Facing everyone’s “eager” eyes, Yu Jijiu twitched his mouth but still resigned himself to opening the lid of the box.

As soon as it was opened, there was a cry of surprise in the hall.

On the first layer of the square box, there were four Cantonese mooncakes with plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum patterns on the four corners. The four mooncakes on the four corners were something that everyone had never seen before, but the four mooncakes in the middle, which were as white as snow and whose fillings could be faintly seen, really made everyone in the Yu family exclaim in amazement.

The shapes of peanuts, persimmons, ruyi, and gourds were beautiful and cute, and they were printed with corresponding auspicious words such as “Miao Bi Sheng Hua” and Hao Shi Fa Sheng”. They were so beautiful that everyone couldn’t help but reach out for them before even opening the second layer.

Yu Jijiu was quick to open the second layer before anyone else could reach out their hands. Placed at the four corners of the second layer were four freshly baked Su-style mooncakes. Although Su-style mooncakes looked much more common than Cantonese-style mooncakes and snow-skin mooncakes, at this moment, a gust of wind blew, and the aroma of the roasted crispy skin with the residual heat and the faint smell of the sauce and gravy was carried by the wind to everyone’s nose, immediately arousing the deepest greed in people’s hearts.

Although they had seen and tasted mooncakes stuffed with pork, the pork stuffing made by Master Wen from the Dali Temple’s public kitchen……Thinking of the chestnut roasted pork they had eaten a few days ago, everyone subconsciously swallowed their saliva: this mooncake stuffed with pork, which was not as novel as the other two, must still be delicious!

In addition to the four corners of the second layer of Su-style mooncakes, five Cantonese-style mooncakes in the middle were arranged like petals. Unlike the elegant “plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum” on the first layer, these five mooncakes were printed with some legendary stories.

“It’s quite interesting!” Old Madam Yu briefly commented on the appearance of the mooncake gift box and hurriedly stretched out her hand.

Although she really liked the beautiful white snow-skin mooncakes, seeing the children staring at the snow-skin mooncakes without blinking, Old Madam Yu considered that her stomach might not be able to fit so many mooncakes, so she reached out and took a two-layer Su-style mooncake.

Based on her many years of experience of “eating a lot”, she knew that the fillings of the other two types of mooncakes mostly did not contain meat. As a gourmet who had been “loving meat” for many years, she naturally liked to eat those with meat.

Furthermore, if the mooncakes baked with crispy crust got cold, they needed to be reheated before eating. If the cooking skills were not good enough, they would not be able to recreate the aroma of freshly baked mooncakes.

So she took a crispy mooncake, and while the heat in her hand was still there, Old Madam Yu opened her mouth and took a bite of the crispy mooncake.

With a “crack”, people who were nearby could clearly hear the crispy sound of the mooncake being bitten. To hear such a crispy sound, one could tell that Master Wen must have spent a lot of effort to make the pastry. Both the stacking of the pastry and the baking temperature were specially studied.

The layers of crispy skin were bitten open with the aroma of roasted oily pastry, revealing the filling inside. Old Madam Yu just casually held the Su-style mooncake in her handkerchief, without exerting much force, but the meat filling inside could faintly be seen being squeezed out of the meat juice due to the slight squeezing action.

The meat filling that bursts with juice without being squeezed deliberately must be firm and not dry, with just the right amount of fat and lean. Looking at the juicy mooncake in Old Madam Yu’s hand, everyone swallowed subconsciously.

Old Madam Yu half-closed her eyes and looked down at the Su-style mooncake in her hand as if she did not notice the younger generations swallowing their saliva. She picked up the Su-style mooncake in her hand and took a bite of the meat filling.

Then, as everyone was watching, Madam Yu, who was halfway through biting the meat filling, let out an “Eh”.

This sound startled everyone. Yu Jijiu, who was standing by, asked hurriedly, “What’s wrong with Mother? Didn’t they clean out the bones in the meat?”

The action of biting the teeth halfway without moving was like knocking the teeth, which made Yu Jijiu very nervous.

While talking, Old Madam Yu continued to bite the mooncake that she had just finished. After she finished, she looked at the meat filling she had bitten open. She said “Oh” and pointed out the filling of the Su-style mooncake to everyone. At the same time, she did not forget to scold Yu Jijiu who was nervous beside her: “Don’t talk nonsense! When has there ever been such a mistake in the dishes made by Master Wen?”

Old Madam Yu tasted the meat stuffing with egg yolk in her mouth, nodded with satisfaction, and said with emotion: “I originally thought it was just ordinary pork, but I didn’t expect it to have egg yolk in it. The taste of these two things together is really wonderful, not bad!”

The outer layer of pork meat was firm, tender, and chewy, with a unique sweetness in the salty taste. The egg yolk filling inside was probably the yolk of duck eggs, and it tasted pine-scented with a unique eggy aroma.

Old Madam Yu nodded as she ate: “This egg yolk and pork filling was great. I’ll ask the cook at home to learn how to make it!”

As soon as she finished speaking, someone interrupted and said, “The yolk of duck eggs has a fishy smell. If we don’t learn how to process it from Master Wen, it will be very fishy when cooked!”

Yu Jijiu looked at his brother who only knew how to eat and was neither good at starting a family nor making any achievements. He couldn’t help but twitch his lips and said, “You know how to eat!”

Second Master Yu laughed twice. How could he not hear the sarcastic tone of his brother’s praise?

He reached out and grabbed a Cantonese mooncake with “Chang’e Flying to the Moon” engraved on it while waiting for Yu Jijiu’s next “reprimand”.

As expected, the next moment, he heard his brother muttering again: “How old are you, why don’t you get married? When I was your age, Dalang and Erlang could recite the “Three Character Classic”. The widow in the east of the city is really good, and she is also good-looking. She is more than enough for you. Do you want to…”

Before he could finish his words, Second Master Yu raised the “Chang’e Flying to the Moon” in his hand and rejected it righteously: “How does that widow compare to the fairy in the Moon Palace in the sky? If she doesn’t have the beauty of the fairy in the Moon Palace…”

Before he could finish his words, he was slapped on the head by his brother. Yu Jijiu pointed at Second Master Yu and scolded him, “Look at the character you have. You are imitating Marshal Tianpeng and dreaming about the fairies in the Moon Palace? Why don’t you look in the mirror…”

Before he finished speaking, Second Master Yu bit off most of the “Chang’e Flying to the Moon” in one bite, and then said seriously: “I also know that I am ugly, but I have beautiful dreams! What law in our Darong stipulates that an ugly person like me cannot have beautiful dreams? I would rather have nothing than something bad, and my family has Dalang and Erlang, so why can’t you let me be a rich and idle person?”

Several young masters and young ladies of the Yu family could not help but laugh when they heard this: It was true that everything was created by nature, and one thing overcame another! Apart from the Second Uncle, there was no one else who could shut up the always eloquent Yu Jijiu!

On the other side, Second Master Yu was holding the half-bitten “Chang’e Flying to the Moon” in his hand, straightening his clothes and preparing to run away, saying, “Don’t worry, brother. Tomorrow I will dress up nicely and go to the Lantern Festival to see if there is any Chang’e on earth who will be attracted to me!”

As he said this, before Yu Jijiu could speak again, Second Master Yu ran away in time, but he did not forget to grab another mooncake before running away.

Seeing the Second Master Yu running faster than anyone else, Yu Jijiu held his forehead helplessly, but he did not forget to criticize the Second Master Yu’s back: “You are really dreaming! Do you still want to be handsome? Even if you call all the makeup girls in the capital to dress you up, and even if you break your hands, it will not have anything to do with these four words!”

(End of this chapter)

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T/N This chapter really made me hungry. I have never tasted mooncakes in my life, and missed a chance to taste one when we were in Vietnam last year. We saw stalls on street selling boxes of something, it was August, so now I am guessing they were mooncake!!