For the Dragon Boat Festival economy, Shen Shaoguang started preparations many days ahead with Yu San, A-Yuan, and A-Chang. Given that the previous two stalls by Qujiang had sold out early, Shen Shaoguang made ample preparations this time. Since it was difficult to hire carts during festivals, she even bought a mule and cart from the West Market, which along with two hired carts would be sufficient.

The mule was selected by Yu San under Shen Shaoguang’s guidance, as she wasn’t skilled at choosing animals.

“When buying a mule, choose one that’s tall, strong, and young,” Shen Shaoguang instructed.

“Why not buy a donkey?” asked A-Yuan, who was more familiar with donkeys from her life in the marketplace.

“Less strength,” replied Shen Shaoguang. If she were a down-and-out scholar or low-ranking official who only needed to ride alone, she would have bought a donkey. Donkeys, with their bobbing heads and slow gait, weak temperament, seemed to be born with a bit of “pride” – “Drowsy with poetry on donkey’s back,” “Mountain guest rides a white donkey in madness, forgetting Yingyang books in his sleeve,” “Riding donkey through Sword Gate in fine rain” – all very poetic.

“Then why not buy a horse?” A-Chang, who usually followed A-Yuan’s lead, chimed in.

“Too expensive.” Horses were fast but expensive, required fine feed, and weren’t as hardy – they were standard for high officials and nobles. Though Shen Shaoguang’s current income was quite high and she could afford a horse, she felt it unnecessary.

A-Yuan thought the same as Shen Shaoguang, “Those are for nobles. Deputy Magistrate Lin’s horse looks very fine.”

Shen Shaoguang’s thoughts wandered – what if Deputy Magistrate Lin wore plain clothes and rode a donkey through Ba Bridge in the wind and snow? Or if he wore work clothes, drove a mule cart, and asked customers with a simple smile, “Where would you like to go?”

Imagining that refined face making such a down-to-earth expression, Shen Shaoguang laughed.

Yu San frowned at her.

“Let’s just buy a mule,” Shen Shaoguang said with a smile.

Though Yu San had never chosen a mule before, she was familiar with horses. After half a day at the West Market, he brought back a strong mule pulling a somewhat used cart. The mule was tall and large, quite robust and impressive-looking, and only four years old – barring accidents, it could be used for many years.

Shen Shaoguang was very satisfied and praised Yu San highly, but she just went to the kitchen to wash her hands and cook.

A-Chang knew how to drive carts, and with this mule cart, Shen Shaoguang went to the West Market more often, buying plenty of rice, flour, beans, nuts, sugar, and such. Things at the West Market were cheaper than in the ward and of better quality.

Not just that, she also bought a basket of silk threads – to make longevity threads.

These items remained popular even in Shen Shaoguang’s 21st century, one of the Dragon Boat Festival’s four essentials along with mugwort, rice dumplings, and dragon boats. The longevity threads were made from five-colored silk threads – blue, red, white, black, and yellow – worn on the arm or hung on bed curtains or doorways. They were said to ward off evil, pray for blessings, prevent harm from evil spirits, and avoid “military harm.” Because of these mysterious meanings, they were called longevity threads, also known as life-extension threads or vermilion cords.

The palace was particularly particular about these things, with many braiding patterns, often strung with gold beads and jade pendants, very exquisite.

Having spent many years in the palace, though Shen Shaoguang wasn’t great at needlework, she could manage these simple braids adequately.

Seeing Shen Shaoguang buy so many silk threads and make seven or eight different patterns of longevity threads, all neat and beautiful, A-Yuan’s eyes widened, “Young Miss is amazing!”

Heh, before A-Yuan who was blind to needlework, Shen Shaoguang smiled proudly.

“I’ve never seen so many patterns.”

“When there’s no tiger in the mountains, the monkey becomes king,” Shen Shaoguang smiled even more proudly.

“But what do we need so many for?”

“For every fifty wen spent, we’ll give one away,” Shen Shaoguang’s hands kept moving as she nodded toward the most complex one, “This type is specially prepared for customers who buy the large gift boxes.” Those flower cake gift boxes cost up to one string of cash.

A-Yuan picked up the longevity thread prepared for customers, carefully touching the knots, examining it from all angles, and finally nodded, “It’s worth it. If I had money, I’d buy a box just for this longevity thread – especially since our cakes taste so good.”

A-Chang looked and nodded in agreement.

Yu San snorted with a laugh – I knew Young Miss wasn’t making these out of refined young lady’s interests, there must be something odd about it, and sure enough…

This Dragon Boat Festival, Shen’s stall was truly luxurious!

There were nearly twenty kinds of cakes alone, besides traditional ones like mugwort cakes, pea cakes, red bean cakes, and snow cakes, Shen Shaoguang also introduced fresh fruit cakes decorated with cherries and mulberries. There were seven or eight kinds of sweet and savory rice dumplings. Now that they had capital, they could afford to invest – besides the previous jasmine tea and plum drink, they added cherry yogurt drink and wisteria honey drink, all ice-cold.

Just for ice, Shen Shaoguang bought two large boxes, each layer wrapped in cotton padding.

They also brought the “Top Scholar’s Flower Cake” sign to remind visitors.

However, visitors didn’t need the sign’s reminder – after all, it wasn’t long since the Spring Festival, and there weren’t many stories about a Top Scholar coming to view flowers but buying two boxes of cakes. When they saw the cake stall in the old place, they remembered.

“Isn’t this the stall where the Top Scholar bought cakes during the Spring Festival?”

“Since the Spring Festival ended, my child has been thinking about coming back to Qujiang to eat cakes.”

Some even came specially looking for it. One customer boasted to his friend, “Hey, let me tell you – there’s an excellent cake seller by Qujiang, not usually there, only during festivals. Their cakes are both exquisite and authentic, better than any cake shop in the East or West Market. During this year’s Spring Festival, the Top Scholar especially stopped to buy their cakes.”

There were even those who had eaten the cakes, especially visited Chongxian Ward to eat “ruby meat” and “jade dumplings” and became regular customers. Hearing others’ praise, they seemed proud too: “You don’t know, Shen’s spring plates are truly excellent, their ruby meat, sweet and sour fish, and three delicacies of the lotus pond are also superb – better than the big restaurants in the East and West Markets.”

But Shen Shaoguang remained modest: “This is all due to customers’ favor for our small shop. How dare we compare with the famous cake shops and large restaurants in the East and West Markets? Our shop is small with few people, all family-run, just good at home-style flavors.”

The customers nodded – see how honest the young miss is, not like those glib merchants!

A-Yuan and A-Chang thought: Our young miss is too modest!

Yu San: “…”

After selling her image, Shen Shaoguang also gave gifts: “To extend customers’ lives, may customers have long life and prosperity.”

Flower cakes were expensive items, and any purchase usually reached fifty wen, so almost everyone got a longevity thread. Occasionally, when someone only bought one or two cakes for children, Shen Shaoguang would give them one too. It was a festival, after all – meant for happiness.

Shen Shaoguang’s craftsmanship was ordinary, but the palace patterns were fresh and attractive enough to draw people’s attention outside.

Those who knew about such things would ask, “These seem like palace patterns?”

Shen Shaoguang avoided answering directly, just smiling, “As long as customers don’t mind.”

The young men of this dynasty were quite fashionable – besides wearing red and green, they didn’t reject such decorations. Some put them on themselves, some had servants’ help, and some asked A-Chang for help. A-Yuan and Shen Shaoguang helped female customers and children, while Yu San focused entirely on making cakes.

Thanks to returning customers and the beautiful cakes decorated with fresh fruit, today’s business was better than ever – they couldn’t even take turns sneaking off for breaks.

Shen Shaoguang found time to pour everyone a cup of iced plum drink. Looking at the depleted ingredients and thinking of the returning customers, she thought, “Ah, our Tang people are really lovely.”

Of course, some weren’t so lovely.

A well-dressed young man, about twenty-three or twenty-four, good-looking but with somewhat spoiled expressions and tone, asked, “Young Miss makes good cakes?”

“Customer is too kind. Which kinds would you like?” Shen Shaoguang smiled and asked.

“Young Miss, please recommend some as you see fit.”

“Would customers like the kinds the Top Scholar chose?” Shen Shaoguang had specially made a “Brilliant Future” gift box with the cakes the Top Scholar had bought, recommending it to young gentlemen – it was the best-selling mid-range gift box.

The young man frowned slightly, then smiled casually, “That’s fine.” But he kept pestering Shen Shaoguang with questions about what this cake was called, what cake was, how they were made, what was special about them, then said, “I think the Top Scholar’s praise wasn’t quite right – he should have said the person is more beautiful than the flowers.” He gave Shen Shaoguang what he thought was a flirtatious smile.

Having lived two lives and experienced subway perverts, Shen Shaoguang wasn’t too bothered by this level of harassment, but fearing he might escalate endlessly, she smiled and said, “From sir’s words, you seem to have talent surpassing this year’s Top Scholar?”

The young man was slightly embarrassed but quickly recovered, “To be honest with Young Miss, I don’t need to take the examinations to enter official service, so I’ve never really tested my talent.”

“Why don’t you compose a poem praising today’s grand scene?” Shen Shaoguang, possessed by her literature teacher spirit, brought out the “must write essays when traveling” rule.

This dynasty was truly an era of flourishing poetry – eating, drinking, excretion, birth, aging, sickness, death, feasts, and entertainment, nothing couldn’t be put into poetry. Scholars had a habit of composing poems at any moment, and others were also used to this habit. When they heard someone was going to compose poetry, they all waited to listen. Some customers who heard the cause and effect understood the stall owner’s young miss’s mocking intention, and feeling righteous indignation, took the lead in cheering and urging.

The young man was a spoiled son, poor in studies – if not rushed, he might have managed to squeeze out a couple of doggerel lines, but now under everyone’s stares, especially with that young miss’s ambiguous smile watching him, how could he produce anything?

However, the young man wasn’t stupid. Seeing Shen Shaoguang’s intention, he became angry from embarrassment, “Just a cake seller, yet wants me to compose poetry?”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind, “Who’s composing poetry? Let’s hear it.”

If not Deputy Magistrate Lin, who else could it be?

Seeing it was a high official in crimson robes, the young man’s arrogance diminished considerably. He clasped his hands in greeting, “Greetings, noble sir.”

Lin Yan looked him over, his expression cool, “Please recite your composition, I’d like to hear it too.”

This was something he absolutely couldn’t recite. The young man stammered, “I… I’m not good at poetry.”

Someone watching who wasn’t afraid of making trouble said, “This gentleman can enter official service without examinations, must be through hereditary privilege.”

Lin Yan nodded, “In that case, not being good at poetry is understandable.”

Just as the young man was breathing a sigh of relief, he heard, “Since you’re from an official family, you must be familiar with court etiquette and government affairs. With all the rain this year, why not discuss some strategies for flood prevention?”

The young man: “…”

Everyone was holding back laughter.

Lin Yan looked at the onlookers, “Everyone may disperse.”

Everyone hurriedly clasped their hands and retreated.

After everyone dispersed, Lin Yan pressed his lips together and asked, “Who is your father?”

“My father is the Administrative Assistant of the Protector-General of Andong.”

Administrative Assistant Dou Qi of Andong was quite an upright person – who would have thought he’d raised such a son? Lin Yan’s expression became solemn, “Don’t cause trouble for your father.”

“Thank you for the guidance, noble sir.” The young man glanced secretly at Lin Yan, “May I know who you are?”

“Lin Yan, Deputy Magistrate of the Capital.”

The Protector-General’s Administrative Assistant was Upper Rank 4, while the Capital Deputy Magistrate was Lower Rank 4, but by convention, capital officials ranked one grade higher than provincial officials. So this crimson-robed official who looked about his age was equal in rank to his father, and held office in the capital – must be favored by the emperor. Having come to the capital with his father to present Dragon Boat Festival gifts, and having heard much from his father on the way, the young man wasn’t entirely reckless. He hurriedly made another awkward bow, and seeing the Deputy Magistrate had no more instructions, withdrew.

Lin Yan watched him – at least he knew to be afraid…

Seeing Lin Yan had helped resolve the situation, Shen Shaoguang smiled and thanked him. Lin Yan said softly, “Your household should still be more careful.”

Shen Shaoguang knew he meant well, but how careful could one be when doing business?

Lin Yan glanced at her, pressed his lips together, and said, “Well, there are fewer such thoughtless people in the capital, and you’re usually in the ward, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Shen Shaoguang: “…” The anger that had just risen had to be suppressed again.

Without temper, Shen Shaoguang smiled and asked, “What would Master Lin like to eat today?”

Thinking he would again say “Whatever you arrange,” she instead heard him say, “Plum drink, please.”

So Shen Shaoguang poured him a bowl of iced plum drink.

While she was pouring the drink, Lin Yan saw the longevity threads in the gift boxes, “Besides selling food, you also sell life-extension threads?”

A-Yuan explained from the side, “When buying those gift boxes of cakes, one is given as a gift.”

Lin Yan nodded, “It’s not convenient for me out here. When I return, please have your shop deliver several boxes to my humble residence.” Then he raised his eyes and smiled at Shen Shaoguang.

Shen Shaoguang: “…”

Resigned, Shen Shaoguang put a longevity thread on the tray and said perfunctorily, “We give one with a plum drink too, sir.”

Lin Yan licked his lips, looked at Shen Shaoguang with a hint of a smile in his eyes, and after a moment took it, saying “Thank you.”

Shen Shaoguang had a feeling she’d been teased – surely he hadn’t wanted her to help him put it on?