Manager Qian quickly came over to welcome them.
"Consort Su, business is booming today! There were already so many people waiting at the door before we even opened this morning! The manager of Wenxiangju across the street is glaring at us with rage, haha!"
Su Mowan smiled. Of course, some people would come early in order to grab one of the first thirty free spots.
"However," Manager Qian changed the subject, "thirty people aren't paying their bills every day, which is a significant loss!"
Su Mowan smiled like a fox, "It's only going to happen in the next few days. Once there are more people, we'll come up with other ideas. We can't just keep eating and drinking for free."
Manager Qian smiled and went off to get busy.
Upon arriving at the clothing shop, Su Mowan handed the sketch in her hand to Manager Liu, who opened it and was completely baffled.
"Manager Liu, give this painting to the embroiderers in the shop and have them make the items according to the painting. Don't make too many, just make five of each item first, and price them at one hundred taels."
"One hundred taels?!" Manager Liu's eyes widened in surprise. "Isn't that too expensive?"
Su Mowan smiled.
"We can't just sell everything cheap. Manager Liu, let's try it first, and if it doesn't work, we'll talk about it again."
Taking advantage of managing the shop, Su Mowan ate almost all the snacks in the capital city and wandered around outside every day, thus avoiding meeting Shen Muyue.
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and the three shopkeepers arrived with their account books.
Su Mowan first took the restaurant's account book, flipping through it while listening to Manager Qian's report.
"After a rough calculation, the income over the past ten days has been over a thousand taels of silver. After deducting the cost of eight hundred taels, there is a surplus of over two hundred taels!"
It's not that Manager Qian is incompetent; although two hundred taels is a small amount, it's the first time in over a year that he's made a profit.
Next up is Manager Liu of the clothing shop.
"The designs that Consort Su requested were only made once each due to the short timeframe, but they have all been sold out. After deducting costs, we made a profit of over nine hundred taels of silver!"
Su Mowan drew a total of ten designs, which means that the cost of each garment was only ten taels of silver.
Manager Qian, who had just been beaming with joy, couldn't help but widen his eyes upon hearing the number. "Over nine hundred taels?!"
Wouldn't his two hundred taels seem rather meager...?
The jewelry shop owner, Mr. Li, remained calm from the start, smiling as he handed over the ledger. Su Mowan only roughly counted the quantities without looking at the prices.
Finally, Su Mowan smiled and handed the ledger back to Manager Li. "It seems that the buy-one-get-one-free offer is quite effective. The number of jewelry items sold in these ten days is almost equal to the number sold in a month in the past. We'll continue to offer this offer in the future."
Manager Li's eyes flashed, and he smiled and agreed.
Su Mowan invited the three shopkeepers to sit down before saying, "Shopkeeper Qian, change the words on the sign in front of the building. Say that starting tomorrow, the first thirty customers will only need to pay half the price."
After saying that, he turned to Manager Liu and said, "Hire ten more embroiderers and have them make the remaining four pieces of each item within twenty days using the same materials. The price will still be one hundred taels."
Manager Liu rubbed his hands together in agreement, grinning from ear to ear.
Finally, when it came to Manager Li, Su Mowan said with a forced smile, "Manager Li, I have a new idea."