Adorable Food Goddess

As soon as he mentioned Zhao Qixuan, Ye Jiayao understood why Helian Jing seemed a little off today.  That loquacious, homosexual man!  Zhao Qixuan must’ve assumed that she and Chunyu were out doing unspeakable things last night. He must’ve told Little Jingjing, scaring him enough to make him come all the way here just to fish for some information.

To appease Little Jingjing, and also because she did not want to have anything to do with Xia Chunyu, she calmly replied, “He did not make a mistake. To tell you honestly, the Heir-son Lord came to look for me the other day. However, I had a drop too many and I fell into the river, so he looked for me again. It was just all because of the incident where I asked Deng Haichuan to pretend to be me.”

Helian Jing was surprised. “What? He knows that?”

“He is so shrewd and could already tell what the problem was. He just watched you drink vinegar and medicine to prank you!” Ye Jiayao spoke in a muffled voice.

Helian Jing was horrified. “Did… did he make things difficult for you?”

“He thought I was some sort of bad person. He was afraid that I have ulterior motives for getting close to you, but it is all settled now, don’t worry.”

Helian Jing suddenly stood up with indignance. “How can Brother Chunyu do that? How can he just accuse you of having evil intentions when he doesn’t even know you? I have already explained it to him that you’re a good person! No, I will not let this pass. I’m going to speak with him.”

Ye Jiayao tugged at his hand to get him to sit back down. “I said it is alright already. If you go look for him now, you’ll just be finding trouble. Tsk tsk, Little Jing. Look at you, all hot-tempered, so quick to light just like a barrel of explosives. It’s no wonder your brother is so worried about you.”

“My brother? When did you meet my brother?” Helian Jing asked.

Ugh! Ye Jiayao silently cursed her tongue. Why didn’t she think first before speaking? To salvage the situation, she quickly said, “I haven’t. It’s just… you said it yourself, your brother is so strict towards you and he’s not willing to let you handle important matters.”

“Yeah, yeah, I guess you’re right.” Helian Jing smiled embarrassedly, scratching his head.

Now that he finally has some answers and the dark clouds above his head had dispersed, Helian Jing was glad he didn’t jump to conclusions. If he had come up here asking dumb, awkward questions, Big Yaoyao might’ve kicked him down the stairs.

This is all Zhao Qixuan’s fault! That fellow would see a strong wind and immediately assume that it was raining. He was just glad that he reined himself in and didn’t embarrass himself.

Ah Xing served the iced double milk.

“Little Jing, quick, try it, this is my new invention,” Ye Jiayao said warmly.

Helian Jing has absolute faith in Big Yaoyao’s skills, but, after drinking a mouthful, he was still surprised at how good it tasted. “Big Yaoyao… this… this is simply delicious.”

It was sweet and fragrant, smooth and refreshing, and it quenched the thirst he worked up after rushing all the way here. This was the perfect drink for a hot summer day.

“If you like it, I can get Little Yang to send it over to you when I finish making it. What do you think about that?” Ye Jiayao smiled craftily.

Helian Jing nodded absent-mindedly. “Mmm-hmm…”

He was on his third gulp when what Big Yaoyao said finally registered in his head. The glutinous rice balls he was about to eat fell back to the bowl. Helian Jing glanced at Big Yaoyao timidly.

“Who is Little Yang? The waiter just now?” Helian Jing was determined to claim innocence until the end.

Ye Jiayao sneered.  You are the worst liar ever, Little Jing.

He was lucky that she was feeling gracious today. Regardless, whatever he had done, Ye Jiayao knew that his heart was in the right place. She would let him off easy this time.

Helian Jing requested another bowl as soon as he finished. A little later, even after gulping down three bowls, he was still unsatisfied.

Ye Jiayao started to feel a bit guilty. Was she being too greedy using such a small bowl on purpose just to earn a few more taels?

She lamented how pitiful the ancient people were. They were ecstatic just by a simple bowl of a child’s drink. She imagined how they would react to the other delicacies in the modern times – mango sago, lychee dew, kiwi ice shavings, and of course, her favorite, durian pancakes. Just thinking about all these foods was making her drool.

In the future, she would need to come up with a way to make them all to satisfy her cravings and also earn more money.

Dishes and desserts all dominated by my recipe, a dessert shop next to my restaurant, a few boats in the river that includes the services of eating, drinking, and playing…

Ye Jiayao felt that the blueprint of her future was getting more and more achievable every day.

After seeing Little Jingjing off, the restaurant immediately welcomed its first wave of climax ever since the departure of Head Chef Niu.

Both the second and third floor was packed, and the first floor was also swimming with people.

There were only 89 bowls of chilled drinks and the demand was higher than the supply. Shopkeeper Li used this opportunity to declare the chilled drinks’ limited availability.

“Because we could only get little ingredients, there will only be 200 bowls made every day. Our head chef, Li Yao, is trying very hard to solve this problem, but in the meantime, he hopes that everyone will be satisfied,” Shopkeeper Li announced. This also served as a push to Li Yao’s fame and to get people talking about the upcoming culinary competition.

The drinks of Heavenly Residence become famous overnight.

Li Yao’s name also became known overnight, his popularity quickly rising.

Ye Jiayao only came up with the drinks as a way not to waste the milk. She knew that they will be well-received but she didn’t expect them to become this popular. She felt like she was going to go to a frenzy keeping up with everyone’s demand.

Meanwhile, the Helian Mansion was turned upside down by a quarrel.

Upon returning to the mansion, Helian Xuan heard that when Mother was busy entertaining Madame Xia You of the Jing An Marquis, Little Jing took the chance to sneak out to Heavenly Residence. He was instantly furious.

He originally suspected that Little Jing was only feigning illness. He suspected that it had something to do with whatever Zhao Qixuan had told him, but for once, he chose to believe in his younger brother. Little Jing had only proven that he could not trust him.

Helian Xuan went in search for Little Jing, his stomach unsettled with anger.

Little Jing sat leisurely on the Rohan couch, conversing with the housekeeper about the matters regarding the birthday feast.

“I have settled with the He Chun troupe, but are we still getting the acrobatic troupe?” the housekeeper asked.

Helian Jing answered in a matter-of-fact tone, “Of course! The women like to watch shows so we invited the best acting troupe, however, the men cannot stand the noise, acrobatics are more exciting. This way, everyone watches what they want. Hire the one I told you about, the troupe that does handstands and knows how to do magic, the one in front of the Cheng Huang Temple. We can’t hire the ones doing stuff with knives and fire, that would not be good for the old lady’s birthday feast.”

“Alright, then I shall follow your orders.”

Helian Jing stopped him. “Wait, has Fu Ji sent the menu over?”

“Not yet. They said they will do it as soon as possible.”

Helian Jing sneered, “Don’t they do this thing often? Drafting a menu should be as easy as ABC. It has already been two days! If they can’t do it, they should say it soon. It’s not like there is no one else who can do it.”

He only approached Zheng Fugui because he has no choice. He was still very unwilling.

Helian Jing suddenly spotted his big brother come in the room with a dark face. He immediately stood up and said to the housekeeper, “You’re dismissed.”

The housekeeper bowed respectfully and took his leave.

Helian Jing smiled and welcomed, “Brother, you’re back!”

“Where have you been today?” Helian Xuan asked him in a low voice, glaring.

“In the mansion!”

“You still dare to lie to me? Were you in the mansion this afternoon?” Helian Xuan’s expression clearly showed his fury.

Helian Jing looked down guiltily. Whichever big-mouth had tattled on him would be very sorry.

“You went to Heavenly Residence in the afternoon and chatted with Li Yao for an hour in the Lotus Suite before rushing back to the mansion. Little Jing, do you think I don’t know what you’ve been up to? Do you think Ping An is still keeping an eye on Li Yao? Does that Li Yao attract you so much that you cannot control yourself?” Helian Xuan asked aggressively.

He had thought that separating them would make Little Jingjing’s feelings fade away, but again, it looked like he thought wrong. At first, he wanted this matter to die down quietly. If word gets out of this affliction , it will taint Little Jing’s reputation and also the Helian Mansion’s reputation.

However, he has now reached the state where he has no choice but to poke a hole in the window paper.

If other means do not work, he has to use the simplest method – suppression. It just might be the most effective one.

Helian Jing looked up, stunned. He looked at his big brother with disbelief in his eyes which slowly morphed into anger and shame.

“Brother, you sent someone to stalk me? What do you see me as? A three-year-old child? You’re having me followed everywhere I go? What, I can’t have some freedom now?”

Big Yaoyao was the first person in 16 years to touch his heart. He made him understand what a soulmate is, someone that you could let your guard down with, someone you could open up to.

He liked to eat her cooking, liked to talk to her, and whenever he was with him, he felt at ease. He was not afraid that he’d be looked down upon. There was no hypocritical compliments and flattery.

Even though he was the Young Royal Highness who holds a very precious position, finding someone like that was very difficult.

When he heard that Brother Chunyu and Big Yaoyao toured the river at night, the first thing he thought of was how unsafe it would be for Big Yaoyao if he and Chunyu really had an ambiguous relationship. The Jing An Marquis would kill him.

It was not jealousy but worry for Big Yaoyao’s safety.

This thought gave him the courage to challenge his brother. For the past weeks, he had been unsure and afraid to tell his brother about Big Yaoyao’s existence. He was afraid that Helian Xuan would behave like Zhao Qixuan had suggested and misunderstood their relationship. He was afraid that he would do things to harm Big Yaoyao.

Helian Xuan stared at his younger brother with wide eyes. He was extremely shocked. Ever since he was suppressed for half a year when he was 12, Little Jing has always been very obedient and submissive in front of him. He never dared to raise his voice.

Today, he actually raised his voice at him.

“I think you are worse than a three-year-old child. You’re mixing with a bunch of indecent people all the time. Look at yourself, what have you become? Leaving home just like that, not sparing a thought to your family members. Now you have even followed in the footsteps of that Zhao Qixuan! Did you ever think how Mum would feel if he knows that you… you…” Helian Xuan could not even bring himself to say the words.

Helian Jing found it darkly hilarious that his brother could not even bring himself to say the words. He retorted, “What have I become? What did I learn from Zhao Qixuan, Brother? You despise me for being useless… yes, I could never compare to you. You went out to war with Father when you were only 14 and you’ve accumulated so much merit over the years. I am not as good as you, but I am not a coward either. I am so useless because you’ve always refused to give me a chance! You’ve never even considered my feelings.”

Helian Xuan found this argument ridiculous and off-topic. His uselessness was not the subject here. It was regarding the mansion’s reputation.

Helian Xuan sneered, “Stop changing the topic. You know what you have done. Do you really want me to say it out loud? Do you really want to lose face that bad?”

“Yes. I want to know what kind of heinous crime I have committed to warrant an anger like this,” Helian Jing snapped back.