Li Yun was silent.

"Has anyone around her noticed anything unusual?" Li Yun finally asked after a moment.

"Miss Ming has only one maid, Xiao Chun, who doesn’t seem to have noticed any issues. As for the rest of the Ming Family, they have all been thrown into the dungeons."

Li Yun said, "You mentioned that the second branch of the Ming Family tried to seize the family’s assets, and even..." Li Yun paused, suppressing the complex emotions stirring in his heart. "They sold off Miss Ming’s dowry and stole things from her room, causing her and her maid to fall on hard times just to survive?"

The Hidden Guard did not dare to conceal the truth. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Out of sight, Li Yun fiddled with the thumb ring on his hand and sneered. "Then send a message to the dungeons of the Jingzhao Mansion. Take good care of those disloyal, unfilial, inhumane, and unrighteous swine on Our behalf!"

’Even though I haven’t seen this young lady from the Ming family in person, she wears the face of my Yuan Niang. How can I let a bunch of scoundrels bully her?’ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

An unnamed fury burned in Li Yun’s heart.

But after he spoke, the Hidden Guard below, whose face rarely showed any change, now wore a peculiar expression.

"Your Majesty, someone has already ’greeted’ them in the dungeons. By the time this subordinate arrived, the father and son from the Ming Family’s second branch had already been severely tortured."

The Dayan Dynasty did not favor cruel punishments. For the Ming Family’s second branch to suffer like this, someone must have given specific instructions.

"Was it the Crown Prince’s people?" Li Yun asked after a moment of thought.

"It was Aunt Yu Yi from the Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince is likely unaware," the Hidden Guard said.

Li Yun grunted in acknowledgment. "Then continue to ’greet’ them well. Don’t let them die so easily."

"Yes."

Liu Ye stood in the grand hall like a wooden post. He knew very well that when he wasn’t required to speak, it was best to be a mute—or better yet, invisible.

Hearing the conversation, Liu Ye clicked his tongue inwardly. ’It seems the people from the Ming Family’s second branch won’t be walking out of those dungeons alive.’

’Well, of all the people to provoke, they just had to pick a fight with his master’s lady? She was the one his master held dearest to his heart.’

Liu Ye suddenly recalled the scene from two days ago when Fu Yunzi was carried out.

Tsk.

’Trying to fool the master with matters concerning the lady... that old scoundrel didn’t even show me any respect. And what now?’

’Serves him right!’

"Liu Ye."

As Liu Ye’s mind was wandering, Li Yun’s voice fell upon his ears, jolting him back to his senses.

"This old servant is here."

"Go bring back a box of pastries from Ming’s Restaurant."

Ming Lingyi had no idea that people in the palace were so concerned about her. That morning, she had renegotiated the daily milk supply with the farmer who sold it to her. For some reason, her milk tea was becoming a sensation throughout Huaided Fang, not to mention at the Imperial College.

The students from the Imperial College and the residents of Huaided Fang seemed to be in a competition, arriving earlier each day.

Ultimately, however, the residents of Huaided Fang clearly had the upper hand. After all, Ming’s Restaurant was located right in Huaided Fang. The neighbors would line up at the door before the market even opened. As a result, no matter how early the Imperial College students arrived, they could never get there before the market’s opening hour and would leave disappointed.

The Imperial College students were on the verge of protesting.

"Miss Ming! After drinking your milk tea, I’m a hundred times more energetic! I can even stay focused in class. Without it, I’m listless all day. Could you possibly supply a few more cups each day?"

"Boss Ming, this milk tea is life-saving! Please, I’m begging you, save this humble student’s life!"

"This jujube milk tea is like a ray of light in my dim life. Without it, the light is gone. Miss Ming, can you bear to watch us suffer in a sunless hell?"

Ming Lingyi: "..."

’All this groaning for no reason... can they really pass the imperial exams in the future?’

She was speechless, but she kept a smile on her face. "I’m already considering it."

After settling the milk supply with the farmer, Ming Lingyi asked if they raised any poultry at home.

Upon learning that the farmer’s family raised chickens, ducks, and geese, and that many others in their village also raised poultry, Ming Lingyi placed a large order for chicken and duck eggs.

Soon, the plum blossom cakes would be out of season. Her breakfast stall couldn’t just serve milk; otherwise, customers coming for breakfast wouldn’t get their fill. Therefore, Ming Lingyi planned to start selling "spring rolls."

In a little over a month, it would be the Qingming Festival, a time when green balls become a pastry eaten in every household.

Ming Lingyi thought, ’If everyone is selling green balls, what can I do to make mine stand out? If there’s nothing special about them, I expect that once green balls flood the market, the ones in my little shop won’t sell nearly as well as the plum blossom cakes do now.’

After much thought, Ming Lingyi concluded that her only option was to take an unconventional path and sell a flavor that no other shop had in order to stand out.

Over the past few days, she had specifically asked Xiao Chun and the customers in her shop, and she was certain that most of the green balls sold in Shangjing’s shops were sweet. The fillings were either red bean or black sesame, or sometimes brown sugar glutinous rice, which made them taste a bit like eating zongzi.

After mulling it over, Ming Lingyi decided to make savory green balls, filled with salted duck egg yolk.

Gaoyou salted duck eggs were famous for their "delicate color and rich oil." She had never known that salted duck eggs could be combined with other ingredients until one time, when passing through Shu, Li Yun brought back a chef from Sichuan. The chef mixed salted duck egg yolks with fragrant corn kernels, stir-fried them in hot oil, and when served, each distinct kernel of corn was coated in salted egg yolk.

Ming Lingyi had originally thought that the combination of sweet corn and salty egg yolk would taste very strange.

But after one bite, she was captivated by the incredibly unique flavor that filled her mouth.

The sweet fragrance of the corn perfectly masked the faint, eggy smell of the salted duck yolk. And the fried salted egg yolk coating the corn kernels provided a salty, fragrant, crispy, and sandy texture that was truly one of a kind. With a gentle bite, the slightly salty and crispy outer "golden sand" would crack, creating a wonderful contrast with the juicy corn kernels inside.

The soft, mealy texture of the yolk, the crisp tenderness of the corn, the rustling sound while chewing, and the spurt of sweet juice all intertwined. Salty and sweet, crispy and moist, sandy and tender—these seemingly contradictory textures appeared together harmoniously in a single dish of golden sand corn, not feeling out of place in the slightest.

That experience had been an inspiration for Ming Lingyi. ’If salted egg yolk can be mixed with sweet corn, couldn’t it also be combined with sweet, flaky pastries?’

So, she was preparing the salted duck eggs now. In about a month, they would be ready to be opened and used.

As for the chicken eggs, she planned to make egg and milk with fermented rice wine.

If she only sold one type of drink every morning, her customers would get tired of it. Ming Lingyi felt it was time to expand the menu. In any case, her milk supply was now larger than before, so she had extra milk to make different kinds of beverages.

After confirming the egg order, Ming Lingyi prepared to take Xiao Chun to a brokerage to look around. If she could also settle on a guard for the shop today, that would be even better.

However, she didn’t expect that just as she pulled Xiao Chun out of the shop and closed the door, a commotion erupted from not far away—

"Murder! Someone’s been murdered!"