After a while, the three girls slowly came to their senses.
"Boss! The mooncakes you made are so delicious!"
"Mm."
"I want another piece!"
"Let's wait until the afternoon. We need to have lunch soon, and mooncakes are quite filling."
"It doesn't matter! These mooncakes are so good, I can eat as many as you give me!"
"Eating too many mooncakes will make you gain weight."
"Eh? Really?"
"Yes."
Zhu Zi hesitated for a moment, then said with great difficulty but determination: "Then I'll wait until the afternoon to eat more!"
"Yaoyao, take two mooncakes to Qiqi for a taste. We need to continue baking the remaining ones."
"Okay, big brother!"
The three of them worked for another while before finishing baking all the mooncakes they had prepared in the morning.
The entire kitchen was filled with the special aroma of baked pastries.
"Zhu Zi, help me get those food boxes we bought this morning."
"Oh!"
Zhu Zi brought some exquisite small food boxes and some clean oil paper.
Opening the boxes, they first lined them with two layers of oil paper, then carefully selected unblemished mooncakes and arranged them neatly inside.
"Boss, should we fill all the boxes?"
"Let's fill one first. We'll take it to Xiangling to try while they're still warm. We'll pack the remaining mooncakes after they cool down in the afternoon."
After filling one food box, Zhu Zi and Shenhe put the remaining mooncakes in the cabinet. They quickly tidied up the kitchen before leaving together.
The two young girls were sitting at the table, chatting about something. Yaoyao was swinging her legs slightly, covering her mouth while giggling non-stop, while Qiqi held a mooncake with an expressionless face.
"Big brother, have you finished baking them all?"
"Yes. We've been busy for so long, it's about time for lunch. Would Miss Qiqi like to join us?"
"No, I'll help watch the store."
"Alright then, thank you, Miss Qiqi. We'll come back in the afternoon to make snow skin mooncakes together. I'll make coconut milk flavored ones for you—you might prefer those."
"Okay."
"Then let's go."
Qiqi watched everyone leave before looking down at the remaining mooncake in her hand.
Yaoyao had said it was very delicious, the most delicious thing she had ever eaten.
After staring at it for a long time, Qiqi finally put the mooncake in her mouth and slowly ate it, savoring it along with the fragrant aroma.
Delicious...
At Wanmin Restaurant, Yaoyao happily greeted Xiangling: "Senior! Yaoyao came to play with you!"
Xiangling smiled and patted her little junior's head: "Did Yaoyao practice with the spear today?"
"I already practiced this morning!"
"Yaoyao is so hardworking."
"Yes!"
Xiangling looked at Xia Zhi curiously and asked: "How did you get to know Yaoyao?"
"I invited Qiqi to come play at the store, and Yaoyao came along with her."
"Oh, I see. What a coincidence."
"Yes, quite a coincidence. We even made mooncakes together this morning."
"Mooncakes?"
"Yes, we brought some mooncakes for you too, just a small gesture."
Xia Zhi handed the small food box to Xiangling as he spoke.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Xia!"
Xiangling quickly accepted it with both hands and expressed her thanks.
Out of politeness, she didn't open the box immediately, though she could feel it was quite heavy—there seemed to be quite a few "mooncakes" inside.
Xia Zhi didn't mind, but the three girls beside him all stared at Xiangling simultaneously.
Xiangling looked up, about to ask what everyone wanted to eat for lunch, when she met their strange gazes.
Xiangling paused: "Why are you all looking at me?"
Yaoyao looked at her and asked: "Senior, don't you want to see the mooncakes we made?"
Xiangling smiled: "I'll look at them when I'm on break. There are many customers right now, and I need to keep working. By the way, what would you like to eat today? Yaoyao, would you like the boiled fish again?"
"I... don't really want boiled fish today."
"How about Qingce Farm dishes?"
"Don't really want those either."
"Liyue cuisine?"
"Don't really want that either."
"Yaoyao, are you sick? Is your appetite not good?"
Yaoyao shook her head: "No, Yaoyao just ate mooncakes, so I'm not hungry right now."
Xiangling immediately lectured: "You're still growing, you can't skip meals just because you're not hungry..."
"Yaoyao knows, I'll eat properly!"
"Good. So, Mr. Xia, what would you like to eat?"
"Does Miss Xiangling have any new dishes today?"
"Yes!"
"Then let's try the new dishes, and add a plate of crab roe tofu. What else would you like?"
Zhu Zi shook her head: "I'm good, Boss. I'm not very hungry."
Shenhe also shook her head: "I'm not very hungry either."
Xia Zhi couldn't help but smile. Baked goods like mooncakes are most tempting when fresh out of the oven. While baking in the kitchen, these two girls couldn't resist their appetite and had eaten several mooncakes, which is why they were feeling full now.
"Then let's add a seaweed egg drop soup to help digest the food."
"Alright, please have a seat and wait a moment."
Xiangling wrote down the order and took the small food box into the kitchen, placing it on an empty table beside the stove.
The box was closed, but there was still a tiny gap through which the fragrance of mooncakes wafted out. Guoba, who was tending the fire behind the stove, caught the scent.
"Mm!?..."
Guoba's spirits lifted immediately, and he turned his head to look at the exquisite food box.
Outside at the table, the four people sat together.
Zhu Zi asked quietly: "Boss, didn't you say this morning that you would cook for Yaoyao?"
Xia Zhi nodded: "Yes, that was my plan, but since Yaoyao declined, we'll leave it at that."
Zhu Zi and Shenhe both looked at Yaoyao, their eyes conveying a "Yaoyao, you're being foolish!" kind of meaning.
It couldn't be helped—after all, Xia Zhi hadn't shown his culinary skills in front of everyone before, only giving some pointers to Xiangling through taste testing. They didn't have a clear concept of his cooking abilities.
It wasn't until they tasted the mooncakes he casually made this morning that they realized how terrifyingly good his culinary skills were.
That taste was like a drug, making it impossible to resist.
The little girl lowered her head weakly.
Zhu Zi looked away and asked quietly: "Boss, why don't you participate in cooking competitions?"
"Because there's no reward for participating in competitions."
"But you could get the title of Liyue's Cooking Champion!"
"And then what?"
"Then we could attract many customers to our store... oh right, there's no need, we already have many customers... *hiccup*..."
Zhu Zi suddenly hiccupped.
"Silly girl."
"I'm not silly."
"I told you not to eat too many mooncakes, but you secretly ate so many. Now you're stuffed, aren't you?"
"Those mooncakes were broken anyway, it would have been a waste not to eat them... *hiccup*."
"I didn't say to throw them away. You could have set them aside. Besides, what's there to waste? Mooncakes aren't difficult to make. If you want to eat them later, I can make more for you."
"*Hiccup*... But the mooncakes smelled so good... I couldn't resist... *hiccup*..."
Zhu Zi's face was red as she covered her mouth, but she couldn't stop hiccupping.
Xia Zhi sighed and beckoned to her: "Come here."
"*Hiccup*?"
"I'll help you settle your breath, quickly."
"*Hiccup*."
Although Zhu Zi didn't know what the boss was going to do, she obediently got up and came to stand in front of him.
"Turn around, face your back to me."
"Oh."
Xia Zhi reached out and gently stroked Zhu Zi's back through her clothes, then lightly pressed at certain points.
Feeling the warmth of the boss's fingers, Zhu Zi's face grew even redder.
After a moment, Xia Zhi withdrew his hand and said: "Done."
"Eh?"
"No more hiccups, right?"
"It really stopped! How did you do that, Boss?"
"Massage—specialized treatment for difficult cases."
"Amazing!"
Yaoyao and Shenhe also thought he was impressive, using just a few light touches on her back to cure Zhu Zi's hiccups.
Just as Yaoyao was about to speak, they suddenly heard their senior's voice from the kitchen.
"Guoba! What are you doing?... How could you eat all the mooncakes!"
Xia Zhi couldn't help but use his detection ability to look over.
In the kitchen, Guoba was looking up at Xiangling with an innocent expression.
Compared to their last meeting, the golden progress bar on his body had suddenly increased by [5%].
Well done with your sneaky eating, Guoba!
----
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