Transmigrated to Ancient Times with System

Chapter 19 Franchise

"Mother!"

"Sister-in-law!"

"What are you doing here?" Li Yao asked.

"Xiaoya was anxious at home, so she went and told Mother," Zhou Shi said, "Mother told me to come and see if something really happened, then hurry back and inform her so she could bring people to snatch you back."

Li Yao: ...

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"What could happen to me?"

Seeing she really was fine, Zhou Shi and He Xiaoya finally felt relieved.

Also seeing her still holding their family's old hen, He Xiaoya's admiration grew even more.

Mother really is amazing!

"Hurry back; don't let Mother worry at home," Zhou Shi urged.

Under her urging, the three hurried back.

Da Zhuang had already packed up his stall and returned home, where he was being scolded by his grandmother for not going with Li Yao to her natal family, listening with grievance on his face.

He had wanted to go, but Mother insisted against it.

When Mother returned home, he was spared scolding, as Grandma Wang directly shifted her aim to Li Yao.

"You are a mother of four children and have no sense when doing things!"

"If you got beaten to death, it would be over and done, but what about your children?"

"You're still my Wang family's person before you remarry! If something like this happens again in the future, if you dare hide it from me again, believe I'll skin you!"
...

Facing the old lady's torrent of scolding, Li Yao uncharacteristically didn't talk back and went straight into the kitchen to make lunch.

By the time she tired of scolding, the food was also ready.

"You're already here; eat before going back."

Hearing this, the old lady shot up from her stool as if it had sprouted teeth, got up, and walked away.

"I won't eat, I can't stand the food in your home."

"Don't put on airs just because you have some money, save it for Wang Er to get a wife!"

Her voice continued drifting over, but the old lady's figure had already disappeared.

"It's rare you didn't argue with her," Zhou shi said with a smile. "She'll probably feel proud for a while this time."

Li Yao had made extra food to begin with, so she let Zhou shi sit down and eat with them.

"I shouldn't..."

"Sit down," Li Yao said. "I have something I want to discuss with you."

The braised food stall had gained some fame in Baichuan Market, and the business could stabilize. Next she needed to expand operations, so more manpower was needed.

In Baichuan County, there are 3 towns and 33 villages under it.

River Bay village is in the in the middle of Baichuan County and Lotus Town. The distance from River Bay Village to Lotus Town was about the same as going to Baichuan County.

She planned to open her first franchise in Lotus Town and hand it over to Zhou Shi.

When Zhou Shi heard that Li Yao wanted her to help with the braised stew business, she was excited and readily agreed.

"Sister-in-law, don't worry, I will definitely do a good job."

"You won't be able to handle it alone," said Li Yao. "Later, ask second brother to come back and help you."

"Okay, I'll tell mother when I get home."
Zhou Shi's husband was Wang Yuan Ding. He is the second son in the family.

Because of the drought, there was no farm work at home. So he went to the port of Yizhou to work as a laborer.

In Li Yao's memory, Wang Yuan Ding was honest and simple like Wang Yuanshan. So she considered their family first for this business.

Li Yao would be responsible for making the boiled meat, rice, and steamed buns.

Every morning, Zhou Shi and Wang Yuan Ding would take them to the Lotus market to sell. Then they would come back in the afternoon to settle accounts.

Li Yao calculated that the wholesale price per serving was 13 wen. This way, Zhou Shi could earn 2 wen per serving. If they sold 100 servings a day, they could make 200 wen in profit.

And Li Yao could earn 500 wen.

When Zhou Shi heard they could earn so much every day, she felt dizzy.

Her husband earned only 700-800 wen a month doing hard labor at the dock.

Now, just by selling boiled meat, they could easily earn thousands of wen. This was beyond her wildest dreams!

"You'll need to prepare the carts, tables, chairs, stoves, and other things yourself. It's best to find a place there to store them instead of hauling them back and forth every day."

Zhou Shi said, "My maternal home is right there, not far from the market. We can store everything there."

Li Yao nodded. Zhou Shi was quite quick-witted.

After discussing some more details, Zhou Shi excitedly went back to the old house and immediately spoke to her mother-in-law about it.

"You're just a simple, honest man. That's why your sister-in-law is giving you this business opportunity," said the old lady after listening. "I'll provide the money to get the things you need."

"Thank you, Mother!"

"Follow her and learn first tomorrow," said Grandma Wang. "I'll send your fourth brother to fetch your husband back right away. You two must work hard."

Zhou Shi felt completely relieved.

Just thinking about the 200 wen profit each day made her too excited to sleep that night.
...

"Mother." After dinner, Wang Da Zhuang had calculated the total earnings, "Today we sold 100 servings and 10 egg cakes and earned 920 wen."

Li Yao nodded, "Too little."

The children were shocked into silence, not daring to breathe.

Earning almost one tael of silver in one day, and mother still thought it was too little?

"Mother, it's not little."

"It's really not little!"

They only needed four months to buy a house in the marketplace!

But Li Yao felt it truly wasn't enough.
The whole family eating their fill was only the first step of her plan.

Next, she still had to dress warmly and needed to build a house.

According to her design, it would need over 300 taels of silver. At their current income, it would take a year to save up that much money.

Winter would arrive soon, and she didn't want to rely on righteousness to get through the winter.

"We need to earn more money."

The children looked at each other, confused.

"Mother," Da Zhuang asked, "How do we earn more?"

"By making high-end stewed dishes."