Eating Hot Pot

Li Lizhi didn't dwell on the tipping issue with Sister Zhang; instead, she directly led Qin Ning and the other two away from there.

"This milk tea is really good."

Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning both enjoyed the flavor.

It was a little sweet, but not too sweet, smooth to drink, and carried a hint of grassy fragrance.

"Changle, I didn't see you take out any money just now, but I heard the sound of you paying. How did that work?" Zhu Wanning couldn't help asking out of curiosity.

"That's called scanning to pay. Everyone uses this method here now. You don't need to carry silver coins when you go out; it's much more convenient."

As she spoke, Li Lizhi had Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning take out their phones. These were bought for them this morning by Qin Fei, who also set up the SIM cards.

"You tap here to scan and pay, then enter the amount, confirm, and here is where you input your payment password. You both set passwords this morning, right?"

"We did. Xiaofei helped us set them. They seem to be the same as yours, all 990908. We didn't know what that meant at the time," Zhu Wanning said.

After that, the group strolled around and entered a few accessory shops—the kind of two-dollar stores, not jewelry shops selling gold and silver.

Although the items in the store were cheap, none of them could be found in either the Great Qin Dynasty or the Great Ming Dynasty.

Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning found everything fresh and appealing, so they grabbed a bunch of little things, mostly hair clips and the like.

"I never imagined the future would have so many novel things. In this one trip, I've bought more than all the things I bought in all my years back in the Great Ming," Zhu Wanning said with delight.

Ying Shiman added, "My father often sends me gold and silver ornaments. Although they are finely crafted, the surface polishing is a bit rough. Compared to these here, they fall far short."

Hearing this, Qin Ning smiled and said, "There's no comparison. Although many technologies in the future are far more advanced than before, handmade items reaching that level of craftsmanship are also impressive. And the difference in value is worlds apart. Any one of the pieces your father gave you, if brought to the present day, would almost be considered national treasures."

"National treasures? Are they really that valuable?" Ying Shiman was surprised.

Her reaction wasn't unreasonable.

In the Great Qin era, there was no concept of antiques. At most, high-ranking officials and ministers liked to collect jade or bronzes purely as a hobby, never thinking that these items preserved for the future would become so valuable or precious.

"It's not about being valuable or not," Li Lizhi said with a laugh.

"It's called cultural relics. Especially bronzeware from your Qin Dynasty—those with inscriptions. Those are very serious items, legally speaking."

As they chatted and browsed, whenever they saw something they liked, they bought it on the spot.

Before they knew it, two hours had passed.

"Are you all hungry? How about we go get something to eat?" Qin Ning suggested.

Li Lizhi nodded. "Sure."

Then she looked at Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning. "Have you ever had hot pot before? Want to go try some?"

"Hot pot?"

The two women looked puzzled for a moment, but quickly nodded. "Sure, whatever you decide is fine."

With that, the group of four walked into a hot pot restaurant.

After Li Lizhi placed the order, she had Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning take out their phones and taught them how to use the various functions, making it easier for them to use their phones when going out in the future.

Soon, the pot base and dishes were brought to the table.

Li Lizhi showed them how to eat.

Ying Shiman imitated her, putting a slice of meat into the bubbling hot pot, swishing it for a moment before lifting it out.

"Is this beef?"

She took a bite. The savory, juicy beef burst with flavor on her taste buds, leaving Ying Shiman very surprised.

In the Great Qin Dynasty, eating beef was prohibited—only cattle that died from accidents or other reasons could be consumed. She had only eaten it once before.

Li Lizhi nodded and then looked at Qin Ning. "There's no need for cows in farming in the future, right?"

Clearly, although Li Lizhi had been in the modern world for a while, she still hadn't fully understood everything here.

Still, she figured that with modern technology being so advanced, there should be no need for oxen to plow fields anymore.

"Nowadays, we really don't use oxen anymore. In fact, many agricultural tasks are done with drones. Only a very, very few places might still use them. The beef we're eating now comes from cattle raised specifically for meat," Qin Ning explained.

"What's a drone?" Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning both looked confused.

Just as Qin Ning was about to explain, a drone flew over to their table with several plates of food.

"This is a drone," he said with a smile.

"It has no one inside?"

Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning were very surprised.

When they first came into the restaurant, they had seen this strange yet cute thing from afar and thought someone was inside it.

After wandering around the mall for a while, they had seen quite a few staff members wearing weird mascot costumes, so that was their first thought about the drone too.

As they ate, Li Lizhi pulled up some videos about drones on her phone and showed them.

Ying Shiman and Zhu Wanning were amazed by the modern high-tech gadgets.

The hot pot meal lasted about an hour.

Afterwards, Li Lizhi drove Qin Ning and the other two back to the villa area.

Kindergarten was already out; it was now over five in the afternoon.

The sun was setting, and the younger kids, like Yuzi, were playing on the sports ground of the villa complex, accompanied by Princess Yuzhang and Xu Miaoyun.

"Sister."

Seeing Li Lizhi return, little Yuzi ran to her first thing.

"Yuzi, were you well-behaved at kindergarten today?" Li Lizhi asked with a smile.

The little girl giggled and said, "Sister, Yuzi was good. Yuzi was obedient."

"Your Highnesses, dinner is ready."

Just then, Zisu and Molan arrived at the playground.

"Alright," Li Lizhi nodded. She then called Xu Miaoyun and Princess Yuzhang over and asked them to take Yuzi and the others to eat.

"Sister, aren't you eating?" Princess Yuzhang asked curiously.

"We already ate hot pot outside. We're not hungry yet. Go ahead and eat. Please make sure Yuzi doesn't skimp on her food—she's in a growing phase right now."

"Got it, sister."

Princess Yuzhang nodded. She then took little Yuzi with one hand and little Princess Chengyang with the other.

Xu Miaoyun led Yin Yinman and her younger sister Xu Miaojin.

As for the little ones like Zhu Xiongying and Zhu Gaozhi, as soon as Zisu and Molan had announced that dinner was ready, they had already scurried away from the playground without a second thought—true little foodies.