Chapter 199 Gift of Milk Candy

The glutinous rice paper in his hand was torn in half. The Ninth Prince looked down at the translucent white paper in his hand, licked his lips, and asked Yin'e, "Can this be eaten?"

"Yes, you can eat it." Yin'e paused for a moment before nodding and saying, "The sugar coating made of glutinous rice paper can be eaten directly. In the future, we can use glutinous rice paper as the inner packaging for milk candies, so you don't need to peel off the sugar coating when you eat it; you can eat the candy along with it. It's just..."

Before Yin'e could finish speaking, the Ninth Prince had already stuffed half a piece of glutinous rice paper into his mouth.

After the Ninth Prince's expression suddenly went blank, Yin'e, with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, slowly finished his sentence, which was halfway through: "...It's just that the glutinous rice paper is colorless and tasteless, and has absolutely no flavor when you eat it."

That's why it's called glutinous rice "paper." Glutinous rice paper really does taste just like plain white paper; it has no flavor whatsoever. However, glutinous rice paper is made from starch, so it quickly breaks down into glucose after being eaten, making it completely harmless to the human body, unlike paper which is difficult to digest.

With a blank expression, the Ninth Prince bravely swallowed the strange-tasting, completely tasteless glutinous rice paper in his mouth. After a moment of silence, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said thoughtfully to Yin'e, "Tenth Brother, it's a good thing that this glutinous rice paper has no taste at all!"

Glutinous rice paper is made to create candy coatings; its purpose is to serve as the inner packaging for candy. Since it's just for packaging, the key is that it doesn't affect the taste of the food inside.

The sugar coating has no taste at all, so it won't overpower the sweetness of the sugar or mix with it.

Looking at the Ninth Prince with admiration, Yin'e couldn't help but give him a thumbs up and praised him with a smile, "Ninth Brother, you're really perceptive. Indeed, the best sugar coating is one that has no taste."

"Hmph~ That's for sure." The Ninth Prince raised his chin slightly with pride, his long, phoenix-shaped eyes sparkling with laughter. He was so proud that his tail was already standing tall and swaying back and forth happily, almost like a propeller.

After praising the Ninth Prince a few more times, Yin'e tossed aside the rice paper in his hand and started chatting with the Ninth Prince while tidying up the laboratory: "Ninth Brother, the Empress Dowager's birthday is coming up soon, followed by the Golden Banquet Festival. Have you prepared the birthday gifts and congratulatory gifts to send?"

The Empress Dowager's birthday is on October 3rd. Emperor Kangxi has always been filial to his stepmother, and her birthday celebration will definitely be grand and enthusiastic. Regardless of whether Kangxi's filial piety is genuine or not, he has acted as a filial son for more than 20 years since he ascended the throne. Even if it is just an act, he would never give up halfway.

The Manchu people's grandest annual festival, the Banjin Festival, is held on October 13th. This is the most important festival for the Manchus, and they celebrate it extensively every year.

However, this year's Golden Gift Festival may not be held in a grand manner. Although the Qing Dynasty won the campaign against the Dzungars this year, the casualties and losses were also considerable. It is very likely that Emperor Kangxi will order everything to be simplified and not to hold the Golden Gift Festival in a big way this year.

This March, on Emperor Kangxi's birthday, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince presented him with the Classic of Filial Piety and Buddhist scriptures as birthday gifts, which seemed rather perfunctory.

However, they could no longer afford to be perfunctory on the Empress Dowager's birthday and the Golden Gift Festival in October. Because of the campaign against the Dzungars, Emperor Kangxi was in a bad mood recently. If they continued to be evasive on such important holidays, it would be tantamount to running into the line of fire with Emperor Kangxi, and they would suffer the consequences.

Scratching his head, the Ninth Prince groaned in exasperation, "Why are there so many festivals? Why do we have to give gifts every single month of the year? We're still just young princes, we haven't had our weddings yet, and we haven't left the palace to establish our own residences. Why should we have to go through these social obligations? Is this appropriate? Is this reasonable?"

Hearing the Ninth Prince's complaints, Yin'e's subordinate paused in tidying up the experimental equipment and sighed, "If these holidays were all off, then giving gifts wouldn't be a problem."

Unfortunately, the Imperial Study never had a holiday, not even for the Emperor's birthday, the Golden Banquet Festival, or the Empress Dowager's birthday. Princes in the Imperial Study only had three statutory holidays a year: one for their own birthday, one for their birth mother's birthday, and the last day was New Year's Eve.

On festivals like the Emperor's Birthday, although they, as princes, had to attend the palace banquets, they still had to return to the Imperial Study to continue their studies after the banquets.

Moreover, to be honest, attending a banquet was no better than staying in the Imperial Study to study. The food at the palace banquets was all pre-made dishes prepared the day before, which were not fit for human consumption. They were very unpalatable and disgusting. Attending a banquet was equivalent to going hungry.

After roughly tidying up the laboratory, Yin'e walked side by side with the Ninth Prince toward the living room, reminding him, "By the way, in October, besides the birthday gifts for Grandmother and the congratulatory gifts for the Golden Festival, don't forget the birthday gifts for the Thirteenth and Fourth Brothers."

The Thirteenth Prince, Yinxiang, was born on October 1st, and the Fourth Prince was born on October 30th.

Yin'e's birthday is also in October, specifically October 11th. However, there's no need to remind the Ninth Prince of his birthday. Not only would the Ninth Prince remember it himself, but even if he forgot to send a gift one year, Yin'e wouldn't care. There's no issue of being impolite, so there's no need for a special reminder.

“Their birthday gifts are simple.” Shrugging, the Ninth Prince said nonchalantly, “The Thirteenth Prince hasn’t entered the Imperial Study yet, but he has already started his studies, so I’ll just get him a couple of calligraphy books; the Fourth Prince’s will be even simpler, just pick any of the Four Treasures of the Study, as long as I don’t send back the birthday gifts he gave me in previous years.”

The brothers exchanged gifts, mostly as a formality. While they wouldn't actually return the gifts they received, it was common for them to pass them on to other brothers.

For so many years, these brothers have all lived like this. They're all in the same situation, all struggling financially. The eldest brother doesn't need to mention the second brother; everyone knows who's who. They're not like the eldest prince, who's the eldest son, nor are they like the crown prince, who's the heir apparent. There's really no need for them to put on a show of wealth.

This trend among the princes was started by the Third Prince; he was the instigator. Apart from the First Prince and the Crown Prince, the Third Prince was the eldest among the princes. With him setting the example, it's no wonder that his younger brothers followed suit.

Yin'e gave the Ninth Prince a thumbs-up again and nodded in agreement: "Ninth Brother, you're right. I'll do as you say."

Suddenly remembering something, Yin'e opened his round, clear almond-shaped eyes wide and looked intently at the Ninth Prince. He suddenly had an idea and said, "Ninth Brother, if Wulinzhu and the others manage to make the milk candy, do you think we can send it as a congratulatory gift?"

Yin'e thought the idea was pretty good, and happily started fiddling with the abacus: "This can also be considered expanding the market. If they like the milk candy after receiving it and want to eat it again, then they'll have to pay money to buy it. Maybe in the end, even the Imperial Household Department will want to buy it."

"Great idea!" The Ninth Prince's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but clap his hands in agreement.

The Ninth Prince was always very attentive to business matters. He rolled his eyes, and a mischievous idea popped into his head: "There's no need to wait for the milk candy to be made outside the palace and sent in. It's just for gifting, not for large-scale sales, so we can make it ourselves in the palace."

Moreover, making milk candy in the palace had a unique advantage: they could get fresh milk from the Imperial Household Department for free, without having to wait for Sarigul to transport milk powder from Mongolia to the capital.

Making milk candy in the palace meant that the raw materials could be obtained from the Imperial Household Department for free, allowing them to benefit from Emperor Kangxi's resources without having to pay for them themselves. This resulted in almost no cost and saved them money on the initial promotion of the milk candy.

Without hesitation, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince decided to expand the market for their milk candy business and immediately began to take action.

Apart from the crucial step of making the glutinous rice paper, there was no need to keep the rest of the recipe a secret. Yin'e didn't care whether the production method would be leaked: the method of making milk candy was not valuable; what was truly valuable was the recipe for making the candy paper.

Making your own milk candy is actually quite easy; it's just that the candy pieces tend to stick together, easily get damp and melt, and don't keep for long. Not having candy wrappers doesn't mean you can't do the candy business, but the candy pieces are difficult to store, so you can only make and sell it on the same day, and only in a small area. You can't expand the business, let alone transport it over long distances.

From the very beginning, Yin'e's plan for the milk candy business was to engage in long-distance transportation. He currently had too little capital, which is why he chose milk candy as his starting point. His main objective was to open up the market, establish transportation channels, and lay the foundation for his later businesses in wool, fats, milk powder, and dried meat.

Yin'e didn't even need to lift a finger; the small kitchen in Ganxi No. 3 quickly produced the first batch of milk candy using fresh milk.

The first batch of candy wrappers that Yin'e had made earlier also came in handy. After being cut into the appropriate size, the milk candies were individually packaged. With glutinous rice paper as candy wrappers, even without wrapping the candies in another layer of packaging, there was no need to worry about the milk candies sticking together.

Since the main purpose of the first batch of milk candies was for publicity, to be sent as gifts to various palaces to open up the market, after some discussion, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince agreed that in addition to the taste, the appearance was also very important, and they needed to put a lot of effort into the packaging.

To make them look appealing, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince specially commissioned a batch of uniformly sized white porcelain jars from the Imperial Household Department.

These white porcelain jars were not produced by any famous kiln, nor were they glazed or decorated with any patterns, so they were not very valuable. Their only advantage was that Yin'e and his family did not have to pay for them themselves; Emperor Kangxi was responsible for paying for them.

The white porcelain jars are three inches tall and about the size of an adult's palm. Each jar contains thirty milk candies, and they look quite presentable.

After the finished product was completed, looking at the hundreds of bottles of packaged milk candy laid out on the table, the Ninth Prince, who loved sweets and fell in love with the milk candy as soon as it was made, made a painful decision: in addition to giving milk candy as gifts when giving gifts individually, they would also give some to the concubines, princes and princesses in the palace.

Unlike Yin'e, who disliked sweets and didn't care who or how much milk candy he gave, the Ninth Prince, who loved sweets, made this decision with great difficulty and went through a tremendous struggle.

The reason why the Ninth Prince did this, despite the pain, was to subtly turn the masters in the palace into potential customers of milk candy, so that they would willingly spend money to buy it. Ideally, he would also get the Imperial Household Department to notice this fashionable product and add milk candy to their purchasing list, placing large orders with their shops.

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince also realized that compared with other merchants in the Qing Dynasty, their biggest advantage was not how excellent their goods were, but their special status and position.

Simply put, it means that Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were able to take shortcuts.