After an afternoon of detailed discussion, Tao Wanniang and Princess Rui settled all matters. When it was time to leave, Xiao Yi suggested that he accompany Tao Wanniang to Baoyue Tower for a stroll.

"Sister Tao, don't worry too much. Not every business is profitable. If the restaurant doesn't do well, don't fret. You can just close it down again," Xiao Yi said from the carriage.

Tao Wanniang was taken aback, looking at Xiao Yi in surprise, and asked in confusion, "Young Master, what did I do that made you think this restaurant wouldn't make money? If it weren't profitable, why would I open a restaurant!"

Xiao Yi chuckled; he hadn't known that Tao Wanniang had such a strong competitive spirit!

Thinking of Lingyunzhou, Xiao Yi tentatively said, "Sister Tao, you know that you didn't need to work so hard in the first place."

"What do you mean by that, Your Highness?" Tao Wanniang asked, feigning ignorance.

“Yunzhou has rendered great service to the court over the years. If you don’t divorce Yunzhou, you will be the general’s wife,” Xiao Yi said. “Isn’t what belongs to him yours?”

Tao Wanniang smiled, her eyes filled with pride.

“The things in Lingyun Prefecture were won on the battlefield. All I want is compensation for seventeen years, five thousand taels. Isn’t that enough to make me hate him?” Tao Wanniang said. “After that, I had nothing to do with him. From the moment I fled the famine, I, Tao Wanniang, decided to live on my own and to live a decent life.”

“If the restaurant is successful, it can make a fortune every day. I’m not born to be a workaholic. Once I’ve earned enough money, I’ll buy a whole bunch of servants and then I can relax at home,” Tao Wanniang said. “In my own home, I’m the one who calls the shots. I don’t want to go to someone else’s house and have to do what they say.”

Xiao Yi chuckled again. When Tao Wanniang said she wanted to lie flat in the future, her eyes revealed longing.

"Then I don't know, Sister Tao, how much money do you think is enough?"

"Of course, I'd be happy if I could make money every day," Tao Wanniang replied. If the restaurant did well, she would step down and become a shareholder. All her efforts were for a better life in the future.

While the two were talking, Cheng Feng had already driven the carriage to the front of Baoyue Tower.

Tao Wanniang got off the carriage and looked at the three-story-high, five-story-wide restaurant with its flying eaves. It was truly magnificent!

"Can we go in and take a look?" Tao Wanniang asked Xiao Yi, who had followed her off the carriage.

"I specifically asked for the key, let's go in and take a look." Xiao Yi tossed the key to Cheng Feng.

The restaurant hadn't been cleaned for months, and you could smell the dust as soon as you entered.

Tao Wanniang flicked her sleeve in front of her nose; this place was actually bigger than the restaurant she had visited yesterday.

"Why did such a grand restaurant have to close down?" Tao Wanniang asked curiously.

"The capital city has no shortage of upscale restaurants, most of which are all the same. As for why other restaurants have succeeded while this one hasn't, it might be that the food doesn't suit our taste, or the entertainment isn't good enough," Xiao Yi said. He hadn't managed the business here, so he didn't know.

“So you don’t know!” Tao Wan’s mother said, pointing it out. “In other words, you’re trying to create something unique.”

Tao Wanniang crossed her arms, stroked her chin, and looked like she was pondering something.

"Okay, I'll think about it carefully later." Tao Wanniang already had a vague plan in mind, but she still needed to refine the details. She walked around the restaurant and got a general understanding of it.

"Since no one knew this was your Prince Rui's residence before, why not change the name of Baoyue Tower?" Tao Wanniang suggested as she left the restaurant, looking at the signboard.

"Everything is up to Sister Tao," Xiao Yi replied.

After leaving the restaurant, Tao Wanniang asked Xiao Yi to take her home.

"Oh, right, you should draft a contract with the person in charge and a detailed breakdown of profit sharing. Even close brothers need to keep clear accounts. Even though I am of low rank and have little influence, I must still sign a contract." Only after the contract is signed will the relationship between the two parties be equal.

Xiao Yi nodded, and also looked Tao Wanniang up and down.

"Sister Tao, I'm afraid I'm being a bit offensive, but I always feel that someone as knowledgeable as you is not like an ordinary peasant woman."

“My biological father was a traveling doctor, and my biological mother was the daughter of Xiu Chang. Although they passed away early, I read quite a lot of books since I was a child,” Tao Wanniang said. The original owner of this body was like that, but the days of being a widow and raising a child had wasted all her talent.

"I see." Xiao Yi suddenly realized. "In that case, if nothing unexpected had happened, Sister Tao might have had a completely different life."

“Yes, if nothing had changed, I wouldn’t have married into Lingjia Village and into a peasant boy,” Tao Wanniang said, echoing Xiao Yi’s words. “Now that peasant boy has become a great general. As for me, shouldn’t I also start living my own life?”

"Sister Tao holds a grudge!" Xiao Yi laughed, responding to what he had said about Lingyun Prefecture earlier!

"Yes!" Tao Wanniang replied, which was considered an admission.

"Let me know when the contract is drafted, and I'll come over to your residence to take a look," Tao Wanniang said to Xiao Yi as she dismounted from the carriage at the door of her house.

"Okay, Sister Tao, please come inside." Xiao Yi watched Tao Wanniang push open the door and go inside, then let Cheng Feng drive away.

"Mother, what are you doing at Prince Rui's mansion?" As soon as Tao Wanniang entered the living room, Ling Dahu came over and asked, "Is the restaurant about to open?"

"What, does your mother have to explain everything to you?" Tao Wanniang retorted directly.

"No, no, Mother, I'm just bored. If the restaurant opens, we can be busy, right?" Ling Dahu immediately explained. "Mother, Dapeng and I still want to work as waiters with you."

Tao Wan's mother was stunned for a moment, then looked at her son again. Although he was good-looking, he was not clever enough.

“In a few days, I’ll take you and Dapeng to a restaurant. The waiters there are different from the waiters in our small eatery. They need to be more perceptive and know how to please the customers,” Tao Wanniang said. “But I wonder if your General Father will be unhappy about it then.”

Ling Dahu shuddered at the thought of his father's stern face and his tough attitude when he told them to exercise.

"Mom, being a waiter is great, I'm sure I can do it well."

"What a... good-for-nothing!" Tao Wanniang looked at Ling Dahu's hasty declaration and wondered where things had gone wrong. It was quite amusing to think that the general's son liked to be a waiter.

In the days that followed, Tao Wanniang had more contact with the Prince Rui's residence. After several revisions of the contract she proposed, both parties finally signed and sealed it.

"Young Master, wasn't it said that the Princess Consort was going to open a restaurant? Why is your name on the contract?" Tao Wanniang asked, puzzled, looking at the name on the contract.

“I am the only heir of the Prince Rui’s mansion. Won’t it all be mine in the future?” Xiao Yi said frankly. “Everything is proceeding according to Sister Tao’s wishes, and construction has begun.”

"That would be perfect! The Lantern Festival is just around the corner, a wonderful day for fun!" Tao Wanniang had made up her mind: on the Lantern Festival, she would take the whole family to the biggest restaurant in the capital to learn the secrets of cooking!