Chapter 001: My idol is right in front of me, but I don’t recognize him

After the Shangsi Festival, Qin Xue had been feeling down and had lost interest in everything, much to the annoyance of her maids and servants. Upon learning that a new "Fang's Dessert" had opened in Yangzhou, the maid immediately informed her.

Qin Xue loves desserts, especially those from Fang's Desserts.

Upon learning that it had opened a new branch in Yangzhou Prefecture, Qin Xue finally got interested enough to go out.

In fact, Qin Xue didn't eat desserts from this dessert shop very often, for the simple reason that they were not available in Yangzhou Prefecture.

Before this, this dessert shop only had four branches across the country: in Beijing, Huguang, Hainan, and Suzhou Prefecture.

She first heard about and tried choux macarons a few years ago when she went to Suzhou Prefecture with Qin's father. The choux's crispy exterior and tender interior, melting in your mouth, and the macarons' crunchy exterior and soft interior, rich in texture, made her fall in love with them after just one bite.

During the half month she stayed in Suzhou Prefecture, she ate these two desserts almost every day.

Before leaving, I went to the store to buy some more to take back to Yangzhou and continue eating.

The waiter told her that these two desserts can only be kept for a maximum of five days in winter and three days in summer. If they exceed the maximum storage time, they will go bad and cannot be eaten.

Therefore, she ended up not being able to buy much.

After that, even if Qin's father went to Suzhou Prefecture to bring her some, the amount he brought was not much.

She had thought about getting the recipes for the two desserts like she did with other recipes, but unfortunately, no one else knew the recipes except Fang's Dessert Shop.

It was said that the owner of Fang's Dessert Shop opened the shop simply because she loved it and was not short of money. No matter how much money people offered to buy her recipe, the owner refused to give in.

Qin Xue had asked her cook to try to imitate the ready-made products, but unfortunately she never succeeded.

Fang's dessert shop was located on Dongguan Street, not far from Hexia Street where the Qin family lived. In less than an incense stick of time, Qin Xue's carriage stopped in front of Fang's dessert shop.

As soon as we got off the carriage, the decoration of Fang's Dessert Shop, which was completely different from other shops, immediately caught our eyes.

The shop, less than three square meters in size, doesn't resemble the trendy garden-style architecture of the moment. Instead, it's built of earthen walls painted pink. The moment you enter, you're greeted by a vibrant pink hue. Inside, the shop's neatly arranged counters aren't wooden, but rather gleaming glass. Inside, neatly arranged are specially crafted sweet white porcelain plates, each topped with a colorful macaron.

Under the light, the shiny white sweet white porcelain makes the colors of the macarons even brighter, making people drool at the sight.

Ye Qinghan, who was busy writing and drawing behind the counter at the back, noticed someone entering the store. He looked up and saw a young girl wearing a peach-red dress and pearls on her head. She was looking at the store curiously with her big eyes blinking.

The layout of Fang's Dessert Shop was different from other shops nowadays. Most people who entered for the first time looked at it with curiosity. Ye Qinghan was no longer surprised and simply said, "There are tongs and a tray on the side. Choose what you want and come to me to pay after you've made your selection."

This is a slow, gentle and melodious voice with a comfortable mellow voice.

It was clearly a very ordinary sentence, but when one heard it, it gave one a feeling of being soaked in warm water, so warm that one could only wonder what kind of person could make such a sound.

Looking up, what caught my eye was a woman in plain brocade standing behind the counter at the back of the shop.

The woman has an upright figure, a cool temperament, and a heroic look between her eyebrows.

If there wasn't anyone else in the shop, Qin Xue would have thought it was someone else who spoke. "Sister, your voice is so different from your heroic appearance."

Hearing her call him sister, Ye Qinghan chuckled, "This little girl is so sweet, I like it."

She is already in her 50s, yet she is still called "sister" by a girl in her teens. It seems that she has taken good care of herself.

This realization made Ye Qinghan in a good mood.

Hearing the other party say that she liked it, Qin Xue took the opportunity to say, "Well, for this love, sister, can you please be flexible and sell me the macaron and puff recipes? Don't worry, sister, I want these recipes simply because I love to eat them. After I get them, I will only satisfy my own appetite. I promise not to compete with you for business."

It had been a while since she last met someone who made such a straightforward request to her. Ye Qinghan didn't feel offended at all, but instead started chatting with her seriously. "Even if I gave you the complete recipe, you still wouldn't be able to make these two desserts."

While puffs are easy to make, the process of making macarons is not something that anyone can learn. Moreover, the ingredients for making macarons are not so easy to come by. "This shop has just opened. If you eat a few times, you might not like it as much as you do."

Hearing her say this, Qin Xue unconvincedly told her about how she became involved with Fang's desserts and how she had loved them so deeply over the years. "They are all my most beloved things. I won't stop liking them after eating them a few times."

The unyielding little girl, with a face full of collagen, had cheeks puffed out because of her seriousness, and her eyes were wide open. She was simply too adorable. "It's been ten years, and you still like me so much. I really do like you."

After receiving the other party's affirmation, Qin Xue's expression instantly turned into a proud one. "Such a delicious thing, I will definitely like it for the rest of my life, so can you please be flexible?"

Seeing the other person's sly and cunning look, and his eyes filled with longing, Ye Qinghan finally came up with a compromise. "If you really like it that much, you can come to the shop and learn."

Ye Qinghan's words made Qin Xue's eyes light up, "Really?"

Then, thinking of the goal she had just set for herself, Qin Xue said with regret, "If my sister had told me this two days ago, I would definitely agree. But I just decided to study with Master Ye. As a capable person, I don't have time to learn this. Can I ask my maid to learn it?"

Unexpectedly hearing the familiar words "Master Ye", Ye Qinghan readily followed suit, "Which Master Ye do you want to learn from? What do you want to learn?"

Qin Xue was a person with a strong desire to share. In addition, she was having a pleasant chat with the other party. When she heard her ask this, she immediately shared with her, "Of course it is Ye Qinghan, the first female official of Zhao State."

After saying that, he scratched his forehead a little embarrassedly and said, "I'm not sure what to study yet, because in the past, I didn't know how to do anything except eating, drinking and having fun."

In order to avoid appearing as clueless as others said, Qin Xue added, "I've bought a lot of books these past few days. I'm going to read them carefully to see what I'm best at, and then decide what to study."

Since she became an official in charge of agriculture at the age of seventeen, and now she is fifty-one, over the past thirty-four years, countless people have expressed their desire to learn from her. At first, it was exciting, but when she met such people, she would do her best to help them.

But as she continued to get promoted, more and more people admired her and wanted to learn from her, and she became busier and busier. She no longer had the energy she had when she was young to help those who wanted to learn from her.

For those who knew her and expressed their desire to learn from her, she would at most tell them to consult with the local academy of sciences. For those who didn't know her and mentioned her inadvertently, she would usually offer a word of encouragement, then tell them where to go for consultation, and then smile.

At this time, she didn't know whether it was because of the past year, but she slowly unloaded the burden on her shoulders, and became more relaxed and had more time to relax.

It was in this naive little girl in front of him that he saw himself when he first traveled to this strange dynasty. He wanted to do something, but didn't know where to start.

Suddenly, he felt sympathy for her and wanted to help her. "I see you're extremely good at interacting with people. Talking to you is a truly enjoyable experience. It's an innate skill. If you can apply this skill to dealing with foreign guests, you'll surely be able to more easily lower their guard and win better negotiation terms for our country."

The girl in front of him had a sweet and lovely appearance, and spoke with the intimacy of a girl next door. She chatted with him as if they were old friends whom she had met for many years, even though she was meeting him for the first time. This made even a veteran official like him let down his guard and follow her lead.

This ability to unconsciously gain the initiative in a conversation is the most rare gift a diplomat has.

This was one aspect, and on the other hand, she also realized that the little girl in front of her must have grown up without any constraints.

Over the years, technical colleges have trained a lot of language talents. Unfortunately, most of these people are bound by feudal ethics and are easily weak when faced with foreigners who are like jackals.

The girl in front of me has the courage of a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger. If she is trained well, she will be a rare diplomatic talent.

"Sister's words are too profound. I can't quite understand them." Qin Xue expressed her ignorance generously.

When she was fifteen, her daily routine consisted mostly of eating, drinking, and having fun, as well as gold and silver jewelry, foreign guests, and negotiations—things she had never heard of or heard of before.

Ye Qinghan then remembered that this was a world without much information. Ordinary people didn't pay attention to the affairs of the imperial court, let alone understand diplomacy or foreign guests. "It doesn't matter if you don't understand now. You'll understand it later when you learn."

"Yes, you will understand it once you learn it. However, it will take me at least a month to finish reading the books I bought." She has been lazy all her life. Although she wants to work hard now, she can't concentrate every time she sits down to read a book seriously.

Thinking of his youngest son's various excuses for not wanting to teach at the academy, Ye Qinghan came up with a plan. "I have a solution that will satisfy both parties. Would you like to hear it?"

"What method?"

"The owner of this shop knows how to make pastries and speaks foreign languages. Come and learn the pastries you want from him, and I'll have him teach you a foreign language. See if you like it. How about that?"

"What if I don't like foreign languages? Can I still continue to learn how to make pastries?" She had never heard of any foreign languages ​​before, and she felt that she might not like them.

"I have no say in this. It depends on who taught you." The brat did things based on his own preferences. Even if she was the other person's mother, if he was not happy, the other person would not give him face.

"Since you have no say, will he agree to your proposal?"

"I have a way to do this, but whether he's willing to continue teaching you depends on your own ability."

"Then I'll try."