Only 2,000 Taels of Silver Left

Standing on the city wall, Zhou Wanwan looked at the soldiers who were as fat as barrels and sighed, "Sending these people to war is no different from sending them to their deaths."

Zheng Xing'an sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do now. How can a four-nation coalition fight with such limited forces?"

Zhou Wanwan said:

"These years, the Great Xia has indeed been too comfortable; all these soldiers are from the Xie Family."

As long as the Xie Family exists, they will live a life of luxury and ease.

The soldiers sighed and said, "It's been so long since we've been on the battlefield. Going now would be suicide."

"What can we do? Can't we just not go?"

They are all Xie Family Army. Old General Xie went to the battlefield, so how could they not?

A large group of soldiers marched towards the battlefield.

Zhou Wanwan said, "If someone like that were to fight against Great Qi, they would undoubtedly be defeated within a few days."

Zheng Xing'an said, "What if it's one of our people?"

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said, "Within three days, the Great Qi will surely be defeated."

Zhou Wanwan was confident of this, and she even felt that it wouldn't take 3 days.

How many people were in their army in total?

Zhou Wanwan's army now numbers over 200,000, but this is a completely different concept from the Xie Family Army.

Zhou Wanwan's soldiers are all between 16 and 40 years old.

They are all strong and healthy, and they start training every morning, rain or shine.

Not only does she have an army of 200,000, but she also commands over a million tree spirits.

These tree-men are incredibly strong, capable of taking on a hundred opponents single-handedly.

They also possess stealth capabilities, making them a nightmare for the enemy if deployed to the battlefield.

Her raptor army is also enormous.

Now, there is a secret base in Dongshan Prefecture, which is full of her raptor army, and it was also her former zoo.

Therefore, if her people went to the battlefield, they would be absolutely invincible.

Xie Cheng'en and Princess Jianing saw Zhou Wanwan.

Xie Cheng'en looked at her and said, "Zhou Wanwan, weren't you staying peacefully in the Cold Palace? What are you doing here?"

Zhou Wanwan smiled faintly and said, "What's it to you? Shouldn't you be on the battlefield? What are you doing here?"

Xie Cheng'en rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'm not a military general, what am I supposed to do on the battlefield? What I need to do is study hard for the imperial examinations and pass with flying colors."

Princess Jianing also scoffed coldly:

I heard that several of your older brothers are going to take the imperial examination.

"What future can someone from Dongshan Prefecture have? They should just go back to farming!"

The noblemen nearby also loudly mocked, "How many people from Dongshan Prefecture have entered the imperial court as officials in recent years? They're utterly incompetent!"

"I heard that many people died in the snow disaster in Dongshan Prefecture this year. What kind of talented people can come from such a poor and remote place?"

"Alas! I've met several scholars from Dongshan Prefecture, and they're all so poor they can't even afford to eat in the capital."

Zhou Wanwan looked at him and asked, "Are you saying that there are students from Dongshan Prefecture who are not getting enough to eat in the capital?"

"That's natural. There are also many students copying books at bookstores to improve their lives!"

All they dream of is passing the imperial examinations with flying colors! There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

Zhou Wanwan said calmly, "There's only about a month left until the imperial examinations, isn't there?"

The noblemen said with smiles:

"Of course, there's only one month left."

I saw a student from Dongshan Prefecture the other day, so poor he was begging on the street, hahaha! It was absolutely hilarious.

"Huh? There are students this poor? Begging? Hahaha! Just how poor is Dongshan Prefecture? I'm really curious."

These people are deliberately trying to sabotage Zhou Wanwan and embarrass her.

Zhou Wanwan said calmly:

"Xing'an, please tell the restaurant that we are not serving any guests recently."

All students from Dongshan Prefecture can stay at my restaurants for free and receive three free meals a day.

Also, check their clothing; if you need any, they can provide it free of charge.

All the noble children looked at Zhou Wanwan, Zhou Wanwan smiled faintly and said, "If the students of Dongshan Prefecture are in trouble, it is my duty to help them without hesitation. I also thank you for reminding me."

Xie Cheng'en snorted coldly and said, "Has she gone mad? She's even closed the restaurant to directly supply those students. I'd like to see if she can keep up with the demand."

"What are you pretending for? Zhou Wanwan loves to pretend, I feel disgusted just looking at her."

"Someone, go and keep an eye on Zhou Wanwan's restaurant. I want to see if she can really pull it off," Princess Jianing said loudly.

In this respect, Xie Cheng'en and Princess Jianing were quite in sync.

Zhou Wanwan was too lazy to pay attention to them; Xie Cheng'en had been busy with the takeout business lately.

Zhou Wanwan said, "Xie Cheng'en, how's your takeout business lately? I haven't heard you mention it."

Xie Cheng'en sneered:

Why should I tell you? My takeout business has been doing exceptionally well lately.

It's not just in the capital, it's in other places too. This month alone, I've earned over 200,000 taels!

I must say, your team is really good; they serve food quickly and the food tastes great.

It's like they made a wedding dress for me!

Zhou Wanwan nodded and looked at him, saying, "My team took a long time to train! It really wasn't easy, so you have to treat them well!"

Zhou Wanwan left after she finished speaking.

Princess Jianing snorted coldly:

"She must be furious inside. This food delivery business is so profitable, she's probably regretting it now!"

Xie Cheng'en, did you really earn over 200,000 taels last month?

Xie Cheng'en said arrogantly, "Of course! What I say is what I mean. I have to go back now; I need to go back and check the accounts."

He went straight back to the Xie residence, where he found the head steward frantically looking for him.

Xie Cheng'en looked at the head steward and said, "Isn't today payday? What are you doing here?"

The head steward wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "Young Master, we've finished calculating the accounts today. You should go back and take a look at them."

Xie Cheng'en looked at him and asked, "Is there a problem with this account?"

"This is a huge problem. We earned 210,000 taels of silver this month."

But after all my calculations, I only had 2,000 taels of silver left. This is simply outrageous!

Xie Cheng'en's lips twitched repeatedly:

"How much did you say? 2000 taels? Are you kidding me?"

"After spending so much money, I only have 2,000 taels of silver left."

The manager sighed and said:

"If you take a look at the ledger, you'll understand what's going on. Labor costs are the biggest expense, and so are materials."

You know how expensive seafood is, but if you use cheap stuff, people won't even look at it.

Xie Cheng'en looked at the seafood and fell into deep thought. This seafood was indeed expensive!

A typical high-end seafood feast costs ten taels of silver, and six taels are spent just on purchasing various fresh seafood and procuring ingredients.

If a lavish seafood feast costing a full twenty taels of silver were to be prepared, the cost of the raw materials would be as much as fifteen taels.

After calculating all the costs, there's hardly any profit left, after deducting expenses such as labor, cooking over charcoal, and other miscellaneous costs.

It's barely profitable; the seafood banquet business is extremely low-margin.