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

There was no holy light as rumored, no spinning of time and space as imagined, and no dizziness as described in books. Wu Dalei followed Song Xiaoyi from the second floor into the kitchen, and then from the kitchen down to the first floor.

It's an old-fashioned restaurant with nothing particularly special about it. If anything, it's that all the passersby outside are dressed in Ming Dynasty clothing.

"Xiao Yi, this..." Old Wu looked around, thinking to himself, "This is it?"

"Sister Yunqiu, Miaolan, have you finished tidying up? Let's go back together when you're done."

Song Xiaoyi, accompanied by Old Wu, rowed back to the back gate of the Song Mansion of the Ming Dynasty.

On the river, Old Wu suddenly grabbed the gunwale, pointed to the bank, and exclaimed, "Xiao Yi! This is the Qinhuai River!?"

"You just noticed?"

"No, this..."

Song Xiaoyi couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head and saying, "Let's go, let's get ashore. You think I'm messing with you? Is this some kind of movie?"

"This isn't a movie shoot! This definitely isn't a movie shoot!"

The four entered the Song residence. In the kitchen, Song Hao and Song Tianmin were busy preparing for tonight's farewell banquet. Miao Lan went to the kitchen to help out.

Tonight is a farewell banquet for Tang Bohu. He has been the top scholar in the Nanjing provincial examination for almost a month now, and the prefect of Suzhou has sent people to urge him to return twice. It would be impolite if he didn't go back soon.

Suddenly, a six- or seven-year-old child darted out of the kitchen. Song Xiaoyi, quick as a flash, grabbed Xiao Qiuying by the back of the collar as he tried to slip away. "Shifu! Don't run! I told you to watch your master write!"

"Uncle, Master finished writing it a long time ago. The painting by the top scholar is also finished! Brother Xu's calligraphy is also complete! Our seals have been affixed."

"That's more like it."

"this……"

"This is Xiao Qiuying, Sister Yunqiu's son."

"Who?! Qiu... Ying?" Old Wu's eyes widened, and his voice rose several decibels.

"Yes, Qiu Ying is indeed Sister Yunqiu's son. You call Sister Yunqiu 'Grandmother,' so you and Qiu Ying are relatives. However, this way of addressing each other is a bit troublesome."

"Alright, Brother Yi, stop teasing Old Wu."

"Ancestor, you... should just... call me Da Lei. This... Elder Wu... is not appropriate."

The group walked to the backyard living room. Song Xiaoyi stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "At your age, it's really not appropriate to address you by your generation. I think it would be better if we still called you Old Wu, and Sister Yunqiu called you Old Wu. You don't need to call me Ancestor anymore. It sounds awkward. You can just call me Yunqiu or Sister Qiu."

"I think it's feasible. You can just call him Shifu by his courtesy name."

"Will it really work?"

"Oh, Mr. Wu, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Now that you're in the Ming Dynasty, you're an old man. Age is an advantage, so it's alright."

"However, let me remind you first. I forgot to mention earlier that Sister Yunqiu, Miaolan, Zhuzhishan, and Song Hao from the kitchen have all been to our modern world, but I consistently used the term 'celestial realm.' Don't let it slip, or if they ask, just say that you were invited from the celestial realm."

"The others, Wen Zhengming and Gu Lan, know about the existence of the Immortal Realm, but they haven't been there yet."

"Xiao Yi, excuse me for interrupting, Wen Zhengming, are you changing your name now?"

"Oh, not yet, it's still Wenbi. I'm used to saying it, but it's not a big problem."

"Sister Qiu, go and take a look at their calligraphy and paintings, and collect them to prevent them from getting damaged later. I'll explain the relationships here to Old Wu."

"Um."

"Xiao Yi, is this your Song family residence?"

"Yes, the current time is the first day of the tenth month in the autumn of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty. This is my Song Mansion in the Ming Dynasty. The people living here are Miaolan, who just came from earlier. She is Zhang Mengjin's younger sister. There is also my elder brother Zhu Zhishan, Tang Bohu who just passed the Nanjing provincial examination, Gu Qian, who passed the imperial examination and is a future censor, Xu Zhenqing who came from Suzhou to visit, and Wu Yunqiu and her son Xiao Qiuying."

"The two people busy in the kitchen are Song Tianmin, the son of Song Xu, the founder of my Song family's traditional cuisine. The book you are looking at, 'Miscellaneous Writings from Zhuyu Mountain House,' was written by him and his father."

"The other one is my cousin from the Song family of Moling, Song Hao."

"No wonder you don't open a shop in modern times; the phone lines there are always busy. So you've already built such a large business empire here in the Ming Dynasty?"

"That's not entirely the reason. It's mainly because it's not very convenient in modern times, and there's not enough manpower to handle everything. The rice I brought you back last time was bought at the collapsed house along the river in Taoyedu. It's genuine japonica rice from the Ming Dynasty, which is why you thought it was delicious."

"No wonder!" Old Wu slapped his thigh. "I knew it! An old friend of mine went all the way to the mountains of Guizhou to find this kind of rice, but it just never tasted right!"

"You know what, I let it slip back then. To prevent any potential problems later, I quickly went to the mountains of Guizhou with a classmate. With the money you gave me, I rented a mountain there and built terraced fields to grow japonica rice. He hasn't come back yet."

"Hahaha, you little rascal..."

"And that batch of Ming blue and white porcelain you gave to Lao Teng..."

"The Ming blue and white porcelain and the green celadon are genuine. You'll see when we eat. We use this kind of tableware at home."

"This is too extravagant...too extravagant..."

"That's nothing. This house originally belonged to a porcelain merchant from Jingdezhen. He encountered some business troubles and wanted to sell the house to raise some money to make a comeback. I became friends with him and bought the house for six hundred taels of silver." Song Xiaoyi gestured to the name. "Later, I bought his entire warehouse of blue and white porcelain and celadon tableware for nine hundred taels of silver."

"A whole warehouse? And it only cost nine hundred taels of silver?"

"Yes, a warehouse full of thousands of units..."

Old Wu gasped, clutching his chest. "It hurts my heart to hear this. Stop trying to fool me..."

"I'm not exaggerating. Look at my Song Mansion, Qiu Ying is my little supervisor. She helps me urge those lazybones to paint, write calligraphy, and compose poetry every day. After they're done, Sister Qiu helps with the mounting. It's a one-stop shop for the production of ancient Ming Dynasty calligraphy and paintings, haha!"

Seeing Old Wu staring at him with his mouth agape, looking at him with disbelief and a hint of disdain, Song Xiaoyi added insult to injury, "But they're all going back tomorrow, and Qiu Ying is going with them too. The Song residence will suddenly be deserted. I'll lose a source of income, sigh."

"So that's how you made those chick-pecking-rice pictures. No wonder the ink looked like it wasn't even dry when I first saw them. You even swindled me out of tens of millions."

"That's really not my fault. I had just found out about this passage at the time. I was eating instant noodles on the first floor when Zhu Zhishan came in carelessly. He also wanted to eat instant noodles. Then he brought Tang Bohu to eat with him. So I told them to exchange their calligraphy and paintings for instant noodles."

"Hahaha, you've really gone too far!"

The old man and the young woman chatted and laughed, the previous awkwardness completely gone. Just as they were getting into the conversation, the kitchen staff finished preparing the food, and Miaolan came to call them for dinner.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to those lazybones. But you know what, after we finish eating, I'll show you some really good stuff. Something even better than green plums."