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

Back in the modern-day old house by the Yongjia River, Song Xiaoyi immediately found the clothes and cell phone he had hidden and eagerly searched for the birth and death years of Wenlin and the magistrate of Yongjia County.

"Wenlin died in the twelfth year of the Zhengde reign of Emperor Wuzong of Ming, which was 1517 AD! They were born in the same year! At least the trip wasn't in vain, it was worth it."

Song Xiaoyi quickly flipped through the previous screenshots, and sure enough! The Hongzhi Emperor died in 1506, and Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, changing the era name to Zhengde...

However, this latest search record...

Song Xiaoyi continued to browse through the search records; the impact wasn't too significant.

The History of Ming Dynasty, Biographies of Eunuchs: "Li Guang was a eunuch during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong... In the eleventh year, he colluded with Japanese pirates, and officials impeached him in succession... Fearing for his life, Guang committed suicide."

"Wenlin contacted his friends Wang Ao, Wu Kuan and other important officials, and submitted a memorial impeaching Li Guang for colluding with Japanese pirates and attempting to poison court officials... Faced with the fierce impeachment from the officials and pressure from celestial phenomena, Emperor Xiaozong of Ming began to distance himself from Li Guang."

Volume 141 of the Veritable Records of Emperor Xiaozong of Ming (September of the eleventh year of Hongzhi): "The eunuch Li Guang committed a crime and, out of fear, hanged himself."

"After Li Guang committed suicide, Emperor Xiaozong ordered his property to be confiscated. A bribery book was found in his home, which recorded in detail the bribes that many officials had given him in order to get promoted. For example, 'So-and-so gave him several hundred bushels of yellow rice' and 'So-and-so gave him several bushels of white rice.' These were actually coded words. 'Yellow rice' refers to gold and 'white rice' refers to silver."

This incident shocked the court and the public, and Emperor Xiaozong was furious, but in the end only a few people were punished, without large-scale repercussions, demonstrating his benevolent rule...

"...Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian, representing the literati of Suzhou Prefecture, assisted the Three Gentlemen of the Hongzhi Emperor (Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian) in rebuilding the Ming Dynasty's economic system with the help of a mysterious figure, thus ushering in the Hongzhi-Zhengde Restoration Era of the Ming Dynasty..."

......

The search history shows that Wenlin is no pushover either, and his counterattack came faster than Song Xiaoyi had imagined.

I know about the Hongzhi Restoration, but what's with this "reconstruction of the Ming Dynasty's economic system"? And this "mysterious person" is even more bizarre! Could it be Song Xiaoyi?

These are issues I can think about later when I get back. Right now, I can't find anyone to offer advice, so I can only turn to Zhu Zhishan and Song Yunqiu.

"Calling Lao Song, please retract the two-way channel."

[Ding! The additional two-way passage between the modern era and the Ming Dynasty has been successfully recovered; cooldown period reset to 30 days.]

"After using it once and then taking it back, you have to wait thirty days before you can use it again?"

"..."

Song Xiaoyi took a taxi to Wenzhou High-speed Railway Station and took the high-speed train back to Jinling.

Everything is fine at Jinling Taoye Ferry Restaurant, and the Song Family Restaurant and Song Family Restaurant on the first floor are also operating as usual.

Business was booming, and at Song Yunqiu's request, Song Hao was no longer in charge of the pancake stall. Instead, Song Tianmin, Song Xu's son (who appears in Chapter 54), took over. Song Hao then went into the kitchen to practice cooking Song-style dishes and some of the Song family's traditional recipes.

According to Song Yunqiu, the autumn air was crisp and clear, and the major exams had just ended but the results had not yet been released. Zhu Zhishan, unable to refuse Tang Bohu, went on an outing with five others and did not return for several days.

This kind of outing in the countryside is similar to the sentiment of students who have just passed the imperial examinations and are enjoying the scenery, which is quite elegant.

"It's good that they're not here. Now that we have some free time, we can teach Song Hao and Song Tianmin more about the recipes for the Song family's traditional dishes."

In the afternoon, after Song Xiaoyi stored the nearly overflowing supplies from the second-floor warehouse, refrigerator, and freezer into the system's auxiliary space, he returned to the Song Mansion of the Ming Dynasty. He then summoned the two to the kitchen and, based on the available supplies, taught them cooking techniques.

After the meal, Miaolan and the two new chefs were busy in the kitchen, while Song Xiaoyi prepared some snacks, drinks and wine, and chatted with Song Yunqiu in the backyard.

"The day after you left, Mu Bin came by once. I told him that you had gone on a long trip. He seemed to have something important to discuss with you, but he didn't want to tell me."

"It must be about Zhu Ding that day. It's alright, he has Jinyiwei under his command at the ferry, and we didn't avoid them when we went home, so Mu Bin must already know I'm back."

"Perhaps he and the commander are on their way. Otherwise, who do you think these snacks and wine are for?"

"The second thing is that after Uncle Song Xu sent Tian Clan's younger brother here, he left. I tried to reason with him using the words you taught me, but he did not want to stay at the Song residence, nor did he want to go to Moling Village."

"Uncle Song Xu is too old-fashioned. Let Brother Tian go and talk to him again in a few days."

Song Xiaoyi noticed that Song Yunqiu had been somewhat restless ever since he sat down, her fingers unconsciously twisting her handkerchief, and several times she swallowed back the words that were about to come out. He put down his drink and asked gently but directly, "Sister Qiu, you've been hesitant to speak ever since I came back. I'm afraid it's not about the two things mentioned above."

"I...I used that phone and accidentally saw some...prophecies from the celestial realm...I didn't mean to spy, it just...it just happened to be lit up at the time..."

"It's alright, the prophecies on those prophecies can change, sister, you don't need to blame yourself. What's done is done."

"Are you really alright? Then, what about Wenbi's father, Prefect Wen..."

Song Xiaoyi then realized that he must have used his new phone to look up Wenlin's information before leaving, and habitually saved a screenshot, forgetting to delete it!

"The matter of Prefect Wen has been resolved, and this is the reason I'm traveling far away this time."

"Then, is there any prophecy about Shifu?" Song Yunqiu's voice was almost inaudible. She lowered her eyes, remained silent for a moment, as if she had made up her mind, then raised her eyes and looked at Song Xiaoyi with a hint of imperceptible pleading.

Song Yunqiu finally asked out her deepest thoughts.

"Do you really want to see it?"

"Um."

"Actually, reading this won't do you any good; it will only make you restless and distracted..."

"No, I just wanted to take a look..."

"With me, his uncle, around, nothing serious will happen to Shifu again."

"I still want to see it. Actually, I know that the celestial realm above might not be a celestial realm at all, but rather a continuation of this world."

"Oh? How did you come up with this idea? Tell me." Song Xiaoyi actually had no wariness towards Song Yunqiu, otherwise he wouldn't have let her participate in the "Six Dynasties' Golden Powder Ode" incident.

"When I visited the home of that old Mr. Wu, I saw Shifu's works on the wall of his living room. And they were all my Wu-style Xuanhe mountings."

"You mean that Shifu definitely didn't paint that picture, and you didn't frame it either? Or did you see the signature?"

"Signature: Spring of Wuchen year, Qinghui Pavilion of the Song family in the capital. Today is the year of Wuwu, so Wuchen is ten years from now."

"You're quite observant; I didn't even notice."

"..." Song Yunqiu wanted to say, "Your profession is cooking, but mine is framing paintings, so I naturally pay more attention to paintings."

"Also, that old Wu was clearly not very satisfied with Brother Yi's explanation, but for some reason he eventually agreed. I thought about it and realized that he might be a descendant of my Wu family's Xuanhe lineage, but he only knows the form of Wu family Xuanhe mounting, not its spirit."

"Is Mr. Wu a descendant of the Wu family?!"