Chapter 35: Chapter 35: A "Bloody Case" Caused by a Cup of Milk Tea

"Aunt Gui, please, just tell me more!" Xiao Chun pestered her.

The woman with the headscarf, known as Aunt Gui, lived at the entrance to the market. She was a neighbor to Granny Qiu’s family, so she knew all the more gossip.

Ming Lingyi paid no mind to Xiao Chun’s gossiping with Aunt Gui and returned to the shop to plan the day’s menu.

On a recent trip to a market in the suburb of the capital, she had bought not only a good deal of kitchenware and tableware but also vegetables and meat.

However, even with the Silver Coin she had earned selling plum blossom cakes at the gates of the Imperial College, her funds were still tight.

Pre-ordering the milk for the shop, in particular, had cost her the better part of her savings.

After all, here in the Dayan Dynasty, milk was not only expensive but also scarce.

Ming Lingyi had prepaid for a month’s supply of milk. Sourcing it directly from a farmer was already considered a great bargain.

So, when Ming Lingyi considered making mutton for her grand opening, she hesitated for only a moment before decisively turning and walking over to the pork stall.

Compared to the bustling mutton stalls and the beef stalls—which only very rarely had meat from old or sick cattle—the pork stall was practically deserted.

In the Dayan Dynasty, everyone from the noble families to the common folk preferred mutton. Under the Li Family’s rule, even mutton wasn’t considered a luxury for most ordinary households.

As for pork, however, very few people would choose it.

The pigs weren’t castrated, so many people who didn’t know how to prepare it properly found the flavor overpowering.

Even ordinary families seldom bought pork.

Now that Ming Lingyi was strapped for cash and didn’t have enough Silver Taels for mutton, pork at five copper coins a pound was her best option.

And five copper coins bought you prime cuts like tenderloin and pork belly. Ribs, pork leg, and the like were even cheaper.

Ming Lingyi bought half a side of pork outright, which came to just under a hundred pounds.

According to the farmer selling it, the pig hadn’t been cooped up in a sty. Instead, it "went for a walk" with his family’s cow every day, so the meat was guaranteed to be firm.

Thrilled to finally have a major customer like Ming Lingyi, the farmer even offered to throw in the pig’s offal for free, without charging a single copper coin.

Pig offal was generally considered useless. Even when it was sold, an entire bundle went for less than ten copper coins.

After all, if the people of the Dayan Dynasty barely ate pork, why would they want the offal?

But Ming Lingyi thought, ’It’s free, so why not take it?’ She was no longer the Grand Tutor’s daughter, nor some concubine in the imperial harem. Silver, the one thing she’d never had to worry about, was now what she lacked most.

The farmer delivered everything to her shop’s door, and Ming Lingyi agreed that if the pork tasted good, she would place another order and they could even sign a long-term contract. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Although it was the first month of the year, the cold of the twelfth month would linger for some time yet. So, after she and Xiao Chun finished butchering the side of pork, they stored it in the cellar.

This morning, Xiao Chun retrieved the pork belly Ming Lingyi needed.

Ming Lingyi was planning to make crispy pork belly for lunch.

While Ming Lingyi was planning her menu for the day and Xiao Chun was outside getting gossip from Aunt Gui about Granny Qiu’s family near the market entrance, things were also getting quite lively inside the Imperial College.

Unlike in the previous dynasty when only the children of officials were admitted, the Imperial College of the Dayan Dynasty was open to more. Internally, however, the student body was still split into several factions.

These factions weren’t divided by family background, but by academic performance. The school was split into Classes A, B, C, and D, which sorted the students into different camps.

To be in Class A, a student either had to have top-tier grades or a family wealthy enough to stuff the Imperial College with enough Silver to get in through "connections."

Zhang Zhidong was in Class A.

Class A, which normally had the most scholarly atmosphere, was exceptionally boisterous today.

The cause was none other than a cup of jujube milk tea.

Zhang Zhidong’s academic performance was mediocre. He wasn’t failing, but he was far from being at the top of the class.

His father had spent a great deal of Silver to get him into Class A. There was no need to worry about his father, the Vice Minister of Ministry of Revenue, being impeached over this "premium" tuition. It wasn’t considered a bribe, just the high price of a good education. After all, the extra Silver didn’t end up in the hands of the National Academy Sacrificial Officer, nor did it line the pockets of any of the Doctors. It went directly into the Imperial College’s "public account."

It was generally used for public expenditures like repairing buildings and replacing desks and chairs.

This policy, it was said, had been proposed by the late Empress Hui Ming.

The late Empress had only proposed the idea because the Dayan Dynasty was newly founded and the treasury was empty, and Emperor Jing’an had forcefully seen it through.

There had been a great deal of opposition at first, but judging by the results of the past few years, the policy had proven to be quite successful.

Zhang Zhidong had no great ambition for his studies, but when it came to all things culinary, he was considered the foremost expert in all of Class A.

He had carried a bamboo flask into the classroom today, which at first drew no attention. But the moment he removed the lid, a rich, fragrant aroma of milk tea filled the entire hall.

"Who is that? Who brought something like that into the classroom?!"

"It smells amazing! It’s like the fragrance of a pastry mountain, but magnified ten times—no, a hundred, a thousand times! It smells so good!"

"It even smells smooth. Is that milk? And it seems like there’s a hint of black tea, too? Damn, who brought that in here?"

Soon, all eyes in Class A had locked onto Zhang Zhidong.

Zhang Zhidong calmly took a packaged Jade Plum Shocking Snow Cake from his book bag. He paired it with the roasted milk tea from his bamboo flask, took a delicate sip, and met the gazes of his classmates, who had all been drawn in by the aroma. He smacked his lips, savoring the milky fragrance that lingered on his palate.

"Exquisite! Such a drink must come from the heavens; how rarely is it savored in the mortal realm!" Zhang Zhidong declared, showing off his literary flair.

"Oh, shut up! Who wants to hear you waxing poetic? Let me have a sip!" his friend blurted out, leaning over and snatching the bamboo flask of milk tea right out of the stunned Zhang Zhidong’s hands.

"Aaaah! I’ll kill you for that!" Zhang Zhidong yelled, scrambling to get it back.

But by the time he snatched it back, the flask, which had been over three-quarters full, was now less than a third full.

He had been cherishing every drop, taking only tiny sips, and now someone had snatched it away and drunk more than half the flask!

Zhang Zhidong felt a sharp pang in his heart!

He didn’t think fifteen copper coins was expensive for a milk tea, but having half of it stolen and drunk by someone else caused him unbearable heartache.

"Liu Lingxing! I’m going to kill you! That was my milk tea! I only bought this one serving, and you, you bastard, you drank half of it! Do you have no conscience? Doesn’t your heart ache at all?!" Zhang Zhidong shouted, shaking his friend Liu Lingxing by the shoulders in agitation.

But Liu Lingxing was ecstatic. "This stuff is incredible! I’ve never had a drink so... so smooth! What’s it called? Where did you buy it? Can I get more?"

The two of them were on completely different wavelengths.