On New Year's Eve, the entire capital was brightly lit, especially the inner city. Lanterns hung at the doors of every household, making it as bright as day.
Although the shops on the streets were closed, Vermilion Bird Street was packed with vendors selling all sorts of goods. The yamen runners did not interfere on New Year's Eve, making the atmosphere exceptionally lively.
Song Jinzhao, Song Qiming, and their group walked from one end of the street to the other, making their already full stomachs even more stuffed.
Held in someone's arms, Song Anhao carried an orange and black tiger lantern, his round eyes peering everywhere.
On the streets, on the roof beams, and in the hands of the bustling passersby, lanterns of all weird and wonderful shapes shone brighter against the night sky than the gems he collected, so beautiful that one could not look away.
The Song family had no relatives in the capital; their only frequent contacts were Ye Liangyu and Song Gaoli.
After paying a New Year's visit to the Ye residence on the first day of the lunar year, they stayed home. On the third day, Song Gaoli came with gifts, the Duke of Zhenguo's estate also sent someone over with holiday presents, and Dongfang Yukun came knocking once to look for Song Qiming. Aside from them, there was no one else.
Three days before their shops opened, the advertising flyers designed by Song Jinzhao had already been distributed throughout the streets and alleys of the capital.
Considering that many commoners were illiterate, she specifically had the artists draw the items as realistically as possible.
Aside from the shop names and addresses, there was not a single word on the flyers. They relied entirely on lifelike illustrations and vibrant colors to catch people's eyes, making the food look incredibly appetizing.
The effect of such a novel promotional method was astonishing. Even before the shops opened, commoners were coming to find them with the flyers in hand.
Upon learning that there would be discounts when they opened on the seventh day, they patted their chests and promised they would definitely come.
Inside the study of Prince Ying's estate, Xiao Rongyan tossed the flyer depicting milk tea and braised food into the fire.
He said with disdain, She truly comes from a lowly background. She is already a County Princess, yet she still spends all day engaging in merchants' affairs. It is unpresentable. How much silver can she possibly earn by selling a bit of food?
Standing at the door, Li Qinyun's expression stiffened. Xiao Rongyan's voice was so loud that she could hear him clearly even with the door closed.
The Li family were merchants who owned quite a few restaurants; did His Highness also consider them unpresentable in his heart?
The mere thought of it made Li Qinyun uncontrollably sad.
Thinking of her current status and how her maiden family was waiting to soar to the heavens by following Prince Ying, Li Qinyun had to pretend she did not care. She curled her lips into a gentle smile and said to the guard at the door, I have come to deliver ginseng soup to the Prince.
The guard nodded, turned around, knocked on the door, and walked in.
Your Highness, the Side Consort has come to bring you ginseng soup.
Hearing that the visitor was Li Qinyun, Xiao Rongyan's expression grew even colder.
He had granted her the favor of returning in glory to celebrate Li Tianchong's birthday, giving her all the face she needed, yet she completely failed to accomplish what she was supposed to do.
Instead, she was played for a fool by Song Jinzhao, and now that she was in the capital, she was causing him trouble at every turn. She was truly useless.
I am busy with official duties and have no time to see her.
The guard bowed, exited the room, and said to Li Qinyun, Side Consort, His Highness is busy with official duties and has no time to see you. You may hand the ginseng soup over to this servant.
Li Qinyun smiled and signaled her maid to hand the ginseng soup to the guard.
In that case, I shall take my leave.
As she turned to leave, the gentle smile on Li Qinyun's face vanished without a trace.
Her personal maid, Lingque, who was following beside her, worriedly observed her master from the corner of her eye.
Ever since the Prince had reprimanded her master last month, Princess Ying had brought back two beautiful maids from her maiden home.
Within a few days, they became the Prince's concubines. Since then, the Prince had not stepped into her master's courtyard for over a month. Things could not go on like this.
After returning to her room, Li Qinyun looked at the flyer placed on the low table and lowered her eyes in distress, shedding tears.
Lingque, tell me, in the Prince's heart, is my status also considered lowly?
Her personal maid, Lingque, who had served Li Qinyun since childhood, immediately comforted her. How could that be? Our Li family has been in business for generations. Our wealth is immense, and our businesses spread far and wide across the lands. How can we be compared to ordinary merchants?
Furthermore, Your Ladyship is the Side Consort of Prince Ying, whose name is recorded in the royal genealogy. Your status is incredibly noble. The Prince simply finds County Princess Linghui an eyesore; it has nothing to do with Your Ladyship.
Li Qinyun slowly sat down, her expression not brightening at Lingque's words.
I only became Prince Ying's Side Consort because I married the Prince. Song Jinzhao is already a County Princess even before marriage. In terms of status, I might truly not compare to her.
Yunque picked up a blanket and covered Li Qinyun's legs.
Your Ladyship is overthinking. A County Princess is ultimately just a County Princess. When the Prince ascends the throne in the future, how could her status ever compare to yours?
Li Qinyun smiled bitterly and fell silent.
Nowadays, His Highness was being questioned by the Emperor, and the Prince of Qi was gaining momentum. Who could say for sure who would ascend the throne in the future?
She only hoped her father had not made the wrong choice, otherwise, all the Li family's efforts over the years, along with herself as a daughter, would be lost completely.
With three shops connected together and opening on the same day, Qipan Street was exceptionally bustling on the seventh day of the new year, with seventy percent of the people coming specifically for them.
For the first three days of opening, the winter beverages were buy-one-get-one-free, all braised items were thirty percent off, and there were special food tastings at the door.
The ancient people, who had never eaten rice noodles before, found it incredibly novel. The smooth texture with its rice aroma was chewier and more elastic than regular noodles.
The broth, simmered from pork bones and chicken carcasses, was full of umami. Paired with dozens of ingredients that could be blanched on the spot, it made for a fresh and stylish way of eating.
In just one day, the reputation of the three shops was thoroughly established.
On the second and third days, there were hundreds of people lining up at the door, all wanting to get a bite while the discounts lasted.
Fortunately, they had prepared enough stock and manpower in advance, otherwise, the braised food shop would have had to close by noon.
The owner of the noodle shop across the street stood under the eaves, holding a cup of caramel red date milk tea. His eyes were full of envy as he looked at the shops packed with people at the door.
I have never seen anyone do business with this many customers on this street.
The impact was not huge on the first day of opening, but on the second and third days, half of the customers at his noodle shop had been snatched away to eat crossing-the-bridge rice noodles.
The waiter, who was wiping the table with a rag, thought of the few bites of braised meat he had tasted and could not help but swallow his saliva.
That is because it is genuinely delicious. I have never seen a shop that can make pork offal taste so good, and the prices are not expensive either.
The boss pondered, Do you think if I opened a shop modeling theirs, business would be just as good?
The waiter looked troubled and said, Boss, I heard these three shops were opened by County Princess Linghui. Would there not be trouble if we did that?
Commoners should not fight with officials; if they offended the County Princess, their lives would probably be difficult.
The noodle shop owner kept tapping the ground with the tip of his foot, If I can successfully steal their recipe, I do not have to open on Qipan Street. At worst, I will go to the outer city or a neighboring city. The main thing is the taste; it has to be at least seventy percent similar.
How could there be no competitors in business? It was just a matter of time.
Many food vendors on the street shared the same thought as the noodle shop owner, though most felt they should wait and see a bit longer.
We will have to see if the business remains steady once the prices return to normal. After all, many people are just here for the novelty of trying a new dish.
