Chapter 36 Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival with Family Joy

After putting the lotus seeds in the pot, Lu Qiong also put the soaked red beans on the other side to steam, and also tore off a piece of pot cloth to seal the gaps so that the pot could be heated more evenly.

Next, we began preparing the five-nut filling.

Many people don't like eating five-nut mooncakes, but she still makes them. She feels that the Mid-Autumn Festival is incomplete without five-nut mooncakes. After all, she grew up eating five-nut mooncakes and was used to hearing people talk about them.

Five-nut filling usually consists of almonds, walnuts, olives, melon seeds, and sesame seeds, but these nuts are not cheap. Lu Qiong didn't buy many, planning to make a few dozen and then stop.

"Xuan'er watches the fire, and Sister Yang helps me knead the dough."

Lu Xuan was already captivated by the aroma. She happily agreed and ran over to check the fire. She sat in front of the stove, her hands clenched, her face flushed with excitement, and her skin was even red from the heat of the fire.

Yang Jie'er wasn't craving it, but rather curious about how the young lady had made the "mooncake." She had assumed it was just a common mooncake and was wondering what new shape it would take, but she was startled by the lotus seeds she had just seen.

I still find it interesting, but I wonder how the young lady came up with the idea of ​​making so many fillings?

Flour is the first step. I poured about half a bowl into it, along with a lot of oil and sugar. The most crucial step was adding the alkaline water.

Boil wood ash with water, filter out the residue, and take out the clean part, which is lye water, similar to alkaline water.

Mooncakes with added lye water are easier to color, and the crust won't be too soft or too hard. Especially now that conditions are simple, it's hard to control the heat, and it's easy to overbake the mooncakes.

As she kneaded the dough, Sister Yang exclaimed, "This is even more troublesome than making pastries."

Fortunately, it's not something I do every day...

Lu Qiong's hands were covered in oil, and she frowned: "That's why I don't make it often, but the price will definitely be higher. Let's make it fifteen coins each."

"Fifteen coins is too expensive?" Sister Yang hesitated.

After all, a pastry only costs five coins, which is cheap compared to twenty coins for a pound of pork. Besides, this mooncake is not even as big as a mooncake, only slightly larger than a jiaozi (a type of dumpling)...

Lu Qiong smiled and said, "The five-nut filling is the most expensive. The other fillings are eight coins each. Compared to that, customers might think eight coins isn't expensive and buy more."

This can be considered a marketing tactic. With cheaper pastries available for comparison, everyone tends to buy items in the middle price range, thus attracting more buyers to the eight-coin category.

After all, consumer psychology has always been a profound subject throughout history!

Yang Jie'er was a little confused, but the young lady had her own way of doing things, so she stopped worrying and quickly kneaded a ball of pale yellow dough, which was shiny and not sticky.

The fillings were also prepared: a bowl of red bean paste, a bowl of mixed nuts filling, and a plate of lotus seed paste made by stir-frying lotus seed paste with sugar and oil.

The three of them sat around a table, each wrapped their own dough into a small ball, brushed it with oil, and then pressed it into a mold to make a mooncake.

Lu Xuan's favorite filling is lotus seed paste. She had tried mooncakes with this filling in Shangyuan Village before. They were very sweet and fragrant. However, she didn't have much money back then, so she could only make a few each time and had to share them with others. There were simply not enough for everyone.

Then I remembered Sister Li. I had seen her once during the Qixi Festival, but I hadn't seen her since.

At this moment, the person who understood her best was Lu Qiong. She rolled a small ball in her palm, pressed it onto the mold, and then comforted her: "When the mooncakes are ready, take a few to Pan'er. If the shop isn't busy, you can go and admire the lanterns together."

Sister Yang chimed in, "Last time there were lots of people releasing lanterns on the Bian River, it'll definitely be even more lively tonight. Or we could go to Xiangguo Temple, there are lots of stalls there selling roasted chestnuts, honey cakes, candied hawthorns..."

When food was mentioned, Lu Xuan's gloomy mood quickly dissipated, and she immediately smiled and said, "I'll take a few mooncakes with me."

This greedy little cat-like behavior amused Sister Yang.

“Okay,” Lu Qiong laughed through her tears, “bring one of each.”

In the end, there was still quite a bit of extra five-nut filling, so Lu Qiong made it into a super-sized mooncake, but it's unknown which lucky person will be able to buy it.

Lu Ji officially opened for business only after all the mooncakes were baked in the oven.

The first customer to arrive was dressed in a blue robe and was fanning himself with a paper fan. He would come every few days, always buying only pastries. Only last time did he make an exception and buy a portion of crispy mountain pastry, saying that his wife and children at home liked it.

The aroma of the mooncakes was so strong that he smelled it as soon as he stepped across the threshold: "What smells so good? Has Manager Lu come up with a new design again?"

"I've made some mooncakes, would you like to take a look, sir?"

Lu Qiong explained the difference between mooncakes and mooncake dumplings, as well as their flavors, and even recommended other tea drinks to him.

"If you get tired of it, you can brew a pot of tea for a light flavor."

The blue-robed diner didn't really care; in his view, mooncakes were similar to pastries. Nevertheless, he smiled politely and asked, "What else can mooncakes be made into?"

Lu Qiong didn't correct his way of addressing it. Since the mooncakes were freshly baked, she opened the oven to show them to him.

Diners peeked over and saw that the pastries looked no different from the others, except that the crust was golden and some parts were even burnt. But... they smelled really good, making everyone hungry just looking at them.

Seeing that he was wavering, Lu Qiong took out a five-nut dish, cut it into eight small pieces, and skewered them with bamboo skewers: "Why don't you try a small portion?"

Every time she launches a new product, she selects a few samples for "free tasting." This is partly for novelty and partly to attract new customers—a move that is more beneficial than harmful.

The diners were used to it, and with a polite "hmm," they nodded and said, "Then I'll have one."

After the five-nut mooncake is cut into small pieces, the filling inside is exposed, and the aroma becomes even stronger. The chopped walnuts, almonds and other ingredients are mixed together, and it is simply fragrant.

The goods from Bianjing were all of the best, and the ingredients Lu Qiong selected were also top-notch, so the taste was naturally excellent.

The crust looks hard, but it's actually soft. It has a delicate texture when you bite into it. It might seem a little strange at first, since it's a mix of various nuts, but the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes.

The diners couldn't help but nod, and without paying much attention, they tried an extra piece. When they realized what had happened, they saw Lu Qiong smiling at them, and they felt a little embarrassed.

He closed his folding fan and cleared his throat: "This tastes good, but I don't like it. However, my wife likes this kind of sweet food, so I brought her two portions."

“Okay,” Lu Qiong smiled as always, “Would you like one of each of the other fillings?”

After seeing the customer off, Sister Yang dared to step forward: "Young lady, you're really something. You managed to get everyone to buy all the five-nut dishes in just one visit."

Lu Qiong put the money in the cabinet and teased her, "Then you'd better study hard, you never know when you might need it."

Yang Jie'er wanted to scratch her head, but then she remembered what the young lady had said about hygiene in the shop.

In the end, she just shook her head and smiled sheepishly, "I don't need it..."

Lu Qiong didn't dwell on what she said. Du Zai, who had been promoting Lu's products for several days, happened to come to her door, and she had to settle the "promotion fee" for those days.

"That's a total of one hundred coins... I've broken it down into smaller pieces for you so you can take it back easily."

Du Zai's eyes widened, and he could only stare at the money and laugh: "Okay, you'll have to come to me again next time."

He solemnly accepted the loose silver coins with both hands, clutching them to his chest. If things continued like this, he would be able to save enough money next year! He couldn't help but feel happy.

"Du Zai? Du Zai?"

Du Zai exclaimed "Eh?", puzzled, and looked up to see a bag of pastries wrapped in oil paper.

Lu Qiong handed it to him, saying irritably, "I called you earlier and you didn't respond. I thought you'd been bewitched. These are mooncakes I just made. There are three kinds: five-nut, red bean paste, and lotus seed paste. Consider it a Mid-Autumn Festival gift for you."

Du Zai didn't care about her tone of voice. After all, he was paid to do her a favor, and besides, there were free pastries. This was a wonderful thing in the world.

As the sun grew stronger, more people went out, and Lu Ji welcomed wave after wave of customers. The three people in the shop never stopped walking.

...

Even at night, the Xie residence remained just as lively.

The mansion was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and a banquet was held in the backyard, inviting many relatives and friends to enjoy the moon.

The Xie family patriarch was unwell, so he came out to sit for a while before returning to the inner room to rest. Only Madam Zhao remained at the main table to entertain the guests.

Xie Xun sat to one side, ordered someone to remove the wine, and personally poured tea for Zhao: "Drinking wine is bad for your health, it's better to have some tea and snacks."

"What kind of festival is it if we don't drink osmanthus wine on Mid-Autumn Festival?" Zhao said with some dissatisfaction, but she didn't order anyone to bring out any more new wine.

Huanzhu was also very perceptive. She brought out some easily digestible pastries and then tried to cheer her up: "Young master is just worried about you. Just now, Madam Xu from the Prince's Mansion was envious of you. All the young masters are here, and your grandson is about to be born. You'll have a house full of children and grandchildren."

Speaking of her grandson, Zhao felt a little more at ease. Then she thought of her daughter-in-law and whispered to the other side, "Mu'er, didn't you just say you wanted to eat pastries from Zhouqiao? Why aren't they sold out yet?"

He Mu felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by everyone. Xie Zhan, who was sitting next to her, answered for her: "Tao Hong just left. We may have to wait a while, since there are many people in Bianjing tonight."

Zhao understood and stopped worrying about it.

Not long after, Tao Hong returned, bringing with her an enormous pastry that drew everyone's attention in the courtyard.

"What is this? How can it be so big?"

The pastries in Bianjing have always been small and exquisite, and this is the first time I've seen ones that are bigger than plates. Even the most composed Zhao Shi couldn't help but marvel at it.

Tao Hong replied, "These are Lu Ji's new pastries. They say they're a new product modeled after mooncakes, with lots of fillings, like almonds and walnuts... They say they're suitable for the whole family to share, symbolizing family happiness."

"Happy family reunion, happy family reunion," Zhao murmured. "This is a good omen. It's rare to share a pastry with someone before."

After saying that, he ordered someone to bring the knife, insisting on personally distributing it to everyone, giving each person a piece, and everyone was very happy.

Xie Xun also received a considerable amount. Knowing that it was Lu Ji's new product, he was even more excited. Before Zhao Shi could speak, he couldn't help but take a bite first.

It's very fragrant and soft; the different fillings mixed together create a novel flavor.

He couldn't help but wonder how Madam Lu came up with so many strange ideas.

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Author's Note: Having read this far, why not add it to your favorites? [Starry-eyed]