Shocking! The entire court was drooling with envy because of me.

"Elder?" Shen Qing frowned, instantly recalling Shen Chengzong's escape.

They brought reinforcements from their hometown!

Tell them it's late, and only my mother and I are home, so it's inconvenient to meet. Let's wait until tomorrow.

The moment Shen Chengzong fled, these clan elders arrived; it was clear nothing good was coming of it.

Perhaps we should let them cool off for now.

Old Chen, the gatekeeper, relayed Shen Qing's words.

The three old men were dumbfounded.

"We're all family, what's inconvenient about it? We're just asking about something!" Shen Mao immediately started fuming and glaring.

Shen Gao frowned: "It's so late, where are you going to send the three old men like us? This house is so big, you can just find us any courtyard to stay in, why make us run around like this?"

Upon hearing this, Old Chen, the gatekeeper, repeated Shen Qing's words: "Our master said it is inconvenient to meet. Please come tomorrow."

After saying that, he closed the door.

"Too arrogant, absolutely too arrogant!!" Shen Mao was so angry that his face twisted, and he plopped down on the stone steps at the door.

He had planned to get everything done today so he could walk straight home in the afternoon.

But after spending the whole day lingering in that teahouse, getting lost, and asking around, we finally found this place.

I thought everything would be fine once I found them, but they simply refused to see me!

Shen Gao chimed in from the side, "This Shen Qing is really disrespectful to his elders, he's gone too far!"

"What do we do now?"

"Let's find a place to stay for the night first," Shen De said, frowning. "A dormitory-style room at an inn should cost around ten or twenty coins."

Upon hearing that it would cost money, Shen Gao immediately objected: "Twenty coins is quite a lot; isn't this a waste of money?"

Then, his eyes lit up: "Why don't we go and stay at the Shen family's house?"

"If we can't even get in, what are we going to stay in?" Shen De frowned.

"I'm not talking about this house, I'm referring to the Shen family's previous house."

"Isn't that house locked?" Shen Mao frowned again. He always felt that Shen Gao was going to come up with some unreliable ideas.

"I saw it today. There's a short tree next to that house that's easy to climb. Let's climb in and live there. There's no one inside anyway, and it'll save us money."

"This isn't a good idea..." Shen De said with a look of disapproval.

"Oh, think about it, if we save the money, we can buy Four Happiness Meatballs tomorrow morning. A serving of Four Happiness Meatballs costs forty coins. If we go to the Shen residence tonight, we can save twenty coins directly."

When the topic of Four Happiness Meatballs came up, Shen De hesitated for a moment and remained silent.

"Climbing trees at your age? Aren't you ashamed? I'm not going!!" Shen Mao shouted at the top of his lungs.

Shen Gao ignored Shen Mao and kept persuading Shen De: "Come on, come on, let's save the money and go buy Four Happiness Meatballs first thing tomorrow morning."

"With your old bones and limbs, aren't you afraid of falling and killing yourself!" Shen Mao shouted again.

"Twenty coins, twenty coins is so hard to earn, every little bit counts."

"If you really want to save money, just spend the night on the street!!" Shen Mao was furious.

He retorted with every word Shen Gao said; it was truly shameful to climb trees and scale walls.

Besides, why would you go to someone else's house for no reason? Don't you have any shame?

"I'd rather not use a VPN. I'm too old for that." After a long pause, Shen De finally made his decision.

Shen Mao was truly merciless with his words, and he blushed from being spoken to.

"Really not going?" Shen Gao persisted.

"I'm not going."

"If you're not going, I'll go by myself!!" Shen Gao flung his sleeves and left.

He could save twenty coins a night, not to mention that he had never stayed in such a nice house as the Shen family's before.

It's a chance to experience it for myself.

Shen De sighed softly: "Shall we go stay at a hotel?"

"Let's spend the night in a dilapidated temple; it'll save money," Shen Mao said.

"Alright, let's go to the ruined temple then. We'll leave tomorrow after we've finished dealing with things."

......

One night passed.

The next day, before dawn, Shen De got up and, without thinking, shook Shen Mao awake: "Let's go buy some Four Happiness Meatballs together! Trust me, they're absolutely delicious!"

"I'm not going!" Shen Mao rolled over.

"You'll regret it if you don't go!"

"I don't regret it!" Shen Mao said coldly.

Whenever he mentions Four Happiness Meatballs, he thinks of yesterday's events, and the thought of yesterday's events makes him feel suffocated.

"I'll go first then, otherwise I might not get a turn."

Shen De didn't care about anything else and ran straight out of the dilapidated temple, heading excitedly towards the teahouse.

Upon arriving at the teahouse, he shouted, "I need a number! I need a number!!" He was panting heavily.

He was greeted by the same servant boy from yesterday.

The waiter smiled, revealing an expression that said, "You're number thirty-five. Here you go."

"Number thirty-five..."

Shen De was somewhat disappointed; he had thought he was the first one there.

"Please sit down and wait a while, it will be quite a while."

"How long will it take?" Shen De asked, looking up. He was still preoccupied with dealing with the Shen family business.

"Right now, we'll have to wait at least two more hours."

"So long?!?!"

Shen De was shocked for a moment; these guests were actually willing to wait for so long.

Zhiweixuan is doing incredibly well.

Then I thought of Shen's Restaurant. I wish Shen's Restaurant could be just as successful.

Shen De ordered the cheapest tea and listened to the conversations of the people around him while drinking it.

Novel terms like crispy fried chicken, stinky tofu, and braised pork ribs inexplicably entered his ears.

The key point is that the people around him described it vividly, and when he thought of the Four Happiness Meatballs from yesterday, his mouth even started watering.

Just then, several shouts rang out:

"Madam Shen is here!!"

"Zhiweixuan is open!"

"Madam Shen has finally arrived! I've been craving her food so much!"

"..."

Many diners in the teahouse even rushed out, extremely excited.

Shen De looked on with curiosity, as it was the first time he had ever seen such a scene. He turned his head and looked towards Zhiweixuan from afar.

A woman pushed a cart and stopped in front of Zhiweixuan.

The woman was dressed in a blue robe, neatly made up, with few accessories, and looked very capable.

Shen De frowned slightly. Why did he look so familiar?

But because they were too far apart and there were too many people around, Shen Qing quickly went back into Zhiweixuan, so Shen De didn't recognize him at first.

He drank cup after cup of tea, and after waiting for a long time, Shen De suddenly thought of Shen Gao.

"Why hasn't he come yet? He was the one who was making the most noise yesterday. It's already this late, and he's probably number two hundred or so in line by now."

"Could it be that I overslept?"