Chapter 19 - 16

After the badminton event with the games, Yu Yingyi's appearance in the low-environment area started to be the talk in the area. More people were leaving their homes and going outside trying to find her.

Slowly, her reputation was growing, just like she wanted. Once her reputation grew big enough, she could announce herself as a woman.

The citizens that were in the poor environments would support her without a doubt since she knew they wouldn't betray her, after everything she's done for them and would do for them in the future.

Soon, the deal with the empress would become useless and her plan to legalize same-sex relationships would start.

But that was in the future, there was no point in thinking about it, instead, she should be focusing on where she was going.

Yu Yingyi was currently walking around the area looking for things to buy, since she was out, she thought why not bring back a gift for Song Liya cause she would definitely be heartbroken if she went out and didn't bring back anything.

But there was a problem though, Yu Yingyi had no idea what to get Song Liya since she never asked what she liked. Not once had Yu Yingyi asked what she liked, the only time Song Liya said anything about liking something was when Song Liya said she liked Yu Yingyi, but she couldn't possibly tell Song Liya she was the gift.

That would be an instant turn-on for Song Liya and then that would lead to...you know and Yu Yingyi wasn't ready for that.

Yu Yingyi thought of gifting chocolate but it wasn't created in this era yet, maybe it was, but there were no signs of chocolate being seen anywhere.

Then why not make chocolate? Surely there were the ingredients and the materials to make it, it was fairly simple, all she needed was cocoa beans, sugar, and a few utensils and everything would be perfect.

Of course, she had experience in making this, if not, she would've bought a few jades instead...don't tell Song Liya that.

If she recalled, there was a herb shop she passed by earlier that sold a variety of things, two of them were cocoa beans and sugar along with multiple herbs Yu Yingyi has never seen before.

Turning around, Yu Yingyi made her way to the herb store called The Herbal Apothecary.

Inside, everything was laid out in several aisles in order and labeled so Yu Yingyi knew where she was going to find the stuff she needed.

"Welcome Prince Yingyi." An old woman suddenly appeared before her and bowed as a greeting.

"Ha..." Yu Yingyi let out a strange noise in surprise, hopefully, the old woman didn't hear it.

"Thank you for the welcoming, though you don't need to be so polite." Yu Yingyi reassured.

"How could we possibly do that? You are the prince after all and you've been helping a lot of us just by being in this area. A lot of people have become joyful which isn't seen a lot."

"Haha, I'm flattered, but it's really fine. I want to be treated the same as everyone else and not as a prince since before the marriage, I was in the same place you're in now."

"If that's Prince Yingyi's wish, then I shall grant it. Once again, thanks for stopping by The Herbal Apothecary. If there's anything you need, I'll be at the counter or you can ask my husband."

Those were the last words the lady said before walking away leaving Yu Yingyi to explore the aisle.

Each aisle had an entrancing ancient smell to it, it made it seem like this shop had been lasting for over a thousand years already, but that wasn't possible.

Yu Yingyi wandered through the aisles, her eyes looked through every section hoping to find the stuff she needed, that was when her eyes caught a small jar in the far back of one of the shelves.

Tiptoeing, Yingyi reached her hands out and grabbed the jar from the back. On the front, the words "Cocoa Beans" were written on the front label.

Jackpot.

The last thing she needed to find was sugar, which was going to be hard since sugar couldn't really be counted as an herb but there was no other shop to find it, and she wasn't going to give up after going this far.

Yu Yingyi should be grateful the era of the world wasn't that ancient, otherwise, she would have to start from scratch.

"Is there something you're trying to find?"

This time, it wasn't the old woman's voice, instead, it was the voice of a grandpa.

"Yes actually, I was wondering if you guys have any sugar?"

"Hmm, sugar eh? We do, but I'm not sure which section the sugar is in. Are you sure you want our sugar thought? They come in small cubes and I'm not sure if you're fine with that."

"Sugar cubes? I'm fine with that, if anything, I'd like that more than regular sugar actually."

"Ah, I see. Well, if my memory serves correctly, I remember the sugar cubes being in the far back of the section. I'm an old man now, my memory isn't as good as young people."

"Haha! Don't kid yourself, you look just as young as me!"

"Hmph, you do have some humor young prince. I'll give you a discount when you finish buying your ingredients."

With that said, Yu Yingyi listened to what the old man said and went to the far back of the section, and there it was, a jar of sugar cubes.

When her hand reached out to it, something else suddenly grasped her hand, glancing over, there was a young woman who was also reaching for the sugar cubes.

Judging by her appearance, she probably wasn't that old either, she was probably the same age as Yingyi which was surprising in these areas.

"Ah, do you also want the sugar cubes?" Yu Yingyi asked.

"Not really, instead, I actually want you."

"Ha?! What're you talking about? You do...you do know who I am right?"

"Of course I know who you are, you're the famous Prince Yingyi everyone has been talking about. Now that you're here in person, you're more handsome than I thought you'll be.

The woman suddenly got closer to Yu Yingyi.

"Yep, I definitely want you."

'What is this woman thinking!?' Yu Yingyi screamed in her mind.