“What a sinister villain!” After listening to Lin Fei’s narration of the conversation between Young Master Yang and the two vendors, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh, “Fortunately, Master Xun was replaced. Otherwise… Tsk tsk!”

Letting Xun Zhou debate academic articles with his colleagues might be a good idea, but letting him get involved in such matters would probably make him be devoured without leaving a trace.

Bai Zhu heard his sigh, glanced at Liu Yuan, and said, “Although the surnamed Yang is bait, he is a special bait! Those thugs are not kind. It’s a miracle that he can get away with it!”

If he were just an ordinary bait, no matter how sinister he was, he would be chopped off if he encountered such a thug! But the thugs actually showed mercy to the surnamed Yang and really allowed him to exchange Miss Chang for Third Miss Huang. This was an extremely strange thing.

“This villain must have leverage over those criminals!” Liu Yuan pondered, rubbing his chin. “So much so that they’re actually going to let him off the hook!”

Bai Zhu nodded immediately, “I think so too! I just don’t know how this villain got that leverage over them.”

These criminals had been committing crimes for so many years; how could they easily let a villain named Yang get hold of it?

Just as he was thinking this, Lin Fei, standing by the window with his clairvoyant eyes watching the market, spoke up. “Why not investigate that, Mr. Yang, who drowned in the river?”

Back then, Mr. Yang was overjoyed after securing the Chang family’s marriage. He drank to his heart’s content, lost his footing, and drowned in the river in the middle of the night without anyone noticing. All of these things seemed perfectly plausible, except for the sheer coincidence that made it impossible to say for sure whether the Chang family’s marriage was actually secured or not.

“Mr. Yang’s cloth shop business suddenly took off, getting better and better. But after he passed away, the business quickly declined. Perhaps it was because Mother Yang was not good at business management,” Lin Fei said, “It failed too quickly, and it couldn’t even keep an old business! Even if Mother Yang’s business was really bad, she was a person who knew how to show weakness and ask others to take care of their business as an orphan and a widow. It was not difficult for others to have pity on her! The Yang family’s business shouldn’t have failed so quickly!”

The mother and son of the Yang family were certainly not good people, but they were very good at showing weakness to gain advantages. Otherwise, they would not have been able to make money from the Chang family for so many years.

The affairs of the Yang family must be investigated, and the murderer behind the scenes must also be investigated! Looking at the porcelain vendors and Young Master Yang, who were starting to pack up their stalls in the market ahead, Lin Fei put away his telescope, turned around, and walked out the door: “There is no need to follow here anymore!”

Since those murderers wanted to retreat, they would not come to the market to search for “bait” again.

Because they left early, it was only the afternoon when they returned to the Dali Temple.

Liu Yuan glanced up at the sky. This was an awkward time. It was still early for dinner, so it would have been a good time to buy a snack.

But… looking around the main hall, almost every official and runner working there had a paper packet either in hand or on their desk: if not Xiaomi Guoba, then tang chao banli—or sometimes both.

Going to the public kitchen at this hour, who knew if there would be any snacks left! Liu Yuan, who was too lazy to make a wasted trip, stopped a passing officer and asked casually, “Are there any snacks left in the public kitchen?”

The officer, who was eating Xiaomi Guoba, shook his head, pointed in the direction of the Imperial College, and said, “A group of students rushed in from there today, like starving wolf cubs, and bought up all the snacks in the public kitchen!” At this point, the officer took a breath of cold air, looking quite frightened, “Even the braised duck for drinking was snatched away, not even a bone… not a bone left!”

The sudden appearance of the students really scared the people from the Dali Temple!

Although he was the most vulnerable to hunger and growth at the same age as those students, and after every meal of several large bowls of rice, he’d be hungry before mealtime. But the students’ display was truly astonishing! He’d always enjoyed a drink after leaving the yamen, so he’d always buy some braised duck to go with his evening meal. But today, even that wasn’t available!

As for how the students knew the Dali Temple’s public kitchen sold delicious snacks…

“Yu Jiujiu rewarded those students with niurucha and xiaomi guoba, Liu Sicheng still remembered, right!” The runner said this and couldn’t help twitching the corner of his mouth. “The students loved that niurucha and xiaomi guoba so much that they kept asking around until they finally got the source out of a teaching boshi whose mouth wasn’t so tight, then rushed over here after class to snatch some!”

He hadn’t expected students to run out and grab the snacks, catching the public kitchen off guard.

Looking at the empty counter, Ji Caimai sighed and stood up, leaving the takeout stall.

All the snacks in the stall have been snatched away, so why are you still sitting there?

Good business and more money in your pocket were, of course, a good thing, but… Ji Caimai took a sip of the wolfberry water in his hand and felt that it was very bland. He clicked his tongue and said, “I had specially left some snacks for us, but…”

After being seen by those students, how could he leave them for them? The right thing to do was to snatch them all away!

Ah Bing and Tangyuan rubbed their hungry stomachs and looked eagerly at Wen Mingtang, who was looking thoughtful at the empty table.

“Master Wen, do you have any other snacks to fill our stomachs? I’m hungry!”

It was not just the students who were growing up; they were too!

Before Wen Mingtang could say anything, he heard a voice coming from outside the public kitchen.

“Yes, Master Wen! Do you have any other snacks to fill your stomach? I’m very hungry!” Liu Yuan said as he walked in from outside with Bai Zhu and Lin Fei!

Wen Mingtang looked at the looks everyone was giving her, twitched her lips, thought for a moment, and said to Ah Bing, “I remember there’s some corn left in the warehouse, go get it!”

Corn? When Liu Yuan heard this, he paused, a little disappointed: “Master Wen, are you going to roast corn for us to eat?”

It was not that he hated corn, but what he wanted to eat at this moment was a snack, not a staple food like corn!

Although she didn’t say it directly, how could Wen Mingtang not see Liu Yuan’s disappointed expression? She shook her head and said, “It’s not roasted corn to eat, but a snack!” Then she said to Tangyuan beside her, “I made something called butter from milk a few days ago, and I put it in the ice cellar. Can you bring it over for me as well!”

When Tangyuan heard that they were going to use the butter that smelled of rich milk, she immediately responded happily, turned around, asked Ji Caimai for the key, and ran to the ice cellar.

After Ah Bing and Tangyuan left to get the ingredients, Liu Yuan, who had been unable to contain himself, asked Wen Mingtang, “So, what snack is Master Wen making? It’s going to be made with corn and some kind of butter made from milk?”

Wen Mingtang didn’t keep him in suspense and said with a smile, “I’m going to make a snack called popcorn. Don’t worry! It’s quick and we’ll be eating it soon!”

(End of this chapter)

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