It felt like a dream. They had been unable to sell any at the beginning.
But as soon as Su Xiaoqi arrived, she casually gave them an idea, and the mooncakes started selling exceptionally well.
She held Su Xiaoqi's hand, feeling as though she had encountered the God of Wealth, so bringing her fortune.
Su Xiaoqi chuckled. It was really nothing much.
"It's mainly because your products are delicious."
When selling food and pastries, the first priority is taste.
As long as they are delicious, there are plenty of people willing to spend a lot of money to buy them.
"It's also because the recipe you gave us is good." Chen Jinniang was so flattered by Su Xiaoqi's praise that she didn't know what to say and praised Su Xiaoqi back, rubbing her hands.
Su Xiaoqi smiled and looked up to see Shen Yun.
He had been standing quietly by her side, watching everything unfold without a sound.
She thought for a moment and said, "It's still my husband's idea that's good, and the illustrated posters are great too."
Although if Shen Yun hadn't suggested it at the time, she would have thought of it herself later.
But she still had to praise him, and that poster displayed outside had indeed enhanced the mooncakes' appeal.
Shen Yun's eyes curved into a smile.
While they were joking, Chen Jinniang had already tallied up the accounts for the day's mooncake sales.
The four of them had made five hundred mooncakes in total: two hundred were beautifully packaged, and three hundred were in ordinary packaging.
The former sold for an average of two hundred and fifty wen each, and the latter for ten wen each.
The two hundred were sold for fifty strings of cash.
The remaining three hundred were sold for another three strings of cash.
In total, they earned fifty-three strings of cash.
"My heavens, this, this is a massive profit!" Chen Jinniang looked at the numbers on the abacus with disbelief.
After deducting two strings of cash for the twenty packaging boxes and another two strings for making the mooncakes, they had made a profit of forty-nine strings.
Su Xiaoqi objected, "You can't calculate it like that. Actually, the materials and packaging didn't cost much.
But labor is the most expensive. Think about it, didn't it take brainpower for me to come up with the recipe?
Didn't it take effort for my husband to draw the packaging box designs and posters?
And you worked so hard to make the mooncakes. All of that counts."
She hadn't even told them that the designs Shen Yun had drawn by hand would later sell for thousands of taels of silver.
Chen Jinniang understood after hearing this and quickly said, "Yes, yes, that's how it is."
She discussed with Su Xiaoqi, saying that although they had four people in their shop now, the addition of the mooncake business meant they might be short-handed.
"Then let's hire a few more."
Su Xiaoqi thought of the four girls in her large courtyard.
Xiao Shi'er, Xiao Shi'ba, and the twin sisters, Sister and Younger Sister.
It would be good to bring the four of them out.
She mentioned it to Chen Jinniang, who looked at Xiao Xique and Xiao Liu with satisfaction, saying that she would be very welcoming if they were to work with them.
"However, they are a bit young."
Xiao Shi'er and Xiao Shi'ba were older, around twelve or thirteen years old, while Sister and Younger Sister were only ten.
"It doesn't matter; the younger they are, the easier they are to teach." Chen Jinniang knew well that people like them, who relied on their craft,
maintaining the secrecy of the pastry recipes was paramount.
Otherwise, if the mooncake recipe were to be discovered by others and everyone started making them, what future would their shop have?
"Why don't we open a branch store?" Su Xiaoqi suggested.
Chen Jinniang was a bit hesitant. The idea was good, and they were fully capable of opening one.
However, she worried that once they opened a branch, the pastry recipes would be leaked.
Realizing her concern, Su Xiaoqi smiled and started giving her more ideas.
She suggested renovating their backyard into a pastry workshop. As long as any branch store was within Mianzhou City, all the goods would be supplied from there.
And she and Shen Xiaomei, along with Xiao Xique and Xiao Liu, would hold the recipes, without needing to tell anyone.
Moreover, there were many steps in making pastries. The two of them could handle the most crucial ingredients, while other tasks like baking and miscellaneous work could be handed over to others.
This would not only reduce their workload but also eliminate the worry of their recipes being discovered.
"Good, good, that's excellent! This is what Jia An calls 'listening to a wise person's words is better than reading ten years' books.' You've truly cured my heartache."
Chen Jinniang had long intended to open a branch store due to the good business of Chen Jin Ji, but she had always been worried about this particular issue.
Now, after discussing it with Su Xiaoqi, all her problems were gone, and much of her heartache was alleviated.
She took the last packaged mooncake they had saved from the preparation room and handed it to Su Xiaoqi, saying it was for her aunt and the old madam to try.
Su Xiaoqi thanked her. Although Madam Zhao could not eat sweet foods, the old Madam Yu was extremely fond of them.
She casually placed it on the counter, planning to take it with her when she left.
"Hey, shopkeeper, I'd like a box of those mooncakes mentioned on there?"
Someone outside pointed at the poster and shouted loudly.
Su Xiaoqi, hearing the distinct accent that was not from the Bashu region, looked up.
At a glance, she understood.
The speaker was a young maid in a light green outfit, with a dark complexion.
She had seen her before in the corridor of the Drunken Wind Tower.
She should be Amber, the personal maid of the unacquainted Marquis's wife.
Su Xiaoqi glanced at the woman next to her and indeed saw a middle-aged beautiful woman.
Her temples were styled high, adorned with a jade hairpin inlaid with red gemstones. On the right side, a golden phoenix hairpin with magpies holding branches, she wore a scarlet lapelled silk dress embroidered with exquisite peonies, exuding great wealth.
Zhao Xiaohua was no longer by her side; they must have reached some agreement.
"I'm sorry, young lady, the mooncakes have already been sold out," Shen Xiaomei said.
Amber did not leave upon hearing this. Instead, she looked around and then suddenly saw the mooncake Su Xiaoqi had placed on the counter.
She said unhappily, "Aren't there still some over there? Why is the shopkeeper bullying us outsiders, thinking we have no money to buy them?"
This attitude could not be described as anything less than arrogant.
Shen Xiaomei had never encountered such unreasonable rudeness and was left speechless.
Su Xiaoqi frowned. This Marquis's wife's maid was truly ill-bred.
Just as she was about to say something in defense of Shen Xiaomei, she heard the Marquis's wife speak imperiously:
"I'll pay double the price, shopkeeper. Sell them to me."
Chen Jinniang wanted to explain that it wasn't about the amount of money, but about first come, first served.
However, Su Xiaoqi gave her a look, and she promptly closed her mouth and stepped aside.
Su Xiaoqi smiled and said, "Oh, I can see Madam seems very eager to buy, but unfortunately, this mooncake has already been accounted for."
This meant that the shopkeeper no longer had the authority to handle it.
"Name your price," the Marquis's wife, Huang Lian, said with a cold gaze, sizing up Su Xiaoqi.
She hadn't really wanted them that much initially. But as she walked, she saw many people carrying this thing called mooncakes.
Their trip out was precisely to collect some rare items to take back.
She had also heard people discussing all the way that these mooncakes were very delicious, which is why she was moved to make this trip.
Seeing that they were sold out as soon as they arrived, she assumed the taste was indeed good, which made her even more eager to buy a box.
Su Xiaoqi rubbed the packaged mooncake, which was worth a string of cash, without saying a word.
Amber couldn't stand it anymore and said haughtily, "Quickly name a price. My lady has to return to the county yamen."
Su Xiaoqi said with a hint of amusement, "When did I ever agree to sell it?"
This person was truly imaginative.
"If you don't sell it, do you know who my lady is?
The wife of the Marquis of Yong'an from the capital, and the county magistrate's own sister."
Amber stood with her hands on her hips, displaying her power-tripping demeanor to the fullest.
Su Xiaoqi's eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
Originally, it didn't matter whether she took a box of mooncakes back or not. After all, she and Xiaomei knew how to make them, and she could make some herself at home.
But hearing her speak like this, Su Xiaoqi was extremely displeased.
Does being the sister of the county magistrate make her great? Does being the Marquis's wife make her great?
She bit her lip, carefully provoking her, and she would unleash the powerful official Shen Yun.