Chapter 97 - Mid

Children in ancient times were indeed precocious.

Xiaoguo asked Zhuang Zhuang about what he played when he was with Brother Xiaohu.

Zhuang Zhuang thought about it seriously and said, “Brother Xiaohu would bring me to the threshing ground to watch people fly kites.”

“Huh?”

Xiaoguo knew where it was. It turned out that people used to go there to thresh and dry their harvested crops. But later on, when many families ran out of food, the place was abandoned.

It was a wide and flat space, so some children in the village would go there to play. They would ride bamboo horses or knead mud. They would also fly kites.

Xiaoguo had passed by the place before and had seen mostly girls playing there. In fact, there were more little girls than little boys in the entire village.

Out of ten children, there were eight girls and two boys.

“Who was flying the kite? Was it a little boy or a little girl?”

Xiaoguo raised her eyebrows. Although it was a question, she knew in her heart that it was most likely a girl.

“A girl!”

“I knew it!” Xiaoguo looked as if she had expected this.

Zhuang Zhuang was young and ignorant. He followed Xiaohu around as it was fun. Basically, wherever Xiaohu brought him, he would follow.

Xiaoguo didn’t expect that at such a young age, Xiaohu would know how to sneak into a group of girls.

She lowered her head and looked at Zhuang Zhuang. Comparing the two boys, Zhuang Zhuang still seemed like a child.

Time passed quickly. The Mid-Autumn Festival was quickly approaching.

Xiaoguo had invited everyone from the Malatang Restaurant to her house for the holidays.

As the plan was for two days and one night, the guests will have to spend the night at her place.

Xiaoguo carefully counted the number of people. Including herself and Zhuang Zhuang, there were a total of eight people.

However, there were only two rooms in the house that could be slept in. She had to share a room with Ruyi, Ling Long, Fu’er and Xiao Cui.

Zhuang Zhuang, Qin Anming, and Uncle Xu would share a room.

Xiaoguo looked at the bed in her room. It was pretty big and could actually fit five people, but it could get a little cramped.

Xiaoguo laid on the bed herself and tried to imagine what it would be like with five people lying together. The rest of the girls were all petite, so the bed should fit all of them. It would feel a bit crowded, but it was warmer in a crowded bed.

There was no problem with the bed in Qin Anming’s room. Two adults with a child was a great arrangement.

Once the sleeping arrangement was solved, there wasn’t much to worry about.

“Mother, Mother, did you mention about making mooncakes today?”

Xiaoguo nodded. When she was chatting with Zhuang Zhuang last night, she had told him that she was going to make mooncakes today. She hadn’t even started doing anything yet, but Zhuang Zhuang was so excited that he couldn’t sleep well the entire night.

Zhuang Zhuang had never seen how mooncakes were made, so when he heard that Xiaoguo was going to make them, he was afraid that he would wake up late in the morning and miss out on seeing the entire process.

Xiaoguo came out and transferred the sausages into the kitchen. After air-drying them for more than ten days, the sausages were finally ready.

Xiaoguo hung the sausages on the kitchen wall. She was not afraid that they would spoil.

From the moment Xiaoguo took down the sausages, the two puppies started following her everywhere. When Xiaoguo entered the house, they followed behind. While Xiaoguo was hanging the sausages, they stood guard at the wall and barked loudly.

As the two puppies usually ate with Xiaoguo and the others, they dined on the same things that were served on the table. After such a long time, the two puppies had grown rapidly and were almost at their calves.

Xiaoguo looked at their height and deliberately hung the sausages higher to make sure they were out of reach. Then she left.

As there were more ingredients needed to make mooncakes, Xiaoguo specially took out some useful ingredients from the other space. She found a bag of bean paste in the fridge and brought it out to make the mooncakes.

Xiaoguo was going to make her own bean paste filling.

The cooking method was very simple. The red beans were first soaked in water and then cooked. After they were cooked, they would be scooped out and stir-fried with white sugar. After the water had evaporated, it was done.

At first, Xiaoguo found a bag of dried red beans in her space, but it was too late to soak the beans. Coincidentally, there was a bag of ready-made bean paste in the fridge. She could just use it.

She took it out and squeezed it into a bowl when Zhuang Zhuang wasn’t paying attention. Then, she threw the packaging below the stove so that it would be burnt when the fire was lit.

Xiaoguo had all the ingredients on the table. Apart from the bean paste, there’s a lemon. She will make the invert syrup later.

At this moment, Zhuang Zhuang had entered the house with a handful of firewood in his arms. Watching him light the fire, Xiaoguo prepared to start the first step, which is making the invert syrup.

“Mother, why are you cooking sugar?”

Zhuang Zhuang looked curiously at Xiaoguo, who was holding a jar of white sugar in her arms. He only knew that she was making invert syrup after asking her. But what was it for?

“Invert syrup is the most important ingredient in making mooncakes.”

As Xiaoguo explained, she added water to the pot and poured half a jar of white sugar into the pot.

After Zhuang Zhuang started the fire, the white sugar in the pot dissolved and became part of the water.

Xiaoguo took out a lemon and Zhuang Zhuang approached it curiously. What was this yellow ball?

“This is a lemon.”

Xiaoguo used the knife to cut it in half and walked over to the curious Zhuang Zhuang with half a lemon.

With a smirk on her face, she got Zhuang Zhuang to open his mouth. The boy did as he was told.

“Ah… ”

When Xiaoguo was cutting it, she could not help but feel her mouth salivating. Since Zhuang Zhuang was so curious, she decided to let him try it. However, she did not dare to squeeze too much.

Seeing Zhuang Zhuang open his mouth obediently, Xiaoguo squeezed the lemon and rubbed it against his tongue.

Zhuang Zhuang covered his mouth and cried out. Seeing him like this, Xiaoguo couldn’t help but start salivating.

Zhuang Zhuang smacked his lips curiously. This thing was so strange. It tasted so sour, but it also had the fragrance of fruits.

Seeing that Zhuang Zhuang was fine, Xiaoguo asked him if he wanted more. Zhuang Zhuang shook his head vigorously, indicating that he had enough.

Xiaoguo squeezed all the lemon juice into the sugar water.

2

The solution was boiled over strong heat. After it began to boil, the heat was turned down to a medium flame. Xiaoguo estimated that it had been about an hour and the color of the syrup had turned amber. This means that the invert syrup was ready.

She poured it into a jar and set it aside for later use.

Next, she had to prepare the alkaline water. She added baking soda to some water and mixed it to give alkaline water. She placed it aside again.

After the syrup had cooled completely, half of it was poured out and placed in a basin. The rest was covered and sealed. It could be blanched or be used for making cakes.

In the basin filled with syrup, Xiaoguo added alkali water and cooking oil, and mixed everything together.

After it was mixed well, she poured in the flour and kneaded the dough until it was smooth and fine. The dough was set aside to relax for an hour to increase its elasticity.

Next, she prepared the bean paste. She added a suitable amount of flour into a bowl of bean paste and kneaded it into a bean paste mixture that was not sticky to the hand. She then set it aside for later use.

The next step was to prepare the salted egg yolk.

Zhuang Zhuang volunteered to move the jars. Xiaoguo glanced at him. “He was still thinking about moving them?”

Zhuang Zhuang chuckled. He was reminded of the consequences when he tried to move the jar previously. He immediately changed his mind and brought Xiaoguo over to move it.

Xiaoguo told him that he was a smart boy and moved the jar to the table.

It had been twenty days. She wondered if the salted duck eggs were a success.

Zhuang Zhuang stepped on the stool and looked inside. He was also very curious about the salted egg yolk that his mother wanted to eat.

As soon as she opened the lid, the strong smell of alcohol filled the air. Xiaoguo scooped out all the duck eggs and boiled them in water.

In about ten minutes, the duck eggs were cooked and ready to be scooped out.

Xiaoguo placed them in cold water and then scooped one out. Under Zhuang Zhuang’s curious and excited gaze, she quickly peeled it open. With a twist of her hand, the egg yolk glistening with oil was revealed.