Gu Yunxi woke up early and carried her big dark-green sack filled with necessities, and then she went out on horse with Leng Qingtang.

The way to the border of western tribes from Ping Mount wasn't short. When they reached the business street, it was noon.

Gu Yunxi secretly got happy as it was the perfect timing.

The business street they were at was the largest concentration of trade on the border of Central Plains and the western tribes. It covered wide and took the main street as the central axis, extending for thousands of miles around, among which were thousands of lanes radiating in all directions. And the lanes were full of shops and stores. People from the Central Plains and the western tribes, as well as camel and horse teams always gathered here to sell all kinds of hard-to-get goods.

Walking half a day from here to the east, one would arrive at Baishui Gate.

Gu Yunxi and Leng Qingtang got off their horses at the Dongzhou Restaurant located on the main street.

Rules of the border were quite special as the height of civilians' houses weren't strictly limited. No matter they were civilians' houses, shops, or buildings, they were all built in the style of two-storeyed or three-storeyed pavilions.

Eastland Restaurant was built as tall as a four-storeyed building, and its whole architectural style was totally different from the surrounding western lofts with spires and domes. It was built in the style of Central Plains as it had gable and hip roofs, pillars painted in red, and railings made of white jade. Gold and jade were inlaid into the eaves column.

Lu Qiange had told Gu Yunxi about this restaurant.

It was the most famous restaurant near the border as its dishes combined the features of Central Plains and the western tribes, even its self-made osmanthus wine was one of the local specialties. Therefore, the guests who came here were mostly officers and royals, as well as numerous rich businessmen.

Of course, a restaurant like this would be thriving as shovel-loads of money was made every day.

Seeing the plaque on the head sill, Gu Yunxi grinned as she lowered her voice, saying to Leng Qingtang,

"Darling, just enjoy yourself with the food and drink after you get in. I'll deal with everything."

Reaching out his hands, Leng Qingtang stroked her face with a smile and said gently,

"Yes. I know."

Before they could move on, a servant had run out to serve them in delight,

"Hello, there. Please come in. Please come in."

Those servants all were observant. Seeing the couple were dressed nice and well with garishness and nobleness on sturdy horses, so they assumed they were rich and powerful people.

Wiping the table again, the servant threw his duster cloth over his shoulder as he smiled at the couple obsequiously.

"Please have a seat. Just make yourself at home and let me know if you need anything to eat or drink."

Gu Yunxi cocked her eyes to the side and found her position was quite close to the counter, so she calmly got herself seated and ordered,

"Get us a pot of good tea, a hotpot, a plate of beef, a plate of mutton, two plates of vegetables, and three of your daily specials. Plus, a jar of osmanthus wine, thanks."

The servant nodded with a smile,

"Okay, madam. Please have a seat."

The servant instantly swiveled and brought a pot of scented tea. After pouring two cups of tea for the couple, he left and went away.

After sipping the tea, Leng Qingtang asked Gu Yunxi,

"Darling, what's your next move?"

Gu Yunxi smugly smiled as if she's got everything under control. Slowly swiveling to look at the manager behind the counter who was busy calculating on an abacus. When she turned around to Leng Qingtang, she purposely kept him guessing.

"Take your time, darling. You'll get it after we have the hotpot."

Before long, all the dishes she's ordered had been served. The bone soup tumbled in the hotpot as it came with an aroma.

The seasonings matching the boiled meat were nothing but a bowl of sesame paste, a saucer of chopped scallion, a saucer of chopped Chinese parsley, and a saucer of spicy sauce.

Another three specials were Simmered Crispy Fried Chicken With Edible Bird's Nest, Eight-Treasure Sourced Pork Shanks, and Fried Crab With Shark Fins. Each one looked exquisite with a unique taste.

It was noon for lunch. Customers came in and out of the restaurant. The noise of going upstairs and downstairs never seemed to stop. Over ten servants got worn out.

One had to admit that the business of Dongzhou Restaurant was too thriving.

After tasting some dishes, Gu Yunxi started to look around. She naughtily blinked her eyes as she guessed she's got a chance.

She took out a pack of ten spicy flavors from her bag and just opened a few layers of the oilpaper, and then a thick exotic fragrance came to them.

"What's that fragrance?"

"It smells so good. What's the dish?"

The guests near them sniffed it at first as several people all stopped eating and looked around.

At the time, Gu Yunxi threw the pack of pasty favors into the tumbling white soup.

Beef tallow got resolved when meeting heat as the red spicy oil gradually dyed the white soup, as if a beautiful rose gradually grew into full bloom. The unique aroma of meat was brought into the air by the dense smoke rising from the clear oil soup, and it flew to every corner of the hall, instantly covering up all the other dishes' aroma.

"Where does the aroma come from?"

"Servant, please come here. I want to know which dish is that?"

"Me too. Tell me its name. I want to order it and have a taste, too."

All the guests got attracted by the tempting aroma as they even ignored their own dishes on the table. A little bit of chaos broke out.

Noticing that his wife across from him looked smart and smug, Leng Qingtang instantly responded to her. He picked up a little roll of boiled mutton and put it on the plate of Gu Yunxi's. He also purposely lifted his voice and said,

"My darling, how perfect the ten spicy soup is! Here's the boiled mutton. Try and taste it first."

"Thanks, darling."

With a gentle smile, Gu Yunxi noticed from the corner of her eyes that some guests at the nearby tables glancing at her hotpot curiously.

Swallowing the mutton without any expressions, she continued to chat, eat and drink with Leng Qingtang.

"Darling, hurry up and finish these so that we can continue our journey. We've got stuff to handle today."

"Fine. Take your time, my darling."

A fat guest at the west table was dressed up as a man from the western tribes. He rose to his feet and spoke accented Central Plains Mandarin as he ceaselessly waved at the servant at the counter.

"Come here, manager. Which hotpot is that? Give one like that to us, too."

Other couples of guests also learned from him and started to ask the servant to give the hotpot on the table of Gu Yunxi.

The manager of the restaurant wore a gown of slate-blue Japanese silk damask with a raised pattern of eight large medallions. The silk of his waistband was full of sachets and emerald jades. With a hat made of black silk ribbons, he seemed like a decent man.

He was over forty with a short yet straight slim build. He walked fast toward the table of Gu Yunxi's with an amiable smile before respectfully raising fist salute to her and Leng Qingtang,

"Nice to meet you, my distinguished guests. My family name is Jiao, and I'm the manager of this restaurant. May I ask you what kind of condiment have you put into this hotpot?"

Thinking of her previous instructions, Leng Qingtang didn't say anything as he got busy lowering her head and enjoying the dishes with the alcohol.

Dropping her chopsticks, Gu Yunxi calmly took out her embroidered handkerchief to wipe her lips clean. She slightly widened her eyes and said gently,

"It's nothing but the ancestral hotpot-condiment recipe of my husband's family. Here we are to have a rest in your restaurant. Seeing you've got hotpots to serve, we decide to add a pack of that to your hotpot to have a taste. We're really sorry if we have bothered your business."

"Oh, no, not at all. You don't have to be sorry."

Manager Jiao continuously waved his hands as he stared at the hotpot with red soup with a smile.

The guests near them came close with a grin as they greeted him with a bow, asking,

"Excuse me, gentleman, could you please give me some of your flavors?"

"Well..."

Leng Qingtang mumbled deeply as he pretended to be embarrassed.

Gu Yunxi said with a smile,

"Bro, I'm so sorry. We carry this out of our home to bring it to a store at the Central Plains before the sunset. The store has ordered it in advance, and we don't have another one at hand now. I'm really sorry."

The guest at the other table got impatient and wined,

"Well, just please don't turn me down anymore. How much is a pack of your flavors? I've got money to pay. You can sell it to me as much as you can sell it to him. Aren't they both the same? People like me don't have other hobbies except eating and drinking new stuff. How much is it? Just name it. Hurry up!"

Gu Yunxi jumped at the chance and stood up giggling before playing hard-to-get,

"Is it okay? If I sell it to you alone, the amount of all the packs will become smaller, which is different from the amount listed on the order form. What if the owner of the store wants to cancel the order due to it?"

"Fine. Fine. Does anyone else want it? You've got to sell them to us if we buy all your flavors."

The man drooled over the hotpot so much that he wouldn't give up until he got what he wanted.

His wining made other guests responded as they raised hands or took out their money pocket, yelling,

"I want it, too. Please sell me one."

"And me."

"We've got more people, so we need two hotpots. We need two packs of flavors."

Gu Yunxi frowned as she still unwillingly said,

"Fine. The pack looks small, but it was made of hundreds of kinds of expensive flavors from over ten countries in western tribes, Central Plains, East Sea. Now here's the place of prosperous business. So, I don't need to say much since you should have known the price of my flavors well."

"But it's a kind of destiny that we meet here, and I don't want to raise the price of the flavors. How about you just give me its cost? Five taels of silver for each pack. What do you think?"

As for those people with fame and prestige. Five taels of silver wasn't too much. They could totally accept it.

The man instantly threw his silver at the table without any words.

Gu Yunxi giggled as she picked up the silver and tossed it with her palm. Her lips curved deeper,

"How straightforward! Okay, here you are."

She said as she took out a pack of flavors from her bag and gave it to him.

The man acted as if he just got his precious treasure. Without tearing up the oilpaper on the outside, he quickly put the pack in front of his nose and sniffed. Then he became surprised,

"It smells so good. Manager, please help me set up a hotpot, two plates of mutton and beef, a plate of fresh mushrooms, and a jar of good wine."

Seeing that, the guests all rushed over and surrounded Gu Yunxi and Leng Qingtang as they fought to pass their silver to the couple in their high-raised hands.

All the insanity showed they feared that the flavors would be sold out to others first before they bought it.

"Give me a pack of the flavors."

"Give me first. I want two packs..."

Manager Jiao and the servants all got squeezed aside. Jiao kept his mouth half-open as he got shocked to death.

There were too many people around, so Gu Yunxi lifted her legs and stood on the chair, and then she swiveled to Leng Qingtang, saying,

"Darling, you take charge of collecting all the silver, while I take charge of sending out the flavors."

"Okay."

Leng Qingtang did it as she said as he was amused on the inside. He never imagined that his wife was not only ingenious but also good at doing business.

What a quick-witted little thing! She was so adorable.

During lunchtime, the ten packs of ten spicy flavors brought here by Gu Yunxi all sold out at the price of five taels of silver for each sack.

Even the hotpots, all kinds of wine, and choice dishes of the restaurant all sold out much more than they did in the usual days.

After they got full at lunchtime, Leng Qingtang asked the servant to pay the bill, and then he left with Gu Yunxi with a huge bag filled with silver ingots before saying goodbye.

And then they ran into Manager Feng who was busy greeting them with a bow as he stopped them with a smile.