"Mom, I also want to make mooncakes."
With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, Daohua instructed the kitchen to make a lot of mooncakes, so of which were to be packaged and sent to officials in Liangdu, and so were to be sent to the soldiers in the military town.
While passing by the kitchen, Daozi saw the kitchen maids busily making mooncakes and suddenly beca interested, so he ran to find Daohua.
Daohua smiled at her son: "Making mooncakes is not easy."
Daozi confidently said: "Mom, didn’t you say that the clay figures I mold look good? I can even mold clay figures, how could I possibly not make good mooncakes?"
Daohua didn’t want to raise her son as a spoiled and lazy person who can’t distinguish grains or be diligent, she had always been cultivating his ability to work with his hands. Seeing Daozi so enthusiastic now, naturally, she would not refuse.
"Mom will assign a kitchen maid to teach you, but you must not cause trouble in the kitchen, and rember, mooncakes are different from clay figures, mooncakes are made with grains and are ant to be eaten, you must not waste food."
Daozi nodded hurriedly: "I know."
After receiving Daohua’s permission, Daozi felt it was boring to do it alone, so he went and brought Xiao Moreng along to learn how to make mooncakes with him.
Xiao Moreng had never done this before; from birth till now, he had always been served hand and foot. Suddenly being pulled into a kitchen he had never been to before, he felt utterly out of place.
But seeing how Daozi quickly got the hang of kneading the dough under the guidance of the kitchen maid, in order not to lose face as an older brother, he had no choice but to stiffly dip his hands into the flour.
Nanshan Hall.
Xiao Moqing and Xiao Mokuan ca as usual to pay their respects to Gu Jian, fulfilling their filial duties, and now they ca to the Prince Residence daily.
They co in the morning, return in the afternoon, and have lunch at the Prince Residence with Gu Jian.
The children say they are there to accompany Gu Jian, but most of the ti they are playing.
In the morning Daozi and Xiao Moreng are learning martial arts, and they play in the amusent park on their own; only in the afternoon do they gather together and ss around.
After paying their respects, Xiao Mokuan noticed that Daozi and Xiao Moreng were not around, thinking they had gone to the martial arts training ground, he said to Xiao Moqing: "I’m going to the training ground to find Fourth Brother and Daozi, do you guys want to co along?"
Having interacted more with his younger brothers recently, he has beco a lot more comfortable with them, which made him temporarily forget the difference between legitimate and illegitimate status.
Xiao Moqing shook his head: "I’m going to the amusent park." Daozi’s amusent park had many toys he had never seen before, and he hadn’t had enough fun yet. Besides, martial arts training was exhausting, and he certainly didn’t want to voluntarily suffer.
Xiao Mobao loved enjoynt; his round body also showed how little he liked to move around, naturally, he was also unwilling to go to the training ground.
Xiao Moxu felt that he was still young, of course, he should go and play in the amusent park first.
Seeing that his younger brothers were unwilling, Xiao Mokuan said: "Then I’ll take you to the amusent park first, then go find Fourth Brother and Daozi."
Dongli overheard their conversation and smiled saying: "Your Highnesses, Little Prince and Fourth Prince didn’t go to the training ground, they are now in the kitchen learning to make mooncakes."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Moqing’s eyes widened in surprise: "What, Fourth Brother and Daozi are making mooncakes in the kitchen? Isn’t that sothing servants should do?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Jian couldn’t help but say: "What’s wrong with learning to make food yourself? Now you have servants around to take care of you, naturally, you don’t need to lift a finger, but what if one day you get separated from your servants, how will you get food then?"
Hearing Gu Jian’s question, Xiao Moqing and the others fell silent.
Xiao Mokuan thought for a mont and stepped forward to reply: "Great Ancestor, then we will also go to the kitchen now and learn how to make mooncakes with Fourth Brother and Daozi."
Gu Jian humd in response: "Although you are the sons of princes, it’s good to learn more skills. Life is full of ups and downs, who can guarantee that life will always be peaceful and prosperous?"
Every day when Xiao Moqing leaves the house, the old lady advises him to listen to Gu Jian, so upon hearing Gu Jian speak, he imdiately said: "Great Ancestor, we will go now to find Fourth Brother and Daozi to learn how to make mooncakes."
Gu Jian waved his hand, and the children left the courtyard together.
...
The kitchen of the Prince Residence is an independent large courtyard, where at the mont, more than ten cooks are busily making mooncakes.
In the kitchen annex, there are still many maids pasting red paper with the Prince Residence’s emblem on mooncake boxes delivered by craftsn.
Around the corner of the kitchen, a cook is patiently guiding Daozi and Xiao Moreng on how to fill the mooncake molds with dough.
"Fourth Brother, I’m making a rose mooncake, what are you making?"
"I’m making a Five Blessings Mooncake."
Daozi glanced at the mooncake Xiao Moreng was making, then at his own, and sowhat smugly said: "I think mine looks a bit prettier."
Xiao Moreng didn’t argue with Daozi, feeling a sense of accomplishnt seeing his first mooncake, his interest piqued, he said to Daozi: "Let’s make more, and then we can give them to everyone to try."
Daozi nodded eagerly: "Yes yes, I want to make so for my mom, and my dad, and also for my great ancestors, grandmother, and Grandpa Chu."
Xiao Moreng took over the conversation: "Then I’ll make so for the sixth brother and the others."
As soon as he finished speaking, both of them saw Xiao Mokuan and three others arriving at the kitchen.
When Xiao Mokuan and his group entered the kitchen, they saw Daozi and Xiao Moreng, faces sared with white flour.
Xiao Moqing, seeing the two dirty, pointed at them and burst into laughter.
Xiao Moreng and Daozi ignored him, looking at Xiao Mokuan and the other two: "Why have you co?"
Xiao Mokuan: "Our great ancestor said you were learning to make mooncakes, and told us to co learn too."
When the cook heard this, she felt sowhat overwheld; guiding the Little Prince and the fourth grandson was already challenging enough, and with several more princes joining, she truly couldn’t manage.
The cook imdiately sent a maid to light the fire and inform Daohua about the situation in the main courtyard.
After hearing this, Daohua didn’t say much but instructed the Kitchen Manager to send another cook to teach the children, as long as they didn’t create a ss, they were allowed to continue.
However, it wasn’t even half an hour before the kitchen staff ca looking for her again, this ti it was the Kitchen Manager himself.
With a bitter face, the Kitchen Manager explained: "Princess Consort, just now the Little Prince and a few princes were chasing each other in the kitchen and accidentally knocked over hundreds of mooncakes that weren’t even placed in the oven yet, all of them fell on the floor and got dirty."
Daohua quickly asked: "Are the children all right?"
The Kitchen Manager quickly nodded: "All’s well, the Little Prince and the princes are fine."
Daohua: "Take the dirty mooncakes to feed to the livestock, then quickly make another batch."
Seeing that Daohua didn’t bla him, the manager quietly breathed a sigh of relief, just about to leave when he heard Daohua say: "After you go back, send soone to bring those little rascals back to the main courtyard."
...
Having knocked over hundreds of mooncakes, Daozi, Xiao Moqing, and others knew they were in trouble and ran out of the kitchen, hiding in the amusent park, not daring to face the adults.
"What to do, last ti the Seventh Brother and Daozi fought, aunt punished them, now that we’ve knocked over the mooncakes, will aunt punish us too?"
Xiao Mobao asked with a worried look, his face still sared with uncleared flour.
Daozi despondently said: "My mom will definitely punish us."
Xiao Moqing uncertainly asked: "Is it just knocking over a few mooncakes, aunt won’t be so petty to punish us over such a small thing, right?"
Xiao Moreng pondered and said: "Whether aunt punishes us or not, we did sothing wrong, we should take the initiative to apologize to her."
Hearing this, Daozi imdiately looked over: "Then you lead the way, Fourth Brother, I’ll follow you."
Watching the cowardly Daozi, Xiao Moreng was sowhat speechless, pulling him towards the main courtyard, followed by the others with their heads down.
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