Free Web NovelChapter 279: Chapter 211: A Small Favor, Don’t Mention It
Ma Guan barely needed to say another word. In twos and threes, people found seats and called out to the waiter:
"Bring me a bowl of wontons. I want to try them." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"I’ll have a bowl, too."
"If even Mr. Qingzhou said they were good, this place must have a unique recipe. I have to give it a try."
"Besides, we still have about an hour until class starts today. No rush..."
A burly woman saw what was happening and quickly had the others tend to the customers while she rushed upstairs to the second floor.
KNOCK. KNOCK KNOCK.
Inside the room, Lou Yuxue was in the middle of deciphering a secret message from an opera script. Hearing the sound, she asked with some annoyance, "What is it?"
"Sh-Shopkeeper, we have a situation in the shop."
"What kind of situation?"
"A lot of customers have arrived."
Lou Yuxue frowned. She listened intently for a moment and, quickly grasping what had happened, couldn’t help but grumble to herself about Chen Yi’s meddling.
Just as Chen Yi had surmised, Lou Yuxue had only opened "There’s a Wonton Shop by the Clouds" as a temporary safe house.
Once things settled down after the "burning of the Three Towns’ summer grain" in Shu State, and once a new Elder from the Bright Moon Building arrived, she intended to return to her real duties.
She had absolutely no intention of running the wonton shop as a legitimate business.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have chosen such a ridiculous name for it.
But now, thanks to Chen Yi and Ma Guan’s unnecessary stunt, the newly opened wonton shop was already attracting attention from some of the students at Guiyun Academy.
Business was visibly improving, which ran contrary to Lou Yuxue’s plans, leaving her both surprised and displeased.
After a moment’s thought, Lou Yuxue calmly instructed, "Maintain normal operations."
The burly woman acknowledged the order and departed.
Lou Yuxue listened for another moment. When she heard still more customers arriving, she shook her head, feeling a headache coming on.
’That Fledgling... such a meddler.’
Afterwards, she thought no more of it and focused on deciphering the contents of the secret message.
Before long, three short lines of text appeared on the paper:
[Investigate the Fledgling’s whereabouts on the night the summer grain of the Three Towns was burned.]
[Contact the leader of the horse bandits within Poshisu Country—King Landu. Negotiate and confirm a time to meet. I intend to go in person.]
[Closely monitor the Simurgh Phoenix’s movements. Report every detail, no matter how trivial.]
Lou Yuxue’s expression changed slightly as she read the contents of the paper.
The three tasks were all different, but each one surprised her.
The first task was especially odd—to discover the Fledgling’s whereabouts on the night the summer grain of the Three Towns was burned.
From this single sentence alone, Lou Yuxue deduced the intentions of the Pavilion Master and the Golden Banner Officer.
’Are they suspecting that the Fledgling did something that night?’
’How is that possible?’
’That Fledgling has always been well-behaved and kept to himself, never even stepping out of the Xiao Family’s gates. How could he possibly have made a move that night?’
Lou Yuxue didn’t know the answer, but she was certain this task was the simplest of the three.
She only needed to go through the Hawk’s subordinate—an Iron Banner Officer hidden in the Xiao Family—to confirm the Fledgling’s whereabouts that night.
As for the remaining two tasks, contacting King Landu and investigating the Simurgh Phoenix, there were leads to follow.
The former, though a leader of horse bandits, had intricate ties to the Poshisu royal family. The Golden Banner Officer taking the initiative to meet with him must be to plot future operations.
As for the latter, the Simurgh Phoenix’s arrival in Shu State was too sudden, so it was only natural for it to displease the Pavilion Master and the Golden Banner Officer.
As Lou Yuxue considered this, she silently committed the tasks on the paper to memory, then burned the sheet until it was completely destroyed.
The missions weren’t complex, but she still had a few questions.
’First, neither the Pavilion Master nor the Golden Banner Officer gave any instructions regarding the silver coins plundered from the Jing State Liu Family and ’Liu Wu’.’
’Second, the Xiao Family was lucky to escape this time. Xiao Dongchen is dead, yet the Mutual Market was unaffected... Are there no plans to sabotage it later?’
A thought suddenly struck Lou Yuxue. ’Could it be King Landu, the leader of the Poshisu horse bandits?’
It was a definite possibility.
’It seems the General and the Pavilion Master have already devised a detailed plan for Shu State.’
’Mmm... to avoid being detected by the Xiao Family, I should wait until after the Mid-Autumn Festival to make my move.’
Having come to this conclusion, Lou Yuxue calmed her mind, tidied the room, and went downstairs.
One glance around the room and she froze.
The once-empty main hall of "There’s a Wonton Shop by the Clouds" was now completely full.
There were students from Guiyun Academy, refined young men and women visiting Kangning Street, and travelers just passing through.
All of them were eating wontons while looking at Ma Guan, who stood in the center holding a calligraphy scroll that read, "Number One Wontons Under Heaven."
"I’ve traveled far and wide for many years and eaten plenty of wontons, but I never thought I’d find a taste like this in Shu State."
"Not bad at all."
"’Number One Under Heaven’ is a stretch, but they taste good."
"The calligraphy is the best part, really."
"Even though it wasn’t written by Mr. Qingzhou himself, as his student, Ma Heming’s calligraphy is also a rare work of art."
"Well worth the visit..."
As Lou Yuxue listened to the jumble of conversations in the main hall, a flash of anger appeared in her eyes.
’Fledgling, you had better not have done this on purpose, or I swear I won’t let you off the hook!’
...
Chen Yi had, of course, done it on purpose.
He couldn’t stand to see Lou Yuxue struggling so hard to earn silver.
So he came up with a plan to make business at "There’s a Wonton Shop by the Clouds" a bit more brisk.
It was just that...
He suspected Lou Yuxue might not appreciate the gesture.
Chen Yi watched the words [Opportunity +4] float before his eyes and smiled with a touch of wicked delight.
’I’ll just consider this compensation for failing to obtain that Profound Level Opportunity.’
He then delivered the festival gifts to Mr. Yue Ming, Mr. Zhuo Ying, and the others.
After getting a brief update on the "Exhibition Hall" project, he went to the study hall to teach his class.
After teaching a few times, Chen Yi had naturally become much more comfortable and adept at it.
He taught methodically, starting with the entry-level basics of the Calligraphy Dao.
