Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

While Zhong Yunfeng was busy preparing for Yunfeng Tower, he took some time to visit Lihua Lane.

Lihua Lane is worthy of being called a famous pastry shop in Shengjing. Both its scale and style are unique.

Most of the customers who come and go in Lihua Lane are people of certain status, which further highlights the high-end image of Lihua Lane.

Qiu Zhenkui, the head shopkeeper of Lihua Lane, received Zhong Yunfeng warmly. Zhong Yunfeng followed Ye Changyan's instructions, exchanged a few words with Qiu Zhenkui, and then started to talk about the tight supply of goods.

As expected, Qiu Zhenkui asked Zhong Yunfeng to ensure the supply of goods to Lihua Lane at all costs. In just half a year, Weihaojia's candies have accounted for nearly 40% of Lihua Lane's profits. Together with the newly launched Weihaojia biscuits, their profits account for a full 40% of Lihua Lane's total profits.

Moreover, the Weihaojia candies and biscuits in Lihua Lane are mainly sold to the dignitaries in Shengjing. The current supply provided by Zhong Yunfeng is far from satisfying the existing customer base.

Qiu Zhenkui was planning to make another trip to Yuzhou Prefecture after the new year to discuss supply matters with Zhong Yunfeng. In fact, he also wanted to bring up the matter of buying the recipe again.

I didn't expect that Zhong Yunfeng would come to Shengjing, but Zhong Yunfeng didn't bring me any good news. Zhong Yunfeng kept complaining in front of me.

He also mentioned that many merchants from Shengjing had visited him many times, but were all rejected by Zhong Yunfeng. Among these merchants, it seemed that some of them had quite some background.

Zhong Yunfeng just complained to Qiu Zhenkui but did not immediately put forward his own conditions. Anyway, he would not leave Shengjing for a while, so he would wait and see how Qiu Zhenkui would react. It would not be too late to make further plans. After all, the initiative was now in his hands.

After Zhong Yunfeng left, Qiu Zhenkui immediately sent people to investigate Zhong Yunfeng's purpose of coming to Shengjing.

Soon he got the exact news that Zhong Yunfeng was planning to open a restaurant in Shengjing, but what surprised him was that Zhong Yunfeng actually chose to open the restaurant in the not-so-prosperous area of the Imperial College.

The person who helped Zhong Yunfeng with the preparations seemed to be the manager of the Xiao family, a military family with some reputation in Shengjing, and the shadow of the Duke of Liang's Mansion seemed to be vaguely behind this.

After receiving this news, Qiu Zhenkui began to doubt. Zhong Yunfeng came to him. Could it be that the Xiao family or the more powerful Liangguo Mansion had taken a fancy to the Wei Haojia business?

After having this suspicion, Qiu Zhenkui began to face the matter squarely and planned to have a good talk with Zhong Yunfeng next.

But Zhong Yunfeng had been busy with the preparations for Yunfeng Building and had no time to sit down and discuss with Qiu Zhenkui for a while. Moreover, seeing the other party's reaction, Zhong Yunfeng was not in a hurry and planned to leave the other party alone for the time being.

Laba Festival is here in a blink of an eye. The custom of drinking Laba porridge is very popular in Shengjing. Early in the morning, the people of Shengjing city, regardless of the severe cold, rushed to the temples of all sizes in Shengjing city, wanting to go to the temple to ask for a bowl of Laba porridge and pray for good luck and good health in the coming new year.

Ye Changyan was not yet accustomed to the severe cold in Shengjing. In addition, Mr. Cai was old, so it was not convenient for him to go to the temple to drink a bowl of Laba porridge in such cold weather. It would be a waste if he did not get what he wished for but caught a cold.

So early that morning, Ye Changyan went into the kitchen himself and cooked a pot of fragrant Laba porridge. The ingredients used were much better than those in the temple. Mr. Cai drank two big steaming bowls of it.

The happiest person was Su Xing who forgot that he drank half a pot of Laba porridge and ate half a tray of steamed buns by himself.

Zhong Yunfeng had already sent out invitations to several of Ye Changyan's senior brothers, inviting everyone to have a good gathering at the newly opened Yunfeng Building on the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month.

This year, the sealing day selected by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau is the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month. Therefore, Ye Changyan and other senior brothers are very busy during this period. So Wang Xinkuan suggested setting the time of the party in the evening, and everyone can go there directly after the court is dismissed. Firstly, it will not delay everyone from going to the court, and secondly, Yunfeng Tower should be almost busy in the evening. Wang Xinkuan's proposal was unanimously agreed by everyone.

Ye Changyan and Mr. Cai did not intend to let too many people know that they, the master and the disciple, had a deep connection with Yunfeng Tower. Zhong Yunfeng could understand Ye Changyan and Mr. Cai's thoughts.

In order to keep the situation under control, Zhong Yunfeng transferred Quan Youfang, the owner of Yunfenglou in Wanshou County, to Shengjing.

Ye Changyan knew Quan Youfang's abilities. Since Zhong Yunfeng had already applied for re-naturalization, he should avoid being too much in the spotlight. Ye Changyan suggested that Zhong Yunfeng leave as much of the public affairs as possible to Quan Youfang and several managers.

On the opening day, Zhong Yunfeng's main task was to receive important guests. At the same time, he asked the manager sent by Xiao Jingxing to help Quan Youfang keep an eye on the situation on site. After all, Quan Youfang was not very familiar with the situation in Shengjing.

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, Ye Changyan and his two disciples slept in and had a simple light meal at noon. In the afternoon, Master Cai gave a lesson to Ye Changyan, Liang Jingcheng and Sang Li respectively. As it was almost midnight, the master and his disciples got on a carriage and headed towards the Imperial College.

When we arrived near the Imperial College, night was about to fall.

The street outside the south gate of the Imperial College was crowded with people.

The Cai family's carriage and Sang Li's carriage were unable to drive in at all. Seeing this, Lu Tingfeng parked his carriage in Fuliu Lane in the distance.

A group of people got off the carriage and were a little surprised when they saw the scene in front of them. They saw that the entire street was full of carriages.

Ye Changyan and his party walked through the carriages and the crowd and approached the street corner where Yunfeng Tower was located.

Outside the Yunfeng Building, many students were queuing up, and the waiters of the Yunfeng Building were moving among these students, serving bowls of hot tea to everyone.

The scene in front of them was a little confusing to Ye Changyan and his disciples. At this moment, Quan Youfang, who was standing at the gate of Yunfeng Tower, spotted Ye Changyan and his group with his sharp eyes and hurriedly came over from the crowd.

"Uncle Quan, what is going on here?"

Ye Changyan saw Quan Youfang coming through the crowd and asked him hurriedly. After Quan Youfang briefly greeted everyone, he introduced the situation.

"Master Ye, today's opening is much more popular than we expected. After school in the afternoon, the students from the Imperial College flocked here. Now all the tables in the building are full, and we even arranged for many of them to be shared."

As he spoke, Quan Youfang pointed at the crowd queuing outside the gate.

"Most of these people here are students from the Imperial Academy. They all plan to go inside to taste some of the food. Although they know it's already crowded, they don't want to leave and have spontaneously lined up to wait here."

Then Quan Youfang pointed at the waiter who was serving tea and water.

"It's cold outside. I'm afraid these students will get frozen, so I've arranged for the waiters to bring some hot tea to everyone so they can warm up."