Free Web NovelChapter 240: Chapter 240: "Imperial Father, You’re a Little Petty.
’How could she play favorites like this!’
Ming Lingyi: "How is this ’just throwing something together’? Are all the dishes at Ming’s Restaurant just thrown together for the customers?"
"Of course not, but isn’t it nice for us to cook together now?" Li Yun asked.
"Li Yun." Ming Lingyi really wanted to crack open his head and see what was inside. Even back when they were at the border, she would sometimes cook on a whim, but even then, she and Li Yun would only make a single dish together. After all, working in the kitchen was a delicate task; making one or two dishes as a token gesture was more than enough. "Do you have any idea how time-consuming those few dishes for Huazhao already are? Where would I find the energy to do anything else?"
"Then just make one dish for him," Li Yun demanded, full of self-righteousness. "He didn’t even help, so one dish is more than enough."
If Ming Lingyi didn’t understand what Li Yun meant by now, she would have to be a fool.
But it was precisely because she understood that she was all the more speechless.
"Li Yun, you really have some nerve, bickering with a child."
"How is this bickering? It’s obvious you’re playing favorites with him. A doting mother spoils her son. He’ll eat whatever you give him, won’t he?" Li Yun retorted.
Ming Lingyi: "..."
"If you won’t make my favorite, then at least make something you like," Li Yun grumbled. "What do you want to eat? I’ll make it."
’I can’t let everything revolve around that freeloading son of mine.’
If Ming Lingyi had been speechless before, Li Yun’s last two sentences made her frustration vanish into thin air.
Ming Lingyi had to reflect. ’Have I really been neglecting Li Yun too much?’
However, with just the two of them right now, who knew how long it would take to prepare a whole feast. "Next month, my new tavern on Vermilion Bird Street is opening. It’s on a different scale from the restaurant, and it has more operating rights. I’ve already secured the license to brew and sell my own wine. I’ve even brewed some myself but haven’t sold any yet. How about I let you have a taste today?"
Ming Lingyi asked, looking at Li Yun.
’There isn’t enough time to cook a meal from scratch. Little Bun still comes first in my heart.’
So, to placate the man beside her, Ming Lingyi decided to make do with her newly brewed wine.
Sure enough, as soon as she said this, Li Yun relented.
When it was time for lunch, Li Yan was called out from the study.
Ming Lingyi couldn’t help but feel a little emotional. In all these years, she hadn’t taken any responsibility for Li Yan’s education, but from the looks of it, Li Yun had done an excellent job.
Although Li Yan was still a little boy in her eyes, at an age where he should be lively and mischievous, ever since he had entered the study, she hadn’t heard any of his attendants report that he was restless or causing trouble. Instead, from start to finish, his small, chubby body had sat properly in the armchair, writing out his characters seriously even as his wrist grew sore.
If no one had gone to get him, he probably would have kept going.
Her heart aching a little, Ming Lingyi took the initiative to place several chopsticks’ worth of food into Li Yan’s bowl. "You’ve been writing all morning. You must be tired, right?" she asked.
Li Yan swallowed the food in his mouth and glanced toward his Father Emperor. After confirming that the latter wasn’t looking at him, he wiped his mouth and finally said, "Mother, I’m not tired."
"How could you not be? You’re still so young; there’s no need to be in such a hurry with your calligraphy practice. Write for a bit, then rest for a bit. You need to balance work and rest."
Ming Lingyi didn’t want to see Little Bun, so small and young, already being crushed by his schoolwork.
She felt there was some truth to what Li Yun had said earlier about a doting mother spoiling her son, but she couldn’t help the ache in her heart for him.
But Li Yan misunderstood what Ming Lingyi was saying. His big, dark eyes, which looked so much like hers, widened. He suddenly put down his chopsticks and mimed the action of drawing a bow. "Mother, I have a Body Technique master and an archery master in the mornings! I’m really good at archery. If you don’t believe me, feel my muscles! I’m super strong!"
As he said this, Li Yan even reached out to pull Ming Lingyi’s hand, wanting her to feel for herself what a strong little man he was.
Ming Lingyi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
After spending a rather pleasant rest day with the big and small members of the Li family, Li Yan was quite reluctant to leave when it was time to go with his Father Emperor.
Even though he hadn’t played polo, or gathered his friends to play at Qujiang, or galloped on horseback, and was instead confined to this small private home, he felt very content.
Once he was in the carriage, Li Yan mustered up his courage to make a suggestion to his father.
"Father Emperor, on the next rest day, can we come find Mother together again?"
Li Yun, who had been resting with his eyes closed, cracked them open upon hearing this. "You want to come again?"
Li Yan nodded so vigorously he nearly used his head as a garlic-pounding pestle.
"Have you forgotten what you said when you saw your mother?" Li Yun asked.
Li Yan racked his little brain, and when he finally remembered, his small face was instantly filled with dejection.
Li Yun glanced at the unconcealable emotion on his face, then closed his eyes again.
’Of course I’m coming on the next rest day.’
’But I really can’t bring this freeloading son of mine along.’
"Father Emperor, you’re so petty! You’re still holding a grudge."
Just as Li Yun was scheming in his mind, a childish, milky voice reached his ears—but upon closer listening, it was tinged with anger.
Li Yun: "..."
Hah!
’I’m not bringing him the time after next, either!’
The next morning, Ming Lingyi went out bright and early with Ming Chengyu.
She was going to sue Hongyun Bookstore, so of course she needed someone to write the legal complaint.
Her elder brother was the perfect person to draft it for her.
Meanwhile, Qiu Tao had been feeling rather smug for the past two days.
Ming’s Restaurant’s poetry competition was public, which meant that he and that woman, Feng Shuyu, would know the winner and the winning poems as soon as they were announced.
Previously, Feng Shuyu had pulled some stunt where you couldn’t buy it for the first few days and could only get it as a free gift by spending a certain amount of silver at Liufang Bookstore. In his opinion, that wasn’t some business tactic at all. It was clearly because Guanwen Hall wasn’t a large-scale bookstore and simply didn’t have enough staff to produce enough official gazettes in a short amount of time. It was just a delaying tactic.
But his Hongyun Bookstore was different. He had plenty of people under him!
Qiu Tao refused to believe that if he beat Feng Shuyu to the punch this time, carving and printing this latest batch of official gazettes and putting them up for sale in his bookstore, people wouldn’t buy them.
So what if Feng Shuyu had the whim to bind a few free official gazettes into a book? Feng Shuyu might have been able to earn that silver before, but from now on, that money should all be his—Qiu Tao’s—to earn!
He refused to believe that with a bookstore as big as Hongyun Bookstore in his hands, he couldn’t crush Guanwen Hall under his heel.
’Collaborate with Guanwen Hall? Impossible!’
