And his bodyguards, all trained by his maternal grandfather, can't just wander around freely in this palace. I don't know if they're not skilled enough, but they're getting annoyed. Luckily, his two aunts are on his side; otherwise, if they were enemies, it would be even more troublesome.
On the opening day, An Shuyi and Xia Hua did not stay together. Instead, they went to the pastry shop and the hot pot restaurant, but they only watched and did not show up. They left the other matters to the shopkeeper.
An Shuyi went to a pastry shop. As soon as it opened, the shop was surrounded by people, all curious about what it sold.
Inside the dim sum shop's main hall, besides the cashier's counter, there's a row of cabinets filled with all kinds of finished dim sum. The cabinets are made of wood, except for the very front one, which is transparent—not glass, but a transparent plastic panel.
From the outside, you can see the exquisite pastries and cakes inside the cabinet. After the firecrackers are set off, the maids in the pastry shop start to greet the customers. Once one person goes in, more and more people follow.
Looking at the contents of the cabinet, the brightly colored pastries were something they had never seen before. "Miss, what are these things, and how much do they cost?"
An Yu was in charge of getting the pastries from the counter. There were two other girls besides her. When a customer asked, she quickly replied, "These are our shop's new pastries. They're especially delicious. There are samples here, so you can try them."
When the guests heard that it was a new type of pastry and they could try it, they all tried a little bit. After eating it, they found that it tasted really good and was different from the pastries they had eaten before.
After watching them eat the snacks, An Yu said again, "In addition to these everyday snacks, our Mi Sweet Dessert Shop also makes cakes, like these. You can buy cakes when a child in the family has a birthday or an elder has a long life."
"We can make small ones like this, and we can also make large ones with multiple layers. We can make fruit jam, chocolate sauce, and many other flavors on top. You can buy them and try them out."
After her introduction, many people said they wanted to buy some to try. Some bought some to take away, while others ate them in the lobby. For a time, the pastry shop was very lively.
The same goes for the spicy hot pot restaurant on the other side. Although such a restaurant appears and is labeled as a hot pot restaurant, people are curious about things they don't understand. Once inside, they find that they understand even less.
Of course, this didn't stop them from learning. Soon, with the waiter's explanation, they gained some understanding of hot pot, and everyone sat down to try it out.
When the restaurant opened, the steward of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion made a brief appearance. Although he left quickly, he made it clear to everyone that the newly opened spicy hot pot restaurant had a powerful backer, namely the Duke of Dingguo's mansion.
When the dessert shop was closed for the night, An Shuyi told them to close it so she could prepare the desserts she would need for the next day before returning to her residence.
Meanwhile, at the hot pot restaurant on the other side, Xia Hua didn't stay long when it was time for dinner. She left Xu Shan to handle the restaurant's affairs and returned to her residence. The hot pot restaurant, however, stayed open very late, only closing after the customers had left.
When An Shuyi returned, Xia Hua had not yet come back, so she could only sit in the hall and wait for her. After she returned, the two talked about the shops. On the first day, both shops had very good business, but for now, it was just for novelty. Only after a long time and good business would they be able to settle down.
After finishing their meal, the two took a bath and went to sleep. They didn't get up until noon. After breakfast, instead of going to the shop, they left the city and headed to the Beggars' Temple outside the city.
They had been here for over twenty days. Although they weren't very familiar with the capital, they knew there were beggars there. Now, they had been away from the village for almost two months, and they had no idea what the female protagonist was up to. They hadn't found the beggars they were looking for.
So the two decided to spend the next few days looking for some beggars, and once they had enough, they would go and check on the female lead.
The Beggars' Temple, as the name suggests, is a place to shelter beggars. It was originally a temple, but after it fell into disrepair, beggars often stayed there, so it became the Beggars' Temple. When the two arrived, they found that the place was really bad.
A dilapidated temple, filled with weeds and some tattered cotton quilts, the cotton inside spilled out, making them unusable. However, there was no one in the temple now, probably out begging.
cough cough
Hearing the sound, the two looked into the corner and then discovered that there was a person lying in the corner of the dilapidated temple. If they hadn't heard the coughing, they wouldn't have been able to see him at all.
However, the two of them didn't go over. Since there was no little beggar now, they planned to find a place to stay until dark before coming back. Anyway, it would only be two hours. As for the person coughing, they didn't care at all.
After leaving the dilapidated temple, the two saw a nice spot on the hillside and decided to sit there for a while.
An Shuyi found a clean place to sit down. "Huahua, I didn't expect to be able to see the city gate from here." You see, they had to walk along a flat official road and climb a mountain path to get here to the dilapidated temple.
I thought it was quite a distance from the capital, but I didn't expect to be able to see the city gate.
Xia Hua sat down next to her, took out a bag of pine nuts and handed it to her, while grabbing a handful for herself. "Seeing the capital is perfectly normal, there's no need to make a fuss."
"You don't understand. We've traveled quite a distance, so it's naturally strange to see the city gate here."
Xia Hua didn't want to argue with her, and didn't say anything more. "Want some ice cream? I'll get you one." She suddenly wanted some ice cream.
An Shuyi nodded, "I want a peach flavor." Every time she saw Hua Hua buying things in the mall, she felt it was particularly amazing, even though her trading system was also powerful.
But Huahua's place is different. Even though it doesn't have a refrigerator, it still sells ice cream and things like roast chicken.
"Here you go!" Xia Hua bought the peach-flavored ice cream she wanted before starting to eat hers. The two of them stayed on the hillside for more than two hours before heading down the mountain to the dilapidated temple.
As darkness fell, the two men reached the courtyard gate outside the dilapidated temple and heard crying and shouting coming from inside. They exchanged a glance and knew that there were quite a few beggars in the temple.
As the two entered, they saw several children standing in the courtyard of the dilapidated temple, and in front of the children were several men, one of whom was kicking and beating a beggar on the ground.
It seems these men are either extortionists or the leaders of a group of children who send them out to beg every day, and they give them whatever they get.
Seeing the boy who was beaten to the point of near death, the other children wanted to go over, but they didn't dare. An Shuyi and Xia Hua didn't move, they just watched. Soon, one of the children rushed forward and pushed the man who was beating the boy away.
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