Adorable Food Goddess - Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Everyone shared laughs and stories as the first pot of flour layer was made . Zhong Xiang was responsible for the filling while Wang Mingde was in charge of pressing it into shape .

“It looks delicious,” Helian Jing commented, drooling as he stared at the exquisite looking mooncake .

If only it weren’t needed to be frozen, he would’ve finished a few already .

Ye Jiayao checked the finished products to pick out all those who weren’t up to her standards . Luckily, Zhong Xiang’s technique was so good that there were almost no failures .

“Put them on plates and freeze them,” she ordered once she was done with her inspection .

The first 100 batch needed to be put in iceboxes .

“How long do I have to wait before I can eat it?” Helian Jing asked, sounding a little desperate .

Ye Jiayao resisted the urge to smile at how cute he was . “You’d have to wait at least half an hour, Little Jing . ”

Helian Jing nodded acceptingly and brought a chair over to sit by the icebox .

The team then went on to cook the second pot of sticky rice powder .

When the half-hour mark passed, Helian Jing started pushing them for a taste . Cui Dongpeng went to open the icebox for the Young Royal Highness and immediately backtracked .

He yelled, “Brother Yao, come here! Something’s not right!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and crowded around him .

Ye Jiayao took out a moon cake and noticed that it wasn’t as round and clear as the ones they made before . It was all dried up and some places were even cracked . It was easily broken in half and not as stretchy like before .

“It cracked? How? Why?” Zhong Xiang exclaimed .

“Was the recipe wrong?” Wang Mingde muttered questioningly .

“How could that be? We tested the recipe so many times and it succeeded every time,” Deng Haichuan said .

Was there something wrong with the ingredients?
Ye Jiayao shook her head . “Check the ingredients, we must find the cause of this . ”

Helian Jing picked up one of the defective mooncakes and said, “I’m sure it’ll still be very delicious . ”

“No . It has to look good and taste good,” Ye Jiayao said . She was hoping to catapult mooncakes into fame so she has to make their debut nothing less of spectacular .

Everyone split up to look for what might have been the cause, but no one could find anything . They all turned to Ye Jiayao, not knowing what to do .

Ye Jiayao frowned as she stared at the second pot that was about to be ready .

They’ve run through this recipe numerous times so that wasn’t the problem . They all tried to find what faulty ingredients caused this, but they found none . What the f*ck is the problem here?

“Put this batch in the freezer and test it . Don’t make any more until these come out . ” If they turned out to be the same, it meant that somehow, something went wrong with the recipe .

The lighthearted talks and laughter that was previously running in the kitchen disappeared . Everyone was now looking at the icebox with wariness and apprehension . Every second of the wait was filled with tension and anxiety .

Helian Jing had never seen Yaoyao looked this worried before . “Yaoyao, don’t worry too much . I think that looks okay like that . ”

Ye Jiayao knew that even if looked like utter horse crap, Little Jing would still tell her that it was the most appetizing thing in the world . She knew that she could present these as it was and she would still get paid in full . However, she wasn’t wired like that . She had worked long and hard at this and she’ll be damned if it wasn’t going to look perfect .

“Little Jing, can you please give us a few minutes? My mind is in chaos right now,” Ye Jiayao told him .

Helian Jing wanted to protest, but Deng Haichuan said, “When we find the problem, we’ll inform you, Young Royal Highness . ”

Helian Jing reluctantly left the kitchen .

“Time’s up,” Zhong Xiang called out .

They opened the lid and took the mooncakes out .

“Hmm? This batch is fine!” Deng Haichuan announced happily .

Ye Jiayao tried one and smiled .

“Two batches of mooncakes, same recipe, same process . . . but one came out differently . It only meant that the previous ingredients we used had problems,” Ye Jiayao concluded .

Zhong Xiang frowned . “But they’re the same batch of ingredients! If some are faulty, they should all be faulty . ”

Ye Jiayao had a cold look in her eyes when she suggested, “What if someone did something to it?”

Everyone was shaken .

Ye Jiayao continued, “Brother Xiang and Wang Mingde bought the ingredients together and I trust them . ”

“We checked the ingredients before and they were all fine,” Wang Minde said .

“The first batch used ingredients from the top of the pile . It’s obvious that someone did things to the top of the stack . Our ingredients are kept in the kitchen so everyone can see it as they walk in and out . They couldn’t have done it during the day so they probably did this at night . Think . Who would do such thing?” Ye Jiayao asked .

Ye Jiayao felt anxious . Why would anyone do this? Was he jealous? Angry? Regardless of his motive, she had to pull this bastard out . She can’t risk accepting huge deals like this when someone’s out there just waiting to sabotage her .

“I really don’t know anyone who would do this,” Zhong Xiang said helplessly, shaking his head .

“Yeah, ever since you came, everyone in Heavenly Residence had been good,” Deng Haichuan said .

“No, no . Some people weren’t happy that we were the ones chosen by Brother Yao,” Cui Dongpeng pointed out .

“Those are all just complaints and grumbles . They wouldn’t harm us like that,” Deng Haichuan defended, clearly knowing who Cui Dongpeng was talking about .

“You can’t say that for sure . How can you know what’s really in a person’s heart?” Cui Dongpeng reasoned .

“You mean Liu Qisheng?” Ye Jiayao guessed . Liu Qisheng was Zhong Xiang’s previous crony who held a rally against her . Now that Zhong Xiang had given up going against her and instead became her right hand, Liu Qisheng must be feeling betrayed .

Zhong Xiang’s face dropped .

Cui Dongpeng analyzed, “We did a test the day before yesterday and everything was fine so you said that we don’t need to test anymore . There weren’t many people around, but I remember that Liu Qisheng was there . He must’ve done it between two nights ago and last night because he’s sure that we wouldn’t check the ingredients again . ”

“That’s very logical,” Ye Jiayao agreed .

“But we can’t just point fingers at Liu Qisheng . Everyone there is also suspicious,” Zhong Xiang said, trying to stand up for Liu Qisheng .

Wang Mingde suddenly blurted out, “I remember something! Two nights ago, at midnight, I’m pretty sure I saw Liu Qisheng sneaking back to his room . ”

“Perhaps he just went to the toilet,” Zhong Xiang tried .

Wang Mingde shook his head . “No, it didn’t look like it . Since when did he care about not waking anyone up when he goes to the toilet? No, that was different . He was sneaking back in, tip-toeing and trying to be stealthy . ”

Everyone fell silent at that . Zhong Xiang looked sad and disappointed .

Ye Jiayao deduced, “From how the flour base cracked open, I’m guessing it was because the sticky rice powder was mixed with flour . Yang’s white flour is very fine and is very hard to distinguish from the sticky rice powder . Right now, Liu Qisheng is our only suspect . However, until we have concrete evidence, this stays among us . We’ll get to the bottom of this once the feast is finished . ”

“What do we do with these 100 mooncakes?” Deng Haichuan asked .

“It’s useless . ” That almost physically hurt Ye Jiayao . This lot cost 100 silver pieces!

“We can eat it ourselves,” Wang Mingde suggested .

Ye Jiayao nodded helplessly . “You guys can keep 20, I’ll take the rest . ”

She would give it to Uncle and Auntie Jiang .

“Okay, get back to work . Brother Xiang, I’ll leave this to you . You must keep everything in check, alright?

“Where are you going?” Zhong Xiang asked .

Ye Jiayao replied,”We don’t have enough fillings, I need to go back to make them!”

Everyone worked until the sun rose . After they have made 400 mooncakes, they then moved on to steamed longevity peaches . They needed to make a large quantity of this so that they could give it to neighbors and passerby .

In order to get the day off to participate in the Old Royal Concubine’s birthday celebration, Xia Chunyu worked for three days in a row .

He came to the Helian Mansion early in the morning to help accommodate the guests . He and Helian Xuan stood side by side welcoming guests . One wore a purple and gold snake cloak and another wore sea and cloud cotton cloak . They both looked handsome and regal .

“I heard sister-in-law has quite the heart . Helian Jing told me that there was a problem with 100 pieces of mooncakes . Sister-in-law decided to just throw it away instead of serving it,” Helian Xuan told him .

“How could something like that happen?” Xia Chunyu was surprised . Yaoyao always did things carefully and meticulously . Yaoyao must be heartbroken with that much waste .

“That I don’t know . ” Helian Xuan shrugged . “By the way, I’ve invited Mu Shilang like you asked . What are you planning?”

“I want to see someone from his family,” Xia Chunyu answered vaguely .

“Man or woman?” Helian Xuan turned to him, intrigued .

Xia Chunyu smiled and shook his head . “You’ll know in time . ”

This was a good opportunity to rub elbows with high ranking nobles that Wei Liujiang wouldn’t pass up . Xia Chunyu was hoping that Ye Jinrong would come as well so he could set things in motion .

If all goes to plan, this was the first step in his quest to avenge Yaoyao .

Xia Chunyu tried to sneak into the kitchen, but just as he was about to enter, Helian Jing came out the door .

“Brother Chunyu, what are you doing here? Are you looking for some food or Yaoyao?” He Lianjing asked . “If you’re looking for Yaoyao, he’s really busy now . He even kicked me out . ”

Xia Chunyu lied, “I came to find you . Your brother and I are so busy that we don’t even have the time to go to the toilet but you’re just here, scrounging for food . Your brother told me to bring you back . ”

Helian Jing protested, “I wasn’t running away, I promise . I was just keeping watch with the food since that’s the most important part of the celebration!”

“You don’t need to explain to me . Go tell that to your brother . ” Xia Chunyu turned away and left .

Helian Jing quickly followed behind him . “Where’s Chunfeng? He said he would help in the morning . ”

“He’s already here . He’s watching the circus with Zhao Qixuan and the others . ”

“Is that what he calls helping?” Helian Jing murmured exasperatedly .

The two was just coming out of the kitchen when they overheard someone report, “Lord Mu Shilang is here . ”

Xia Chunyu stopped and watched as Mu Shilang walked in with Mu Qingchu and Wei Liujiang . Behind them, with a manager maid and Mu Shilang’s wife, was Ye Jinrong .