Yan Qingru was a young lady from a noble family, gentle and demure in every movement. Compared to her father and brothers, Liang Shenyu had spent much more time in her company.
Whenever her father and brothers left home, her mother would light a hexagonal palace lantern painted with patterns at the doorway. It was an old custom in Xiangzhou: whenever someone in the household embarked on a long journey, a longevity lamp was lit, hoping that the traveler would live a long life and return home in glory.
It wasn’t until the obituary from Guzhuling was sent back to the capital that Liang Shenyu had no choice, for the sake of both the Marquis’s Mansion and his father and brothers, to request an imperial decree to go to Qiangzhou. That day, his mother did not take down the longevity lamp. Instead, pointing at the bright palace lantern, she said gently to the young Liang Shenyu, “Sanlang, what is painted on here is a soul-guiding talisman. Legend has it that if the person waiting dies in a strange land, this talisman will guide their souls back to their homeland. On the day I married your father, I knew this day would come sooner or later. I will stay right here, waiting to welcome back the souls of my husband and my sons.”
There was a clear, shimmering moisture in the depths of her eyes, but her words were incomparably gentle. Patting the head of her son, who was already not much shorter than herself, Yan Qingru smiled through her tears and said, “My son need not worry. Go find your father and brothers, and lay them to rest in peace.”
Liang Shenyu remained in a trance within his memories for a long time. Over the course of fourteen years, this bustling Marquis’s Mansion had ultimately been reduced to just him alone.
In the end, he still tasted the dumplings made by Aunt Qing. They had the light flavor his mother used to make. As he ate, Liang Shenyu suddenly let out a soft laugh and said, “Someone made dumplings for me today as well.”
And they had even gone to the trouble of making three different kinds.
“How were they? Were they to your liking?”
Liang Shenyu thought for a moment and said, “They were quite good.”
Hua Qing looked thoughtful. She caught the slight change in Liang Shenyu’s expression as he spoke, and having never seen the Marquis wake up in the middle of the night to wear such a serene smile, she smiled and asked, “Was it him? I wonder whose family he belongs to. If he’s willing, why not bring him into the mansion?”
Catching the underlying meaning in Hua Qing’s words, Liang Shenyu laughed helplessly and said, “I’m afraid that won’t do.”
Hua Qing was even more surprised. “Why?”
A dark shadow flashed through Liang Shenyu’s eyes for a fleeting second. The tip of his tongue grazed his canine tooth as he lowered his gaze and said, “His status is too noble; the Marquis’s Mansion cannot afford to invite him in.”
Assuming it was simply a high-born lady from some prestigious family and seeing that the Marquis’s attitude was ambiguous, Hua Qing nodded and said, “Then it cannot be forced.”
“Indeed.”
The dark expression in Liang Shenyu’s eyes was like unblended ink. Beneath that deep, lifeless stillness, an inexplicable and fierce intensity was being suppressed.
He hadn’t actually planned to stay long in the capital. The Prince Regent could not ascend the throne as emperor, but the new emperor must not be allowed to monopolize state power either. His original goal had already been achieved; he could request an imperial decree to return to Qiangzhou at any time.
However, staying a few more days would not hurt.
With the foundation laid by the original owner, Rong Se’s life was still relatively comfortable. After returning from the morning court as usual, he planned to drop by the Floating Life Tower for a look. As soon as he arrived, he saw Lanying standing in the back kitchen looking thoroughly disgruntled, a vegetable leaf in her hand shredded beyond recognition.
“What’s wrong?” Rong Se chuckled. “Spare this vegetable. If you keep plucking at it, it’s going to rot.”
The moment Lanying saw him arrive, she tossed the vegetable leaf aside and said with an ugly expression, “Master, the Qifeng Residence released a new dish today, which is none other than our Peony Fish Fillets!”
Rong Se paused for a moment before nodding. “Where is Song He?”
Only Song He, who had made this dish alongside him, could have leaked the complete recipe for the Peony Fish Fillets. It was likely that the Zhu family had managed to bail him out.
“When this subordinate came in this morning, I sent someone to investigate. Song He died a sudden death last night, but before that, Zhu Hong should have sent someone to look for him.”
Rong Se fell silent. He had still underestimated the impact his recipes had on this era. After all, these were things that didn’t even exist in the imperial palace, and the Zhu family must have heard about Song He’s farce and pried the recipe for the Peony Fish Fillets straight from his mouth.
Song He probably hadn’t expected that by trying to pick a fight and latch onto someone, he would end up losing his life instead.
“Is this even worth getting yourself so angry over?” Rong Se laughed. “Alright, little girl, there are plenty of recipes. It’s fine to give them one. Besides, everyone knows where this dish came from anyway. If Qifeng Residence wants to throw away their own dignity and shamelessly copy it, just let them be.”
Anyway, this restaurant would sooner or later vanish from the scene. Rong Se couldn’t be bothered to get angry with them, and if anything, he felt a slight trace of pity.
The Zhu family was ruthless; for the sake of a single dish of Peony Fish Fillets, they had actually murdered Song He to silence him. And he, who held the entire volume of Alien Recipes in his hands, would undoubtedly be targeted sooner or later. Rong Se even thought with mild regret that the Zhu family hadn’t made a move against him this time.
If they had caused a big commotion, it would have been much easier to deal with them once and for all.
However, unaware of his plans, Lanying frowned in annoyance and asked, “Master, then what is all this for?”
“The restaurant,” Rong Se answered candidly. “The Prince Regent’s Mansion needs to eat, and Yun Zhi’s soldiers need to eat. We have to find ways to make money; we can’t just sit around and exhaust our supplies, let alone exploit the common people’s hard-earned wealth. Naturally, we have to make money through legitimate channels.”
The original owner had utterly despised the Great Jin imperial family, even going so far as to dig up their ancestral tombs. But grave robbing was illegal in Great Jin, let alone robbing the tombs of the imperial family and nobility!
What the original owner had left behind was not just wealth and property, but a whole field littered with landmines!
In the main hall on the first floor of the Floating Life Tower, even though Qifeng Residence wished they could beat drums and gongs to publicize their new dish, it was still just a single dish of Peony Fish Fillets, which naturally couldn’t compare to the novel variety of dishes at the Floating Life Tower. Therefore, the Floating Life Tower’s business remained entirely unaffected, as bustling and lively as ever.
A petite figure dressed in men’s attire walked in, dressed like a scholar and holding a folding fan. The waiter, quick-witted and sharp, could tell at a glance that this was actually a young woman. Pretending not to notice, he immediately stepped forward to greet her, “Ah, valued guest, please take a seat, please take a seat! What would you like to eat?”
The person pointed at the menu board hanging on the wall and deliberately lowered her voice to say, “This, this, and that one as well, all give a portion of each to this young master!”
“Coming right up!” The waiter briskly went off to pass along the order.
At a table not far away sat four burly, fierce-looking men. From time to time, the group glanced toward the cross-dressing girl, whispering quietly amongst themselves. One of them clenched his hand into a fist while using the fingers of his other hand to make a thoroughly crude, obscene gesture. When the other three saw it, they burst into boisterous laughter.
Yet the young girl remained completely oblivious. The first to notice that they kept casting glances over was Xu Xing, standing inside the counter. Having lived as long as he had, how could he fail to understand what those men were up to? His heart tightened. He originally intended to step forward and warn her, but he saw those men stand up one after another and walk over to the girl’s table.
“Little young master, which family are you from? Care to have a drink together?” The man who had made the crude gesture earlier spoke with an utterly insolent tone and reached out to stroke her face.
Startled, the girl hurriedly stood up to dodge away and rebuked angrily, “What are you doing?”
Another man chuckled, “We are not doing anything. We just want to invite our little brother here for a drink. What, are you unwilling?”
The patrons were all startled by the commotion, and Xu Xing could no longer sit still. He immediately grabbed the dazed waiter and whispered urgently, “Go to the back quickly, and tell the proprietor and Miss Lan!”
Having given the instructions, he immediately dropped his abacus and stepped forward with a face full of ingratiating smiles, “Aigoo, my good guests, what is going on here?”
With that movement, he wedged himself between them and subtly shoved the girl a little closer toward the door.