After the Lantern Festival, Tao Wanniang got busy. She had long forgotten about the masked man she had met during the festival. Her restaurant was called Zhaixinglou (Star-Picking Pavilion).

Princess Rui herself wouldn't concern herself with these matters, and the Crown Prince Xiao Yi was also an outsider. Tao Wanniang was more often associated with a middle-aged man named Lu Neng, who would later become the manager of Zhaixinlou.

After careful consideration, Tao Wanniang decided to personally manage the kitchen, as the food in a restaurant naturally couldn't be inferior.

Luneng was transferred from another place by Prince Rui's Mansion; he had previously worked in a restaurant.

"Manager Lu can't handle the accounting at the restaurant by himself, so I'll arrange for one or two people to assist him," Tao Wanniang said to Lu Neng while standing at the restaurant counter.

"Yes, Manager Tao. The young master said that this restaurant is of great importance to you." Lu Neng said respectfully. "As for the waiter, the young master has already arranged ten people. Manager Tao, when is it convenient for you to meet him? I also heard that Manager Tao has two sons who are also going to do this business, is that right?"

“Well, my two good-for-nothing sons can’t do anything else but work as waiters!” Tao Wan’s mother said. “The prices in the private rooms are 20% higher than outside.”

"They play musical instruments and sing here, but I'd like to find a storyteller. I'm tired of the zither and pipa players every day."

Luneng nodded, agreeing to all of Tao Wanniang's reasonable requests, but also offering his own opinions on those that seemed too far-fetched.

As the two were getting into their conversation, two people walked into the restaurant; it was Xiao Yi and Cheng Feng.

Tao Wanniang looked up and then looked away, but Xiao Yi was stunned.

Today, Tao Wanniang was wearing a dark red padded jacket and a skirt, her black hair tied up with a jade hairpin. The moment she turned her head, Xiao Yi immediately thought of the masked woman he had met during the Lantern Festival.

His heart started racing. If you didn't consider his age, Sister Tao seemed to be the woman who pushed him in front of the thief and said that she was her lover.

"Young Master, what's wrong?" Cheng Feng asked, puzzled. Why did you suddenly stop?

"It's nothing." Xiao Yi carefully suppressed his sudden flutter of the heart, then shook his head and chuckled. How could it possibly be Sister Tao! "Well, is there anything I can help you with?"

"When will you call me to open the door?" Tao Wanniang said casually. "I'll call my two family members, and I need an assistant. I can also find a decent chef."

"Sister Tao, aren't you afraid of fighting if there are two chefs in the kitchen?" Cheng Feng teased jokingly.

"What's there to be afraid of? We can just have a friendly competition then. We can also find some skilled cooks who are good at making pastries. In addition, any apprentices are welcome, as long as they are willing to learn. They can practice cutting and preparing food."

Tao Wanniang said nonchalantly, "When I was running a small restaurant, I had Xiao Qiao learn along with me, but now that I'm working in a restaurant, Xiao Qiao is still too young. I want her to learn more at home."

“My eldest daughter-in-law isn’t very talented, but she’s hardworking. She could be an apprentice, but that’s far from enough,” Tao Wan’s mother said. “However, we don’t know how business will be in the beginning, so let’s start here and gradually add more people.”

Xiao Yi watched Tao Wanniang calmly. When she spoke, her expression was serious, and her eyes revealed her earnestness. She was completely different from the cunning woman from that night.

Perhaps he mistook her for someone else, and besides, the woman with her hair tied up must be a married woman, so why should he need to know who she was?

Tao Wanniang sensed Xiao Yi's subtle gaze, but when she looked back, she found him lost in thought. She found it strange, but decided not to ask any questions.

"Then let's do it tomorrow. I'll have someone call all those waiters over. Sister Tao, you should bring your people too," Xiao Yi said after a moment of distraction.

“Okay, it’s settled then,” Tao Wanniang readily agreed.

After finishing her business, Tao Wanniang prepared to go home. Xiao Yi, who also had nothing to do, offered to take her home.

“Then I’ll have to trouble you, Your Highness,” Tao Wanniang replied naturally.

"Sister Tao, did you go out to play on the Lantern Festival? The Lantern Festival in the capital is extremely bustling and lively." On the carriage, Xiao Yi couldn't help but ask again.

“Of course I took the whole family with me,” Tao Wanniang replied. “I also met a few acquaintances there.”

"Oh? Someone Sister Tao knows in Beijing..."

"Your Highness, you're quite the gossip," Tao Wanniang laughed. "It's General Ling, I didn't know that such a rough fellow had the refined taste to appreciate lanterns." Since Xiao Yi had asked, Tao Wanniang deliberately said, "Don't good brothers share many things?"

"Speaking of which, I'm really curious. Does Sister Tao really want the two young masters to be waiters?" Xiao Yi was genuinely puzzled. With a great general as his father, it seemed a waste of talent for his son to be a waiter.

"What, Your Highness, do you think they should do?" Tao Wanniang retorted. "From the most ordinary farm boy to the son of a great general, his status has changed, but isn't he still the same person?"

“It’s not that I asked them to be waiters; it’s that they wanted to be waiters themselves. They don’t know what else they can do besides farming.”

"Even if you don't do anything, you shouldn't have to worry about making a living, right?" Xiao Yi asked, as there was no shortage of spoiled young men in the capital.

“Although I didn’t raise two successful sons, they were practical. If they did nothing, they would become useless,” Tao Wanniang said earnestly. “If Ling Yunzhou wants to take his son back, I won’t object. He is a strict father.”

"Does Sister Tao want me to pass on these words to General Ling?" Xiao Yi asked, understanding the implication.

“Whatever!” Tao Wan’s mother smiled. “I’ve raised them for nearly twenty years, and as their father, I could raise them for another twenty years.”

"Willing to part with it?" Xiao Yi asked, seemingly unable to see through her. He had heard the two sons of the Ling family crying and shouting at the General's Mansion, but when he turned around and saw Tao Wanniang roasting a whole lamb at home, he couldn't help but think that Tao Wanniang was really too bold.

“What is the young master thinking? That’s their own father. It’s not wrong for a father to discipline his sons strictly so that they can become successful!” Tao Wan’s mother said. “When sons grow up, mothers should let go. They’re already fathers, and I, their mother, still have to meddle in everything. They’re not annoyed, but I am!”

"If Sister Tao really lets go, she probably won't want to open a restaurant, right? Didn't you say that the kind of life you wanted was one where you were waited on and didn't have to worry about anything?"

"Do you think I'm building up my son's fortune?" Tao Wan's mother chuckled. "Young Master, I really don't know whether to think highly of me or look down on me! I'm only thirty-seven. Am I supposed to do nothing and just sit around waiting to die?"

Thirty-seven, eight years older than himself, Xiao Yi silently considered for a moment, then put aside any other thoughts.

“I never thought that if the restaurant became too big, I would leave it to my sons. I know my two sons very well; they are not worthy of it,” Tao Wanniang said truthfully. “If I had an inexhaustible supply of money, I wouldn’t worry about this. The world is so big; I also want to go out and see it.”

An inexhaustible supply of money, what a clever idea! Xiao Yi looked at Tao Wanniang and couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.