She took the first bite.
First, the glutinous rice cake with the fragrance of persimmon is bitten open, and then the persimmon pulp turns into liquid and flows out from the gap. With a gentle suck, it goes straight into the mouth.
Yan Xia simply stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.
"Wow, this taste is amazing! It's sweet but not cloying, soft and fragrant. I'm such a genius cook!"
Yan Xia boasted.
"It really tastes good. Mom, is this a persimmon? How did you make it? It looks so good. If you took the stem off the persimmon and put it on, it would be indistinguishable from the real thing."
Guihua's words instantly enlightened Yan Xia.
There is indeed a modern dessert recipe that works like this.
It's called Persimmon Snow Skin Mooncake, but it's filled with cream. The outer skin is exactly the same color as a persimmon, and the cream is mixed with persimmon pulp, which is also very delicious. Then, the stem of the persimmon is removed and placed on the snow skin mooncake. One can sell for twenty or thirty yuan.
It's ridiculously expensive.
I estimate that the persimmons will be fully ripe in about 10 days. I'll keep a small portion to dry into dried persimmons, and sell the rest.
Persimmons can be stored. Once ripe, they can be picked and eaten within seven days in a cool, shady place without any problems.
If it's still hard, then it can last at least half a month or even a month.
My worries have been resolved.
I ate some more desserts that made me happy.
Yan Xia slept incredibly soundly tonight.
However, at this time, Cui Siniu's family...
I didn't sleep all night.
Because all the roses in her backyard were in full bloom during the day.
The whole family was incredibly excited.
As soon as it was light, Cui Si Niu quickly took the last of her family's money and went to town to buy flour, sugar, and lard.
Although I don't know the secret recipe for flower cakes, and I've never eaten them.
But Cui Si Niu felt that the methods for making pastries were all pretty much the same.
After returning home, she rendered the pork fat and let it cool before kneading it into flour to form a dough. She then asked her three sons to pick rose petals to use immediately, since she didn't know how to make rose jam.
Wash and dry the rose petals, then pound them into a paste. Add a large bowl of sugar to a pot of fresh flower paste.
When she released it, Cui Si Niu's heart was bleeding.
This is the last bit of money our family has to save.
"Honey, is the fire pit finished? The flower cakes will be ready soon."
"Hurry up, hurry up, you're driving me crazy! Damn it, I've been urged three or four times already to do this job. If you're so capable, do it yourself!"
Luo Jingui wasn't very good at building things, and if he wasn't worried that the villagers would find out they were making flower cakes, he would definitely have to hire someone to do it.
"Wan'er, go help your father. Let your brothers chop the firewood."
"Yes, Mother."
Cui Siniu was already used to his tone of voice and didn't take it to heart at all. She quickly asked her eldest son, Luo Wan, to help his father. Luo Wan had done odd jobs and knew a little about it.
Thanks to his help, the Luo family's fire pit was finally completed.
It's called a fire pit, but it has absolutely nothing to do with an oven.
It's like digging a shallow hole in the ground and then building a small square box out of bricks and putting it in the hole.
Before using it, stuff it with firewood and burn it for half an hour until the temperature reaches its maximum, then put the things that need to be baked inside.
The residual heat of the fire pit will bake the food placed inside.
This is how it's made using traditional farming methods.
An hour later, all three plates of fresh flower cakes were ready.
There are 35 pieces in one plate.
The three plates cost 105 yuan.
The Luo family has five members, and the extra five flower cakes were just enough for each person to try one.
But Cui Si Niu was so stingy; she only took one flower cake and cut it into five pieces.
Each person was given a small piece.
"The flower cakes are made with good lard, flour, and sugar—all precious ingredients. Let's eat less of them and sell the rest to try and find wives for you three brothers as soon as possible."
Now that things have come to this point...
The three sons didn't know what to say.
They stuffed the finger-sized flower cakes into their mouths.
However, the next second, they all vomited.
"Ptooey, what a weird taste."
The three of them scrunched up in a frown.
Immediately afterwards, Luo Jingui also vomited.
"What the hell did you make? It's disgusting. Even pig swill tastes better than this. How can this sell? I think you're just wasting money. You son of a bitch, try this crap yourself."
Cui Siniu's heart skipped a beat.
She quickly put the flower cake in her mouth and chewed it.
The crust wasn't crispy or soft; it was baked a bit too hard. Because no sugar or salt was added, it had no flavor at all. Apart from the aroma of flour and lard, it wasn't even as good as steamed buns.
And the filling inside.
It's both sweet and astringent.
It's like taking a bite out of an unripe persimmon, with your mouth filled with the pungent taste of rotten flower petals.
It tastes terrible.
It's such a waste of lard, flour, and sugar.
But how could she bear to spit out something so good? She forced it down.
"Honey, what are we going to do? This tastes terrible and we can't sell it at all. We've already used up all our last bit of money to buy flour, lard, and sugar. If we don't earn money soon, winter will come and we'll be starving. After paying taxes and debts, the harvest we just had is only enough for our family of five to eat for half a year."
Luo Jingui was also very annoyed. How could Yan Xia make such delicious flower cakes, have the ability to open a shop, and be so good-looking?
His wife was utterly useless, and looked like she'd been licked by a grizzly bear.
It's a long story.
I don't expect her to make flower cakes exactly the same, but at least they're edible.
At least by using the name of Yan's Shop, they could sell their own cakes even if they were cheaper.
But this is just too awful to eat.
To be honest, he wouldn't eat it even if it were given to him for free.
"Mother, how about this? Let's make all the flower cakes in the backyard, and then the five of us will take them to sell in batches. We'll go to the town, the next county, or a more prosperous village. We'll wrap the flower cakes up tightly so they can't taste them. Once we've sold them all, we'll run away. They won't be able to find us then."
Luo Bai, the third son of Cui Siniu, had a sudden inspiration.
His proposed method was unanimously agreed upon by the Luo family.
So, after a busy day, the Luo family, all five of them, left the village before dawn the next day, each carrying large and small bags.
Because they had no money, they didn't even rent an oxcart and had to walk the whole way.
Cui Siniu carried a bamboo basket on her back, while Luo Jingui carried a sack.
The three brothers, Luo Wan, Luo Qian, and Luo Bai, each carried a large bamboo basket, which was filled to the brim, but was covered by a tattered rag, making it impossible to see what was inside.
"Alright, we've reached the fork in the road. Your mother and I will go to the next county. You three brothers, two of you go to the town, and one of you go to the village on the outskirts of town to sell. Don't go near Yan Xia's shop. Sell a bag for 50 coins, understand? Once you've sold them all, go home. Don't get caught. You have to run fast and don't let them taste them. It's best to sell in one place and then move to another place after a while. That way, even if they taste something and think it's not right, they won't be able to find you."
Luo Jingui gave the instructions in a low voice.
While speaking, he kept looking around, his lewd eyes like those of a thief, as if afraid others would know what he was up to.
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