The lunch was very sumptuous, including not only the roast duck cooked by Mrs. Hua herself, but also braised shark's fin, braised bird's nest, braised sea cucumber with green onions, Luohan prawns, etc., all of which are famous signature dishes in the capital.
Zeng Fang was like a sponge absorbing water, eating to her heart's content. Even Mrs. Shao was infected by Zeng Fang's good appetite and unknowingly used half a bowl of rice more.
After dinner, Shao Mo, Zeng Fang, Ling Chuan and Mrs. Hua started preparing baked mooncakes.
Shao Mo mixes the stuffing, Lingchuan mixes the noodles, Zeng Fang is responsible for helping, and Hua Sao and her servants are responsible for preparing the oven and charcoal fire for baking moon cakes.
Mrs. Shao sat under the eaves and watched a group of people working with a satisfied and gratified smile on her face.
Shao Mo originally prepared four filling materials: bean paste, lotus paste, ham, and Liuxin, but Zhong Xiaochen likes to eat five-nuts, so she temporarily added a five-nut filling.
Fortunately, the Shao family was having a family dinner tonight, and the materials were very complete. Shao Mo got what he needed to prepare the five-nut filling without any effort.
After the fillings were mixed and the dough on the Lingchuan side was ready, everyone started making mooncakes.
Sister-in-law Hua has a steady hand and is responsible for kneading the filling balls, because each filling ball must be of the same weight and size, which is a test of technique.
Lingchuan is responsible for rolling out the pie crust. Each piece of pie crust must be rolled out thinly and evenly so that the baked mooncakes will be crispy.
Shao Mo is responsible for making moon cakes, putting the kneaded fillings on the cake skin, wrapping it up, and then using molds to press out various shapes.
The horizontal tools were specially made by Shao Mo in advance. They were round, square, or flower-shaped.
Zeng Fang is responsible for placing the prepared mooncakes one by one on the baking tray and brushing them with a thin layer of peanut oil.
In this way, I made mooncakes and baked them at the same time. I worked hard all afternoon and baked a total of 300 mooncakes.
Except for keeping it for your own consumption, the others were packed into exquisite cake boxes by servants. Two cakes of each flavor were placed in a box of ten cakes. Then, along with other Mid-Autumn Festival gifts, they were sent to the East and West Houses and the Guanxi Palace respectively.
Go to the houses of relatives and friends you have made friends with.
At the end of the distribution, there were eight boxes left. Mrs. Shao took three boxes herself, planning to eat them at the family dinner in the evening, and let Shao Mo handle the rest by herself.
Shao Mo kept three boxes for himself and gave the remaining two boxes to Zeng Fang.
"Fangfang, take these two boxes home and give them to Aunt Yao and Uncle Zeng to eat."
"Oh, okay."
There was a family dinner in the evening. Shao Mo originally wanted to keep Zeng Fang for dinner before leaving, but Zeng Fang refused to say anything, so she had to ask the driver to take Zeng Fang back to the courtyard first.
On the way back, she happened to pass by Shen Zhen's apartment. It was still early, and thinking that one more day walking with the dog would reduce one day's debt, Zeng Fang asked Tian Yuan to pull over and stop the car.
"Uncle Tian, I have a friend here. I'm going to go and play with him for a while. I'll call Momo when I get home in the evening."
"Okay, Miss Zeng, please be careful."
"Well, thank you, Uncle Tian. Goodbye."
It was a holiday today and she was not sure whether Shen Zhen was in the apartment at the moment. Zeng Fang knocked on the door first and waited for a while before hearing any sound before taking out her key and opening the door.
As expected, Shen Zhen was not there, and Fake stood in the living room, grinning and wagging his tail at her.
"Fake, happy Mid-Autumn Festival!"
Zeng Fang placed the two boxes of mooncakes on the coffee table, bent down and touched the golden retriever's head, then put down her backpack, put a dog leash on Fake, and then took the key and led him out.
Not long after Zeng Fang went out, Shen Zhen came back.
Normally, the nanny would put some drinking water and dog food for Fake after finishing cleaning, but today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the nanny went back to her hometown, so he came back specially to feed Fake.
When I walked in, I found that Fake was not at home. There was a familiar backpack on the sofa and two boxes of mooncakes on the coffee table.
Tsk.
Shen Zhen walked to the coffee table with the key in hand, picked up a box of mooncakes and opened it.
The unique sweet aroma of mooncakes hit your face, and the cake box was still a little warm. It was obvious that the mooncakes had just been baked not long ago.
The little fat girl has some conscience and actually knows how to bring him mooncakes.
The surface of each mooncake was embossed with patterns and words using a mold. Shen Zhen didn't like sweets very much, so he picked one with five kernels and bit into it.
The mooncakes were not big, so Shen Zhen finished one in three mouthfuls, then picked up another tasty one and ate it.
After finishing the three-month cake in one go, Shen Zhen took the rest to the kitchen cabinet and stored it to prevent it from being eaten by the golden retriever in the living room.
After putting away the mooncakes, Shen Zhen went to the bathroom to take a shower, preparing to go back to Shen's house to have dinner with the old man later.
Zeng Fang led the golden retriever back to the apartment. As soon as she entered the door, she heard the sound of running water in the bathroom. She was stunned for a moment. Only when she saw the shoes in the entrance did she realize that Shen Zhen was back.
I don't know if it was intentional or a coincidence, but this was the first time she came to see Shen Zhen at home.
Zeng Fang felt flustered inexplicably when she thought of a man and a woman living alone in the same room.
She closed the door softly, knelt down and untied the golden retriever's dog leash, and said in a suppressed voice: "Fake, your brother is back. You can ask him for food and drink later. I'm leaving first, a See you next week, bye."
"Woof woof!"
As if he understood what she said, Golden Retriever opened his mouth and barked twice.
Zeng Fang quickly pinched the golden retriever's mouth and said, "Shh! Don't bark."
"嘤嘤~"
The golden retriever purred in his throat and wagged his tail happily.
Zeng Fang carefully let go of her hand, and after making sure that the golden retriever wouldn't bark, she got up and went to the sofa to get her backpack.
After picking up her backpack, Zeng Fang didn't forget to pick up her own mooncakes, but when she turned around, she saw that the coffee table was empty, with no sign of mooncakes anywhere.
Where are the mooncakes? She clearly remembered putting them on the coffee table.
She searched around the living room but couldn't find it. Zeng Fang suspected that Shen Zhen might have put it away. Because the Golden Retriever had to control his diet, he usually didn't even put fruits in the living room.
She was just about to go to the kitchen to look around, when the bathroom door behind her opened with a click.
Shen Zhen was wearing a nightgown and walked out of it all wet.
Shen Zhen himself is white, and his skin color becomes even whiter after taking a shower. The water on his body and head was not wiped off, and it just flowed down the neckline of his nightgown, showing the wildness and lust of men. Incisively and vividly.
Zeng Fang blushed and turned away, not daring to take a second look.
"You, me, um, did you put away my mooncakes?"
After hearing her words, Shen Zhen paused in tying his nightgown, and denied it the next second.
"What kind of moon cake, I didn't see it."
Zeng Fang was too anxious to be shy and turned her head to stare at him, "Don't you see the two big boxes of mooncakes I put on the coffee table?"
"I went to take a shower when I came back and didn't notice if there was anything on the coffee table."
As he spoke, Shen Zhen walked towards the bedroom.
Zeng Fang reluctantly grabbed his sleeve and said, "How could you not see these two boxes of mooncakes so big? You..."
The next words stopped abruptly.
Shen Zhen's nightgown was only casually tied with a slipknot around his waist. When Zeng Fang pulled it, the slipknot was loosened and the entire nightgown was open.
Zeng Fang withdrew her hand as if she was electrocuted and was speechless, "I, I didn't mean to do it!"