It seems that soone is going to be in trouble.
Indeed, soone is going to be in trouble. Three days later, an incident occurred in the Imperial Kitchen, which was neither too serious nor too trivial: the ginseng used to make soup for the Old Emperor was swapped with an old radish!
On a smaller scale, this was a mistake by the Palace Attendants, but on a larger scale, it was a cri of deceiving the Emperor!
Lu Chong, who was in charge of the Imperial Kitchen, imdiately ordered a thorough investigation. Then, in the place where Qin Shi stored firewood, they found a few roots of the Hundred-year Ginseng.
Soone imdiately recalled the Hundred-year Ginseng used by Qin Shi during the chef competition and started shouting that Qin Shi was the thief!
Qin Shi couldn’t defend himself and, in desperation, claid that the ginseng he used was bestowed by the Second Prince.
But such words were even less believable to people.
The first person who didn’t believe it was Bai Jing.
"Old thing, stop bullshitting! I’m soone close to the Second Prince; if you were too, why wouldn’t the Second Prince inform ? You stole sothing and want to fra His Highness? I think you’re tired of living!"
Amid Bai Jing’s "righteous speech," Qin Shi was eventually expelled from the Imperial Kitchen.
There are clear regulations in the palace that anyone employed by the Imperial Kitchen cannot work anywhere outside the palace.
Even if Qin Shi didn’t steal anything, he could no longer remain in the Imperial Kitchen.
Lu Chong ca to Qin Shi and ntioned the matter about him being the cloaked man, and the Qin Shi who initially wanted to defend himself had no choice but to leave obediently.
The Second Prince had been out of favor for a long ti, hoping to regain the Old Emperor’s favor through this competition, but despite such investnt of wealth and effort, it all ended in vain.
What made him even angrier was that during the New Year palace banquet, the Old Emperor publicly announced the appointnt of the third son, Zhao Hongde, as the Crown Prince!
Even if he crushed the wine glass in his hand, even if he wanted to rally his subordinates to reclaim the position of Crown Prince, it was at this mont when Zhao Hongsheng realized that those truly loyal to him were now only Bai Jing, Qin Shi, and the like.
Not to ntion reclaiming the position of Crown Prince, even if he wanted to say sothing effective in court, no one would pay attention to him now.
The Old Emperor’s health was deteriorating, and many affairs of the court were already handed over to the Crown Prince for handling, while the Old Emperor would either chat with the heartbroken Empress daily or summon Lin Yuan into the palace to make him sothing delicious.
Although he did not have the title of Retired Emperor, the Old Emperor had already beco a de facto Retired Emperor.
Going into the palace daily to cook was really a hindrance to the sweet, intimate little life of the young couple, so on Xia Zheng’s strong suggestion, the Old Emperor gladly agreed that from now on, regardless of their origin, any chef in the palace must first be trained and selected by Dong Tian before they could enter the palace for work.
Thus, after training the kitchen ladies of noble mansions in the Capital city, Dong Tian opened another inco-generating venture.
Three years later, the first Imperial Chef selection competition had a grand opening. After rounds of competition, Gao Xuan and Cheng Haoxuan simultaneously snagged the top spots!
Gao Xuan had no ambition in this regard; even after winning first place, he willingly stayed at Dong Tian as the head chef.
Cheng Haoxuan smoothly entered the Imperial Kitchen, taking over his master Lu Chong’s position.
Another two years passed.
At the end of a bustling snack street in the Capital city, a three-story Embroidery Pavilion stood tall.
Although the exterior of this Embroidery Pavilion seed unremarkable, its interior was a different world altogether.
Inside the Embroidery Pavilion, there were row upon row of cubicles, where many young won were either intently using abacuses or engrossed in organizing accounting books.
Each of these young won was serious and diligently focused on their tasks at hand.
The second floor was relatively more spacious, divided into three distinct areas, each with large signs reading "Dong Tian," "Idle Tea House," and "Chanyin Pavilion."
Beneath each large sign were n and won busily working, though evidently fewer than the people on the first floor.
Regarding the third floor, the decor and layout were even more exquisite and luxurious.
Each room door bore a small plaque, so reading "Finance," others "Sales."
At the end of the corridor, inside the room labeled "Chairman," Lin Yuan was engrossed in reviewing the accounting books before her.
Standing in front of her was a smart and capable young girl transferred from Idle Tea House.
"Chairman, these are the books for this quarter for Dong Tian, please have a look."
"These are the books for this quarter from Idle Tea House, please have a look."
"These are the books for this quarter from Chanyin Pavilion, please have a look."
"And these are the books for this year from Fuman Building and its various branches, please have a look."
Lin Yuan lowered her head and received each book one by one. Upon receiving the last one, she suddenly looked up: "Fuman Building? Isn’t that Xia Zheng’s business? How co it’s also handed over here?"
The young girl sheepishly smiled: "Well, the master hasn’t looked at the books for over a year, and the staff had no choice but to hand them over to us."
A year?
What has Xia Zheng been doing for the past year?
"Where is the master! Where has he gone?"
The young girl coughed lightly, ignoring Xia Zheng’s prior instructions, she "righteously" spilled the beans: "The master took the young miss to Dongling to try so newly launched garlic dishes... Ah, Chairman, where are you going! Miss, Miss, you can’t leave, if you leave what about our business..."
The young girl quickly followed out, but where was Lin Yuan’s figure?
Suddenly, she slapped her forehead, right, if the miss is gone, there are still the two young masters! These two young masters are each shrewder than the other!
However, before she could even turn around to find soone, two small shadows had already dashed out, leaving only their hurried roars ringing in her ears.
"It’s all your fault, insisting on relieving yourself! Now dad and mom have left us behind, you are really a big trouble!"
"Big brother, wait for , oh no! Dad and mom are so partial, they took little sister to Dongling but didn’t take us, are we really their biological children!"
"I am, you are not!"
"Huh? Really? That can’t be right, we look exactly alike, if I’m not, then how could you be?"
(The End)
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