Chapter 106: I Want Everything

When Ye Jiayao arrived at Heavenly Residence in the early morning, she was surprised to see that Shopkeeper Li was already there. She greeted him but he did not respond, only continued to pace the lobby as if he was in trance.

According to Little Lu, when he opened the restaurant earlier, Shopkeeper Li was already at the front, looking dazed.

Ye Jiayao frowned, hoping that this wasn’t a sign of an early onset of Alzheimer’s. He was only fifty years old!

With one last glance, she let the shopkeeper be and went to find Zhong Xiang. She would like to try and make an ice cream mooncake today with his help.

They first gathered the ingredients such as glutinous rice flour, sticky rice flour, starch, sugar, milk, amaranth juice, and a little agar.

The process started with them adding the glutinous rice flour into the pot to fry and mixing it with milk and sugar to form a paste. It has to steam in the steamer and set to cool before it could be wrapped around the ice cream fillings.

The first few steps weren’t difficult, but it was the last one that required good technique. The ends needed to be round and the thickness should be perfectly even. Luckily, Zhong Xiang has great craftsmanship, and he was able to wrap the chewy skins around the ice cream that she made last night. Ye Jiayao took the mold and pressed the mooncake lightly to it for the final touch.

“It looks so delicate, I almost don’t want to eat it,” Deng Haichuan said. The crystal-like, light purplish skin of the mooncake and the beautiful pattern looked so stunningly elegant.

Ye Jiayao smiled. “Today’s batch is just an experiment, it will look even better in time.”

“It looks really good, but… isn’t it too small?” Zhong Xiang was a little worried as most mooncakes were big and packed with fillings.

“I really intend for them to be small,” Ye Jiayao said. “How many people do you think actually find mooncakes delicious? They only eat it because it’s a festive food. Bigger mooncakes tend to be greasy and too filling. I want our mooncake to not only look good but to also taste delicious. One that people would never be able to get enough of. Plus, its small size would make people think that this is precious.”

Zhong Xiang nodded in understanding. “That’s great thinking, Brother Yao.”

“Can I try one?” Cui Dongpeng asked eagerly.

“Not yet. We need to freeze these before you can eat it so the texture would be better.” Ye Jiayao stowed the six mooncakes away in the icebox to freeze.

Later in the afternoon, Ye Jiayao took one out and cut it into little pieces for everyone to taste.

They all enjoyed it.

“Brother Yao, you are awesome! This tastes too good, I can’t even begin to describe it,” Deng Haichuan praised.

Cui Dongpeng gave her a thumbs up, his mouth full of food.

Wang Mingde said, “It is really delicious but it tastes so different from the normal mooncake. In fact, this could be considered as a whole new cake. Would people be open to this?”

“It’s different, but it’s also better,” Zhong Xiang said. “The skin is soft and chewy, cool and refreshing, and the ice cream inside is an indulgent treat. The whole thing practically just melts in the mouth. I think people would happily accept such delicious food.”

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“That’s why the birthday celebration is a good opportunity for us to introduce this to the public. If the Helian Mansion said that this is a mooncake, people would believe that it is a mooncake. I need to go the Helian Mansion today so I could convince the Elder Princess of the merits of our creation,” Ye Jiayao told them.

Ye Jiayao took the icebox that contained the remaining five mooncakes and made her way to the Helian Mansion. This was the perfect timing since it was a hot and stuffy afternoon. The ice cream would be a refreshing treat for her.

When Ye Jiayao got to the palace, though, she changed her mind about that. The Elder Princess was entertaining a few ladies of the upper-class. Ye Jiayao tried to turn around, but when the Princess heard that she was here with the mooncake, she ordered her to stay.

Yu De frowned at the peculiar-shaped copper box that the chef laid in front of her. “What is this?”

Ye Jiayao answered, “This is an icebox, Elder Princess. I designed it so that it could keep the ice cream mooncake cold and fresh.”

“Ice cream mooncake? What is that?” a lady asked curiously.

Ye Jiayao replied, “It’s a food that came from overseas.”

Someone laughed derisively. “What would those barbarians know about the customs of the moon festival?”

Ye Jiayao arranged her expression and gave a pleasant but bland smile. So arrogantly narrow-minded. 

“Madam, we cannot look down on the barbarians. There are some things that they have that are way more advanced than us. For example, while madams are still using incense here, they have already discovered the technique to extract and purify perfume. The scent would linger around much longer once it is sprayed on the body. While we’re still using paper to cover our windows, they’ve already discovered glass. It is much more effective in keeping the wind and the rain out,” Ye Jiayao said in a polite tone.

“Is it really that amazing? Have you seen it?” The ladies were doubtful.

Ye Jiayao refrained from laughing.  Of course, I’ve seen it! I wonder how you’d react if you find out that people in the future could fly to the moon with a spaceship…

Yu De heard from Little Jing that Li Yao had been to many places around the world and was very knowledgeable. It didn’t seem like he was making this up. “Present those ice cream mooncakes for us to try.”

“Yes, Princess Yu De.” Ye Jiayao eagerly opened the icebox and took out a plate of ice cream mooncake.

It immediately caught their attention.

The ladies didn’t care that it was small, what they paid attention to was its exquisitely excellent appearance that fits their high status.

Ye Jiayao smiled at the interest she saw on their faces. She took a knife out and cut the mooncake evenly, presenting it to them.

The ladies elegantly tasted it with a little spoon.

Ye Jiayao stood aside and narrated the advantages of the ice cream mooncake.

“The traditional mooncake is sweet and oily, while our mooncake is lusciously sweet and silky. This type of ice cream mooncake is low in sugar and low in fat so you won’t gain any weight from it. It is refreshing and a most suitable after dinner snack. If you have an icebox, you can keep it for a few days and it won’t crack or rot. The only disadvantage with this was the steep cost of making them. We have to price it expensively to offset the expenses, so I’m afraid that simple civilians would not be able to afford it.”

“If the food tastes good, the price isn’t a problem,” one lady dismissed.

They don’t want to eat what everyone else was eating. If normal civilians couldn’t afford it, that was better as it would distinguish the nobles’ and the rich ladies’ hierarchy.

“Would you really not gain weight from eating this?” someone asked, almost finished with her portion.

Ye Jiayao smiled triumphantly. “This is definitely a healthy snack.”