Quibbling with two young maidservants wasn’t Sheng Sanlang’s style.

The increasingly plump Sanlang went running to his cousin to complain, feeling wronged.

Luo Sheng was leisurely flipping through account books in the main hall.

“Cousin.” Sheng Sanlang strode over and sat down beside Luo Sheng.

Luo Sheng closed the account book and handed it to the female proprietress, looking toward Sheng Sanlang. “Didn’t cousin go upstairs to drink wine? Why did you come down?”

Sheng Sanlang glanced at the wooden stairs. Although there were still no wine guests in the main hall at this time, he still lowered his voice. “Cousin, tell me—should I remind Second Brother Su or not?”

“Remind him of what?” Upon hearing Sheng Sanlang mention Su Yao, Luo Sheng’s tone cooled considerably.

“I mean that young princess from Prince Pingnan’s estate. I don’t see how she’s purely filial at all.”

When the young princess came to the wine shop to cause trouble for his cousin, she was quite fierce.

Luo Sheng smiled but not quite. “Cousin wants to remind Su Yao about this?”

Sheng Sanlang nodded.

“If cousin wanted to remind him, you should have done so before Su Yao became engaged to Prince Pingnan’s estate.”

Sheng Sanlang sighed. “It was too sudden. By the time I found out, they were already betrothed. If I’d said something then, wouldn’t that just be adding to Second Brother Su’s troubles?”

“And now cousin isn’t afraid of adding to his troubles?” Luo Sheng asked coolly.

“Now Second Brother Su is already vexed enough that adding a little more doesn’t matter. But if he continues being kept in the dark and misjudges people’s character, wouldn’t that be too pitiful?”

Luo Sheng smiled slightly. “Cousin really has worried himself sick over Young Master Su. It’s just a pity cousin isn’t a young lady—”

Sheng Sanlang’s expression became stern. “Cousin, you’re reading too much into this!”

So Hong Dou learned to talk like that from his cousin?

This is truly a case of when the top beam is crooked, the lower beams are slanted!

The righteously indignant Sheng Sanlang looked at his cousin’s cold expression and didn’t dare say anything.

No choice—he was still working as a waiter here. Could he afford to lose such a coveted position?

Hadn’t he seen how Minister Zhao’s face darkened that day when he came to drink and discovered that Zhu Wu was the wine shop’s newly hired accountant?

At the time, he’d found it strange—how had Zhu Wu, an accountant, offended the Minister? Could it have been when he was at Qianjin Workshop?

When he secretly perked up his ears to listen, he heard the slightly tipsy Minister Zhao sigh to Minister Qian: “Being an accountant at this wine shop is a good position. I was thinking about taking it on part-time after I retire. The money doesn’t matter—just provide three meals a day.”

Minister Qian, who was also somewhat intoxicated, immediately took offense. “Old Zhao, you’re a Minister of Justice—what are you doing becoming an accountant? Just enjoy your retirement in peace. But I must say, working at the Ministry of Works, I’ve dealt with plenty of financial figures…”

In the end, the two old ministers nearly flipped the table in their争论.

Even the ministers were fighting over the accountant position, and thinking about how he’d managed to become a waiter—could it really be on his own merit?

He was still basking in his cousin’s reflected glory.

With this thought, Sheng Sanlang quietly abandoned his idea of speaking out of turn and casually said, “Why hasn’t the Prince come today?”

Lately, his cousin had been treating Prince Kaiyang very well, personally cooking dishes for him. With a little more effort, she might even marry out.

Luo Sheng looked deeply at Sheng Sanlang. “I heard from Second Uncle that a letter came from Jinsha some days ago. Auntie is urging cousin to return.”

This made further conversation impossible.

Sheng Sanlang sprang to his feet. “The fallen leaves outside haven’t been swept yet.”

Sheng Sanlang quickly walked out the wine shop’s main entrance and couldn’t help but freeze in surprise.

A luxurious carriage slowly came to a stop not far away, and a tall, beautiful young lady stepped down.

What made Sheng Sanlang freeze wasn’t, of course, the young lady’s beauty, but rather that accompanying her on either side were two young men.

A noble lady going out wasn’t attended by maidservants or matrons, but by manservants?

Sheng Sanlang curiously examined the two young men.

Judging by their clothing and appearance, they didn’t look like manservants either.

The beautiful young lady walked toward Sheng Sanlang with light, graceful steps.

Sheng Sanlang rushed back into the main hall with his broom.

“Cousin, there’s a strange young lady outside who looks like she’s here to cause trouble!”

Luo Sheng turned to look just as the beautiful young lady stepped into the main hall.

She didn’t recognize that face.

When her gaze swept to the two delicate young men beside the young lady, Luo Sheng’s heart stirred, and a vague guess arose.

The beautiful young lady saw Luo Sheng and smiled first. “A’Sheng, you really did open a wine shop.”

Hong Dou, standing on the stairs, cried out in surprise, “Oh my, Her Highness the Princess has returned!”

As Hong Dou came thumping down the stairs, the beautiful young lady had already approached, smiling. “A’Sheng, I was away from the capital for two years, and you’ve already forgotten me?”

Luo Sheng bent her knees slightly. “Greetings to Your Highness.”

Just as she’d guessed, the tall, beautiful young lady before her was Miss Luo’s good friend, Princess Changle.

Also Emperor Yong’an’s only child at present.

Princess Changle frowned. “A’Sheng, you used to call me Se’er. Why are you being so distant now?”

Luo Sheng smiled. “I was immature before. Haven’t I grown up now? When did Your Highness return? I didn’t hear anything about it.”

Princess Changle sighed. “Ever since my elder brothers and sisters passed away, I’ve had many more taboos to observe. The National Preceptor said the capital couldn’t sustain me and I needed to leave for two years. I couldn’t mention my comings and goings to anyone, so I could only obediently comply…”

Bringing this up made Princess Changle somewhat irritable.

How could anywhere outside compare to the capital? Never mind anything else—there weren’t as many handsome young men, and these past two years living in that Taoist temple in the deep mountain forests nearly suffocated her.

Fortunately, she’d finally endured through it.

“A’Sheng, what do you think of these two?” Princess Changle pointed at the two young men beside her.

Luo Sheng glanced at them and smiled slightly. “Quite good. They look unfamiliar.”

She had no memories of Miss Luo, and didn’t recall Princess Changle’s two male favorites, so presumably they weren’t particularly important.

Princess Changle smiled charmingly. “Of course they look unfamiliar—I brought them back from outside. This is Luqi, this is Duyou. Which one catches your eye? I’ll give you one.”

“Cough cough cough!” Shi Yan and Sheng Sanlang’s coughing simultaneously rang out in the main hall.

Princess Changle frowned, examining Sheng Sanlang with a critical gaze.

His looks were decent enough, but wasn’t he a bit plump?

Under this scrutiny, Sheng Sanlang actually felt somewhat ashamed.

How mortifying—he was embarrassing his cousin!

Princess Changle then looked toward Shi Yan.

This one looked quite good too, but he wasn’t exactly slim either.

After two years apart, had A’Sheng’s taste changed like this?

No wonder they say time creates distance between people. Before, what A’Sheng liked was clearly similar to what she liked.

Princess Changle looked at Luo Sheng with a heavy gaze.

The corner of Luo Sheng’s mouth twitched slightly as she steadied her composure. “That’s not necessary. Too many to take care of.”

Just then, a voice came from the stairway: “Third Brother, why haven’t you come back up? We’ve finished all our wine.”

Three young men descended from the stairway one after another.

Leading the way was Sheng Erlang holding a folding fan, followed slightly behind by Sheng Dalang, with Su Yao bringing up the rear.

Princess Changle’s gaze passed over Sheng Erlang, who had spoken, and landed on Su Yao’s face.

The young man in his blue scholar’s robe was refined and elegant as jade, walking down step by step.

Princess Changle stared fixedly at the young man approaching her, raising her eyebrows slightly.

Now she felt that A’Sheng’s taste hadn’t changed after all.