Muchen started the next day much like any other. With seven days to go until the Long family auction he was feeling a little anxious that he still hadn't figured out Heisan's angle, but putting the old man's memorial tablet to rest had taken a load off of his mind. Getting back to the daily routine of his tea business promised to be a further balm to his soul.

He'd been enjoying the satisfaction of watching a few more customers show up every day, yes, but he'd also found that he liked the routine of it. Life on the road had presented him with a new adventure every day, but there was something to be said for the value of settling into a steady routine.

Just like every morning, he woke up before the sun had risen. He prepared himself for the day and made his way to the cart that he had prepared the previous day. He drove Huichen over to the Wang family well, where he refilled his samovar. Then he made his way to the gate, waving a silent farewell to the men standing guard in the wee hours of the morning.

This day was much like every other, right up until he spotted a familiar figure waiting for him at the gate. Liling, dressed in her steward's outfit, with her hair up in a tight bun. She could have been an accountant making his way to work if she hadn't been staring at him with a triumphant grin.

Muchen bit back a sigh and pulled the cart to a halt. "Good morning."

"Morning," Liling said, hopping up onto the driver's bench as though she'd been invited. Xinyi's shell sat between them, an innocuous decoration.

"You're up early," Muchen said.

"I wanted to see what the fuss was all about," Liling replied. "Besides, it will make mother happy if we spend more time together."

"You want to make your mother happy," Muchen said, "by going out dressed like that?"

"She picks her battles," Liling said.

Muchen nodded. They maintained a companionable silence as the cart moved forward. Muchen hardly had to pay any attention to the road. By now Huichen practically knew the way to their spot by himself.

He didn't mind having Liling along. Not really. He hadn't seen her since she'd helped him get his permit. As far as maintaining the pretense of a relationship went, he'd gotten off pretty lightly so far. It helped that Uncle Haoyu and Aunt Baozhai had shown a delicate touch in their actions. They knew as well as anybody that their daughter would only resent them if they took a more forceful approach.

He'd expected Liling to pester him for conversation, but she held her peace as Muchen pulled into his usual parking spot. He set up his table with the ease of long practice, keeping an ear out for questions that never came. Part of him wondered if Liling had fallen asleep, but when he looked her way he found that she was watching his actions closely.

Muchen turned back to the cart. Preparing the table and the samovar had long since become routine, but he did have a new wrinkle he was trying out today. He pulled out a pair of weighted stands from the back of the cart, placing one on either side of the table. Then he pulled out a pair of wooden poles. One went into the stand nearest him, then he carefully walked the other around to the other side of the table, unrolling the banner furled between them as he went.

When he finished, he had a prominent if temporary sign board displayed over top of his street stall. A large-scale reproduction of his logo took pride of place, of course, together with the character for "tea." The pricing scheme was described in smaller lettering around the edges of the banner.

Muchen gazed at it for a moment with satisfaction, before taking a step back and looking at it with a more analytical eye. It was a bit off kilter. Fortunately, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed. He managed to get the banner straightened out by the time the water in the samovar was starting to boil.

Muchen prepared the tea as usual and took a look out at the street. He'd beaten the local foot traffic to the site, as usual. The first light of dawn was just starting to peek over the horizon. Even his most diehard regulars wouldn't be arriving for a while.

Liling had gotten down from the cart at some point and was looking over his whole setup with an appraising eye. She finished whatever mental calculations she'd been doing and moved to stand next to Muchen.

"Just six wen per serving?" she asked. "There can't be much profit in that."

"For now, the most important thing is to drum up new business," Muchen said. "Don't underestimate the power of low margins and high turnover."

If Muchen were interested in running this business for the long term, he'd keep his prices low for at least another month or two. That would give his regulars the time to turn into true brand loyalists before he started hitting them with price hikes.

Even then, this kind of business would always be more impressive in terms of volume than profit margin. If everything went according to Muchen's projections then his cart would be bringing in enough money to support a small family within the next month or so. In order to turn that into the kind of silver that would impress Liling, Muchen would need a whole network of carts working under him.

The tea was steeped enough to be drinkable, for a certain value of drinkable. Muchen prepared himself a cup. He didn't technically need the caffeine in order to wake up in the morning, but it certainly didn't hurt.

"Could I have a taste?" Liling asked.

"Sure," Muchen said.

He poured her a dash of the tea concentrate and then topped off the cup from the samovar. He didn't hold out high hopes for her approval. He thought about saying something but, well, she'd played much worse pranks on him in the past than just handing over some unpalatable tea.

She took a cautious sip, then paused. Rather than say anything, she took another taste from the cup.

"Interesting."

"It's an acquired taste," Muchen said. "I do try to keep the flavor consistent."

It was amazing how people's tastes could be shaped through the power of habit. Muchen would have liked to prove that fact the same way it had been done back on Earth, but sadly for his dreams of selling over-roasted coffee beans, the only widespread caffeinated drink in the Qianzhan Empire was tea.

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"People come back," Liling said, "after tasting that?"

Muchen was saved from the need to reply by the approach of a familiar group of people. Xiaohou, the wiry man who had been his first customer and who now served as something of a brand ambassador, held out his cup for Muchen to refill.

Muchen smiled and took his cup. It took a few minutes to work through the whole group and prepare their usual orders. When they left, he added their coin to the cashbox and gave Liling a smile.

"To hear you talk," she said, "I thought you were going to bless the masses with high quality tea. Not... whatever this is."

"Could you really appreciate a perfectly brewed cup of tea, the first time you tried it?" Muchen asked. "Different people's tastes are shaped in different ways."

"I suppose it moistens the throat well enough," Liling said.

Muchen nodded. "It also promotes wakefulness and clear thinking."

That is to say, the caffeine content was the same as what you'd get from a more expensive cup of tea. While the effects of drinking tea were well-known, though, the Qianzhan Continent had not yet identified the chemical agent that was the source of such things. It was probably for the best. The average cultivator was already twitchy enough without being hopped up on spiritual caffeine pills.

"Even so," Liling said, "to make real money you would need more carts. Not to mention that it would make your mugs more valuable."

Muchen nodded. Liling had grown up in a mercantile family. She might not have a fancy certificate or a modern education, but she could analyze a business plan well enough.

"Alas, I lack the manpower for such a thing," Muchen said. "I would have to turn to franchise agreements, if I were in this for the long haul."

"Franchise agreements?" Liling asked.

He'd forgotten for a moment that contract law in the Qianzhan Continent wasn't quite as well developed as the modern world. Here, business was usually a family affair, or sometimes a matter of close knit families bound by marriage alliances that were almost feudal in nature.

Still, even if the legal framework for franchise contracts was a little underdeveloped, the business case for them was still there. To some extent the deficiency of the law could be covered by a little rough and tumble self-enforcement, anyway.

"Selling others the right to go into the same business and use the same logo," Muchen said, "in exchange for an up front fee and a share of the profits."

"Interesting," Liling said, cocking her head in thought. "That could fuel explosive growth, but it would be difficult to enforce."

Muchen nodded. "The easiest thing would be to require them to buy their ingredients from me."

Even a modern corporation would balk at the idea of reviewing every franchisee's books to make sure they were getting paid their fair share, let alone Muchen and his one man operation in this primitive society. As long as they bought their tea from him, though, he'd get his share of the profits without needing to take any further looks over their shoulder.

Further conversation was put on hold for a moment as another stream of customers arrived at his cart. Liling inserted herself smoothly into the cart's operation, handling the money and relaying orders to Muchen as though they'd been working together this whole time. He was a little nervous at first, but she imitated his customer service attitude well enough. Naturally, she was plenty capable of reading the menu, and of course he'd never doubted her ability to count money.

Muchen was left free to serve up tea according to his customer's tastes. With Liling's help he was able to get his customers on their way quicker than usual, leaving another lull in the action.

"Wouldn't some of your franchises copy your recipe and go into business on their own?" Liling asked.

Muchen smiled. Trust Liling to be quick to spot a loophole. By way of response he picked up one of his mugs and tapped on the logo.

"As long as I can stop them from using this image, it's fine," he said. "Imitators will always pop up after any successful business. Customers will care more about finding merchants they can trust instead of sampling every cart to see who has the best recipe."

The Qianzhan Continent didn't have a very robust concept of trademark law, but it was generally understood that impersonating somebody else to do business was a crime. At the very least, Muchen expected that the law would turn a blind eye if he engaged in a little vigorous self-help against anybody who outright copied his logo.

Liling didn't say anything to him as they dealt with another wave of customers. The sun was well and truly over the horizon now, and they were entering the busiest part of the day. The sales volume wasn't a patch on the Wang family's businesses, of course, but Muchen was still happy to see his business thrive.

"You've changed," Liling said, giving him an appraising look. "You didn't used to think about things so deeply."

Muchen straightened up under her scrutiny. He briefly wondered whether he'd given the game away. This was the most he had interacted with somebody who knew him well from before the lightning strike. He dismissed the fear after a moment's thought. They were childhood friends, but they'd seen each other much less frequently as Muchen grew up.

"You've changed, too," Muchen said. "You didn't used to even be able to pretend to be a proper young lady."

She shook her head and turned her attention to the next group of customers. The two of them had little time for chit chat as they worked their way through the morning rush. Liling didn't take advantage of the small gaps of free time to broach any personal subject, which suited Muchen just fine.

All of that came to an end when it was time to pack up the stall. Muchen had finished loading his unsold mugs onto the back of the cart and was preparing to take down his banner when Liling stepped in front of him. She stared at him in silence for a moment before she spoke.

"Do you know why I opposed my parents' plans?"

Muchen shook his head. He had a few theories. For a modern woman to rebel against such things would just be a sign of an ordinary level of personal self-confidence. In the Qianzhan Empire, where marriage was commonly arranged by parents, Liling's behavior had to be driven by something more extreme.

She didn't seem like she had fallen in love with anyone. Besides, if that was the problem, she wouldn't have shied away from telling her parents. Beyond that, he'd be engaging in rank speculation. Better to remain silent and let Liling say what she had to say.

"I don't want to marry someone who will be subservient because of my family," she said.

Muchen nodded. Even if Liling could be a little overbearing sometimes, it was hard to imagine her in a happy marriage with a complete doormat.

"I want to marry an equal partner," she continued. "Someone with vision, someone who understands business and can support me as I move forward."

"That sounds reasonable," Muchen said. Perhaps a bit too egalitarian for this era, but with the support of her parents arranging that kind of match shouldn't be impossible.

"Of course," she said, "I'm not interested in some wallflower who wants to make me do all the work. If a man is interested in me, I expect him to show it."

"Well, you are beautiful. You have solid business acumen, and a unique sense of humor," Muchen said. She brightened at the praise. "I'm sure you'll find the right person eventually."

Setting aside her personality, Liling was a catch. She was objectively quite attractive and her family was not only wealthy but had also managed to avoid getting tangled up with any official power. Even if Uncle Haoyu required her husband to marry into the family, suitors would be lining up at the gate of the Wang family residence as soon as he put out the word.

Taking her personality into account, there was probably still a guy out there who'd be interested and that she wouldn't hate the idea of marrying. There were a lot of people in the Qianzhan Empire, after all.

She was glaring at him now for some reason.