Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Looking for Trouble

The moment Jiang Yuchuan heard that, he had a bad feeling.

But Zhao Shu had already gathered her retinue of maids and was sweeping toward the cart with the "Ming’s Restaurant" sign.

In such a public place, it wouldn’t be proper for Jiang Yuchuan to cause a scene by grabbing her, so he had no choice but to hurry after her.

"What’s this stuff?" Zhao Shu stopped beside Ming Lingyi’s cart. She saw the top layer was neatly arranged with one green ball after another, each rolled perfectly round by Ming Lingyi, looking absolutely adorable.

She knew of green balls, but she had never seen a salted egg yolk version before.

Besides, a highborn lady like Miss Zhao had always looked down on roadside stalls like this one.

She wouldn’t have even bothered to glance over if her cousin hadn’t been staring at the female vendor today.

Ming Lingyi looked at the exquisitely dressed young woman before her and explained with a faint smile, "This is a new flavor of green ball, different from the traditional red bean or lotus seed paste varieties. The filling isn’t purely sweet. If you’re interested, Miss, you could buy one to try."

Zhao Shu: "Is this stuff even edible?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Ming Lingyi could tell the girl was just trying to cause trouble, but she didn’t lose her temper. She gestured to the patrons sitting at the simple, foldable tables and chairs she had set out. "So many people seem to enjoy them, so I imagine they must be edible."

Disgust filled Zhao Shu’s eyes. "Fine, then. Give me one of each flavor."

"Right away." It didn’t matter to Ming Lingyi what a customer’s attitude was. ’I’m just here to make money,’ she thought.

Xiao Chun deftly packed up one of each flavor. "That’s four flavors in total. Each green ball is thirty wen, so that comes to one hundred and twenty wen."

Zhao Shu’s maid produced a tael of Silver. "Keep the change."

Zhao Shu was only pretending to buy the green balls. In truth, she just wanted to get a closer look at Ming Lingyi and see what kind of person could make her cousin stop and stare.

’So she’s nothing more than a common woman struggling to get by,’ she thought. As she drew closer, she realized the woman didn’t have a single decent accessory on her head—just a triangular bandana.

The only things on her earlobes were silver earrings the size of a grain of rice. ’How shabby and cheap,’ Zhao Shu sneered internally. ’Completely unpresentable.’

And of course, she had no intention of eating the green balls.

After paying, she casually ordered the maid behind her, "Throw them out. Who knows how filthy things from the side of the road are."

Hearing this, the maid behind her immediately threw all four green balls onto the ground.

As unconcerned as Ming Lingyi usually was with her patrons’ attitudes, this scene made her brows furrow tightly.

Neither Xiao Chun nor Shi Mingyue were known for their gentle tempers. They had already been fuming when they heard Zhao Shu order her maid to throw away the freshly bought green balls without so much as a single taste.

But seeing the green balls their mistress had worked so hard to make get carelessly tossed on the ground—and even stomped on a couple of times—sent them over the edge. The adorable green balls rolled twice across the dirt, their once-glossy surfaces instantly coated in dust.

Xiao Chun: "Stop right there!"

Naturally, Zhao Shu wasn’t about to listen to a mere serving girl.

Xiao Chun shot forward, so quickly that Ming Lingyi’s outstretched hand failed to catch her.

"I’m talking to you! I said stop!" Xiao Chun seized one of Zhao Shu’s maids. She was naturally buxom, and while helping Lingyi, she always gave off the impression of a good-natured, cherubic girl. But now that she was angry, the smile was gone from her chubby face, and she actually looked quite fierce.

The maid in charge of Zhao Shu’s purse was naturally her highest-ranking personal attendant.

Attendants to a young lady from a great house commanded considerable respect themselves when out in public.

Fuqu had never been so humiliated in public. To be grabbed by the scruff of her neck by a coarse servant girl, who was holding her as if she were a baby chick!

"AHH!" Fuqu couldn’t help but shriek. "Unhand me! What do you think you’re doing?!"

In that moment, even as Zhao Shu’s top attendant, she found it impossible to control her emotions and couldn’t help but scream hysterically.

Xiao Chun paid her no mind. "Pick them up!" she demanded, her round face nearly twisted with anger. ’Her young mistress’s food... whether it was me, Shi Mingyue, or the regulars at Ming’s Restaurant, almost no one ever said it wasn’t delicious! Even if it wasn’t to someone’s liking, no one was as wasteful as this woman. To just throw freshly bought food on the ground and trample it—how was that not a personal insult?’

Fuqu: "Who do you think you are? Why should I pick up that filthy stuff?"

"You’ve gone too far!" Xiao Chun’s neck flushed red with anger.

It was then that the other maids with Zhao Shu finally reacted, scrambling all at once to pull Xiao Chun away.

But unfortunately for them, even with four or five maids pulling, their combined strength was no match for Xiao Chun’s alone.

"Insolence!" At last, seeing the situation turning against her, Zhao Shu’s brow tightened as she glared at Xiao Chun. "You lowly wench! Have you forgotten your place? How dare you lay a hand on someone from my Duke Jing Mansion!"

When Xiao Chun heard the words "Duke Jing Mansion," she felt a flicker of panic.

She didn’t know what kind of powerful aristocratic family the Duke Jing Mansion was, but they were certainly infinitely more noble than commoners like her. ’But even so,’ she thought, ’does being from the Duke Jing Mansion give them the right to so carelessly ruin the food my mistress worked so hard to make?’

Xiao Chun jutted out her chin, refusing to back down. "You’re the ones who are going too far! My mistress worked her fingers to the bone to make these green balls! What gives you the right to just throw them away as you please?"

Zhao Shu found this almost laughable. ’I’ve truly never seen a lowly servant from any household dare to speak to me this way.’

Speaking to this sort of person was a true insult to her own status.

Zhao Shu merely glanced at the guard by her side. He had been specially assigned by Duchess Jing to ensure Zhao Shu’s safety.

Ordinarily, he would remain by Zhao Shu’s side at all times unless she gave him a command.

Upon receiving his lady’s command, the guard instantly leaped into the crowd and struck out at Xiao Chun.

While Xiao Chun was much stronger than most girls, when it came to actual fighting ability, she had no martial arts training to speak of.

Jiang Yuchuan arrived just in time to witness this exact scene.

"Stop!" Jiang Yuchuan barked.

But the guard attacking Xiao Chun wasn’t about to listen to him.

Seeing the danger, Shi Mingyue immediately darted to Xiao Chun’s side and intercepted the blow from Zhao Shu’s guard.

In the blink of an eye, the guard and Shi Mingyue were clashing.

Xiao Chun had been startled by the sudden attack, but when she saw Shi Mingyue engage that blasted missy’s guard and appear to be holding her own, she breathed a sigh of relief.

When Zhao Shu saw Jiang Yuchuan rush over, she cried, "Cousin, you’re just in time! Quick, help me capture this lowly wench!"

Zhao Shu knew Jiang Yuchuan had some martial arts skill, and by now, her eyes were red with fury at this trio of master and servants.

Especially in front of so many people! For her own people to be at a disadvantage against a few base commoners—wasn’t that a direct slap in her face?