"How many days has it been since the Princess Consort was released from confinement?"

"Reporting to Princess, it has been eight days."

Geng Youran mentally calculated the time.

"Unbeknownst to us, Qingming Festival is almost here."

As she lightly shook the water off her hands, she gave the instructions:

"Go check with the steward later to see if they have any mugwort or anything like that this year. If they do, get some and call Xiao Anzi to come with you. We'll make some snacks and send some to each of the courtyards."

"yes."

After Qianxue finished applying makeup and changing clothes for Geng Youran, she took the basin of water downstairs and then called Xiao Anzi to go to the steward's place.

Geng Youran leisurely walked to the courtyard and had someone bring a deck chair and fruit into the yard.

Although it was still a bit chilly at this time, the good weather made Geng Youran feel warm and cozy under the sun.

About half an hour later, Qianxue and Xiao Anzi returned.

"Princess, besides mugwort, I also brought some high-quality glutinous rice flour. In addition, the steward knew that you were making desserts, so he specially gave us some plums and cherries."

Geng Youran was surprised to hear that there were also plums and cherries:

"It's still cold, yet plums and cherries have already appeared?"

"Your Highness, the steward told me that these are fruit trees that our Prince found a few years ago, and only a few have been planted. This is the first time they have borne fruit."

Geng Youran was overjoyed upon hearing this:

"Well, this is a good deal for a glutton like me."

Qianxue and Xiao Anzi chuckled beside them.

"Now that we have all the materials, let's get started preparing."

Geng Youran selected fresh mugwort leaves from a large quantity of mugwort, washed them clean, put them in a pot, added a small amount of baking soda, and blanched them until they changed color to remove the astringent taste.

Remove the blanched mugwort, rinse it with cold water, squeeze out the water, and then have Xiao Anzi crush the mugwort and filter out the mugwort juice with a clean cotton cloth.

To make 'Qingtuan', glutinous rice flour is needed. Geng Youran put the glutinous rice flour into a bowl, added mugwort juice in batches, and stirred while adding until the flour became flocculent.

Knead the flour into a smooth dough by hand, cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for a while.

While the dough was proofing, Geng Youran started making 'white rice cake' again.

This pastry also has a poetic legend.

Legend has it that Fan Zhongyan, a famous scholar of the Song Dynasty, came from a very poor family and lived in the Zhoubo Nunnery at the foot of Tianping Mountain in Suzhou. Because the nunnery was dilapidated and desolate, Fan Zhongyan ate porridge three times a day, which bloated him. He devised a method: he froze the porridge in a dish, dividing it into pieces like tofu. When he was hungry while studying late at night, he would eat a piece. This porridge was named "White Cloud Cake".

Fan Zhongyan had a friend named Shi Meiqing, who improved upon this by having someone make a square cake using glutinous rice flour, imitating Fan Zhongyan's "Baiyun Cake". It was later named "Baiyin Cake".

Geng Youran first mixed glutinous rice flour and rice flour in a certain ratio, and then stirred sugar and water to make sugar water.

Slowly pour the sugar water into the mixed glutinous rice flour and rice flour, stirring constantly until the flour forms clumps.

Knead the flour by hand into a smooth dough.

The dough needs to be sieved through a silk sieve to remove particles and impurities, making the cake more delicate.

Then Geng Youran instructed Qianxue to put the sifted flour into a specially made wooden mold with auspicious characters such as "福禄寿喜" (fortune, prosperity, longevity, and happiness) engraved on it, and press it firmly to shape it.

Use a scraper or copper knife to scrape away excess flour and make the surface of the cake smooth.

Place the shaped white rice cake into a steamer and steam over high heat until cooked.

The 'white rice cake' is steamed, and the dough for making qingtuan (green glutinous rice balls) has risen enough.

Before this, Geng Youran had already prepared red bean paste and jujube paste to make fillings for the 'Qingtuan'.

Take an appropriate amount of dough, roll it into a ball, flatten it, and wrap the filling inside.

Pinch the opening closed, roll the green rice ball into a round shape, line the steamer with bamboo leaves, put the green rice ball in, and steam over high heat until cooked.

Immediately afterwards, Geng Youran asked Qianxue to bring over the "Shanjia Qinggong" book that she used most often.

This book is Geng Youran's treasure. She had seen a book made from plums in it a while ago, and she never expected that today would be the time to put it into practice.

"Xiao Anzi, pick some big plums."

"Qianxue, remove the pits from the pine nuts, walnuts, and melon seeds, and then peel the olive kernels."

After giving the instructions, Geng Youran started brewing licorice soup.

Simply boil the white plum and licorice root in water until it comes to a boil.

After the water boils, blanch the peeled and pitted plums in licorice.

Qianxue, on the other hand, mixes pine nuts, olive kernels, walnut kernels, and melon seeds, adds an appropriate amount of honey, stirs it evenly, and makes the filling.

Then Geng Youran and Qianxue filled the gaps in the plums with the prepared filling.

During this time, Xiao Anzi kept an eye on the steamer where 'white rice cake' and 'green rice dumplings' were being steamed.

"Princess, this servant sees that the 'white rice cake' and 'green rice dumpling' are both cooked."

At this moment, Geng Youran and Qianxue were still filling the filling.

"Then take them all off."

"Yes, sir."

Xiao Anzi slowly removed the two steamers one by one, while Geng Youran placed the stuffed plums into the small steamer and steamed them over high heat.

"Princess, what do you plan to do with these cherries?"

Geng Youran rubbed her shoulders and replied:

"I don't see much of it. Why don't you just make it all into 'cherry custard'? It'll be simpler."

"good."

Qianxue then put the peeled and pitted cherries into the pot, added an appropriate amount of water and sugar.

Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the cherries soften and the juice thickens.

Filter the cooked cherries through a cotton cloth to extract the juice and remove the pulp.

Pour the strained cherry juice into a clean pot and continue to simmer over low heat. Turn off the heat when the cherry juice becomes like a thick syrup.

Pour the cooked cherry pudding into a clean container and let it cool.

Looking at the cherry cheese that Qianxue made, Geng Youran felt that something was missing.

"Qianxue, do you still have the 'milk chewer' that Wanru had someone send over a few days ago?"

Qianxue glanced at it.

There are still some left.

"Take a bottle of osmanthus honey, and bring the rest of the 'milk chews'. Xiao Anzi, bring in four food boxes!"

Qianxue asked in surprise:

"Princess, why are you carrying so many food boxes?"

Geng Youran casually flicked Qianxue on the forehead:

"Of course we're giving them away. Otherwise, if we made so much, how long would it take to eat it all?"

The three of them then began packing the boxes.

"Xiao Anzi, send these three food boxes to the First Lady, Consort Li, and Consort Nian respectively. Qianxue, take this one, let's go find Wanru."

Xiao Anzi then asked:

"Princess, aren't you going to send some to the Prince?"

"We've run out of raw materials, but we'll make more for the prince when he comes back."

After that, Xiao Anzi delivered food boxes to the three masters in turn, while Geng Youran took Qianxue and the food boxes to Wanru's place.