Yun Qingyi’s confidence was well founded.
She was selling affordable food—something ordinary people could enjoy every day. Even with purchase limits in place, all the crispy fish and fried tofu rolls sold out before noon.
Shuiling’s face glowed with excitement.
“Miss, we made a full twenty taels of silver!”
Yun Qingyi was delighted as well.
Twenty taels was not a large sum to her personally, but it was enough to support an ordinary family for an entire year. The dress she had given Lu Zhiyao alone had cost twenty taels.
Still, this was an excellent beginning.
Great fortunes were built from small earnings.
Making twenty taels meant she had successfully proven her business model. Once each step could be scaled up, earning a thousand taels would only be a matter of time.
Since everything had sold out so quickly, she immediately began thinking about adding new menu items.
Table turnover mattered.
The more she could sell, the more she could earn.
She had planned to continue working immediately, but when she turned around and saw the kitchen staff collapsed from exhaustion after an entire morning of labor, she reconsidered.
She couldn’t let everyone start complaining on the very first day.
Back in her room, she carefully reviewed the accounts.
Revenue: 20 taels
Broad beans: -2 taels
Fish: -10 taels
Profit: 8 taels
At first glance, it looked like she had earned eight taels.
But that wasn’t the whole story.
The household servants had already received their regular wages, yet they had taken on extra work outside their normal duties. They deserved additional compensation.
She gathered the six people who had helped that morning.
Aunt Shui, who had spent the entire day sweating over the stove, and Yun Zhong, who had cleaned fish nonstop, each received one tael of silver.
Shuiling and the remaining four helpers each received half a tael.
The moment they saw the silver in their hands, most of their exhaustion disappeared.
Their eyes lit up.
“Thank you for your generosity, Miss!”
Even the higher-ranking servants in the household earned only around three taels per month.
To receive so much in a single day was beyond exciting.
Still, Yun Qingyi knew money alone wasn’t enough.
If she wanted to grow the business, she couldn’t burn everyone out.
She needed more people.
After informing her mother of her plans to go out and hire workers, Madam Fang shook her head.
“If you need people, you need those you can trust.”
“There are still many servants born into our household. Speak with Steward Shui and select a few suitable candidates from among them.”
“If that’s not enough, you can always hire a few laborers from outside.”
Yun Qingyi nodded.
As expected of the wife of the Minister of Revenue, her mother had excellent business instincts.
Following his mistress’s instructions, Steward Shui came to discuss her requirements.
“Miss, what sort of people are you looking for? I’ll screen them first before bringing them to you.”
After a moment’s thought, Yun Qingyi replied:
“They should be honest, hardworking, quick learners, and willing to endure hardship.”
“It would be helpful if they have some knife skills, but if not, a willingness to learn is enough.”
“Men or women—it doesn’t matter.”
News of the bonuses spread through the Yun household before the day was over.
Hearing there was money to be made, not only the household servants but even distant relatives and acquaintances connected to the Yun family wanted a chance.
Using Yun Qingyi’s criteria, Steward Shui selected more than twenty candidates.
After personally interviewing each one, Yun Qingyi chose six.
Four male servants: Yun Xing, Yun Wang, Yun Fa, and Yun Da.
Two maidservants: Yun Shui and Yun Yu.
She immediately assigned their duties.
Yun Fa and Yun Da were younger, so they would apprentice under Yun Zhong and learn how to clean fish.
Yun Xing and Yun Wang were older and would study cooking under Aunt Shui.
Yun Shui and Yun Yu would work with Xiaoyu and Shuangcheng, learning ingredient preparation.
Once the assignments were complete, Yun Qingyi set aside her usual smile and addressed them seriously.
“Everyone in the Yun household wants this position because they’ve heard it pays well.”
“But I chose only the six of you.”
“You must work diligently.”
“Whether you earn money—and how much you earn—depends entirely on your effort.”
“If you cut corners or slack off, there are plenty of people waiting to replace you.”
No matter the situation, a proper speech was necessary.
Since Steward Shui had already conducted the initial screening, she trusted these people were capable.
What mattered now was how she managed them.
To ensure consistent quality regardless of who prepared the food, Yun Qingyi designed a standardized workflow.
Each person was responsible for only one step of the process.
This ensured quality control and protected her trade secrets.
Even if someone left, no single person would know every aspect of production.
After assigning everyone’s tasks, she placed Shuiling in charge of training the new staff.
Then she returned to her study and began sketching new designs.
With more workers, she could expand her offerings.
She wanted to sell flower pastries, but ever since meeting the old flower vendor, she had been unable to find edible flowers anywhere in the market.
At first, she thought she had simply missed the vendor’s schedule and instructed Yun Zhong to keep an eye out.
He dutifully brought back flowers every day.
Unfortunately, they were never the right kind.
With her supply chain cut off, she had no choice but to postpone the idea.
For now, she would focus on selling fish ball soup.
Unlike crispy fish and fried tofu rolls, soup was difficult to package and transport.
At first, this troubled her.
Then a thought occurred to her.
A disadvantage can also be an advantage.
Perhaps the fish balls could become a promotional product instead.
Yunmengze was laid out with the city stretching east to west, while the northern and southern regions were rural.
The southern outskirts were surrounded by mountains, while the north bordered the water.
During one of her second brother Yun Qingyuan’s days off, he had taken her to the southern hills, where she had noticed an abundance of bamboo.
Bamboo could be made into containers.
If she engraved a distinctive design onto each one, it would become her first brand logo.
The idea delighted her.
After many revisions and countless discarded sketches scattered around her room, she still felt something was missing.
Eventually, she compromised.
As a child, her parents had forced her to practice calligraphy for several years. Remembering the styles she had studied, she finally wrote the character “Yun” in Zhao Mengfu’s seal-script style.
That would be her logo.
She asked Steward Shui to arrange for workers to harvest thick green bamboo from the southern hills.
Then she commissioned craftsmen to turn them into lidded bamboo bowls, each engraved with her logo.
Once everything was prepared, the stall reopened the next day.
Thanks to the increased staff, they added fish ball soup to the menu.
Yun Qingyi priced it at fifty copper coins per fish ball.
Shuiling clicked her tongue in amazement.
“Miss, I’ve already eaten several taels’ worth of silver these past few days.”
Thanks to the previous day’s success, a crowd gathered as soon as they set up the stall.
The alley behind the Yun residence was narrow.
Allowing customers to scramble for food would only create chaos.
Yun Qingyi assigned Yun Xing and Yun Wang to maintain order, while Yun Fa and Yun Da handled sales.
“Dear customers, please line up.”
“This is our second day of trial operations. We’ve added fish ball soup, and all items are still available at a twenty percent discount.”
“If you purchase fish ball soup today and bring back your bamboo bowl in the future, you’ll continue to receive a twenty percent discount.”
Before noon, everything sold out once again.
Most customers left happily with their purchases.
As the Yun household packed up the stall, they failed to notice someone standing at the entrance to the alley, looking utterly distraught.
How did I miss out again today?
Tomorrow, I have to come even earlier.