Christmas

1881 was a year of growth. The arrival of department-store supermarkets had made the material lives of Vienna's citizens more colorful and varied.

Ferdinand, with his boundless imagination, was also going further and further down the road of sharp dealing, unleashing one scheme after another until people could barely keep up!

Shineway Food Group's products were becoming more and more numerous: all kinds of noodles, biscuits from a wide range of brands, potato chips in a variety of flavors, and more.

The bakers had also officially moved into the supermarkets, and all sorts of pastries had made their dazzling debut, catching the eyes of Vienna's citizens and making life far more convenient.

Naturally, they also filled Ferdinand's pockets. Volvo had spread across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with stores in every major city.

And, of course, alongside the supermarkets, Shineway Food Group had grown from a mere shell company into a company true to its name, becoming one of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's major food-processing businesses.

Christmas was approaching, and Volvo had grown even busier. Under Ferdinand's urging, Franz had begun making preparations for the Christmas festivities, still half asleep.

Ferdinand had no room to relax. Several supermarkets were already being fitted out around Vienna, and their styles were basically copied from Volvo.

Some, of course, tried to be original, but Ferdinand automatically ignored them. They knew nothing and were trying to innovate anyway—a perfect recipe for disaster. They posed no threat whatsoever.

It was easy to imagine that Vienna would be teeming with supermarkets in 1882. Ferdinand's monopoly was about to end, and an era of a hundred competing schools of thought was on its way.

Ferdinand estimated that supermarkets would enjoy their golden age for the next three to five years, while their rivals were still learning and feeling their way forward. Over the following five to ten years, the industry would gradually transition into a silver age: more competitors would enter the field, and profits would begin to thin.

Still, Volvo's position as the industry leader was secure, and newcomers would struggle to challenge it in the short term. In ten years, his supporting industries would all be in place. With a complete industrial chain and profits maximized, he wouldn't have to fear competition.

Looking back at what he had achieved in 1881, Volvo had opened on June 18 and gone on to establish thirty-six branches in less than half a year, far exceeding its target.

It had also earned Ferdinand a net profit of 30,000 pounds, most of which had been spent on opening new stores.

The average monthly profit for each supermarket was still around 800 pounds. The earliest aristocratic supermarkets were even making around 2,000 pounds a month! It was an astonishing figure, and by far the largest source of Ferdinand's personal income.

Shineway Food Group Ltd. had also performed very well. After the flour mill was restructured, its rapidly expanding sales network helped monthly earnings rise from an initial 300 pounds to 1,000 pounds.

The newly established noodle factory had mediocre sales. Although Ferdinand had come up with many brands, Europeans weren't used to using chopsticks. Italian pasta, on the other hand, sold well.

The factory had initially operated at a slight loss, and now its monthly profit was only around 100 pounds, leaving Ferdinand deeply disappointed.

Fortunately, it was only a small factory with around ten employees, and they hadn't rashly expanded its operations. Otherwise, it still wouldn't be turning a profit.

The snack-processing factory, on the other hand, was doing well. Popcorn, potato chips, and all kinds of biscuits were selling nicely.

Since it was founded, the snack factory had expanded twice and now had more than eight hundred employees.

Among Ferdinand's businesses, it was second in size only to Volvo. Its monthly profits now reached as much as 8,000 pounds, and there was still plenty of room to grow.

Throughout 1881, Ferdinand had built up an enterprise worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, yet his pockets had gained less than 10,000 pounds in cash.

Christmas had arrived. Exquisite Christmas trees stood outside Volvo's stores, while their counters displayed a dazzling array of food.

Santa Claus, with white hair and beard, wore a red pointed cap and a bright-red robe. Carrying a sack of gifts, he waved to the people and handed bags of food to the children who passed by.

The supermarkets had also launched huge holiday discounts, marking their dazzling array of goods with sale prices to draw in passersby.

This was all arranged by Ferdinand according to the Christmas celebrations of a later era in Austria. It seemed to work very well: many products were snapped up, leaving nothing in the supermarkets but row upon row of empty shelves and exhausted sales clerks.

Christmas was the most important holiday in the West, and Ferdinand's family was no exception. They were invited to Schönbrunn Palace, where they enjoyed Christmas dinner with their relatives in Vienna.

Afterward, the family sang and danced beneath the Christmas tree and exchanged presents, filling the room with a warm, cozy atmosphere.

When the bells chimed midnight, Ferdinand and the others stood up, lit one candle after another, and recited the Bible together. They exchanged blessings and then sang Christmas carols. The first Christmas carol to spread throughout the world had originated in Oberndorf, Salzburg, Austria.

After the carols, Ferdinand left Schönbrunn Palace and went to Mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.

A towering Christmas tree stood inside the church. At its top, a brilliant star pointed the way to Bethlehem for the Three Wise Men—Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.

Children now filled the streets and alleys of Vienna, singing Christmas carols as they went from house to house to spread the good news.

The aristocrats and capitalists also managed to be generous for once. All the workers were given time off, and quite a few even received Christmas presents.

At least the workers under Ferdinand's employ all received a Christmas gift: snacks made by his factories, along with some unsold products.

After all, Ferdinand's factories produced food, and to workers living in abject poverty, it was all a very valuable gift.

If not for a timely reminder from his butler, Karl, Ferdinand might even have handed out year-end bonuses. Fortunately, he came to his senses in time. In this era, raising workers' wages without authorization would earn the hostility of fellow capitalists!

After a lively Christmas, Ferdinand was woken early the next morning by Princess Clémentine.

Sleeping in was a bad habit Ferdinand had picked up in his previous life, and Princess Clémentine detested it. She believed it would wear down a person's will.

Ferdinand had tried to resist several times, but to no avail. In the end, he obediently did as he was told. He had thought Christmas would be an exception, but reality told him otherwise.

Morning exercise was also a Kohary Family tradition. The life of a military aristocrat was not nearly as comfortable as people imagined.

There were only a handful of exceptions to lives of wine and roses. Most German nobles followed tradition and were raised under strict discipline. They had far more to learn than ordinary people, and hardly any of them enjoyed a happy childhood.

Vienna's aristocracy had begun to decay, but most of the culprits were nouveau-riche nobles. They craved pleasure, dragging the reputation of the entire aristocratic circle down with them.

The truly old and distinguished aristocratic families placed demands on their descendants so strict that they were beyond ordinary people's imagination!