Chapter 213: Chapter 195, Friends Gathered_1
The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xiao Yeyang arranged for people to deliver big hairy crabs.
Looking at the five large bamboo baskets of big hairy crabs, Daohua was beaming with joy, insisting to the elderly Madam Yan that they could eat to their hearts’ content during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Yan Zhiyuan flipped through the main basket and expressed his amazement, “Indeed, these are worthy of being an Imperial Family tribute, this single crab must weigh close to a pound, right?” Smiling, he turned to Daohua, “Thanks to Daohua’s good fortune, our family is truly blessed with good food today.”
Madam Li estimated visually that the delivered crabs amounted to over a hundred pounds, then looked at Daohua, “Don’t just stand there happy, don’t you have a gift in return? Go on and fetch it.”
Upon hearing this, Daohua immediately left with a smile.
“This is for Xiao Yeyang!”
“This is for elder brother Dong, elder brother Su, elder brother Zhou.”
“This is for the three brothers at home.”
“This is for giving gifts to the three brothers.”
Since she only separated the portion for Xiao Yeyang from the watermelons and grapes she last sent, during his previous visit, Su Hongxin had actually stopped her to complain bitterly.
Therefore, this time, she was wiser and tagged each person’s mooncake box.
“Right, Manman, go to the wine cellar and fetch a jar of the yellow wine I brewed before. Xiao Yeyang and the others will definitely eat crabs, and it goes perfectly with yellow wine.”
Wang Manman asked, “Should I fetch a jar of osmanthus wine as well?”
Daohua pondered for a moment, “Bring a jar of that too. Its alcohol content isn’t high, so I suppose it won’t make people drunk.”
Mooncakes, yellow wine, osmanthus wine, osmanthus cakes, as well as all kinds of seasonal vegetables and fruits, along with a few bamboo tubes of jasmine tea and a bag of fried five-spice sunflower seeds—Daohua filled two carts before she finally stopped.
Compared to what Xiao Yeyang sent, the things she sent were not very valuable; they could only provide novelty and freshness, so she had to make up for it in quantity.
The person who delivered the big hairy crabs twitched at the corners of his mouth upon seeing the two full carts of items.
He had arrived with one cart and was leaving with two.
By the looks of it, the Little Prince came out ahead.
…
Wangyue Academy.
After the items were delivered back, Xiao Yeyang called for Yan Wenkai and the others to come to his yard to collect their items.
“Hehe, this time, we also have our own individual mooncakes; we don’t have to only rely on Wenxiu’s share anymore,” Su Hongxin quickly moved the two boxes of mooncakes with his name on them to the side, and then leaned over to check out the others’ shares.
Seeing that everyone’s were pretty much the same, he turned back to open his mooncake box, took out a piece, and started eating, “Mmm, these mooncakes are really delicious.”
Suddenly, a hand reached over.
“Slap!”
Su Hongxin slapped away Yan Wenkai’s hand, guarding his own food box and looked at Yan Wenkai warily, “What are you doing? These mooncakes are mine. If you want to eat, eat your own.”
Yan Wenkai pouted, “It’s just a piece of mooncake, why are you being so stingy?”
Su Hongxin quickly covered the box, “I’m stingy then. Madam Yan sent you so much, and you’re still eyeing mine, don’t you feel ashamed?”
Yan Wenkai, “What do you mean so much? They only gave us one box each to eat; the rest are for giving to the masters and classmates. You all received two boxes each. Why can’t I have a piece?”
Su Hongxin remained unmoved, “You could just choose not to give them away; keep them for yourself to eat.”
Yan Wenkai was speechless; he wouldn’t dare not to give them away—for if he did, his eldest brother would beat him for sure, and perhaps even his own box would be confiscated.
“Hey, Little Prince, why does your mooncake look different from ours?” After Su Hongxin had the mooncake packed away by the young servant, he turned around and saw Xiao Yeyang opening his mooncake box, immediately his eyes bulged in curiosity.
“Ours are all in flower shapes, and yours is a pig’s head?”
Xiao Yeyang glanced sideways at Su Hongxin, and since he was in a good mood at the moment, he didn’t take him to task but quickly covered the box again, “Can’t I like pig’s heads?”
Su Hongxin widened his eyes, “Oh, I get it now, Little Prince, you’re born in the year of the pig, so Madam Yan made your mooncake into the shape of a pig’s head, am I right?”
Xiao Yeyang didn’t respond, but he thought the same thing. However, he hadn’t told Daohua his zodiac sign. Could Wenkai have told her?
The idea that Daohua had made the mooncake into the shape of his zodiac sign made his heart leap with joy.
If Daohua knew, she would definitely explain that she really didn’t know. When making mooncakes, she just wanted to subtly suggest that Xiao Yeyang was a pighead, which is why it ended up looking like that.
Su Hongxin clapped his hands together, “I’m born in the Year of the Pig too, why didn’t you make my mooncake into a pig head, Yan sister? Not to mention, that pig head is quite cute.”
Hearing this, Xiao Yeyang immediately shot Su Hongxin a displeased look, “You talk too much.”
Su Hongxin: Uh… What did I say? How is that talking too much?
Yan Wenkai came over at this moment, patted his shoulder, and said, “You really do talk too much. What’s this about a pig head and not a pig head? Aren’t they all going to be eaten anyway? Who cares about the shape, as long as it tastes good, right? You’re being nosy.”
Su Hongxin was speechless.
How was he being nosy? The Little Prince’s mooncake could be made into a pig head, but his couldn’t?
Yan sister was really hateful, treating people differently. Next time he saw her, he would have to give her a piece of his mind.
…
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhou Jingwan came to the Yan Residence early in the morning.
Seeing her maid carrying something, Daohua immediately smiled and said, “You’re here, what’s with bringing a gift?”
Zhou Jingwan’s face stiffened as she forced a smile, “It’s not a gift, it’s tools for eating crabs.”
The smile disappeared from Daohua’s face as she pretended to be angry, “You’re visiting my house and you’ve brought tools, aren’t you ashamed?”
Zhou Jingwan stepped forward, grabbed Daohua’s arm, and shook it, “Oh Daohua, aren’t we this close? I’m not being formal with you, am I?”
Daohua gave her a look, “Maybe you should be a little more formal with me.” After saying that, she leaned in to look at the tools in the maid’s hands, “What kind of tools are these? They seem so complicated.”
Zhou Jingwan immediately sat Daohua down and started explaining one by one, “Don’t worry, when it’s time to eat the crabs, I’ll do it for you first.”
Wang Manman also leaned in to look at the tools, then said, “Miss, you’ve got crab-eating tools too.”
Daohua was startled and then exclaimed with surprise, “Did Mother prepare them?”
Wang Manman shook her head, “No, they were sent along with the crabs. I took a look, and they’re similar to Miss Zhou’s. Madam has them.”
Hearing this, Zhou Jingwan felt a sting of jealousy, “The Little Prince really shows favoritism, not only did he send you Yang Lake’s finest crabs, but he even sent over the complete set of crab-eating tools.”
Daohua’s eyes immediately lit up with delight, “That guy is quite thoughtful.” After saying this, she pretended to be nonchalant and pouted, “He’s looking down on me, thinking I’m unrefined and that I haven’t tasted crabs before, that’s why he bothered to send the tools as well.”
Seeing her like this, Zhou Jingwan felt a bit pained, “Alright, stop playing the martyr here, go and check if the crabs are ready.”
Daohua nodded and sent Lixia to the kitchen, “Let’s go, we’ll wait in my grandmother’s courtyard.”
…
The front courtyard.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone was resting, but on this day, many people came to visit Yan Zhigao, each one sitting and not leaving, engaging Yan Zhigao with endless chatter.
By midday, Zhou Jingwan’s father, Zhou Guangyi, also came over, carrying a jar of yellow wine.
“Yo, everyone’s here! Why aren’t you all at home celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival?”
The people eyed him and thought to themselves, Aren’t you too not at home?
Zhou Guangyi laughed and raised the jar of yellow wine, “This jar of wine has been aged for dozens of years. I thought it would be a shame to drink it alone, so I came to find Magistrate Yan.”
Yan Zhigao smiled, “Brother Zhou has come at just the right time. I was just lacking a jar of fine wine here.”
With friends and guests filling the occasion, Yan Zhigao was very happy, and the arrival of the Zhou Family patriarch made him feel even more honored.
However, if it were another time, he would be happier.
At the moment, the fellows sitting in his study were all waiting to eat his family’s Yang Lake crabs.
Thinking of the origin of the crabs, Yan Zhigao once again reflected on his mother’s words—his eldest daughter truly was the Yan Family’s lucky star.
Down below, the Academy lecturer Zhu sighed upon seeing Zhou Family’s patriarch also eagerly visiting the Yan Residence.
This Yan Family, they’ve really come a long way.
