Gou Dehao lifted his foot and kicked Li Mo in the stomach. “Worthless! Get lost!”
Li Mo turned around and hurried away.
Suddenly remembering something, Gou Dehao called out to stop him. “Wait!”
Li Mo froze in fear. Oh no, oh no, is the third young master going to take his anger out on me?
“Where did you buy this food?”
“At Yunchang Academy, the… the back street.”
The back street?
Gou Dehao knew there were breakfast stalls there, but he had tried them all. How could he have missed such good food?
Could it be… a new vendor?
He had to go see for himself!
Gou Dehao’s eyes shifted cunningly. After saying “Father, I’m going to the Academy,” he turned and ran off.
At the Academy’s back street, Gou Dehao stared at his page with anticipation. “Where’s the food?”
The page handed him eight bamboo tokens. “Young master, luckily I rushed over quickly and managed to get the last eight portions.”
The page wore a smug expression, clearly expecting praise.
“I asked you where the food is!”
“Over there, you have to queue. We’re at the back of the line. We have to wait until everyone in front has bought theirs before it’s our turn.”
Gou Dehao’s face instantly darkened.
How dare someone make the third young master of the Gou residence queue!
He glanced indifferently at number 452 on the bamboo token and walked over with his hands behind his back.
“The third young master of the Gou family is here! Make way, everyone make way!”
The page cleared a path as he walked.
The crowd was noisy and chaotic, completely ignoring him.
It took tremendous effort for the two of them to push their way to the front of the crowd.
Gou Dehao threw the eight bamboo tokens onto the stall cart and commanded, “Give me eight portions first.”
People behind them seeing someone cut in line immediately protested, shouting at him.
“Hey, you at the front! We were here first. Get to the back of the line!”
“That’s right! How can you be like this? Everyone else is queuing and waiting for their numbers, and you just cut in. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“You there, your number is at the very end. We all saw it earlier.”
Ignoring them, Gou Dehao frowned at Gu Yanxi. “Hurry up, I’m in a rush.”
Seeing someone unfamiliar with the rules, Gu Yu quickly stepped forward to explain.
“Young master, our stall requires queuing. Your page just collected number tokens. You simply need to wait over there until we call your number. When your number is called, you can come get your food.”
As he spoke, Gu Yu gestured for Gou Dehao to sit on one of the nearby benches.
They had prepared these benches today specifically so customers wouldn’t have to stand while waiting.
“Are you deaf or what?” Gou Dehao grabbed Gu Yu by the collar, patting his face menacingly while saying fiercely, “I’m in a hurry! Make my order now!”
Feeling insulted, Gu Yu clenched his fists, his back teeth grinding audibly. “Rules are rules!”
Other students witnessing such bullying stepped forward to support Gu Yu.
“Looking at your Yunchang Academy Student Uniform, how can you be so ill-mannered? Didn’t your parents teach you what respect means?”
“Even if your parents didn’t teach you, your teacher should have.”
The crowd chattered with accusations.
Gou Dehao had always been arrogant and unrestrained.
He turned and glared at them. “How dare you criticize the Gou residence!”
Many people only recognized him when they saw his face clearly.
Remembering his father held the third-rank title of The Great General, the students fell silent, angry but not daring to speak out.
Seeing everyone quiet down, Gou Dehao felt immensely pleased with himself.
“You brat, how dare you provoke this young master!”
“If you kneel down and apologize to me now, I’ll let this matter slide. Otherwise… don’t even think about setting up your stall in Jingdu again!”
“This young master certainly has quite the temper!”
Seeing this person causing endless trouble, Gu Yanxi stepped around the stall cart and stood in front of her assistant, coldly staring at Gou Dehao.
Gu Yanxi quickly sized him up – he was dressed in gaudy, colorful clothes, resembling a peacock spreading its tail.
She clicked her tongue inwardly – another frivolous young nobleman.
Earlier, Gu Yanxi had been keeping her head down preparing food, so Gou Dehao hadn’t seen her face clearly. Now that he got a proper look, he was struck by her celestial beauty!
Though the woman wore only simple coarse clothing, her skin was fair and features exquisite, with bright eyes and white teeth that seemed to sparkle like clear flowing springs when she blinked. She was more beautiful than many officials’ daughters, making his heart flutter immediately.
“Beauty~”
Gu Yanxi avoided his grubby hands.
“Though I’m just running a small business, my stall has one rule: first come, first served – no distinction between noble and commoner! Please join the queue, young master. You’re still welcome here.”
The gathered students hadn’t expected a young woman to conduct herself with such integrity, surpassing even many men.
They were quite impressed.
“Well said!”
“Though young, this lady stands firm for justice, more principled than many of us men!”
“Indeed, even a woman understands reason so well, while some still can’t tell right from wrong!”
Some students who came from families of important court officials weren’t afraid of Gou Dehao at all.
The crowd’s praises grew increasingly enthusiastic.
Seeing Gu Yanxi’s popularity surge, Gou Dehao flushed with anger.
“Fine! In that case, don’t even think about keeping this stall! You – go smash her stall!”
Gou Dehao ordered his page.
The page knew some martial arts – surely he could handle these two lowly merchants?
“Let’s see who dares!”
Gu Yanxi stood protectively in front of her stall.
Though the Gou family were powerful nobles, she wouldn’t start trouble but wouldn’t back down from it either. Having been reborn, she wouldn’t live oppressed again!
Just as both sides were about to come to blows, an old man with graying beard emerged from the crowd.
“Gou Dehao, causing trouble outside again? I wonder if General Huaihua knows about it this time?”
Gu Yanxi was surprised to see it was Grandpa Su. What was his status…
Gou Dehao immediately bowed respectfully, meek as a kitten. “Academy Head Su.”
Only then did the surrounding students recognize this old man who came daily to buy Tieban Tudou – he was actually their academy head?!
Everyone bowed respectfully with clasped hands. While maintaining calm appearances, their minds were reeling:
Oh no, oh no! The academy head comes to this stall every day for food! Had they done anything wrong? Had they offended him in any way?
They’d heard the academy head might seem kindly, but his punishment methods were anything but ordinary!
The sky was falling! No more excuses for being late now! Looks like they’d have to send servants or pages to buy food for them instead.
Gu Yanxi was astounded.
Academy Head?
She’d heard the head of Yunchang Academy was Su Taifu, the current emperor’s tutor, Da Shuo’s greatest scholar! Oh heavens!
He was a celebrity of this era!
Had she just successfully met her idol?
Su Taifu waved his hand. “Enough, it’s getting late. Everyone buy what you need and hurry back to class.”
With the headmaster present, everyone felt immense pressure, yet couldn’t bear to leave the delicious Tieban Tudou and Liangmian behind. They could only brace themselves and wait, not daring to utter a single word.
Gou Dehao was even more terrified, hardly daring to breathe. He never expected to be so unlucky as to run into the headmaster again.
Hmph! Just wait, you two wretched merchants! Once he found an opportunity, he would definitely not let them off!
Gou Dehao abandoned his food and slipped away under some random excuse.
Thus, four portions each of cold potato noodles became available.
Gu Yanxi gave two portions to Su Taifu.