Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Busy times always pass quickly, and soon it is the end of the month again.

On this day, Mr. Zheng from the town came to the restaurant to order a banquet to celebrate his old grandfather's 60th birthday. He heard that the honey-offering flower cakes for the Tianfu Festival were made by the chef of Yuelai Restaurant, so he specially ordered a plate of birthday flower cakes.

Honey flower cakes are offered to Bodhisattvas, so their shapes are ingenious, which tests the maker's aesthetic taste and craftsmanship. The shape of longevity peach flower cakes is much simpler. The popular practice here is to make the longevity peach as big as possible. As long as it can stand up and not crack or deform, it is considered a good craftsmanship.

Because the honey flower cake that Shen Yu made last time was extremely beautiful in shape, soft and sweet, Shopkeeper Fan was well aware of Shen Yu's level of flower cake making, so he didn't need to ask Shen Yu this time and just agreed directly.

He told Shen Yu about the purpose and size of the flower cake, ordered the ingredients according to the required list, sent them to the kitchen, and left with peace of mind.

The birthday cakes are to be placed in the main hall together with the gifts from children, grandchildren, relatives and friends, so that all the guests can see them. So they must be prepared in advance and delivered early in the morning on the birthday banquet day.

The kitchen staff couldn't help with making the flower cake. Shen Yu started making it after lunch the day before the birthday banquet and worked until midnight before he finished it. He carefully placed it on the table to cool.

Early the next morning, when everyone entered the kitchen, they saw Shen Yu sleeping soundly on a small stool next to a small table by the window.

On the large table in the middle, there was a big flower cake in the shape of a longevity peach. People had seen longevity peach flower cakes before, but the one made by Shen Yu was not the common flower cake with only a longevity peach shape, but a big pink longevity peach with green leaves. On the tip of the peach, a birthday star with a long silver beard was leaning on a gourd cane, holding a big longevity peach in his hand, standing among the flowers with a smile on his face. Next to him was a tame sika deer and a white crane spreading its wings as if ready to fly. It was vivid and looked like a picture of offering longevity in Nanshan.

Shopkeeper Fan also came early today because of the order from Mr. Zheng's family. After seeing the finished flower cakes, he praised them repeatedly. After the flower cakes were put into a large food box, he personally led his people to carry the food box and delivered it to Mr. Zheng's family who lived at the north end of the town.

When Shen Yu finished making the flower cake and was waiting for it to cool down, he was afraid that the sweet smell of the flower cake would attract mice, so he didn't dare to go back to sleep. He kept staring at it until dawn, when he could no longer hold on and took a nap.

I felt relieved only when I saw Manager Fan packing the flower cakes into boxes and carrying them away.

Seeing that Shen Yu had been up all night, Chef Lu quietly pulled her aside and urged her to go back to the courtyard to sleep for a while. He said with concern, "It's still early now, and there's no market day today. It's Old Master Zheng's 60th birthday, and the wealthy families in the town will definitely go to celebrate for Mr. Zheng's sake. There won't be many people coming to the restaurant to drink. You can go back and sleep for an hour and then come back to make noodles. I'll ask Liu Wu to call you then."

Shen Yu had been busy all day yesterday and hadn't slept all night. Although he was young, he was really sleepy at the moment. He thanked Chef Lu, accepted his request with a smile, took off his apron, and went back to the small courtyard at the end of the alley to catch up on his sleep.

Unexpectedly, she slept until almost noon, and Liu Wu did not come to knock on the door. She was so upset that she quickly tidied her clothes and hair and ran to the kitchen. Chef Lu saw her coming and asked curiously, "Why did I not call you and you came here?"

Shen Yu was a little embarrassed: "I was planning to take a nap, but I didn't expect to sleep for so long. Did I miss Brother Liu Wu calling me? Did I miss anything?"

Chef Lu said nonchalantly, "I didn't ask Liu Wu to call you. The noodles for Old Master Zheng's banquet were cooked early in the morning and are now ready. The birthday noodles should be made by the family members themselves, and the restaurant doesn't need to prepare them. There are not many guests in the restaurant today, so there is no need to make so many silver noodles and five-blessing cakes."

Only then did Shen Yu notice that the yard was not as lively as usual today. The doors of most of the private rooms were closed, and the waiters were sitting in groups of three or four chatting.

She was surprised. She didn't expect that so many people would come to support the birthday party of the father of a juren.

When the sun was setting, Manager Fan came back with a beaming face. He handed a purse to Shen Yu and said, "Miss Shen, you are really good at cooking. Now you are famous in the town, and even our restaurant will benefit from it."

Shopkeeper Fan stayed at Mr. Zheng's place for a whole day today, and when he came back he was full of joy. The waiters saw how happy he was, and as there were not many customers in the restaurant at that time, they all gathered around him and asked him to tell them what made him so happy.

It turned out that Mr. Zheng and the governor of Ji'an Prefecture were from the same clan, and their family was the most powerful in the town.

He usually looked down on businessmen like his boss. In the past, when he ordered a meal, the butler would receive the guests and leave after that.

Unexpectedly, the flower cakes delivered today won the favor of Old Lady Zheng, who said that they were made with great care and were a good omen. Not only did Shopkeeper Fan not let him leave immediately after delivering the flower cakes, he also kept him until the banquet started at noon and gave him a seat to eat at the birthday banquet before letting him go.

During the banquet, all the guests who came to celebrate the birthday said that the flower cake was well-made and auspicious. They said that the old man had been favored by the Immortal of the South Pole and would surely live a long life.

A group of guests said auspicious words without paying, which made the old man even happier. He called the shopkeeper Fan to his side and asked who made it and how he could come up with such a clever idea. In addition to giving money to the restaurant, he also gave an extra reward, saying that it was specially given to Miss Shen who made the flower cake. Now, the rich people present knew who made the lifelike Nanshan Longevity Flower Cake.

After hearing this, everyone was envious and started to urge Shen Yu to open his purse to see how much reward Master Zheng had given him.

Shen Yu had no choice but to untie the tie on the mouth of his purse in front of everyone and pour it onto the table. Unexpectedly, a small golden ingot rolled out.

Everyone exclaimed "Wow", a guy carefully picked it up, looked at it carefully, and exclaimed: "I have grown up, and this is the first time I have seen a gold ingot. It turns out that a gold ingot looks like this."

The guys next to them also came over, passing the ball to each other, carefully holding it in their hands and looking at it, and finally carefully handing it back to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu was also surprised as he was watching from the side. He thought that the reward would be the same as the one given by the boss, silver ingots or something like that. He didn't expect that Old Master Zheng would be so generous as to give gold ingots.

Shopkeeper Fan looked at the young boys who looked like they had never seen the world and laughed and scolded them, "This is not the gold ingots that are circulated in the market. This is the gold ingot specially made by wealthy families to reward people. It weighs one tael each. Gold ingots are much bigger than this. The smallest one weighs ten taels each. You guys weigh it. It's not even ten taels heavy."

Shen Yu took it in his hand and looked at it carefully. Indeed, this gold ingot was only about an inch in size, with the words "Fu Shou Kang Ning" (happiness, longevity, health and peace) inscribed on it. It looked like a small pendant with exquisite workmanship.

Shopkeeper Fan turned to Shen Yu and said, "This is a special gift from Old Master Zheng. It is a rare honor. You should keep it well. It is a birthday gift from an old man. It is a blessing. Don't spend it easily. You don't have to treat everyone every time you receive a gift. They have their own rewards."

Shen Yu agreed with a smile, put the gold ingot back into the purse, tightened the bag opening, and stuffed it into his sleeve pocket.

Shopkeeper Fan went on to say, "Today is Old Master Zheng's birthday, and he has specially distributed longevity cakes and fruits as a reward. You can each take some."

The guys then noticed that the food boxes they had brought back were not empty. Inside were packages of lucky dumplings sealed with colored paper sticks. When they opened them, they found four round crispy cakes with the word "longevity" printed on them in red. Another layer was filled with a box of pomegranates and grapes.

Everyone happily took some cakes and fruits, and were still discussing Mr. Zheng's birthday party with great interest.

Shen Yu was even happier in his heart, but he tried not to show it on his face and kept a calm expression.

When she finished work in the evening and returned to the yard and closed the doors and windows, she took out her purse, rolled over on the bed with joy, and laughed secretly with her hands covering her mouth.

I’m rich, I’m rich. One tael of gold is equivalent to ten taels of silver. Now I have capital.

With a vision of the future, Shen Yu had a beautiful dream. In the dream, she stood in front of a large restaurant with a colorful silk door. In front of her stood two rows of waiters, who shouted to her in unison: "Good morning, boss!"

The next morning, Shen Yu was awakened by his own beautiful dream.