Everyone was chatting and laughing, and the first pot of dough was ready. Zhong Xiang was responsible for filling the fillings, and Wang Mingde was responsible for the molding.
"It looks delicious." He Lianjing couldn't help drooling as he looked at the small and exquisite mooncakes.
If Yaoyao hadn't said that they had to be frozen before eating, he would have ignored them and made two first to eat.
Ye Jiayao inspects the finished products and picks out any unqualified ones.
However, Zhong Xiang's craftsmanship is excellent, and there are almost no failures.
"Plate and freeze."
The first batch of one hundred mooncakes was put into the ice cream.
"How long will it take to eat?" He Lianjing couldn't wait.
Ye Jiayao suppressed a smile and said: "Look at how greedy you are, it will take two-quarters of an hour at the earliest."
He Lianjing moved a chair and sat next to the ice mirror and stared.
Here we start frying the second pot of glutinous rice noodles.
As soon as two-quarters of an hour came, He Lianjing started to hurry. Cui Dongpeng went to open the ice mirror, looked inside, and shouted: "Brother Yao, come and take a look, something is wrong."
Everyone dropped what they were doing and got together.
Ye Jiayao picked up the mooncake and saw that the mooncake was not as round and translucent as the ones she had made before. Instead, it was dry and even cracked in some places. It broke open as soon as it was broken, unlike the previous Q bombs.
"Cracked? How could this happen?" Zhong Xiang exclaimed.
"Is the recipe wrong?" Wang Mingde said to himself.
"How is it possible? We have studied the formula several times and it has been successful every time." Deng Haichuan said.
Is there something wrong with the material
Ye Jiayao looked solemn and said in a deep voice: "Inspecting the materials, we must find out the cause of the problem."
He Lianjing picked one up and ate it: "I think it's quite delicious!"
"There's no difference at all." Ye Jiayao said sternly. She was counting on this batch of mooncakes to become famous, and she would never allow defective products.
Everyone looked for the reason separately, but they couldn't find it after a long time.
Everyone looked at Ye Jiayao, not knowing what to do.
Ye Jiayao stared at the second pot of mooncakes that was about to be completed, her brows furrowed and her expression complicated.
The formula was calculated by doubling the amount of the previous test. She calculated it herself. She calculated it several times. There could be no mistake. The materials could not be found to be wrong. So where was the problem
"Put this batch in and freeze it, don't cook the rest yet." This is the only way. If this is the case for both batches, there is something wrong with the recipe.
The previous laughter was frozen by this sudden change. Everyone stared at Bingjian with heavy hearts. There was only a ticking clock in the kitchen, and every time it ticked the nervous nerves.
He Lianjing had never seen Yao Yao with such a solemn expression before, and said with relief: "Yao Yao, don't worry too much. I really think this is good."
Ye Jiayao knew that even if it was a defective product, Xiaojing would accept it in full and would not miss a single copper coin from her, but she couldn't bear it. After preparing carefully for so long, she could still make mistakes. She couldn't understand.
"Xiao Jing, can you go back first? I'm very confused right now." Ye Jiayao said.
He Lianjing didn't know how to comfort him, so Deng Haichuan said: "We will find out the problem later and send a message to the young prince."
Helianjing had no choice but to leave first.
"Time's up." Zhong Xiang was the first to call. He cares more about the success or failure of this time than anyone else, because the opportunity that belongs to him may only be this once, and if he misses it, he will never get it again.
Everyone hurriedly opened the lid of the ice cream and took out the mooncakes.
"Huh? This batch is good again." Deng Haichuan said happily.
Ye Jiayao took one to try, and it was indeed a success.
"Two batches of mooncakes, the same recipe, the same method, but different results... There is only one explanation. There was something wrong with the previous materials." Ye Jiayao said firmly.
Zhong Xiang was stunned: "But the goods are from the same batch. If there is a problem, there should be a problem."
A chill flashed through Ye Jiayao's eyes: "What if someone did something?"
Everyone was shocked.
Ye Jiayao continued: "Brother Xiang and Wang Mingde bought the materials together. I believe there will be no problem."
"Well, we have inspected the goods and there is absolutely no problem." Wang Mingde said.
"The first batch of mooncakes used the top ingredients, but the bottom ones were fine. It can be seen that the top ones were tampered with. Our ingredients are placed in the kitchen, and everyone can see them coming in and out, so someone's It was not easy to do anything at that time. It must have been done in the dead of night. Think about it, who is worthy of suspicion?" Ye Jiayao asked.
Coming to such a conclusion made Ye Jiayao very distressed. How did this saboteur feel? Jealous, jealous or resentful? Who does she think she has not sorry for? If this bastard is not found out, it will be too much for her to do this to her from time to time in the future.
Zhong Xiang muttered: "I really can't think of anyone who would do such a thing."
"Yes, since Brother Yao came, we who live in heaven are of the same mind." Deng Haichuan also said.
"I don't think so. This time when a few of us came out with Brother Yao, some of us were not convinced." Cui Dongpeng curled his lips and said.
"I think it's just a matter of complaining, so it won't hurt us like this!" Deng Haichuan obviously knew who Cui Dongpeng was referring to.
"Who can guarantee that you know people, faces, but not hearts?" Cui Dongpeng said.
"You mean Liu Qisheng?" Ye Jiayao also guessed that Liu Qisheng was originally Zhong Xiang's follower. He stood up for Zhong Xiang and even had a conflict with her. As a result, Zhong Xiang died down and became her right-hand man. Liu Qisheng must have felt unhappy.
Zhong Xiang's face became a little ugly.
Cui Dongpeng analyzed: "We did an experiment the day before yesterday. Brother Yao, you said it's OK. No more experiments are needed. There were not many people present at the time, and I remember Liu Qisheng was among them. If we were going to do something evil, it must have been the night before yesterday and yesterday." During this period of the evening, we are sure that we will not open the materials again."
"It makes perfect sense." Ye Jiayao agreed.
"But we can't point the finger at Liu Qisheng. Everyone present at the time should be suspicious." Zhong Xiang still wanted to defend Liu Qisheng.
Wang Mingde, who had not spoken much, thought: "To put it this way, I slept in a daze the night before. I seemed to have seen Liu Qisheng sneaking back to his room in the middle of the night."
"Maybe I'm going to the toilet?" Zhong Xiang said.
Wang Mingde shook his head: "It's not like that. He used to be carefree and noisy when he came back from the toilet. But the day before yesterday, I felt that he was very cautious and walked on his toes."
Everyone was silent, it seemed that it was Liu Qisheng. Zhong Xiang was very sad and lowered his head sadly.
Ye Jiayao thought for a while and said: "Judging from the cracking of the dough, it should be that the glutinous rice flour has been mixed with flour or something. The white flour in Yangzhou is very fine and white, and it is difficult to distinguish it when mixed with glutinous rice flour. Now we are just suspecting him. , There is no conclusive evidence, so let’s not mention it now. I’ll go back and investigate more after these two days.”
"What to do with these one hundred moon cakes?" Deng Haichuan asked.
"Voided." After saying this, Ye Jiayao felt heartbroken. The material cost for one hundred mooncakes was nearly one hundred taels of silver. Everything else was fine, but the cream was hard-won. But she would never allow these defective products to go out.
Deng Haichuan and Cui Dongpeng were almost crying. This was a full four hundred taels of silver! If you say no, then don’t.
"Let's eat it ourselves." Wang Mingde was reluctant to part with it.
Ye Jiayao said helplessly: "I will leave you twenty, and I will take the rest."
Take it back to Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang to eat, it will be easier for you to talk to them.
"Okay, you continue to work, Brother Xiang, I'll leave this place to you, be sure to keep it secure."
"Where are you going?" Zhong Xiang asked.
Ye Jiayao said dejectedly: "There's not enough stuffing, I have to go back and make it!"
Everyone kept working until dawn and finally made four hundred mooncakes.
Then steam the longevity peaches, which are very large. In order to seek good luck, they also distribute them to neighbors and people passing by.
Fortunately, there were many helpers in the palace, and several large baskets of longevity peaches were made in one morning.
In order to spare time to attend the birthday banquet of the old princess, Xia Chunyu worked three consecutive days in exchange for one day of rest.
I came to the palace early that morning to help receive the guests.
He and He Lianxuan stood side by side in front of the palace to welcome guests. One was wearing a purple and gold python robe, and the other was wearing a sea-blue cloud pattern brocade robe. Both were majestic and heroic.
"Brothers and sisters are so brave. I heard from Xiao Jing that there was something wrong with the mooncake materials. One hundred mooncakes were broken. My brothers and sisters said they were scrapped, so they were scrapped." He Lianxuan whispered with a smile while welcoming guests.
"How could something go wrong?" Xia Chunyu was stunned. Yaoyao was always cautious in doing things, so how could something go wrong? And there were so many of them, Yaoyao couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
He Lianxuan raised his eyebrows: "I don't know about that."
"By the way, you asked to invite Minister Mu. I have already invited him. Did he ask you to do it?" He Lianxuan asked.
Xia Chunyu shook his head and pretended to be mysterious: "No, I want to meet someone from their family."
"Man or woman?" He Lianxuan looked at him meaningfully.
Xia Chunyu chuckled: "You will know when the time comes."
Wei Liujiang will definitely not miss such a good opportunity. Maybe Ye Jinrong will come to join in the fun, and there will be a good show.
Today is just the first move.
Xia Chunyu took a break from his busy schedule and ran to the kitchen to take a look, only to see Xiao Jing coming out of the kitchen.
"Brother Chunyu... what are you doing here? Looking for food? Or looking for Yaoyao?" He Lianjing asked: "If you are looking for Yaoyao, he is so busy now that he is kicked out even when I go there. ”
Xia Chunyu broke into a cold sweat. He probably would have to be kicked out even if he went.
Xia Chunyu said seriously: "I'm here to find you. Your brother and I were so busy that we didn't even have time to go to the toilet, but you ran away. Your brother asked me to catch you."
Helian Jing said confidently: "I'm not slacking off. The highlight of today is the birthday banquet. I have to keep an eye on it."
"Don't explain to me, talk to your brother." Xia Chunyu turned around and left with his hands behind his back.
He Lianjing hurriedly followed up: "Where is Chunfeng? He said he would come early to help today."
"He has been here early. He is watching the sideshow with Zhao Qixuan and the others at the theater."
"This guy even said he was helping, but he went to have fun on his own." He Lianjing muttered.
The two of them came out of the kitchen and heard the announcement outside: "Master Mu, Minister Mu, has arrived."
Xia Chunyu stopped and soon saw the potbellied Minister Mu walking in with Mu Qinchu and Wei Liujiang. There was a steward mother over there who welcomed a lady and young lady into the inner courtyard.
(End of chapter)