Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

My adorable true emperor! .jpg

Chapter Seventeen: Side Story - The Little Demon Inazuma of Yesteryear

Ying Xiangguang is always the first one to get up in the "wives' group". Everyone is used to having their lives upside down and doing whatever they want, so Guangdai has to be the only obedient child by Shen Liang's side.

The "wives' group" naturally refers to the second-generation daughters of Inazuma, who have given themselves this title. Of course, only they acknowledge each other's status. Even the great yokai, Kitsune-sai-miya Torachiyo, dares not say that she is part of the wives' group. Only they elevate each other's status by referring to each other as the harem of Prince Ryou.

I crawled out from under the tightly rolled-up blanket. It was just getting light, probably around six in the morning.

The building has two floors, but the girls are used to living in the living room on the first floor. Inatsume doesn't care about beds; she can just lay out a tatami mat and fall asleep.

Last night, under the starry sky and amidst the dew, several girls drank, played cards, and kept Shen Liang company until late. However, in the end, Shen Liang, being the main character, was very mindful of his privacy and went to sleep on the second floor.

The reason given was that he didn't like sleeping on the floor.

"Tsk." Kagehiro was a little annoyed at the thought that he hadn't succeeded in the end.

Yae no Miko was still snoring softly on another bed; Asase Hibiki slept peacefully, holding her gohei obediently; the future Ōtengu Seikobo was sprawled out, the blanket kicked off the bed, his underwear completely exposed.

Since moving into Shen Liang's small building, the girls have consciously started wearing pajamas and nightgowns to sleep, except for Qing Gu Fang, who is also a member of the Tengu clan and has never gotten used to it.

With her bare, fair feet and thin pajamas, Mitsuyo got out of bed, crossed the living room to pick up the blanket for her sister, and then heard the sound of stir-frying coming from the kitchen.

"Your Highness?" Mitsuyo called out tentatively.

The sound of stir-frying continued. After a while, Shen Liang replied, "Get up. It's a bit early today. Breakfast won't be ready for a while."

What are we having for breakfast today?

“What we’re having today can’t be called breakfast, it has to be called ‘morning tea.’” Shen Liang said while busy preparing the white dishes, steaming two bamboo steamers, and frying rice noodles. “We’re having tea in the morning, prepared in the style of the Liyue people.”

"Morning tea, um, I know about it. I've read about it in books. It says that people from Liyue would go to teahouses in the morning, order a pot of tea, and then a table full of dishes, eating from morning till night." Guangdai curiously peeked out from the kitchen entrance.

"This is a traditional Liyue dish. We do have restaurants in Inazuma, so why haven't you tried it after living here for so long?"

"I've never eaten out before, how could I have time to go out? I usually rely on the chefs at Tenshukaku to deliver my meals, I've never eaten out before," Mitsuyo said honestly, her eyes fixed on the custard buns shaped like little rabbits on the cutting board.

“Then I’ll have to show you what morning tea is all about.” Shen Liang said, his hands still busy. “People in Liyue don’t call morning tea ‘drinking,’ they call it ‘eating morning tea.’ When guests come, when we meet clients at the company, or for social events, we don’t go to restaurants. We find a teahouse to enjoy tea, with dozens of plates of dim sum laid out. That’s what it means to respect people.”

"Company...clients?" Mitsuyo was used to the young prince's nonsensical ramblings.

"Even if I were a master chef, I couldn't learn all the dim sum dishes for morning tea. This steamer is filled with shrimp dumplings, siu mai, and steamed sponge cake, while over there in the steamer are rice noodle rolls, custard buns, and steamed spare ribs. I'm stir-frying rice noodles now, and I've also made congee with preserved egg and lean pork for you all. And you've had plenty to drink too; they're stirring milk skin over there to make ginger milk curd later..."

"And what about the tea?" Mitsuyo asked, still confused.

"Since you don't like tea anyway, let's not waste this money."

"No tea for morning tea?!" Mitsuyo exclaimed in surprise.

"Do you want to eat it?"

Mitsuyo nodded vigorously.

“But speaking of dim sum, the most famous one is this char siu bao.” Shen Liang picked up a plump little bun. “To make char siu bao, you need to use unleavened dough, the kind from the north. After steaming, the top of the bun looks like a flower, very pretty. That’s what makes it different from other buns. Other buns have the meat juice soaked into the dough, but with char siu bao, the dough is pressed into the meat filling under the steam. One bite and it’s chewy and fragrant, that satisfying feeling of biting into the meat filling and the soft, cooked skin…”

He saw Mitsuyo desperately clinging to the entrance, her eyes filled with intense longing, her image as the little princess of the Tengu clan almost completely shattered.

"Want to eat?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Mitsuyo nodded without hesitation.

“But Aunt Ling Shan Fang has told me several times not to give you extra food without permission, saying that it is very difficult for the Tengu clan to maintain their size.” Shen Liang teased her, “If the Tengu clan eats whatever they want, they can easily grow to two meters tall like Aunt Ling Shan Fang.”

“That’s alright…” Mitsuyo muttered.

She thought to herself, "You still like the two-meter-tall Tengu just the same. In fact, you like him even more. You stand on tiptoe and you're still not as tall as his chest, yet you still make him kneel obediently in front of you and humiliate him."

It wasn't exactly a humiliation, since Ling Shan Fang was quite addicted to it.

Mitsuyo sighed, feeling that her Great Tengu had utterly disgraced the Tengu clan. One of the three great yokai, yet he was completely subservient to such a childish little fellow.

Unlike her, although she was also a monster, at least she was just a minor demon.

"I want to eat!" Mitsuyo protested loudly.

"But why char siu bao is so delicious is still a mystery~ There's always been a rumor in Liyue that the filling of char siu bao must come from some unknown source, made from some strange ingredient." Shen Liang's expression suddenly turned cold. "Later, there was a novel called 'The Untold Story,' have you heard of it? It's supposedly based on a true story. Tsk tsk tsk..."

"I'm getting angry!" Mitsuyo said angrily. Of course she knew the story of "The Untold Story," she had even read it! It was about a detective who found human remains in the food at an inn and the series of events that followed.

Such a famous novel left her with a lot of psychological trauma when she was young! You damn white-haired boy, you've reminded me of that again!

Mitsuyo, pouting, looked especially adorable. Shen Liang laughed heartily, then took the steamer down and placed it on the table. Mitsuyo eagerly sat down, holding a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other like a little baby.

"By the way, did you know that the old-fashioned dim sum chefs at Qiaoyingzhuang make char siu bao by spraying a mouthful of water on the top of the buns before steaming them? It's said that this makes them taste better. So, people there peel off the top layer of skin before eating the char siu bao, otherwise they'll end up eating the chef's saliva..."

"Your Highness!!!"

The furious Mitsuyo immediately calmed down after seeing the plates of dim sum that were served. Even though they were still very hot, she couldn't wait to scoop up a char siu bao with a spoon, blow on it gently, and then looked at Shen Liang, who was smiling and waiting for her to taste it, and suddenly became wary.

"You didn't really spit, did you?"

She hesitated for a moment, then peeled off the top of the char siu bao and took a small bite. The hot, fragrant meat juice flowed down her pink tongue, almost making Mitsuyo scream, but she was still caught up in a questioning of deliciousness and life itself.

This is so delicious! Unlike many steamed buns that are oily and juicy, this one is filled with piping hot meat filling, and every bite is bursting with flavor and juice. I've never had a meat bun like this in Dongguo before. Even though it was so hot that I couldn't close my mouth, I grabbed another one before I even finished the first one.

Damn it, you must think I look terrible right now! But...but...it's so amazing! What have I been doing for the past two hundred years? I'm still a monster, and even that can't satisfy my hunger!

She completely forgot that she ate bland and tasteless mountain delicacies and fruits every day, and that her requirements for food had actually reached the lowest level.

Mitsuyo stuffed the char siu bao into her mouth with her eyes closed, then realized there were other dim sum dishes on the table. Next, she would grab a dim sum, bite into it, close her eyes, savor it, and repeat the process with great emotion.

Shen Liang even suspected that he had drugged the morning tea.

Mitsuyo tried almost all of the more than ten kinds of snacks, then slumped in her seat, rubbing her round little belly and sighing helplessly.

"Your Highness, if I gain weight, I won't be able to lose it back."

"Aren't you going to wake them up?" Shen Liang was delighted to see that he had gotten some pretty young girls pregnant.

"They won't get up. They probably played cards until the early hours of the morning yesterday. They're used to being lazy when they don't have work," Mitsuyo said lazily. "The rest is enough for them anyway. Hmm, I need to cut down on the calories in this meal."

"You guys really like playing flower cards?"

“Noble ladies do have this kind of entertainment, Your Highness doesn’t understand now. In the future, when you marry our noble or yokai, don’t be fooled by how virtuous and gentle they seem on the outside. Once you bring them home, they’ll just chat and play cards every day, enjoying their wifely pleasures.” Mitsuyo shrugged. “Don’t look at me, I’m the same way. Otherwise, why would noble ladies be so bored? Do you think the reason why novels say that ladies are easily seduced by handsome young men and have affairs is because?”

Shen Liang was taken aback.

“Of course I’m not talking about you. How should I put it…” Mitsuyo suddenly chuckled, “In novels, the young prince is usually the type of handsome young man who goes to seduce noble ladies.”

So Shen Liang got dressed and accompanied her downstairs for a jog. To be precise, Shen Liang was jogging, while she was taking a leisurely stroll.

"I just finished eating, my stomach will hurt! But you're a boy, boys who do morning exercises are the coolest!" After she said that, Shen Liang had no choice but to move. He had originally planned to take a shower during the day when he had nothing to do.

Just like girls play cards all the time, Shen Liang takes baths all the time.

The neighborhood was chilly in the morning and sparsely populated. People who were supposed to be going to work hadn't gotten up yet. Only the veteran soldiers of the Okuzawa clan, who were also doing their morning exercises at the castle tower, and the early-rising maids of the castle tower could be seen everywhere.

"Mitsuyo, out for a run again? Didn't see your sister today?" someone asked with a smile as they caught up with them.

“My cousin is still sleeping,” Mitsuyo replied.

"Oh~" The man looked at Shen Liang and shook his head. "Your Highness is really... sigh."

There are quite a few people in the castle tower who know Shen Liang. After all, Shen Liang lives in the Shogun's inner palace. Although Raigami hasn't announced it, the inner palace staff, maids, and even those inside the castle tower who lack political acumen and are ignorant of current affairs are all very clear about Shen Liang's identity.

"What happened to Qinggufang?" Shen Liang asked with a smile after the old lady left.

"That auntie has taken a liking to my cousin. She's been trying to set her up with her son, always saying she wants to find a chance to meet him and arrange a blind date. It's so annoying. Now that she knows my cousin is sleeping with His Highness, she's naturally disappointed, isn't she?" Mitsuyo complained behind him. "Even though I'm so cute, she still has a crush on my cousin!"

So that's what you cared about?

"Hey Mitsuyo, have you eaten yet?" another elderly man from the Okuzawa clan greeted him. "Is this your boyfriend?"

"Boy...boyfriend?" Mitsuyo's face flushed red. "Uncle Kobayashi, what...what are you saying!"

"Isn't that right? But you were holding hands." The old man was taken aback, then slapped his forehead and laughed heartily, "Look at my memory! You're good friends, I know, I know, His Highness isn't allowed to date, right? Okay, okay, Uncle Lin didn't see anything, hahaha, Uncle Lin didn't see anything today."

He let out an even heartier laugh, waved, and continued running in the opposite direction.

"What have he misunderstood?!" Mitsuyo couldn't help but shout.

Shen Liang looked down at the hand she was still holding.

Hikari retracted.

"It's just holding hands... We girls hold hands casually..." Mitsuyo muttered, "It's just a habit..."

"I know, don't worry, I won't overthink it," Shen Liang smiled.

"What do you know?!"

After finishing her morning exercise, it was already past noon. When she returned to the apartment, Asase Hibiki and the others were already awake. Seeing Mitsuyo and Shen Liang enter together, Yae Miko smiled teasingly, "Your Highness has already won Mitsuyo over?"

"How could I be so easily kidnapped!" Mitsuyo was angry and about to get angry all day.

"Did you make breakfast?" Qinggu Fang nodded to him. "It was delicious."

Shen Liang then noticed that the table was spotless; they hadn't left a single thing behind.

"Your Highness hasn't eaten yet!" Mitsuyo noticed, both amused and annoyed. "We thought you wouldn't be able to finish it."

Qing Gu Fang's usually cold and aloof face showed a rare hint of panic. "It was so delicious that I ate a little too much without realizing it..."

"Oh dear~ We always eat too much whenever His Highness cooks, it's not the first time, His Highness will understand, right?" Yae no Miko chuckled and hooked her arm around Shen Liang's shoulder. "I won't let you go hungry~ I'll have the shrine maiden cook you a bento herself! How about it! Are you looking forward to it!"

"If you're so capable, do it yourself! Why are you always looking for Asase Hibiki? All you do is bully honest people!" Kiyokobo mercilessly exposed him.