Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 322 The emperor comes in person

The next morning, Song Chunlin was the first to arrive at the shop. He was responsible for the transportation of all the ingredients in the shop. The amount of fruit prepared today was still the same as yesterday. Song Chunlin looked at the full warehouse and clapped his hands with satisfaction. Well, this should be enough for today's use, right?

With the arrival of the shop assistants, everyone began to prepare the materials needed to open the store. With yesterday's experience, everyone was obviously calmer today. They opened the store door only after everything was prepared.

As soon as the store door opened, the people waiting at the door immediately rushed into the store, scaring the children.

"You guys finally opened the store. Um, do you have any cream cakes now? Give me two slices."

The clerk patted his chest lightly, put on a smiling face, and went to greet the customers.

There would definitely be no cream cake early in the morning, so when the customers heard about it, they all asked when the cake would be available. The clerk told them that if they wanted the cake they would have to wait until noon, but now they were accepting reservations. If they paid first and took the reservation tag, they could get the cake as soon as it was ready.

Hearing that reservations could be made, everyone started paying, and then received the badges with satisfaction. Of course, they would not just sit there and wait, and it wasn't long until noon, so everyone tacitly started ordering other freshly made pastries in the store, and a pot of the store's specialty milk tea, and sat in the shop to eat while waiting.

Seeing more and more people waiting in the store, the clerk couldn't help but run to the back kitchen and ask them if the cream cake was ready.

Hearing that there were many people waiting for cakes over there, the people who were making cakes couldn't help but speed up their hands and managed to make several cakes before noon.

As soon as the cream cake was brought out, everyone's eyes followed the cake all the way to the display stand. Everyone took their own signs and chose their favorite cake flavor.

Shortly after noon, more and more customers came into the store, and it was almost as popular as when it opened yesterday. Moreover, most people came for the buy-one-get-one-free promotion on cream cakes.

Seeing that the shop was so popular, it attracted many new customers. Some people tasted the cakes from other people's homes and followed the smell. After seeing the staggering price of the cakes, they thought they were too expensive. Fortunately, other pastries in the store tasted good and were cheaper than cakes. In addition, when the system of collecting likes cards was introduced, everyone felt that they had gotten a good deal, even if the food had not yet been eaten.

There is no need to deliver goods today, but customers are still coming in an endless stream. The Song family members are all busy in the store. Mrs. An Huaibo did send someone over, but it was only to maintain order in the store. Song Chunlin did not want to hand over too many things in the store to Mrs. An Huaibo, because he wanted to hand over the store to the Charity Bureau for full management.

After a busy day, when they counted the accounts in the evening, everyone was surprised to find that today's turnover was more than one hundred taels more than yesterday.

"Oh my god, this is even more than yesterday. Are there so many rich people in the capital?"

Zhou Ning smiled and looked at Song Dazhuang, kindly explaining for him: "Dad, many of these people are from wealthy families who come here to buy. These people are not short of money, and almost every family bought a lot of cakes to take back, especially the cakes. When they heard that there was a buy one get one free deal for sliced cakes, they bought the whole cake directly. Didn't the kitchen run out of ingredients today?"

Yes, everyone finally came to their senses. The six-layer cake yesterday was given by Song Chunlin as gifts, and he didn't charge any money for it at all. The materials prepared today were the same as yesterday. The money from the cakes that were not sold yesterday was earned back in one day today, and even more.

Grandma Song murmured to herself, "No wonder I was the same as yesterday. I kept baking the cake and whipping the butter until my hands were about to break. I thought today would be better. Alas, there is only one day left tomorrow. I only need to do this promotion once. If I do it again, my old bones will fall apart."

Song Chunlin went up to Song Amao and massaged her shoulders and arms.

"Thank you for your hard work, little grandpa. It will be fine after tomorrow. If there is no discount, there will be fewer people."

Of course Song Amuo knew that he was just saying it casually. When Song Chunlin was massaging him, he did not forget to attach a trace of supernatural power. As a warm current poured in, Song Amuo's most tired shoulders and neck finally relaxed a little. After Song Chunlin finished the massage, he felt that the soreness in his body had completely disappeared, and he immediately smiled and praised his grandson.

In response to Song Amo's praise, Song Chunlin winked at him, and they smiled at each other tacitly.

After the first three days of Xingchengfang's opening, the number of customers in the store suddenly decreased. As Song Chunlin said, most people went for the buy-one-get-one-free promotion on cream cakes. After the promotion ended, fewer people were willing to buy cream cakes. After all, a small piece cost almost one or two taels of silver. With this tael of silver, why wouldn't he go eat meat?

Although the sales of cream cakes declined, the sales of other pastries did not decrease much. Such novel Western-style pastries, coupled with the unique membership system and the like-collecting cards that non-members could enjoy, made Xingchengfang famous throughout the capital within less than seven days of its opening. In particular, after people learned that only VIP members could enter the second floor, their curiosity about these so-called VIP members reached its peak.

There were not many people in the court who could receive the VIP membership cards personally sent out by Song Chunlin. Princess Baohua had one, the Lin family counted as one, the Gu family definitely had one, and those families who were on good terms with An Huaibo also had one. As for the rest, Song Chunlin did not say how to get them, and the shop assistants were vague about the answers. There were even many people who wanted to use money to buy a VIP membership card, but were directly rejected by the shop assistants.

In less than a month after opening, the clerk had dealt with many such people. He was already very familiar with it and would simply call people over to drive out those who attempted to cause trouble.

At first, everyone went to cry to their masters, but when they saw that even Princess Baohua could enter the second floor, they were so scared that their legs went weak.

After Princess Baohua sent someone to teach these people a lesson, the shop finally became a lot quieter.

But the people who came to the shop today were not only Princess Baohua. In addition to the princess, there were also the emperor and empress who were on a secret tour, and the little prince who had just grown up.

When Song Chunlin heard that Princess Baohua and the Emperor and Empress were coming together, he knew what they wanted to do. He sighed, waved to Song Chunming and asked him to follow him to the second floor to deliver the meal.

Song Chunming didn't understand what was going on, but he still listened to his brother and went upstairs with the tray.

The emperor had not seen his ninth brother for many years. Although he had heard from Gu Fengyun that he was living a good life, it was not as good as seeing it with his own eyes. Hearing the sound of him coming up the stairs, the emperor actually felt a little homesick.

However, the first person who came up the stairs with the sound of sound was not Xiaojiu, but Song Chunlin with a smile on his face. When Song Chunlin walked up and turned sideways, it was seen that there was someone following him.

The emperor felt his breath hold in his throat when he saw Song Chunming for the first time. After a while, he looked at Princess Baohua excitedly.

Princess Baohua waved to Song Chunming, motioning him to come over.

Song Chunming had met the eldest princess before, so he walked over obediently and put down the tray in his hand. The eldest princess took his hand affectionately and looked him up and down carefully.

"Well, you're a little taller and thinner. Have you fallen behind in your studies?"

Facing the elders' questions, Song Chunming answered them one by one with neither servile nor arrogant demeanor, and was very generous and graceful. The emperor looked at Xiaojiu and nodded repeatedly with satisfaction.

When he heard that Song Chunming was still reading, he curiously asked him what books he was reading.

Song Chunming looked at the emperor in front of him and felt inexplicably familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen this person. He could only bow his head and then answer the emperor's question.

"To answer this... sir, I mostly read some agricultural books at home, and some... construction books."

"Agricultural books? You actually have agricultural books at home. Then, these construction books, were they compiled by Lu Ban?"

Song Chunming shook his head: "No, that book was given to me by my brother, but it was not compiled by Lu Ban, but by an unknown craftsman."

Hearing that the author was unknown, the emperor was a little angry. He said in a deep voice: "Since it was written by some inferior people, it is better to read less. A gentleman should read more poetry and books. If you read a book written by a craftsman, do you want to become a bricklayer?"

Song Chunming felt a little unhappy in his heart and subconsciously refuted the other party.

"I'm surprised by what the gentleman said. Knowledge has never been divided into high and low. You can't conclude that the knowledge written by a book is inferior just because the author is not famous. Besides, what about the masons? If there were no such craftsmen, where would the house you live in, the chair you sit on, and the cups, plates and bowls you use come from? My second brother said that among the 365 trades, any trade is worthy of respect as long as it does not violate the rules and infringe on the interests of others."

Song Chunming's words shocked everyone present except Song Chunlin. Even the queen looked at him in surprise.

The emperor's face darkened and the atmosphere suddenly dropped to freezing point. Everyone held their breath, fearing that the emperor would get angry and drag the child away to punish him.

However, the emperor did nothing. He just looked slowly and deeply at Song Chunlin, who was standing beside him with his head lowered. Seeing that his face was calm, he knew that the other party was not surprised by what Song Chunming said. In fact, they all thought it was natural.

After a long time, just when everyone thought that the emperor would definitely punish Song Chunming, the emperor suddenly chuckled and waved his hand for Song Chunming to come forward.

"Come, come here and let me take a closer look."

Song Chunming looked puzzled. He turned around and glanced at Song Chunlin first. After getting his approval, he slowly walked forward and raised his head to look at the emperor.

The others were nervous at his action. This kid was really bold to dare to look directly at the emperor. Even if ignorance was not a crime, the emperor could not stand being stared at by a little boy like this, right?

Just when everyone thought that the emperor would definitely punish Song Chunming this time, the emperor felt mixed emotions.

Song Chunming had fair skin and only calluses on his fingers from holding a pen. The emperor knew at a glance that Song Chunming was well taken care of by the Song family. Although, he really could not recognize himself at the moment and did not remember that he had once hugged his thighs and called him brother.

"You, are good, you have been educated very well, if..." If the child had been trapped in that high palace wall all the time, would he still grow up like this?

The emperor asked himself, then shook his head in denial. No, Xiaojiu would not be happy if she stayed within the palace walls. At least, she would not be as clear-eyed and articulate as she is now. The emperor even had to say that Song Chunming's words just now did convince him.

Yes, how can knowledge be divided into high and low levels? He is just superficial.

Song Chunming was left behind to sit next to Princess Baohua and enjoy the cakes in the store together. Song Chunming was a little resistant at first, but Song Chunlin said that if he stayed, he could introduce the food in his store to the nobles, so Song Chunming stayed obediently. Every time the emperor picked up something, he introduced to the other party what it was. For a moment, the atmosphere returned to being relaxed and comfortable, and everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

In the kitchen, Aunt Song and Qinshi Song were waiting with worried looks on their faces, and they had no interest in doing the work at hand.

Song Chunlin came back and smiled and shook his head at everyone: "Don't worry, it's okay. He is staying there to introduce the nobles. He probably won't be back for a while."

After receiving the confirmation, Aunt Song and Qinshi felt half relieved, but the other half was still hanging in the balance. At least they were willing to work.

Fortunately, the store’s sales have almost stabilized now, and they have a fixed amount of things they need to make every day, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a little slow.

The emperor and the empress stayed for nearly an hour. When they left, the little prince was even led down the stairs by Song Chunming's hand, with a lot of food in his arms.

The emperor looked at the small shop and nodded at Song Chunlin: "You, you are really unique when it comes to eating."

"Your Excellency is praising me for being unique in this respect. How is the food? Are you satisfied with it?"

The emperor and empress did not expect that Song Chunlin would accept their compliments so smartly, and they were immediately amused.

The emperor said: "You are so rude. In that case, pack some of those things for me. I will take them back and show my filial piety to my mother."

The queen couldn't help but chuckle, "Please, little brother Song, pack some of each for us to take back. We will ask the accountant to come and settle the bill later."

Song Chunlin rubbed his hands excitedly: "You really want to pay? Great, I'll have someone pack it for you right away."

The emperor looked at Song Chunlin's money-obsessed appearance with a hint of disdain: "Look at you, the Gu family hasn't treated you badly, has it?"