Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After hearing that the Crown Prince had stayed in Qiao Jinniang’s room for an hour before leaving, the Duchess was somewhat worried.
When Qiao Jinniang came to the main courtyard, the Duchess saw that her face looked rosy and asked,
“Jinniang, did the Crown Prince say when he would take you into the East Palace?
“You are young so you don’t know how seriously the royal family takes their descendants. If you get pregnant outside the East Palace…”
Qiao Jinniang’s face flushed. “Mother, we didn’t do that. I know what I’m doing.”
The Duchess was even more worried. “I heard that the Crown Prince doesn’t even have a concubine maid. He is a young man. How could he endure not touching you when he was alone with you for an hour? Is he really healthy?”
Qiao Jinniang was really embarrassed to talk to the Duchess about this, so she changed the topic.
“Mother, I came to talk with you about Ah Li. He is six years old and already a big boy. He shouldn’t be disrespectful to Ruoyi, who is his sister.”
The duchess took a sip of tea and asked, “Disrespectful to Ruoyi? Why don’t I know about it? Ruoyi has never talked to me about it before.”
“Ruoyi was not born by you. How dare she complain to you about Ah Li?”
The Duchess said, “I see. I will teach Ah Li a good lesson.”
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, restaurants were doing much better than in summer.
However, Tasty Pavilion’s business was plummeting.
The newly launched Whole Crab Banquet was not popular at all.
Qiao Jinniang could only put it down to the fact that people in Chang’an didn’t like eating crabs and thought that maybe she should hire a local chef.
Qiao Jinniang was checking accounts in Tasty Pavilion, and found that the restaurant was barely breaking even.
Mr. Tian, the accountant of Tasty Pavilion, said to Qiao Jinniang,
“Boss, all the ingredients we use are top quality. Now those officials and wealthy businessmen don’t visit our restaurant, but the ingredients shipped from the South are very expensive…”
Qiao Jinniang thought for a while and said, “When Xie Yun recovers, I will go and talk to him. Their Xie family has special canal transport means. If we can cooperate with the Xie family, the cost will be reduced a lot.”
“Phew, isn’t this Tasty Pavilion, a restaurant where many people couldn’t even get a table a while ago? Why is it so deserted today?”
‘The owner of the Guest Welcoming Building walked to the door of Tasty Pavilion and flaunted.
Qiao Jinniang looked at the owner and said, “Scumbags are not allowed to enter Tasty Pavilion. If you walk through the door, I will order someone to chop your feet!”
The shopkeeper of the Guest Welcoming Building took two steps back, baring his yellow teeth. “Oh, County Mistress Jia’an is angry?
“As a noblewoman, why do you have to be a merchant? Don’t you think you are lowly?
“Why don’t you sell Tasty Pavilion to me? I can offer you a good price.”
Nuomi scolded, “Bah, you traitor of Tasty Pavilion. You want to seize Tasty Pavilion? In your dreams!”
‘The shopkeeper of the Guest Welcoming Building was not in a hurry. The cost of running such a large restaurant must be huge. Once he snatched all the business from it, Tasty Pavilion could only be sold at a low price.
Ina room on the second floor, Qiao Jinniang looked at the Guest Welcoming Building not far away. The business of the Guest Welcoming Building was surprisingly good.
Tables were set up even at its gate with a long queue in front of it.
“That’s strange.”
Qiao Jinniang was confused. Since she was a child, Myriad Taste’s business had always been booming.
‘When there were tea fairs and book fairs in Lin‘an, there would also be long queues at the gate of Myriad Taste.
But if the queue was too long, people would go to other restaurants.
Now that Tasty Pavilion was not busy, why didn’t they come to Tasty Pavilion? She didn’t think the food here was terrible.
Why did the customers go to the Guest Welcoming Building?
Only some time ago, when the business of Tasty Pavilion was good and couldn’t receive so many customers, many of the diners would go to the Guest Welcoming Building.
‘The more Qiao Jinniang thought about it, the more she felt it was strange.
“Mom.”
Hearing Tuan’er’s voice, Qiao Jinniang looked back, and saw Lu Chen come over with Tuan’er in his arms.
Lu Chen asked, “What were you thinking about? Xi‘er called you several times before you heard him.”
Jinniang took over Tuan’er and said, “I was wondering if Tasty Pavilion’s dishes are really so terrible?”
Lu Chen smiled and said, “Even my father likes the dishes at Tasty Pavilion very much, and often had the dishes packed back to the imperial palace. How can they be terrible?”
“Then look, why is there such a long queue outside the Guest Welcoming Building?”
Qiao Jinniang looked down only to see Junior Duke Rong, Lin Mo, Fulu and her girlfriends entering the Guest Welcoming Building.
“How unpalatable is the food at Tasty Pavilion that Fulu would rather go to the Guest Welcoming Building than eat the free dishes here?”
Lu Chen said, “Perhaps they just want to have a change in diet.
“Tl have my secret guards pack a few signature dishes of the Guest Welcoming Building for you to try, okay?”
“The shopkeeper of the Guest Welcoming Building, after all, got the true inheritance of Tasty Pavilion. Before you came to Chang’an, their business was very good.”
Qiao Jinniang shook her head and said, “No, don’t bother. I’ve already earned a lot, so I can still make ends meet, but it’s a pity that those big fat crabs will be wasted.”
Lu Chen said, “If the crabs don’t sell, you can give them to me, and I can grant them to my subjects.”
“OK”
Qiao Jinniang didn’t want the crabs transported all the way from Taihu Lake to be wasted.
Tuan’er said cutely, “Can you give me a few crabs, Mommy? I want to give it to my teacher. I’ll go to school tomorrow.”
Seeing that Tuan’er was so happy to go to school, Qiao Jinniang said happily, “Okay, I’ll make some roast jerky for you, and you can give it to your teacher along with the crabs.”
Lu Chen said, “There’s no need to be so troublesome. His teacher was my teacher when I was a child. He is called Elder Chen, and he doesn’t like taking gifts from his students.”
Qiao Jinniang said, “He is Xi’er’s enlightenment mentor anyway. I should give him some gifts. Time flies. Even the little Xi‘er is going to learn to read and write.”
In late August, there was another event in Chang’an, which was the wedding of Prince Mediocre and his consort.
‘The wedding ceremony was very complicated. Even if Emperor Huilin ordered the Ministry of Rites to streamline the wedding, it still took two months to prepare for the wedding.
On the day of the wedding, Qiao Jinniang was surprised to learn that Qiao Ruoyi and Consort Mediocre used to be good friends. Thus, Ruoyi decided to go to the Lin family to give her wedding gifts.
Knowing this, the Duchess asked Jinniang to go with Qiao Ruoyi.
Qiao Jinniang didn’t now this Miss Lin, but as her mother said, they would be sisters-in-law in the future, so she wanted to see this Consort Mediocre.
On the carriage.
Qiao Ruoyi said, “I never thought that Qiaopan would become Consort Mediocre. She is already nineteen this year.
“Thad thought that she refused to get married because of the Crown Prince.
“After all, she fell madly in love with the Crown Prince four years ago. I never thought that she would become Consort Mediocre. ”
Qiao Jinniang said, “The Empress Dowager wanted her to marry Prince Mediocre, so she couldn’t refuse it, could she?”
Qiao Ruoyi said, “Yes, I am afraid that the Lin family may not be satisfied with this marriage.
“After all, Prime Minister Lin is a civil official, and if he wants to keep his power, he has to marry his daughter into the royal family.
“However, His Majesty has never taken any concubines since he has had the Queen, so Lin Qiaopan has been trained since she was a child.
“Although she is only Prime Minister Lin’s niece, she was raised like Prime Minister Lin’s own daughter.. However, she didn’t become the crown princess as she wished and just became a prince’s wife.
