I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 369 Teahouse Opening

Early morning, Ma Xing Street.

After a few days of busy work, an old shop has been completely transformed into a brand new one, which is quite similar to Zhao’s Teahouse in Qiantang.

Next to the carriage at the door, Sun Sanniang was directing the unloading workers to unload various tables and chairs, while Song Yinzhang was supervising the gardeners who were moving the flower pots.

Some reeds have been planted on the open space, which, against the backdrop of pebbles and stone lanterns, has a Zen feel.

A few young men in academy uniforms were playfully fiddling with the reeds, but when they saw Song Yinzhang had discovered them, they scattered.

However, Zhao Paner came out of the shop and stopped them.

Then she opened the lunch box in her hand and distributed the contents.

"This is the maltose and confectionery made by our teahouse. You can try it."

When the boys ate it, they were all pleasantly surprised.

"It's delicious! I want one too!"

Zhao Pan'er smiled as she distributed the candies and snacks to everyone. "Don't worry, we have them all. Go back and tell others that our teahouse will open tomorrow. If you come in the first two days, you can get 60% off the price. With the candy wrappers in your hands, you will not only get candy next time, but the price will also be reduced by another 10%. You can eat the best Jiangnan fruit for only half the price."

The boys cheered happily, and only when they heard someone shouting that they were going to be late did they rush towards the school.

By sunset, the workers had finished rebuilding the teahouse. Song Yinzhang walked into the teahouse, tapping his waist and saying with a tired face, "It turns out that being a supervisor is more tiring than playing the pipa."

Zhao Pan'er was laying out paper and pen on the table without even looking up. "So when you said you wanted to serve tea and water, I didn't say anything. Two plates and four bowls weigh nearly two kilograms."

Song Yinzhang put down his hand that was pounding his waist, puffed his cheeks, and said unconvincedly: "If I can hold the pipa, I can definitely hold the tea tray."

While the two were talking, Sun Sanniang also walked in.

"Yes, yes, you can definitely carry the tea tray." She first agreed with Song Yinzhang, then looked at Zhao Pan'er and asked curiously, "What are you going to write?"

"The signboard, but I won't write it. You do it." Zhao Pan'er said, making some space for Sun Sanniang and motioning her to come over and write the signboard.

"I?"

Sun Sanniang pointed at her nose with a surprised look on her face, then shook her head repeatedly: "How can I write? No, no, I can only recognize about a hundred characters..."

Zhao Pan'er forced the brush into Sun Sanniang's hand and said, "Our Tokyo Teahouse follows the path of rural wildness. The more the sign looks like it was written by a child, the more it will appeal to the literati. Come, give it a try."

Sun Sanniang wrote a few strokes tremblingly, and asked awkwardly, "Is this okay?"

Zhao Pan'er looked at the round and blunt characters "Zhao's Teahouse" and couldn't help but smile: "Of course it will work. It's natural and effortless. Our teahouse is now open!"

The next morning, the words written by Sun Sanniang had been carved on a natural wooden board and hung on the door lintel.

Zhao Pan'er stood at the door and greeted the customers: "We just opened and are selling for 50% off. We have Jiangnan-style tea and pastries. If they don't taste good, we won't charge you."

In addition, Sun Sanniang also wrote a sign "No charge if not tasty" and hung it on the tree, which attracted a lot of people to watch, so soon the teahouse was full of customers.

Various water signs were hung in the teahouse and the seats were crowded with people. Zhao Pan'er held a silver bottle and performed her signature skill "Silver Dragon Entering the Sea" for everyone. She turned her back gracefully, and the boiling water in the silver bottle shot into the tea bowl in front of the guests like a silver arrow, and the tea powder in the bowl immediately rolled over.

The tea drinkers were shocked by her magical skills and applauded. In the end, everyone exclaimed, "The tea in Jiangnan is delicious, the fruits are tasty, and the people are even more beautiful. It is really different from Tokyo."

"Miss Zhao."

Hearing the shout from the door, Zhao Pan'er, who was serving tea to the guests, turned her head and looked over. She was immediately delighted: "Yinping, Mr. Li, you are here, please come in."

Zhao Pan'er didn't ask Yinping how she was doing, because Yinping's dress and her smile from the heart said it all.

"Madam Zhao, congratulations." Li Wu smiled and bowed, then took out a red envelope and handed it over: "Congratulations on the opening of your teahouse. This is just a small token of my respect."

"This..." Zhao Pan'er hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted it: "Thank you, please sit down."

Yin Ping was a lively person. Seeing that Zhao Pan'er was a little overwhelmed, she smiled and said, "Madam Zhao, I'll help you."

"No, no, you are the guests today, how can I let you..."

Yinping didn't give Zhao Pan'er a chance to continue speaking and started to help right away.

Zhao Pan'er looked embarrassed: "Mr. Li, look at this..."

"Madam Zhao, you don't have to be so polite. See if there is anything I can do and I will help you."

Li Wu was very clear about the importance of Zhao Pan'er in the eyes of his own prince. She might become the mistress of the palace in the future.

Although he was not the kind of person who sought to curry favor with the powerful, he was still happy to do so if it would leave a good impression on the future princess.

"No, no, Mr. Li, you..."

Before Zhao Pan'er finished speaking, Li Wu had already started working with Yinping.

Probably because of the opening discounts, plus the special presence of He Si and others, the teahouse's business was particularly good, and it was so busy that it didn't have a chance to catch its breath until the afternoon.

Song Yinzhang, who had been playing the pipa upstairs to attract customers, also came down. When he saw Yinping was there, he shouted in surprise.

"Silver bottle."

She hasn't seen Yinping for some time since she followed Li Wu away, and she misses her a lot.

"Girl." Yinping responded with a smile subconsciously.

Song Yinzhang didn't care about anything, but Zhao Paner glanced at Li Wu who was helping to wipe the table and reminded her, "Yinping, you are now a good citizen. From now on, you can call me Miss. Just call me Yinzhang."

"I'm used to it." Yin Ping smiled and called Song Yinzhang by another name: "Madam Song, how are you doing recently?"

"Okay, you too?"

Yin Ping smiled widely, "I'm fine. Mr. Li treats me very well. By the way, Miss Song, did you know that General Zhao is actually a prince? Mr. Li is his personal guard, an eighth-rank military officer? I never thought that one day I would be able to be his wife, and even his wife."

"We already knew that, but I didn't know that Mr. Li was a military officer. Congratulations, Yinping." Song Yinzhang's eyes flashed with envy, but she was more happy for Yinping. Thinking of Zhao Wei, she asked again: "Yinping, didn't His Highness come today?"

Hearing this, Zhao Pan'er also stretched out her ears, ready to listen to Yinping's answer.

Unfortunately, Yinping was not in the palace, but in a farm outside the city, so she naturally didn't know about Zhao Wei's situation.

Li Wu replied, "When we came this morning, we ran into Xiaoliu and his friends who were delivering food to the palace. He told us that the young master went to the palace yesterday and didn't return home. But since you are opening today, the young master will definitely come."

As she was talking, Sun Sanniang came out of the kitchen carrying dishes: "Pan'er, Yinzhang, come and help me serve the dishes."

When Yinping was helping in the kitchen before, Sun Sanniang heard a lot of things from Yinping. Knowing that Yinping would be an official's wife soon, she naturally didn't dare to ask Yinping for help as she did before.

When the food was served, Li Wu rubbed his face, which was about to freeze with laughter, and said with emotion: "This job of entertaining guests is really not something that ordinary people can do. It is more tiring than fighting on the battlefield for a whole day."

"Thank you so much for coming today, otherwise we would be too busy." Zhao Pan'er was grateful and poured a glass of wine for Li Wu, "Mr. Li, I toast you."

"No, no, you are too polite, Madam Zhao."

Seeing Li Wu hurriedly picking up the wine glass and drinking it all, Sun Sanniang smiled playfully at Zhao Pan'er and then said, "Mr. Li, I want to ask you something."

"Madam Sun, tell me." "Do you know a man called Du Yuan? He is also from the palace."

Sun Sanniang was still thinking about what Du Yuan had done for them at Ouyang Xu's house before, and had always wanted to thank him.

"I know him. He is the young master's retainer."

"Retainer?" Sun Sanniang was a little puzzled.

Li Wu laughed dryly and scratched his head: "I don't really understand it either, and I don't know how to explain it to you, but he is different from us guards. You know Zhao Zongguan, he is the retainer of the young master."

Sun Sanniang nodded: "It's like this, he helped us that day, can you give him a message, we want to thank him."

"Okay, I'll go to the palace to deliver the invitations and tell him later." Li Wu said, taking out three invitations from his arms and handing them to the three ladies one by one: "To be honest, today I'm here to congratulate you, Madam Zhao, on your grand opening, and I'm also here to deliver the invitations to you. I'm going to get married with Yin Ping in a few days, so I hope you three ladies will come and show us your presence."

"congratulations."

"Yin Ping, congratulations."

"Congratulations, we will definitely be there."

At the same time, in the Ciyuan Hall of the Imperial Palace.

Zhao Wei was respectfully seeing off Zhao Heng, who had just finished lunch with him, and his attitude was extremely respectful.

The reason why he was so respectful was because Zhao Heng helped persuade his mother to agree to his relationship with Zhao Paner today.

Although he knew that Liu Wan only agreed on the surface, she still agreed, didn't she?

When Zhao Wei came in from outside, he saw Liu Wan staring at him with dissatisfaction.

"How did you get your father to agree?"

Zhao Wei chuckled: "Secret."

Liu Wan snorted coldly: "You are quite capable, but your father is going to appoint you as the crown prince, and your marriage cannot be arranged just by your father's consent."

"As long as you and the emperor agree, no one else has the right to interfere in my affairs."

Hearing this domineering speech, Liu Wan's expression eased a little: "When can I meet your Miss Zhao? If she can't satisfy me, I still won't agree."

"This...she hasn't agreed to me yet. When she agrees to marry me, I will bring her to see you."

"What did you say?" Liu Wan was furious and slammed the table.

In her eyes, her son is the most outstanding. It is such an honor for a lowly woman to be favored by her son, yet she dares to offend her son.

"Mom, think about it from another perspective. She didn't agree to my request just because of my status. Doesn't that mean she's not the kind of woman who seeks to cling to the rich and powerful?"

"you……"

"Mom, please calm down, calm down..." Zhao Wei took two steps forward to help Liu Wan calm down.

And in order not to cause further trouble for his mother, after Liu Wan gradually calmed down, he simply said goodbye and left the palace.

Looking at her son's leaving back, Liu Wan's eyes flashed with fierceness.

"Liu Jin."

As the voice rang out, an old eunuch stood up, bowed and said, "Madam."

"How's it going?"

"Your Majesty, that Lady Zhao opened a teahouse on Ma Xing Street. She has always been protected by your Highness's men, so our people have no chance to take action."

"If there is no opportunity, then find one." Liu Wan said angrily.

Liu Jin raised his head slightly and glanced at her, then said cautiously, "Your Highness, His Highness has fallen in love with that lady. If he were to take action against her, I'm afraid it would harm the relationship between you and His Highness."

Liu Wan was silent for a long time before she spoke: "From what you said, you want me to agree?"

"My Lady, in my opinion, you might as well agree to it first and wait until His Highness gets tired of that woman before making any plans. Besides, now is the critical time for His Highness to take over the East Palace. If you do something to that woman, I'm afraid His Highness will make a scene."

Liu Wan was silent for a moment after hearing this, then she sighed and said helplessly, "He just wants to piss me off. Never mind. I'll go see her sometime and we'll talk after we meet. You can go down now."

Liu Jinchang breathed a sigh of relief, quickly retreated, and then sent out a secret letter.

On the other side, after receiving the secret letter from Liu Jin, Zhao Wei smiled and went straight to the teahouse.

The teahouse's business was not as good as in the morning, but it was still pretty good. The sounds of chatting and laughing coming from the teahouse could be heard from far away.

Zhao Wei looked at the small two-story building in front of him and couldn't help but think of the Zhao Tea Shop in Qiantang.

In comparison, Zhao's Teahouse in Qiantang has a larger area, better environment and wider view.

But Tokyo is Tokyo after all, and the prices there are far from comparable to those in Qiantang. The cost of this teahouse is much higher than that of the teahouse in Qiantang.

"Sir, please come in..."

Li Wu, who was in charge of welcoming guests, saw Zhao Wei and his party coming and immediately smiled and said, "Sir, you are here."

"Li Wu, you're doing a good job as the receptionist." Zhao Wei joked, making Zhao Huai'en, Liu Sheng and others behind him couldn't help but laugh.

"Your Highness, please stop laughing at me. I'm getting married in two days. I came here today to give the wedding invitation to Madam Zhao. I saw that she was too busy, so I came to help her."

Zhao Wei glanced inside and said with a smile, "Business is indeed good, there are quite a lot of people. I'll be your servant and we'll go in and have some tea."

As soon as I entered the teahouse, I heard the pleasant sound of a pipa coming from upstairs.

After serving fruit to the guests, Sun Sanniang suddenly saw Zhao Wei. She was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao, you are here."

Without waiting for Zhao Wei to speak, she hurriedly called out, "Pan'er, Pan'er."

"What's wrong, Sanniang?"

"Look, who's here."

When Zhao Pan'er saw that it was Zhao Wei and his group, she was surprised and happy. She hurried over and said, "Mr. Zhao, you are here. Come upstairs, please."

Led by Zhao Pan'er, Zhao Wei and his party came to the second floor of the teahouse and sat down in a private seat facing the street.

"Boss Zhao, business is good. It looks like you're planning to open a dinner service?"

"Not today. Today is the first day of opening. We didn't expect so many people to come. All the things we prepared were sold out in the morning. Thanks to Mr. Li for helping us with shopping, we can open in the afternoon."

Zhao Pan'er smiled brightly, then suddenly thought of something and asked suspiciously, "Come to think of it, the guests who came today, could they be someone you arranged?"

"Madam Zhao, you have misunderstood our master. I guarantee that he has not specially arranged anyone to take care of the business." Zhao Huai'en said with a smile.

Hearing this, Zhao Pan'er smiled even more happily: "My fault, my fault, mainly because I have never encountered such a situation. There are many more guests here than in Qiantang. Please sit for a while, I will make tea for you."

(End of this chapter)