Chapter 252 Mooncakes
When Liu Yue'e returned home that night, she was shocked to learn from Yaozu that her son had pushed down the son of the county magistrate.
Who is the county magistrate's son?
The little bully and chief prince of Pingchuan County.
Even if he called his mother-in-law "grandma", there was still a gap between his son, a farmer's son, and the county magistrate's son. Yaozu did not try to coax the county magistrate's son, but instead pushed him.
If they were to anger him or if County Magistrate Liu found out, wouldn’t their second branch be in trouble?
If I lose the favor of my mother-in-law, will I still be able to live a good life?
Thinking of this, Liu Yue'e twisted Gu Yaozu's ear and said, "What did I tell you? What kind of person is Young Master Liu? How could you afford to offend him? I told you to treat Young Master Liu well. He hit you and you didn't fight back. He scolded you and you didn't say anything back. But you pushed him. You little bastard, I'll beat you to death."
Gu Yaozu was twisted so hard that he kept crying and said aggrievedly, "Mom, grandma didn't blame me. Grandma is on my side."
Liu Yue'e said, "Your grandmother is on your side, so you can't be rude to Young Master Liu."
Liu Yanhong and Maner were at the door of the second room when they saw Gu Yaozu having his ears twisted, so they went to Tong Huaqiong to ask for help.
Tong Huaqiong had already heard Liu Yue'e's scolding.
With her voice, it was impossible for Tong Huaqiong to pretend not to hear.
"Is there anyone who disciplines a child like you? You just twist his hand without asking any questions."
Tong Huaqiong scolded Liu Yue'e.
"What's wrong? Is it that our Yaozu is not as noble as the son of the county magistrate? Liu Yanhong's father is the county magistrate, so he is right to fight with Yaozu, right?"
"Don't be such a mean person. Yaozu did nothing wrong today, so you can't hit him."
Normally, Tong Huaqiong does not interfere with the second wife's education of her children.
But today was different. The reason why Liu Yue'e beat Yaozu today was obviously to please the son of the county magistrate.
This is not to say that we don't respect the powerful in this era, but Tong Huaqiong does not agree with admitting mistakes when there is no fault.
For her, it was not allowed for Yaozu to be servile to Liu Yanhong.
Liu Yue'e said simply, "Mom, I understand. I won't be so mean anymore."
Tong Huaqiong: “…”
Liu Yue'e was scolded by Tong Huaqiong, but she was not angry. Instead, she was happy.
The current mother-in-law obviously favors Man'er. Liu Yue'e is quite dissatisfied, but due to Tong Huaqiong's "tyrannical power", she dares not show it.
She thought Yaozu had already lost his mother-in-law's favor, and that no matter what Yaozu did, his mother-in-law no longer cared about him.
To her surprise, her mother-in-law was so protective of Yaozu.
Today, she beat and scolded Yaozu, which at least confirmed that Yaozu still had a place in his mother-in-law's heart.
My mother-in-law still treats Yaozu as her own grandson.
For the sake of his grandson, he was not afraid of offending even the son of the county magistrate.
Facing Liu Yue'e's flattering eyes, Tong Huaqiong felt that Liu Yue'e was out of her mind.
The more you scold her, the happier she becomes.
......
As the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, Tong Huaqiong has come up with several mooncake recipes.
The mooncakes of this era were relatively simple, mainly made with five kinds of nuts, but there were also those with other fillings such as red bean paste and jujube paste.
Tong Huaqiong lived in an era when there were many varieties of mooncakes, but she actually liked eating these simple old-fashioned mooncakes.
Especially the five-nut mooncakes without green and red silk, as long as the fillings are sufficient, she thinks they are better than any other mooncakes.
However, from a businessman's perspective, she believes that innovative mooncakes are more needed in this era.
Like in the past, the mooncakes from a certain port were bold in innovation and pioneered the lava mooncake, thus establishing their position as the number one mooncake brand.
Now Taohua Dessert not only has two shops in Yanguan Town, but shops in Pingchuan County and Fucheng will also open before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Pingchuan County and Fucheng are different from Yanguan Town. The competition is fierce and each pastry shop has its own signature product. If Taohua Dessert wants to establish its brand and gain a foothold, it must launch its own specialty pastries.
Pastries are not meals, nor are they necessities. They are the icing on the cake of daily life.
The only thing that attracts people to pastry shops is festivals, especially festivals like Mid-Autumn Festival that are closely related to pastries.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, every household will visit relatives and friends, and when visiting relatives and friends, they will have to bring mooncakes and pastries.
We can take advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake season, use innovation to subvert tradition and carry out a major mooncake reform to attract everyone's attention.
For Tong Huaqiong, who has a modern soul, it is not difficult at all to come up with a mooncake recipe that is refreshing for this era.
Egg yolk mooncakes, lava mooncakes, snow skin mooncakes, lotus seed paste mooncakes, ham mooncakes, and of course the traditional red mooncakes, five-nut mooncakes, and red bean paste mooncakes.
Tong Huaqiong was well aware that material things were relatively scarce in that era, and nuts such as melon seeds and peanuts were relatively precious. There were rarely enough nuts in five-nut mooncakes, and cheap winter melon puree and green and red shredded vegetables were usually used to make up the number. This was why she and many of her peers hated eating five-nut mooncakes as a child.
When I grew up, I baked five-nut mooncakes myself and found that they were so delicious that I surpassed my imagination.
Tong Huaqiong also does not cut corners when making Taohua Dessert’s five-nut mooncakes. She makes the recipe according to her own taste and fills the mooncakes with melon seeds, peanuts, walnut kernels and sesame seeds.
The oven in the yard was lit, and Tong Huaqiong kept grilling from morning to night.
Chen Sufen was kept at home by Tong Huaqiong to help out.
In addition to Chen Sufen, Liu Yue'e's niece Liu Xiuxiu also helped.
Tong Huaqiong discovered Liu Xiuxiu's talent for baking and intended to train her.
"Grandma Tong has so many ideas. People in our Yanguan Town have never seen these mooncake recipes, let alone eaten them." Liu Xiuxiu said as she used a mooncake mold to press the mooncakes, "This mold is also beautiful."
The mooncake molds are also beautiful, with pictures of Chang'e flying to the moon, Wu Gang chopping down trees, and the word "reunion"... These molds were custom-made by Tong Huaqiong in the Lu family's shop.
Beautiful molds can enhance the texture of mooncakes, especially when given as gifts.
Chen Sufen smiled but said nothing.
Her mother-in-law has a golden finger, but even so, it is inseparable from her mother-in-law's ingenuity.
For someone like her, even if a pile of raw materials were placed in front of her, she couldn't match the recipe that her mother-in-law came up with.
"The reason why I can come up with ideas is that I dare to try boldly," said Tong Huaqiong.
She discovered that both Chen Sufen and Liu Xiuxiu had talent in baking, but the difference was that they were both constrained by the mindset that "failure would mean a waste of ingredients", so they did not dare to make bold recipes or bake boldly.
They could use her prescription after listening to it once, but if they came up with the prescription themselves, they would hesitate to start.
This cannot continue.
Tong Huaqiong took the opportunity to say to Liu Xiuxiu, "Since I let you take charge of the bakery, I am not afraid that you will waste materials. Just like when I was thinking about the mooncake recipe, it was not successful in one go. I had to try the recipe over and over again to find the best taste. A qualified baker should be able to adjust the recipe and create a recipe. If you can create a recipe, I can afford to waste materials."
At this point, Tong Huaqiong thought that he couldn't just give instructions, but had to set up some rules in the future.
Every chef in a baking room has to come up with a recipe every month.
If the recipe is well received by customers once it is launched, an additional bonus will be given.
Only in this way can we encourage everyone to dare to innovate.