When Chu Lian finally reached Guilin Restaurant, Manager Qin personally guided her to a private room where the person she was looking for was waiting.

The moment Chu Lian entered the room, she could hear people talking behind the screen placed in front of the entrance.

“Brother Miao, if not for you, we would have had to wait a whole month to eat in this Guilin Restaurant!”

“Oh? This Guilin Restaurant is that popular?”

Brother Miao, you’ve just arrived here so you wouldn’t know about this, but the owner of this Guilin Restaurant is the very, very wise...”

Immediately after, a deep chuckle resounded. “As smart as this owner is, how could they compare to Brother Wang?”

De’an Restaurant’s Mr Wang burst out into laughter. “I can’t live up to that boast! Honoured Lady Jinyi and I can’t be compared on the same level! Her business skill is so much better than mine. Can you guess how long it took for Guilin Restaurant to become this popular in the capital?”

“A month, maybe two? Surely you’re not going to tell me that it only took ten days? Old Wang, even if you like to exaggerate your stories, that’s just too unbelievable! There’s always a certain order to things. When you brought me here, it was obvious to me that this old alleyway isn’t a good location for a restaurant.”

Mr Wang shook his head and grinned. He lifted one finger for the man sitting across from him, happy that he had finally found something that could shock his old friend. “Hmph, I’m going to tell you. Brother Miao, it only took a single day for this restaurant to become known across the entire capital!”

Great Doctor Miao was in the middle of picking up some pork slices in mashed garlic. When he heard his old friend’s words, his eyes almost popped out of his head. “Brother Wang, you’re not pulling my leg, are you?”

Mr Wang cast a sideways look at his old friend with sharp eyes. “Hmph, if you don’t believe me, you can ask Honoured Lady Jinyi herself when she comes.”

“You’re saying that the owner of this restaurant will be coming to look for us?”

Mr Wang really didn’t know what to do with this innocent, naive old friend of his. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Since his old friend was the only one who could answer Guilin Restaurant’s three questions, what did that mean? Those questions had been specially prepared for Great Doctor Miao. They had been put up just to lure this big fish into their net.

Someone had likely reported this news to Honoured Lady Jinyi. In a short moment, he would finally be able to meet the owner of this Guilin Restaurant.

......

Chu Lian took in a deep breath to suppress the excitement in her heart and made sure she had a normal expression in place before stepping around the screen. Once she passed the screen, she could see two men sitting across from each other as they ate and drank.

Chu Lian bobbed in greeting towards the two men before taking a seat at the same table facing the window.

Manager Qin personally guarded the private room from outside. An hour later, Chu Lian brought her maidservants out with her as she exited the room.

Manager Qin fell into step behind her and carefully asked, “Third Young Madam, was it successful?”

Chu Lian had lost control of her emotions; her good cheer was written all over her face. To Manager Qin, she nodded and instructed, “Let Mr Miao stay in Dark Court 1 over the next few days. In seven days, pick someone you trust and bring Mr Miao to the Jing’an Estate.”

After she finished giving Manager Qin his orders, she returned to the Jing’an Estate.

The novel was right. Great Doctor Miao was an absolute foodie. With those questions as bait, and after offering up the grape wine she had personally brewed, Great Doctor Miao had come to an agreement with her and agreed to go to the Jing’an Estate in seven days to check Countess Jing’an’s illness. However, one of the conditions was that Chu Lian had to personally cook a dish he hadn’t tried at Guilin Restaurant.

This condition was an easy one for Chu Lian, so she agreed to it without hesitation.

On the way back to the Jing’an Estate, Chu Lian had already thought of what to make: the crispy roast duck that Royal Princess Duanjia kept talking about.

House Jing’an’s carriage was driving down a spacious green cobblestone street when a black horse galloping at full speed approached the carriage from the front. At a glance, it could be seen that the black horse wasn’t just any common steed off the street.

The manservant driving the carriage was worried that they might get into an accident, so he nudged the carriage horses to the side of the road while cutting their speed drastically, doing his best to give the galloping horse as much space as he could.

However, the rider of that galloping horse didn’t seem to notice that gesture at all. Conversely, he stuck to his own path and even moved closer to the carriage.

Without waiting for House Jing’an’s manservant to react, the black horse crossed paths with Chu Lian’s carriage with just a hair’s breadth between them, and then disappeared at the end of the street.

As the horse sprinted past, the gust of wind it left in its wake parted the curtains covering the window of Chu Lian’s carriage.

Chu Lian could only hear the thundering hoofbeats pass by a little too close for comfort. She was about to ask the guards outside what was happening when she saw that a thin bamboo tube had been thrown into the carriage. It had rolled onto the carpet right in front of her

Any words she had to say were stuck in the back of her throat as her gaze slowly shifted to the thin bamboo tube. The special pattern on it was all too familiar to her. It was the exact same pattern as the one on the capsule she had found in the orange at the Zheng Estate when she had requested for fresh oranges. The capsule back then, however, had been slightly more fine.

Xiyan was sitting with her inside the carriage. When she saw the bamboo tube as well, she suffered a huge fright. Her head was also lowered as she stared at that little bamboo tube on the carpeted floor of the carriage. Fear filled her heart; if it hadn’t been a simple bamboo tube, but instead some hidden weapon... then her master would probably be injured right now.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Xiyan was about to speak up to ask a question when Chu Lian tugged at her sleeve and shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed.

Xiyan then quickly covered her own mouth and nodded a few times at Chu Lian, indicating that she wasn’t going to say anything.

By this time, one of the guards escorting the carriage from outside had come over to the window. He asked in a worried tone, “Third Young Madam, are you alright?”

Chu Lian quickly tried to regain her composure and make her voice sound normal before answering, “Yes, I’m fine. Why? Has something happened outside?”

Hearing her calm tone, the guard relaxed. “It’s nothing, it was just a galloping horse passing by. Third Young Madam, if you need anything, please call for this subordinate.”

After waiting for a moment and ensuring that there were no other sounds outside the carriage, Chu Lian reached out to pick up the bamboo tube. With the tube in her hands, she waited yet another moment before taking in a deep breath and opening it up.