Jiang Yuexuan didn't hesitate much: "Of course, it's a top-tier restaurant. In the ancient world, if you want to earn points quickly, you have to make a name for yourself. Novel shops may not be able to generate buzz across the country, and even if they do, few people will be willing to travel thousands of miles to try them. But a restaurant that claims to be the best in the world can do that. I plan to use fine wines and delicacies to pave the way and attract gourmets and wine lovers from all over the country."
Traveling long distances in ancient worlds was extremely difficult, even more so than in Western fantasy. Therefore, to attract sufficient visitors, it was essential to motivate them to travel long distances.
The seats wouldn't be full even with guests from the capital alone; the main reason was that Jiang Yuexuan wanted to increase everyone's points. People who traveled from afar would definitely contribute several times more emotional energy.
As for the guests in the capital, they would have to use scarcity marketing to whet their appetites, making it uncertain whether they could secure a seat. Otherwise, if they got tired of the food every day, how many points would they be able to earn? Jiang Yuexuan was too lazy to rack her brains every day to come up with new dishes and new tricks.
To create a sense of scarcity, she had already planned to set up two floors: a lobby and private rooms, without adding any extra space. This would require adding another floor and opening up the private rooms, but thankfully, that was a small expense, negligible.
After listening, Ye Xu quickly realized, "Mo Bei's shops are actually the best at earning points. The ladies' expectations for beauty will turn into a huge amount of points. Sister Xuan, are you feeling the pressure? Don't want to be outdone by him?"
Jiang Yuexuan glanced at him sideways, knowing he saw through her but not saying anything. Did he think she, as a senior, didn't have any dignity?
A note from the author:
I've reached the word count; I didn't intentionally stop here.
To the impatient babies: Ye Ye's copywriting mentions a candy store.
Chapter 39 Candy
The shop assistants all explained their business philosophies, and in the end, only Ye Xu remained.
Ye Xu looked around, not really having many ideas. He just wanted to experience different customs while completing his mission. If possible, it would be best if he could bring some warmth to the native inhabitants of this world.
Ye Xu's original intention has never changed. Now that he has a young daughter, he wants to do something for everyone even more. He doesn't know if gods and Buddhas exist, but accumulating some good karma for his daughter is always a good thing.
So Ye Xu thought for a moment and said, "I'm going to open a candy store in the village."
"A village?" Jiang Yuexuan was a little surprised, but she quickly understood what he meant.
Due to limited transportation, many villages are actually quite far from the county seat, making it inconvenient for villagers to buy goods. These villages usually agree to choose a central location in Nanfeng and hold a market there periodically to sell and exchange goods.
These village markets are not very large, and the variety of goods is limited, mainly consisting of necessities. Items like sugar are rarely seen in village markets.
Sugar is expensive, and not many people are willing to spend money to buy it. No one is willing to transport goods from afar. Doesn't transportation have costs? If they do transport it, they have to raise the price to avoid losing money. But the villagers are very thrifty. They were already unwilling to buy luxury candies, and they are even less likely to buy them after the price increase.
If Ye Xu had sold the sugar at the original price, he could have sold some. Lowering the price resulted in better sales. And he did offer an explanation: he bought in bulk, hence the lower purchase price.
Candy generally keeps quite well and doesn't spoil easily, so stockpiling a large quantity and selling it slowly makes perfect sense. However, you need to choose a relatively affluent village area beforehand, otherwise, there might really be no one who can afford the candy.
Ye Xu said, "I plan to mainly sell maltose, which has a very low cost."
Many of the native inhabitants of this plane do not know how maltose is made, but they do know that this sugar exists.
This stuff can be pulled out in a small bowl and then cut into small pieces for sale, resulting in a very large profit margin. So even when the indigenous people sell maltose, the price is very low, and the villagers can definitely afford it.
The most convenient thing about maltose is that it can be made at home, which saves the trouble of sourcing it. The cost is all in the wheat, which is a grain, and farmers usually have plenty stored up. Even if they need to buy it, they can just find villagers nearby.
Ye Xu planned to choose an area with many villages. With a large number of participants at the village market, it would be difficult for others to find out whether he had actually gone to the surrounding villages to buy grain. Even if they didn't see him buying goods, they would assume that he had stockpiled a lot of grain at home and hadn't used it all up yet.
The only problem with maltose is labor, but things are different in ancient times than they are now. In ancient times, labor was cheap, and small businesses generally didn't consider it too much when setting prices, so the complexity of the process didn't actually have a significant impact on the price of maltose.
Ye Xu doesn't need to make them himself; he can just buy the finished products. Otherwise, he wouldn't want to do this business; it's too much trouble.
"You're going to just sell maltose?" Jiang Yuexuan raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not, we need to add something else," Ye Xu said. "We also need to sell more expensive candies, but in smaller quantities. Selling just one would be too monotonous."
With only a month or so left until the Lunar New Year in the current world, the villagers will definitely need to buy some candy to make a good impression. Poor families will buy maltose, while those who are slightly better off will buy more expensive candies. Ye Xu doesn't plan to be unconventional and make some modern candies that the ancients have never seen before. He plans to first investigate what candy stores in the surrounding counties sell and then imitate them.
Jiang Yuexuan thought it was feasible, but the shop probably wouldn't earn many points. The villagers were always frugal with their food and drink; even if they bought candy, they would take it home and savor it little by little. If they didn't eat it at the shop, Ye Xu wouldn't get any points.
"Isn't it because Mo Bei is helping me earn points?" Ye Xu said matter-of-factly. "I'll just be a professional helper."
Despite saying that, Ye Xu still instructed the robot butler to open another branch.
It was previously mentioned that the robot butler was for Han Yingchen's use, but Han Yingchen said that it wouldn't be needed for this package deal for the time being. He took Shuangshuang instead, saying that Shuangshuang's suggestions would be sufficient if any problems arose.
Since Han Yingchen didn't want a butler, the unyielding Mo Bei naturally declared that he could manage on his own and didn't need help. Thus, the butler's position was left vacant, which Ye Xu felt was a waste for him to be running the candy shop with him.
To earn points, the shop you open must be one that can keep customers dining in, so Ye Xu ultimately decided to have the butler open a noodle shop.
While noodles can be taken away, they tend to clump together if left out for too long, and the soupy consistency isn't very convenient, so most people prefer to eat them at the restaurant. Noodles with vegetables and soup are quick to eat and also suitable as a main meal; this kind of restaurant could be opened near the pier.
The noodle shop that used to be in the mall was different from a proper noodle shop. Ye Xu argued with the system for a while before finally managing to keep his license to open the noodle shop.
"Once we encounter new UR cards, we'll send them to open branch stores too." Ye Xu really didn't want to let any labor go to waste.
Since the points earned in each dimension are limited, while operating costs are variable, staying here for two more years would incur tens of millions in additional utility and logistics fees. Therefore, they must complete their mission and leave within a year. Ancient dimensions suffer from low visitor traffic, inconvenient transportation, and difficulty in earning points, making it safer to open multiple stores.
To motivate everyone, Ye Xu changed the previous profit-sharing system, promising that half of the branch's net profit would go to the branch manager. Upon hearing this good news, Mo Bei urged Ye Xu to hurry up and go to the next dimension.
Even if he was in a hurry, he had to wait until the next day, so Ye Xu sent everyone back to get a good night's sleep. As for whether they could sleep or not, Ye Xu didn't care.
The next day, Ye Xu purchased two new floors, assigned each of his employees their own branch, and then pressed the teleportation button.
The system teleported everyone to the location they had selected a day in advance. When Ye Xu came to his senses, only Zhenzhen was left beside him.
The shop was decorated in an antique style, and the storefront wasn't small. Before it opened, Ye Xu adjusted the layout. He planned to put more long benches in the shop for passersby to rest on.
There are no places to rest in the market. Even modern people often find themselves tired after shopping and have to find a drink shop to sit down and rest, and this was even more common for people in ancient times. No one here would deliberately set up public benches outdoors, and the villagers would feel embarrassed to sit in someone's shop without buying anything. More importantly, there are no shops around here like Ye Xu's that only have stools and no tables.
Ye Xu placed the benches so that more people could come in and rest. It would be even better if some of them brought food, as he could earn "free cafeteria" points for free.
Even if they didn't bring any food, once they're inside, they'll usually buy a piece or two of candy as a token of appreciation, right? To avoid being kicked out by the shopkeeper, they'll probably "cherish" those two pieces of candy, slowly nibbling at them so they can sit a little longer.
Of course, Ye Xu was mostly targeting parents with children. When parents brought their children in to rest, the children would inevitably clamor for candy when they saw it for sale. Who couldn't afford malt candy that cost two coins for one coin? If they could bargain a little more on other things at the market, they could save money for candy.
After setting everything up, Ye Xu walked around and was very satisfied.
He only set up a small counter selling candy at the entrance, filling the rest of the space with benches. Later, he'll open the doors wide so that people outside can see everything at a glance.
Seeing her father busy, Zhenzhen ran over and stood on tiptoe to help put things away. Soon, the counter was filled with large plates of various candies—a way to attract children.
"Would you like some?" Ye Xu picked up a peanut candy and asked Zhenzhen.
Zhenzhen nodded, took the candy with both hands, and said sweetly, "Thank you, Dad." She hadn't actually eaten much candy before; her aunt and uncle had treated her terribly and never provided her with snacks.
"You can take as much candy as you want here," Ye Xu said. "But be careful, too much candy will give you a toothache, you know?"
Zhenzhen obediently agreed, and after eating one of each of the five kinds of candy, she didn't take any more.
Ye Xu thought five candies were too few; he himself often ate almost half a bag of candy in one go. But he wasn't sure if a little girl who hadn't lost her baby teeth could eat that many, since adult teeth are generally more resilient.
Unfortunately, even the all-knowing Sister Xuan couldn't answer this question.
Luna repeatedly assured him that the treatment would cure his dental problems, encouraging him to try it without worry. She added that if he gave too much candy each day, the daily candy allowance could be reduced after the treatment was complete.
Even so, Ye Xu only increased the number of candies to 10. Most of the candies sold in the store have a lot of other ingredients added, such as peanut candy where peanuts make up 90% of the ingredients. Eating a little more should... be fine, right?
As Ye Xu pondered this, he kept eating and munching, and before he knew it, he had finished the whole plate of peanut brittle. After finishing, he stared at the empty plate in deep thought. The plate could have held about twenty pieces of brittle, and he had just eaten it all up. It was all because the candy he had bought was too delicious.
That won't do.
Ye Xu quickly realized the problem, so he replaced the large plates with small plates, each containing three or four pieces.
There's no need to display so many items, otherwise we'll have to keep an eye on the little gluttons trying to sneak a bite. It's obvious if one item is missing from a three or four-yuan item, but it's barely noticeable if one or two items are missing from a twenty-yuan item.
Ye Xu didn't mind the children who came by stealing candy. After all, most people, except for those who are exceptionally well-mannered, have stolen snacks to some extent when they were young. It's not that they don't know it's wrong, it's just that they can't control their cravings. In fact, they don't develop a habit of petty theft because of it. On the contrary, they learn shame when they grow up and give up the habit on their own.
Ye Xu was mainly wary of some adults who, seeing so much candy lying around, would get restless and insist on trying it. He really didn't want to deal with these kinds of people, and he especially didn't want Zhenzhen to witness such a thing up close.
Thinking about it, three pieces are still too many. I'll just leave one as a token. Surely no one will use a single, lonely piece as a sample, right?
In addition, Ye Xu changed the candy supplier for the shop. They couldn't buy candies with too high ratings; that would be too conspicuous. Ordinary quality candies were enough to surprise the villagers and were in line with their price, besides, the highly rated candies were simply too tempting.
Even Ye Xu, who had eaten a lot of good food, couldn't resist eating a whole plateful in one go. How could the villagers resist the temptation? Ye Xu just wanted everyone to use their spare money to sweeten their mouths, and didn't want them to empty their pockets to eat candy, since candy is really addictive.
After struggling to restrain himself for quite some time, Ye Xu finally refrained from making himself another dish of peanut candy as a treat. As a father, he had to set a good example. His little daughter was only allowed ten candies a day; how could he eat them in front of her? The little girl would definitely feel wronged!
"Well, if you want some snacks, Dad will buy you some dried fruit," Ye Xu said, picking out some low-sugar dried fruit, some freeze-dried and some dried fruit slices. These are great for chewing, you can eat them slowly, and when you get tired of them, you can switch to beef jerky, which is also perfect for killing time.
Zhenzhen happily sat down behind the counter with a bag of dried apples. Ye Xu told her to go back to the backyard to watch cartoons, but she wouldn't go. The little girl had little interest in cartoons and didn't seem to have any other hobbies; she only seemed to enjoy playing the piano.
What should we do? We can't just build a piano in an ancient world! I don't know how well Zhenzhen's room is soundproofed. If it's good, maybe we could try buying one and putting it in?
"Do you want to continue playing the piano?" Ye Xu asked his daughter for her opinion.
To everyone's surprise, Zhenzhen shook her head frantically, on the verge of tears, and said, "Daddy, I don't like the piano anymore."
Anyone who is exploited like this for several years would likely have their love for the piano completely worn away. Ye Xu sighed and nodded understandingly.
"So what do you like now?"
Zhenzhen thought about it seriously: "I still like music, but I don't want to play the piano. Can I learn another instrument?"
"Of course, Dad will buy you whatever you want to learn."
Why not? Ye Xu couldn't be happier for his daughter to have more hobbies and interests; otherwise, it would be so boring for her to follow him around the shop all day. A little girl this young should have a colorful life, not spend all her time behind the counter.
Perhaps because she had come to ancient times, Zhenzhen developed an interest in classical musical instruments. The first instrument she wanted to learn was the guqin, so Ye Xu bought her one and even went so far as to ask the system to open a backdoor so he could hire a robot teacher who was proficient in all musical instruments.
The system refused: "I am a legitimate food system, and I only have employees related to food stores."
Okay then.
Then I'll have to rely on Encounter Tickets, hoping to encounter a UR card that can play the piano.
Learning the piano will have to wait. Zhenzhen said she can learn by watching videos at first. But since the store just opened today, she doesn't want to leave her dad, so she'll start formal lessons tomorrow.
Ye Xu had no objections and opened the shop door after tidying up.
Although the village market was a market jointly organized by the villages, because there were so many surrounding villages, people often came here to trade on weekdays. The market, which was originally held every two weeks, gradually became a small market every day and a large market every two weeks.
Since there are customers coming here every day, it's not surprising that a cluster of shops has appeared at the gathering place. At first, everyone set up small stalls, but later it attracted specialized small vendors who set up tents in fixed locations and opened for business every day.
Gradually, the crude sheds were replaced by thatched huts, and then by wooden houses. Now, there are several proper shops like Ye Xu's.
The shop at Ye Xu's location is of unknown origin; the information only states that the previous owner's business was unsuccessful, leading to its sale. This is actually the largest shop on the street; the rest are mostly stalls or simple wooden shacks, with proper shops being extremely rare.
I noticed the shop had reopened, but there was no sign yet. Several other shop owners who were preparing to set up their stalls peered over. I was a little surprised to see a young man I didn't recognize with a little girl by my side.
Ye Xu struck up a conversation with his neighbors. Before coming, they had all changed into ancient clothing from their current world to at least reduce the burden on the system buff. Short hair couldn't possibly grow long in a short time, so they could only adjust their clothing accordingly.
Wearing a traditional Chinese dress, Zhenzhen timidly hid behind her father, peeking out half her face to look at everyone; her adorable appearance melted the hearts of many.
Hearing that they were a father and daughter, no one was too surprised. People in ancient times married young, so it wasn't strange that the young-looking Ye Xu had such a grown daughter.
"Where is the child's mother?" a kind-hearted auntie asked habitually, then realized she had said the wrong thing and quickly apologized.
Ye Xu shook his head to indicate that he didn't care, but didn't explain further. Everyone understood that Madam Ye must have passed away, leaving only the father and daughter to depend on each other.
Immediately, one of the aunties got an idea. The person who could take over this shop must be quite wealthy. The first wife only left behind a maid, so her daughter's life as a second wife wouldn't be difficult. Judging from the young owner's appearance, he seemed easy to get along with and would treat his wife very gently.