The boss had no heart for accounting, everything in the store was half off—except for those surnamed Ji.
Qing Huan led Sui Sui to play in the courtyard, using a small wooden stick to teach her to write the character “Xu” on the ground. Sui Sui had reached the age to learn characters. Although in the Da Xia Dynasty men were valued above women, according to Brother Nian’s words, women also had to be literate. Therefore, Qing Huan first taught her a few simple characters as an introduction, especially starting with writing her own name, and later they would specially hire a teacher to teach further.
Children were all hot-headed. Previously, she had quarreled with little Brother Nian, but once she could not see him, she pined for him. Thus, ever since Yu Jinnian went missing that time, the little girl had been extremely obedient, fearing that Brother Nian would not want her anymore. So if told to write, she wrote; if told to read, she read. Even if she still had some childish restlessness, she was mostly well-behaved.
At this moment, she felt bored from writing and looked up to see Ji Hong return. Instantly distracted, she blinked her almond-shaped eyes and called him “A Hong gege.”
After learning Ji Hong’s identity, the only ones who still dared to address him so intimately were Yu Jinnian and this little girl who understood nothing. Qing Huan picked her up and followed him into the hall. Glancing at the table, she saw a single lonely egg standing upright. A gust of wind entered, and that egg toppled over with a smack, rolling across the empty tabletop.
Ji Hong reached out and caught the chicken egg.
He picked it up and shook it, and it was still raw.
Qing Huan whispered, “Brother Nian placed it here, he told us not to touch it…”
Ji Hong looked thoughtfully at the egg in his palm. After a moment, he shook his head slightly and smiled. He asked, “Where is he?”
Qing Huan answered, “He went to the shop early this morning, saying it was… trial operation.” She struggled hard to recall that word, and after recalling it, she conscientiously explained to Ji Hong, “Brother Nian said that before officially opening the business, he wanted to try if things would sell well, see if there were any shortcomings, and hear what dissatisfaction the customers might have.”
This was indeed novel. Once opened, a business was opened; if not opened, it was not opened. Ji Hong had never heard of such a thing as a “trial operation” of a restaurant before officially opening. Could opening a business also be tested first?
Seeing him remain silent, Qing Huan hurriedly said, “How about I make something for you to eat? Although it can’t compare to Brother Nian’s cooking, it’s still better than letting you go hungry, right?” She put Sui Sui down and was about to head to the kitchen, muttering under her breath, “I don’t know what Brother Nian was thinking, leaving only a raw egg early in the morning.”
“No need.” Ji Hong held the egg and walked out.
A raw egg, one touch and it rolled.
Wasn’t this telling him to “roll away”?
It seemed that before he even moved in, someone had already issued an eviction order.
But that was fine too.
Duan Ming had just tied the horse and was directing the servants at the gate to carry a few boxes from the carriage into the garden. He saw that the master who had just entered not long ago had come out again. He was about to ask where to move those boxes—should they still be moved into the small courtyard that Second Young Master Ji Yan had left him in Jinyouting? Jinyouting was built around a pond, with a lotus pond in front and a flower garden at the back. In midsummer, lotuses swayed; in late autumn, chrysanthemums and plums stood proudly. There was scenery in all four seasons. However, the best dwelling in the garden did not belong to Second Young Master but rather to Third Young Master’s Tingyue Residence. Since Ji Hong lived in the smallest Kanghe Courtyard at the main residence, Ji Yan had intended to compensate him, so he always reserved the best part of Jinyouting for Ji Hong.
But at that time Ji Hong was still young, and in fact, he had not visited it many times.
Now the entire Jinyouting belonged to Ji Hong, and the best part was given to Yu Jinnian. According to Duan Ming’s thinking, since the master and that little divine doctor were inseparable, they would naturally live together. Without waiting for Ji Hong to reply, he had already instructed the people to move everything into Tingyue Residence.
Hearing Duan Ming’s question, Ji Hong instead stopped and thought for a moment. He then ordered, “Move them to Second Brother’s courtyard first.” Before Duan Ming could react, Ji Hong opened one of the boxes, casually took out a few pieces of clothing, and from a hidden compartment he took out a small dressing case. He said, “Let’s go.”
Go? Go where? Duan Ming followed him out of the garden and saw Ji Hong getting into the carriage. He asked strangely, “Shizi, your wounds haven’t even been checked yet, where are you going?”
“Anywhere.” Ji Hong answered casually. After pulling down the carriage curtain, he reached under the seat, took out a few idle books, and from them retrieved yesterday’s “Wild Fox Saliva,” which he had only glanced at hastily. Acting composed, he stuffed it into the small dressing case he carried with him. After a while, seeing that Duan Ming was still confused about their destination, he kindly gave a hint: “Go to East Cross Street.”
Duan Ming finally understood. He must be going to find the little young master. That made sense. Who else had better medical skills than the young master?
But who would have guessed Ji Hong’s next sentence: “I remember there seems to be a Yunlai Inn there.”
Duan Ming nearly snapped the horsewhip in two—what did that mean? His master wore layers of injuries, ignoring the jade paradise at home, ignoring the little lover who excelled in both medicine and cooking, but instead wanted to stay in an inn in the bustling city!
——
On East Cross Street, a newly opened eatery hung a large wooden sign at its entrance, stating that it was under trial operation for five days. All food items were discounted depending on the boss’s mood. If after using them, customers made some good suggestions, they might even waive the bill.
People in Xiajing had never heard of such a sales method. Soon, curious folks came in groups of three or five, ordered some simple flower dim sum to test the authenticity. The result was indeed a significant discount, and furthermore, the store’s offerings were genuinely fresh in flavor. So word spread quickly, and within a few days it was already bustling with customers.
However, something was strange: Although the eatery had been open for several days, it still had no signboard. It only hung a few lanterns painted with round bowls under the front eaves, which glowed tirelessly day and night. Thus, when patrons mentioned it to others afterward, they could only call it “the place with the lantern bowls.”
On the fourth day, passersby noticed that the wooden sign in front of the nameless eatery had suddenly changed words: “The boss is angry and depressed, having no heart for accounting. All food in the store is now at half price.”
Such a good deal?
Yu Jinnian leaned over the counter inside the shop, chewing on a small wolf-hair brush, doodling idly on a piece of paper. He did not look at the bustling crowd outside; he did not manage the busy kitchen behind. The abacus clacked on the side, and silver taels came and went, but he found it annoying.
Su Ting pushed the abacus beads on the left hand while quickly recording on the right. He had not even finished three or four pages of accounts before he frowned and said, “Brother Nian, this, this is not right! Our ingredients are all of high quality, and the set price of the dishes was already low. Now that we are giving a fifty percent discount, before we officially open, the money on the account will be running out!”
Yu Jinnian threw down the brush in his hand and said angrily, “Lose, lose it all!” He looked up and saw Shi Xing, with a towel draped over his shoulder, acting as a busboy, sweating profusely. He stopped him and glared, “Shi Xing, have you seen your master?”
Shi Xing said aggrievedly, “Master only told me to follow you, Brother Nian. He’s followed by Wu-ge, I really haven’t seen him!”
Yu Jinnian’s face puffed up like a steamed bun. He reached out and nudged Su Ting, saying, “Go, add another line on the sign at the door, just say… except those surnamed Ji!”
Su Ting: “……”
As soon as he finished speaking, someone propped themselves up at the counter and asked with a low chuckle, “What about those surnamed Yan?”
Yu Jinnian instinctively felt dizzy at hearing this voice. He did not know whether it was because he was angered by a certain Ji person, or because he had developed a psychological shadow from a certain Yan person locking him in a dark room. Without lifting his head, he rolled his eyes and said, “Hey, Su Ting, hear that dog barking? Don’t know where this starving mutt came from. Quick, give it two meat buns and kick it out!”
Su Ting, unaware that Yu Jinnian had been locked in a small dark room and not catching that he was insulting someone, really took out two buns that had fallen on the ground and thus were unsellable, looked around, and asked, “Where’s the dog?”
Yu Jinnian half-lifted his eyelids and cast a displeased glance at the person in front of the counter: “Isn’t it right here?” He then earnestly instructed the scholar beside him, “Su Ting, do you know what a person-dog-look-alike is, and which beast is meant by a dressed-up animal? Look closely. Next time remember, creatures like this can’t be let into our shop, they’ll ruin our feng shui.”
Only then did Su Ting realize the situation. Holding the two buns rather awkwardly, he smiled sheepishly at Yan Chang.
Yan Chang had long grown accustomed to Yu Jinnian’s sarcastic face and had also learned how to calmly accept the increasingly inventive insults. These past few days, as the Emperor left the city for the spring hunt, the capital had time on its hands, but Yan Chang did not. Busy for several days, he accidentally heard a few servants gossiping, saying that at East Cross Street there was a silly boss who sold at a loss just to get attention, and most strangely, he did not even hang a signboard.
Without seeing it himself, his first thought was that, in the entire Da Xia, only that little kitten he had let go of could do something so unconventional. For reasons unknown, even though he knew he would not be welcomed if he came, he could not resist and came alone without calling Zhou Feng.
As expected, upon entering the store, he was scolded like a drowning rat.
Yan Chang found it meaningless as well. He just laughed it off, did not leave, and very shamelessly remained seated, even picking a table where he could see the little boss. He patiently examined the items on the table—one base, a groove, and a finely polished thin wooden board inserted upright. At the top of the board was a bowl shape, and below were written various dish names and prices. Such an oddly shaped plank was what they called a “menu.”
Those who could read could look for themselves; those who could not could ask the waiter to read. Every day, depending on the boss’s mood, there was a small plate of appetizer, the size of a palm, made with inexpensive ingredients arranged in a colorful ring that looked very appealing.
Yan Chang thought to himself, indeed, only he could come up with such things.
Yu Jinnian walked over and threw down a rag: “I really admire you. Just how thick is your skin that you can sit here, unfazed?”
Yan Chang said slowly, “What, that Ji fellow didn’t handle you well enough, why such a big temper?”
“……” He spoke softly, and the surroundings were noisy. Aside from the two of them, no one else should have heard. Yu Jinnian froze, somewhat unable to react.
Yan Chang smiled, “Could it be I hit the mark?”
Yu Jinnian cursed, “Hit your damn mark!”
“Don’t be hasty. I’ll leave after I finish eating. Please, little sir, serve me something edible.” Yu Jinnian was about to spit at him for dreaming, when he heard Yan Chang rubbing his chin and saying, “I just recalled that a moment ago, out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to have spotted Duke Li’s heir and a young lady. Tsk tsk, where was that again? Ah, I’ve not eaten a bite since morning, I truly can’t remember…”
Yu Jinnian looked at him for a while, weighed his options, bit his teeth, and turned to the kitchen, pushing aside a cook.
There was chicken broth stewing on the stove for making braised vegetables in broth. He scooped out a potful, grabbed a handful of random shredded greens, threw in a handful of hand-pulled noodles, boiled them messily, and then tossed in some odds and ends of seasoning. Still fuming, he walked out and slammed the bowl heavily in front of Yan Chang: “Eat! May you choke to death!”
Though the process was not pretty, the outcome was roughly as intended.
Yan Chang did not mind. With a bystander’s mindset, he gave the location, “Yunlai Inn.” He seemed to guess what Yu Jinnian was thinking and smiled, “I’m actually hoping you two never speak again. He really did bring a girl. I couldn’t wish for anything more. Why lie to you?”
Yu Jinnian narrowed his eyes, slowly rolled down his sleeves that he had rolled up, turned away and headed out. At the counter, he gritted his teeth and ordered Su Ting, “Put it on the account: the customer at table eight had a bowl of mixed noodles, ten gold beads.”
Su Ting nodded, then was shocked: “Ah? Ten… gold beads?”
The one who was extorted by this “black shop” for a huge sum, Yan Chang, did not feel anything was wrong. Instead, he smiled. He did not dislike the shop’s simplicity at all. He drew out a pair of bamboo chopsticks from the chopstick tube and carefully studied the bowl of noodles before finally picking them up. There were shriveled bamboo shoots from who knew when, dried mushrooms not fully soaked, and unknown shredded vegetables. Counting them, only the handful of hand-pulled noodles seemed normal.
He mocked himself for sticking to a cold shoulder, yet he also felt that the ten gold beads were not wasted.
As soon as he tasted it, Yan Chang suddenly paused—this flavor!
Ingredients could be more or less the same, and the location could be anywhere, but the taste of this broth lingered in his mind. He thought of that day in Dongchong Estate, a bowl of tender and delicious vegetarian eel soup, thought of the waiter there who said that the person who made the soup was a young master who was a total stranger, and that the reason he cooked was for his picky lover.
Twice he had been rejected, both times by the same person.
Yan Chang put down the chopsticks and let out a self-mocking laugh. Fool!
——
Behind Yunlai Inn.
Just as expected, Yu Jinnian found Ji Hong’s carriage, parked in a hidden spot with no one guarding it.
With a few swift moves, he climbed up and drilled into the carriage compartment. He rummaged around and pulled out a pile of miscellaneous books from under the seat. There were sage teachings, wise men’s texts, poetry, and classics of all kinds, but not the one he was looking for!
At this, his anger flared up.
—Fine then, I secretly hid a “wild book” to watch the stars and the moon with you, to talk about poetry and philosophy of life with you. Yet you took that book to watch the stars and the moon with someone else, and after talking about poetry and philosophy, you stayed away for days without coming home!
Damn you, you big pig hoof!