It was not only Yu Jijiu’s family who opened the mooncake gift box in advance to celebrate the “early Mid-Autumn Festival”. Looking at the beautiful mooncakes in the mooncake gift box, everyone in Jingyun Marquis Mansion immediately became interested.

Because Lin Fei always brought back some evening snacks recently, everyone had already gotten used to leaving some of their stomachs empty while waiting for the food Lin Fei brought back.

Although he didn’t bring any dinner today, he did bring some mooncakes, so it’s not like they were eating in vain.

No one chose the pork-filled mooncake like Madam Yu did. Instead, most people reached for the Cantonese-style mooncakes with snow skin.

The wife of Marquis Jingyun fell in love with the beautiful snow-white snow-skin mooncake at first sight. Without thinking, she picked up a “Ruyi” mooncake and picked it up.

Hóu Fūrén couldn’t let go of the beautiful jade ruyi. Perhaps it was human nature to see soft and sticky things, so Hóu Fūrén couldn’t help but pinch it when she got it in her hand.

She originally thought that the snow skin mooncake would lose its original shape after being pinched by her, but she didn’t expect that after the force was released, the mooncake gradually returns to its original jade ruyi shape.

Looking at this “rebound” movement, you could guess that the snow skin in your hand, which was cold to the touch and had the aroma of milk and glutinous rice, must be not only soft and sticky but also slightly elastic.

After pinching the mooncake twice as “fun” before eating, Hóu Fūrén brought the mooncake to her lips and took a bite.

The soft and slightly elastic snow-skin mooncake was bitten open, chewing the aroma of milk mixed with glutinous rice. Hóu Fūrén looked at the goose-yellow liquid filling and couldn’t help but exclaim: “I have never seen such a filling before!”

“This filling is called custard filling,” Lin Fei said, “It is made with eggs, milk, and other ingredients.”

“No wonder it tastes so rich in egg and milk!” Hóu Fūrén sucked the cool custard filling and sighed. She couldn’t help but say, “I really like this custard filling. Why not ask the chef in the mansion to learn how to make it…”

Before he finished speaking, Lin Fei shook his head and said, “I’m afraid this is not possible!” As he spoke, meeting the gaze of the Hóu Fūrén, Lin Fei began to explain, “I saw Master Wen making this custard filling, running to the ice cellar, and using the cow’s milk to make butter. Even so, she still said that there were a lot of ingredients missing, and it was a bit unsatisfactory! Such a troublesome filling, I’m afraid it can only be tasted once a year, just for the sake of novelty!”

As soon as these words came out, Hóu Fūrén was immediately disappointed. Holding the snow-skin mooncake in her hand, she sighed: “It’s rare to have such a satisfactory mooncake. After tasting this snow-skin mooncake, I’m afraid I can’t taste anything else…”

Before she finished speaking, when she saw the filling of the Cantonese mooncake with the shape of “Kuafu Chasing the Sun” that Lin Fei had bitten open, Hóu Fūrén’s sighing paused, and she turned to look at the jade-white filling that could be torn into a long thread from the red bean paste filling, and asked in surprise, “What is this?”

Although she had never seen such a filling before, for some reason, looking at the jade-white filling that could be drawn into threads, Hóu Fūrén had an inexplicable premonition that the taste of this filling would definitely not be inferior to the snow skin mooncake that she had just lamented was “pleasing”.

Lin Fei turned the mooncake’s filling towards Madam Hou and pointed it out to her: “The filling inside is red bean paste. The filling inside red bean paste is called mochi. It has a strong milk fragrance and can be drawn into threads. It is soft and glutinous and has a little more elasticity than rice cake. With this, the sweetness of the red bean paste can be reduced a bit.”

Of course, Lin Fei didn’t say so much for no reason or on a whim. No one knew a mother better than her son. For Hóu Fūrén, who loved sweet mooncakes but disliked them being too sweet, the red bean filling with mochi was perfect!

Sure enough, as soon as the red bean and mochi filling was mentioned, Hóu Fūrén, who had just sighed about the delicious custard and molten ice skin mooncake, reached out for the red bean and mochi Cantonese mooncake without thinking.

After finishing a mooncake stuffed with red beans and mochi, and feeling her stomach which was already empty, Hóu Fūrén said contentedly, “I prefer this sweet mooncake which is not sweet at all!”

Some people lamented that Wen Mingtang’s mooncakes were “sweet mooncakes that were not sweet”, including Tangyuan and others who were still cleaning up in the Dali Temple’s public kitchen and had not yet returned.

Wen Mingtang smiled when he heard this and said, “That’s really a very high evaluation!”

As we all know, the highest praise for sweet cakes and desserts was “not sweet”!

Except for a few “unlucky” officials who drew lots and had to be “on duty” in the Dali Temple, all other officials were given holidays. However, they still had to come to the public kitchen tomorrow morning because they had to make mooncake gift boxes.

No one complained about this: as long as the pay was worth the errand, who would be lazy?

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival in a flash. Many people went back to buy mooncakes in advance yesterday to celebrate the “early Mid-Autumn Festival”. They thought the mooncake gift boxes could be sold until noon, but unexpectedly, they were sold out as soon as they were opened in the morning. Even generous guests like Yu Jijiu came again to get a lot to give back to his colleagues.

“So… with Yu Jijiu and others as living signs, after the festival, I guarantee that our public kitchen’s takeout business will do even better!” Ji Caimai said while calculating with an abacus, winking at Wen Mingtang, “You can save enough money to buy a small house in a few years!”

The Lantern Festival would not start until nightfall, and everyone would have to finish their evening meal before coming to the Dali Temple to find Wen Mingtang. After seeing off Ji Caimai and the others, and saying hello to the night watchmen, Wen Mingtang returned to his room, pulled out the incense burner from under the bed, inserted three incense sticks, and placed a handful of roasted melon seeds, some fruits, and a mooncake in front of the incense burner.

After doing all this, just as she was about to open a stack of storybooks borrowed from Liu Yuan to pass the time, a voice rang out outside the yard.

“Is Sister Mingtang here?”

This voice… Wen Mingtang sighed after hearing it, put down the notebook in her hand, stood up, and walked out.

Outside the courtyard, Xun Zhou, who was carrying a box of mooncakes, saw her coming out and hurriedly stepped forward to call “Sister Mingtang”. He then handed the mooncakes in his hand to her and said, “Sister Mingtang, the teacher has gone to visit friends, and I am left alone in Beijing. Do you want to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together?”

Wen Mingtang took a look at the “Din Tai Fung” mooncake gift box that he handed over, felt a pang of pain in his heart for the money, paused, but still took it and said thank you, then took Xun Zhou to the yard.

Although there was no strict separation between men and women nowadays, Wen Mingtang still opened the doors and windows after entering the room and then served Xun Zhou a cup of tea.

Xun Zhou, who had just brought the teacup, twitched his lips when he saw the mooncake gift box on the table. Thinking of the girl’s obvious pause when she took his mooncake, he suddenly realized and said to Wen Mingtang, “Sister Mingtang, I don’t need to worry about it! Next time I buy a festive gift box for the holidays, I will definitely come to the Dali Temple public kitchen to ask first.”

Wen Mingtang glanced at the mooncake gift box on the table and nodded. He was indeed a person with “extraordinary talent”. He understood her intention without her even saying anything. No wonder Wen Xuance and Wang He valued him so much!

Seeing a smile on Wen Mingtang’s face, Xun Zhou drank two sips of tea and asked, “Sister Mingtang, what are your plans today?”

Most people in Chang’an knew about watching the Lantern Festival at night, and Xun Zhou naturally knew it too. As for where to go during the day… Wen Mingtang thought about it and said to Xun Zhou, “I want to go to the bookstore.”

Bookstore? Xun Zhou, who was drinking tea, froze. Looking at the calm face of the girl in front of him, he felt guilty and sad. He couldn’t help but sigh: “Sister Mingtang really took after the teacher and is quite talented in studying. If not… Hey! She must be one of the most talented women in Chang’an City. Why would she be hanging around this stove all day long…”

Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by Wen Mingtang, who was standing opposite her. The girl scratched her messy hair and said, “I want to buy a few storybooks. Liu Yuan only has the first volume, not the second and third volumes. I can’t finish the story halfway through. It’s so frustrating!”

Xun Zhou: “…”

(End of this chapter)

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