Chapter 115 Mooncakes

After Zhou Chengyu's mid-term exam, the Mid-Autumn Festival will be held. The academy plans to give them a few days off, and Song Yushu will take them back to the county to celebrate the festival with Wei's mother and the others.

But before that, she planned to make some mooncakes to sell.

Nowadays, there are many kinds of mooncakes on the market. Song Yushu doesn't think her skills can beat those professionals. After all, she is better at cooking than making pastries.

However, the mooncakes I make myself are made with the best ingredients, and I eat them myself if I can't sell them all. They're freshly baked and sold on the spot.

So these past few days, a sweet aroma has been wafting through the restaurants.

"Mr. Wei, do you also make mooncakes in your shop? Why don't you put them out for us to see?" someone couldn't help but ask curiously.

"We'll start selling tomorrow, so don't worry, our mooncakes are freshly baked and sold on the spot. If you want to buy some, just come over tomorrow," Song Yushu replied to the customers.

"Alright, we'll come over and try it tomorrow!"

After seeing the guests off, Song Yushu went to the backyard to check on the mooncakes. The oven for baking mooncakes was newly built, and it took several attempts to get the heat right.

Xiong Erni scooped out the mooncakes. The crust was a perfect golden brown, and the words "Good Taste Restaurant" and other patterns were clearly visible on it. This time, they hadn't burned.

"Can such a big mooncake really be sold?" Although Xiong Erni liked it, she knew that the mooncakes sold outside were no bigger than the palm of her hand. The mooncakes made by Song Yushu were even bigger than the flatbreads she ate. This was the first time she had ever seen such a big mooncake.

"Eight inches isn't too big; it's just right for the family. We'll divide this one tonight, and tomorrow we can cut a few for our guests to try. Maybe some of them will like it," Song Yushu said. She plans to make both sweet and savory mooncakes, and she also intends to sell larger ones. After all, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion, and sharing mooncakes together symbolizes family harmony, which is a very auspicious meaning.

The next day, a large, round mooncake was displayed, which indeed aroused the interest of many people.

"This mooncake is so big, who can finish it?"

"This is the first time I've ever seen such a big mooncake. It's quite a novelty!"

Every customer who comes to the store is amazed when they see this eight-inch mooncake.

Seeing that quite a few guests had arrived, Song Yushu came out to distribute mooncakes: "Our restaurant has only been open for a short time, and its ability to establish itself in the city is inseparable from your support! The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner, so today we're treating everyone to mooncakes! Wishing you all a happy and healthy Mid-Autumn Festival, and all the best!"

"good!"

When the customers in the shop heard that they could eat mooncakes for free, they immediately cheered and applauded. People outside couldn't help but stop and watch when they heard the commotion, and a crowd had gathered outside.

"This boss is so generous, he's even offering mooncakes to his guests. Should we go in now and maybe try one?"

"Really? Mooncakes aren't cheap. A couple of years ago, my husband spent half a tael of silver to buy four, and they weren't even the size of his palm!"

Song Yushu cut the mooncakes in half, giving each guest a piece; in total, he cut five large mooncakes.

This was the first time the guests had ever eaten a mooncake like this. It even had two layers of filling. The mooncake was sweet, and each person got one. It was sweet and delicious, but not cloying. Perhaps because they shared it, they felt that the taste was more special than what they had eaten before.

"We'll also have savory ones later. Our restaurant's mooncakes are big; one person can't finish one, but the whole family can share them. It's only 350 coins to buy one to take home. Enjoying the moon and sharing mooncakes with your family symbolizes a harmonious and happy life ahead!"

"Great! That's so true! A family should be harmonious and happy! Boss, I want to buy one of your mooncakes! My mother has never eaten such a big mooncake before!"

"I'll buy one too. My family has supported my education for so many years, I should buy a mooncake to go back and eat with them!"

Song Yushu's promotion was quite effective, and she sold about ten mooncakes in one go. Fortunately, her kiln could bake three at a time, so the customers didn't have to wait too long.

The customer was pleased to find the mooncake still warm, realizing it was indeed freshly baked, and decided to buy another one as a gift.

This is the peak season for mooncake sales. The people in the prefectural city have more money in their pockets than those in the county, so they naturally buy mooncakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

"You silly child, didn't I tell you to go out and buy mooncakes? What's that in your hand? It's so big!" the woman asked when she saw her son return.

"These are the mooncakes I bought, Mom, you've definitely never seen them before!" The young man placed the mooncakes on the table and unwrapped the oil paper.

"Oh! Such a big mooncake, how much did it cost? Didn't I tell you to be frugal?" After being surprised by the large, solid mooncake, the woman scolded her son.

“This is the extra-large version, it costs 500 coins. We still have 500 coins left. We can buy one and send it to my brother-in-law’s house so that my sister and nephew can try it!”

Seeing that the woman was about to hit him, the young man quickly took out another five hundred coins.

"Quick! Go buy another one!" Upon hearing this, the woman hurriedly sent her son off to buy mooncakes. She could see that these large mooncakes were more affordable than in previous years, and knew that if she waited any longer, she might not be able to buy any.

Just as she expected, the young man quickly returned to normal.

"I'll have to wait until tomorrow. The owner runs a restaurant and doesn't make many mooncakes. If it weren't close to our academy, I probably wouldn't be able to buy even one. I'll go earlier tomorrow. Mom, quickly cut me a piece of mooncake to try!"

"Get out of here, it's not Mid-Autumn Festival yet!"

Meanwhile, many scholars in the prefectural city returned home carrying large mooncakes, only to be questioned by their families and then chased out to buy more, only to find they hadn't bought any.

Song Yushu hadn't expected the mooncakes to sell so well. Even after they were sold out, there was still a long queue outside. He had to ask those who wanted to buy them to pay a deposit first and come back to pick them up tomorrow. He would have to work overtime tonight to make more mooncakes.

"Goodness, fifty taels in just one day! If I didn't have to go back to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with your maternal grandparents, I really wouldn't want to miss out on this deal," Song Yushu said after doing the math, instantly feeling motivated to work overtime again.

"Everyone, give it your all tonight! There's a bonus for everyone!"

Because of this sentence, Youwei Restaurant worked overtime until the early hours of the morning to finish all the orders. After returning home to rest until 7 a.m., they saw a crowd of customers waiting at the door.

As the boss, Song Yushu naturally couldn't be lazy. He first distributed the mooncakes to the customers who had ordered them yesterday before starting to sell them to the new customers.

Fortunately, we were well prepared today. Even though we sold out of the mooncakes we made yesterday while working overtime, we could still bake fresh ones and sell them until dark. Finally, we managed to see all the customers off.

The mooncakes sold by Song Yushu were so popular that the merchants in the city naturally got the news. Many mooncake vendors rushed to make large mooncakes overnight, and even lowered their prices to those of Song Yushu. As a result, on the third day, Song Yushu had far fewer customers, which relieved them.

After selling mooncakes for three days, Zhou Chengyu finally finished her exams. Song Yushu asked someone to deliver the mooncakes to several merchants with whom she had business dealings, and then took her and her brother to the Liu family with the mooncakes.