Chapter Thirteen: Letters (One)

  According to Zhu Yinglong's plan, Tian Hongyu bought a ready-made wine building on Gulou Street in Kaifeng City. Of course, Zhu Yinglong's plan was grand and had to affect the surrounding residents and shops. After giving quite generous compensation, he almost bought half of Gulou Street, spending nearly 500,000 taels of silver on this item alone. It seems that no matter what time and space, owning land is equivalent to owning wealth.

  This is a series of projects, Zhu Yinglong formally introduced the fast food diet of later generations into the Ming Dynasty, and organically combined it with the unique breakfast food culture of the Chinese people. The first floor has various early points, noodles, pastries, rice porridge, and fast food. The second floor is the tea house, where tea culture has a long history, and naturally cannot be missed. While drinking tea and chatting, listen to storytelling and watch opera performances, it is an entertainment venue. At the same time, all the things on the first floor are also supplied to the second floor, named Fengyun Tea Restaurant. This is the first part; The second part is Wenxiang Building, the first floor is a ordinary hall, where ordinary people, traveling merchants and guests eat, the second floor is all private rooms, if you don't want to be disturbed, and the silver in your pocket is abundant, then the private room on the second floor is the best place to go; The third part is Piaoyanju, the first floor is a common room, the second floor is a side house, and the third floor is a suite. Of course, the higher you go, the more different the price is; The fourth is Yude Pool, which adopts the business method of later generations' leisure squares, and first introduced the female bathing area. Of course, some dirty things Zhu Yinglong didn't write out, but he knew these things would eventually appear, I'm afraid those brothels will go bankrupt!

  New things need to be made known to the public, in addition to gathering famous foods from all over and inviting folk artists and theater troupes to join, the key is still publicity, and advertising needs to be done. However, these headache-inducing tasks don't need to be dealt with for now, as it's estimated that from planning to official opening will take about half a year.

  The business talent of the little aunt surprised Zhu Yinglong, some methods that transcended this time and space she somehow grasped in an instant, and could even induce and deduce, herself was just reciting what she had seen and learned from her own time and space, but the little girl was able to summarize and categorize his chaotic business theories, and overnight, she wrote them down, bound them into a book, and handed it to Zhu Yinglong. Zhu Yinglong glanced at it hastily, exclaiming that he had finally seen what a genius looked like, especially a female one.

  Of course, there were some things that Tian Shulan couldn't foresee. Perhaps as a woman, she had subconsciously rejected those dirty things. Zhu Yinglong wouldn't be foolish enough to say it out loud. He had an idea and thought it would be better to let this little girl take charge of the whole plan. After all, she was going to participate in it anyway. So he tactfully brought up his intention, and the little girl agreed without hesitation. If the little girl had hesitated or made some demands, Zhu Yinglong might have felt more at ease. But she took it on without saying anything, making Zhu Yinglong wonder if she did it because she liked him. He immediately began to suspect that he had inherited Zhu Yubing's overly suspicious personality!

  The production of monosodium glutamate indeed took a lot of effort from Zhu Yinglong, but fortunately, he was studying biological engineering in college at that time and was particularly good at grain fermentation, which could be said to represent the highest level in the country. Although he wasn't majoring in this field, his school required interdisciplinary research, so various colleges opened many elective courses. He had no choice but to take a course on grain fermentation, and although the content was rough, the professor lectured repeatedly on the production of monosodium glutamate, which is closely related to daily life. Zhu Yinglong memorized the process in order to pass the exam, but producing monosodium glutamate in this time period proved to be somewhat difficult. Fortunately, he had already prepared glass equipment in advance; otherwise, he wouldn't have known where to get experimental instruments!

  Actually, many grains can be used as raw materials for making MSG, but Zhu Yinglong still chose the most common rice. The key to making MSG is to find the right fermentation strain, which is a very critical task. If this step cannot be done, then MSG cannot be produced. After more than ten days of hard work, Zhu Yinglong and Song Yingxing finally cultivated a yeast strain, but the MSG produced was not ideal due to various factors, and mass production was still not possible. Zhu Yinglong could only do so much, and now it's up to Song Yingxing to show his skills.

  On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month in the fifth year of Tianqi, the birthday of King Xian finally arrived. The mansion of King Xian was newly decorated, with four pairs of large red lanterns hung high at the gate, illuminating the entrance as if it were daytime. A pair of stone lions also wore red and green decorations, spiritedly watching the guests coming and going. Tonight, those who came to celebrate the birthday were all dignitaries, officials, and merchants of high social status, naturally including local government officials who represented the imperial court. Of course, most of them sent gifts but did not attend in person, as it was against the ancestral rules for a vassal king to form relationships with external officials. The gifts had to be sent, and the rules had to be followed.

  These people are all celebrities from Kaifeng or even Henan, Zhu Yinglong let Wang Chengen take over to entertain the guests. He couldn't stand this kind of courtesy and had to pretend to smile. This kind of thing was most suitable for Wang Chengen, the outer manager of the palace, because he had been through many battles and was somewhat familiar with these people, so it was better for him to show up.

  Before the grand birthday, Zhu Yinglong had received many congratulatory gifts, most of which were from various vassal kings. In the past, when Zhu Youjian was in the palace, they would also offer some small gifts every year. This time, it was the first time that Xian Wang celebrated his birthday in his fiefdom, and everyone spontaneously prepared a considerable amount of birthday gifts to be sent quickly to Kaifeng. Even the old king of Yunnan, Mu, had sent his congratulations ahead of time to Zhu Yinglong's hands. With so many congratulatory gifts, Zhu Yinglong should have been delighted, but he couldn't get excited no matter what. He was just a vassal king without any real power, why did so many people come to give him gifts, and the gifts were not light either, seemingly with the intention of currying favor? But what was there for him to curry favor with now?

  Zhou Yingning was born into an official family, her father also served as an official in the capital, so she knew a bit about the current situation of the imperial court. She was clever and managed things at the Shadow Dragon Villa and the Wang Mansion with great order. Her two younger sisters respected her deeply. However, looking at her husband who was surrounded by gifts but looked unhappy, it was completely opposite to his original intention when he married her. She had some thoughts in her mind, but the banquet was about to start, so she went forward and urged: "Prince Wang, most of the guests have arrived, you should go to the front to see them now, everyone is waiting for you."

  Although they were not yet a real couple, Zhu Yinglong could feel Zhou Yining's emotions for him becoming thicker. He lowered his head and sighed, "Ning'er, this time as your husband, I'm afraid we'll have big trouble!"

  Zhou Ying Ning leaned against him half-reliantly and said softly: "Wherever the prince goes, I'll follow!"

  Zhu Yinglong stretched out his arm and hugged the beauty, a surge of heroic spirit rising in his heart. What's wrong with himself? A little trouble made him shrink back, where did his former ambition go? He smiled: "Ning'er, you don't have to worry, our husband and wife haven't consummated yet, can this trivial matter be difficult for King Ben?"

  Zhou Yingning suddenly turned her pretty face away in embarrassment and softly scolded: "Not serious!"

  Zhu Yinglong burst out laughing and said with renewed confidence: "Ning'er, let's go! Accompany your husband to see the guests!"

  Two people were laughing and walking out, suddenly saw Xu Yingyuan hastily rushing past the door, Zhu Yinglong was suspicious, and shouted: "Xu Yingyuan, what's the hurry?"

  Xu Yingyuan heard this voice as if he had drunk a cup of cool tea in the scorching sun of midsummer, and hastily turned around to see that Xinfeng and Da Wangfei were already behind him. He hastily paid his respects, saying: "Your Highness, Your Ladyship, how did you end up here? I've searched the entire palace but couldn't find you anywhere!"

  "What's wrong? You're all sweaty!" Zhou Yining asked as soon as she spoke.

  "Reporting to Your Highness and Her Ladyship, someone from the capital has arrived and is waiting for you both in the front hall!" Xu Yingyuan exclaimed.

  As soon as he heard "Jing City", Zhu Yinglong's heart skipped a beat and he hastily said: "Ning Er, let's go quickly."