The next day, Lu Yan put the braised offal on sale. It cost one wen more than the stewed jelly cakes, at five wen apiece. As usual, she cut off a small piece and let everyone taste it for free.
When people heard that it was made from animal offal, they were highly skeptical.
“Can this stuff even be eaten?”
But the moment Lu Yan lifted the lid of the jar and the rich, irresistible aroma wafted out, half of their doubts disappeared.
Then they put the free sample into their mouths, and no one could resist it.
Delicious—simply too delicious!
How could offal taste even better than meat?
Someone still voiced a concern.
“Miss, offal is dirt cheap. You’re only selling it one wen cheaper than meat. Isn’t that a bit expensive?”
Lu Yan smiled.
“The offal itself is cheap, yes. But to turn something so fishy and unpleasant into this flavor, I had to use a lot of spices, and those spices are much more expensive than the offal itself. Doesn’t it taste different from meat? Good ingredients don’t need complicated seasoning to taste good, but if you want to make poor ingredients delicious, don’t you need better ingredients?”
Everyone thought about it and found that she made sense.
After all, turning stinky offal into something this delicious must have required all sorts of expensive spices. Even if they bought offal themselves, they could never recreate this taste.
As usual, everything was almost sold out by around eight in the morning. After waiting a little longer, Song Bowen finally arrived.
Lu Yan took out a food box and handed it to him.
“I made some braised delicacies using offal. It tastes very good, but I’m afraid your master and mistress might not accept this kind of ingredient. If that’s the case, just give it to the servants at home.”
Song Bowen handed the food box to his attendant and cupped his hands toward her.
“Miss Lu, I have a favor to ask of you today. Shall we talk somewhere private?”
The two of them went to the only teahouse in town and rented a private room on the second floor.
“Miss Lu, since I’m asking you for help, I won’t beat around the bush.”
Song Bowen got straight to the point.
“You know that my family’s business deals in the Four Treasures of the Study and book publishing. The most important part of our business is the stationery trade. In Kaiyuan Town, our family is already considered one of the best. My father has always wanted to expand our business into the county seat. The key step is whether we can reach an agreement with the county academy this year and become its supplier.”
Lu Yan nodded to show she understood.
“Our Yaoshan County isn’t particularly big or small; it has four towns under its jurisdiction,” Song Bowen continued. “In nearby Jinxiang Town, there’s another family that wants this business too. Their reputation and product quality are about equal to ours, so it’s still uncertain who will win the contract.”
“Oh…” Lu Yan said, suddenly enlightened. “So this is why your father has been so worried lately that he can’t even eat?”
“Exactly.”
Song Bowen nodded.
“It’s the Double Ninth Festival right now. A few days ago, Jinxiang Town held a Chrysanthemum Banquet and specifically invited several instructors from the county academy and the officials responsible for procurement. But according to what we’ve heard, the guests’ reactions were lukewarm. They neither praised it nor criticized it.”
“We’ll definitely have to host our own banquet as well. But my father has no idea what kind of banquet would appeal to those gentlemen. That’s why we’d like to ask you and your younger brother to help us organize it.”
Lu Yan looked puzzled.
“What does this have to do with Lu Sheng?”
Song Bowen gave a bitter smile.
“I really have no choice. Lu Sheng is extraordinarily talented in literature and scholarship. Those instructors would surely think highly of him. Besides, if he passes next year’s county qualifying examination, he’ll naturally enter the county academy to study. So I was thinking of bringing him along then.”
Lu Yan’s pupils contracted.
She knew that Lu Sheng was a scholar, but she had never really thought about the imperial examinations. In her eyes, he was still just a child.
“I’ll agree to this matter,” she said. “But as for Lu Sheng, I need to ask him first before giving you an answer.”
Song Bowen immediately nodded.
“Of course.”
Lu Yan returned home with her thoughts in turmoil.
Seeing that something was wrong with her mood, Lu Sheng asked,
“What’s the matter?”
Lu Yan glanced at him.
“Tell me honestly—are you planning to sit for the examinations next year?”
Lu Sheng was taken aback.
After thinking for a moment, he asked instead,
“Do you know how much money that takes?”
Now it was Lu Yan’s turn to be surprised.
“Explain.”
“The county exam, prefectural exam, and academy exam all require recommendations,” Lu Sheng said. “For the county exam, you need five mutual guarantors and the recommendation of one government scholar. The prefectural and academy exams each require recommendations from two government scholars before you’re allowed to participate.”
“Usually, you have to spend money to ask these scholars for their endorsements—generally one or two taels of silver. So if I take the exams, the money spent just on securing recommendations won’t be a small amount.”
Lu Yan narrowed her eyes.
“I understand. Go on.”
“I could have taken the exams in previous years,” Lu Sheng continued, “but you’ve seen our family’s circumstances. I wanted to wait until I was absolutely certain and succeed in one attempt. That’s why I didn’t sit for them before.”
“Most of the family’s income now comes from you, so I still need to ask your opinion. Do you want me to take the exams next year?”
Lu Yan was utterly baffled.
“Of course I do! Do you think I can’t afford this little bit of money? Take the exams! Definitely take them!”
“Alright, then I’ll take them.”
Lu Sheng nodded.
“But why are you suddenly asking about this?”
Now that she had a better understanding of his situation, Lu Yan told him everything Song Bowen had asked of her.
“What do you think?” she asked. “Should we take this job?”
Lu Sheng thought for a moment.
“We should.”
So the next day, Lu Sheng accompanied Lu Yan to her stall.
Near the end of the morning, Song Bowen met Lu Sheng for the first time.
This could be considered the first real-life meeting between two online friends.
Lu Sheng looked like a ten-year-old child. He was a full head shorter than Song Bowen, only reaching the other boy’s chin.
Song Bowen was utterly shocked.
Although he knew Lu Sheng was young, whenever he interacted with Lu Yan, he unconsciously treated her as someone around his own age. Subconsciously, he had assumed Lu Sheng would be about the same age as himself.
Who would have thought that meeting in person would be such a reality check?
However, the Lu siblings possessed a maturity far beyond their appearances, and before long, the three of them began discussing business.
“Our people found out how several of the academy instructors evaluated that Chrysanthemum Banquet,” Song Bowen said.
“One said, ‘I’ve seen it all before; there’s nothing novel about it.’ Another said, ‘All flowers and splendor—mere superficiality.'”
Lu Yan sucked in a breath.
“It sounds like they’re saying the banquet lacked originality and had nothing fresh to offer.”
Song Bowen nodded.
“I also looked into it. The banquet was catered by the best restaurant in town, so it was probably just the usual feast dishes. They probably didn’t intend to make the food itself the highlight and simply wanted to appear refined by hosting a chrysanthemum-viewing gathering. In the end, though, it turned out rather dull.”
“Which scholar hasn’t attended a few Chrysanthemum Banquets before?”
Lu Yan gave a snort.
“Looks like we’ll have to come up with something new.”
“It’s not just about novelty,” Lu Sheng said.
“‘All flowers and splendor—mere superficiality’ means they only focused on appearances. At its core, the event still failed to earn people’s respect.”
Lu Yan fell into deep thought.