At Tian An's command, everyone started moving.
Qingmei and Qiao Niang are responsible for filling the mooncakes, Chunxi and Deng Xue are responsible for pressing the molds, and Tian An is responsible for wrapping the mooncakes with oil paper. It's a complete assembly line production chain.
I make snow skin mooncakes in the morning and start baking Cantonese-style ones in the earthen oven in the afternoon.
The Cantonese style also has four fillings: red bean paste, chestnut, lotus seed paste, and five-nut paste.
The filling is also made of green plums and the skin is made by Qiao Niang.
After the mooncakes were wrapped, Tian An started to preheat the oven and then bake the mooncakes.
It was the first time that Tian An used his homemade earthen oven. He was not able to control the temperature properly and was afraid of ruining and wasting the food, so he only dared to bake a few at a time.
Fortunately, she had foresight. Sure enough, she failed the first time and it was all burnt.
After adjusting the time for the second time, Tian An asked Deng Xue to remember the time and remind her immediately when it was time. Unfortunately, it still ended in failure and was not cooked.
The third time, one side was burnt and the other side was not cooked.
Then the fourth time, the fifth time...
Tian An felt that this was the most challenging time she had ever experienced in making something. It seemed as if the oven was against her.
She really didn't believe it. Tian An, who was covered in dust, adjusted the time and heat again, put the mooncakes in, and then stared at the oven without blinking.
He kept repeating like a mantra: "Success, success..."
This made Xiao Gou Dan, who was standing next to him, also start to recite it, and then Deng Xue.
The three of them squatted in front of the oven door like guard dogs, chanting spells. This was the scene Zhao Yiming saw when he walked out after finishing his studies.
"What are you girls doing?"
Chunxi replied: "The girl is baking mooncakes!"
"Do I need to chant any spells when baking mooncakes?" Zhao Yiming wondered.
Chunxi didn't know how to respond to this and was in a dilemma.
Deng Xue stood up suddenly: "Hurry, girl, it's time."
Tian An quickly opened the oven door with a thick handkerchief wrapped around his hands, then took the hook and pulled out the baking tray. After letting it cool slightly, he picked up a mooncake, broke it in half, and took another small bite.
Mmm! The crust was golden and crispy, the filling sweet and not greasy. It was cooked through on the inside, and not burnt on the outside. She had succeeded.
"Xiao Xuexue, did you write it down?" Tian An said excitedly.
"Don't worry, girl, I've remembered everything!" Deng Xue was happy that she had succeeded.
"Chanting spells really works. I'm going to help Sister An An chant spells all the time." Xiao Gou Dan said while clapping his hands and jumping.
Tian An was stunned: "Spell?"
Xiao Gou Dan rubbed in front of Tian An and said: "That's the spell we just chanted!"
Tian An was embarrassed. Didn’t she sound like she was chanting a spell just now?
"Okay, let's start baking the mooncakes according to the time and temperature just now."
Everyone started to get busy. Chun Xi walked up to Tian An and said, "Miss, leave this to us! I've prepared hot water for you in the room. Go back and wash up!"
After Chunxi said that, Tian An also felt sticky and uncomfortable. He had just been baking mooncakes in the oven and was sweating all over. It was time to take a shower.
Tian An quickly washed up and was about to go out when Zhao Yiming arrived.
"Come into the house, I'll help you dry your hair. The temperature difference between day and night is big during this period. It would be bad if you accidentally catch a cold." After saying that, he pulled Tian An into the house without saying anything.
After pushing Tian An to sit on the chair, Zhao Yiming took the dry towel he brought and began to wipe her hair.
"Brother Yiming, just wipe it half dry. I feel uneasy if you don't watch over it." Tian An wanted to check on her mooncakes at this moment.
Zhao Yiming wiped his hair and said, "Don't worry! I checked it for you when I came here. It was very successful."
…
Tian An waited until her hair was dry before Zhao Yiming let her go.
She took the comb, tied her hair into a bun and ran to the kitchen.
The kitchen was bustling with activity, and several trays of mooncakes had already been baked. The golden mooncakes were spread out in the large winnowing basket, looking very pleasing to the eye.
Cantonese mooncakes need to be fried for one to two days to soften. They can only be sold on the day after tomorrow, which is the tenth day of the lunar month.
The county society will have a three-day holiday starting from the 14th, so they can only sell until the 13th at most.
Tian An plans to bake Cantonese-style mooncakes for at most one morning tomorrow, and then make snow skin mooncakes according to demand. This does not require re-oiling and can be sold as soon as it is made.
Deng Xue was asked to go to the homestead to get the prepared gift boxes, and then the two began to pack the mooncakes.
First, lay out the red silk and put one snow skin mooncake of each flavor on it, and then put a big one in the middle.
The big one in the middle is actually made up of four small ones. In other words, there are eight mooncakes in one gift box.
By the time the Cantonese mooncakes were baked, the two of them had packed fifty boxes.
The others helped Deng Xue continue packing the boxes. Tian An called Chen Qiang and instructed him:
Send a box each to the Peng family, the Qin family, the Gu family, and Mr. Yu, the boss of the money house, and ask them if they want to order gift boxes.
The rest will be sold at the store entrance, priced at 86 wen a box! You can also bring some loose ones and cut them up for customers to taste.
As for the fifty pots of chrysanthemums that have been repotted, take twenty of them over for a trial run. Come back tomorrow and let me know how it goes.
Chen Qiang remembered it clearly before answering: "Okay, girl, I remember it clearly."
The next day, Chen Qiang took away eighty boxes of mooncakes and twenty pots of chrysanthemums, as well as some loose snow skin mooncakes and a few Cantonese-style ones.
After Chen Qiang left, Tian An led everyone to continue baking Cantonese-style mooncakes.
I originally thought that Chen Qiang would not come back until the evening, but I didn't expect him to come back in the hot afternoon.
Outside the kitchen, he asked his wife Qingmei to pour him a bowl of cold water. After taking a breath, he went in to find Tian An and replied:
"Miss, our mooncake gift boxes have been well received by everyone. The county magistrate has already sent someone to order thirty boxes of mooncakes, requiring that each box contain both snowy and Cantonese mooncakes. The money has already been paid.
The Qin family also sent someone to order twenty boxes, ten boxes of ice skin and ten boxes of the two-mixed ones.
Boss Yu wants one hundred boxes, but I'm afraid I can't make them, so I can only promise him fifty boxes.
Master Peng also wanted 100 boxes, but he only agreed to 50. Then Master Peng took away 30 boxes that I had brought today."
Tian An nodded: "That's Peng Zhang's style."
This alone made it impossible for Boss Yu to compete with Peng Zhang. The rest of the Peng family didn't know, but Peng Zhang was truly shameless. So, if you want to make money, forget about shame.
"Where is Chrysanthemum?" Tian An asked again.
"The twenty pots of chrysanthemums we brought were sold out during the afternoon class. Two students almost got into a fight over a pot of flowers." Chen Qiang replied.
Tian An was surprised: "So popular?"
Chen Qiang explained: "At first, no one was interested in chrysanthemums, and one student even said that the porcelain pots we used to store chrysanthemums looked weird.
Then I thought of your argument. You say that square porcelain basins are everywhere on the street, but ours are unique, each one is different. Just like a scholar's writing, each person's insights and knowledge vary.
Then they thought it made sense and started fighting over it.”
Tian An gave him a big thumbs up: "Well done!"
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