Transmigration

In 1881, inside St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Li Mu admired the reliefs and oil paintings hanging on the walls. Li Mu (now Ferdinand) once again felt as if reality had gone awry. He repeatedly compared St. Stephen's Cathedral as it stood now with the one that would stand a hundred years later, searching for differences.

Just three months earlier, the original Ferdinand had suddenly collapsed inside St. Stephen's Cathedral, and Li Mu had promptly taken over his body.

Ferdinand was born on February 26, 1861, into the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Kohary family. His full name was Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria.

His father was Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; his mother was Princess Clémentine of Orléans.

His godparents were Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico, and his wife, Princess Charlotte of Belgium.

Ferdinand was the grandnephew of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Leopold I, Belgium's first king.

His mother, Princess Clémentine, was the daughter of France's King Louis Philippe.

His father, Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was the younger brother of Fernando II, King of Portugal, and a first cousin of Prince Albert, the Empress of Mexico, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, and Leopold II, King of Belgium. He was also a first cousin once removed of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Since Charlotte and Leopold II's mother, Princess Louise, was the older sister of Ferdinand's mother, the three of them were not only aunt, uncle, and nephew, but also first cousins.

To be honest, Li Mu (Ferdinand) was quite pleased with his transmigration. He had been born into a sufficiently noble family. If nothing unexpected happened, he would even become King of Bulgaria in the future.

As a loser who ran a Taobao shop, a businessman of sorts and an amateur military and history enthusiast, Li Mu (Ferdinand) felt the weight of the world on his shoulders whenever he thought about what the original Ferdinand had done in history.

Ferdinand had achieved tremendous success during his first twenty years ruling Bulgaria. But after losing the Second Balkan War and being dragged into the First World War, all of it had gone up in smoke.

As a transmigrator, he was supposed to defy fate, crush the whole world, and rule the universe.

Li Mu (Ferdinand) hadn't thought that far ahead. Anyone with even a little knowledge of Bulgaria knew that it was a small Balkan country, good for little more than fighting. It had no industry, no resources, and no population—a classic three-no country.

If he'd transmigrated into Wilhelm II, then he might have had to defy fate and make a bold push. Maybe he really could have crushed the whole world.

When Li Mu first transmigrated—after that, he would be called Ferdinand—he set himself the goal of becoming at least a wealthy, high-ranking noble. Even that seemed too unambitious.

Now he had raised his sights a little: holding on to the throne. That seemed as simple as not picking the wrong side. It shouldn't be too hard.

But anyone who understood the Balkan people knew that unless Bulgaria won both Balkan Wars, the country's surging nationalism would still drive it into the abyss.

When poor, tend to one's own good; when prosperous, help the whole world!

For now, Ferdinand wasn't King of Bulgaria. He was merely a junior officer in the local defense force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a noble, all he had to do each day was show up and report for duty. Oh, he didn't even have to do that.

This was one more sign that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had grown rotten. But that made things easier for Li Mu.

After more than three months of learning about the situation, Ferdinand had gained a basic understanding of things. The Kohary Family was still extremely wealthy, with a whole host of distinguished relatives.

But its greatest wealth was its land: vast estates in Ábrahám and Sitno, in what was now Slovakia.

Those holdings looked quite impressive in the present day. But Ferdinand knew that after the First World War, their value would shrink dramatically, and the Soviet Republic would confiscate them.

He ought to do something, to give himself another way out. After all, as long as he had a pile of money in hand, he could live comfortably no matter what happened later.

So what should he do? The first thing that came to mind was "arms dealing," but he quickly ruled it out. The arms trade was usually entangled with politics, and there were only so many buyers with money on the international market. The large-scale arms trade had long since been carved up.

Should he make a tiny business selling a hundred guns or so? That would be far too undignified for a noble, and he'd earn less than he got in pocket money.

"Drugs"—he immediately ruled that out, too. He was going to be a king, after all. If he got mixed up with drug traffickers and people started calling him the "Drug King," the very thought was terrifying.

As he walked the streets of Vienna, Ferdinand ruled out one money-making plan after another. Then, suddenly, inspiration struck: "a department store supermarket."

In fact, department stores had first appeared in Paris, France, in 1852, and had quickly spread around the world. Vienna had department stores too, but they weren't like the supermarkets of later generations; they weren't nearly as convenient.

It wasn't until 1930, when a new kind of shop opened in New York, United States, that customers could walk in, take whatever they wanted from the shelves, and pay all at once at the exit. That was the world's first supermarket.

History had already proven the advantages of supermarkets. They weren't in especially fierce competition with department stores.

1. Different positioning: department stores mainly sold durable goods, mostly in the mid-to-high price range. Supermarkets mainly sold fast-moving consumer goods and daily necessities, mostly in the mid-to-low price range.

2. Different profit models: department stores sought profits through management, mainly by leasing out space. Supermarkets sought profits through purchasing, making money by increasing sales volume.

3. Different sales methods: sales assistants were especially important in department stores, guiding customers with professional advice, and purchases were rung up separately. Supermarkets relied mainly on customers choosing items themselves, with "no-interference service" as the norm unless help was needed. Customers paid for everything together at a single checkout.

After calmly analyzing the situation, Ferdinand decided Vienna's economy at the time was already strong enough to support a profitable supermarket.

Once he had decided, Ferdinand immediately began conducting market research. After all, things were different then. There weren't as many kinds of goods as there were now, and home delivery wasn't a thing. He'd have to decide for himself what products were suitable for a supermarket.

No matter what, he was the most qualified person in the field in that era. At the very least, he'd seen a supermarket. Other people didn't even have the faintest idea what one was, so he would have to handle many things himself.

He went out early and came home late, working nonstop for over a month. At last, Ferdinand had figured out the basics of Vienna, that international metropolis, and filled a thick notebook with his findings.

"This counts as historical material, doesn't it? Someday, people researching Vienna in this era will have the best evidence right here. It covers every aspect of daily life—food, clothing, housing, and transport—and, best of all, it even has annotations! It can be displayed in a museum for future generations to admire!" Ferdinand thought happily as he lay in bed.

With a bang, the door was kicked open.

"Ferdinand, what have you been up to lately? Where do you go every day? I never see you at noble gatherings, and you don't even report to the city guard!" The visitor was Ferdinand's mother, Princess Clémentine.

"No, Clémentine, my dear mother, don't you know the rules of noble etiquette? Barging in without knocking is indecent. It'll damage your reputation!"

"Damn noble etiquette! Don't change the subject. You know no one will find out about this. Are you going to tell anyone?" Princess Clémentine snapped.