Five Years After My Death, the Mad Emperor Still Summons My Spirit

The staff of Ming’s Restaurant split into two groups. Since the kitchen had to stay open for business, Ming Lingyi and Wu Zhao Yu definitely couldn’t leave. So, the task of setting up a small stall at Qujiang naturally fell to Ming Chengyu.

Ming Chengyu didn’t feel it was a task beneath his station. He agreed readily, took Xiao Chun and Wu Zhao Yi with him, and headed out.

Ming Lingyi stayed behind and set up a spot outside the restaurant specifically to display the zongzi.

It wasn’t even time for the midday meal yet when Mr. Du from across the way came running over.

Lately, Du Xuan had come to see Ming Lingyi as his personal God of Wealth.

The poetry competition event launched by Ming’s Restaurant had drawn many people to sign up.

Many of them arrived without having prepared any writing materials—brush, ink, paper, or inkstone. Some of the more impatient ones thought of buying a set on the spot.

However, most people still found them too expensive.

Ming Lingyi gave Du Xuan an idea: an inkstick was a bit pricey, a brush wasn’t cheap either, and an inkstone was naturally even more expensive. But he could "rent" them out in his shop, charging per use.

This way, the average person was willing to pay ten or twenty wen to rent writing materials "nearby."

This small amount of money didn’t seem like much. But when you added up all the restaurant patrons Ming Lingyi had kindly directed to Du Xuan’s shop, he had actually earned a considerable amount of silver from the "rentals" alone.

’If Ming Lingyi hadn’t given me this idea,’ Du Xuan thought, ’I never would have earned this silver.’

No matter how he looked at it, he was profiting thanks to Ming Lingyi.

So, Du Xuan had not only been visiting the restaurant more frequently lately, but he had also been ordering a lot of food.

The most direct result was that, in just a short time, Ming Lingyi felt his face had gotten quite a bit rounder.

"Boss Ming, I had a hunch you’d have zongzi today! I even skipped breakfast and came straight to your shop!" Du Xuan said with a wide smile.

Ming’s Restaurant hadn’t served breakfast for a long time, which he found to be a real shame.

But today was different. As long as he came early, couldn’t he buy zongzi from Ming’s Restaurant for breakfast?

Ming Lingyi couldn’t help but laugh. She suspected Du Xuan might have been squatting at the entrance of his own shop since early this morning, watching her side of the street. Otherwise, how could he have timed it so perfectly, running over the moment she put out the food?

’His timing is almost too perfect.’

Ming Lingyi: "Good morning, Mr. Du. I wish you prosperous business. These are the limited-time, limited-quantity zongzi our restaurant is offering. What flavors would you like?"

Du Xuan was about to say he wasn’t picky. Besides, could anything from Ming’s Restaurant possibly taste bad? He wanted one of everything.

But before the words left his mouth, his eyes were drawn to the zongzi themselves.

The zongzi had the usual shape, but why did they have characters on them? 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Fortune, Prosperity, Peace, Health, Luck, Joy, Expel..." Du Xuan read the characters on the zongzi aloud, exclaiming in amazement, "These zongzi are so wonderfully unique!" He even reached out to touch one and found that the characters on the bamboo leaves weren’t written on at all; it was as if they had grown there naturally. "They grew like this!?" Awe mixed with surprise in Du Xuan’s eyes.

’Whoa, this is incredible!’ he thought. ’These bamboo leaves must be magical!’

Just then, Ming Lingyi placed the small promotional wooden sign she had prepared on the zongzi stall. The sign, meant to attract customers, had two large words written on it—

"Lucky Zongzi!"

Hearing Du Xuan’s words, Ming Lingyi pointed directly at the wooden sign she’d prepared. "Hahaha, you could say that! So, Mr. Du, would you like to buy some of our restaurant’s lucky zongzi? Our zongzi, both meat and vegetarian, are fifty wen each. If you buy six, we’ll give you a free bamboo basket to carry them home in."

As she spoke, Ming Lingyi placed a bamboo basket—a collaborative effort from everyone at the restaurant—in a prominent spot. A paper label was pasted on the outside of the basket with "Ming’s Restaurant" written on it. The calligraphy was so elegant one could even take it home, frame it, and hang it on a wall.

Du Xuan’s eyes lit up again.

"What beautiful calligraphy!" Du Xuan immediately stopped inspecting the zongzi and picked up the basket instead. "This handwriting looks similar to the writing on the wall outside your restaurant, Boss Ming. Is it from the same person?"

Du Xuan himself might not have been a skilled calligrapher, but when it came to appreciation, he knew a thing or two.

Right now, he felt the calligraphy on this basket was truly exceptional.

’Even if I didn’t like the zongzi from Ming’s Restaurant,’ Du Xuan thought, ’I would definitely buy six just for this basket.’

Ming Lingyi hadn’t widely publicized the news that Ming Chengyu was helping out at Ming’s Restaurant.

Ming Chengyu had been away from the capital for five years. Besides, back when he lived in the Capital City, he mostly socialized with the sons of prominent families. While many in Shangjing City had heard his name, few had actually met him in person and could still connect the name to the face.

To this day, even though his shop was right across from Ming’s Restaurant, Du Xuan still had no idea that the promotional poem on the restaurant’s outer wall had been written by Ming Chengyu himself.

"I’ll take one of each flavor of your zongzi, of course, Boss Ming. But this basket... Boss Ming, could I buy an extra one separately?" Du Xuan asked.

"Huh?" Ming Lingyi hadn’t expected this situation. "The basket is big enough to hold the zongzi, don’t worry. It might look small and delicate, but it’s quite roomy inside."

Du Xuan rubbed the tip of his nose, looking a bit embarrassed about what he was going to say next.

"I’d like to buy a basket by itself. Name your price, Boss Ming," Du Xuan said. Realizing he and Ming Lingyi were quite familiar with each other, he decided not to beat around the bush and lowered his voice. "To be honest, I think the calligraphy on your restaurant’s basket is truly excellent; it has the air of a great master. The gentleman who wrote this will surely not remain an unknown figure. I just want to form a good connection. Ahem, if this person becomes famous in the future, I could sell this calligraphy for a bit of money, couldn’t I?"

When Ming Lingyi heard this, she was dumbfounded for a moment, then she burst out laughing.

"Aren’t you afraid that I’ll deliberately quote a high price now that I know your plan, Mr. Du?" Ming Lingyi asked. She was in a great mood. Hearing an unwitting person praise her own brother so lavishly, she naturally felt a sense of pride.

Du Xuan said, "We’re so familiar with each other. If it were anyone else, I’d definitely have to think twice, but with Boss Ming..."

Everything was left unsaid. Of course, he trusted Ming Lingyi.

Ming Lingyi packed the zongzi and handed them to Du Xuan. She also gave him an extra basket, but she didn’t charge him any silver for it.

"Since we’re regulars, I can’t take your silver for this, right? The people at our restaurant wove these baskets themselves. They’re not worth much, so just take it," Ming Lingyi said.

Du Xuan: "How can I accept this?"

Ming Lingyi: "You have a good eye for this calligraphy and the person who wrote it; that’s your own skill. I can’t just hike up the price on the spot. Take it. Besides, our restaurant is counting on Mr. Du to give us plenty of business in the future!"

Ming Lingyi had just finished speaking when Little Stone, who had the day off from his studies, suddenly came tearing in from the market entrance like a gust of wind.

"Boss! Boss—"

Little Stone’s voice arrived before he did.

"Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"