Chapter 103 - 101: Share the Fortune, Share the Stink

Chapter 103: Chapter 101: Share the Fortune, Share the Stink

Yuan Ju had a feeling that if Shu Yao’s milk tea was sold in his shops, it would absolutely be a hit all the way to the Outer Star Systems!

Shu Yao generously compiled the process for fermenting and processing the tea leaves, along with the milk tea recipe, into a document and sent it to him.

"Don’t mention money; that’s too formal. You’re my little uncle’s good friends, and you’ve taken care of him a lot in the past. Just think of this as my thank-you gift and a gift for our first meeting."

"Alright." Yuan Ju didn’t stand on ceremony either, sending her a glittering gold electronic membership card. "With this card, any purchase at any store under the Yuan Family is on the house."

Shu Chao Yu and Jiang Fei were both stunned!

’They’d been bros for so many years, and neither of them had ever gotten this kind of special treatment! Giving away such a huge perk to someone he’d just met for the first time!’

From the sour, envious looks on their faces, Shu Yao realized just how valuable this membership card was.

"This is a bit much."

So she wouldn’t feel bad about it, Yuan Ju explained, "You probably can’t imagine the value that the recipe you gave me will create. So you don’t need to feel like you’re taking advantage of me."

In that case, Shu Yao accepted it with a clear conscience.

Jiang Fei said cheekily, "I don’t really have anything to offer. To keep you from wasting food, I’ll just bring my appetite over from now on to help lighten your family’s burden!"

Shu Chao Yu shot him a sidelong glance. "Have you no shame?!"

Jiang Fei threw himself into Shu Chao Yu’s arms, acting all coy and dependent. "I don’t care! You can’t get rid of me anyway!"

Shu Chao Yu ruthlessly pushed him away. "Yaoyao has to prepare for the unified examination. This is a critical time for her! Stop coming over and pestering her!"

Jiang Fei pretended to whimper.

Shu Yao took off her apron.

"We’re out of groceries. I’m going to run out for a bit."

"I’ll go with you, Yaoyao!" Jiang Fei energetically bounded over, grabbing Yuan Ju—their walking bank—to come along.

"Hey, wait for me!" Shu Chao Yu cried out. He hadn’t washed his face or brushed his teeth and was still in pajamas and slippers. He couldn’t possibly go out like that.

The four of them took a Flying Machine to Luoxing Port.

Luoxing Port was much livelier than the last time they’d been there.

Delivery robots zipped back and forth. The port was bustling, with people coming and going.

Yuan Ju said to Shu Yao, "The Lin Family’s influencer restaurant was exposed for using diseased whitebait fish, which caused the price of whitebait to drop to an all-time low. But because of your livestream, the price has shot back up, even higher than it was before the drop."

Jiang Fei chimed in, "Just you wait. As soon as the stream goes live, tons of influencers will be copying your method for cooking whitebait fish."

Yuan Ju nodded in agreement. He could already spot a few influencers in the crowd.

Noticing Shu Yao wasn’t the least bit worried, Jiang Fei asked in surprise, "Aren’t you angry that people are going to copy you?"

"Same ingredients, same method, same heat control. They still won’t be able to replicate my flavor." Shu Yao was that confident.

"Yaoyao, you’re pretty good-looking. Why don’t you show your face on your streams?" Jiang Fei asked bluntly.

Shu Yao replied, "My identity is... sensitive."

Jiang Fei got the hint immediately and didn’t press the issue.

Shu Yao was from Zone 9. Zone 9 was part of the Lower Star District. Not everyone here was friendly to people from the Lower Star District.

Yuan Ju said, "The streaming platform is directly under the Imperial Court Company. Our Yuan Family can’t interfere in their affairs, so we can’t help you much there. Now that you’re becoming popular, your identity is bound to be exposed. But as long as you can make them money, they won’t care about other things."

"The Imperial Court Company..." Shu Yao asked, "Is it owned by the Imperial Family?"

"That’s right," Yuan Ju said. "The Imperial Family is in a lot of businesses. They were the ones who hyped up the Kunlun Model."

’A so-called War God of Mechas,’ he thought. ’To an expert like me, it’s nothing more than a flashy, impractical idol for the masses.’

He didn’t let his disdain show on his face.

"You’ve met the Empress before," Yuan Ju said. He had seen it in a food news report earlier. "Right now, the Empress is the one managing the Imperial Court Company. In the conflict between you and Lin Zhenxiang, she’ll side with her, regardless of whether you’re in the right. After all, Lin Zhenxiang brings in considerable profits for the Imperial Court Company. The Empress won’t give up her cash cow. However, because of Shu District Chief’s position, the Empress wouldn’t dare do much to you, either."

"So that’s why..." Shu Yao murmured in belated realization. "Every time I laid the groundwork and waited for the situation to escalate, Lin Zhenxiang always managed to downplay the issue and escape the worst of the storm."

It felt like landing a heavy punch on a wad of soft cotton.

’So, the Empress was backing Lin Zhenxiang all along.’

Yuan Ju sighed softly. "The situation is more complex than it seems. What you’re seeing now is just the surface. You’ll understand more as time goes on."

Jiang Fei looked at him, surprised. "Yuanyuan, I’ve noticed you’re especially talkative today."

Yuan Ju glanced at Shu Yao, then replied to him sincerely, "It’s not easy to find a friend you can really talk to."

Jiang Fei was speechless. ’I feel kinda hurt by that,’ he thought.

Yuan Ju continued speaking with Shu Yao. "I saw on your stream that you’re not very familiar with some of the platform’s functions. You could hire an assistant to help you with that. You’ve only just started streaming, so you probably don’t have a manager yet, right? The Yuan Family has an agency that’s just starting out. If you’re open to it, I can have the person in charge come and talk with you later."

Shu Yao thought for a moment. "Let’s wait until after the unified examination."

Yuan Ju nodded.

For now, studying was more important.

Jiang Fei was a little worried for her. "Yaoyao, you’ve never been to school before. Are you scared of the unified examination?"

Shu Yao scoffed. "Do the Shu Family’s genes seem weak to you?"

She thought Jiang Fei would laugh at her, but instead, he nodded in profound agreement.

As if recalling something terrifying, Jiang Fei lamented:

"You know I was classmates with your little uncle, right? Back in school, I never saw him study. Other students were working themselves to death, and he was still taking extracurricular classes! But he was first in our grade every single semester! And his athletic abilities were off the charts! As a Purebred, his power was no less than a Beastman’s! He’s an absolute monster!"

Speaking of Shu Chao Yu, the three of them suddenly realized he had disappeared.

No wonder they hadn’t heard a peep out of him while they were talking.

’Where’d Little Uncle go?’

They retraced their steps to find him and discovered Shu Chao Yu digging through the trash!

Stinking from head to toe, Shu Chao Yu had pulled out three large bags of fish maws that had been thrown away.

"Come on, come on! We share our troubles, so let’s share the stench!" Shu Chao Yu said, trying to wipe his reeking hands on Yuan Ju and Jiang Fei.

Jiang Fei dodged him with a disgusted look. "Are you so poor now that you have to rummage through the trash?!"

"This is good stuff!" Before he’d tasted Shu Yao’s stir-fried fish maws, Shu Chao Yu had been even more repulsed by them than Jiang Fei was now.

After eating it once, he had fallen in love with this amazing freebie!

Shu Chao Yu went back and loaded the three bags of fish maws onto the Flying Machine.

Yuan Ju was silent, but inwardly he was disgusted.

’They had taken *his* Flying Machine to Luoxing Port today, for crying out loud! Now that the inside was all fishy and foul, how was he ever supposed to use it again?’

’He was definitely getting a new one as soon as they got back!’