Chapter 40

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lin Mo wiped his face with a handkerchief in disgust.

He said, “Li Yun and Duke Anyuan’s long-lost daughter. We saw her here last time. This matter may not succeed, so don’t spread it. It’ll damage Li Yun and that girl’s reputation.”

Zhou Siming also asked in surprise, “Zishu, did you mishear something?”

Lin Mo said, “They’re right next door. If you don’t believe it, just go and see. Why are you both so shocked?”

Junior Duke Rong was not only shocked, but his heart was beating fast.

Isn’t the long-lost daughter of Duke Anyuan Qiao Jinniang?

Does His Royal Highness know that Duke Anyuan intends to cuckold him?

Because Second Madam had no daughters or daughters-in-law, Qiao Jinniang was the only young girl present.

Seeing them passing by the door of the room, Junior Duke Rong felt what Lin Mo said was probably true.

Qiao Jinniang followed Second Madam and the Duchess into the room and saluted.

“Grandma Li, Aunt Li, and Cousin.”

Li Yun’s eyes brightened when he saw Qiao Jinniang who was wearing a light yellow embroidered dress. He saluted the Duchess while not forgetting to salute Qiao Jinniang too. “Cousin.”

Qiao Jinniang nodded gently and sat down with the Duchess.

On this kind of occasion, the juniors didn’t need to talk much. Although this was a welcoming banquet for Li Yun’s father in name, he didn’t come.

At the banquet, Old Madam Li and the Duchess were chatting the most.

Old Madam Li asked about Qiao Jinniang occasionally.

She was quite satisfied with Jinniang. She didn’t believe in the nonsense that she was slave-raised.

The South was a very rich and prosperous place, and the Myriad Taste in Lin’an was quite famous among the literati in the South.

A woman who could run such a restaurant must be sensible and smart.

“What is this? We didn’t seem to order this dish.”

Mrs. Li asked when she saw the waiter serve a bowl of food.

Qiao Jinniang smiled and explained, “This dish is called Crab Meat Tofu. I heard that Grandma Li was a Buddhist, so I deliberately replaced the crab meat with salted duck egg powder. It tastes smooth and is easy to digest. Please have a try, Grandma Li.”

As soon as Qiao Jinniang finished speaking, Noumi served a bowl for Old Madam Li.

Qiao Jinniang also served a bowl respectively for the Duchess and Second Madam. “Mother, this dish was invented by me. Please have a try.”

The Duchess tasted it and immediately realized that this restaurant’s success was not completely because of the power of Duke Anyuan.

This dish was even more delicious than the dishes in the Duke Mansion.

Old Madam Li was aged, so her teeth weren’t very good. After taking a bite of tofu, the scent hit the tip of her tongue.

She smiled. “This tofu is the best tofu I have ever tasted.”

Qiao Jinniang introduced a few more signature dishes.

The goal of this kind of banquet was not to eat, so the dishes would usually not be eaten up.

But under Jinniang’s introduction, the dishes on the table were all eaten up.

This made the Duchess quite embarrassed. Nobles usually wouldn’t finish the dishes in a banquet.

Old Madam Li joked, “The dishes are really delicious. Even wasting a little bit is a great loss. Unfortunately, I turned into a vegetarian recently. But I’m definitely going to try the Fried Shelled Shrimps with Longjing Tea here in the future.”

Mrs. Li followed. “Yes, we must come back and taste it later.”

After the meal, the bowls and chopsticks were removed and the tea was served.

The Duchess said to Jinniang “There is a rouge shop nearby. You rarely go out, so why don’t you go pick some rouge?”

Second Madam then said to Li Yun, “You can accompany your cousin to go there.”

With that, she handed her nephew a piece of silver and winked at him.

Her third nephew was a very excellent young man but was a nerd. She was afraid that he might forget to pay for Jinniang.

Qiao Jinniang went downstairs with Li Yun. Seeing them come downstairs side by side, Junior Duke Rong was stunned.

Are they really having a blind date?

He hurriedly followed them downstairs.

Seeing Junior Duke Rong leave halfway through dinner, Lin Mo asked Zhou Siming, “What’s wrong with him today? Why is he so absent-minded?”

Zhou Siming saw Qiao Jinniang and Li Yun too, and he said, “Maybe he is afraid that His Royal Highness will blame him.”

“Blame him? For what?” Lin Mo was confused.

Zhou Siming heard from his father that Qiao Jinniang was the biological mother of the little imperial grandson.

But the Crown Prince hadn’t announced Qiao Jinniang’s identity yet, so he certainly wouldn’t tell Lin Mo.

After all, Lin Mo’s cousin was also going to marry into the East Palace.

…

After Qiao Jinniang and Li Yun went downstairs, she saw from the corner of her eye that Li Yun looked very embarrassed. He wanted to speak, but he didn’t know what to say, so he just blushed.

He looked just like a little dull goose that was raised in the kitchen of the Tasty Pavilion.

Qiao Jinniang said, “Cousin, I’ve bought all the new products in the rouge shop. It’s sunny now. Why don’t we go to a bookstore?”

“Do you like reading too?” Li Yun looked at Qiao Jinniang.

Qiao Jinniang nodded. “Yes, but I only read novels. Will you disdain me for that, Cousin?”

“Of course not. In fact, I liked to read novels when I was a kid. I liked reading novels about swordsmen, but my father thought that they were not orthodox books, so he threw them away.”

Speaking of books, Li Yun was no longer embarrassed and became talkative. “Have you ever read novels about swordsmen?”

What Qiao Jinniang read were mostly romance novels, so she hadn’t read any swordsmen novels.

She said with a smile, “Not yet. When we go to the bookstore, please pick some for me. I can read them to kill time.”

Li Yun said, “I only read those novels when I was a kid, so I don’t know if there are any now.”

Qiao Jinniang said, “That’s okay. I’ll find some first.

“If they are interesting, when you finish the imperial examination, I’ll lend them to you to read.

“But you’d better not read these novels before the imperial examination because they may take up your time. After all, you’re very likely to get first place in the imperial examination.”

Li Yun smiled. “I hope so.”

Qiao Jinniang grew up in a restaurant. As long as she was willing, she could get acquainted with anyone soon. Soon, she and Li Yun entered a bookstore chatting and laughing.

Junior Duke Rong hid in an alley and watched them, thinking to himself, ‘Oh my god!’

He knew Li Yun. He was Prime Minister Lin’s favorite protégé and was a nerd.

He had never seen him so close to a woman.

But this nerd was smiling at Qiao Jinniang!

Do they have to be so close when they are just picking books?

Junior Duke Rong shook his fan and walked into the bookstore. “Miss Qiao, it’s been a long time.”

When Qiao Jinniang saw him, she saluted coldly. “Junior Duke Rong.”

Junior Duke Rong looked at Qiao Jinniang, thinking of her life-saving grace, while exclaiming in his heart, ‘Oh, she is cuckolding His Royal Highness indeed!’

She was smiling so sweetly at Li Yun just now but was so cold to him.

Qiao Jinniang was cold to him because she thought Junior Duke Rong was here to deliver Lu Chen’s message.

But then she noticed the blaming look in the eyes of Junior Duke Rong…

As if she did something wrong?

She hadn’t done anything wrong to him, right?