In the Ming Dynasty 1498, my restaurant connects two worlds.

"Huh? They won't even accept the 'Divine Bird and Phoenix Painting'? Then what a waste of a painting! Do you know how many 'Divine Bird and Phoenix Paintings' I was forced to paint last night?"

"ah??"

Song Xiaoyi was dumbfounded—Zhu Zhishan had actually dragged Tang Bohu to wholesale the "Divine Bird and Phoenix Painting" last night?

"Dozens of them! All sorts of different chicks, I'm sick of drawing them, you know?"

"Um, let me correct you, there are clearly only nineteen paintings."

It turns out that Zhu Zhishan was the originator of wholesale paintings!

"Brother Zhishan, each painting has a signature and seal? Both of yours have seals? Since they're all finished, bring them to me tomorrow."

Song Xiaoyi suddenly thought, "I can buy them. At worst, I won't sell them. At least I can gain some appraisal experience."

"Um, I haven't finished signing yet, so I haven't affixed my seal. I'll be back in a bit..."

"Brother Zhishan, no rush, take your time. Give it to me whenever it's ready. As long as the shop is open, you can come and eat anytime, it's free, eat whatever you want."

"You don't accept money?"

"Um!"

If all nineteen of the "Divine Bird and Phoenix" paintings were brought to the modern market, Song Xiaoyi estimated that Old Wu would chase him down and beat him, and would also chase him to return the money.

The three paintings are worth 15 million, and the twenty-odd paintings combined might only be worth a few million.

We really need to get them to try something different; drawing isn't difficult for them anyway.

"From now on, gentlemen, don't throw away your drawings, drafts, or scraps. You can bring them to me, and I'll exchange them for all kinds of fine wine."

"What? You can exchange rejected drafts for alcohol? That's not a scam!"

"Absolutely exchangeable, guaranteed!"

"Shopkeeper, you can exchange other people's discarded drafts and drawings?"

"Hmm~, like the ones from Brother Wenbi who came yesterday, and Brother Gu Qian's."

That was too easy for Zhu Zhishan and Tang Bohu. The group stayed at Yan Jun's house in Taoye Ferry, and the amount of waste paper and drafts they produced every day from practicing their writing was enormous.

Tang Bohu then realized that the brothers were actually a bit short of money, and even the travel expenses to Yingtian Prefecture were scraped together. If they could exchange the discarded manuscripts for wine, and then sell the wine at a high price, wouldn't they have money?

This business is worth doing!

After finally managing to sway two foodies away, Song Xiaoyi didn't have time to chat with them much longer, as customers started arriving at the door.

Because of the popularity of Song's Steamed Buns from Yangzhou Prefecture yesterday morning, even more people came to buy them today. Instead of sampling one copper coin at a time, people bought many at once, and some even bought a whole basketful, since a basketful only costs five copper coins, saving one copper coin.

Seeing this, Song Xiaoyi quickly continued to restock while selling.

Steaming buns, changing steamers, and selling instant noodles kept Song Xiaoyi busy until almost noon. Today's turnover and sales volume were almost double that of yesterday.

During this time, Song Xiaoyi noticed two people with "unfriendly eyes." Being a graduate of a military academy, this sixth sense was definitely correct.

It's only been two days since I opened, and my shop is already being targeted? It seems I was right, the other party really might be the Imperial Guard, and it's highly likely related to the disappearance of my grandfather and parents!

We need to find a way to test it.

Before testing, we need to figure out whether the door on the first floor can block people from the ancient times.

"Old Song, do you think our little restaurant's two interdimensional gates can stop people from ancient times from going to the modern world?"

The Two-Way Gate is a double one-way gate. The kitchen is a special space accessible only to the inheritor and their relatives. The door on the first floor can block passage for people from the past, as well as for items that are obviously modern or do not conform to Ming Dynasty characteristics. However, the door on the second floor cannot block passage for modern people.

"This means that people in ancient times couldn't enter the kitchen!"

"People in ancient times were easy to fool, but it's more troublesome for modern people to get into the kitchen from the second floor, right?"

The kitchen doors and windows are cleverly concealed, so even if someone accidentally wanders in, they won't see anything from the first floor.

In that case, I'll have to make the necessary arrangements; from now on, my phone and other modern items will only be kept in the kitchen.

If there is danger on the first floor, is it possible to rush back to the kitchen in time?

The answer is [No].

Therefore, the first floor simply hired a waiter from Daming to greet customers, and another food runner to take dishes from the window and serve them.

Let's leave it at that for now.

We'll simply close for lunch today, lock up the doors, and go do some preparations for the "First Exploration of the Ming Dynasty" plan.

I called the bank from the second floor to schedule a cash withdrawal of ten million yuan, which I needed that afternoon.

Considering the volume and the rationality of his previous thinking, Song Xiaoyi finally decided to only take out ten million. He also found a reason for where to spend the ten million in cash: when he had time, he would rent a small factory in the development zone outside the city, open a small factory, buy machines and raw materials, and make steamed buns, instant noodles, compressed biscuits, and so on.

After making the call, Song Xiaoyi returned to the kitchen, counted out a thousand copper coins from the money box, strung them together with a rope, and carried them to the market. He went straight to his childhood friend, Fatty Cao, and said, "Fatty, these are the ancient coins that we found in the family warehouse. They were collected by my grandfather. Can you sort them out and help me sell them in the collectibles trading area?"

Summer is almost here, and Fatty Cao's Hanfu stall hasn't had a single customer.

"Holy crap! Xiao Yi, these ancient coins are in great condition! Yongle Tongbao! Wow! So many Xuande Tongbao, we're rich! Xiao Yi, your grandfather left you these treasures!"

"Are Xuande Tongbao coins really that valuable?" Song Xiaoyi pretended not to know. It was a bit underhanded to fool his childhood friend, but it was the only way he could manage. "Help me sell them. I'm not in a hurry; I can sell them slowly."

"We really need to release them slowly. If we release so many at once, they'll try to lower the price." Fatty Cao untied the ropes and said while sorting the coins, "Tsk tsk, this quality is at least S grade. Xuande Tongbao coins start at 1,000 each, and S grade coins are at least 30% more expensive. Yongle Tongbao coins start at 800, which isn't low either."

Song Xiaoyi didn't pay attention to Cao Pangzi's mutterings. He had already intended to sell these copper coins to Cao Pangzi at half price. He knew Cao Pangzi's character best and he wouldn't let his brother suffer a loss. There weren't many "fools" like him these days, so Song Xiaoyi cherished him.

"Fatty, there's something else. Your family used to run a breakfast shop, right? Do you know any noodle factories? I'm thinking of renting a small factory in the suburbs to make frozen buns ourselves."

"Xiao Yi, there's no market for frozen buns. People are picky eaters these days, and almost no one eats frozen ones, not even tourists. Otherwise, why do you think our breakfast shop closed down?"

"I may not sell in the city. I have comrades-in-arms in Huizhou and even in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, so I don't have to worry about sales."

"I'll ask my husband when I get home tonight. He's the one who handled all the family business before, I don't deal with this. But it seems there really is one. The factory in Yuhua that used to supply us went out of business and came over to drink with my husband the other day, complaining to him."

"Okay, then remember to ask! You absolutely must ask!"