[Comprehensive] The days when I pretended to be a meow in the Forbidden City

Xue Ling is a child of the offshoot of Xue's family, but because he happened to be about the same age as Xue Pan of the main family, and the two fathers were friends with each other when they were young, they had a good relationship.

Later, after the death of the Patriarch of the Xue family, the main family was squeezed out by some collateral families, but Xue Ling's family was on Xue Pan's side. Those wolves, tigers and leopards in the family suddenly remembered that there was no one in Patriarch Xue's house, but Mrs. Xue's backing was not young, so it was natural for Xue Ling's family to be better off.

At this time, Xue Ling was called to the capital by Xue Pan before the heavy snow sealed the river. He was asked to open a shop and sell food. Being able to be the shopkeeper, and being in a place like Shangjing, he didn't have much opinion.

To be the shopkeeper, Xue Ling followed his father to run through the court. Xue Ling's father was able to survive the many hostilities without defecting. He is really capable, and his subordinates master the Xue family's more profitable ways of making a living, so it's not good to be too ugly.

Xue Ling followed suit, and of course his skills are not bad.

Xue Ling is different from Xue Pan. The late Xue father did not want Xue Pan to do business. Because the Xue family helped the founding emperor in this dynasty, the status of merchants has been improved compared with previous dynasties. His biggest investment was to invest in the first emperor, which gave the younger generation a chance to change their destiny. Father Xue naturally would not let it go. He wanted his son to go to the scientific examination, so he never taught him the skills of business. Xue Ling was different. , he prefers to be a businessman and play with money.

He didn't want to study by himself.

It's just that Xue Ling is in a worrying state now, and the old father is struggling to support him, so naturally he can't give his son a chance to express himself, and now Xue Pan has given him this chance.

Because it was already winter time for Xue Pan to start construction here, many things were inconvenient, so after the shop was built and the sign was hung up, and the shopkeeper and the servants were in place, the products for sale arrived late.

Only then did Xue Ling know what kind of business his brother was going to do.

Sell... materials?

He took some powder, ground it in the palm of his hand, licked it, and squinted his eyes at random, this... this taste... the taste is spicy, it should be a lot of seasoning, mixed together, he can distinguish it at once I can't tell the taste, but I know it's delicious.

"Brother Ling?" Xue Pan followed the delivery car into the store, and saw his clan brother squinting his eyes and smacking the taste in his mouth, and immediately smiled, "Brother Ling, how does it taste?"

"That's right." Xue Ling gave him an affirmative answer, "What's the name? What's the price?"

"I named it Thirteen Fragrances." Xue Pan told him the name he had decided on with Xia Anran, "Let's talk about two sales first, and then we'll see the situation later, and then sell bottles."

In the promotion of a new product, customers have to be given the opportunity to buy small packages at the beginning. Only if they find it delicious and see that large packages are cheaper, they will all come to buy large packages in the future.

The labor cost of small packages is higher than that of large packages, especially for seasonings that are susceptible to moisture. It is also because it is dry winter, and it will cost a lot to protect it from moisture in summer.It seems that it is not cost-effective for merchants to sell large packages, but in fact the opposite is true.

"In addition to the thirteen spices, there is also five-spice powder." He pointed to another urn of condiments that was being pushed in. "Five-spice powder has a milder taste than the thirteen spices. It depends on personal preference."

Xue Ling nodded, looked at the prices he had set for the two products, and raised an eyebrow, "This price...isn't that high?"

Xue Pan smiled, "I have contacted a supplier with a fair price." He took the matter away, and the price was only [-]% higher than the cost. This was because the Lin family found him a supplier with a cheap price. It is still more than a little cheaper than buying all kinds of condiments from outside and grinding them yourself, but Xue Pan understands the principle of small profits but quick turnover.

Another reason Xia Anran persuaded him was that although the thirteen spices and five-spice powder have been prepared, the formula is more complicated, but if you do the mental calculation or not, you can figure it out if you really want to figure it out, so how can you avoid being figured out?It's very simple. If the price is low and the profit is too low, they are all merchants. After calculating the input cost and the cost of deciphering, people will naturally disdain to do it. They will not start to decipher it until they find out how much the small profits can be sold. The market has been fully occupied by the Xue family, and the recognition of the people has also increased. Even if they squeeze in again, it will be difficult.

If you really encounter someone with a unique vision and can crack it with one hand, there is a second door.

Thirteen spices—in fact, sixteen kinds of spices are used.

Five-spice powder also uses six or seven kinds of spices.

...It's really very treacherous.

Originally, Xia Anran just gave it a random name, but when she saw the recipe, she still wanted to change the name, so she was taught to be a man by the ancient businessman.

The simple and honest brother Xue Pan told him, "It's all right, the name sounds really nice."

The gentle girl Baochai told him, "It's very good, this name makes it difficult for people to identify the material for a while."

The silly and sweet brother Lin Jue told him to "choose the name and the artistic conception."

Yes yes, according to what you said, thirteen and five are not numbers, they represent a kind of artistic conception and a feeling, right?

……Ha ha.

Consciously being a small profiteer but being looked at with the eyes of [hey, this brother is so simple and hot], Xia Anran was suffering in his heart, but no one understood his suffering, so in the end he could only write the whole process in a small notebook eloquently. , as a joke told the mysterious person.

Then he got several books in reply.

It's all about numbers.

Xia Anran silently put these books on the bookshelf, and didn't intend to read them. He felt the great malice from his friends.

It stands to reason that the correct marketing method for this brand-new condiment should be to sell it directly to the back kitchens of major hotels, but Xue Pan didn't think about it. In other words, he concluded that chefs may not like this kind of instant food package very much.

So whether he sets prices or chooses the location of the store, he targets the market crowd.

The opening is very important. In order to promote these two condiments, the Xue family reached an agreement with a sesame seed shop. The sesame seed shop will make some sesame seed cakes for them every day, using sauce made of thirteen spices and five spices.

The biscuits were cut into very small pieces and placed at the door for people to try. This idea was not proposed by Xia Anran, but by Xue Pan.

It's not that Xia Anran didn't think of it, it's just that he didn't bring it up.

Even now that new China is no longer in short supply, trying to eat this thing may become a way for some people to get full, let alone this era?

Xue Pan was very calm about this.

"It's just a few chopped biscuits. Everyone in the line eats one piece. If he can eat all he can, how much popularity has he gained for us? People are not curious to come and see when they see so many people queuing here?"

It does make sense.

But all people will have curiosity, especially when they see everyone queuing up, even if they don't know what they are selling, they will subconsciously queue up. This is the herd mentality.

When Xia Anran was studying, the girls in the class went to Renguang to line up for Hey Tea for an entire afternoon, and whoever had a birthday would be even more amazing. How much popularity has been brought by the opportunity of not having to line up?Not to mention whether Hey Tea is good or not, just say that a certain master just across the street is just a very ordinary franchise store in the imperial capital. To be able to become that popular in the magical capital, in addition to the passable taste, isn’t it because of queues and short supply? trick?

Now there is a rule that one person eats one piece, and if they want to eat more, they have to queue up later. This is different from the queue workers hired by others. The Xue family does not have to pay, and it easily boosts popularity.

"In this way, customers who will really buy it can be screened out." Xue Ling also has his own opinion on this. Wait, see that our price is cheap, you will come in and buy directly."

The premise of all this is that the facade is clean, and people queuing up to try food can't block the way. For this reason, Xia Anran proposed the concept of queuing shape. A straight line is framed by bamboo poles and cloth strips into many bow shapes. Looking at it The line is not long, but it takes a long time to stand in line. Fortunately, try it out and pick up a piece, each person is about an inch in size, and how much each person gets depends on the master's knife. Later, after improvement, the sesame seed shop simply made big sesame seed cakes for them. , One is equal to six or seven, and the knife is faster, so the flow of the team is extremely fast.

And because it is just for tasting, no packaging is provided, and the store will deliver the small pieces to you. You can only hold them with your hands or mouth. There is not even a bamboo stick. You have to bring your own container when you take it back. Convenience... But people don't care about it at this time, there is a pool a few steps away, just wash your hands.

As soon as you eat it, there is a thick sauce taste under the simple skin of the sesame seed cake. The sesame seed cake itself is tasteless, it is the cheapest white sesame seed cake, not even sprinkled with sesame seeds, and the sauce enhances the taste.

The effect is extremely obvious, ordinary people naturally don't have so many adjectives like scholars, they just feel that this is delicious, and then they are told by the workers that this is made with the powder sold in the store, as long as they buy a Small pouches, whether you make meat or sauce, they are all very delicious, let me ask the price... I am preparing for the Chinese New Year, and everyone has some money in their hands.

I bought one or two, three or four, and gradually the market opened up.

The shop of Xue’s family did not close during the Chinese New Year. They just took a fancy to the market during the New Year’s Eve. Every family had to make some meat at this time. At first, someone listened to their recommendation and tried it until it was stewed all night. The smell of meat makes people unable to sleep at all. When I woke up the next day, my stomach was growling, and my lips were dry and peeled because of licking too many times. The pillows are squishy and the pillow covers are wet.

Early in the morning, the left collar and the right house also came to ask what they cooked, which made the family lose face.

This smell is really... so fragrant!Especially the fragrance is extremely domineering, one after another, the hooker can't help it.

The family couldn't hold it back. Originally, it was to be stewed for a day and a night according to the instructions, but they pulled it out during the day and ate it first.

good to eat!

Needless to say, it tastes different from making sauce!As the shopkeeper said, the meat is the best!

Taking advantage of the east wind of the New Year's Eve, when Xia Anran participated in Chunwei, the Xue family's shop was considered to have stopped.

The daily sales are also relatively stable, but as soon as the store opened on this day, I saw several servants waiting at the door.

This is a situation that I have never seen before. After all, the condiment sellers can use it for a long time once bought, and it does not stick to a moment. It is the first time that Xue Ling saw someone waiting for them to open the door. Welcoming people with a smile and enthusiasm.

I heard those people ask, "Dare to ask this shopkeeper, is there any sauce for sale here?"

The author has something to say:

Finally, today I saw a lot of babies (especially in the previous article) asking about my mother's name...

Uh, in fact, in Dream of the Red Chamber, mother and mother are not the same name.

Xue Baochai and Xue Pan called Aunt Xue: Mom

Jia Baoyu and others call their mothers: Mrs.

I checked and found that 87 Honglou is also called Ma. According to the information, Ma is a more intimate name. Generally, only those who are born on the same day and have a close relationship with their mother will be called Ma. Personally, I feel that this may be because Xue Pan and the others are from Jinling. The relationship between people, and they depend on each other for life with their mothers, so the relationship is even closer.It could also be a north-south difference.

The other reason is that the red building was written in vernacular, so it didn’t use a particularly orthodox way of addressing. I also used this setting when I wrote, because Xia Miao is also a southerner.

In addition, like the Jia family and the Lin family, mothers should use more formal titles such as mother/wife and father/lord. This should be used to it, and Mrs. Wang and Jia Min are both wives of officials, and they are usually called Mrs. .

Regarding [Mom], I personally think that when you see this word in the Red Mansion, you will assume that it is roughly equivalent to Nanny.It refers to a relationship that is relatively close but still has a distance in the final analysis.

For example, nurses, mother's dowry maids, and the like.

There is a title of mother, but when it appears, it is usually a relatively low-level character, such as Xi Renniang, which should be a very common name.

Because Xia Miao's family is from Gusu, which is relatively close to Jinling, I continued to use the name "Mo" when I set the time, instead of choosing "Mother".

I will explain it today, and I will not explain it when I encounter this in the future.