Lin Zhiyue's decision to serve afternoon tea in the dining hall stemmed from the day after Qi Yan finished the pudding and egg tarts.
The dining hall supervisor was a round-faced, middle-aged deacon surnamed Zhao, who was always smiling.
When Lin Zhiyue approached him, asking if she could use an empty table in the corner between lunch and dinner to sell some homemade treats, Supervisor Zhao agreed without a second thought the moment he heard she was the youngest disciple under Venerable Yanchen. He even took the initiative to spread a clean tablecloth over her table and hung a small wooden sign that read “Afternoon Tea.”
Not many people came on the first day. They were mostly familiar disciples dragged along by Cen Xi'er and Liu Fengyao to check out the commotion.
Lin Zhiyue made a few cups of milk tea and a sliced cake. She priced them cheaply, charging five low-grade spirit stones for a cup of milk tea and three for a small slice of cake.
The eyes of the few disciples who tried them lit up instantly. By that afternoon, the few cups of milk tea were completely sold out, leaving only a small corner piece of the cake.
On the second day, more people showed up, forming a queue of seven or eight people by the table.
By the third day, the line stretched all the way to the entrance of the dining hall.
On the fourth day, Supervisor Zhao took the initiative to swap her table for a much larger one.
Every afternoon, Lin Zhiyue would open her stall for three hours. She made milk tea, egg tarts, puddings, and cakes. Later, she even developed baked milk—baking a mixture of spiritual milk and spiritual honey until the surface was golden-brown and caramelized while the inside remained soft and chewy. Cut into pieces and served on small plates, its rich, milky aroma could waft through half the dining hall.
With reasonable prices and generous ingredients—using genuine spiritual tea as the base and proper spirit beast milk—the high value-for-money ratio had the disciples of Tiance Palace flocking to her stall.
By the seventh day, when Lin Zhiyue opened her stall in the afternoon, she could already see people waiting in advance at the dining hall entrance.
After busying herself for over two hours, she handed the last serving of baked milk to an inner sect senior sister. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she leaned against the counter, just about to catch her breath, when the system's light screen popped up.
【Business Quest Completed: Dessert stall has earned over 1,000 spirit stones in total. Reward: Premium Draw Ticket ×3. Limited-time card pool “Flowing Green Satin” is now open.】
Looking at the new card pool preview on the light screen, Lin Zhiyue felt her spirits lift.
The set previewed was an elegant outfit in the style of the Republican Era.
The qipao had a base of elegant green satin, with a knee-length hem and a thin silver chain hanging loosely around the waist. The collar and cuffs were adorned with intricate silver-thread frog closures.
The matching accessories included a hairpin, earrings, a jadeite bracelet, a fan, a shawl, stockings, high heels, and a necklace.
The style of the entire set was completely different from all the spiritual outfits she had drawn before—gentle, exquisite, and carrying a reserved elegance of bygone days, as if she had stepped right out of a traditional Chinese ink wash painting.
She did not hesitate for long.
The thirteen Premium Draw Tickets she hadn't used before were still lying neatly in her system space. Combined with the three she was just rewarded today, she had sixteen in total. Rubbing her fingers together, she spent all sixteen tickets on a ten-fold draw and six single draws.
The light screen erupted in an elegant, pale greenish-white light.
The first item was the green satin qipao. The fabric was so smooth it felt like holding a handful of flowing water.
The second item was the silver-thread frog closure hairpin, its tip adorned with a round, lustrous pearl.
The third item was the jadeite earrings. Two teardrop-shaped emerald green pendants gleamed with a warm, gentle luster under the light.
The fourth item was a hand fan. Its ribs were made of fine bamboo, and the fan face was covered in green satin with subtle patterns. Unfolding it released a very faint scent of sandalwood.
The fifth item was a silk shawl, made of pale green silk as thin as a cicada's wing, with silver lace trimming the edges.
The sixth item was the stockings, which felt as smooth as skin to the touch.
The seventh item was the necklace, a silver chain dangling a teardrop-shaped green gemstone.
From the eighth to the tenth items, the duplicate parts were converted into points.
The five single draws only added duplicates of the qipao, earrings, and fan.
Having used fifteen tickets, she had obtained seven of the nine pieces in the Flowing Green Satin set, with only the jadeite bracelet and high heels left.
Seven out of nine pieces. Only two left. Lin Zhiyue leaned against the counter and took stock of the items she had drawn.
She stored the clothes away, turned around to clean up the bowls and dishes on the counter, untied her apron, folded it, and put it back into her space.
She would continue with the afternoon tea tomorrow. She wasn't in a hurry for the remaining two pieces; she could just save up tickets slowly.
A few disciples were still sitting in the dining hall, drinking their unfinished milk tea. The small flowers on the windowsill were blooming vibrantly in the afternoon sun, and the sweet aroma of baked milk and spiritual tea still lingered in the air.
Business at the dining hall's afternoon tea stall grew better day by day.
By the tenth day, a long queue had formed in front of Lin Zhiyue's stall, winding from the corner of the dining hall all the way to the entrance.
The disciples stood in groups of two or three, chatting in line. Their topics drifted from sword technique cultivation to sect gossip, but they would always end up turning back to: “Is there anything new today?” “Is there any of that baked milk from last time left?” “Can I get extra spiritual honey in my milk tea?”
Standing behind the counter, her pink short skirt and white apron had become her trademark. Occasionally, her frosted wings would spread halfway to fan some air, causing those in line to peek over frequently.
That afternoon, just as she brought out a fresh batch of egg tarts, a disciple at the front of the line smiled and said to the person next to him, “Don't you think this junior sister is just too cute? Selling pastries dressed like this... I've never seen a more pleasing stall in my life.”
Someone behind him chimed in, “Exactly! It's cheap and delicious, and she's so adorable. Where else could you find someone like her?”
“I heard she's the youngest disciple under Venerable Yanchen. Dressing like this, didn't the Venerable say anything?”
“You don't get it. She can wear whatever she wants. What's it to you?”
Listening to the chatter in the queue, Lin Zhiyue placed the egg tarts onto small plates one by one and handed them out, her earlobes turning slightly red.
She didn't show it on her face, but being praised as cute to her face by so many people was still a bit hard to handle.
When she reached the third person, the disciple took the plate of egg tarts but didn't leave immediately. He looked at her earnestly and said from the bottom of his heart, “Junior Sister, you're really beautiful. Where did you buy this skirt? I want to buy one for my sister too.”
“It's an heirloom,” Lin Zhiyue replied, repeating her universal answer with a straight face.
The disciples in line burst into laughter.
The queue moved forward another stretch. Liu Fengyao had slipped into the crowd at some point and made her way near the front, winking at Lin Zhiyue. “Junior Sister, is there any baked milk left today? I didn't manage to get any yesterday!”
“I saved a portion,” Lin Zhiyue said, pulling out a small plate from under the counter and handing it over. “I saved it specifically for you.”
Liu Fengyao placed a few spirit stones on the counter as she took the plate, a bright smile on her face. “You're the best! But standing here in the dining hall in this outfit all day, everyone walking by can't help but look. I even heard two outer sect disciples discussing coming early tomorrow to line up.”
Lin Zhiyue curled her lips into a smile and went back to work.
By the time she sold the very last dessert, the setting sun was shining obliquely through the dining hall window, painting the entire corner in a warm, golden light.
Lin Zhiyue wiped her hands, counted the loose spirit stones on the counter before putting them into her purse, and then packed up her stall to return to her courtyard.
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