Chapter 51
Shen You remained composed: “Giving gifts to relatives, friends, and customers during festivals is tradition.”
Although she used to think that such formalities were tiresome and pointless—just exchanging gifts back and forth—she had to follow these customs now that she was running a business.
Wen Zhi’s gaze passed over the high-end gift boxes and settled on the opened wooden food box on the table, his eyes pausing slightly.
“Items from the Great Qi palace. I can choose these too?”
“You recognized it immediately.” Shen You said with some suspicion. What exactly did he do in the Great Qi dynasty?
“As long as you don’t mind that I’ve already sampled the pastries from each layer, that’s fine. You can eat anything in this room freely, but you have to leave the food box for me.”
Wen Zhi really didn’t mind and ate the remaining three pieces.
“By the way, since you’re here now, did you come looking for me about something?” Shen You asked.
“I was passing by, so I came to ask when the shop opens next time.” He picked up his phone and continued, “I connected to the internet as soon as I entered and saw the message.”
So there was nothing else. Before Wen Zhi left, Shen You, adhering to her principle of giving away whatever she could, stuffed two mooncakes into his hands.
She called them by the beautiful name: “Hometown mooncakes.”
Wen Zhi sighed resignedly and carried them out of the shop.
After he left, Shen You checked the doors, windows, and system once more, locked the door securely, and got in her car to leave the city.
Meanwhile, in the most prosperous district of the Great Qi capital, several horse carriages were parked in front of a shop. And from their specifications, one could tell that they belonged to either the wealthy or the noble.
Zhao Wanyi rushed into the store energetically, confirming that this place sold the same lip rouge she had used.
However, the color she had fallen in love with at first sight wasn’t available here.
Her mood improved considerably.
She sat down with an attitude that brooked no argument: “I want all the Western Region goods your shop has.”
“Also, whatever those pastries or moon cakes are called, I want five portions.”
The shop assistant kept his head lowered, looking troubled: “Miss Zhao, our shop has rules. Each item can only be purchased once per person.”
After the news spread this morning, their shop had never been so bustling with customers.
When they first heard the prices of these items, they all thought that the owner had gone mad, because who would they sell to?
Who knew that the shop would be this popular the very next day?
These Western Region goods could only be bought by powerful and wealthy families in the capital. These young ladies and madams all wanted to buy more.
But there were only so many items in total.
An ordinary shop wouldn’t dare refuse such customers.
Zhao Wanyi was about to lose her temper when she saw that the shop manager was actually Liu Zheng, so she restrained herself.
Liu Zheng was someone from the Crown Prince’s side who had just returned from Yunzhou after achieving merit. No one would offend him over such trivial matters.
Therefore, Madam Zhao approached Liu Zheng privately and asked, “Young Master Liu, our marquis household has many people. We can buy fewer cosmetics, but could you sell us two more boxes of pastries?”
Liu Zheng pretended to consider this with difficulty for a while.
“How about I sell you one more box? Please don’t spread word of this.
We really don’t have enough left. The Crown Prince’s side, Master Gongsun from the Imperial Observatory, the Prime Minister’s residence—they all want to buy these moon cakes. Even the palace wants to try them.”
Hearing these prestigious names from the capital that were no less prominent than the marquis household, Madam Zhao couldn’t say much more.
She certainly couldn’t ask these people to give up their portions for the marquis household. Even the marquis himself wouldn’t dare make such a request.
“Could we have the pastry chef make more? Our marquis household will give him a separate reward.”
These pastries were no longer just pastries. They had become symbols of status.
Just looking at the pastry designs showed how elegant they were: white and light purple gradient skins, plus green ones. Even without eating them, having them displayed on the table would be quite face-saving.
Liu Zheng sighed. If it were anyone else, he definitely wouldn’t agree to sell an extra portion, but he still had to give face to the marquis household.
“That Western Region chef will return home for the festival after finishing this batch, and we only have this much ingredients shipped from the Western Region. Even if we wanted to make more, we couldn’t. If there were any extras, this shop couldn’t possibly refuse to earn that money.”
Everyone in the capital knew that the Liu family had indeed fallen on hard times previously. This shop was still part of Madam Liu’s dowry, and now the Liu family needed money.
Madam Zhao didn’t suspect otherwise: “Fine, then two boxes it is.”
The assistant efficiently packed everything and handed it to the Zhao family’s maid.
When leaving the shop, Zhao Wanyi saw the envious looks from other families, causing her lips to curve into a smile, then she bent down elegantly to sit in the horse carriage.
Liu Zheng smiled as he worked the abacus. An ordinary shop might not earn this much money in a month, let alone a single day.
He had predicted early on that the pastries would be in short supply. At Shopkeeper Shen’s place, there were 8 pieces per box, but he had switched to smaller boxes with 6 pieces, plus small portions with 2 pieces.
This not only allowed him to earn more money but also made it less likely to offend people.
Those cosmetics were selling very well too. What Shopkeeper Shen called the “gentle plum-colored lip rouge” was almost sold out, and so was the rouge.
“I’ll add 20 taels. I want this last box.”
“20 taels? How dare you say that? I’ll add 50 taels.”
Two young ladies from prominent families immediately slapped silver notes onto the table. The assistant didn’t dare offend either side.
In the end, Liu Zheng sent a manager to explain that they would only follow the first-come-first-served principle without accepting extra payment, which resolved the matter.
Within just one afternoon, these items were nearly sold out, and the shop hung a sign outside stating that pastries were sold out.
Wealthy merchants who hadn’t bought any spread word outside that they were willing to pay 500 taels of silver to purchase one box of large moon cakes.
The resale price for perfume had reached 1,000 taels.
Many were willing to pay, but almost none were willing to resell, and those who did so only considered personal relationships and face.
That evening, a horse carriage carrying two boxes of pastries entered the palace gates.
At this time, Shen You was still stuck in traffic, eating spicy strips and gnawing on duck collar bones.
Traffic jams were very normal during the festival period. A husky in the car next to hers was practically crying from watching her eat.
Shen You called home from the road. What should have been a three-hour journey was delayed to over four hours.
When she arrived at the familiar old, shabby walk-up apartment building, her family was waiting to have dinner with her.
Her parents specifically came downstairs to meet her and help carry things.
In this kind of old residential complex, neighbors usually loved chatting in the courtyard, so everyone knew about any commotion.
Seeing that she had driven back and was carrying large and small packages, the neighbors all turned to look.
“Your daughter Shen You is really capable, bringing back so many good things for you. This is bird’s nest. It’s not cheap, right?”
“These were gifts from others during the festival.” Shen You said as she took out mooncakes to give to neighbors.
Neighbors who had good relationships with her family were happy to receive the mooncakes. The Shen family’s relatives weren’t much, but their daughter was capable, so the elderly couple’s future would be fine.
Someone sitting nearby commented: “She’s so impressive just for buying some things to bring back? My son gave me 3,000 yuan just yesterday. No matter how good a daughter is, what’s the use? You still need a son.”
“You’re getting defensive over just these few things? Hurry up and have your son buy these for you. He wouldn’t be reluctant to buy them for you, right?”
Shen You chuckled lightly and went upstairs with her things, ignoring the neighbor behind her whose face had turned iron-blue with her sarcastic remarks.