Honey Snow Ice City Opens
"Of course it's delicious!" Jiang Lan immediately objected when he heard someone questioning his milk tea.
Dugu Bo's lips twitched as he looked at his apprentice's greedy, gleaming eyes.
This kid just refined a heaven-defying Pill that could Titled Douluo by two levels, and now he wants to sell milk tea.
That was a precious Pill that could Martial Soul Evolution and allow him to level up twice. But in this kid's eyes, the Pill was just a side effect; milk tea was the main thing.
"Alright, alright, here's the shop." Dugu Bo waved his hand, too lazy to argue with this little brat. "I actually have a shop near the palace. It was originally meant for Yanyan as part of her dowry. Since you want to use it, take it."
Dugu Yan blushed slightly upon hearing the word "dowry," but said nothing.
Her attention was now completely focused on Jiang Lan, and her mind was filled with the earlier remark about men and women not being able to touch each other. The more she looked at him, the more she wanted to laugh.
This little guy is only six years old, but he always speaks with an air of maturity, yet he has a chubby baby face, creating a ridiculously large contrast.
"Then, Sister Lingling, what changes have you experienced after taking the Pill?" Jiang Lan turned her head and looked up at Ye Lingling, who had been standing quietly beside her.
"My Nine-Hearted Begonia has doubled its healing effect and range." Ye Lingling paused, "As for its level, it's already level forty-one."
Jiang Lan blinked and counted on her fingers. "Sister Lingling, you were level 35 before, and you leveled up five times with one Pill, more than Master. Master, you only leveled up one time with two pills. Is it because your foundation is too weak?"
Dugu Bo's smile froze on his face, his lips drooping visibly, and the veins on his temples throbbed twice. Dugu Yan quickly covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking violently. Ye Lingling silently lowered her head, staring at her toes, seemingly suddenly developing a strong interest in the patterns on the floor tiles of the Dugu Manor. Only Jiang Lan was completely unaware of the treasonous things she had said, still analyzing earnestly. "However, it's also possible that Master is getting old and can't absorb nutrients well; we can't blame Master for having a poor foundation."
"You brat..." Dugu Bo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger that was rising in his throat.
Calm down. This is my disciple, a monster capable of refining heaven-defying Pill, and the future pillar of the Dugu Family. I can't fight him; it would break my heart.
Dugu Bo used his Poison Arts technique several times to calm himself down, and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth. "I'll give you the key to the shop tomorrow. It's located on Vermilion Bird Street outside the main gate of the palace. It used to be a tea shop. You can just take it and use it."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Lan immediately forgot her master's poor foundation and happily ran back to her room.
In the blink of an eye, a week has passed.
Vermilion Bird Street is the most bustling main thoroughfare in Heaven Dou City, bar none.
This street connects the main gate of the palace at one end and leads to the east gate of the city at the other. The road is wide enough for eight carriages to run side by side. The shops on both sides of the street all have vermilion facades and gold-painted signs. The rent of any one of the shops is enough for an ordinary family to live on for three generations.
Those who can open shops on Vermilion Bird Street are either extremely wealthy or powerful, and their owners are either royalty or top-tier business associations. They sell luxury goods such as antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, jade, and High-Grade Soul Tool.
However, today, the nobles and Soul Master passing by on Vermilion Bird Street discovered that the old tea shop, which had been empty for almost half a year, had a completely different style of bright red signboard with several large characters written crookedly on it.
Honey Snow Ice City.
Above the signboard hangs an even more outrageous banner: white background with red lettering, the characters crooked just like the signboard. "Honey Snow Ice City Grand Opening Special! Buy one get one free! Don't miss out!"
The words were written by a six-year-old child. Although Dugu Bo thought they looked like chicken feet dipped in ink, Jiang Lan insisted that they were childlike characters and claimed that they were unique in the entire Heaven Dou Empire.
At this moment, Jiang Lan was standing on a specially made small wooden stool at the entrance of the shop, with a small apron tied around her waist.
Holding a freshly made original flavor milk tea, Jiang Lan shouted at the top of her lungs towards the crowd on the street, her voice full of energy, unlike that of a six-year-old child.
Honey Snow Ice City is now open! Buy one get one free! Don't miss out!
Doro squatted on the counter, also wearing a custom-made mini apron, the straps of which were wrapped around its round belly three times before it was barely secured.
On the counter in front of it was a row of small tasting cups. Whenever a passerby curiously came over, it would raise its little short arms and push the cup forward, its big purple eyes blinking, accompanied by its soft and sweet "doro~", which was even more effective than Jiang Lan's shouts.
Behind the shop counter, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling were also there.
The top student of the prestigious Heaven Dou Royal Academy and the granddaughter of Poison Douluo was currently wearing an apron and packing milk tea for customers, her movements so practiced it seemed she had been doing it for years.
Before she could even show off at the academy, Jiang Lan dragged her here as free labor, saying, "Sister Yanyan, didn't you say you were going to help me?"
Ye Lingling stood beside her, her expression obscured by a black veil, but her emerald eyes were focused and earnest as she added coconut jelly to the cup, each spoonful precisely filling it to eight-tenths full.
"Yanyan, why did we come here to be shop assistants?" Ye Lingling asked in a low voice during a lull in customers.
It's not that she's unwilling to help, she just hasn't figured it out yet.
Just a few days ago they were excited about Dugu Yan's Martial Soul Evolution, and today they're adding coconut jelly to Milk Tea Shop. The change in their attitude is too fast.
Dugu Yan deftly handed a sealed cup of milk tea to the customer, took the Copper Soul Coin and tossed it into the cash box, then whispered without turning her head, "Lingling, remember this: whatever Little Guga wants to do, we'll support him. Don't ask why, just say it—"
"He gave way too much?" Ye Lingling thought for a moment and used what she thought was a very accurate expression.
"No." Dugu Yan turned her head, giving her a complicated look. "If you don't help him, he'll look at you with those big eyes and ask, ' Sister Yanyan, do you not like me anymore?' Can you handle that? I certainly can't."
Ye Lingling was silent for a moment, and the image of Jiang Lan with her head tilted back, her eyes slightly red, and her penguin hat askew automatically appeared in her mind. Then she silently took out two more boxes of coconut jelly from the cabinet.
She couldn't bear it; just thinking about it made her conscience ache.
Jiang Lan's shouts continued outside the shop.
Jiang Lan shoved the milk tea cup in her hand at passersby and began her all-out, relentless promotion. "Take a look! Freshly made original flavor milk tea, brewed with pure spring water, without any additives. Kids will grow taller from it, and adults won't gain weight! Buy one get one free, only on opening day. If you miss it today, you'll have to wait until next year!"