64 Keep You Guessing (2/2)

He was incredibly furious. Ye's Lady was the daughter of Hanlin court's scholar, Ye Dakuan. How could someone born in a scholar's family make such low and sinister actions? If Ye Dakuan knew about this, Xia Chunyu was sure that the scholar would boil with rage.

This matter should be made known to Yaoyao's maternal grandparents. They have to know what was done to Yaoyao.

Xia Chunyu made up his mind and got started on the list of his requests.

After a busy lunchtime, Ye Jiayao pulled Zhong Xiang aside so they could study some pastry materials together.

At the beginning, they reviewed Bengal gelatine, a substance extracted from a mix of hot liquid of muriculate eucheuma frond and agar/gracilaria. After they cooled down, it would concentrate into seaweed essence which was filled with dietary fiber. It was a very important bodying agent for making pastry.

Zhong Xiang said, ”Buy more, I haven't done Bengal gelatine before. This may cost a lot of material.”

The next was light cream. It was not hard to do, she would only need to cook the milk repeatedly. The solid fat would float on the surface and she would only need to separate the fat from the milk.

Deng Haichuan told them, ”There are cows in our village.”

”You can get us this then. Buy more fresh milk. We will do it ourselves. You can take money from me first,” Ye Jiayao said. The early study cost should not be asked from Manager Li. Luckily, she still had 70 silvers. They could ask for reimbursement after the study was proven successful.

The last thing they studied was shredded coconut stuffing. It was pretty hard to get because coconuts were only produced in the southern area near the sea. It was hard to find even in Yang Zhou. No one at this time was really in the habit of making pastries with coconut stuffing. They would simply use sesame powder and soybean powder.

”We can only ask southern business ships to buy this. Oh, that Yong An Heir-son Lord is doing business in the south! Can you ask him to bring some here?” Zhong Xiang told her.

”I will ask him.”

Deng Haichuan asked curiously, ”Brother Yao, what you want are so rare. What do we do with them?”

Ye Jiayao smiled mischievously. ”I will keep you guessing. I assure you, though, that we can sell out after it is done. Zhong Xiang, this is a chance for you to be famous!”

”I will try my best to help,” Zhong Xiang said, smiling awkwardly.

”Brother Yao, Brother Xiang, teach the rest of when you're done,” Deng Haichuan implored.

”Of course, we're going to teach you!” Ye Jiayao exclaimed. ”You can't just idle around, you know? You'll need to work extra hours for this.”

Brother Yao sounded so certain that both of them filled with hope.

”Ah, my headache's getting worse. Let me have a nap.” Ye Jiayao felt like her brain has run out of fuel and she has been absent-minded since this morning.

”Okay, you get some rest. When we've got everything done, I will call you,” Zhong Xiang said.

Ye Jiayao wobbled up to the third floor and slouched on the chair in the Fu Qu Attic. She closed her eyes and napped.

She couldn't sleep well. She dreamt of her previous life and current life. Luckily, this situation didn't occur frequently, and they mostly happened in dreams, otherwise, people might think she had split personality.

She didn't know how long she slept. She only woke up when she heard someone shout her name.

”Brother Yao, Brother Yao!”

She opened her eyes and saw Deng Haichuan standing over her. She closed her eyes again and asked lazily, ”Is it time?”

”Manager Li is asking for you,” Deng Haichuan said.

Her drowsiness disappeared almost immediately. She got up and fixed her clothes before heading to Manager Li's office.

Manager Li looked sad as he asked her to sit down. He kept quiet for a long moment, looking slightly dazed.

Was the restaurant going bankrupt, Ye Jiayao thought. Or did Helian Xuan made good on his threat and did something bad to the restaurant?

She was not patient enough to wait for him to snap out of whatever he was thinking, especially with him looking so sad. She prompted, ”Manager, what do you need me for?”

Manager Li finally sighed and said, ”Today, we had a talk in the Chamber of Commerce. Fu Ji asked to hold a chef match, and every restaurant will choose someone to participate. There will be gold, silver, and bronze reward. Now I know why Xiang Yi spent such a huge money to hire Master Chef Niu. They found out about this earlier than I did.”