Tricking Xiao Ning

Early in the morning, Xiao Cheng began making Honeyed Shortbread in the back kitchen of Ruyi Zhai.

Making Honeyed Shortbread required maltose, white sugar, sesame, high-quality flour, oil, and water.

Xiao Cheng did not need to prepare these ingredients. Xiao Dian had already prepared them all for him; he only needed to follow the steps.

First, he mixed a certain amount of flour and maltose with a little oil, then added some Baking Powder and kneaded it into Shortcrust Dough.

This was the first step, and also the most important one.

Next, he made the Skin Dough by mixing flour, oil, and sesame together.

He only needed to let the two balls of dough rest for twenty minutes.

"Once the dough has rested, I can begin the actual preparation."

Twenty minutes passed quickly.

Xiao Cheng took out both the Skin Dough and the Shortcrust Dough, placed them on the board, and used a Rolling Pin to roll them into evenly thick sheets.

He added a little water to the shortcrust sheet, stacked the two thick sheets together, and rolled them until they were about two centimeters thick per cut.

Next, he used a knife to cut the sheets into small squares, then made three slits in each one. That produced the semi-finished product.

Xiao Cheng let out a breath and said,

"Next comes the frying."

He poured in oil, and once the oil in the pot had heated up, he put in the Honeyed Shortbread to fry.

When the Honeyed Shortbread turned golden, he took it out and drained the oil, waiting for the next step: the Syrup.

Finally, he added sugar to the pot and boiled it into Syrup.

He poured the Honeyed Shortbread into the Syrup, stirred it evenly, then poured it into an Iron Tray. The Honeyed Shortbread was finished.

Looking at the golden Honeyed Shortbread coated in a layer of Syrup, Xiao Cheng could not help swallowing. His hand unconsciously picked up a piece and put it into his mouth.

The freshly fried Honeyed Shortbread was still hot. Mixed with the Syrup, it was crispy when bitten into, followed by the sweetness of sesame and white sugar blending together, along with an indescribable fragrance spreading through his mouth.

"Not bad. It still tastes the same. I almost forgot."

He slapped his forehead, grabbed a handful of sesame, and sprinkled it over the Honeyed Shortbread as a small garnish.

"Once it cools down, it'll have another kind of flavor. Right, Xiao Dian, how many Gold Coins does Honeyed Shortbread cost?"

Honeyed Shortbread costs 100 Gold Coins per jin.

"One hundred Gold Coins per jin—that means one hundred Gold Coins for five hundred grams. Not bad."

Since there was still some time in the morning, Xiao Cheng baked another tray of Peach Pastry and made a tray of Peanut Candy.

He did not make too much Peach Pastry or Peanut Candy. Today's star was Honeyed Shortbread.

He placed the Peach Pastry, Peanut Candy, and Honeyed Shortbread neatly inside the Glass Cover. Then, after thinking it over, he found a wooden board and wrote down the prices so customers could see them more easily.

Peach Pastry: 88 Gold Coins per piece. Peanut Candy: 66 Gold Coins per piece. Honeyed Shortbread: 100 Gold Coins per jin.

After placing the wooden board somewhere conspicuous, he returned to his chair behind the Glass Cover and sat down to wait for customers.

Not long afterward, Payne and Xiao Lu arrived.

Yesterday afternoon, Payne had happened to run into a group of Xiao Family Disciples coming to buy pastries, so he had not managed to buy any.

Early this morning, Payne dragged Xiao Lu to Ruyi Zhai to buy pastries.

Xiao Lu suddenly noticed the wooden board hanging in front of the Glass Cover. Looking at it closely, he discovered that there were new products.

"Shop Owner, I haven't been here for just a few days, and you've already released new products? Peanut Candy and Honeyed Shortbread?"

"Shop Owner, you released new products without even letting us know."

Payne said.

"Peanut Candy came out the day before yesterday. As for this Honeyed Shortbread, it's a new pastry I just introduced this morning. By the way, do you want to buy a jin?"

Xiao Lu and Payne both shook their heads.

"We can still afford one or two pieces of Peanut Candy, but Honeyed Shortbread is just too expensive. It costs a full hundred Gold Coins."

Xiao Lu said with a bitter smile.

Payne said helplessly,

"Shop Owner Xiao, just give me five pieces of Peach Pastry and five pieces of Peanut Candy. I'll leave the Honeyed Shortbread for next time."

He was miserable inside. The Gold Coins in his little stash were already starting to run short.

"Give me five pieces of Peach Pastry too, and three pieces of Peanut Candy."

Xiao Lu echoed him.

"Fine. Such delicious Honeyed Shortbread, and you two won't get to taste it."

Xiao Cheng sighed, seemingly regretful that the two of them would not get to eat such delicious Honeyed Shortbread.

As Payne and Xiao Lu left, they cast reluctant glances at the Honeyed Shortbread inside the Glass Cover, leaving Xiao Cheng rather helpless.

"To be honest, the price is indeed a little high, but it's proportional to the benefits one gains."

Much later, someone Xiao Cheng had not expected arrived at the shop: Xiao Ning from the Xiao Clan had come again.

Although this young master had been taught a lesson by the system's Lightning Combo once, Xiao Cheng actually had quite a good impression of Xiao Ning.

In the original story, Xiao Ning challenged Xiao Yan and failed. Even after failing to temporarily raise his strength with medicinal pills, he did not cause Xiao Yan any more trouble. When Xiao Yan returned to the Xiao Clan later, the two reconciled, and Xiao Ning also became a powerful expert.

Xiao Ning had come to Ruyi Zhai this time mainly because he had seen many Xiao Family Disciples returning from the market yesterday afternoon, all carrying paper packets in their hands.

After occasionally catching sight of what was inside those paper packets, Xiao Ning realized that the Xiao Family Disciples had gone to Ruyi Zhai to buy pastries.

After asking several Xiao Family Disciples why they were buying pastries, Xiao Ning regretted asking so much.

If he had known earlier that the pastries at Ruyi Zhai had the miraculous effect of increasing Dou Qi, he would never have clashed with Xiao Cheng, even if it killed him.

In the end, torn between apologizing and not apologizing, he chose to go to Ruyi Zhai and apologize to Xiao Cheng.

It was not because Xiao Ning had seen reason, nor because he was following the elders' wishes. He merely wanted to use these pastries to increase his strength and make Xiao Yan lose face at the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

"Well, if it isn't Young Master Xiao Ning?"

Xiao Cheng said in a sarcastic tone.

"Stop mocking me. I came to apologize. It was my fault for causing trouble last time. I'm sorry."

After saying that, Xiao Ning bowed deeply with a sincere expression.

"Alright, there's no need to be so polite. I'm not that petty. I stopped caring about it a long time ago."

He could not be bothered to argue with an idiot young master like this.

"Shop Owner, I heard the pastries here can increase Dou Qi. Is that true?"

"Of course. Guaranteed genuine. Oh, and I introduced a new product this morning: Honeyed Shortbread."

As he spoke, Xiao Cheng pointed out the Honeyed Shortbread beside the Peanut Candy to Xiao Ning.

"One hundred Gold Coins per jin. It's an incredible bargain, sweet and fragrant, and you definitely won't regret buying it."

Xiao Cheng looked at Xiao Ning with an expression that said he was doing this for his own good.

"The price list is right there. Take a look and pick whatever you want."

Xiao Ning nodded and looked at the prices on the wooden board. After thinking it over, he ultimately decided to buy five pieces of Peach Pastry and five pieces of Peanut Candy, but no Honeyed Shortbread.

Seeing that Xiao Ning had not bought any Honeyed Shortbread, Xiao Cheng's eyes shifted as he decided to trick Xiao Ning into buying a portion.

"Brother Xiao Ning, let me tell you, this Honeyed Shortbread brings far greater benefits than Peanut Candy and Peach Pastry. Are you sure you don't want to try it? It's only one hundred Gold Coins, cheap enough already."

"Think about it. With your current strength, can you defeat Xiao Yan at the Coming-of-Age Ceremony?"

Xiao Ning thought for a moment before saying,

"Could that trash Xiao Yan possibly have better talent than me? I don't believe it."

Xiao Cheng looked at Xiao Ning as if he were an idiot and lectured him in a tone of disappointment.

"As the saying goes, after three days apart, one should look at someone with new eyes. Think about it—one year from now, do you know what Xiao Yan's strength will be? To be safe, you should buy a jin of Honeyed Shortbread."

"Shop Owner, you're right. Then I'll buy a jin of Honeyed Shortbread."

"Ah, that's more like it. You can't go wrong listening to this shop owner. I won't cheat you."

Inside, however, he was secretly delighted.

Hopefully this guy really gets at least some benefit. Otherwise, he'll get tricked too badly by me.

After thanking Xiao Cheng profusely, Xiao Ning happily left Ruyi Zhai, completely unaware that Xiao Cheng had tricked him.