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

"Well then, today I’ll try this Snow Shocking Pastry—even the name sounds good! I’ll take two, and a cup of milk tea!"

"I’ll have a pastry and a cup of milk tea."

"Just a cup of milk tea for me."

Ming Lingyi and Xiao Chun were swamped, but they both had smiles on their faces.

In truth, before opening the shop today, both Ming Lingyi and Xiao Chun had been nursing their own anxieties.

Ming Lingyi had worried the milk tea wouldn’t sell well because of its high price. If that happened, all the silver she’d invested would be for naught.

Xiao Chun, on the other hand, was worried that her lady’s products were too expensive and that the neighbors wouldn’t be interested.

Unexpectedly, neither of their fears materialized.

For a restaurant, flavor is the best form of advertising, the best sign you can hang.

About an hour later, the ninety plum blossom cakes and twenty cups of roasted milk tea Ming Lingyi had prepared that morning were officially sold out.

The customers who had followed the fragrance only to find everything gone stared at the empty display counter, their faces etched with disappointment.

"What! How can it all be gone?!"

"Miss Ming, you have to prepare more tomorrow! I’ve been waiting for a full ten days!"

"Yeah, that’s right!"

Ming Lingyi responded to the customers’ suggestions with a smile. There were one or two unpleasant complaints, but she paid them no mind.

"Tch. Just a gimmick to fool idiots. Aren’t they just pastries? What kind of pastry sells for twenty wen? Only suckers like you would buy them!"

Just then, a dissonant voice cut through the air. It was sharp, making Ming Lingyi look up instinctively.

She saw a stooped old woman looking disdainfully toward her shop, pointing and gesturing.

Just then, a customer walked out of Ming’s Restaurant. He had bought four Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cakes. He’d originally ordered only one cup of roasted milk, but after one taste, he hadn’t even finished it before immediately asking Xiao Chun for two more. He thought it tasted divine, and while inside the shop, he couldn’t help but exclaim, "This is truly an Immortal Product!"

He had just stepped outside when he heard someone slandering Ming’s Restaurant, which by extension, implied that he was a sucker.

"Granny Qiu, what nonsense are you spouting now? Boss Ming uses fresh milk from this very morning. A small bowl of that stuff sells for ten-some wen outside, to say nothing of all the other ingredients Boss Ming adds! Fifteen wen for a cup of this milk tea is a great deal, I’d say! That’s a fair price! Some people are just too crude to appreciate fine things; they can’t tell the difference between these delicious pastries and milk tea and the cheap steamed cakes sold on the street for a few wen! I’m telling you all, come try the breakfast at Ming’s Restaurant, and you’ll know that I, Old Du, speak the truth! If not, may I be struck by lightning!"

Ming Lingyi had been listening with great interest, thinking she should probably give a discount to a customer who would defend her restaurant so passionately. But when she heard Du Xuan’s final words, she nearly choked.

’That seems a bit much, doesn’t it?’

’Making such a dire oath over her little shop... it really wasn’t necessary!’

After Du Xuan’s rebuttal, many others in the crowd surprisingly started to chime in with their support.

"That’s right. I’ve never bought milk myself, but I know it’s a precious commodity. Miss Ming’s milk tea sounds expensive, but isn’t that just because the ingredients themselves are expensive?"

"I think Mr. Du put it well! You won’t find pastries like the ones at Ming’s Restaurant in any ordinary shop. Even if you’re just trying it for the novelty, the price isn’t high. A bowl of botuo cakes outside costs twenty wen, so how is a pastry for twenty wen expensive? And what’s more, those Sushan desserts are also made with milk, and one of those costs over a hundred wen. Miss Ming uses milk to make her milk tea for a mere fifteen wen. Granny Qiu, you really are bad at math."

"Oh, come on, you’re all misunderstanding Granny Qiu. Do you really think she finds the food at Ming’s Restaurant expensive? She obviously just doesn’t want you all eating at Miss Ming’s shop. Otherwise, how will her family’s noodle shop stay in business? Hahaha."

"I think you’re right!"

Granny Qiu, thoroughly shamed by the crowd, couldn’t take the loss of face. She muttered a few more curses and scurried away on her tiny feet.

Beside Ming Lingyi, Xiao Chun was cracking her knuckles, her face a mask of fury. "We let that old witch off too easily! Miss, you shouldn’t have stopped me! I would’ve taught that old hag a lesson!"

Ming Lingyi heard the CRACK of Xiao Chun’s knuckles as she clenched her fists. With a helpless sigh, she tilted her head and tapped Xiao Chun on the forehead. "Oh, you!"

Xiao Chun grumbled, "You’re just too nice, Miss. From now on, you should leave these sorts of things to me."

Xiao Chun felt that the old woman, Qiu, had dared to cause trouble only because she saw that her mistress looked young and was an easy target.

Ming Lingyi said, "All right, all right. It’s been resolved, hasn’t it? I’ll let you handle it next time, how about that?"

After saying this, Ming Lingyi turned and bowed to the customers who had just spoken up for her.

"Thank you all for your help today. If not for your support..." Before Ming Lingyi could finish, the portly Mr. Du, who had been the first to defend her, cut her off.

"Don’t be so formal, Boss Ming," Du Xuan said with a chuckle. "We were only speaking the truth. You’ve only just moved to Huaided Fang. We can’t have you thinking everyone here is a green-eyed monster like Granny Qiu, who can’t stand to see someone else’s business doing well."

Ming Lingyi hadn’t expected Mr. Du, the stationery shop owner, to have such a strong sense of community pride!

"That’s right. We folks in Huaided Fang aren’t the type to cause trouble for someone just because their new business is doing well. That Granny Qiu is just a gossip with a long tongue. Never mind you, an outsider, she torments her own family’s Miss Yao so badly she hardly looks human anymore. Sigh, it’s pitiful, truly pitiful," said another woman standing outside, shaking her head. She wore a linen turban.

Once this topic was raised, others immediately chimed in.

"Yao Niang? Now there’s a truly pitiful soul."

Ming Lingyi, however, wasn’t particularly curious. There were plenty of pitiful people in the world, and she had never even met this Yao Niang everyone was talking about, so she felt no urge to pry.

Xiao Chun, however, was brimming with curiosity. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but ask as she wiped down the counter, "Who is this Yao Niang? And why is she so pitiful?"

The woman in the turban sighed. "Yao Niang is Granny Qiu’s eldest son’s wife. Their family runs a noodle shop at the entrance to the district. Miss Yao manages everything, inside and out, all by herself, on top of raising several children. During the day, she runs the shop and handles all the cooking and laundry for the entire family. At night..."

The turbaned woman saw that Xiao Chun’s face was as youthful as Miss Ming’s—she was clearly just a young, unmarried girl. The woman gave a dry laugh, shook her head, and left the rest unsaid.

But Xiao Chun had only heard half the story; there was no way she could let the woman leave just like that.