The second-largest restaurant in the West Market was named "Wangxian Building."

Business at Wangxian Building had been rather slow the past two days. The Shopkeeper sent someone to ask around and found out that many people had been going to a place in Huaided Fang called Ming’s Restaurant to eat.

More customers there naturally meant fewer customers here.

"That Ming’s Restaurant is so shameless. These past few days, they’ve even been giving customers free dishes, not asking for any silver," said the waiter who had returned from gathering information. "I heard they’re also using the gimmick of high tables and chairs to lure the people of Shangjing City to their restaurant."

The Shopkeeper of Wangxian Building was a man named Sun. Despite running a restaurant, he wasn’t chubby like many other restaurant owners. He had slanted, triangular eyes, a gaunt and scrawny frame, and a goatee.

Hearing the waiter’s report, Boss Sun asked, "The owner of that restaurant is a woman?"

"That’s right."

"Instead of thinking about getting married and staying home to support her husband and raise children, what’s she doing running around meddling in business?" Boss Sun’s tone was sinister. "And now she’s disrupting the market. She really needs to be taught a lesson."

The waiter nodded eagerly. "Exactly! She should be!"

Boss Sun beckoned to the waiter. "Come here. Do as I say."

Ming Lingyi slept in again. Ever since she decided to stop serving breakfast, she’d been happily sleeping in until the sun was high in the sky.

Xiao Chun, Shi Mingyue, and the three Wu Zhao Yu siblings she had later brought in were all excellent workers.

Before Ming Lingyi even got out of bed, they had already given the shop a thorough cleaning and prepped all the ingredients that had been delivered to the back door before dawn, ready for the lunch opening.

Today was the last day of the promotion for the restaurant’s renovation and expansion. Based on yesterday’s turnout, Ming Lingyi estimated that even more people would come today. Plus, it was a rest day, so she expected a good number of students from the Imperial College to visit as well.

Ming Lingyi had already arranged with her farmers and vegetable vendors yesterday to deliver extra supplies, confident she would be able to use it all.

It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, but Ming’s Restaurant had already welcomed its first wave of customers.

"Wow! This place looks so different!" Zhang Zhidong had heard that after Ming’s Restaurant merged two adjacent shops, the interior was completely changed.

He looked at the long table set against the wall, sat down curiously on a stool, and looked up to find a row of "bookshelves." All the books from Ming’s Restaurant were now here, available for customers to pick up and read at their leisure.

Liu Lingxing had come with Zhang Zhidong. The two had been running around together since they were kids.

Since Ming’s Restaurant had stopped serving breakfast, Zhang Zhidong had been quite listless lately.

Between his classes on weekdays, he didn’t have much time to hang around outside. So, taking advantage of the rest day, he and Liu Lingxing had headed straight for Ming’s Restaurant after waking up.

Xiao Chun was already familiar with these young masters. Seeing them enter, she kindly pointed toward some shelves on the wall deeper inside. "Sirs, we have new books over here, and storybooks, too. Feel free to take a look."

After the restaurant reopened, Ming Lingyi had these space-saving bookshelves built into the walls and stocked them with new books.

Realizing that many of her customers weren’t the scholarly type, Ming Lingyi also bought a good number of popular storybooks.

After all, judging by the wear on the old books, the storybooks were clearly the most popular.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhidong first called out with a smile, "Miss Xiao Chun," then stood up and headed deeper into the restaurant.

Sure enough, on the shelves, Zhang Zhidong found several currently popular storybooks that he hadn’t yet had a chance to buy and read.

"Miss Xiao Chun, with Boss Ming buying all these books, don’t you worry people will come just to read for free?" Liu Lingxing, who had little interest in storybooks, asked casually.

Xiao Chun replied, "Not so far. The people who pick up books are almost all paying customers."

Liu Lingxing glanced at Zhang Zhidong, who had already found a seat and was now engrossed in a storybook. An expression of pained secondhand embarrassment crossed Liu Lingxing’s face.

"You’ll have to watch out for people like Zhang Zhidong in the future—the kind who come extra early just to freeload off your storybooks," Liu Lingxing said, teasing his friend while earnestly offering his suggestion to Xiao Chun.

Previously, when Ming’s Restaurant was smaller, most of the customers were familiar faces.

But now, Ming’s Restaurant had made a name for itself.

Sooner or later, people might really start coming just to read the books for free.

If they could restrict entry times or require a minimum purchase to read, they could prevent that sort of thing from happening.

Xiao Chun looked helpless and spread her hands. "Actually, Mr. Du from across the street mentioned this to my lady before, but she didn’t think it was a big deal. She said that books in Shangjing City are just too expensive, and many students from poor families can’t afford them. This place used to be a bookstore, you know. When we first opened, some of the old bookstore’s regular customers still came by wanting to read. Luckily, my lady bought out the bookstore’s inventory, so their trips weren’t wasted. If people want to come and read, she says to let them. My lady says books are printed to be read, anyway. If no one reads them, the books themselves would feel pitiful." ’Though I have no idea why a book would feel pitiful for itself. It’s not a person, how can it feel pity?’

Xiao Chun didn’t understand it, but she believed that whatever her lady said and did was always right.

A look of dawning comprehension crossed Liu Lingxing’s face. He respectfully cupped his hands in a salute in Xiao Chun’s direction.

His family did not lack for silver, so of course, he’d never had to worry about not being able to afford books.

Liu Lingxing had never considered that the people who came to read for free might do so simply because they were short on cash, yet "thirsty for knowledge." What was so easily attainable for him was, for many others, as difficult as reaching for the heavens.

Before long, the restaurant began to fill up. Zhang Zhidong and Liu Lingxing had already started eating.

In anticipation of this meal, the two of them had skipped breakfast at home and come straight to Ming’s Restaurant. They were starving and ordered one of every new dish on the menu.

Xiao Chun quietly suggested they might have ordered too much to finish.

"It’s fine! If we can’t finish, we’ll just stay until dinner!"

Xiao Chun: "..."

’That really wasn’t necessary.’

’After all... that sounded like it would be bad for business! Staying until evening? Did they want to be professional squatters at the restaurant?’

When Shi Mingyue saw a group of three to five beggars appear at the restaurant’s entrance, most of the customers eating inside noticed them as well.

"Miss Ming Yue, hurry up and drive them away," one of the customers called out.

Another chimed in.

"That’s right, get rid of them. The smell is awful, I’m losing my appetite."

Normally, the beggars in Shangjing City knew better than to be so tactless. Just as Shi Mingyue was about to say something, the one in the lead spoke up. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"We want to eat! We have silver!"