The Cold King Demands Love and Pleasure

After reprimanding the shopkeeper, Xia Tongsheng hurriedly led Yingling back to the palace through the tunnel.

She was terrified that Qin Yin would discover she wasn't in the palace!

Xia Tongsheng changed her clothes, took a shower, and then spent a long time writing and drawing in her room by herself!

The paper was mostly written in Arabic numerals and simplified Chinese characters, which Yingling could not understand very well!

Yingling asked her, "Miss, what are you planning to do?"

"Not bad, your IQ has improved recently!" Xia Tongsheng looked at her approvingly.

Then, full of hope, she asked her, "What do you think, Miss? Should I open a restaurant?"

"Is Miss planning to take over the restaurant where we ate the day before yesterday?"

"Hmm, I've been checking their customer traffic these past couple of days, and it's pretty good. Plus, the location is excellent, situated at the intersection of two streets. The restaurant's decor also suits my taste. What do you think?"

Yingling finally understood why her young mistress, who was so rich, would wash dishes for someone else! She had another purpose!

"If it were before, I would definitely support it, but now, it seems there's a problem!"

"what is the problem?"

"Let's talk about money first. I know about your savings, Miss. Where do you get so much money to buy that restaurant?"

"I still have 50,000 taels of silver, that should be enough!" This 50,000 taels was what was left over from the last Rashomon incident. Originally, it was said that he would get the remaining 50,000 taels after the matter was settled, but the matter was not settled and Master Luo was also arrested.

"Okay, let's not talk about money, let's talk about Qinyin. She delivers ingredients to us every day. Yesterday, when we didn't come back, she asked me why I hadn't gone to pick up the ingredients these past two days!"

"Then how did you answer?"

"Of course I said it was because the young lady was pregnant and couldn't eat, so she didn't let me go get it!"

Xia Tongsheng gave her a thumbs-up on the forehead, "You really are one of my people, that was a great answer!"

"Miss, don't try to dodge the question. I'm talking to you about something important!"

"I'm getting down to business!" Xia Tongsheng pulled Yingling to sit down beside him. "I've thought about it carefully. We're in this situation right now, with no source of income. Qinyin brings us food every day, but what about going out? I only have 50,000 taels of silver left! How long can that 50,000 taels last? I have to plan ahead!"

"But aren't you afraid of being discovered?" Yingling was a little scared, but she was almost ready to give in!

"We just need to be careful!" Xia Tongsheng felt it was necessary to design a timed mechanism!

When the time comes, the mechanism will open, and the shopping basket will fall inside!

"Go find Ahua tomorrow and have her act as the middleman to buy the shop!" Xia Tongsheng had been in the shop for so long for another reason: to assess the shop's long-term employees!

She planned to keep all the capable ones, and Ahua was the most capable one among them!

Xia Tongsheng counted on her fingers and said, "I roughly calculated that the shop has at most 30,000 taels of silver. We can keep the remaining 20,000 taels for emergencies!"

Yingling nodded, which meant she agreed. She secretly asked Ahua to help her out, so she bought the shop without much effort!

Throughout the entire process, Xia Tongsheng and Yingling never showed their faces!

The small restaurant changed owners, and Xia Tongsheng revised some of the store rules and marketing plans, and replaced all the decorations in the store with things related to phoenix trees!

And so a small restaurant called "Wutongsheng" reopened!

Since the restaurant opened and they started their own business, Yingling has been extremely attentive to it. Xia Tongsheng can basically be a hands-off manager and just sit at home and wait to collect the money!

Xia Tongsheng's plan for Wutongsheng was to take the common people's route. After all, the high-end market had already been occupied by Zhenbaoge. For a small, unknown restaurant like theirs to try to take it away from them would be like throwing an egg against a rock, which was overestimating their own strength!

Although the price is not high, it is cheap and has a good environment, so Wutongsheng has become a treasure place for ordinary people and literati to dine!

To put it simply, it's a tool for showing off!

Think about it, not only is the environment of Wutongsheng elegant, but the price is also cheap, and most people can afford it!

Xia Tongsheng was happiest when he listened to those scholars praising their shop while casually complaining that Treasure Pavilion was too vulgar!

As its reputation grew, more and more people came to visit!

The shop's business started to boom!

Xia Tongsheng would occasionally change clothes and come to check on things, and she would always hear some gossip from the capital!

For example, which family's daughter got dumped again, which family's son killed someone but didn't go to jail, Zhang San's wife is very beautiful, ...

Xia Tongsheng was already used to it. She found a secluded corner to sit down, ate her food, and listened to the people at the next table talking!

One of the men said, "Hey, did you know? The prince recently won a great victory!"

The man in blue who was traveling with him also became excited, "Of course we know! Who in the capital doesn't know now? To be honest, our prince is truly a man of both literary and martial talents!"

"Yes, yes," he sighed, "but we haven't seen the prince personally go to the battlefield much these past two years. Before, the prince spent almost the entire year on the frontier!"

"Didn't they say that the prince didn't go to the battlefield because he couldn't bear to leave his beloved wife at home? Why is he going now?"

"Who knows!" The man shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

"Could it be that he's fickle and tired of the old?"

"Probably not!" he added at the end, "But who can say for sure about royal matters!"

"Alright, let's stop discussing this, or we'll bring trouble upon ourselves!" Seeing that the topic had gone astray, the man in blue quickly brought it back on track!

Xia Tongsheng listened to their conversation without showing any emotion, and couldn't quite describe the feeling in her heart!

Only after the people at that table left did she call Yingling over, "Did he go to the battlefield?"

Yingling looked flustered. "Miss, you know?"

How long have you been gone?

"About two months!"

Xia Tongsheng laughed self-deprecatingly. Her husband had gone to the front lines, and she was the last to know!

She looked up, her dark eyes clouding over. "Which country did you go to?"

Yingling lowered her head and remained silent!

"You went to Nanye, right?" Although it was a question, she said it with absolute certainty!

"Miss......"

"Alright, you can go now. I'll stay here by myself for a bit!"

Xia Tongsheng picked up her chopsticks and continued eating her meal with an unchanged expression!

Yingling stood not far away watching her, feeling extremely anxious!

She knew her young lady well; she felt that if her young lady made a scene or lost her temper with her, it would be better than her remaining silent!

This makes her even more worried!

Xia Tongsheng's hands and mouth were moving mechanically, but her mind kept repeating the conversation between the two men!

He won the battle!

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