Chapter 130: Teahouses in the Capital City

As soon as Chen Xiao Mai left, Yuan Bao had lost all desire for food and drink, his missed his best playmate. Poor Yuan Bao had even lost weight.

Lu Lin was very anxious, he tried so many ways to cheer his son up.

But the rocking chair strategy and lifesize doll strategy had both failed. Lu Lin racked his brain and promised Yuan Bao that he would have a baby brother or a baby sister in no time.

However, after a few days, Yuan Bao discovered that he wouldn't have his baby brother or sister in at least a month, and he was very disappointed.

Yuan Bao felt that he had been fooled by his father. His father was a big liar.

In order to divert the attention of the Yuan Bao, and to save his image in Yuan Bao's mind, Lu Lin asked the craftsmen to make a set of building blocks. Yuan Bao had so much fun playing with the building blocks.

Lu Lin suddenly realized the building blocks might be yet another hit. Lu Lin asked the carpenters who were free to make building blocks.

The carpenters were busy making ploughs for people from other counties until days ago. However, the market had cooled down recently, so they had a lot of free time in hand.

The local people in Sha County also had limited purchasing power, the market was saturated at this point. Lu Lin gave the carpenters a few days off.

The carpenters who were used to getting their wages from Lu Lin on a daily basis didn't enjoy their days off, so they were very grateful when Lu Lin asked them to come back, making the blacksmiths envious.

Lu Lin showed the carpenters a few sketches about the building blocks, the carpenters weren't optimistic about this project. They doubted if this new item was marketable, but they didn't raise any objection on seeing how excited Lu Lin was.

......

The winery's business was heading to the right direction, people from the surrounding counties had heard their name and started to support their business.

Lu Lin was very happy about the validation.

Yuan Bao had been sulking since Chen Xiao Mai left. Lu Lin asked the kitchen to make a pot of sweet rice dumplings in fermented rice soup for Yuan Bao.

Chen Xiao Mi and Shen Chi finished off the whole pot while Lu Lin was not watching, which rendered Lu Lin speechless.

After Chen Xiao Mi got pregnant, Lu Lin stopped Chen Xiao Mi from drinking, leaving Chen Xiao Mi craving for more, so he sent Yuan Bao away on an excuse and finished the whole pot with Shen Chi.

......

Ji Cheng Kang's team headed towards the capital city in high and vigorous spirits. There were more than ten strong soldiers in the team, and no one dared to provoke them.

Chen Xiao Mai rode on his horse, looking daring and energetic.

Lu Lin selected a timid horse for Chen Xiao Mai for this trip in case he got bored in the carriage.

"I'm afraid we won't be able to reach the next town before sunset. We can only spend the night in the wilderness," Ji Cheng Kang looked at the sky and said.

"Are we going to camp?" Chen Xiao Mai asked excitedly.

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "Yeah!"

"That's great."

Ji Cheng Kang looked at Chen Xiao Mai and showed a doting smile.

At first, Ji Cheng Kang was worried that Mai would cry bitterness without ceasing along the way. However, Ji Cheng Kang found that Chen Xiao Mai was very tough and seemed to be very interested in all the challenging activities. Mai was completely different from the Bios from the big families he had seen in the capital city.

Chen Xiao Mai jumped off the horse and got into the carriage. Then he took out a large chunk of smoked meat.

As soon as Chen Xiao Mai took out his smoked meat, the soldiers' eyes were almost glued to the meat.

Ji Cheng Kang shot a warning look at the soldiers, he didn't want them to scare Mai.

Ji Cheng Kang coughed softly. Several soldiers realized that it was inappropriate to stare like that and withdrew their gazes.

That smoked meat was specially made by Lu Lin. It was sprinkled with a lot of spices. The texture and the color were just so inviting.

Chen Xiao Mai made a fire, he roasted the meat for a brief moment before he cut off a piece with the Swiss Army Knife Lu Lin gave him.

Ji Cheng Kang looked at Chen Xiao Mai's knife with a strange glint in his eyes. That knife in Chen Xiao Mai's hands was more like a multi-tool, Ji Cheng Kang had never seen anything remotely as impressive as that pocketknife.

Chen Xiao Mai cut off a large piece of meat for himself, then he cut two pieces for Chen Xiao Cai and Ji Yun An. Chen Xiao Cai looked at the meat in Ji Yun An's hand, and suddenly he found Ji Yun An so annoying.

Chen Xiao Cai took a bite of the meat with relish, then he heard loud swallows from the soldiers.

Chen Xiao Cai cut two plates of meat and shared with the travelling companions, winning everyone's thanks.

"Young Master Chen, you guys are really well prepared."

Chen Xiao Cai smiled shyly, "This is all thanks to Lin Ge, he always teaches us to be thrifty at home and he doesn't have the heart to see us suffer a little bit when we are not home."

Chen Xiao Cai thought to himself, 'Lin Ge must have seen this coming, so he has prepared so much food for us.'

"I've eaten smoked meat before, but none of them was as great as this one, what's the secret?"

Chen Xiao Cai shook his head, he had no idea how Lu Lin made this so yummy.

Chen Xiao Cai started to miss Lu Lin as he ate the food meticulously prepared by Lu Lin. When Lu Lin first married into their family, Chen Xiao Cai disliked Lu Lin, he would deliberately give Lu Lin a hard time.

But as time went by, Chen Xiao Cai felt a heartfelt admiration for Lu Lin, and he would always go to Lu Lin for help, but he often pretended to be unconvinced.

Chen Xiao Cai now missed Lu Lin more than ever, he wished he had Lu Lin to turn to when he was in the capital city.

Chen Xiao Mai was carefree. After dinner, he ran to the carriage to sleep.

Chen Xiao Cai saw Ji Yun An tucking Chen Xiao Mai in later on, his face darkened immediately.

......

A month later, Chen Xiao Mi gave birth to a baby boy. Lu Lin named the boy Lu Yifei, taking the meaning of the soar up into the sky, the boy's nickname was Dash.

Chen Xiao Mi was very happy after giving birth to a boy.

Lu Lin didn't care the gender of the baby, but he was happy that Chen Xiao Mi was happy, but that didn't mean he preferred boys to Bios.

When Chen Xiao Mai left, Yuan Bao missed his Little Uncle so much that he had lost appetite for food and drinks. But Yuan Bao's heart was brimming over with happiness since Dash was born.

Like Yuan Bao, Dash's fed on goat milk.

In fact, Yuan Bao was weaned for a long time, but he would ask for some goat milk whenever he saw Dash having some.

Lu Lin had no choice but to boil more goat milk to feed his big baby and little baby.

Shen Chi always visited Dash, he would spend hours staring at Dash and fantasizing about his unborn baby.

"Uncle Chi, look at baby Dash, he's very chubby."

Shen Chi smiled, "Just like you when you were a baby."

"Look at his chubby hands," Yuan Bao said.

Shen Chi showed a doting smile.

Dash opened his eyes and smiled at Yuan Bao.

"Uncle Chi, Dash is smiling. Look at how happy he is after I said he's chubby. My baby brother is a fool, he liked to be called chubby."

Shen Chi stroked Yuan Bao's hair.

Chen Xiao Mi now walked in. "Ah Chi, there's some chicken soup stewed in the kitchen for you."

Shen Chi blushed and said, "I... Xiao Mi Ge, there's no need to cook for me specially."

They usually had three meals at a fixed time, and now it wasn't time for any meal.

"You suffer severe morning sickness, you didn't eat much for breakfast, just go enjoy some chicken soup, it's no trouble."

Chen Xiao Cai was away and Chen Xiao Mi cared about Shen Chi even more than before.

Yuan Bao was a little excited. "Daddy, do I have any chicken soup?"

"No," Chen Xiao Mi said firmly.

Yuan Bao puffed up his cheeks and said, "Why not!"

Chen Xiao Mi looked at Yuan Bao and said, "Look at your face, I want to call you Roundie."

Yuan Bao said sullenly, "Father Lin said that I look good."

Chen Xiao Mi smiled, 'Well, your Father Lin is obviously biased.'

Chen Xiao Mi paid a visit to the brewery this day. There were many employees working hard when he was there.

After the wine was brewed, some would be sent to the military camp, some would be sent to several nearby towns, while the rest would be kept for sale in Sha County.

Lu Lin and the soldiers in the military camp had a deal. The soldiers would work for Lu Lin on their days off, and Lu Lin could pay them with wine and food.

This winemaking business was the most profitable business in Lu Lin's hands.

Lu Lin zoned out this day, he was worried for the boys who had left for the capital city.

......

Chen Xiao Cai and the team had finally arrived at the capital city.

Chen Xiao Cai was very generous with money along the way. Every time he went to a county, he didn't hesitate to take care of all the team members. All the soldiers respected Xiao Cai for that.

Chen Xiao Mai opened the curtain on the carriage to look at the view in the capital city, he kept gasping!

Chen Xiao Cai looked at the people walking back and forth on the street with an odd expression on his face.

In Sha County and Forest Town, most people would wear patched clothes, you would be considered rich if there wasn't a single patch on your clothes. But people in the capital city would wear brocade gowns with jade pendants around the belt, Chen Xiao Cai had seen several valuable jade pendants.

Chen Xiao Cai and the others followed Ji Cheng Kang to his residence. Ji Cheng Kang lived separately from his parents, Chen Xiao Cai felt less uncomfortable going to Ji Cheng Kang's residence instead of his parents' house.

Ji Cheng Kang left soon after he had arrived home.

Ji Cheng Kang would be quite busy in the following days. During this period of time, he had to visit his families, contact his colleagues in the imperial court, and arrange an academy for Ji Yun An.

Chen Xiao Cai looked at Ji Yun An and said, "Your uncle has already started working, we should take action too."

Ji Yun An nodded, he was full of pride and enthusiasm. Chen Xiao Cai and Ji Yun An walked out of the gate and decided to look for the storytellers in the city first. They planned to ask the professional storytellers to tell the story of Journey to the West to promote the story.

There were many tea houses in the capital, a lot of storytellers worked there. Going to the tea house was one of the most popular entertainments for many rich people.

Ji Yun An and Chen Xiao Cai visited several big tea houses but to no avail.

Fortunately, Ji Yun An was a pretty well-known young master, they were rejected in a polite way at least!

Chen Xiao Cai said in a depressed tone, "These people don't want to talk to us!"

Chen Xiao Cai was also a respected figure in Willow Town and Sha County. Being treated so coldly at the capital city, he couldn't help but feel a little upset.

Ji Yun An blushed with embarrassment. "I think we need to talk to the less fancy tea houses."

Ji Yun An loved Lu Lin's story so much that he had hopes for it, so he aimed high and only talked to the high-class tea houses, but he had learned it the hard way, maybe he needed to lower his expectations.

Ji Yun An and Chen Xiao Cai searched for a long time and finally found a tea house called Auspicious Cloud who was willing to give their story a chance.

Auspicious Cloud used to have an amazing storyteller who was poached away by a competitor, the current storyteller in the tea house was not as great as the old one.

Recently, the business in the tea house went downhill. When Ji Yun An pitched the story to the owner Zhao He, Zhao He thought this might be a favorable turn for the business.

Ji Yun An told Zhao He the first few stories, Zhao He was completely enchanted by them.

"It'll be popular. This story will definitely be popular."

Zhao He as overwhelmed with admiration for the excellent stories, he would clap his hands and exclaim from time to time. He even coaxed Ji Yun An into telling one more chapter after he was finished.

After Ji Yun An and Chen Xiao Cai left the tea house, they found a printing house and printed a few copies of the first volume of Journey to the West.

......

Auspicious Cloud's business had gone downhill recently, but they had a big customer base.

The new storyteller had won everyone's cheers after he told the first chapter of Journey to the West.

The customers who were thrilled about the new story demanded more chapters, but the storyteller knew the importance of 'trailing a long line in order to catch a big fish', so he asked the customers to stay tuned for more chapters.

More customers showed up in the tea house thanks to the customers who were there the day before, they did a good job promoting the story by word of mouth.

Five Colored Stones that could patch a hole in the sky, a peach that could help you become immortal, the almighty Golden Cudgel that weighed one hundred thousand kilos......

The customers were fascinated by the story.

Journey to the West had become the most heated topic everywhere in the city, and so was Auspicious Cloud Tea House.

The show had a full house for every performance.

As the owner of the tea house, Zhao He became famous.

Zhao He was originally very angry about the fact that his old storyteller was poached, but now he felt like that was a blessing in disguise. If the old storyteller weren't poached away, he might not be interested in giving Ji Yun An's story a chance considering how young Ji Yun An was.

Zhao He had received so many big tips recently.