Mid-Autumn Mooncakes

Tianfu City.

After the turmoil of the previous period,

it had only recently begun to recover and grow prosperous and lively again, because the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching.

In later generations, every such festival was a carnival for capitalists.

Now Jun Jingyi had decided to carry on that tradition in this world.

"Mooncakes?"

Sikong Ye and Jun Yixue looked at the food Jun Jingyi had made on the plate, their heads full of questions.

In this world, there was no custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Although it was also a day for family reunions,

most people simply gathered with their families for a meal.

"That's right. Don't you think they look like the moon?" Jun Jingyi smiled. "In ancient times, people offered these as sacrifices to the moon god!"

"The moon god?"

Jun Yixue looked up at the silent night sky and the bright moon hanging high above.

"A deity lives up there?"

"Wait, how do you know that, brother?"

Jun Yixue looked at Jun Jingyi in puzzlement.

"I read it in a book..."

Jun Jingyi spoke as though it were only natural. "It was in a miscellaneous book I read as a child. It said there was a palace on the moon."

"A beautiful fairy named Chang'e lives there..."

As he spoke, Jun Jingyi brought over the story of Chang'e and Da Yi.

As for mooncakes,

they were something Da Yi made whenever he missed Chang'e at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Of course, he had made that story up.

But that didn't matter.

What mattered was that the story was romantic and deeply affectionate, just what the talented scholars and gifted ladies of this era had in mind.

So with this story and the mooncakes, he was sure to sell a lot!

Just look at his little sister's expression.

That look of wonder, so absorbed in the story... sure enough, the effect this kind of story had on young girls was unparalleled.

Now he understood the capitalists of later generations a little better.

How much money could he make just selling things? There was no class to it at all. But look, make up a story... and give these mooncakes some nice packaging.

Six to a box-how could he not sell them for ten taels of silver?

It only came once a year!

"Ten taels of silver?"

Sikong Ye froze with half a mooncake in his mouth.

The delicacy he had been enjoying suddenly refused to go down. He felt like he was eating gold!

This was outrageous!

That was equivalent to eating a tenth of a residence in Tianfu City.

"Th-there's no way anyone would buy them, right?"

Jun Yixue was shocked too.

"How about we make a bet?"

Jun Jingyi chuckled.

As someone from a later generation, he had seen far too many goods that weren't worth their price, yet were nevertheless driven up to astronomical prices as a matter of course.

This was called packaging!

"Uh..."

Sikong Ye fell silent.

In the past, he would have agreed without hesitation.

But now...

Heh.

The fellow in front of him was a profiteer who sold wine that cost a few dozen copper coins to make for a hundred taels...

"Tsk!"

Seeing this, Jun Jingyi found it a little dull. He then had a servant bring over some beautifully packaged mooncakes.

He handed some to Jun Yixue and said, "The Mid-Autumn Festival is in a few days. Consider these a gift. You can give them to your girlfriends."

"Really?"

Jun Yixue was surprised, then delighted.

She gave Jun Jingyi an affectionate hug.

"Uh... ahem!"

Jun Jingyi cleared his throat, then looked at Sikong Ye. "I'll give you the recipe later. Go find people, lots of people. I'll pay them to help me make mooncakes."

"Then have the restaurant spread the word and start promoting the story I just told tomorrow. At the same time, offer a limited tasting of a hundred mooncakes a day at the restaurant entrance."

"All right. What's the reward?"

Sikong Ye nodded calmly and asked the question casually.

He had grown used to it lately: there was always something to gain from doing things for Jun Jingyi, and he was happy to help.

He even kept feeling that all those years before had been lived in vain.

He hadn't been poor, but he hadn't been rich either. It was nothing like these past days. Heh, he could now be considered a man of modest wealth in Tianfu City!

Jun Jingyi clutched his forehead, his head aching.

Heavens, give me back my innocent, kindhearted Sikong Ye!

The next day.

At the fourth prince's residence.

"Mooncakes?"

The fourth prince looked at the attractive box before him in puzzlement.

"They were sent by the Jun Residence. They said the young marquis sent them for Your Highness to try. They also said that one should eat mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival!"

"Uh, is there a reason for that?"

The fourth prince was taken aback.

Why should one eat mooncakes just because the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching?

"Hmm..."

After thinking for a moment, the guard repeated the story the servant from the Jun Residence had told him.

"The Moon Palace? Chang'e? Da Yi, uh..."

The fourth prince fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

Although he had never heard the story before, it was indeed a very good one. For a moment, he too grew curious about the mooncakes in the box.

What would the food Da Yi made in the story while missing the fairy in the Moon Palace be like?

He opened the box.

Looking at the mooncakes, he understood a little why they were called that. They did look very much like the moon.

He took a small taste.

"Oh, they taste good..."

The fourth prince was surprised. He had grown up in the palace; what delicacies hadn't he eaten? Yet he was still amazed by this.

Inside the mooncake's thin layer of wheat-flour pastry were all sorts of fruits and preserved fruits.

It was sweet, and apart from being a little hard, it had a distinctive flavor, especially when the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching and he was eating the same thing as the person in the story.

Not bad.

As he ate, the fourth prince looked at the remaining mooncakes and called out, "Pack them up and send them back to the Capital, for... Imperial Father to try!"

As he spoke, his eyes flickered.

Because of his mother's death, he didn't much like this father of his, but he had no choice. He needed to compete for that position, and that meant currying favor with him.

Unless one day he had the strength to disregard all of this and still take revenge on that man.

"Yes!"

The guard hurriedly nodded and packed them up.