Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Adding Fuel to the Fire

Ming Lingyi couldn’t stay with Li Yun forever. After finishing breakfast, she returned to Ming’s Restaurant.

Before walking through the door, Ming Lingyi had already come up with several excuses in her mind to face the questions from everyone at the restaurant.

But to her surprise, after she walked into the restaurant and the Wu Brothers greeted her, they didn’t send a single curious glance her way. It was as if nothing surprising had happened at all.

When she reached the back kitchen, Wu Zhao Yu and Shi Mingyue were as silent as ever. Even Xiao Chun, who was usually a chatterbox, didn’t ask a single question about where she had been last night or what her relationship with Li Yun was.

Everything was business as usual. It felt like something was different, yet nothing had changed at all.

Ming Lingyi breathed a sigh of relief. For her, this outcome was, of course, the best she could have hoped for.

’How could she possibly explain her situation with Li Yun in just a few words?’

’Besides, she didn’t really want to talk about what was going on between her and Li Yun anyway.’

"Miss." Just before lunchtime, Xiao Chun ran in from outside, a grim look on her face. "The rumors are flying outside! They’re saying the judging for our restaurant’s poetry competition is today. I saw a lot of people heading toward our market. I think they’re all coming to watch the show."

Normally, Xiao Chun would have been overjoyed to have so many people come to the restaurant. But things were different now. Why were so many people coming for the judging, especially when many of them hadn’t even signed up for the competition at their restaurant? What kind of show were they here to see? The cautionary tale of Wangxian Building was still fresh in her mind. Although Xiao Chun couldn’t put her finger on exactly what felt wrong, she knew this sudden flood of attention wasn’t normal.

Ming Lingyi pondered for a moment, not speaking right away.

Xiao Chun stood to the side, a little uneasy. "Am I just overthinking things?"

"No." Ming Lingyi shook her head. "We had the notice for this event posted at the entrance for seven or eight days, but it only ever attracted a limited number of people."

It was mostly students from the Imperial College, some poor scholars in Shangjing who had previously borrowed books from the restaurant to read, and a few officials. As for the common folk, most felt it had nothing to do with them and didn’t pay much attention.

For such a huge commotion to suddenly stir up on the final day of judging—anyone could see that it was illogical.

Ming Lingyi was not some hot-headed person who loved the limelight. "I’m afraid someone is fanning the flames behind the scenes."

To make so many people in Shangjing City aware of a poetry competition at their little restaurant in a single day, the other party must have spared no expense.

"What else are they saying outside?" Ming Lingyi asked.

Xiao Chun thought for a moment before replying, "They’re saying our restaurant is even better than Wangxian Building, that we must have received a lot of good entries, and that today’s judging will definitely be a grand event. They’re even saying it might be the most popular and most must-see poetry competition in Shangjing City this year."

She had actually been quite pleased with herself when she first heard all this.

’How could Wangxian Building possibly compare to their restaurant? Besides, her Miss was the one who came up with the idea in the first place. Wangxian Building was just copying them.’

On top of that, everyone outside was saying their restaurant’s poetry competition was the most exciting one, which really made Xiao Chun’s ego swell.

However, along with her excitement, she couldn’t help but feel a little worried when she realized so many people were talking about their restaurant.

Wangxian Building had only held their poetry competition for a single day before that young master from the Xu Family caused a scene they couldn’t recover from. Although Wangxian Building had partially brought it on themselves, the whole affair was still unnerving.

By the time Xiao Chun finished her report, Ming Lingyi’s expression had turned grim.

When they decided to hold the poetry competition, they had never intended for it to be some grand, spectacular affair. It was just supposed to be a way to attract customers, a promotional event, nothing more. But now, someone unknown was propping them up on a ridiculously high pedestal, making it sound as if their restaurant’s competition could outshine every other refined event in Shangjing City.

’Isn’t this just blatantly stirring up resentment?’

’A classic case of sabotage by praise.’

’With so many people coming today, if they made even one small mistake, or if even one person in the crowd was unhappy with the results, wouldn’t it be easy for the situation to turn ugly?’

’When the audience’s expectations are too high and the reality doesn’t match, wouldn’t Ming’s Restaurant be the only one left to suffer the humiliation?’

"This is too malicious." Shi Mingyue had walked over at some point, and she said this with a frown.

"When Miss first came up with this event, she never said anything about it being the grandest poetry competition in Shangjing City," Shi Mingyue continued. "In fact, our restaurant was just holding a small contest, a competition to offer discounts to our customers. It has nothing to do with those refined, high-minded ’poetry societies’."

But now, thanks to the promotion by some "well-wisher," the nature of the contest had been completely twisted.

"Isn’t there also that Xianyun Liushui Pavilion in Shangjing City?" Xiao Chun had learned a fair bit recently. "Won’t the people from that society laugh their heads off?"

’That was true. Even a proper, elegant gathering like that one, where people gathered purely for their shared interests without any money involved, wouldn’t dare to shamelessly claim they were holding the most exciting and grandest poetry competition. How could a small restaurant like theirs have the gall to use such a title?’

’Weren’t they just making themselves a laughingstock for no reason?’

’Even if Ming’s Restaurant wasn’t the source of these words, who among those who heard the rumors would believe it? They would only think the restaurant was being incredibly arrogant.’

"There are probably more people coming to our restaurant today to see us make a fool of ourselves than there are people who are genuinely here to wait for the results," Shi Mingyue said.

Wu Zhao Yu looked at Ming Lingyi with worry, clearly thinking the same thing as Shi Mingyue.

"Then, Miss, what do we do now? Should we go out and explain?" Xiao Chun asked.

"It’s too late to explain. Besides, even if you went out there to explain, would anyone believe you?" Ming Lingyi said. "People always believe what they want to believe. For those who love a good show, they’ll be far more willing to believe that Ming’s Restaurant orchestrated this all themselves. Otherwise, the show would be far less interesting."

"We can’t worry about all that right now. We just have to make sure nothing goes wrong at lunchtime today," Ming Lingyi said, her gaze darkening slightly.

’At this point, she no longer knew if Li Yun’s appearance was a good thing or a bad thing.’

’It was true that because of this man’s appearance, their restaurant would surely be a frequent topic of after-dinner gossip among the people of Shangjing City, but Ming Lingyi had never intended to be in the limelight like this.’

’But now, someone with malicious intent had already put Ming’s Restaurant in the hot seat.’

’After all, in this world, what could be more authoritative than having the ruler of the nation as a judge?’

’Forget just this small Shangjing City—what scholar in the entire world didn’t want to enter the palace examination? Who didn’t want to become a disciple of the Emperor?’