The Li Family Wine Shop officially opened!
At first, the Princess of Ning was a bit dissatisfied with the name.
Wanming was their daughter - in - law. It was fine not to name it "The Xiao Family Wine Shop" or "The Cheng Family Wine Shop", but it could at least be named something neutral like the Welcome Pavilion, the Joyous Studio, or the Breeze Bamboo Courtyard. But instead, it was named the Li Family Wine Shop!
The Prince of Ning said, "Come on. Our daughter - in - law provided the capital, came up with the recipe, and rented the shop... In a way, we're all her long - term employees. Have you ever seen long - term employees dictating the name of their employer's shop?"
The Princess of Ning was left speechless.
She also knew that, in a sense, their whole family was now relying on Li Wanming.
Li Wanming was the financial backer of their entire family.
"It's not like I wanted this..." The Princess of Ning said aggrievedly.
The Prince of Ning replied, "Have you forgotten what we said before? As long as Jingnan can marry a wife, what does it matter if we suffer a bit? Moreover, although Wanming is a bit of an oddball, she has a kind heart."
That was true.
The Princess of Ning thought of the bird's nest Li Wanming had bought for her. Her heart softened, and she stopped caring about the name.
Unfortunately, on the first day of the wine shop's opening, business was dismal.
Apart from Liu Yiyi coming to congratulate them and buying two jars of wine, not a single jar was sold.
Actually, for a wine shop, there were few individual customers.
Most wine shops supplied wine to restaurants, inns, and brothels on a long - term basis.
When guests wanted to drink, they usually went to these places to buy.
Eating delicious food, listening to music, and sipping on some fine pear - blossom white wine was the ultimate pleasure in life.
Few people would go out of their way to a wine shop just to have a few sips of wine.
However, the larger restaurants and inns already had their own regular wine suppliers.
They were very strict about what went into their customers' mouths and wouldn't easily change suppliers.
So Li Wanming hadn't initially targeted this market but instead focused on individual customers.
She just didn't expect that the business from individual customers would be so poor.
Lu Ping and Wu Yao were idle in the shop, with nothing to do.
They had been called by Li Wanming to serve customers, but since there were no customers in the shop, they had no one to serve.
Caiwei and Qinglan were in the back kitchen, responsible for the preparation work for brewing wine. But since the previously brewed wine hadn't been sold, they had nothing to prepare.
This couldn't go on.
Three days after the opening, the shop was still deserted.
Chuntao was a bit anxious. "Miss, how about we go to the street corner and shout to promote our wine?"
Shout?
An idea flashed through Li Wanming's mind.
Yes, they had to promote!
But it couldn't be an ordinary promotion. She had to find the unique selling point of the Li Family Wine Shop and make a big splash!
"Isn't our unique selling point the lychee wine?" Chuntao didn't understand.
Li Wanming shook her index finger. "No, no! The four great beauties of the world are delicious food, fine wine, beautiful scenery... And what else?"
Chuntao looked blank. "What else?"
Li Wanming flicked her on the forehead. "Of course, it's beautiful people! You're so stupid!"
She gave two taels of silver to Lu Ping and Wu Yao each and said, "You two go buy two sets of clothes tomorrow. They should be well - tailored, with broad shoulders and narrow waists, making you look tall and slender!"
Apart from the clear and sweet lychee wine, the Li Family Wine Shop also had handsome men!
This was their biggest selling point.
She was going to set up a booth at the street corner to publicize this selling point to everyone.
Fine wine with beautiful people, a smile that could topple a city!
...
The next day, Lu Ping and Wu Yao bought the clothes and were walking towards Pingkangfang.
"Brother Lu, do you think the Princess of the Heir Apparent really wants to sell wine?"
Wu Yao had originally had some opinions about Li Wanming. He thought she was fake, calculating, and playing hard - to - get.
But later he found out that this girl really didn't know their heir apparent's identity...
Marrying the heir apparent of the Prince of Ning but only caring about selling wine - such a princess of the heir apparent would probably be a rare oddity in any dynasty.
She talked about money every day, but if only she would turn around and take a good look at the people around her, she wouldn't be running around like a headless chicken.
She had boundless wealth right in front of her but refused to accept it.
This Li Wanming was a mystery to him.
As for Caiwei and Qinglan, it was even more so.
After that physical training, they had been tamed completely and didn't dare to show the slightest bit of resistance, for fear that the Princess of the Heir Apparent would wake them up in the middle of the night for a cross - country run.
And Zifu, ever since her feelings had been exposed last time, she didn't dare to get close to the heir apparent anymore. Whenever anyone asked, she would say, "I definitely don't want to marry the heir apparent!"
Look, a few words from the Princess of the Heir Apparent had almost given the poor girl a psychological shadow!
Lu Ping thought for a while and also felt that this Princess of the Heir Apparent was extremely capable, mastering the ultimate management principle of "a stick and a carrot" to perfection.
Moreover, she was extremely decisive and efficient, never dragging her feet. She was simply born to manage their royal mansion! She was a natural mistress of the royal mansion!
There was only one flaw: she was too single - minded.
She only had her own goals in mind and never noticed other people or things.
Lu Ping said, "We don't need to worry about so much. Just do our own jobs well. We're the heir apparent's bodyguards, and we just need to follow his orders." After thinking for a while, he added, "And the Princess of the Heir Apparent's orders."
Li Wanming was very satisfied with the clothes Lu Ping and Wu Yao had bought.
The indigo - blue satin gowns, with black rhinoceros - horn belts, cinched their waists tightly, making them look tall, slender, and their muscle lines well - defined.
"Good, good. This is exactly what I wanted!"
Li Wanming said happily, "Now, you two go stand at the street corner and sit there to drink!"
"I've already asked Chuntao to set up the table and the signboard, as well as the flower trees and potted plants... Oh, and we'll also bring the Four Treasures of the Study. This way, we can create an atmosphere of elegant scholars!"
"The celestial realm of the Yaochi, the nectar of the gods, beautiful people, fine wine, and beautiful scenery... They complement each other perfectly. It's wonderful!"
"Of course, it would be even better if you could praise the wine while you're drinking."
Lu Ping asked blankly, "What should we praise?"
Li Wanming gave him a strange look. "To promote, of course! What else? Of course, we should say that the wine from the Li Family Wine Shop is mellow, sweet, clear, and refreshing. Say whatever sounds nice!"
Lu Ping never expected that Li Wanming had bought them new clothes just to put them on display.
But he couldn't back down.
He had just told Wu Yao that as professional bodyguards, they should follow the heir apparent's orders.
Lu Ping dragged his feet towards the street corner, feeling as if there were a thousand - jin weight hanging on his feet.
When he reached the street corner, he felt as if he had been struck by five thunderbolts, completely stunned.
At the bustling street corner, there was a thick carpet of fresh flowers that had been laid out at some point.
On the carpet was an eight - immortals table, with a light silk curtain hanging from it. A pine - bamboo bonsai was placed beside it.
The wind blew the curtain, the petals danced, and the bamboo leaves rustled...
It was indescribably artificial, as if the top courtesan from a brothel was going to perform here!
Lu Ping said, "I'm not going."
Chuntao replied, "No way!"
She stuffed a glass wine goblet into each of their hands and threatened, "For today's setting, the miss made me pick all the flowers on Dongshan yesterday! If you two waste my hard work, I won't let you off!"
People around slowly gathered, looking at the strange sight in front of them with curiosity and confusion.
Someone asked, "Is a girl from the Green Cloud Tower coming to perform?"
Another person said, "How could a girl from the Green Cloud Tower come to this place? It must be some wealthy family coming to distribute free porridge!"
"Why use flower petals for free porridge?"
"Maybe it's... flower - petal porridge?"
...
Lu Ping said in despair, "I want to die."
Wu Yao said with a long face, "Me too."