Chen An felt hungry just from the smell. As soon as the Zhang brothers left, he stared longingly at Cheng Yue.
I want to eat it! But my hands are covered in mud, so I can't hold it...
Cheng Yue instantly understood and helplessly picked up a bite-sized pastry and stuffed it into his mouth.
Chen An's eyes lit up, and he said indistinctly while chewing, "Ah Yue, how did you make this? It's so crispy and crunchy, better than any pastry shop's!"
They went to a pastry shop and saw that they also sold shortbread, but none of them were as crispy as Ah Yue's. They felt very light in their mouths, and it melted in their mouths.
The filling is also very fragrant, and the taste is not too sweet, just the right amount.
Cheng Yue smiled but remained silent; naturally, it was something she had practiced.
In her past life, her favorite thing was all kinds of cakes. Later, she returned to her village and couldn't buy them, so she had to practice making them herself every day.
To be honest, she practically smoked the oven from all that use.
Cakes are her specialty dessert!
The old men and women in the village used to praise her cooking skills a lot.
Cheng Yue broke off another piece of pork floss cake and fed it to Chen An, then handed the rest to Chen Tong and Chen Ning, saying, "Try this pork floss cake roll too."
With her big head for meat floss, she definitely can't resist this flavor.
"Delicious! It's soft and fluffy, with a slightly salty taste, but it doesn't taste strange at all; in fact, it tastes even better!"
"Mmm-hmm! I think so too."
After finishing her meal, Chen Ning exclaimed incredulously, "I never knew pork could taste like this! It's amazing!"
If she hadn't been involved in the whole process, she really wouldn't have imagined that it was made with pork.
Sure enough, after Chen Ning finished speaking, Chen An was also stunned, "This is pork?"
Cheng Yue laughed and said, "Yes, it's made of pork. Most of the pork floss was made by Xiao Ning. It's pretty good, isn't it?"
The tone of her voice carried a hint of a proud mother.
"Xiao Ning is really amazing!" Chen An praised sincerely.
Cheng Yue chimed in, "Xiao Tong is great too; the red bean paste and lotus seeds she cooked were cooked to perfection."
Although Chen Tong knew that her mother was praising her to prevent her from overthinking, she was still very happy.
The family chatted happily for a few more minutes. Zhao Xiangxiu and Cuicui were about to go home, so Cheng Yue quickly picked up a few pieces for them to take home and try.
After lunch, Chen An and Zhang Dashan continued working on the oven, while Cheng Yue was also busy, as she hadn't wrapped the zongzi yet.
The glutinous rice was soaked in the morning, so the filling can be used interchangeably. Just marinate some pork belly to make a savory meat dumpling.
At this moment, Cheng Yue began to miss salted egg yolks again, hoping that her chickens and ducks would grow up quickly and lay eggs for her!
Despite my thoughts, all I can do right now is resign myself to making zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).
Divide the glutinous rice into two portions. Put soy sauce strips in one portion to season the bottom of the rice dumpling, and use it to make meat dumplings.
Reed leaves are narrow and small, so several need to be overlapped together to prevent rice from leaking out when wrapping zongzi (sticky rice dumplings).
After Cheng Yue demonstrated it once, Chen Tong and Chen Ning both got the hang of it.
Chen Tong is indeed not as skillful as Chen Ning. You can't tell when she's doing rough work, but it becomes apparent when she does delicate work like this.
Chen Tong tried to wrap it several times, but it either came apart or couldn't be wrapped at all, so she simply gave up and stopped forcing herself.
My mother always said that every inch has its advantages and every foot its disadvantages.
Anyway, everyone is different. She's just a little clumsy, but that's not a flaw.
Seeing that Chen Tong still acted as carefree as ever, Cheng Yue felt relieved.
The child was indeed very sensitive at first, but after spending time together, he became much more confident and showed his true personality. It was all worth the effort of giving him motivational advice.
We didn't prepare much glutinous rice, so we finished wrapping it quickly, but it took another afternoon to cook the rice dumplings.
When Zhang Dashan, Zhang Dajiang, and Zhao Xiangxiu left, they returned laden with spoils once again.
Since there were zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) to eat that evening, Cheng Yue was too lazy to cook. She simply boiled a pot of soup and ate it with the zongzi.
To her surprise, the savory meat rice dumplings received unanimous praise from the whole family.
Cheng Yue couldn't help but sigh, "Birds of a feather flock together; their tastes are remarkably similar!"
The next day, Cheng Yue went out with Chen An. First, they went to the carpenter's shop to get a gift box, packed the pastries and zongzi, and then went to the dock to find Master Chen.
Actually, the location of the Chen residence was easy to find out, but she had read in novels that wealthy families always sent invitations, so she didn't want to go there rashly.
Besides, Madam Chen is still recuperating, and it would definitely take a lot of effort for her to go, which would be a real inconvenience.
If people could go out, they would probably have already come to the shop for a stroll.
Construction has already started at the dock, and Master Chen is definitely overseeing it there; he won't have made a wasted trip.
The two arrived at the dock early, so they first greeted Cheng Yang and the others, and left them some pastries and zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) before going to find Master Chen.
"Third Master Chen, this gift is a small token of our gratitude from my brother and sister-in-law. We thank you for the information, and we hope you will accept it."
Looking at the two wooden boxes in front of him, as if it were expected, Master Chen reached out and took them, laughing, "Food?"
"Yes, it's some pastries and zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)," Cheng Yue replied truthfully.
Master Chen exclaimed in surprise, "Madam Cheng can even wrap zongzi?"
As far as he knew, zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) were not something ordinary people could afford. He never expected that Cheng Yue would know how to make zongzi.
Cheng Yue made up a reason and continued frankly, "Third Master Chen, the main reason we came here this time is to discuss the profit sharing of the pastries."
As you know, I wanted to sell pastries in the shop, but my wife previously said not to split the profits, which is definitely not appropriate.
Besides, you've already given me the news about buying the shop, so this little bit of food definitely won't be enough to pay it back. You absolutely must accept a share of the profits from the pastries. What percentage do you think would be appropriate?
The pastry shop deal is already on the agenda, and the division of the business needs to be clarified in advance.
She felt it was inappropriate when Mrs. Chen said she didn't want a share of the profits. Now that she owes such a big favor, how can she not repay it?
She didn't want to owe too many favors; she would repay them with money if possible.
So a couple of days ago she discussed it with Chen An and they agreed that she had to give him a share of the profits. If she didn't give him any profit, she would be cutting off her own future.
Upon hearing this, Master Chen smiled faintly. It seemed that his wife was right; Cheng Yue would not take advantage of him for nothing.
"Then let's do the same as with braised dishes, give us 20%."
He wouldn't accept any more, since his wife had already spoken, and he would only listen to her in business matters.
Cheng Yue and Chen An exchanged a glance. Twenty percent wasn't much. "Third Master Chen, this..."
"Twenty percent it is." Master Chen raised his hand to indicate, and Cheng Yue had no choice but to nod in agreement.
That tone left no room for refusal—well, she's not at a disadvantage anyway!
They then signed the contract, and said that the profit sharing of the braised food shop would be determined in the next two days and delivered to the Chen residence.
Finally, Cheng Yue inquired about women who knew martial arts. Although Master Chen was surprised, he still said he would go back and ask his wife.
Just as the lady said, Cheng Yue should not be regarded as an ordinary peasant woman.
After all, what peasant woman would support her daughter learning martial arts? And would she really say that learning any skill is not a matter of gender?
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