After buying the ingredients at the market, they returned to the shop.
Shenhe casually put down the large cloth bag she had been carrying, making a characteristic dull thud of heavy objects hitting the ground.
Xia Zhi "looked" at her slender arms, thinking that as expected of an adeptus's disciple, she indeed possessed supernatural strength.
Zhu Zi and Yaoyao crouched down and sorted out the pile of items from the bag.
"Boss, what should we do next?"
"I'll knead the dough, Zhu Zi, you'll assist me. Miss Shenhe, Miss Qiqi, and Yaoyao, please help process the fillings - like shelling the pine nuts, washing the dates, cutting the ham into small pieces... This way, when I'm done kneading the dough, we can start mixing the fillings right away."
Xia Zhi walked into the kitchen, where pots and pans were already prepared - some left by previous tenants, some bought by himself.
Since moving into this house, he hadn't properly cooked a meal yet, though he would boil water daily, letting it cool for use as juice base.
Zhu Zi followed him in; she boiled water in the kitchen every day and was familiar with everything there.
"Boss, I found the basin, it's against the wall. It looks clean inside, no mold."
"We should still rinse it with hot water."
"Alright."
After washing the basin and his hands, Xia Zhi poured flour and water into it, put his fingers in, and slowly started kneading the dough.
Zhu Zi stood beside him, watching as the pasty flour gradually turned into a smooth dough. She felt there was an indescribable beauty in the boss's seemingly casual kneading technique.
This was actually Xia Zhi's first time kneading dough, but with the enhancement of [Culinary Mastery], it felt as if he had done it countless times before.
The soft, fine dough kept changing shape under his long fingers.
As Zhu Zi watched, she suddenly lowered her head, a flush of red appearing on her fair neck.
Xia Zhi had no idea what she was thinking about.
"Zhu Zi."
"Ah?"
"Go find a clean cloth to cover the dough. It needs to rest for a while before we can use it."
"Oh!"
Zhu Zi ran off to find cloth, her face still red and flustered.
Xia Zhi shook his head, not particularly interested in guessing the changing thoughts of a girl in her prime.
His thoughts turned to Yaoyao and Xiangling.
As disciples of the same adeptus, both girls had Visions, but why didn't Xiangling have a progress bar while Yaoyao did?
After pondering for a while without finding an answer, he waited until Zhu Zi returned with the cloth, covered the basin and set it aside, then continued making the oil-flour mixture.
The oil-flour mixture was actually similar to the dough he just made, except it used oil instead of water.
There were many methods to make it, with three being commonly used.
The first method was to add cold oil to the flour and slowly stir with chopsticks until it became a fine paste.
The second method was to pour hot oil into the flour bit by bit, stirring between each addition.
The third method was to heat the oil first, then let it cool somewhat before slowly mixing it with flour.
Each method had its own advantages, but Xia Zhi wasn't planning to choose between them. He was making many mooncakes today, so he wanted all three types of oil-flour mixture.
However, the oil-flour mixture was just an additive and didn't need much.
Xia Zhi took out three large bowls, scooped some flour, and started mixing casually.
Though his eyes couldn't see, the oil stream from his pot flowed like a straight thin line, giving the impression that even if an ancient coin were placed underneath, not a drop of oil would touch its small hole.
Zhu Zi watched in a daze, only coming back to her senses when he put away the oil pot. She couldn't help but swallow and asked softly, "Boss, what did you do before?"
Xia Zhi turned his head and said in a low voice, "I killed people."
"Ah?!"
"Just kidding."
"Boss!"
"I'm just an ordinary person."
"I don't believe it! Your hands are so steady!"
"Do less mischief at night, and your hands won't shake."
"I don't do any mischief at night!"
"I wasn't talking about you."
"..."
Zhu Zi's face reddened again, and she fell silent.
"Alright, everything's done. Let's go outside."
"Oh."
Coming out of the kitchen, they saw Shenhe leading Yaoyao and Qiqi in shelling peanuts and melon seeds at the table.
The hard shells cracked with crisp sounds, and nuts rolled out, caught by hands and placed in porcelain bowls on the table.
Sometimes Shenhe used too much force and accidentally crushed the kernels. She would gently blow away the broken shells and feed the nuts to Yaoyao.
In these moments, she showed a gentle, housewife-like quality.
It was clear that although Miss Shenhe wasn't good at expressing emotions outwardly, she truly doted on her little junior disciple Yaoyao.
Xia Zhi and Zhu Zi went over to help.
They chatted while working, occasionally snacking, and incidentally increasing Yaoyao's silver progress bar - it was quite pleasant.
Xia Zhi felt that things in this world tasted somewhat better than in his original world, though it might just be due to different varieties.
Only Qiqi remained quiet. As a zombie, she couldn't taste food. She kept her head down while working and never put anything in her mouth on her own.
However, if Xia Zhi fed her, Qiqi would gently open her mouth, eat what he gave her, and softly say thank you.
By the time they finished processing all the purchased ingredients, everyone's stomachs were half full.
Xia Zhi went to check on the dough in the kitchen, tested its elasticity with his hands, felt it had risen enough, and brought the basin outside along with a cutting board.
"Let's make the mooncakes for lunch first. I'll make the skins, and you all can do the wrapping. Just use whatever fillings you like, but remember to make a mark so we can identify them after baking."
"Okay!"
"I'll make one mooncake to show you. Like this - wrap the filling inside, seal it, and normally we'd use a mold to compress it, but since we don't have one now, we'll use small wine cups instead."
"What an interesting method!"
As he spoke, a beautiful mooncake took shape in Xia Zhi's hands.
Everyone started working enthusiastically. Although their first attempts weren't very pretty, after making a few more, they began to look quite presentable.
What surprised Xia Zhi was that among everyone, the youngest, Yaoyao, made the best mooncakes.
Zhu Zi couldn't help praising her: "Yaoyao is amazing, such talent for cooking!"
Yaoyao smiled happily: "Senior Sister says the same thing! Yaoyao can cook! I used to help Senior Sister in the kitchen, so I'm from a prestigious culinary lineage!"
Xia Zhi asked, "Is the Senior Sister Yaoyao mentions Miss Xiangling?"
Yaoyao nodded: "Mm!"
"Does Yaoyao often eat at Wanmin Restaurant?"
"Very often! Senior Sister's cooking is delicious! Yaoyao loves it!"
"We often eat at Wanmin Restaurant too. Miss Xiangling's cooking is indeed excellent. What are Yaoyao's favorite dishes?"
"Qingce Stir Fry, Come Come Cuisine, Boiled Fish..."
"I see."
Xia Zhi "looked" at her silver progress bar that was about to be filled and smiled slightly.
"I happen to know a bit about cooking too. How about I make these three dishes for lunch today? Yaoyao can try them and see if they're as good as your Senior Sister Xiangling's?"
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