You want to eat fried dough sticks, but can't get them.
You can only come queue up the next day, but who's really here just for fried dough sticks? What people are devouring is the frying of corrupt officials, the sizzling of dirty bureaucrats, the crackling of injustice throughout the land!
Those who got to eat and those who didn't all planned to come queue up early the next morning.
"Why didn't you prepare more?"
"The milk tea shop next door is still open... why is breakfast sold out?"
"This doesn't make sense. Are you open for lunch?"
"You're in the capital city, why not set up outside the city? You prepared way too little!"
"I'm coming tomorrow, those of you who ate today better not fight me for it."
"What do you mean? Who says we can't eat again tomorrow if we ate today?"
In an instant, the breakfast shop was on the verge of a brawl.
In just this short time, seeing the commotion inside the shop getting intense, Xiao Yunzhou quickly retreated outside, holding the Little Princess.
If the Little Princess got hurt, he wouldn't even know where to cry.
"Your Majesty, this servant never expected the breakfast to be so popular. The prices aren't low, so I thought not many would buy," pleaded Manager Liao from the Imperial Kitchen, who had hurriedly followed them out to explain to the emperor on the carriage.
The emperor had come specially with the Little Princess to eat and show support, but there wasn't even a place for them to stand!
They couldn't even get a single coin's worth of food!
Manager Liao was so frightened he wanted to kowtow. "Your Majesty, shall we return to the palace? This servant will prepare the food for you there."
Xiao Yunzhou was indeed displeased. He had originally wanted to give the Little Princess a surprise, letting her taste some tofu pudding, saying it was commoner food.
Who would have thought that the Imperial Kitchen staff, in their first attempt at running a business, lacked experience and prepared too little stock.
Now look what happened – he was left craving... no, the Little Princess was left craving...
Xiao Yunzhou looked down at Xiao Chuchu in her swaddling clothes, also looking disappointed at not getting to taste anything. He felt the Little Princess shared his feelings – craving, no, slightly unhappy.
His face showed a hint of dissatisfaction as he said, "We arrived just a bit late, and not even half a fried dough stick was left..."
"Who would have thought, miss, we came just a little late and everything was gone..."
Halfway through his sentence, Xiao Yunzhou heard what seemed to be the maid of the Chu State beauties speaking by the roadside.
He abruptly stopped talking, his ears reddening slightly.
He, the supreme ruler, unable to get food, was actually complaining almost the same as a little girl.
Ahem.
Xiao Yunzhou immediately changed his tone, looking at Manager Liao in front of him, "If We wanted to eat, of course We could have it made in the palace."
"But this shop now is meant for the common people to enjoy. You should be thinking of the citizens, not of Us."
"How many disappointed citizens left empty-handed today, Liao Xing? Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
"Will you be able to sleep at night?"
The Imperial Kitchen's Manager Liao didn't dare raise his head at all.
Meanwhile, the Chu State sister beauties passing by the carriage immediately pricked up their ears. After hearing this, their eyes flickered with emotion.
Was the Jing Country emperor so considerate of his people?
[Hehe, the collection progress for the Chu State beauties has risen to 30%!]
[Hey, their goodwill towards my imperial father has increased to 5%, what an unexpected delight.]
Xiao Chuchu's inner thoughts made Xiao Yunzhou ecstatic.
He looked at Manager Liao in front of him and immediately reprimanded him more severely, "Don't just think about Us, you must have the people in your heart. Otherwise, you'll be just like those fried dough sticks – the people will curse you while eating."
Manager Liao's face turned deathly pale. "I will definitely prepare more tomorrow, ensuring everyone who comes to eat can get something."
Xiao Yunzhou was about to nod when his daughter's inner voice stopped him.
[How can one shop's supply possibly meet the demand of the entire city's population?]
Xiao Chuchu was clearly clearheaded. [The current situation isn't bad actually, this is called hunger marketing.]
[Limited supply means people can't get it, which leads to word-of-mouth spreading. In the future, they'll always have the impression that it's a premium shop.]
Xiao Yunzhou's eyes lit up.
[But the popularization of fried dough sticks, becoming one of the well-known breakfast choices for the capital's citizens, is inevitable. Hunger marketing won't work for long.]
[Fried dough sticks were originally commoner food, and ultimately they will return to the common people.]
Xiao Yunzhou pricked up his ears, not daring to miss a single word.
This was the wisdom of a celestial being from the heavenly realm!
[Just like the milk tea shops,] Xiao Chuchu thought of A Little, HeyTea from her previous life, and the fried dough sticks reminded her of Yonghe King.
[Fried dough stick shops will inevitably open everywhere. I think as the first breakfast shop opened by the court, rather than waiting to be eliminated, it's better to proactively transfer the operating rights to the common people gradually.]
Xiao Yunzhou was taken aback.
Huh? Transfer the operating rights?
[Manager Liao from the Imperial Kitchen couldn't even accurately estimate the breakfast stock needed for the first day of business.]
Xiao Chuchu, being carried around all day with nothing to do, liked to think about various things.
At this moment, she was analyzing in her mind, [This proves that each profession has its specialization. Manager Liao is excellent at developing imperial cuisine and pursuing a premium route, but he really has no experience in managing civilian restaurants and shops.]
Xiao Yunzhou drew in a sharp breath. Indeed, having the Imperial Kitchen responsible for opening shops was a bit rash.
But entrusting the milk tea business to the Ministry of Revenue wouldn't be appropriate either, as they don't know how to control the taste of milk tea.
The same goes for the breakfast shop.
In the end, there was still a shortage of talented people in the court.
Xiao Yunzhou pondered whether the spring imperial examination could recruit a bunch of talented individuals.
But his daughter's inner voice came through, [We could actually set up a franchise system for the shops.]
Xiao Yunzhou: "??"
Franchise? Like a martial arts alliance leader?
[The first royal milk tea shop and imperial breakfast shop should be researched in terms of flavors and established by the Imperial Kitchen as the flagship store model.]
[Then, set service, food, and decoration requirements.]
[Widely recruit common people with restaurant experience to join the franchise and open branch stores.]
[The court collects a portion of the franchise fee as training fees for milk tea and fried dough sticks, and helps franchisees choose branch locations.]
[To ensure the taste quality of the royal milk tea shops and imperial breakfast shops, all milk tea and breakfast ingredients for franchise branches must be sourced from court-specified channels.]
Xiao Yunzhou's eyes grew brighter as he listened.
It made sense!
The Imperial Kitchen and Ministry of Revenue had limited manpower after all.
It would be difficult to open shops all over Jing Country, or even just five or six shops in the capital city.
Franchising was good!
Let those with money and experience, who want to build a career, voluntarily join in!
[Franchise stores bear their own profits and losses. The greater one's ability, the greater their harvest. The court doesn't lose out either, earning annual franchise fees, brand management fees, training fees, as well as the price difference on every batch of raw materials coming in and out.]
Xiao Chuchu recalled the franchise management of milk tea shops from her previous life.
A Little milk tea seemed to operate this way.
"Brilliant!"
Xiao Yunzhou couldn't help but exclaim in admiration upon hearing this.
This way, the imperial court wouldn't have to expend effort on managing numerous shops, yet still receive a stable income from them!
At the same time, it gave commoners and merchants an opportunity to build wealth.
As long as the main store continuously developed new products and maintained quality, the franchise stores could potentially make money!
"This is excellent!" Xiao Yunzhou was overjoyed.
Manager Liao of the Imperial Kitchen before him was stunned. He had just been lecturing, so what was so wonderful about this?
Xiao Yunzhou came back to his senses and coughed lightly, "Your inadequate preparation has inspired Us."
"???"
*
The next day, the Chu State sisters once again queued up at the youtiao shop.
This time, they finally managed to buy some.
Not only did they get seats, but they also shared a table with others. Usually, given their privileged upbringing, they wouldn't easily dine at the same table with strangers.
But now, disguised as men and in Jing Country, they decided to follow local customs and take the opportunity to listen to the casual talks of Jing Country people.
"Have you heard? Our imperial physician went there and said that the robust man from the grasslands couldn't be moved, or he'd die!"
"What?"
"The imperial physician saw at a glance that there were arrow fragments in his chest. When asked, it turned out to be true!"
"Then what to do?"
"Naturally, they had to remove it! They cut open his chest on the spot..."
The Chu State sisters, while waiting for their youtiao and douhua, listened to this idle chat from the steward at the next table.
Hearing this, they couldn't help but smile.
This was simply like storytelling, impossible.
Even legendary tales weren't this far-fetched.
Just as they were scoffing, a scholar eating douhua at the next table also let out a hiss, "Opening up the chest? He'd most likely die."
"I don't believe the imperial physician would easily use a knife on a guest from the grasslands."
"Hey, don't be so skeptical! How do you think the milk tea shop next door came about? It was because the grasslands were grateful for this incident. Hearing that our emperor liked milk, they specially sent five hundred dairy cows. Then it was our emperor's beloved daughter, the Little Princess, who playfully invented milk tea, and that's how the shop was opened!"
The Chu State sisters listened in bewilderment.
But the most incredible part was yet to come.
"My uncle's aunt's third son's mother-in-law is the sister-in-law of the brother of that military camp's cook. How could what she said be false?"
The steward, waiting for his meal, joked, "There's even a secret..."
"They say the grassland man was about to kick the bucket, his chest wide open."
"It was our empress from the back palace, the Little Princess's birth mother, Consort Liu, who stitched up the grassland man."
"As soon as she stitched him up, it was as if he had never been injured. He recovered immediately!"
How could that be possible?
It was a tall tale, even the Chu State's imperial physicians couldn't do that!
The Chu State sisters almost laughed out loud.
Moreover, Consort Liu was a woman, how could she possibly stitch up a man's body?
Usually, even though their grandfather doted on them, he often said that when they came of age, they should get married.
After marrying a man, a woman should stay at home and be a virtuous wife and good mother, not gallivanting about or studying.
That's why their grandfather agreed to let them go out to study before they were married.
They were the daughters of the Prime Minister, and even they were treated thus.
Let alone an empress in the back palace, the emperor's woman?
If they were to marry into the Chu royal family... pah, if they were to marry into the Chu State royal family, their grandfather would never allow them to go out!
And to think of stitching up a man's body?
The Chu State sisters shook their heads, but a glimmer of envy flashed in their eyes.
Just as they were lost in thought, an excited shout came from outside the hall, "Oh my! This shop can be franchised? Anyone can do it? Is this for real?"
The Chu State sisters were taken aback.