Chapter 158 City Streets 58

Chapter 158: The City's Marketplace 58

After signing the contract, Liu Guyu penned the recipe.

"I've only prepared one type of cake, but many variations are possible—with fruit fillings, taro paste, matcha, nuts. Piping techniques also require practice; practice makes perfect."

"It depends on whether Madam Chang wants her chefs to practice on their own or if she prefers me to teach personally. As you know, I run my own shop. If I were to teach, it might interfere with my business there, so the tuition fee..."

He spoke while writing, and the recipe for the hot pot base alone filled several pages.

It wasn't that the hot pot base recipe was overly complex or ingredient-heavy, but Liu Guyu's characters were truly enormous—gripping the brush, each page barely accommodated a dozen characters, all dark and smudged.

Not to mention the penmanship... Chang E glanced at it and noticed numerous misspelled characters. They were missing strokes, yet, oddly enough, still decipherable.

They weren't exactly errors; Liu Guyu unconsciously kept writing in simplified characters.

Chang E couldn't bear to watch any longer and summoned a servant for fresh paper and a brush, tactfully suggesting, "How about Boss Liu dictates to me? You speak, I'll write. It'll be quicker."

Liu Guyu: "..."

Liu Guyu understood the implication—she was critiquing his poor handwriting.

He eyed his own messy script, laughed awkwardly twice, and complied with Chang E's suggestion.

After writing down the recipe, Chang E said, "Then I'll trouble Boss Liu for another month. Paid by the hour, one tael of silver per hour, teaching two hours daily. I have many chefs and apprentices here; you can select a few, choosing those with talent."

This hourly rate was exceptionally high. Two hours a day amounted to sixty taels a month, likely because Chang E had estimated Liu's Eatery's monthly earnings and didn't want him to incur losses by closing his shop.

This was, of course, excellent. Working only two hours a day and earning sixty taels a month—to Liu Guyu, it was like free money.

He readily agreed and scheduled the teaching times with Chang E.

The contract was signed, and other matters settled. Just then, Qin Rongshi arrived to pick up Liu Guyu.

He had just returned to Xiangshan Academy to report and would commence formal classes tomorrow.

Liu Guyu followed him out and asked, "Why did you come?"

Qin Rongshi held a folded oil-paper umbrella and glanced at the sky, replying, "The sky looks gloomy, seems like rain. I was afraid you hadn't brought an umbrella."

He then looked at Liu Guyu again, and for some reason, his eyes filled with involuntary laughter.

"Did you write something?"

Liu Guyu nodded.

He was about to ask how Qin Rongshi knew, but then Qin Rongshi stopped walking, leaned the umbrella against the wall, chuckled softly, pulled a handkerchief from his sleeve, turned over Liu Guyu's palm, revealing a smudge of ink along the outside of his little finger, and carefully wiped it with the handkerchief.

Liu Guyu looked down, finally managing to say after a long pause,

"...This seems to be my handkerchief."

Qin Rongshi nodded frankly in admission, then tucked the handkerchief back into his sleeve.

Liu Guyu: "..."

Ignoring Liu Guyu's gaze, Qin Rongshi took the umbrella in one hand and held his hand with the other, saying deeply, "Let's go back first, before the rain truly starts."

The sky was overcast, the early spring cold wind seeming to have eyes, sneaking into sleeves, biting and freezing.

The two didn't speak further, walking shoulder to shoulder toward home, hands clasped. But Qin Rongshi's sleeves were wide, and no one noticed they were secretly holding hands along the way.

*

In the third month of spring, at Xiangshan Academy.

"Hey, did you manage to get Mr. Qiongshan's new book?"

"That one, 'Travels in Jiangzhou: Eight Accounts'?"

"Oh! I tried! Didn't get it! I was two hours late, and it was already sold out!"

"Hehe! I got one! Anyone want to read it? Fifty cash for half an hour!"

"Fifty cash! Half an hour?! You might as well rob me!"

"Tch, it's voluntary! I'm not forcing you to pay!"

...

The class bell hadn't rung yet, and students gathered in the classroom, chatting animatedly, all about Zheng Qiongshan's recently published "Travels in Jiangzhou: Eight Accounts."

Some classmates knew that Scholar Qin's family eatery was mentioned in the book, and two crowded around him, curious: "Scholar Qin, your family's eatery is in Mr. Qiongshan's book, so you must have met him, right?"

Scholar Qin was silently reciting texts but looked up at the question, answering, "We've met a few times."

More than just a few times—they'd even shared meals. After "Travels in Jiangzhou: Eight Accounts" was printed, he'd given copies to both himself and Liu Guyu.

The book detailed Jiangzhou's local customs, including food, clothing, housing, and travel, and recorded the delicacies at Liu's Eatery.

After answering, he immediately lowered his head to continue reciting. Seeing Scholar Qin wasn't interested in conversing, the two classmates exchanged glances, shrugged, and returned to their seats, joining the lively chat.

"Hey, do you think if I go to Liu's Eatery to eat, I might run into Mr. Qiongshan?"

"Maybe! Ah, you're making me tempted too! Let's go after class today!"

"Let's go! Oh, you're only going today? Never been before? What a pity! The food at Liu's Eatery is delicious, novel and tasty, absolutely wonderful! No wonder Mr. Qiongshan wrote about it in 'Travels in Jiangzhou: Eight Accounts.'"

"Hey, speaking of food, did you know! Xichun Restaurant on Spring Street recently introduced a new dish, called... hot pot? Oh, it's so fragrant! A few days ago, I was accompanying my mother to a jewelry shop, passed by Xichun Restaurant, and the smell was so good I couldn't walk away!"

Two months had passed since Liu Guyu and Chang E signed the contract. Xichun Restaurant was fully prepared, launching hot pot and cake on the same day, quickly attracting customers. These days, it was packed every day.

A well-dressed student, clearly from a wealthy family, smiled and said, "I know about that! My father took us there yesterday! It's numbing, spicy, and fragrant—extremely satisfying! But the portions are small; I heard they only serve ten tables a day, and you have to queue in advance. Now it's booked until April!"

Another student found it interesting and asked curiously, "Is it really that good?! I want to try too. I'll have a servant queue for a spot today; surely we can get in by April or May!"

"Me too!"

"Me too!"

"Ah! That'll take waiting! Let's go to Liu's Eatery first!"

...

Liu's Eatery was also bustling.

Most people there came because of Mr. Qiongshan's "Travels in Jiangzhou: Eight Accounts." The hall was full, and even the bamboo tables and chairs by the river were set out daily, always occupied.

"Boss Liu! I want a plate of cheese cream puffs, the one Mr. Qiongshan wrote about in his book!"

"Me too! Me too! And I want a bowl of osmanthus stewed milk!"

Tao Yu was running around, darting from one table to another, completely swamped.

His son, Zhang Pingan, had almost fully recovered and had stopped taking medicine. Since the shop reopened this year, he'd been helping out in the store. Liu Guyu even paid him a wage, often joking that he was employing child labor.

But this young boy had a natural talent for making food, and it seemed a waste to only assign him odd jobs or assistant work. So, Liu Guyu took him on as an apprentice, teaching him how to prepare dishes.

Zhang Yun and Tao Yu were overjoyed, and since Pingan himself was willing, they quickly agreed. That very day, a formal apprenticeship ceremony was held, officially acknowledging Liu Guyu as his master.

"Master, outside they ordered six cheesy milk pastries—two caramel almond, three taro, and one nut variety."

While speaking, Pingan took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from Liu Guyu’s forehead.

Working around the stove had already made him sweat profusely.

Liu Guyu, too busy to look up, simply said, "We've had too many customers today, and we're out of taro. Ask if they'd like to switch to another flavor."

Pingan put away the handkerchief, nodded, and hurried out.

"Which table ordered the taro soft cheese pastries? We're out of taro. Would you like to switch to another flavor?"

As soon as Pingan finished asking, someone quickly replied, "Then change it to the salted egg yolk and pork floss flavor!"

Pingan acknowledged with a "Sure!" and trotted back to the kitchen to relay the message to Liu Guyu before helping to prepare the food.

Master and apprentice busied themselves once again.

Coincidentally, it wasn't just them who were busy—Huichun Medical Clinic was also packed.

At the same time, Huichun Medical Clinic was filled with patients. Qin Banban was busy weighing and dispensing medicine, having already attended to several patients.

The weather in March was unpredictable, with frequent spring rains, and these past few days, even more people had fallen ill due to the fluctuating temperatures. Clinics and pharmacies everywhere were crowded.

"Next patient."

Qin Banban finally looked up after being busy for a long time, only to find Chen Sanxi standing before her.

Her eyes lit up with surprise and excitement as she quickly asked, "Hey, what brings you here? Did you get injured again during training?"

Chen Sanxi had been smiling at Qin Banban, but upon hearing this, he hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, no, it's not me. It's my master. His waist injury has flared up, so he sent me to get a bottle of liniment."

Relieved that it wasn't Chen Sanxi who was hurt, Qin Banban turned around to fetch a jar of liniment and added, "Your master is getting older and isn't as resilient as he used to be. You should advise him not to push himself too hard during training... Hey, did you buy pastries for your master's wife and daughter again?"

As she spoke, Qin Banban glanced at Chen Sanxi and noticed he was holding two boxes of pastries wrapped in oil paper, with red labels bearing the words "Su Xiang Zhai."

This wasn't the first time she had seen him buy pastries for his master's family. It seemed he had a close relationship with them, and this had added a touch of warmth to the once silent and withdrawn Chen Sanxi.

Qin Banban was quite curious about his junior sister but had always been too shy to ask, keeping the question to herself.

As soon as she finished speaking, Chen Sanxi immediately placed one of the pastry boxes on the medicine counter and said, "My junior sister is quite picky, but she loves the pastries from this shop the most. They really are delicious. Take this box back and try it. If you like it, I'll buy more next time."

Qin Banban raised an eyebrow slightly but didn't refuse out of politeness. She directly tucked the pastries into a drawer and said with a light shake of her head, "I'll try them once I'm done working! Here's the medicine. Hurry back and give it to Master He. The weather has been unpredictable lately, so be careful not to overdo it with the cool weather!"

Chen Sanxi nodded and left with the items.

After seeing him off, more patients came one after another.

They remained busy all afternoon until the number of patients gradually dwindled. Fang Liuyin, who was sitting in the clinic's front, glanced at Qin Banban and said, "Banban, you can head home first. Looks like it's going to rain again."

Qin Banban and Fang Liuyin usually came to the clinic together but didn't always return home at the same time. Sometimes, after finishing work, Fang Liuyin would let Qin Banban leave first while he stayed at the clinic for another half-hour in case more patients arrived.

Looking outside, the sky was indeed gray and heavy again. Qin Banban didn't refuse and, after saying goodbye to Fang Liuyin, took her umbrella and headed home.

The weather this year had been rather strange, with lots more rain than usual.

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A/N: Due to health issues, I've been to the hospital three times already but still haven't fully recovered. I really don't have the energy to write long chapters right now. I might need to speed up the story's conclusion. After finishing, I'll take a good rest and find a better hospital to address my neck issues. During this time, I'll try my best to maintain a chapter a day and aim to wrap up the story by the end of the month. However, this might make the ending feel a bit rushed. I'll do my utmost to make the conclusion as satisfying as possible.

Tomorrow, I have to go to the hospital for check-ups and physical therapy, which will likely take the whole day. It's also my grandmother's birthday, so I'll need to make time to visit her in the evening. I might not have time to write tomorrow. But once I'm done with everything, I'll still try to update daily.

Sorry… I truly didn't want to bring my personal life into the story, but it's been hard to keep going. I might not be able to continue with the extra chapters from reader votes either. I also want to apologize to the dedicated readers who have been following along—I'm sorry I can't provide stable updates.