Chapter 84: 84. Chapter 84: Profiting at the People

84. Chapter 84: Profiting at the People's Expense? Who Are the People?

As the Xie Family's legitimate daughter, now even more so as Empress, Xie Zijian had never lacked money, but she also knew that making money was not easy.

But at this very moment, seeing Princess Huanxi's account book, Xie Zijian went numb!

Making money, is it really this easy?

Ten thousand taels here!

This is what Princess Huanxi can get her hands on.

And from the account book, her sister-in-law could also receive the same amount of silver, or even more.

"Huanxi, is this account book real?"

After a long while, Xie Zijian looked at Princess Huanxi; although she already knew the answer in her heart, she couldn't help but ask again.

"Of course it's real!"

"Empress Sister-in-law, hehe, I can now make a lot of money!"

Princess Huanxi never expected this business to be so profitable.

Initially, Shen Yunyao pulled her into a partnership to do business; she had thought that as long as they didn't lose money, even if they did lose money it wouldn't matter, as long as the sisters were happy.

Who would have thought, this silver came as easily as picking it up.

"Just relying on that fruit smoothie?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Princess Huanxi laughed hehe, "Madam Yu also said, the fruit smoothie is just sold in summer; making money is only for these few months. When the weather turns cold, the shop will have to switch to selling something else."

"Madam Yu?"

"Um, it's the madam of the shop arranged by Seventh Sister, the mother of that little girl Cuiyu!"

"Empress Sister-in-law, let me tell you, this Madam Yu is absolutely a talent!"

"What a pity, she's a woman; otherwise, she could probably serve in the Ministry of Revenue!"

"Just joking!"

Xie Zijian returned the account book to Princess Huanxi, not continuing the topic.

She was thinking about something.

Clear Summer makes this much money; then what about the other shops?

Her dowry shops are many, dealing in all sorts of goods; some make money, some simply lose money.

Is it due to poor management, or because the business categories are wrong?

Why can her sister-in-law just open a shop and make money so easily?

……

Xie Zijian is a smart woman; she usually reads a lot and observes a lot, but her understanding of certain issues remains limited by the era's constraints.

"Your Majesty, you say, why can my sister-in-law see things so accurately?"

"Both are making cold drinks, why does her shop make so much money?"

"Is it solely because of the taste?"

After returning from Princess Huanxi, Xie Zijian has been pondering this matter.

"Is it very profitable?"

Emperor Xihe had never seen an account book, so naturally he didn't know what kind of shock Xie Zijian had received today.

Xie Zijian immediately recounted the situation of the account book she had seen at Princess Huanxi's place.

"In one month, a few cold drink shops can at least net twenty thousand taels of silver; the actual situation will only be more!"

"That much?!"

Hearing this number, even Emperor Xihe couldn't stay calm.

You should know, Dayong's annual revenue is only eight million taels of silver.

Per year!

Under this vast realm, the imperial treasury receives only eight million taels of silver!

And Shen Yunyao's cold drink shop, over a summer, nets at least several hundred thousand taels of silver!

Several hundred thousand taels, compared to eight million taels, is indeed far less.

But you need to compare their sources.

After the shock, Emperor Xihe's mind started working.

"Empress, how about we also take a share of this business?"

"Dayong is so vast; even if we opened one cold drink shop in each city, we'd still have several hundred shops."

"If each shop averages not too much profit, even a mere one thousand taels per month would yield an income of one million taels per month!"

"Calculating summer as four months, that's at least four million taels of silver in revenue!"

This way, his inner treasury could instantly become full.

Emperor Xihe merely raised the idea, and Xie Zijian immediately thought of the follow‑up.

These two really are a pair!

"This, wouldn't it be not so good?"

"Profiting at the people's expense?"

Xie Zijian looked at Emperor Xihe.

Emperor Xihe rolled his eyes and said, "Who are the people?"

"Then tomorrow I'll go find Huanxi and together look for my sister‑in-law!"

The emperor's inner treasury having no money means Xie Zijian has no money.

Although the inner treasury isn't empty enough to ride a horse through, who would complain that their own silver is too little?

Not to mention anything else, just speaking of the palace's repairs—if the inner treasury had money, why would we need to go to the Ministry of Revenue? As the mistress of the inner palace, seeing some palaces in disrepair, she had long wanted to fix them.

However, as soon as this is brought up, the Ministry of Revenue cries poverty.

……

When Shen Yunyao saw her sister-in-law who had arrived suddenly, the current Empress, she was also quite surprised.

After all, is it really that casual for the Empress to leave the palace?

Once she learned why Xie Zixin had come, she immediately put forward several suggestions to the Empress and the Emperor regarding their idea of incorporating Clear Summer into Dayong.

For such matters, sending people locally to open stores is time‑consuming, labor‑intensive, and troublesome; it would be better to simply collect franchise fees.

Although this would mean the secret of butter‑making would have to be passed on, Shen Yunyao also hadn't intended to keep it secret forever.

"Franchise fees—whether collected annually or as a one‑time payment, a fixed amount or a share of revenue—this should be analyzed case by case!"

"Can it even be done this way?"

Xie Zixin's eyes were completely opened by Shen Yunyao.

They don't need to do anything; they just rely on a recipe to collect money each year.

"This is mainly because of our status—we don't have to worry about anyone embezzling our silver!"

"If it were anyone else, they wouldn't dare to do this!"

In Dayong, although they also talk about the spirit of contracts, the local powerful clans have plenty of ways to render this contract null and void.

But now, the party to this contract has the emperor's backing—the head of Dayong's greatest power—who would dare let this contract become empty words?

"Imperial sister‑in‑law, I suddenly feel so poor!"

"This business—I want a share!"

Upon hearing Shen Yunyao's franchise model, Princess Huanxi quickly realized it was practically a way to make money while lying down, and she must have a share.

"Elder sister, actually, this franchise can also be handled this way—by auctioning off the operating rights of an entire prefecture."

"As long as the other party wins the operating rights of that place, then Clear Summer's store openings there will be handled by them, and we will have even less to do!"

"But the money we can earn should be even greater!"

After Shen Yunyao said that, Xie Zixin felt she had truly been enlightened today.

Princess Huanxi even felt she was about to become useless at learning.

Doing business, how can there be so many tricks?

She actually doesn't understand why it's like this, but she just feels it's amazing.

Not understanding but feeling awed!

Admired!

"Yunyao, if you weren't a woman, you could hold the position of Minister of Revenue!"

"Yesterday, Princess Huanxi praised Lady Yu, but was criticized by Xie Zixin; today, Xie Zixin praises Shen Yunyao instead."

"Elder sister, I just thought of a few more things!"

"Whether this method will actually work is still unknown!"

"It will succeed!"

Xie Zixin chuckled lightly, "Ah, that's great—from now on I won't have to watch the Ministry of Revenue's face to get by!"