What Are Samples?

The Empress Dowager looked at her with a smile and said, "Which Zhou Family is it? There are so many Zhou Family in the capital."

Zhou Fusheng, standing nearby, said, "She married my eldest son, Zhou Qingyan."

The Empress Dowager looked at Zhou Fusheng and said, "You really are a lowly commoner. Did I give you permission to speak? Just because I didn't tell you to open your mouth doesn't mean you can speak as you please."

Zhou Fusheng knelt down in fear.

The Empress Dowager looked at Feng Yueyao and continued to ask, "Which family are you from?"

Feng Yueyao introduced herself, saying, "Your Majesty, I am Feng Weizheng's granddaughter."

The Empress Dowager took a sip of tea, nodded, and said, "Feng Weizheng! Feng Weizheng is quite good; he's an honest and upright official, a good official indeed."

She then looked at Shen Yunshu and asked, "And what about you?"

Shen Yunshu said, "My father Shen Congrong."

The Empress Dowager nodded in satisfaction and said, "Not bad, not bad. These girls are all quite good. Guards, reward them."

During the banquet, the Empress Dowager smiled and instructed the eunuchs to bring three gifts.

Su Zhixia, Feng Yueyao, and Shen Yunshu stepped forward one by one to receive their rewards.

Each gift box contains a red agate pomegranate hairpin, a roll of light apricot-colored embroidered Yulan satin, and a pair of round pearl earrings.

Several people stepped forward to express their gratitude.

Zhou Wanwan wondered to herself, "Why would this old woman be so kind?"

The eldest princess frowned slightly, but the Empress Dowager didn't say anything more.

The banquet began soon after.

This banquet was nothing more than eating and drinking; someone brought out the food and drinks.

The food was pretty good this time, Zhou Wanwan could tell at a glance that it was all takeout.

Nowadays, the palace sometimes doesn't even cook; they just order takeout.

Because Consort Noble Consort Ning currently holds the reins of power in the harem!

A whole steamed king crab is placed in the center, its shell a deep red and plump.

The extra-large lobster is served in two ways: half as sashimi and half grilled over charcoal.

Other dishes include deep-sea grouper, braised conch in soy sauce, steamed abalone, braised sea cucumber, and crispy fried mantis shrimp, accompanied by various seafood such as scallops and razor clams.

The accompanying fresh fruit, candied fruit, and fine wine were all of the highest quality.

Xie Cheng'en is short of money lately; he's lost too much money gambling and has all sorts of other expenses.

It's strange, actually. He owns quite a few shops, but he still doesn't have enough money every month.

He had the accountant do the math: he and Princess Jianing had opened more than 20 shops, but they only earned about 20,000 taels of silver each month.

This represents the combined revenue from over 20 stores, plus takeout orders.

They didn't know what the problem was, but it seemed like they were making a lot of money, although in reality, not much of it actually ended up in their hands.

They've now set their sights on the palace.

There's a lot of money to be made in the palace, and Noble Consort Ning dotes on Princess Jianing, so she gives her quite a lot.

This meal would cost 200 taels of silver, Noble Consort Ning gave them 500 taels, so she could make a profit of more than half of that.

Zhou Wanwan buried herself in her food, enjoying the deliciousness of home-cooked meals. However, this left the imperial chefs in the palace with nothing to do.

Recently, the palace has begun to drastically reduce the number of imperial chefs, and the chefs in the Imperial Kitchen are all in a panic.

The chefs in the Imperial Kitchen were all sitting outside complaining. "We had takeout again today. I just don't understand, what's so great about takeout? We make it much better than takeout."

"What do you know? There are so many varieties and options for takeout. Even the emperor enjoys takeout, so there's no point in us objecting now."

"Auntie, we have over 300 imperial chefs, and we've already laid off half of them. I heard we have to lay off the other half too. What are we going to do?"

The aunt sipped her tea and said, "What's the panic? Didn't Zhou Wanwan go to the palace today? I'll go find her and ask her to think of a solution."

The imperial chefs scratched their heads and said, "Auntie, are you getting senile? How old is Zhou Wanwan? She's only five years old. What could she possibly know?"

Aunt smiled faintly and said, "She has her own way, so don't worry!"

After saying that, Auntie left.

Zhou Wanwan finished eating and drinking, she started watching the performance.

The performance team was also hired from outside. Princess Jianing walked in as soon as the performance started.

As soon as she entered, she saw many people carrying all sorts of snacks.

Princess Jianing said, "These snacks are from my shop; please share them with everyone."

The noble ladies' eyes lit up when they saw the snacks. "Princess Jianing's snack shop has such delicious snacks! I've never eaten such good snacks before."

"I've eaten there, I've eaten there, especially their drinks. Although they can't be stored for long, I go there every day."

"Yes, all kinds of yogurt, I think these yogurts are delicious."

"I love potato chips; they're the best thing ever."

Princess Jianing was extremely pleased with herself. "These things are naturally beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. Zhou Wanwan, right?"

Zhou Wanwan glanced at her indifferently, nodded, and said, "Yes, your supplier is indeed quite impressive, but the purchase price must be quite expensive, right?"

Princess Jianing snorted coldly:

"It's expensive because the raw materials are expensive. I'm willing to pay that. But now, your snack shops are probably not doing any business, right?"

I advise you to close the shop as soon as possible to avoid wasting time.

Princess Jianing continued to boast:

"I don't just have a snack shop anymore; today I've also brought you all sorts of cosmetics."

Look, these are all cosmetics: face cream, jade face cream, pearl face powder, Taohua rouge, peony blush, rose lip balm, begonia lip gloss, Moli balm, orchid hair oil...

These are all samples; try them out when you get home.

Someone asked, "Princess Jianing, what is a 'little sample'?"

Princess Jianing explained:

"It's just a trial version. It was actually an idea from one of our store's suppliers, and I think it's pretty good."

You can try them at home; these are all newly launched products.

Look how bright and white my face is!

Furthermore, I've already had the imperial physician examine it, and all the ingredients here are perfectly safe.

Shangguan Wan'er beside her, nodded in agreement.

"Look at my face, didn't I have a lot of pimples on my face before?"

I used these things, and now I can't see a single pimple on my face.

Shangguan Wan'er used to have a lot of acne, which was particularly unsightly.

She does look much more refined than before.

A crowd gathered around, exclaiming, "Wow! Does it really work? I'll go to your shop tomorrow to check it out!"

"It really smells nice. I'll buy all my cosmetics from you from now on."

The term "cosmetics" has only recently become fashionable in Beijing.

Shangguan Wan'er looked at Zhou Wanwan and asked, "Zhou Wanwan, how have you been lately?"

Zhou Wanwan grinned and said, "Not bad!"

Shangguan Wan'er chuckled and said:

"Come on! I heard you also opened a cosmetics store. All the powders there are of very poor quality and can ruin your face."

I heard that someone even sued you a while ago!