Chapter 268 Delivered to the Capital

Chapter 268 Delivered to the Capital

"Who made this?" After looking at everything, Marquis Dingbei carefully put the items back into the box and asked his wife about this talented and daring mysterious person.

Lady Hou smiled and shook her head at him, "I can't say."

Marquis Dingbei was taken aback, then smiled and shook his head, "Alright then, I won't ask anymore."

He and Lady Hou had been married for many years and had a tacit understanding in their relationship. Moreover, as long as this matter could be accomplished, it didn't really matter whether the mysterious person who wanted to remain anonymous stood in front of others.

Seeing that he still respected her as always, Lady Hou couldn't help but smile slightly, "I will send someone to deliver the things to the capital tomorrow."

Marquis Dingbei shook his head, "I'll send someone to deliver it. You stay in the manor every day, so it's not hard to find out who you've been dealing with."

Unlike him, who is always on the go due to military affairs, he also comes into contact with a wide variety of people, making it difficult for others to pinpoint a target through him.

Upon hearing his suggestion, Lady Hou immediately nodded in agreement, "Alright then."

The couple agreed to turn off the lights and go to sleep together.

As for Xie Wanniang, the "mysterious person who declined to reveal her name," having finally relieved herself of a difficult task, she was already fast asleep, holding her daughter's soft, sweet little body.

The next morning, the men sent by the Marquis of Dingbei rode out of the city gates as soon as they opened and headed straight for the capital. Xie Wanniang, on the other hand, went with the husband and son of the Lady Wang to the two shops they had just bought.

Both shops are in good locations. Although they are not on the most bustling and lucrative main street of the city, they are on a secondary bustling street with a large flow of people and customers.

What pleased Xie Wanniang the most was that the main customer base of these two shops consisted of the local gentry and wealthy families of the prefectural city.

These people are not arrogant or domineering, yet they have sufficient spending power, making them the most suitable business partners for owners like Xie Wanniang with ordinary backgrounds.

Other powerful officials and aristocratic families, on the contrary, are prone to having treacherous and unruly individuals among their clansmen and relatives because they hold power.

Xie Wanniang wasn't incapable of dealing with those guys, but who in business wants to constantly deal with these kinds of things?

Arriving at their destination by carriage, Xie Wanniang inspected the two shops, which were separated only by a main street, from the inside out.

Unlike the shop with a two-courtyard layout that she used to buy in the county town, these two shops in the prefectural city, although more expensive than the shops she bought in the county town, occupy only about half the area of ​​those shops.

Moreover, they did not have a second courtyard for the main family to live in; instead, they only had a front storefront and a small courtyard connected to the storefront.

Fortunately, this small courtyard contains a storeroom, an accounting office, a kitchen, a well, a stable, and two small rooms with a large kang (heated brick bed) for people to live in.

Considering the location and target customer groups of the two shops, Xie Wanniang plans to open a general store in one of them and a snack and beverage shop in the other.

The dim sum and beverage shop is easy to run. She can make many kinds of dim sum, drinks and desserts that don't exist in this era. Even if she launches a dozen or twenty kinds of dim sum and seven or eight kinds of drinks at once, and then releases one or two new ones every month, she can still rely on her existing resources to keep the shop's new product catalog up for at least twenty years.

With its fresh and delicious desserts, paired with unique and wonderfully flavorful drinks, Xie Wanniang believes her shop will surely become a favorite among women and children.

Running a general store is a bit more complicated, because what she's going to open isn't a general store in the traditional sense of this era, but rather a large, high-end supermarket with a full range of goods like the ones in her previous life.

Putting aside everything else, the source of goods and transportation alone are major problems.

Fortunately, she has no shortage of connections or capable people to run errands and handle matters on her behalf. All problems can be discussed and resolved gradually.

After determining what kind of business each shop would engage in, Xie Wanniang assigned essential personnel such as manager, accountant, purchasing agent, and shop assistant to each of the two shops.

To the surprise of Lady Wang and the others, she entrusted the shop selling snacks and drinks to Lady Jiang, who was a woman. Even the accountant was one of the palace maids she had directly chosen.

Purchasing was handled by Lady Wang's son, and she delegated the authority to hire people to Lady Jiang, who looked bewildered.

As for Lady Wang, she has now become the chief steward of the county magistrate's mansion. When Xie Wanniang is not around, she can help handle all the affairs of the mansion.

Another palace maid, who was meticulous and good at managing daily affairs, was given a monthly salary as a junior steward by Xie Wanniang, and was asked to assist the palace maid.

The shopkeeper was the husband of Lady Wang, and the accountant was a reliable person that Xie Wanniang found among the families of border soldiers.

Because the sources of goods were numerous and varied, Xie Wanniang directly assigned two people to the purchasing position. Both of these people were recommended to her by a nanny who had frequented the Lady of the Marquis's household.

One of them was the son of the head manager of a cloth shop in the Marquis's mansion. He had been working in the cloth shop with his father since he was a child. He not only had a deep understanding of the industry, but also developed excellent interpersonal skills. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was adept at social interaction and had a knack for dealing with people.

The other one was the brother of the nanny's daughter-in-law. He was originally the second manager of a general store in the prefectural city. After the old boss passed away, the brother of the new boss's concubine took over, and his position was replaced by the new boss.

If that were all, it wouldn't have been a problem, but after he left, the shop's business began to plummet.

His successor, instead of looking for the cause within himself, insisted that it was the former manager who, unwilling to lose such a good job, had secretly sabotaged the former owner's shop.

Although he explained that he hadn't done it, the other party still sent people to cause trouble at his new shop every few days.

His new employer therefore subtly advised him to leave and find another job. The merchants who had heard about the matter also thought it was better to avoid trouble. Even if their shops were indeed short of a manager who could make money, they were unwilling to let someone as troublesome as him take the position.

Left with no other option, he could only try lowering his standards and see if he could become a second manager or a junior steward at some shop.

Just then, Xie Wanniang needed an experienced person in the industry who had a good source of goods, good skills, and good character, so the old woman recommended her daughter-in-law's brother.