When Second Su left home, he was still an uneducated gangster. After returning home, he transformed into a wealthy businessman, Master Su. In addition to supporting his old friends, the more important thing was naturally to make new friends that matched his status.

“Second Su is really, wow… After returning home, all the people he associates with are rich!” The hooligans who were called in for questioning sighed, “There is Master Zhai who specializes in making vegetarian meals for the nobles, Master Zhou who runs a silk business, and the owner of Linliu Manor… They are all nobles that we may not be able to reach even if we tiptoe!”

Although he didn’t know these nobles, he knew from their descriptions that they were not short of money! Wei Fu nodded and asked the hoodlum, “How did those nobles get to know Master Su? What do they do daily?”

The gangster scratched the back of his head and said, “They usually just have banquets and tea and meals together. They are already quite old, so they can’t go out and ride horses or play polo like the young people. It would be bad if they fell and sprained their waists.”

This made sense. Wei Fu hummed and said to the gangster, “Tell me everything you know about the names of these masters, what their families do, and their backgrounds. The more detailed the better!”

The gangster naturally had no reason not to nod, and before he spoke, he did not forget to ask Wei Fu: “Several masters have passed away in the past two years. Do we still need to report the deceased?”

“Died?” Wei Fu was stunned as if he didn’t react for a moment.

The gangster nodded and said, “Yes! These old men were old, and some of them have passed away!”

After saying this, before Wei Fu could say anything, Lin Fei, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, “You said these Masters died?”

The hooligans looked at Wei Fu and Lin Fei in confusion. What happened to these two adults? Was it strange that they passed away at an old age? Especially this shǎoqīng of the Dali Temple, how old was he, but his ears were not very good?

Although he was complaining in his heart, he didn’t know why he always felt a little scared when he saw this shǎoqīng of the Dali Temple with an outstanding appearance, so he nodded honestly and said, “Yes, they passed away!”

This time it was not Wei Fu who asked the question, but Lin Fei. He didn’t know if he had thought of something. After lowering his eyes and being silent for a moment, he said to the gangster: “The situation of these deceased masters needs to be written in detail.”

Although the gangster didn’t understand why Lin Fei asked for this, he still nodded obediently.

…

The Double Ninth Festival on the ninth lunar month’s 9th came a few days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, but there was no festive atmosphere in the entire Dali Temple.

This was of course related to the fact that the old people in the Dali Temple, headed by Dali sìqīng Zhao Mengzhuo, felt that they were not “old” enough to celebrate the festival. However, what made the festive atmosphere so weak was the cases on hand.

This was the case with the Dali Temple. When there were cases, they could be busy day and night even during the Chinese New Year, and sleep on a blanket in the Dali Temple. When there were no cases, they could take a Chinese New Year holiday even if there were no holidays. It all depended on whether the criminals gave face or not!

Unfortunately, criminals never choose a day to commit crimes.

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Wei Fu, who had always loved flowers and plants, brought two pots of chrysanthemums from home and placed them at the entrance of the Dali Temple lobby as a token of his celebration before going back to deal with the case.

The only remaining festive atmosphere is in the public kitchen.

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month was the Double Ninth Festival, and it was customary to eat Chóngyáng Cake!

Naturally, the public chef did not forget about the Double Ninth Festival cake today. Compared with the rice dumplings of the Dragon Boat Festival and the moon cakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wen Mingtang did not make any major changes to the Chóngyáng Cake. She just made the Chóngyáng Cake according to the method of the imperial kitchen in the palace.

The method of making Chongyang cake was similar. It was just rice cake with red bean paste filling and various garnishes such as red dates, raisins, pine nuts, etc. As long as the ingredients were sufficient and the sweetness was adjusted well, it would not be unpalatable.

At lunchtime, Yu Jijiu came over as usual. In addition to lunch, he also took a square piece of Chongyang cake and sat down in front of the dining table to eat slowly.

Because they were busy with cases, many runners and officials did not return to the Dali Temple, so the number of people eating in the public kitchen was slightly less than usual. Therefore, Ah Bing and Tangyuan, who were distributing food behind the table, had some time to chat while working.

Looking at Yu Jijiu who was carrying food and sitting down at the table, Ah Bing whispered, “I’m afraid Yu Jijiu won’t buy a holiday gift box today!”

After all, the Chongyang cake made by Master Wen today was quite traditional and could be bought outside.

Hearing this, Tangyuan glanced at him and said, “Why? Do you think the Chongyang cake made by Master Wen is not as delicious as the ones outside?”

Ah Bing was shocked to hear this, and quickly waved his hands to deny it: “How is it possible? After all, Master Wen’s cooking skills are recognized by Zhao Sishan, who cooks for the Saint in the palace. How can it be worse than those outside?”

“That’s it!” Tangyuan snorted, pointing at Yu Jijiu’s back, and whispered, “Since it’s not worse than outside, and it’s cheaper than Hongyanlou, you just wait and see! Yu Jijiu will still buy it!”

As she spoke, Tangyuan glanced at Ji Caimai who was sitting calmly at the stall not far away: Otherwise, why would Ji Caimai prepare so many boxes of Chongyang cakes?

The two people were talking in a low voice, but Yu Jijiu, who was sitting in front of the food table, did not hear it. He just focused on the Chongyang cake in front of him that was cut into square pieces.

A piece of cake was divided into five layers, which is more innovative than the three layers sold in ordinary stalls outside. It was similar to the Chongyang cake sold in large restaurants such as Hongyanlou, and the preparation method was not as unique as that of the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the top, bottom, and middle were steamed rice cakes. Between the layers of white rice cake were two thick dark red layers at a glance, seemingly bean paste, but upon closer inspection, the shades of dark red were slightly different. Yu Jijiu temporarily suppressed his curiosity and looked at the items sprinkled on top: sliced red dates, raisins from the Western Regions, almonds, pine nuts, and the scattered osmanthus flowers in the middle layer.

Osmanthus was indeed an interesting thing. It seemed that adding it could always add some inexplicable “autumn flavor” to all kinds of pastries and foods.

From the appearance point of view, it was not only not inferior to that of Hongyanlou, but it even had a more “artistic concept” because of the layer of osmanthus.

After seeing the appearance of the Chongyang cake, Yu Jijiu picked it up and took a bite.

The steamed rice cake was extremely soft, with a rich rice fragrance that carried a slight sweetness. As expected, the two dark red layers in the middle, which appeared slightly different, each had their own unique qualities. The bottom layer was the most common red bean paste used in Chongyang cakes, finely cooked with a delicate sweetness and carrying the distinct aroma of red beans. The top dark red layer had a smooth texture but was entirely different from the red bean paste—seemingly softer. With the strong aroma of red dates entering his mouth, Yu Jijiu couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow: could it be jujube paste?

The tastes of rice cake, red bean paste, and jujube paste were so compatible, how could they not taste good when mixed together?

The main body of the Chongyang cake was soft and sweet, but not just soft. Combined with the toppings of jujube paste, almonds, pine nuts, and other sprinkled ingredients, it offered a texture richer than the usual soft cakes.

It really didn’t seem to be a unique dish, but because of the meticulousness in every detail, it was completely different from the Chongyang cakes sold outside!

After eating a piece of Chongyang cake, Yu Jijiu stood up and walked to the takeaway stall with great satisfaction, and said to Ji Caimai, “Let me have a look at the Chongyang gift boxes. I want to take some out to give as gifts!”

Since it was prepared as a gift, the appearance of this gift box couldn’t be bad! Ji Caimai said “Oh”, handed the Chongyang gift box behind him to Yu Jijiu to look at, and said: “Don’t worry about keeping this! After this gift box was made, our Lin Shaoqing also praised it!”

Because the poem “The bright moon rises over the sea, and people across the world share this moment” engraved last time was praised, this time, Ji Caimai also added a few festive words when making the gift box.

The words engraved on the Chongyang gift box are: “Six is ​​Yin, nine is Yang. On the ninth day of the ninth month, the sun and the moon are both Yang. The two nines are repeated, so it is called Chongyang.”

(End of this chapter)

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