“Those who have women at home must be eating at home, but in this border area, you can hardly see a mother rat. Most are unmarried, and those with some money either go to restaurants or get lured away by the women in the brothels.”

“And besides the Turks outside Xizhou, there are also small countries like Mengshan and Dayue. Merchant caravans frequently come back from outside the pass. Can’t the traders cook their own meals?”

After listening to Captain Zhao’s explanation, Jiang Yan Yi had a general understanding of the consumer group for restaurants in Xizhou.

Merchant caravans usually choose inns, where food and lodging are bundled together to avoid hassle.

Opening a small restaurant might not attract business from the caravans, so the main target would be the local residents of Xizhou.

After about a quarter of an hour, the mule cart arrived at the street of the Protectorate.

Jiang Yanyi noticed that the houses on both sides of this street were much more imposing than those in other areas.

With white walls and gray tiles, the street’s restaurants and teahouses were very upscale.

This street had many tailor shops and stores selling gold and silver jewelry.

“Are the people living nearby mostly high-ranking officials?” Jiang Yanyi asked.

Chef Li glanced at her in surprise, then nodded, saying, “The officials all live around here. Those local thugs don’t dare to run wild in this area. As a girl, you can rest assured living here.”

Jiang Yanyi hadn’t considered this point herself, and she felt even more grateful to Head Zhao for his thoroughness.

Head Zhao mentioned that the shops were adjacent to the Protectorate.

The wall of the Protectorate was more than three feet higher than those shops, and from a distance, the shops’ doorways looked somewhat pitifully low.

During the day, the shop’s door was tightly closed.

Head Zhao wondered if something had happened to his relative and hurriedly knocked on the door.

A middle-aged man’s voice came from inside, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, your uncle!” Head Zhao shouted from outside.

Jiang Yan Yi examined the name of the rouge shop, “Liu Ji.”

Head Zhao referred to the shop owner as his nephew, which indicated that the owner also shared the surname Zhao, but the shop was named “Liu Ji.”

This made Jiang Yanyi think of the owner’s wife returning to her family in Jiangnan, and that Captain Zhao’s nephew planned to sell both the shop and the house and move to Jiangnan.

It seemed that the shop owner might be henpecked, or perhaps his wife’s family was quite powerful.

As she pondered this, the shop door opened, and out came a plump middle-aged man whose face bore some resemblance to Head Zhao.

He had a thick mustache, thicker than Head Zhao’s.

Upon seeing his nephew, Head Zhao asked immediately, “Why are you closing up during the day? Are you not doing business anymore?”

When it came to business, Liu Ji’s face lit up. “Last night, a caravan bought all my spices. I was planning to wait until I sold the shop and had enough money to go to Jiangnan, but now that I’ve recouped my investment, I plan to close the shop and head to Jiangnan directly.”

Only after saying this did he notice Jiang Yanyi.

Since Head Zhao had always worked in the fire camp, he recognized the military uniform Jiang Yanyi wore and asked, “Who is this young lady?”

Head Zhao replied for Jiang Yan Yi, “She’s a girl with a pitiful background who wants to open a restaurant in Xizhou. I thought since you won’t sell this place anytime soon, I’d bring her to have a look.”

Being introduced by his uncle put Liu Ji at ease, and he didn’t ask much about Jiang Yanyi.

Instead, he warmly introduced, “My shop is in a prime location. You won’t have to worry about business if you take it over, girl. Look at this floor; it was laid with blue and white tiles. Only the Fortune Inn across the street has the same kind of tiles…”

Jiang Yanyi took a rough look; the outside of the shop had already been cleaned up and appeared to be about sixty square meters with good lighting.

She said, “I’d like to see the courtyard inside.”

Liu Ji quickly led Jiang Yanyi inside.

He was busy tidying things up, and there were many cages set up in the courtyard.

Against the courtyard wall was a flowerbed about two feet wide, with bougainvilleas climbing up the entire wall.

The pale purple flowers bloomed beautifully in the late autumn.

There were three rooms: a main room, a side room, and a kitchen.

Liu Ji asked, “How does it look to you, girl? I’m not bragging, but you definitely won’t find a better place on the entire street of the Protectorate.”

Jiang Yanyi replied that it was quite nice.

Upon entering the kitchen, she found a piece of open space about a yard wide behind it, and the wall opposite was the wall of the Protectorate.

She asked, “Since I’ll be cooking all day, will the noise disturb the neighbors?”

Liu Ji hurriedly assured her, “You don’t need to worry about that. The new General of Xizhou lives in the Protectorate. He spends most of his time in the military camp, and there are only a few servants in the house. The whole Protectorate feels quite empty, plus being next to the Protectorate means you don’t have to worry about thieves and robbers.”

Jiang Yanyi thought to herself that the way these uncle and nephew spoke was oddly similar.

However, this shop and courtyard truly resonated with her, and she decided to rent it.

If the neighbor were another official’s family, Jiang Yanyi might have worried about various issues, but the newly appointed General was definitely a just and honorable person!

He had rescued the camp prostitutes as soon as he took office, cared for his soldiers like sons, and now he was sending respectable women home.

Jiang Yanyi unconsciously associated him with the image of Bao Qingtian (a figure known for his fairness and justice).

She had completely disregarded the earlier rumors she had heard about the General being fierce when she first arrived at the fire camp.

Jiang Yanyi asked Liu Ji when he planned to head to Jiangnan, and he simply replied that it would be in a couple of days.

Thanks to Head Zhao’s connections, Jiang Yanyi managed to rent the place for only five hundred coins for a month.

She paid one hundred coins as a deposit.

The lease contract would be signed when Jiang Yanyi formally rented the place.

Since Liu Ji might leave for Jiangnan by then, he entrusted Chef Li to help.

After finalizing these arrangements, Liu Ji prepared to take Head Zhao and Jiang Yanyi out, but they heard the clanging sound of armor from outside.

Liu Ji looked through the crack of the door and found that the officials and soldiers had already stood at his doorstep.

He didn’t know what had happened, so he could only tell Jiang Yanyi and Head Zhao, “You two wait a bit before going out; there are quite a few soldiers outside for some unknown reason.”

Jiang Yanyi thought to herself, could it be that the fact she had disguised herself and slipped out of the Xizhou camp had been discovered, and now they were here to capture her for punishment?

But upon further reflection, she felt she wasn’t that significant.

**

Outside the Protectorate’s office, the Xuanjia guards lined up from one end of the street to the other, one guard every two steps, creating an atmosphere where even a fly wouldn’t dare to fly by.

The shops along the street hurriedly closed their doors; no one made a sound, and no one dared to peek.

A luxurious sedan chair, adorned with golden tassels, was slowly carried in by eight men.

Next to the chair was an old maid dressed in a stone-blue vest.

The floral embroidery on her cuffs was done in a double-thread return stitch, a technique only the palace embroiderers knew.

She wore a pair of exquisite jade bangles on her hands and a grandmother green jade hairpin on her head.

However, the imposing presence of this old maid overshadowed the elderly women from noble families, let alone the precious person inside the chair.

Behind the old maid followed four beautiful maidservants, all dressed in stone-pomegranate vests and pleated skirts with floral patterns, each wearing at least a gold bracelet.

The sedan stopped in front of the Protectorate’s gate, but the person inside did not get out.

From the distance of the long street came the sound of urgent hoofbeats.

Squinting to see, one could only spot a lone rider racing towards them, a black cloak billowing behind him in the cold wind like a strong black cloud.

“Whoa—”

The rider reined in his horse three yards from the sedan, the warhorse rearing high, letting out a neigh before coming to a stop.

It was Feng Shuo.

He dismounted quickly and walked up to the sedan, “Mother, I am late in welcoming you.”

The bearers tilted the sedan forward, and the old maid lifted the curtain.

A pair of jade hands painted with bright red nail polish reached out and rested on the old maid’s hand.

The woman inside the sedan, breathtakingly beautiful and seemingly otherworldly, uttered two cold words with her bright red lips: “Kneel.”

The old maid glanced at her with concern: “Your Highness…”

The Grand Empress Dowager remained unmoved.

It was Feng Shuo who, after a moment of silence, knelt on the ground.

A cold smile appeared at the corners of the Grand Empress Dowager’s mouth as she stepped off the sedan, treading on Feng Shuo’s back.

Her long robe, embroidered with golden peonies, trailed behind her, shimmering under the sunlight.

The four maidservants hurriedly stepped forward to lift her gown.

The Grand Empress Dowager looked at Feng Shuo, who was still kneeling, a strong disdain flickering in her eyes: “The son of a lowly woman, how dare you call me?”

The old maid supporting her, Song Mama, tried to conceal the pain in her eyes and softly said, “Your Highness, you have had a tiring journey; please enter the residence to rest.”

Only then did the Grand Empress Dowager snort coldly and let Song Mama help her into the residence.

The old steward, over fifty years old, hurried forward to help Feng Shuo up: “Your Highness, please get up; the Empress Dowager is just having another episode…”

Feng Shuo looked in the direction where the Grand Empress Dowager had left, suppressing something in his eyes, yet his voice remained strangely calm: “I know.”

He turned his gaze to the silent Protectorate’s street and ordered, “Let them all withdraw; the citizens on this street still need to do business.”

Seeing Feng Shuo like this, the steward couldn’t tell if he truly didn’t care or if he was entirely enduring it, standing still in place.

Feng Shuo’s tone turned cold: “Can’t you understand what I am saying?”

Only then did the steward give a signal to the head of the Xuanjia guards.

The uniform sound of clanging armor echoed as the Xuanjia guards surrounding the Protectorate’s street withdrew like a tide.

Yet, the doors and windows of every household remained tightly shut.

Feng Shuo glanced at the glaring sun overhead.

The emotions he had long tried to suppress surged violently at that moment, but he still showed no expression.

He only instructed the steward, “Take good care of the Empress Dowager; ensure her clothing, food, and living conditions are all according to her original habits, without any mistakes. Xizhou is not peaceful these days; I will return later to visit the Empress Dowager.”

The steward hurriedly agreed.

Today, all the guards surrounding the Protectorate were his private soldiers; they wouldn’t see or hear what they shouldn’t when the time wasn’t right.

No one would know of the earlier incident.

Feng Shuo led his horse back.

He had hurried back after receiving word of the Grand Empress Dowager entering Xizhou territory, not even bringing his close bodyguard, Xing Yao.

The sound of hooves on the bluestone pavement echoed, clear yet monotonous.

He squinted his eyes, a cruel and self-deprecating curve forming at the corners of his mouth.

His hand gripping the reins turned pale due to excessive force, even blood trickling from his palm along the reins, dripping onto the bluestone bricks.

Suddenly, a pair of mother and child appeared on the empty street ahead.

The mother resembled the Grand Empress Dowager in her youth, dazzling and incomparable.

The child, a plump baby resembling familiar face.

In one moment, the mother was playfully laughing with the child, her eyes filled with tenderness.

In the next moment, she looked at the man wearing the dragon robe, and tears uncontrollably streamed down her face as she bit her lip and heavily struck the child, scolding as she hit: “The son of a lowly woman, how dare you call me?”

Feng Shuo looked at the child, who was sobbing and curling up in pain but still reaching out to embrace his mother, and he expressionlessly led his horse past.

He walked through that pair of mother and child.

The sounds of their cries faded away, and the street was deserted.

Everything was merely a childhood memory deeply buried in his heart.