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Chapter 25
The sizzling, aromatic food lay arranged on the dishes while the scattered green onion garnish brought out the fragrance of the cuisine.
There was also the pork stir-fried rice noodles he had never seen before. Not even the palace’s festival banquets featured food this fragrant on the table.
These bamboo skewers appeared uniform in thickness, smoothly carved without a single splinter, and those excellent iron skewers were actually disposable items? Wouldn’t this be somewhat wasteful? These things required considerable effort to make.
Liu Zheng swallowed his saliva. Shopkeeper Shen was really generous, preparing some for him as well.
“Your Highness, should I test for poison first?” Zhong Jing looked toward Li Heng’s portion of food.
“No need. If Miss Shen wanted to harm me, she wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble.” Li Heng picked up a beef skewer and began eating.
Liu Zheng grabbed the milk tea he had been thinking about for so long happily, imitating Li Heng’s actions by inserting the straw.
“This seems different from what Your Highness brought back last time?”
The crystal-clear color tasted sweet and sour, with fruit fragrance blending with the rich flavor of the tea base, making it tastier than the capital’s most popular beverage!
“Shopkeeper Shen said it’s passion fruit tea, rather good for cutting through grease.”
Zhong Jing explained quietly, but seeing Liu Zheng’s actions, he spoke up hurriedly, “Hey, you’ve already eaten two oysters, leave some for me!”
Although these shells looked ugly, their meat was surprisingly fresh and sweet.
Previously, the only shellfish they could eat were smoked and dried ones with mediocre taste and a slight fishy smell. This was his first time knowing that fresh shellfish could taste this good.
Moreover, this stir-fried rice noodle dish was extremely fragrant as well.
The Great Qi also had grilled meat skewers, yet they only added simple seasonings to remove the gamey smell and lacked things like chili peppers, so the grilled meat couldn’t compare with what was on the table.
Zhong Jing and Liu Zheng, tasting chili peppers for the first time, marveled at how magical this ingredient really was.
Eating it felt like being beaten up by someone, with their mouths turning red, yet they found it so delicious they couldn’t stop.
One bite of grilled skewer followed by one sip of fruit tea created such a comfortable feeling that Shen You’s prepared food was quickly swept clean.
Morning sunlight fell into the courtyard.
Shen You rarely woke up early, so she took her newly bought watering can to water the plants in the yard once.
She planned to visit the antique market in front. If she slept until noon and ordered takeout like before, many stalls would have closed by the time she arrived.
At the small shop at the alley entrance, she ordered a basket of soup dumplings and a bowl of sweet soy milk, then after finishing, she arrived just in time for the market’s busiest period.
The antique street sold not only antiques but also cultural items, various nostalgic objects, and stones.
Near the archway, all these types of stalls clustered together, and many people enjoyed browsing this atmosphere.
Shen You watched at a stall opening cultural walnuts for quite a while while the neighboring stall was promoting bronze swords.
“This is the sword of King Goujian of Yue, yes, the other one is in the museum. Keeping it at home can ward off evil spirits. It’s one hundred thousand yuan.”
“Fifty yuan.”
“Deal!”
When the buyer paid, his face showed no smile. He had made a bad purchase and should have said twenty-five yuan instead.
As soon as he left, the boss immediately rummaged out an identical item from the sack and displayed it again.
Although last week’s handicrafts were numerous, genuine items existed here.
Shen You spotted a late Qing dynasty hair ornament made of copper. The kingfisher feather decorations had completely fallen off, and the color had oxidized severely.
Currently, many such items existed in the market, with smaller ones available for several hundred yuan.
The stall owner asked for twenty thousand.
Shen You shook her head, walked away then turned around, only to meet Xu Jiayan. “How are you here?”
“I’m going to the shop ahead to look at rubbings of ancient books.” Xu Jiayan adjusted his glasses, his face wearing a smile.
Shen You understood. He conducted research on ancient books.
“I wanted to greet you earlier, but seeing you examining items, I didn’t want to disturb you. Is that kingfisher feather hair ornament genuine?”
“Yes.” Shen You nodded. “However, for me, kingfisher feathers have no restoration value.”
“Kingfisher feathers cannot be used now— silk and parrot molted feathers can be used for repair, but it’s too time-consuming and hard on the eyes.”
If it were silver, she might try it, but items like this only made sense to repair if they were family heirlooms with special significance.
Xu Jiayan neither agreed nor disagreed. “Since we’ve met, how about having lunch together?”
Shen You looked at him puzzled. “It’s only nine o’clock now.”
She had just finished breakfast not long ago, and now lunch?
Xu Jiayan averted his gaze awkwardly then coughed lightly twice. “It is a bit early, but by the time you finish browsing, it’ll be about right. Unless you have other matters? Next time is fine too.”
“Not really.” Shen You thought for a moment. “But that works. There’s a nice restaurant nearby.”
This would be a good opportunity to thank him for helping find ancient epidemic prevention methods last time.
Xu Jiayan smiled warmly. “Good, then I’ll come find you in a while, about an hour or so.”
After agreeing on the time, the two went in different directions.
Shen You looked around the entire area without finding anything suitable. In the end, she went to a shop selling traditional handmade incense and bought some incense to put in her incense ball.
Truly handmade incense without technology and harsh chemicals wasn’t cheap, and was sold by the gram.
Slightly better agarwood cost several hundred yuan for ten grams, with more expensive ones costing over a thousand. Premium incense wasn’t displayed outside.
She also bought a sandalwood bracelet, spending several thousand in the shop.
She thought that such an exquisite incense ball would be a waste if paired with inferior incense.
Coming out with her paper bag, Xu Jiayan had also finished his business, and they browsed the antique street together for a while. Then when it was nearly lunchtime, they headed to the restaurant.
They went to a Chinese restaurant with decent decoration and cuisine. Major customers of the antique street generally came to this establishment.
During the meal, Shen You and Xu Jiayan chatted briefly about antique authentication and auction topics. Xu Jiayan watched the serious expression on the person across from him and smiled helplessly.
He had long wanted to invite her to dinner but hadn’t found a reason or known how to bring it up.
Today he finally met her, yet it felt like discussing business matters.
“Can you privately buy antiques at auction houses too?” Shen You asked.
“As long as the provenance is legitimate and problem-free.” Xu Jiayan chuckled lightly. “Sometimes I help my family examine items.”
Shen You nodded. No wonder he knew several famous domestic auctions so well, knowing when and where they were held.
Now she had a clearer picture.
These matters weren’t appropriate to inquire about from business partners.
Although her relationship with Boss Huo was good, asking too many questions would let others figure out her background and consider her a novice who knew nothing.
Such people in the antique circle were viewed as fools and driven by profit, people would then surround them to set traps.
Stories of being cheated by partners of over ten years weren’t rare in the antique street. Recently, there was even a case where genuine items at home were replaced with fakes at some unknown time, and it was still under investigation.
After finishing the meal, when Shen You went to scan the code to pay, she was told that the bill had already been settled.
She looked at Xu Jiayan questioningly.
“Since this is our first meal together, let me handle it.” Xu Jiayan smiled.
Since it was already paid, Shen You could only say, “Then next time I’ll pay the bill.”
“Alright.”
The two walked out together when Xu Jiayan seemed to remember something and asked, “I heard there was a highway robbery incident in your area? They didn’t succeed and were beaten by nearby residents.”
Shen You remained silent for a moment.
“That’s correct, I was the one who got robbed.”
Previously, she had been the mysterious collector, Ms. Shen You, in Jiangcheng’s trending news. Now she had become the young woman attacked by criminals.
“…” Xu Jiayan was stunned, then worried. “Are you alright? Otherwise, let me escort you back.”
“There’s no need, it’s broad daylight and not far.” Shen You declined.
She didn’t like troubling others much.