CHAPTER 47

The teaching went very smoothly, and Shu, the student, thirsted for knowledge, 'learning' late into the night before falling asleep with Chu, the teacher, by her side.

The next day, they woke up together and went to freshen up. Chu Yu's gaze silently followed her the whole time.

Shu Yanyan asked, "What are you constantly looking at me for?"

Chu Yu tilted her head, putting on a serious thinking expression. "I'm wondering if Yanyan remembers all the 'key points' I mentioned last night."

Shu Yanyan turned her head away, ignoring her, pretending she hadn't heard what she said.

Chu Yu smiled and approached, hugging her waist. She requested, "Don't play dumb. I'll be checking it tonight."

Shu Yanyan broke free from her embrace and ran out, without saying yes or no.

Chu Yu hummed a cheerful tune in a pleasant mood, following behind her.

After eating breakfast together, each member of the family busied themselves with their own tasks.

With the strong support of the Empress Dowager and Chu Yu, Shu Yanyan's online dessert shop was almost ready in its initial preparations. Shu Yanyan had selected several types of desserts last night, and today, with the help of the employees and high-end machines, all the desserts were made.

Most of these desserts were Chinese-style, including visually appealing peach pastries and lotus seed pastries, as well as egg yolk pastries and small mochi that excelled in texture and taste. The table was filled with a variety of desserts, and Shu Yanyan looked at it with satisfaction and some worries—

She didn't know if these things would suit the taste of people in the interstellar age.

Although she and Shu Qing had opened a similar shop during the Chaos Federation period, she didn't have such good conditions back then. Even with Shu Qing's help, the daily production quantity was limited. With just a small amount of goods, they could easily sell out. But now it was different. If they were really going to produce, the production line equipped by Chu Yu could make the same amount she produced in the Chaos Federation in two or three years in just one day. If sales couldn't keep up, the losses at the factory would be significant.

During dinner, she brought the desserts back to the palace and invited the Empress Dowager and Chu Yu to taste them. As for Yunmiao... her opinion wasn't of much value. No matter what Shu Yanyan made, the little girl was a super fan!

After eating the desserts, the Empress Dowager praised them repeatedly, saying, "Mmm, delicious! They're all delicious!"

She turned to Shu Yanyan and said, "I think they're all very good. If you produce them, I will definitely keep purchasing them!"

Shu Yanyan smiled and responded, "Thank you, Auntie. Well... could you help me choose eight out of these? For the first batch, I'm only planning to launch eight products and test the market response."

The Empress Dowager took on a "I want them all" posture and said, "Why do we have to choose? Can't we launch them all together?"

Shu Yanyan explained seriously, "It's too risky to launch them all together. Moreover, the appearance and ingredients of these desserts are quite different from the ones commonly found in the market. I'm not sure if they will be accepted by the general public. So, I think it's better to be a bit conservative for now."

The Empress Dowager found it unbelievable and said, "How could they not be accepted by the public? Yanyan, trust me, my taste won't go wrong!"

Chu Yu noticed Shu Yanyan's embarrassment and spoke up to help her out, "Mother, you are so fond of Yanyan that your conclusion will definitely be subjective. If the results aren't good, Yanyan will be heartbroken. Instead, why don't you give these pastries names based on your own taste? That way, Yanyan will have a significant reference."

Shu Yanyan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Hmm, yes."

The Empress Dowager still felt a bit dissatisfied and said, "I'm not being subjective. I'm being very objective."

After thinking for a moment, she came up with an idea, "By the way, the palace hasn't hosted a banquet for a long time. How about this? Next week, we'll organize a banquet and invite various families to participate. Then, we can serve these pastries made by Yanyan during the feast. What do you think? This way, we can see other people's evaluations."

The Empress Dowager had her own little thoughts behind this idea—

She couldn't wait to show off Yanyan and Yunmiao to her sisters!

But this idea was reliable, and even Chu Yu nodded in agreement, saying, "As long as we can cater to the tastes of those noble families, we won't have to worry about lack of sales in the future."

She asked Shu Yanyan in a gentle voice, "Yanyan, what do you think?"

Shu Yanyan thought for a moment and said, "I think... that could work. However..."

She paused for a moment and continued, "Let's not use only my pastries. We can prepare half of them as new pastries and the other half as regular desserts. I want to see how the guests at the banquet will choose."

It's only through comparison that we can see more things.

Chu Yu nodded and said, "Okay, it's up to you."

The Empress Dowager's eyes lit up, "So you both agree? Should I have the staff start preparing then?"

Chu Yu replied, "Sure, thank you, Mother."

"It's no trouble, no trouble at all!" The Empress Dowager smiled brightly, clearly very willing to prepare for these matters. After finishing dinner, she left early with Yunmiao, showing that she was very focused on the preparations.

As for Shu Yanyan, Chu Yanyan carried her back to their room to start  "reviewing her homework."

The fulfilling days passed quickly, and before they knew it, the banquet was held as scheduled.

The last time a banquet was held in the palace was when the Empress Dowager was considering choosing a consort for Chu Yu. They had initially planned to hold multiple banquets, but it suddenly stopped midway. Most people were confused and didn't know what had happened. When they were invited to the palace again on this day, they thought the Empress Dowager was resuming the selection banquet.

Shu Yanyan declined the arrangement to appear with Chu Yu and secretly slipped out alone—

Just kidding, she still didn't have any formal status yet. If she really appeared with Chu Yu, the news throughout the empire tomorrow would be unpredictable. Moreover, it would be too genuine and ostentatious, which wouldn't be convenient for her to collect the evaluations of the attendees after tasting the pastries.

Acting alone was obviously the best choice!

The palace guards and maids had already regarded her as the future Omega Empress, and no one dared to go against her wishes. Shu Yanyan successfully blended into the crowd and entered the banquet hall. So far, everything was going smoothly according to Shu Yanyan's plan.

Soon, she targeted two ladies who were chatting while enjoying pastries, and she discreetly approached them.

The two happened to be discussing something she wanted to hear.

"Um... what kind of new pastry is this? The taste, uh... it's strange." The lady in the black velvet dress said.

Shu Yanyan comforted herself, "It's okay, 'strange' is a neutral word. They haven't tried it before, so it's normal for them to find it strange. As long as they don't say it's bad, it's already a victory!"

The companion of the lady in the black velvet dress, a beautiful girl in a starry skirt, responded, "Really? I find it delicious."

After eating a piece of translucent osmanthus cake, she took a piece of flower-shaped pastry from the plate and recommended it to her companion, saying, "I haven't had anything like this anywhere else. These must be the palace's special treats! Have some more, don't waste it!"

The lady in the black velvet dress was convinced by her and said, "You're right. Pastries served in the palace must be top-notch desserts."

Saying that, she no longer hesitated and took a couple more bites.

Shu Yanyan clicked her tongue.

She had never expected things to go in this direction—

The reputation of her pastries had been embellished with several layers of gold in the palace!

But this way, wouldn't the evaluations she could collect be inaccurate?

This wouldn't do!

Shu Yanyan took a deep breath, held a glass of sparkling beverage, and walked up to the two ladies, shyly greeting them.

Both ladies looked at her simultaneously.

They maintained a polite attitude, but looked at Shu Yanyan with some confusion. "You said your surname is Shu? Like 'comfortable' Shu? I feel like I've never heard of this family. You're not from the Imperial Star, right?"

Shu Yanyan nodded. "Hmm, I'm not from the local area of the Imperial Star."

The lady in the black velvet dress nodded. "No wonder."

She smiled and continued, "But being invited to this banquet today means your family must be remarkable outside. Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Shu Yanyan replied, looking at the pastries in their plates. She went straight to the point and asked, "Um... the one you're eating, is it delicious?"

The girl in the starry skirt nodded. "Yes, it's delicious!"

She leaned in closer to Shu Yanyan, speaking in a mysterious tone. "We suspect that this is a special dessert provided by the palace, something you can't find elsewhere. Let's have more of it tonight!"

Shu Yanyan really wanted to say that they misunderstood.

She awkwardly smiled and asked, "Is that so? Um... I mean, if this thing is available outside, would you buy it to eat?"

The girl in the starry skirt enthusiastically responded, "Of course!"

The lady in the black velvet dress shook her head. "...No, I wouldn't. I can't get used to it."

The girl in the starry skirt glared at her. "But this is a dessert used in the palace. I would buy something that tastes strange if it's something the Emperor likes!"

The lady in the black velvet dress was taken aback, then said, "Tsk, how would you know what the Emperor likes? The Emperor might not even appear tonight, she wouldn't care about these trivial things."

The girl in the starry skirt's dream was shattered, and she felt a bit disappointed. "You're right..."

But she quickly regained her spirit. "But I would still buy it because some of the varieties in it are really delicious!"

Shu Yanyan breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to ask, "Which varieties? Can you recommend some to me?"

The girl in the starry skirt nodded and enthusiastically recommended several varieties to her. Among them, there were some pastries that even the lady in the originally disliked black velvet dress couldn't help but praise after tasting them.

After getting the answers, Shu Yanyan was extremely happy. "Thank you both! Enjoy the rest of the event. I'll take my leave now."

She bid farewell to them and quickly went to find someone else to talk to.

An hour passed, and using this method, she obtained the information she wanted. What made Shu Yanyan happy was that the evaluations of these pastries were mostly positive. Many popular pastries on Earth also conquered the taste buds of these interstellar humans.

Looking at the filled electronic documents, she felt a great sense of accomplishment. Just as she was about to slip away, she encountered the two ladies she had met earlier.

At this moment, the two beautiful ladies had almost tried every dessert at the venue. When the girl in the starry skirt saw her, she excitedly waved and invited her over to share their thoughts on the new desserts. Shu Yanyan was more than happy to join them and happily mingled with the two.

Since there was still plenty of time, there was no rush to leave.

After a while, there was suddenly a commotion in the banquet hall, and the crowd spontaneously gathered towards the center.

The lady in the black velvet dress was very curious and pulled the two of them along to squeeze in. After asking several people, they finally learned the truth from a male guest.

The captured male guest mysteriously told them, "The Empress Dowager has entered the hall with a little girl who appears to be two or three years old!"

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