Translator: Kats Editor: Perriemix
The people started rallying, shouting their indignation.
Little Chuan was embarrassed. “I… I don’t…”
“Don’t worry. We’ll handle this,” Ye Jiayao assured him.
Ah Xing brought the mooncakes out and Ye Jiayao said, “Take this eunuch and escort him to the back door.”
Eunuch Little Chuan dutifully followed behind Ah Xing.
Manager Qian ran down from upstairs when he heard the racket that the people were making. “What is going on? What’s with all that noise?”
Ye Jiayao took huge steps outside and stood at the door. “What are you shouting for?”
“You gave someone ten mooncakes when you said five is the limit!” someone shouted angrily.
“That’s unfair!”
“He didn’t even stand in the line!”
Ye Jiayao rolled her eyes and snapped back, “He’s from the palace! Do you want me to call him back so you can air your grievances with him?”
The angry crowd fell silent.
Even their masters would not dare challenge the people in the palace.
Manager Qian was shocked and asked Li Yao softly, “Is he really from the palace?”
Ye Jiayao nodded. “He’s from the Prince’s mansion.”
“That’s wonderful!” Manager Qian exclaimed, elated.
After all the mooncakes were sold, Ye Jiayao asked Deng Haichuan to deliver the mooncakes to the Helian Mansion and Yong An Lord’s mansion.
After a short while, Deng Haichuan ran back to the restaurant, looking alarmed. He panted, “Brother Yao! Sh*t! I saw someone take an ice cream mooncake to Fragrant House. I was curious so I followed him and I saw that he handed it over to a pastry chef that works for Master Chef Niu.”
“They’re trying to copy our work!” Cui Dongpeng said, angered.
Ye Jiayao calmed them down. “That’s only normal. It wouldn’t surprise me if other restaurants are trying to copy that as well. Don’t worry, let them try. They won’t get very far.”
“They can study our mooncake as much as they want, but they won’t figure it out. The materials we use are rare. What do they know about agar?” Zhong Xiang said.
Wang Mingde chimed in, “They won’t succeed. Don’t forget that we have the recipe here…”
Everyone was silent, their thoughts turning to the same path. They acted normally around everyone these past two days, but they were still wary of the traitor.
The other helpers in the kitchen participated in the extraction of agar and butter and they knew what materials to use and what to do. However, the final and most important step, the production of ice cream, was only made by Ye Jiayao.
“Don’t worry,” Ye Jiayao repeated. “Even if they manage to successfully copy it, I’ll just make new products again.”
Their distressed expressions finally relaxed.
Assistant Minister Mu’s mansion was overshadowed with sadness and shame as the people’s contempt for them grew.
Assistant Minister Mu was the most furious out of all of them. He worked long and hard for his position and he was actually hoping for a promotion this year. Now, everything has fallen apart.
“Send a letter to Ji Nan and tell them to deal with this themselves. I can’t and won’t help them anymore.”
Assistant Minister Mu didn’t even go to work today. He said that he was sick just to have an excuse to hide in his house. He could not bear the people’s scrutiny and scorn.
Lady Qie replied, “They have sent letters to Ji Nan and Yang Zhou. The problem is on Jinrong and Liujiang was simply dragged into it. If worse comes to worst, he would need to divorce her.”
“All the mistakes are on you! You adore Liujiang too much and you comply with all his request. It was you who promised that you’ll bring Jinrong to the Helian Mansion,” Assistant Minister Mu complained.
“I did not expect this to happen! They said everything had been dealt with and there would be no more problem. How was I supposed to know that this would blow back like this?” Lady Qie felt wronged.
“Look at what your lack of vigilance did. Our reputation is totally destroyed,” Assistant Minister Mu said in a raised voice. The more he thought about it, the madder he got.
“Why are you shouting at me? I didn’t want this to happen either!” Lady Qie cried.
Assistant Minister Mu calmed down after seeing his wife’s distraught state
Lady Qie said, “If Liujiang is right, Lee must be hidden by the Helian Royal Mansion’s people.”
Assistant Minister Mu snorted, appalled by how his wife was always so quick to defend her nephew. “Woman, think! The Helian Royal Mansion had nothing to do with us. Liujiang only came to Jin Ling recently, how would the Royal Mansion even know him?”
“Master, I don’t know if I should tell you something or not,” Lady Qie hedged.
“What is it?”
“This morning, Qinchu told me that he and Liujiang had offended the Heir-son Lord Xia Chunyu before. After that, Third Young Master Xia and Young Royal Highness Jing had been rude to them. Master, I think there’s a problem there.”
Assistant Minister Mu scowled for a moment and before ordering a servant to call forth his son and Wei Liujiang.
After a short moment, Mu Qinchu and Wei Liujiang entered the room.
“Peace with Father and Mother.”
“Peace with Uncle and Aunt.”
“Qinchu, when did you offend the Jing An Heir-Son Lord? And why?” Assistant Minister Mu asked. If they find out the real problem, solving it would be easier.
Mu Qinchu relayed how they accidentally offended Heavenly Residence’s Head Chef Li Yao and how Heir-Son Lord had stepped in on his behalf. Mu Qinchu also told them about the 500kg of ice ticket that they extorted from him.
Wei Liujiang added, “Jing An Heir-Son Lord came to my house after the Black Wind Ridge was destroyed and asked about the First Lady Ye. He said that First Lady Ye was killed in a fight against the bandits and the army. I don’t know if this is related to that but…”
Wei Liujiang was panicking. His exam was coming soon and if they don’t settle all the rumors, his future would be ruined.
“I’d say that it must be the Jing An Heir-Son Lord that was behind this.” Lady Qie was certain.
Assistant Minister Mu squinted at her and said, “We must not make hasty judgments. We have already offended the Helian Mansion, and if we offend the Jing An Marquis Mansion… we’re better off disappearing off the face of the earth.”
“What do you think we should do, Master?” Lady Qie asked anxiously.
“At the moment, we can only wait for the Ye family and see if they have any way to prove that Jinrong is First Lady Ye. As for that servant, we could just say that Lee got terrified that her lie would be revealed so she fled. I will personally apologize to the Helian Royal Mansion to ease up the tension,” Assistant Minister Mu said.
Lady Qie sighed. “I told my sister and brother-in-law a thousand times not to hide the fact that Jinrong was the one that married Liujiang. It was not their fault that First Lady Ye was kidnapped by the bandits! Why do they have to use all this ruse? Now, this one lie would need countless other lies to cover it up.”
Wei Liujiang looked away, fear spreading throughout his body. Even his father didn’t know what really happened!
After making dinner, Ye Jiayao got ready to leave. If she didn’t clock off early, she wouldn’t be able to get away when Little Jing comes.
“Brother Yao, the shopkeeper asks you to go to see him.”
Ye Jiayao thought that Shopkeeper Li would settle her salary with her so she excitedly hurried up to his office.
She opened the door and Little Jing greeted her.
Ye Jiayao was surprised. “Little Jing, when did you come?”
Helian Jing smiled and responded, “Ages ago. I already finished a whole pot of tea.”
“Li Yao, are you finished working?” Shopkeeper Li asked.
“Ah… um, almost.”
Helian Jing got up and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to a good place.”
“What good place? I have to go back to work.”
“We have to hurry, we don’t have much time,” Helian Jing said and dragged Yaoyao out. He called over his shoulder, “Shopkeeper Li, see you next time!”
Xia Chunyu is still waiting for me at the back door!
She wanted to ask someone to send Chunyu a message, but she didn’t see a credible messenger. Before she knew it, she was already pulled out of Heavenly Residence.
“Go and get on the carriage. You said you don’t like horse riding so I called a horse cart,” Helian Jing said.
“Where the hell are we going?” Ye Jiayao asked uneasily.
“You will know when we get there.”
“I don’t like this. If you don’t tell me where we’re going, I am not going with you,” Ye Jiayao said, trying to scare him into fessing up.
“Do you want to know what Zhao Qixuan’s Susu looks like?”
Ye Jiayao perked up. “He is back?”
“Yeah. His mother’s birthday party is in a few days so he sneaked back. Zhao Qixuan knew, though. He came to me this morning, excited and nervous, but he did not know what to do. His Little Su went away for three years without any message for him. Poor Zhao was so heartbroken.”
“What is he going to do?”
Ye Jiayao had completely forgotten that Chunyu was still waiting for her, the attraction of this juicy gossip was too great.
Susu was said to be Jin Ling’s most beautiful man. She thought that Chunyu was already very handsome and the two Helian brothers were not bad either, so just how handsome was this Susu? How could he ensnare Zhao Qixuan’s heart that bad?
“He asked Susu to meet with him under the white tower temple tonight where they first met. We could go first and lurk to listen to what they will say,” Helian Jing said conspiratorially, dancing with giddiness.
“Well, alright! What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” Ye Jiayao hopped on the cart hurriedly.
The carriage stopped before it reached the white tower temple.
“We should go around and walk there in case Zhao Qixuan arrived very early,” said Helian Jing.
He commanded the driver to hide the carriage in an unobtrusive place.
Ye Jiayao and Helian Jing carefully walked to the white tower temple and hid under a bush of trees.
As Helian Jing expected, Zhao Qixuan was already there, holding his fan restlessly and pacing back and forth. From time to time, he would stop and look around expectantly before resuming his anxious pacing.
“What time are they supposed to meet?” Ye Jiayao whispered.
“10 pm and it is close.”
After a little while, Helian Jing suddenly said, “There is a sound of a carriage coming.”
A carriage slowly entered their sights.
Ye Jiayao held her breath in anticipation.
