Su Xiaoqi asked deeply, clearly showing interest.
Zhao Dayou didn't hide anything, and poured out the story of Li Zhuang like beans from a bamboo tube.
In fact, his neighbor, Steward He, was well-off.
He owned three shops and three estates, with an annual income of around one thousand taels.
His life was neither the best nor the worst, considered comfortable.
But fate had been unkind, giving him a prodigal son.
This He Ziyang, only sixteen years old, was already a notorious figure in Mianzhou City.
Whore-mongering, drinking, gambling—he engaged in any improper activity.
Earlier, he gambled away the smallest of the family's estates.
Later, he was caught by officers directly in a gambling den.
He had been imprisoned since early June until now.
"Isn't gambling and getting caught something you can get out of with a fine?" Su Xiaoqi, who studied with Shen Yun daily, had some understanding of Great Liang's laws.
The Great Liang Code stipulated that those who gathered to gamble would be imprisoned and fined.
But the problem lay with the fine.
Normally, other gamblers would get out by paying thirty to fifty taels.
However, the authorities had investigated the gamblers beforehand.
They directly set the price based on their family background and wealth.
Someone like He Ziyang would have to pay ten thousand taels.
Steward He did not engage in any business, living off the income from his estates and rented shops year after year.
One thousand taels barely covered the expenses of his large family, sometimes not even that, forcing him to dip into his savings.
Previously, to settle his only son's gambling debts, he had spent all his available cash.
Now, where would he find ten thousand taels?
But he couldn't abandon his only son.
He had not yet married or had children to carry on the family line.
So, he had to sell estates and shops.
But Mianzhou City was only so large, and with him being desperate to sell, many people tried to pressure him on the price.
A perfectly good estate, which could have sold for sixteen hundred taels,
was now being pressured down to the estate's minimum starting price—eight hundred taels.
Steward He also had his pride. In a fit of anger, he decided not to sell for now.
He even declared that he wouldn't sell for a single tael less than sixteen hundred.
However, while he said this, he couldn't leave his son to fend for himself.
So, he abandoned the real estate agents and quietly sought out his neighbors and old acquaintances, asking them to help him find wealthy buyers.
"If your Ladyship is interested, you could go take a look at Li Zhuang.
If not, just consider it idle talk." Zhao Dayou didn't really hold out much hope for Su Xiaoqi.
He knew his Ladyship had just spent money to buy a shop.
Buying another estate right away might not be realistic.
He had just spoken out of the flow of conversation.
Of course, ultimately, he felt that Steward He was truly desperate.
Seeing a man in his forties forced to age by ten years, his temples were already streaked with white hair.
Su Xiaoqi weighed it in her mind. Sixteen hundred taels.
She didn't have enough ready cash on hand; she was still short by nearly a hundred taels.
Otherwise, she could afford to buy it.
And if she were truly set on buying, a hundred taels of silver wouldn't be difficult to gather; at most, she could borrow some from Chen Jinniang and the others.
Chen Jinji's business was booming right now.
The monthly profits were over a hundred strings of cash.
The three of them, after deducting costs, could each get thirty to forty strings of cash.
Su Xiaoqi didn't give Zhao Dayou an immediate answer, only saying she needed to go out for a bit.
She was going to Chen Jinji to discuss the money matters with Chen Jinniang.
As they spoke, the mule cart arrived. She bid farewell to Xiao Yi, telling Aunt Wen not to prepare her lunch.
She was going to Chen Jinji to freeload a meal.
Xiao Yi acknowledged her and hurried to the backyard to pass on the message.
Two quarters of an hour later, Su Xiaoqi arrived at Chen Jinji on the other side of Mianzhou City.
It was now nearing noon, and the crowd buying pastries had finally thinned.
There were no longer long queues outside the shop; only a few scattered customers inside were browsing.
"Xiaoqi, you're here." Chen Jinniang was delighted to see her and quickly put down the cash box she was holding and walked towards her.
Shen Xiaomei, who was serving a customer, also smiled and greeted Su Xiaoqi.
"Sister-in-law."
Su Xiaoqi returned her smile.
She asked Chen Jinniang what kind of mooncakes her pastry shop usually offered during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
"Mooncakes? What mooncakes?" Chen Jinniang was confused by the question.
Su Xiaoqi asked for details and found out.
In Mianzhou City, people didn't have a specific type of pastry they ate for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
So, there was no such thing as mooncakes.
However, during the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival, they would slaughter ducks, make rice cakes, and eat sesame cakes.
But these two types of cakes were eaten year-round and weren't particularly special.
Chen Jinniang tallied up the numbers.
Listening to her, Su Xiaoqi's eyes lit up, and she smilingly wrote down several modern mooncake recipes.
Beef mooncakes, lotus seed paste with salted egg yolk, snow skin mooncakes, red bean paste mooncakes, five-nut mooncakes...
She then explained the methods to them in detail.
Chen Jinniang was still worried she hadn't learned it thoroughly. She called for Xiao Xique and Xiao Liu to watch the shop,
then pulled Su Xiaoqi to the inner workshop, asking her to guide her and Shen Xiaomei through making them.
In her modern life, Su Xiaoqi loved tinkering with food, so it wasn't difficult for her now.
First, they kneaded the dough. This step was not difficult for Shen Xiaomei, who was used to making white flour pastries.
Under Su Xiaoqi's guidance, they used sesame oil to knead the dough into a flaky pastry.
Then, they added the carefully prepared fillings: pine nuts, walnuts, melon seeds, salted egg yolks, shredded pork, red bean paste, lotus seed paste, and so on...
Finally, using the molds they usually used for chestnut cakes, they imprinted patterns on them.
Mooncakes with lotus patterns appeared one after another under her hands.
Shen Xiaomei found it amusing and grabbed several other molds to make them herself.
Su Xiaoqi told them that since these were for the Mid-Autumn Festival, it would be best to find a craftsman to customize some patterns related to the moon.
She also suggested printing the flavors on them to avoid confusion with the many varieties in their pastry shop.
Chen Jinniang found her suggestion very reasonable and said she would go order them the next day.
The three of them worked diligently in the workshop for the entire afternoon.
During this time, they only came out for a quick lunch.
They continued until the mooncakes were baked and removed from the oven.
Su Xiaoqi eagerly leaned in to take a look.
The small mooncakes were baked to a golden-yellow color, with beautiful patterns and a pleasant aroma.
Su Xiaoqi's appetite was whetted.
Once they had cooled slightly, she picked up a lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk mooncake and took a bite.
"Mmm, delicious, delicious, such a familiar taste." She couldn't stop after the first bite, finishing it with one bite after another.
Seeing her unusually exaggerated reaction, Chen Jinniang and Shen Xiaomei, with a hesitant attitude, also took a bite.
Once they tasted them, they too couldn't stop.
"Delicious, sweet but not cloying, delicate and beautiful," Chen Jinniang commented while eating.
In short, the three of them had not labored in vain for half a day.
They successfully made ten varieties of mooncakes.
In their joy, the three of them called Xiao Xique and Xiao Liu to come and taste them as well.
The taste was, naturally, exquisite.
Later, Chen Jia'an returned from school and was also roped in to taste them.
He was not fond of sweet things, but after trying a beef-filled one, he was speechless. He ate one after another.
After patting his distended stomach, he finally remembered to ask who had taught them to make them.
Upon hearing that it was Su Xiaoqi's idea, Chen Jia'an looked at her with bright eyes and sincerely praised, "Mrs. Shen, you are truly amazing."
Su Xiaoqi smiled and was about to respond humbly when she heard a clear voice from behind her say:
"Thank you for praising my wife."
Su Xiaoqi's heart skipped a beat. She spun around abruptly. Shen Yun was standing at the doorway.
He was tall and imposing, dressed in a moon-white scholar's robe that accentuated his straight posture and handsome appearance.
Su Xiaoqi's eyes widened slightly in surprise. How had he found her?
Why did she feel like he could find her wherever she went in Mianzhou City?
"My wife is indeed capable." As Shen Yun spoke, he stepped forward and, in front of everyone, took Su Xiaoqi's hand. His expression was natural, his movements practiced, as if he had done it many times before.
Su Xiaoqi was still shy in front of outsiders and her cheeks immediately flushed. She gently tried to pull her hand away.
Shen Yun's grip was firm, and she couldn't break free.
To avoid an awkward scene, she had no choice but to let him hold her hand.
Shen Yun's thin lips curved slightly, his phoenix eyes flickered, and a smile bloomed.