Baking? Lin Shanyue had never heard the word before, but she roughly gathered that these were all fine things for making pastries.
She had never seen such a variety of basins and tools, and there were also materials like butter and condensed milk.
Huo Yi said, "I'll give you a book. Take a look and see if you recognize the characters. Even if you don't, it doesn't matter—learning from the pictures works just as well."
The book Huo Yi tossed over was naturally a baking recipe. Lin Shanyue opened it and looked through it earnestly. "Though the characters are a bit different, they haven't changed much. I shouldn't have any trouble reading them, and the illustrations... are already very clear."
"That's good. Take your time learning. If you're short of anything, just tell me and I'll bring it to you."
Lin Shanyue was filled with gratitude, even feeling as though she were dreaming. She said excitedly, "I don't know what kind of blessings I accumulated in my past life to meet the Young Master. Thank you so much!"
Watching her excited, flushed little face, Huo Yi almost laughed. He gave a cough. "I'm not helping you for nothing; once you make money, you'll have a way to help me find good things. Besides... what's for dinner today?"
Only then did Lin Shanyue snap out of it. She smiled and said, "I made dough-drop soup today. Would the Young Master like to try some?"
Dough-drop soup... Huo Yi hadn't eaten such plain fare in truly many years. In his memory, only when he had a fever as a child would his grandmother and mother cook it, saying that after a bowl of steaming hot dough-drop soup and a good sweat, he would be all right.
"Alright..." he answered, somewhat lost in thought.
Lin Shanyue smiled and nodded. "Oh, right, Young Master, I brought back a little maidservant, though I treat her like my younger sister. Her name is Chunlan, and she might often be at home from now on. As for your matters... I don't quite know what to say yet. Could the Young Master give me some guidance?"
Huo Yi thought for a moment and said, "Better not mention it for now. If she asks about these things, just say you brought them from Yangzhou Prefecture. Keep it brief and simple, no need to over-explain."
Lin Shanyue nodded. "All right, I understand."
Chunlan was busy cleaning the next room. Once Xiaobao was properly settled, Lin Shanyue prepared to go back to cooking. The packaging on the butter and condensed milk was very strange—not something found around these parts—so Lin Shanyue decided to transfer them into ordinary jars first. As for those books, she tucked them under the bed to study carefully at night.
The dough-drop soup was ready very quickly—a large, steaming pot. In addition to the warm dough-drop noodles, there were diced potatoes, diced radishes, tomatoes, and egg drop, along with some black fungus and shiitake mushrooms Lin Shanyue had picked up during the day. The dish was rich, with both vegetables and noodles. Tomatoes were a vegetable that had only appeared in the Imperial Capital in recent years; initially, because their color was too bright, no one dared to eat them, but who would have known after tasting them that they were sweet and tart?
"Dinner is ready!" Lin Shanyue first delivered a bowl into the room, then turned around to call Chunlan over to eat.
"Mistress, I've pretty much finished cleaning up."
"Good, let's eat first. Tonight you and I can tidy up a bit more together."
Chunlan waved her hands in a flurry. "I can do it myself! I wouldn't dare trouble the Mistress."
Lin Shanyue smiled. "It's no trouble. Since you're here, from now on we'll treat each other like sisters. There aren't that many rules here."
As she spoke, Lin Shanyue scooped her a bowl of food. Chunlan's eyes turned red.
Not just Chunlan—when Huo Yi saw such a large bowl of steaming dough-drop soup in front of him, he too was dazed for a moment. Such a big bowl... so much, did this little girl take him for a pig?
Yet... in his memory, his grandmother was just like this, always afraid he wouldn't get enough, always stuffing a huge bowl into his hands.
He scooped a spoonful into his mouth. This familiar taste made Huo Yi's eyes genuinely turn red. How long had it been since he tasted...
This kind of flavor...
There were no extra side dishes and no table full of plates and bowls, but Huo Yi found this meal thoroughly satisfying...
In the small courtyard, Chunlan and Xiaobao were the same.
Chunlan was clearly also a foodie. With one large bowl and one small bowl, she ate until she was licking the bowl clean. Xiaobao was holding his own bowl and slurping away for the first time; although he got food everywhere, it was still a huge step forward.
"Xiaobao is such a good boy!" Lin Shanyue stroked her son's head, figuring that the next step could be training him to use a spoon himself.
After finishing her meal, Chunlan couldn't help licking her lips. "I never expected the Mistress's culinary skills to be this good. When the Mistress mentioned doing business earlier, was she talking about the food business?"
Lin Shanyue smiled. "Yes. What do you think?"
Chunlan said earnestly, "I think the Mistress is going to make a fortune."
With a single sentence, she completely cracked Lin Shanyue up.
"All right, then I'll take your auspicious words for it! How is it, are you full? Would you like another bowl?"
Lin Shanyue had roughly gauged Chunlan's appetite. Chunlan knew it herself and naturally felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm afraid I'll be eating a lot of grain from the Mistress's house from now on. Since the Mistress doesn't disdain me, please feel free to order me around for any heavy or crude work as soon as possible."
Lin Shanyue smiled and agreed, turning right around to ladle her another bowl.
After the meal, washing the bowls and chopsticks naturally fell to Chunlan. Lin Shanyue taught her a bit about making incense, saying, "I'm afraid there will be quite a lot of chores around my house, so it's totally fine to eat more. You'll be in charge of everything related to making incense from now on, while I still have to go make pastries."
Chunlan nodded earnestly. "Don't worry, Mistress, I understand."
Sensing that she was a reliable person with nothing to worry about for the moment, Lin Shanyue turned and headed to the kitchen to study desserts.
Liu Niang had been very direct today: she must put her heart into the pastries for Huayue Pavilion from now on, and price them fairly. Lin Shanyue had no intention of slacking off. After carefully studying how to use those tools, she decided to try making condensed milk. This condensed milk was very sweet, even sweeter than cow's milk; if some were added to pastries, it would definitely create a different flavor.
Today she planned to steam chestnut cake. Winter chestnuts were exceptionally popular, and the stir-fried chestnuts with sugar at the small stalls were exceptionally delicious; Lin Shanyue also had a basket of raw chestnuts on hand.
After shelling the chestnuts, she steamed them until cooked through, then mashed them into a paste. The chestnut paste was already cooked, and while mixing it, Lin Shanyue added a tiny bit of condensed milk. When she finally tasted the paste, it was slightly sweeter than the original. Through repeated trials, she finally got the proportions just right. Next, Lin Shanyue took out the red bean paste given by the Mirror Demon Young Master.
The combination of red beans and chestnuts gave the chestnut cake layered colors, and since the red bean paste was ready-made, it saved her a lot of trouble.
A layer of chestnut paste alternated with a layer of red bean paste, the edges trimmed into neat squares. They could be eaten cold or hot, and could even be shaped into various floral designs, finally placed inside those pretty enamel plates. They would be ready to deliver tomorrow.
She wasn't stingy with the pastries she made, generously sharing them with Chunlan. The moment Chunlan tasted the first bite of chestnut cake, her eyes widened in disbelief. "Mi—Mistress! This is too delicious!"
At a loss for words, she felt that in all her dozen-odd years of life, she had never tasted such a fragrant and sweet delicacy!
Lin Shanyue wasn't surprised by her reaction at all, thinking silently to herself: Actually... neither had she...