“Crab-eye bubbles, is it?” she muttered under her breath, glancing at the fine, dense bubbles beginning to rise in the hot water within the copper kettle. “So particular…”
Just as she poured the hot water into the teapot, Da Chun nudged A Man with his elbow, winking and tilting his head meaningfully towards the counter.
A Man, who was sorting silk threads, looked up and was so startled to see the manager personally brewing tea that the spool in her hand nearly rolled to the ground. She immediately mouthed silently to Xiao Ya not far away, “Look—the—manager!”
Once the tea was steeped, she placed a white porcelain cup in front of Pei Yanshu with a deliberate, measured motion.
“Here, your Longjing.”
Pei Yanshu picked up the cup. Seeing the clear, jade-green liquor and catching its delicate fragrance, he raised an eyebrow. “Manager Shen, your technique is quite professional.”
He took a small sip, a smile spreading in his eyes. “The temperature is perfect, and the tea aroma is full.”
Shen Nianyi turned her face away to tidy the account books, but the tips of her ears turned faintly red. “Just drink it. Why so many words?”
Before her words faded, she heard a muffled chuckle, desperately suppressed, coming from behind the shelves, followed immediately by A Man’s hushed scolding: “What are you laughing at!”
Shen Nianyi didn’t need to turn around to imagine the comical, exaggerated expressions on those two mischief-makers’ faces. Her cheeks grew even warmer.
She feigned composure by opening an account book, but her fingers made the abacus beads clatter noisily.
Pei Yanshu took in her flustered state, leisurely savored another sip of tea, and let his gaze sweep over the darkening sky outside the window before speaking up.
“Da Chun.”
There was a rustling sound from behind the shelves, and Da Chun poked his head out. “Young Master Pei?”
“What time is it now?”
“It’s… almost You hour.”
“This time of day…” Pei Yanshu gently stirred the floating tea leaves with the lid, asking as if by chance, “The charcoal fire for the roasted lamb at Drunken Immortal Tower in the West Market should be lit by now, shouldn’t it?”
Da Chun’s eyes lit up instantly, like torches being ignited, and his voice unconsciously rose: “That’s right! Their workers are just about to haul out the roasting braziers around now. The aroma can drift half a street away!”
As he spoke, he took a deep, exaggerated sniff, as if the enticing smell of meat had already wafted into the shop.
Da Chun’s exclamation stirred A Man’s cravings too. Forgetting to be discreet, she quickly stepped closer, her face openly yearning. “Their sesame cakes are also amazing! Golden, crispy, sprinkled with sesame seeds, paired with the sizzling roasted lamb dripping with oil…”
She swallowed her own saliva mid-sentence.
Even Xiao Ya stopped what he was doing, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Shen Nianyi, his hand unconsciously touching his stomach.
Bolstered by this support, Da Chun grew even more enthusiastic. He gazed pleadingly at Shen Nianyi. “Manager, smell that! I think I can already smell it! Should we… shouldn’t we…” The latter part of his sentence, “go try some,” got stuck in his throat under Shen Nianyi’s glance, dissolving into an awkward, sheepish chuckle.
Three assistants, six eyes, all now seemed to be glued to Shen Nianyi as if coated in honey.
Shen Nianyi felt thoroughly uncomfortable under the heat of these six intense gazes. She deliberately put on a stern face to scold them. “What’s wrong with you all? Is the work finished? Is the fabric inventory checked? Are the accounts all reconciled?”
But her words lacked conviction, sounding hollow even to her own ears.
Especially when she saw the light of anticipation in Xiao Ya’s eyes dimming bit by bit, and when he even nodded obediently, ready to turn back to his work, the last bit of her resolve instantly crumbled.
“Ahem.” She cleared her throat, her gaze drifting toward the window. “Since… since Chief Shopkeeper Pei has brought it up…”
Before she could finish, Da Chun grew excited: “The shopkeeper agreed! Quick, Sister A Man, pack up!”
“What’s the rush!” Shen Nianyi hurriedly stopped him. “I haven’t finished speaking yet… If we’re going, we must wait until I finish today’s accounts and tidy up the shop properly…”
“Shopkeeper—”
A Man immediately caught on, drawing out her tone as she leaned in, affectionately linking arms with Shen Nianyi and gently shaking her. “Look at these accounts—they can be checked tomorrow just the same. If we go late for the roasted lamb, all the good cuts with the right balance of fat and lean will be picked over!”
Da Chun quickly chimed in, flustered as he began tidying the counter: “Exactly! Shopkeeper, don’t worry, I promise I’ll have the shop sparkling clean in the time it takes an incense stick to burn!”
Xiao Ya cleverly ran to the door, deftly putting up the last shutter, leaving only one panel open for people to come and go.
Shen Nianyi, dizzy from A Man’s shaking and amused by their coordinated “herding the duck onto the perch,” looked up at Pei Yanshu, only to see him leisurely fanning himself.
“You… you all are truly defying heaven!” Her words held no threat, instead carrying a tone of helpless indulgence.
“Let’s go, Shopkeeper!” A Man said with a grin, half-pushing and half-embracing her toward the door. “Any later and we really won’t get to eat it hot!”
Da Chun had already swiftly swept the floor, and Xiao Ya was waiting at the door.
Only then did Pei Yanshu rise unhurriedly, casually retrieving the thin cloak Shen Nianyi often wore from behind the counter and handing it over with utmost naturalness.
Seeing the situation before her, Shen Nianyi knew further resistance would be futile. She could only take the cloak, shooting Pei Yanshu an annoyed glare. “I’ll settle this with you later!”
Pei Yanshu gave a slight nod, as if to say, “As you wish.” His composure made Shen Nianyi’s fierce words sound more like a coquettish complaint.
Thus, the group bustled out the door, half-pushed and half-willing, heading toward the West Market streets filled with the aroma of meat.
In the private room of Drunken Immortal Pavilion, the charcoal fire burned brightly, roasting plump lamb. Fat dripped onto the coals, emitting a tantalizing sizzle. The fragrance, mingled with the spiciness of pepper and Western spices, filled the entire room, making everyone’s stomachs rumble with hunger.
Da Chun had already rolled up his sleeves, eating with such gusto that oil dripped from his mouth. Suddenly, he raised his wine cup, stood up with a serious expression, and said, “Shopkeeper! Young Master Pei! I… I toast to you!”
With that, he threw his head back and drank, but he drank too hastily, choking until his face turned red. Coughing, he still managed to shout, “So… cough… so satisfying!”
A Man, who had been sipping her wine delicately, couldn’t help but chuckle at his antics, teasing him on purpose: “Oh, what’s so satisfying for our Lord Chun? Satisfied with the meat?”
“Not that!” Da Chun waved his hands anxiously. “I’m satisfied… satisfied that…” He struggled for a moment before inspiration struck. “Satisfied that Madam Chen didn’t come to cause trouble today! Yes, that’s it!”
His simple, honest words made everyone laugh.
Xiao Ya pursed his lips, shoulders shaking slightly with suppressed laughter. Even Pei Yanshu raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips.
Shen Nianyi, stirred by this lively fool, couldn’t help but let the corners of her eyes crinkle with a smile.
She deliberately put on a stern face: “Well, Da Chun, so what you’re hoping for is that others don’t come to pick fights? Is our Cloud Silk Atelier really that hopeless?”
“No, no!” Da Chun scratched his head anxiously, “I mean… I mean…” Suddenly inspired, he raised a lamb bone, “Just like this bone! Before, the meat was always snatched away by others, but today we finally get to gnaw on it to our heart’s content!”
“Well said!” A Man suddenly stood up, snatching the lamb bone and slamming it on the table like a magistrate’s gavel, “Our Cloud Silk Atelier is going to be this bone! Let those who are jealous and try to trip us up only smell the fragrance and stare helplessly!”
Holding the bone, she pointed it at each person in turn: “Madam Chen wants to snatch it? No chance! Manager Sun wants a share? We’ll nail the windows shut! We have the manager’s skillful hands, and Young Master Pei’s… his…” She stumbled for a moment, catching sight of Pei Yanshu’s smiling eyes, and quickly added, “Young Master Pei’s strategic mind!”
As soon as A Man blurted out the words “strategic mind” in her moment of quick thinking, she first breathed a sigh of relief herself, then quickly sat down, pretending to focus intently on the lamb in her bowl.
Pei Yanshu smiled warmly and spoke leisurely, “Miss A Man, that’s not quite right.”
Under everyone’s puzzled gazes, he suddenly leaned close to Shen Nianyi, lowering his voice yet making sure the whole table could hear clearly: “If it weren’t for Manager Shen’s discerning eye, picking me alone out of hundreds of people that day, where would you all get such an excellent general manager?”
As he spoke, he raised his wine cup, his peach blossom eyes shimmering with a sly smile: “This cup is to Manager Shen—thanking her for her unique insight.”
Shen Nianyi was in the middle of drinking when his words made her choke and cough repeatedly.
A Man quickly patted her back, glaring at Pei Yanshu: “Young Master Pei! When you speak, just speak—don’t always scare our manager!”
Da Chun scratched his head naively: “When did the manager pick Young Master Pei out of hundreds of people? Didn’t Young Master Pei come up here himself to collect a debt?”
Xiao Ya silently nodded beside him, expressing agreement.
Pei Yanshu remained unperturbed: “Da Chun, you don’t understand. There are so many debtors in Chang’an, yet Manager Shen happened to owe only me—isn’t that fate?”
Da Chun counted on his fingers seriously, refuting: “But Young Master Pei, it was you who insisted the manager owe you three thousand taels…”
“This is called ‘Zhou Yu beating Huang Gai’—one willing to beat, the other willing to be beaten,” Pei Yanshu lightly tapped Da Chun’s head with his fan. The tap wasn’t heavy, but it made Da Chun shrink his neck.
Shen Nianyi gritted her teeth and whispered, “Pei Yanshu, if you keep talking nonsense, tomorrow I’ll take down that calligraphy of yours!”
“That won’t do,” Pei Yanshu said seriously, “That’s the treasure of our Cloud Silk Atelier. Just yesterday, a lady said she came specifically for that calligraphy and bought three bolts of satin.”
A Man couldn’t help but interject: “Was that lady from the ink shop on East Street? She said she wanted to see what kind of calligraphy could be so uniquely ugly!”
The whole table burst into laughter, with Xiao Ya pursing his lips, his shoulders shaking.
Just then, a waiter brought in a steaming clay pot: “Esteemed guests, the shop’s new camel hoof soup, simmered with Western spices for three hours—care to try it?”
Da Chun’s eyes lit up, craning his neck to smell it: “So fragrant!”
Pei Yanshu gently stopped him, looking at Shen Nianyi: “Wait. Manager Shen, this first bowl…”
He deliberately drew out his tone, waiting until everyone looked over before saying leisurely, “Must go to the hardest-working person at our Cloud Silk Atelier.”
Da Chun immediately nodded: “Right, right, it should go to the manager!”
A Man also chimed in: “The manager has lost weight from all her hard work lately!”
Under the expectant gazes of everyone, Pei Yanshu turned his wrist, and the first bowl of soup, filled to the brim, landed steadily before him.
“You?” Shen Nianyi raised an eyebrow.
“Naturally, it’s me,” Pei Yanshu declared righteously as he picked up his spoon. “Every day, I have to endure Manager Shen’s wrath, worry about the shop’s business, and guard against certain people taking down my priceless calligraphy—isn’t that exhausting?”
Just as everyone thought he would keep the bowl for himself, he gently pushed it toward Shen Nianyi, his tone suddenly serious: “So this first bowl should go to the one who makes me work so hard.”
This sudden turn left the entire table stunned.
A Man and Da Chun exchanged glances, and Xiao Ya also paused in his movements.
Pei Yanshu resumed his lazy demeanor, serving himself a second bowl: “After all, without Manager Shen, I wouldn’t have anywhere to direct all this effort.”
His tone was casual, yet it stirred something inexplicable in Shen Nianyi’s heart. She lowered her head to look at the shimmering soup in the bowl, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
A Man was the first to react, nudging Da Chun discreetly: “Hurry and serve Young Master Pei a bowl?”
Da Chun snapped back to reality, fumbling to serve Pei Yanshu some soup, but Pei Yanshu gently stopped him with his fan:
“No rush. Let our hardest-working manager taste it first.”
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Shen Nianyi scooped a spoonful of soup. The savory richness made her instinctively narrow her eyes in pleasure.
When she opened them again, she found Pei Yanshu gazing at her with a smile, his peach-blossom eyes reflecting the candlelight, unusually bright.