RCAC chapter 10

Qiao Shen planned to make mooncakes today, so he didn’t go out to sell aiyu jelly.

This really worried Xiao Changle. Changle was at that active age, and he loved going out with his dad every day. Today, since he had a day off, he couldn’t sit still and tugged Qiao Shen toward the courtyard gate.

“Daddy isn’t going out today,” Qiao Shen said, picking him up and bringing him back.

Xiao Changle kept pulling, and when he saw his dad wasn’t going, he twisted his little body and headed for the gate on his own.

“Then you play here by yourself, daddy will make mooncakes for you to eat.” Qiao Shen locked the gate with the bolt, and the little hands went pat pat pat.

His little hands got sore from all the patting, and seeing that daddy still didn’t come to open the door, he just sat by the gate, poking the ants on the ground with his chubby little fingers.

He kept calling out “daddy,” stretching the sound long: “Da~ da~”

Qiao Shen sneaked a look at him to make sure he wasn’t causing trouble anymore and saw that he couldn’t get out of the yard. Then he went back to making mooncakes, with the background music being a steady ‘da-da’.

Qiao Shen poured the soaked lotus seeds into a big stone mortar and ground them into a paste with a pestle. Then he heated oil in a pan, added sugar, and once it melted, he poured in the lotus seed paste and stirred it over low heat. When the paste thickened, the lotus seed filling was ready.

Take the salted egg yolks, wash off the surface salt, first wrap the yolk with lotus seed paste, then wrap the lotus paste with dough, and finally roll it into a ball. Bake it in the oven until cooked.

Looking at the mooncakes he made himself, Qiao felt like laughing. Because there was no mold, the baked mooncakes looked like egg yolk pastries, but the taste was quite good, after all, they were made entirely from natural ingredients.

But the appearance doesn’t affect its taste—the pastry is crispy and soft, and the lotus paste is smooth with a hint of sweetness. Xiao Changle really loved it; after eating one, he reached for another, but Qiao Shen distracted him with lunch. Mooncakes are heavy in oil and sugar, so kids can easily get an upset stomach if they eat too much.

After lunch, Xiao Changle refused to take a nap and insisted on going out.

“Where do you want to go? Even this big yard can’t contain you?” Qiao Shen squatted down and picked up Xiao Changle.

“Mm… sell…” Xiao Changle wriggled his small body.

“Not selling, not selling today.”

“Mm… hm hm… woo…” Xiao Changle frowned slightly, pouting, making a face as if to say, ‘If you don’t take me to ‘sell, sell,’ I’ll cry.’

Qiao Shen simply picked up the food box and packed the mooncakes, then took Xiao Changle to the carpenter’s shop to find Qi Shuo. Secretly, Qiao Shen had the habit of giving Qi Shuo the first taste every time he made a new treat.

“Not bad, this is salted egg yolk? Savory and delicious.” Unsurprisingly, the mooncakes were loved by Qi Shuo. Qiao Shen thought to himself: When have I ever made something Qi Shuo didn’t like?

“Keep an eye on him, Chang Le. Mooncakes are rich in oil and sugar, and he’s still young. Too many will be hard to digest. I’ll take some next door to thank them for helping out a while back.”

Qiao Shen had made plenty, and since the mooncakes were single-yolk, they weren’t too big. He placed two salted egg yolk mooncakes on a small plate and took them to Shopkeeper Liu’s porcelain shop.

Shopkeeper Liu had heard from his husband that Qiao Shen often made delicious food for their son, Yongyuan. Since the two families had become close, Shopkeeper Liu didn’t bother to be formal with Qiao Shen.

After eating a salted egg yolk mooncake, Shopkeeper Liu exclaimed in amazement, “Your mooncakes are really something—sweet but not greasy, the yolk savory without being too strong. Something this wonderful is a perfect gift for the festival.”

After chatting with Shopkeeper Liu for a bit, his words gave Qiao Shen some ideas.

Back at the carpenter’s shop, Xiao Changle fell asleep on the long bench, while Qi Shuo sat nearby drinking barley tea, fanning Xiao Changle with a palm leaf fan in one hand.

Qiao Shen walked over, touched Xiao Changle’s forehead, and softly said to Qi Shuo, “At home, no matter how I tried to coax him, he wouldn’t sleep, like there were needles in his bed. That’s why I brought him over here, it’s not like I wanted to come myself.”

Qi Shuo looked at Qiao Shen with a half-smile, half-serious expression. He put down his teacup, reached out his big hand, pulled Qiao Shen to sit next to him, and said, “Tired? Let’s wait until the sun goes down a bit, then we’ll go home together, okay?”

“I’m not tired. Weren’t you busy today?”

“Not busy. Why?” Seeing Qiao Shen’s expression, Qi Shuo knew he wanted something and asked proactively.

“Just now, Shopkeeper Liu said that the mooncakes I made could be nice gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival.” Qiao Shen couldn’t wait to share his thoughts.

‘Giving gifts’ is a great way to maintain relationships, and it’s not just for couples—it works in the workplace, among relatives and friends, and the same was true in ancient times. Wherever there are people, there’s social interaction.

“So, I plan to make it more beautiful and sell it to Linfuji.” Linfuji is the biggest pastry shop in Dong Town. Not only that, it’s also a chain. Because their pastries are delicately made and delicious, it’s the go-to shop for people when giving gifts.

“Okay, you tell me, I’ll make it for you.” As soon as Qi Shuo saw the look in Qiao Shen’s eyes when he said the word ‘beautiful,’ he knew what his job was.

“Hehe… I want a round mold this big, and then make a lid with the character ‘Fu’ on it…” Qiao Shen held Qi Shuo’s hand, drew a circle in his palm, then gestured the ‘Fu’ lid on his own hand, and finally placed his hand over Qi Shuo’s to demonstrate how to make a beautiful mooncake.

“When we go back, let’s stop by to check out Lin Fu Ji’s sign. Remember the middle character and just carve that one,” Qiao Shen told Qi Shuo about the plan.

“No need to check, I can make it for you right now.” What Qiao Shen didn’t know was that the sign hanging at Lin Fu Ji’s shop had been renewed last year, and it was all newly made by his husband, Qi Shuo.

Qiao Shen looked at Qi Shuo with admiration. This is amazing! No wonder he’s my husband!

Qi Shuo let Qiao Shen pick out a solid piece of wood by himself. He grabbed his tools and went to the workbench, hollowed out a spot in the middle of the wood, smoothed it out, and carved the character ‘Fu’ (meaning good fortune) on it. Remembering how Qiao Shen described it, he also carved the edges of the hollow into a sawtooth pattern. Finally, he sanded the whole piece until it was smooth and handed it to Qiao Shen.

“Wow, this is amazing! It’s even better than I imagined! And you finished it so fast?” Qiao Shen was extremely delighted. This mold was in no way inferior to modern ones.

“How are you so smart? I was thinking of using a lid to press it, but you got it done with just one move.”

Qi Shuo felt very pleased when he met Qiao Shen’s admiring gaze, so he proudly smiled and said, “I just wanted to carve you onto my hand.”

Qiao Shen was momentarily stunned, then realized that Qi Shuo was referring to when Qiao Shen had used his hand as a lid when describing something, and Qi Shuo had covered it with his own hand.

Qiao Shen felt a bit embarrassed after realizing, but looking into the deep eyes under Qi Shuo’s sword-like eyebrows, gazing at him gently, he couldn’t help leaning over and kissing Qi Shuo on the cheek.

Qi Shuo pressed his tongue against the left cheek that had been kissed, pulling Qiao Shen to stand up.

Qiao Shen, puzzled, was dragged behind the screen, and just as he regained his balance, he heard Qi Shuo say: “Just now outside, what were you doing?”

In broad daylight, with the door wide open, Qiao Shen was actually seducing him like this.

Old Qiao Shen’s face turned red, thinking that Qi Shuo was scolding him, and he mumbled, wanting to apologize: “Ah… I… I’m so…”

Before Qiao Shen could finish, Qi Shuo wrapped his big hands around Qiao Shen’s waist, leaned down, and covered Qiao Shen’s mouth with his own. It was a completely masculine scent. Qi Shuo sucked on Qiao Shen’s lower lip, feeling Qiao Shen’s submission, then pressed in further, sticking out his tongue to lick Qiao Shen’s tongue…

Qi Shuo took the initiative to stop, lifted his head to look at the dazed Qiao Shen, and couldn’t help lowering his head to gently peck Qiao Shen again before finally letting go completely. He held hands with Qiao Shen and walked back to the tea table to sit down.

Qiao Shen was so embarrassed he could barely handle it. Luckily, Xiao Changle had finished his nap and woke up, clinging to the adult and acting cute, which saved Qiao Shen and also cleared the awkward tension between the two adults.

On the way back, Qiao Shen bought quite a lot of ingredients for making mooncakes. After preparing the lotus seeds and egg yolks, Qiao Shen started making dinner.​

Kotha: I have an important exam coming in the December, so I will be going on hiatus till late December to early January 🫣🫣 I know it’s it’s a long hiatus, but this is a very important exam 🫠.Thanks for your understanding 🌸🌸 (please pray for me to pass this exam😭😭)