Palace Full of Delicacies Chapter 9   27 May 27, 2019

Back again! One minor detail to sort out before we move on: Apparently, there was a typo in the characters for Arch Prince Zhao (An Hongyi)'s name which was given previously—the character for "yi" was missing a radical. The correct character is 浥, and means 'moist, damp'. (I checked just to make sure, and this character is the one used for the rest of the novel)

In my humble opinion, it's a poetic kind of character, leans heavily towards towards the poetic end of the 'what feel does this Chinese character give me' spectrum.

And with that, let's continue with Su Yu's journey to success! Title says it all.

C9. Gathering Funds

"Eh?" Still lying on his belly, Su Yu reached out and took the green jade tablet. The jade glowed faintly in the candlelight, the qilin carving appearing ever so lifelike. On the back there was a large carving of the character 'ZHAO'. [昭]

He almost forgot, Arch Prince Zhao still owed him thirty copper coins!

"Ay, why don't we pawn this off, maybe it's worth quite a bit." Su Yu stared at the jade tablet for a while. This jade did have a good colour, but he didn't know if this would be enough for a spiral staircase.

WHACK! A furry paw reached over, smacking away the jade tablet in Su Yu's hands. An Hongche pointed at the 'ZHAO' with a claw, his amber eyes full of rage. You foolish thing, this jade tablet is a representative item of An Hongyi's, it would cost far more than just a piece of green jade!

"Saucey, what's the matter?" Su Yu scooted over, touching his nose to the kitten's and getting a slap for his trouble.

The warm fleshy pad smacked against his face. Su Yu played along, falling over and staying where he was.

Just as the two were playing around, Chuncao came knocking at the door to tell Su Yu to go to the rear quarters.

Today, Su Yu had gotten a taste of Lady Zhao's fighting power, and was deeply impressed by his mother and her well-hidden abilities. Hearing that he had been summoned, he immediately got up and patted the kitten's head, "Saucey, you go play by yourself, I'll be back after a bit."

An Hongche cast him a look. You useless thing, what use is there in listening to the words of a woman who never sets foot outside the house. Seeing that Su Yu really did leave the room, he angrily whacked the jade tablet back under the pillow and scratched the edge of the pillow.

"Have you gone to look at the shop?" Lady Zhao's condition appeared to have improved greatly since morning; she smiled as she beckoned Su Yu over to sit down.

"Yes," Su Yu replied. Right after he sat down, he noticed a pale golden paw sticking in from the window-crack behind Lady Zhao. The corner of his mouth twitching, he got up, pretending to close the window, and swiftly plucked the furball from outside the window, shoving it into his sleeve.

Crouched in the sleeve, An Hongche shook his head. He was just bored and seeking out whatever interested him; he wasn't being uneasy that the foolish slave would sell him for a bit of silver, he wasn't!

"I never thought of making this move, but the current situation will not allow us to delay any further." Lady Zhao nodded approvingly at Su Yu's action of closing the window. He knew to prevent people from eavesdropping, which meant he had improved a lot these days.

Su Yu felt bowled over just by hearing about family feuds, and he didn't understand anything from Lady Zhao's deep words. He could only pretend to nod in understanding and say, "It will be fine as long as Mother takes charge of things."

"How have your studies of the family heirloom been?" Lady Zhao benefitted greatly from Su Yu's obedience. Unable to bear children herself, she had always raised this unofficial son as if he were her own son. She had seen Su Yu's doings these days, and indeed, the ancestors had blessed her with a good son.

"I should be able to make the first few dishes, but I haven't learned how to make the ones after that." Su Yu put his hands together, secretly stroking the kitten in his sleeve who was starting to get impatient.

"Is it true?" Lady Zhao's eyes widened in surprise. "Is it true that you can make those dishes?"

"Yes…" Su Yu was a little befuddled. The first few dishes were all very simple and weren't too far from the dishes he made in his previous life. Actually, he could also make the dishes later in the book, but the ingredients weren't easy to find, and the ancient terms were very far from what he was familiar with. It would probably take him some effort to guess the ingredients recorded in the recipe book. Although, seeing that Lady Zhao was this surprised, maybe he should have been more modest about it?

"Amitabha, the ancestors are guarding us!" Lady Zhao put her hands together in prayer excitedly, muttering for a while, then took out a small wooden box from her drawers. Inside the wooden box was a cloth package, which was unwrapped layer by layer. It took a while of unwrapping to expose the contents.

"Mother, this is?" Su Yu received the thin piece of paper. On it there were printed words, several neat and orderly ink stamps, and in the centre there were the clearly written words, 'One hundred taels of silver'.

"This is what I have saved up in secret all these years." Lady Zhao smiled, putting the banknote[1] into Su Yu's hands. "Take this and get that shop fixed up, so you can start your restaurant."

"That won't do." Su Yu pushed the banknote back. "I will find some way to get the funds. From now on, the household will no longer give you a monthly stipend, so Mother should at least keep some money to spend." In fact, he already had an idea: he'd use the sale-and-leaseback method, which was to sell off the shop first and then lease it back from the buyer. That way, he'd have both the startup capital and the shop, which was the best of both worlds.

"This is a good idea, but it won't be easy to find a buyer." Lady Zhao wrinkled her brow, then thought of something and smiled coolly, "This buyer must be someone powerful and influential, otherwise that elder uncle of yours will surely come to snatch your restaurant if he gains power."

Su Yu had also considered this. His uncles weren't to be underestimated; if this restaurant was still registered under his name, Su Xiaozhang would definitely come and scalp him. But how would an 'outsider' like him know anyone powerful and influential, the only one he knew…

Suddenly he remembered that jade tablet the kitten dragged out. Arch Prince Zhao really was someone powerful and influential, but…would Arch Prince Zhao do him such a big favour just because of a thirty-coin debt? Plus, that fat guy always gave off this feeling that he hadn't any good intentions.

"This is nothing to worry about, it will not be so easy for Su Xiaozhang to inherit the nobility rank," Lady Zhao comforted, seeing that Su Yu was down in the dumps. "Do not forget that the consort selection is this year."

"Consort selection?" Su Yu blinked. What was that.

An Hongche crawled to Su Yu's bosom from the sleeve, sticking his head out at the front. Just as he had put up his folded-back ears, he heard the two words, 'consort selection', which made his furry ears perk up.

"It is still quite far away, and the ones above have postponed it for two years. It might be postponed again this year." Lady Zhao looked towards the window, apparently unwilling to talk more about the matter. "Go and start your restaurant in peace, remember to tell me if there are any difficulties."

In the end, Lady Zhao still gave the banknote for the hundred silver taels to Su Yu, for she wanted him to be prepared for anything.

Thus Su Yu returned to his quarters, utterly confused, while the kitten was unusually excited, pacing back and forth all over him. Finally, it crouched at his chest, staring loftily at him and waving its tail.

"Saucey, why are you so happy?" Amused by the kitten's behaviour, Su Yu took out the jade tablet to scratch its chin, but inside, he felt a little lost. That one hundred taels of silver was all his mother had, and he didn't want to spend it so easily. Furthermore, it would be very hard to survive the period just after startup with so little money, and he'd have to find a business partner sooner or later. But there was little chance that someone like Arch Prince Zhao would be interested in such a small sum, so they had to offer something that would capture his attention.

As Su Yu got lost in his thoughts, a warm paw pressed between his tightly creased brows.

Su Yu pulled the little paw pad over, giving it a kiss. Whatever, he'd stop thinking about it and settle it tomorrow.

The moon sat far up in the sky, clear moonlight spreading into the room from the windowsill. Su Yu lay still without tossing and turning. With worries in his mind, he still had a bit of a frown even in his sleep. And if one looked closely, they would notice quite abruptly that there lay a slender figure next to him.

That person had long, inky-black hair. By moonlight, one could only see a section of his graceful, well-defined chin, and his thin lips that were pursed slightly. At this moment, he had the edge of his forehead resting against one hand. He extended his other hand, slim and pale as it was, and pressed it between the sleeping man's brows. You foolish slave, you look absolutely horrid when you frown!

I'm inclined to think ML's opinion of MC just sank even lower after this chapter. :'D (and yessssss, we got a sneak peek at ML's human form!!!!!!!!!)

Just the one footnote:

[1]: (Info wall coming up) Original text calls these yinpiao 银票, literally meaning 'ticket for silver'—an ancient Chinese banknote, but really it was more similar to a cheque than the banknotes we use today. The first yinpiao were invented in Chengdu, Sichuan, during the Northern Song dynasty (the earlier half), and worked like this: People could store cash in special storage centres, and the owners would issue them notes (yinpiao) stating the amount deposited; when the holder of the note withdrew the money, they'd pay 3% interest. Eventually these banknotes became regulated by the government and had standardised units (usually in taels of silver).

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