Looking at the two hundred taels of gold on the table, Tian Yu completely lost interest. She thought about how kind they had been to her, and the hurt look in Zhao Moyan's eyes when he left—a look she felt she had seen long ago. She felt a pang of sadness and self-reproach. She shouldn't have accepted the money, shouldn't have agreed to Xiao Tian's request. Although she was just a maidservant in the Prince's mansion for the past month, everyone had treated her very well, especially Tang Yuan, who always treated her like her mother. Had she gone too far? Thinking this, Tian Yu buried her face in her hands and cried sadly. She didn't want to be like this, but she really wasn't the Princess Consort. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn't be able to leave. What would she do when the real Princess Consort returned?
Tangyuan didn't show up after knowing that Tianyu was leaving. The next day, Xuri packed his luggage and came to find Tianyu. Tianyu looked at the gold on the table, wrapped it up, and said to Xuri, "Wait for me for a while, I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" As soon as Xu Ri finished speaking, Tian Yu ran away with Jinzi in her arms.
In the courtyard, Tian Yu placed the gold on the table and said, "Here's your money back. I didn't leave because of you; it was my own decision to leave. I don't want this money."
Xiao Tian gracefully stroked the zither and said, "I heard that the princess loves to sing, is also very good at cooking, and has excellent literary talent. I practiced every book and every poem of hers as hard as I could, and I memorized them all. Even the Third Prince thought I was her. But when I came to the capital, I realized that I was not her at all. Because of you, all my efforts were in vain, and all my sacrifices seemed worthless. Don't be proud. You are just a substitute for her, and you are only more similar to her than me!"
"You're overthinking it. None of us are her, and I don't want to be her!" Tian Yu didn't want to continue talking to her, so she left after saying that.
Xiao Tian behind him chuckled and said, "If you want to know if you are her, just go to the dungeon in the capital and you'll find out."
Tian Yu hesitated for a moment, then hurried away. After leaving the Prince's mansion with Xuri, the two stayed temporarily at a small inn. The Prince's mansion still offered them two months' wages, but Tian Yu resolutely refused, taking only one month's pay. She and Xuri agreed to find jobs in the capital first, and once they had earned enough money, they would leave together to find a quiet place to open a small shop and live a leisurely life.
The next day, the two went to the capital to look for work, but after searching all morning, they still couldn't find anything suitable. They were starving and ate a simple bowl of noodles on the street. As a carriage passed by, Zhao Moyan lifted the curtain and saw Tian Yu and Xu Ri eating noodles, chatting and laughing. He angrily pulled the curtain back down.
Tian Yu saw that Yue Lai Restaurant had posted a job advertisement. Looking at the salary, Tian Yu gritted her teeth and pulled Xu Ri inside. Xu Ri reminded her, "They're hiring a head chef. Can we handle it?"
"Don't worry, at worst we'll get kicked out."
To Tian Yu's surprise, the young owner of the restaurant agreed to hire her the moment he saw her, even offering three times her salary. Tian Yu's eyes widened in astonishment, but she still requested that Xuri stay as well. Huang Xuan readily agreed. Looking at the person in front of him who looked exactly like Tian Yu, he had long heard from Qiu Ju about the two people in the Prince's mansion who looked exactly like the Princess. Huang Xuan had wanted to meet them for a long time, but since Zhao Moyan was now a prince, he hadn't dared to disturb him. Now that the person had come to him, he was naturally overjoyed.
After learning the reason, Tian Yu realized it was because she resembled the deceased princess again. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These past two days, walking the streets of the capital, Tian Yu had constantly encountered people who mistook her for her, kowtowing and offering gifts. Tian Yu suddenly felt incredibly jealous. So many people remembered her, so many people liked her—was she here just to be her shadow? But faced with the high salary, Tian Yu stayed. And so, Tian Yu smoothly became the head chef of Yue Lai Restaurant. Things seemed to be going so smoothly that Tian Yu felt their long-awaited leisurely life was about to be realized.
In the following days, Tian Yu and Xu Ri were extremely busy at Yue Lai Restaurant. Tian Yu's dishes were very popular. Huang Xuan ate the dishes on the table and felt that his decision was right. Since Tian Yu left, his restaurant business had become much sluggish. Without fresh dishes, customers were not buying into it. Now, seeing the restaurant packed before noon, Huang Xuan was overjoyed. Several luxurious carriages stopped at the door. Huang Xuan knew at a glance who had come. Prince Li Xingyun had brought Zhao Moyan to the restaurant for a meal.
Zhao Moyan knew, of course, that Tian Yu worked as a chef here. The group sat in the private room, seemingly hesitant to speak, when Huang Xuan spoke up: "Your Highnesses, please try our newly hired chef. Brother Li, please also try our chef!"
As they ate, the food tasted all too familiar, and they all felt a mix of emotions. They all hoped that she was Tian Yu, but reality made it impossible. Prince Wu put down his chopsticks and looked at Zhao Moyan, saying, "Are you really going to let her leave?"
“She wanted to leave on her own,” Zhao Moyan said.
“It’s good that she’s gone. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know what to do if you faced her every day!” Li Xingyun said.
"Are you sure it wasn't a deliberate attempt to get close?" Prince Wu asked.
“No, it doesn’t seem like it. I’ve checked, but I haven’t found anything. It’s like she suddenly appeared out of thin air; there’s not a single clue,” Zhao Moyan said.
"Why don't you let me try handing her over?" said Prince Wu.
"Let her be!" Zhao Moyan said.
As soon as Xu Ri saw the group enter the store, he ran to the kitchen to tell Tian Yu. Tian Yu was too busy to do anything but casually said, "They are people too, they need to eat, what's the big deal?"
Finally, the day's work was over. Tian Yu was so tired that she couldn't even lift her hands. She lay motionless on the table. When Xu Ri finished tidying up and saw Tian Yu like this, he said, "Why don't we just forget about it and look for other jobs? Look how tired you are."
Tian Yu said she was fine; it was just that those people insisted she cook for them and ordered more than a dozen dishes, which is why she was so tired and her whole body ached.
The same group of people came again the next day, ordering every dish and specifically asking Tian Yu to cook them herself. Tian Yu was furious when she saw the menu, but that's what she does, and it's normal for people to order food. So Tian Yu gritted her teeth and endured it, cooking for another day.
For the next few days, the three of them arrived at noon every day as if they had planned it, and they always ordered so many dishes. Tian Yu felt like she was going to collapse. The other chefs saw her so busy every day, and even though they wanted to help, they didn't dare to. The next day, one chef made a dish according to Tian Yu's instructions, but the dish was returned, and two more dishes were added. From then on, they only dared to watch and not to interfere. No matter how tired Tian Yu was, the customer is God, and the restaurant is for cooking for people. What could they say?
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