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

After receiving Shen Qing's affirmative answer, Zhao Gou left happily.

He summoned a group of palace maids and eunuchs and began to make arrangements:

"You two are father and son, you sell antiques."

"You three brothers sell eggs."

"You, and you, a couple, selling tofu!"

"You're the pancake seller, and you two are a mother and son selling medicinal herbs."

"..."

A group of people inexplicably became father and son, brothers, and husband and wife.

Especially those pretending to be a married couple, they were terrified upon hearing this, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

"Your Majesty, it's a serious crime for palace maids and eunuchs to have sexual relations; they could lose their heads. How about we pretend to be siblings instead..."

Zhao Gou glared at them: "Just pretend to be whatever I tell you to. It's all fake, you won't get your heads chopped off!"

Then, changing the subject, he added, "But when you're acting, you have to act like it's real, just like a street vendor!"

The palace maids and eunuchs: "..."

This is making things difficult for people. A fake is a fake. How can you act it as if it's real?

"Your Majesty, I don't know how to set up a stall, and I don't know how to act!" a young eunuch couldn't help but shout.

"That's right, Ancestor. We've been serving in the palace since we were little, and we have no idea what a market is like."

"I did see it when I was a child, but I can only remember the general outline."

"..."

A group of people started chattering amongst themselves.

Many of them entered the palace at a young age and stayed there year-round, with little opportunity to go out and wander around.

They are good at serving others, but they always feel like they are playing with their heads on a leash when it comes to these strange things, and they could lose their lives at any moment.

"Alright, alright!" Zhao Gou shouted. "What's so hard about setting up a stall? All you have to do is shout and hawk your wares."

"How do you call out to customers?"

"For example, you could shout, 'Tofu—selling tofu—'"

"Note that you need to draw out the sound. Your voice shouldn't be too thin; it should be like a normal person's, full of energy. Give it a try."

Zhao Gou taught very hard, and he shared all his knowledge and experience from his time outside.

"Tofu—" the little eunuch called out in a drawn-out voice.

"No," Zhao Gou frowned. "I told you, your voice needs to be deep!"

"Selling tofu—"

"Rough, rough, do you understand?"

The little eunuch looked aggrieved: "Your Majesty, that's exactly how you call me..."

"Is that how it is?" Zhao Gou stared wide-eyed, not believing it at all.

The little eunuch nodded, just like a chick pecking at rice.

The other eunuchs nodded in agreement, firmly testifying for the young eunuch.

A group of palace maids covered their mouths and chuckled behind them.

I just couldn't help it; no matter how rough a eunuch's voice is, it's still high-pitched.

"Alright, fine, fine. It's a unique feature of the palace market. For mother-son and husband-wife groups, the woman should call out the names." Zhao Gou waved his hand. Voice is something that can't be changed just like that.

"It's just buying and selling things anyway. You guys just put on an act. If you do a good job, everyone will get a reward."

"And one more thing, those of you playing the role of guests must not go to Madam Shen's stall, absolutely not. His Majesty is going to eat at Madam Shen's stall. If you are blind and offend His Majesty, don't blame me for not reminding you."

Upon hearing this, the eunuchs and palace maids quickly nodded in agreement. Even if Zhao Gou hadn't reminded them, they wouldn't have dared to approach the emperor so casually.

After all, you can only lose your head once.

......

Shen Qing leisurely returned to the Treasure Pavilion.

Another day of missing dumplings.

I habitually open the system.

[Ding—Congratulations, host, for successfully conquering Consort Li, Su Jiao'er. New product unlock progress (1/2)]

[Ding—Host is about to start randomly setting up a stall within the palace. The maximum amount of ingredients that can be purchased is set at five.]

Shen Qing: "..."

This system is quite intelligent; it detected it as soon as she agreed.

Setting the maximum purchase limit to five portions is far too low.

The main ingredients are now provided by the imperial kitchen, and the system only provides some seasonings that didn't exist in ancient times, yet it's still so stingy.

She had originally planned to set up a stall for a few days and then take over all the royal families.

The result was five copies.

She gets one, Xiao Wang gets one, the Emperor gets one, and judging from Zhao Gou's excited and expectant look, he'll probably get one too.

There's only one left for the new customer.

"That's so stingy! You're even restricting the ingredients. Why don't you restrict the random location too?"

[At the host's request, the system is willing to provide services.]

Shen Qing was speechless once again.

"Could you just send me the prayer candles directly?"

After a while, the system remained silent.

Wow, selective service, huh?

That's a real dog.

One night has passed, and it's a brand new day~

By the time Shen woke up, eunuchs had already brought the food cart to the Zhenxiu Pavilion.

It had everything: a stove, a big pot, a cutting board, and so on, making it look quite proper.

It felt like I was really going to set up a stall.

Shen Qing pushed the cart to the imperial kitchen, where fresh ingredients such as pig intestines were kept.

As soon as they arrived at the imperial kitchen, Wang Erdan rushed up to Shen Qing: "Madam Shen, why are you pushing a cart? What are you making for dinner today?"

"Let's make braised pork intestine noodles again. Get ready, let's go set up a stall."

Wang Erdan: "???"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Go and prepare the pig intestines first. I'll make the noodles." Shen Qing didn't explain further.

Wang Erdan was bewildered, but he still went to serve the pig intestines as instructed.

In any case, it's always right to listen to Madam Shen.

"Xiao Wang, may I watch you process the pig intestines?" one of the imperial chefs couldn't help but ask.

"Yes, Xiao Wang, or we can help you. This pig intestine smells terrible. We can help you get rid of it."

"Yeah, could we have a few bites of that braised pork intestine noodles...?"

As soon as the pig intestines were served, several imperial chefs surrounded them.

They dared not approach Shen Qing; Shen Qing possessed an aura that kept strangers at bay, and they were inexplicably afraid of her.

But Wang Erdan is different; he's an acquaintance!

"No need, I won't share. I don't even have enough to eat myself," Wang Erdan resolutely refused.

But the imperial chefs had been longing for braised pork intestine noodles all night, so how could they give up so easily?

They immediately got to work, and in no time at all, the large intestines in the basin were all gone.

"I'm here to help, I'm just here to help."

"Yes, yes, without expecting anything in return."

"How do you do it, Xiao Wang?"

Wang Erdan: "..."

Feeling utterly helpless, she instinctively looked at Shen Qing.

Shen Qing: "Teach them how to do it, it's fine."

It's just processing pig intestines; the imperial chefs learned all that.

But to make a perfect bowl of braised pork intestine noodles, besides pork intestines, noodles and seasonings are indispensable.

Rolling out the noodles takes time, so she plans to roll them out in advance so it will be easier when she sets up her stall later.

She took a large basin and scooped several bowls of flour from the flour jar.

Just as I was about to knead the dough, suddenly, the system's voice sounded in my mind:

[Warning, warning, there's something wrong with the flour!]