"Madam! Madam!"

At the river bank, before the ox cart even came to a complete stop, Liu Ji could not wait to jump off, shouting excitedly and running up the hillside. He looked so happy that anyone who didn't know him would have thought he had passed the imperial examination!

Qin Yao walked out of the gate when she heard the sound. When Liu Ji saw her, his eyes lit up and he took out an envelope from his arms and waved it back and forth.

Qin Yao's heart skipped a beat. Did Gong Liangliao really write back to him?

Liu Ji seemed to know what she was doubting. He came up to her and said, without even catching his breath:

"Madam, the master said he has already set out. If we roughly calculate the day this letter was sent, the master will arrive in the next two days!"

The four brothers and sisters of Dalang, who were taking a break in the room, also ran out. Each of them had white spots on their face and was holding something that looked like dough in their hands.

Liu Ji asked in confusion: "What are you doing?"

"Make mooncakes." Sanlang held up the dough in his hand expectantly, hoping that his father would praise him.

Liu Ji looked at the letter in his hand, feeling very happy. He gave Sanlang a thumbs up and said, "Not bad, not bad. Make more. When the master comes, give him some to eat. Let him taste the delicious food in the countryside."

Sanlang immediately burst into laughter, nodded seriously, turned around and ran back to the kitchen, asking Awang to continue teaching him how to make the stuffing.

There were still three people standing at the door. Liu Ji waved his hand and said, "Go, make more and make it more delicious."

Dalang secretly observed Aunt Yao's expression and seeing that she had no expression, he took Erlang and Si Niang back to continue making mooncakes.

This mooncake is a delicate product. Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival, and only a few families in the village are willing to make it.

This is because the flour needs to be ground again and again, at least five times, before it can be ground into fine flour that can be used to make mooncakes.

In addition, the wheat yield was reduced this year due to insect pests and the wheat price is extremely high. If the family was not well-off, who would be willing to go through all this trouble for those two mooncakes?

Of course, Qin Yao was mainly greedy.

She couldn’t quite remember what she did during last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, but it seemed that she didn’t celebrate the festival and didn’t eat mooncakes.

This year, the clan school gave three days off for students to go home for the festival. Si Niang saw Liu Dafu's family grinding flour in the mill and learned that they were going to make moon cakes. The little girl who had never eaten moon cakes but knew that it must be a good thing ran home immediately and followed Qin Yao's buttocks and said she wanted to eat it. Only then did the family start to make moon cakes.

It can only be said that Liu Ji came back at the right time and caught up with him.

Liu Ji complained a lot about not being the first in line to eat watermelon before. Today, he saw his family making mooncakes without informing him. He covered his heart and looked at Qin Yao resentfully. It hurt, it hurt so much!

Qin Yao ignored his strange look and opened the letter brought by Liu Ji with some distrust.

The letter contained a few lines of handwriting that was written in a very sloppy but extremely beautiful and elegant style.

Qin Yao didn't believe Liu Ji's handwriting because no scholar in Kaiyang County could imitate the strong personal style contained in this handwriting.

Just by seeing these words, Qin Yao couldn't help but think of Gong Liangliao's face, which looked serious but actually had eyes full of teasing.

Crazy and insane were Qin Yao's first impression of Gong Liangliao.

The words on the paper also reveal the personality traits of the owner.

"How did you do it?" Qin Yao handed the letter back to Liu Ji and asked curiously.

The letter she asked Awang to deliver has not received a reply yet.

Without Awang as a messenger, how could Liu Ji have overcome the layers of interception by the Qi family and reached Gong Liangliao?

Seeing her surprised look, Liu Ji smiled and did not answer. Instead, he asked, "Madam, how much do you think the labor service fee will be this year?"

Qin Yao was straightforward and kept her word. She turned around and took out six taels of silver. "Since you're back, take it to the village chief to offset your military service quota."

Liu Ji took the silver and couldn't control himself, kissing it madly twice. He was almost crying for joy.

However, knowing that Qin Yao's patience was limited, he quickly stopped, put the silver into his inner pocket, sat down on a chair in the main room, and told Qin Yao incessantly how he delivered the letter to Gong Liangliao.

Because he spoke so vividly, Awang and the children in the kitchen all looked at him involuntarily, and the work in their hands was delayed, resulting in the first batch of mooncakes having hard skin.

However, after listening to Liu Ji's story, the four brothers and sisters looked at him with a little more respect.

The reason is simple: their father has proved to them through his own practice that the saying “if you work hard, you can grind an iron rod into a needle” is not just empty talk, but true.

"Dad, you are so awesome!"

Erlang squatted in front of his father without knowing when, counting on his fingers, "One hundred letters, the letter paper, writing materials, delivery fees, and hired delivery fees will cost at least half a tael of silver. I didn't expect that you, father, have saved so much private money. Woo woo!"

Before he could finish his words, his mouth was forcibly covered by his old father. Liu Ji glared at him and said, "Shut up, Liu Zishu!"

In the kitchen, Qin Yao, who was tasting the first batch of mooncakes, heard the noise from the father and son in the main room. She turned around suspiciously and saw the father and son hugging each other, looking like they had a very good relationship.

Erlang had his back to the door, so his expression couldn't be seen clearly, but from the way his body was twisting, it seemed that the child was not very willing.

Qin Yao snorted and ate up all the filling of the mooncake in her hand. She threw the hard dough into the wooden barrel filled with kitchen scraps and told them to feed it to cows and horses. Humans couldn't eat it all.

Dalang and Si Niang opened their eyes wide, exclaiming in their hearts how luxurious it was, but when they took a bite of the mooncakes in their hands, they uttered "yue" at the same time.

It turns out that we shouldn’t question any decision made by A Niang!

Awang learned from his mistakes and started over again!

This time the dough was made softer and the heat was controlled lower, and I finally made mooncakes with normal taste.

Qin Yao doesn't mind it. As long as the mooncake tastes like it should, she can eat it with relish.

Not to mention Liu Ji and his sons, who had never eaten anything good, so after taking a bite of the mooncake, they all burst into shouts of surprise. Their words of praise for the deliciousness floated to Awang's ears. The young man was full of energy and baked one batch after another.

The finished mooncakes are spread out in a winnowing basket covered with white cotton cloth, filling up all the empty tables and chairs in the house, which makes people feel satisfied just by looking at it.

This time, Liu Ji ate something hot. He ate three red bean paste mooncakes the size of a child's palm, and was so full that he walked back and forth in the yard.

Look at the mooncakes and think about what to do after Gong Liangliao arrives.

Finally came to the conclusion: wait until someone arrives!

He should go and pay off his corvée quota first.

Otherwise, as soon as Mr. Mingri arrived, Liu Ji would be drafted to build the city wall.

However, Liu Ji was still cautious. When he went to the village chief's house to pay the money, he took an extra bag of mooncakes and asked if there were enough vacant houses in the village.

I felt relieved when I learned from the village chief that there were several vacant rooms.

The family was busy until dark. After a simple dinner, the excitement of making mooncakes faded away, and they began to feel a little nervous about the upcoming visit of distinguished guests.