On Dragon Boat Festival night, lanterns and fragrance drifted along the Qinhuai River. Near the parade ground where the courtesan competition had just been held, the grand hall for the courtesan banquet was brightly lit and packed to capacity.

This banquet was on a scale of about three to four hundred people, beginning under the hosting of Prefectural Magistrate Liu. First came small singing and dancing performances, then the four leading courtesans appeared in their respective styles to give thanks and take their seats. This was the standard procedure—magnificent yet formal. Various prominent figures and scholars gathered together. Seated at the very front were naturally some truly famous officials and celebrities, followed by merchants who had supported the courtesan competition, with people like Puyang Yi and Su Tan'er probably in the front rows. Gu Yanzhen was positioned slightly behind the middle section, occasionally looking at the people ahead or turning to look at the bushes outside the hall while chatting idly with Shen Miao.

Before long, after exchanging formal greetings with everyone, the seated Yuan Jin'er seemed to discover something and smiled as she spoke to the Magistrate beside her. Gu Yanzhen also smiled, turning to say to Shen Miao: "Zishan, look—the good show is beginning."

Yuan Jin'er and Yunzhu were good friends, and Gu Yanzhen had vaguely anticipated these things. He now felt quite prescient. Indeed, what Yuan Jin'er was smiling and pointing at ahead were those peeled century eggs: "Interesting and beautiful—Lord Liu, what might these be?"

Magistrate Liu probably hadn't eaten these before, but since he was hosting this banquet, he had naturally inquired beforehand. He now smiled: "These are century eggs, also called prosperity eggs or jade eggs. Lady Yuan, you see the marbled patterns within, like pine branch veins—pine wind noble and pure. This is also the courtesan banquet, and all seated here are prosperous people. Jade signifies peace and safety—truly superior dishes befitting this banquet."

With his official eloquence, having the names pine flower, prosperity, and jade to start with, Magistrate Liu elaborated smoothly with various extensions. How could he know that Lady Yuan Jin'er beside him, one of the four leading courtesans, was a shameful shill who wanted to borrow his mouth to say these words? Everything went smoothly, and Yuan Jin'er was happy inside, turning to look outside the hall.

Nie Yunzhu waiting there also smiled and waved, her mood excited. She naturally didn't have the money to get the Magistrate as a shill too. Over these two months, under Ning Yi's guidance, she had found connections and set up this arrangement precisely for tonight—to truly make century eggs famous through the Magistrate. Though unhappy about "Ning Yi supporting Qilan" during the competition, Yuan Jin'er was still working quite hard at this moment. After a charming smile, she picked up a century egg: "Since the Magistrate says it has such meaning, Jin'er must try one. How should it be eaten properly?"

Simple advertising methods—the longer they could keep the attendees' attention on these century eggs, the better the effect. Yuan Jin'er maintained the topic about century eggs. At this moment, an elderly man beside them waved his hand: "Wait a moment."

Both Yuan Jin'er and Magistrate Liu were stunned as they heard the elder say: "I wonder where Lord Liu bought these century eggs from. This old man has some knowledge of their production method. During production, lime is added. If the proportion is excessive, they become toxic..."

This was truly unexpected. Yuan Jin'er maintained her smile while cursing internally—meddlesome old man. But this elder's status was truly transcendent, so she could only smile along and see what would happen next. In the seats behind, Gu Yanzhen, who had been watching Yuan Jin'er's performance, felt pleased. At this point, he couldn't help laughing: "This is good—someone's disrupting things midway. This person won't be easy to handle."

Nie Yunzhu in the bushes outside the hall hadn't expected such a thing to happen either and was slightly stunned. But after seeing the speaking elder's appearance, she looked toward Ning Yi inside the hall. At this time, some people at the banquet had already started eating the century eggs. Hearing these words, they all put down their chopsticks. Only Ning Yi was still casually dipping pieces in soy sauce and putting them in his mouth as if nothing had happened. Beside him, his wife Su Tan'er irritably snatched the century egg away. Nie Yunzhu laughed seeing this, feeling slightly sour in her heart.

Inside the hall, the elder smiled.

"But there's no need to worry too much. Using lime water to prepare flavor—many dishes use this. As long as used appropriately, it can stimulate appetite and even have health benefits. It's just that those dishes have been cooked according to established methods without error. These century eggs are a new thing that only appeared this year. This old man has eaten them before—only the century eggs from Zhu's¹that developed this method are authentic, suitable for banquets. But after all, they haven't been around long. I've heard imitations have already appeared in workshops. This old man just fears if the imitations aren't made properly, these eggs won't nourish health but harm the body instead. Then they wouldn't be pine flower, prosperity, or jade eggs anymore, hehe..."

Halfway through his words, Yuan Jin'er's mouth fell slightly open, and Gu Yanzhen behind was also stunned. Magistrate Liu quickly sent people to inquire, and after the steward reported back, Magistrate Liu laughed heartily: "These eggs were indeed bought from Zhu's."

Hearing this, the elder smiled and nodded: "Then there's no problem." He picked up a century egg and put it in his bowl. Someone across also smiled: "Lord Ming is erudite—I didn't expect you to understand even matters of eating and drinking." The elder called Lord Ming laughed heartily: "This isn't boasting—since youth I've been a glutton, traveling famous mountains everywhere, eating all kinds of delicacies. In matters of appetite, if this old man claims second place today, you won't find anyone claiming first!"

He began eating the century egg, and others had no more doubts. On the Magistrate's side, he also picked up a century egg to set an example. He had just said so much—if people later thought the banquet dishes weren't authentic, he'd lose great face. Naturally he now had to demonstrate "there can't be fake goods at my banquet," and subsequently said several more good words about the century eggs.

Inside the hall, Kang Xian and Ning Yi exchanged a "you owe me a favor" look. Outside the hall, Nie Yunzhu sighed, looked at the Milky Way and stars in the sky, and smiled. When she looked back inside, Ning Yi was eating as if he hadn't done anything. A bit behind, Gu Yanzhen frowned: "I didn't expect he'd already spread such rumors..." He naturally didn't know Ning Yi had connections with Kang Xian, only thinking these spread rumors had reached Kang Xian's ears.

Beside him, Shen Miao sighed, then smiled: "Yanzhen, I'm afraid you'll lose these ten taels of silver to me ahead of schedule."

In this era, information flow wasn't very flexible, mostly just word of mouth. But because of this, there wasn't too much noise confusing what people heard. The century egg matter at the courtesan banquet was just a small interlude, but afterward it would definitely spread throughout Jiangning at extreme speed. As long as people mentioned century eggs, they couldn't miss this news. With Kang Xian's statement, for a time probably only Zhu's century eggs could be called century eggs—the rest couldn't be called prosperity or jade. The financial prospects of those wanting to imitate had been completely cut off in the short term. Even price wars wouldn't affect Zhu's at all.

At the banquet's end, through a woman's mouth came news that someone in the eastern part of the city had been poisoned two days ago. Though symptoms weren't serious, it was feared they'd eaten fake century eggs. This matter was half true, half false, hard to distinguish. Before long, a new manager Nie Yunzhu had hired came over anxiously, saying the proprietor worried fake century eggs would harm people and was willing to offer the authentic century egg recipe for the government to announce to those imitation workshops. Magistrate Liu waved grandly: "These vicious workshops that steal others' achievements and disregard human life—why give them such benefits! Shut them down immediately!"

Actually at this time there was only one workshop outside imitating century eggs. Ning Yi had long known the recipe couldn't be protected for long, so Zhu's hadn't done any secrecy work at all. They basically deliberately let the recipe leak out, allowing them to produce century eggs before Dragon Boat Festival to coordinate with this performance. Otherwise if someone later had problems eating century eggs and blamed Zhu's, the consequences would be quite troublesome. That Magistrate Liu shut down was a small workshop earning less than one tael daily—also a small performance to gain everyone's praise at such a banquet. If the century egg imitation industry had already become widespread at this time, he probably wouldn't have been so swift and decisive.

By this point, the preliminary preparations were actually sufficient. All actions would wait until tomorrow.

At the banquet on Ning Yi's side, there was a small interlude because Su Tan'er recognized the century eggs.

"The first thing my husband gave me to eat was this. Did husband create it?"

"Researched it accidentally and casually gave it away."

"Did you give it to a certain friend?" Su Tan'er smiled. "I know."

"Hm?"

"Li Pin, or Gu Yanzhen... anyway, that's how it spread, right?"

Hearing the name Gu Yanzhen, Ning Yi was slightly puzzled. Su Tan'er said: "I saw this thing on the road earlier and remembered what husband gave me that day, so I inquired about it. The story of Gu Yanzhen using century eggs to please a brothel woman has spread throughout the city. What a devoted lover—husband helping others achieve happiness is also a good deed... Though having husband's creation attributed to someone else always makes me feel uncomfortable..."

The Su family couldn't possibly like Ning Yi going into business, much less running a food establishment. Su Tan'er only thought her husband was being considerate of family difficulties, so he gave it to others after creating it. Of course, Ning Yi had spoken lightly about it at the time—even if he hadn't made it, it wouldn't matter. Ning Yi was somewhat speechless at this perception. And since Gu Yanzhen was sitting far behind them, if he'd been closer and heard Su Tan'er mention this "beautiful story," who knows if he'd vomit blood.

The next day, after careful arrangement and decoration, a small shop with the "Zhu's" sign opened at a not particularly bustling crossroads in Jiangning city. Nie Yunzhu had hired a reputable head chef. The signature dishes were foods related to century eggs—things like century egg and lean pork congee had already been tested, along with various other dishes. Ning Yi had only placed some simple concepts in them. This era wasn't one of distant human relationships—professional fast-food style operations wouldn't work. Instead, giving people a warm, homecoming feeling was best. That chef was also professional with real skill. Compared to Ning Yi and Nie Yunzhu's experimentation, the taste of various century egg dishes was incomparably better.

The small carts selling century eggs daily increased to four, named respectively "Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo," all with paintings that seemed full of artisan vulgarity to Gu Yanzhen. They operated throughout Jiangning daily. If one spent a certain amount at such carts, they could get an interesting wooden token. After collecting four with different patterns, they could enjoy 10-20% discounts at the main store.

In those restaurants helping to sell century eggs, they had now also hung an exquisite wooden plaque reading "Zhu's Century Eggs" for anti-counterfeiting, and coordinating with rumors from the courtesan competition to invisibly build reputation.

Though there was some planning, not too much effort had been spent. For Ning Yi, these simple arrangements were just casual moves. His thoughts weren't on those merchants wanting to compete with Zhu's for business, not on those family members wanting to compete with Su Tan'er for power, not on the many literary talents in Jiangning city. As for Gu Yanzhen... he didn't even know Gu Yanzhen yet.

Before dawn the next day, he ran all the way to the Qinhuai River and saw Nie Yunzhu with flushed cheeks in front of the small building. Today was opening day, and Nie Yunzhu had already waited for him a long time. She then had him raise one palm, bit her lip making an effort, before raising her own right hand with its slender fair fingers to lightly pat against Ning Yi's palm, then smiled genuinely showing her teeth.

She looked at Ning Yi who also smiled, thinking he perhaps didn't understand her feelings. But regardless, everyone was smiling, and that was good. Such a high-five was somewhat improper, but she really wanted to do it once, her heart thumping. Two months ago, her hand had been grasped by Gu Yanzhen. She'd then slapped him and rushed aside to wash her hands. The feeling at that time was terrible—the sensation of being grasped made her feel disgusted, as if she couldn't wash it off.

She had thought then how good it would be if Liheng were beside her. But seeing him the next day, she ultimately couldn't gather the courage. Only now did she touch palms with him like this. In her heart she felt as if she'd accomplished something great, just like the shop starting today—it had new meaning now.

Ning Yi naturally didn't mind this light high-five. In the morning, he saw a century egg cart pass by from across a road and thought of Nie Yunzhu's efforts. However, he also had other things to do at this time.

He selected a pair of shoes at a nearby shoe store, then walked toward the academy carrying breakfast food.

This morning in Jiangning city, the woman named Su Tan'er got on a carriage to manage her already considerably scaled business. On one side of the city, the woman named Nie Yunzhu opened the first door panel of her small shop. Among the crowds, Ning Yi carried a small bundle to engage with things that could truly interest him...

The sixth day of the fifth month in the eighth year of Jinghan of the Wu Dynasty—as if a city full of vitality and hope, everything was just beginning.

Ning Yi pushed open the courtyard gate and heard the wind chime sounds transmit over...