The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 20: Mung Bean Cake and Mung Bean Pastry
"Mom, you put so much sugar and oil."
Chen Sufen watched as Tong Huaqiong poured sugar and oil into the mung bean paste and felt a pang of heartache.
"To make tasty pastries, you have to be generous with the ingredients," Tong Huaqiong said.
Though sugar and oil weren’t considered rare by the common folk of that era, not every family was willing to indulge in them.
Unlike later times with abundant resources, people no longer bent over the fields daily only to risk high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol, discussing sugar and oil without fear; to them here, sugar and oil were treasures.
Only by being generous with sugar and oil in pastries could one attract customers.
Tong Huaqiong thought about how people in the future would reduce sugar even in milk tea and realize that highly-praised pastries were often not sweet.
Here, pastries that aren’t sweet would likely be cursed as unscrupulous business tactics, dooming one’s avenue for earning a living.
During the day, Tong Huaqiong used all the money earned from selling dry cakes to buy white sugar.
Without molds, Tong Huaqiong made quick work of forming an exquisite mung bean cake with her skillful hands.
Chen Sufen and Gu Taohua watched closely.
"Mother’s skills are even better than the master chefs in town bakeries," Gu Taohua praised.
Who would have thought that mom had such incredible craftsmanship?
Why hadn’t she shown this before?
"Grandma’s mung bean cakes are really pretty," Man Er exclaimed alongside her aunt.
"This will have to do for now," Tong Huaqiong was still somewhat dissatisfied, finding the shape too basic.
"With molds, more shapes would be possible, which would make it more appealing," Tong Huaqiong said, tinged with slight regret.
But there’s no rush; first, she aimed to accumulate some initial capital. Once they had money, she’d plan to visit the city, confident that competent craftsmen with unique skills were abundant in this era. Certainly, she could find the mold she wanted.
And if not, she’d draw designs and commission craftsmen to customize.
"Big sister’s porcelain shop has molds,"
Just as Chen Sufen mentioned Gu Baishuang, her eyes darted nervously towards Tong Huaqiong.
She knew her mother-in-law disliked her big sister-in-law, who also disliked Tong Huaqiong; they had cursed at each other in front of their father-in-law’s altar, severing ties between them.
Tong Huaqiong acted indifferently at Chen Sufen’s mention of Gu Baishuang, instead smilingly saying, "If your big sister is willing to do business with us, I’d also be happy to buy molds from her shop."
While Tong Huaqiong was occupied making mung bean cakes, Chen Sufen began baking dry cakes again.
Skillfully clever, Chen Sufen only needed Tong Huaqiong to teach her twice before she mastered the technique. Coupled with her straightforward nature, she religiously adhered to her mother-in-law’s request, generously adding sesame seeds and coating both sides of the dry cake with syrup.
Soon a basket of golden dry cakes emerged fresh.
Gu Taohua couldn’t resist the enticing aroma, reaching out for one.
"Everyone, just one each,"
This time, Tong Huaqiong didn’t scold Gu Taohua. Taohua had contributed significantly over the past few days, albeit sometimes stubbornly pushing Chen Sufen around to work or competing with Man Er for food. But overall, this piece of bad bamboo was showing signs of growing straighter.
She couldn’t expect to straighten the lazy, greedy Gu Taohua immediately.
Haste might lead to failure.
Given Tong Huaqiong’s permission, Gu Taohua quickly grabbed a dry cake regardless of its hotness and gobbled it while passing another piece to the busy Tong Huaqiong.
Tong Huaqiong took it and ate!
Chen Sufen and Man Er followed suit, joining in.
"Man Er, after you finish, get ready for bed," Tong Huaqiong instructed.
Youngsters growing up shouldn’t stay up late.
Having finished the dry cake, Tong Huaqiong lifted the suet dough in the mixing bowl.
She intended to use the leftover mung bean paste to bake mung bean pastries, with this suet dough being crucial for the pastry crust.
"Taohua, you should rest too. Your sister-in-law and I will keep watch. Tomorrow morning we need you to join us going to town,"
Tong Huaqiong directed Gu Taohua to sleep.
Not necessarily out of concern for her daughter over her daughter-in-law, mainly because Gu Taohua’s fire-stoking skills were lacking, she feared the mung bean pastries would be ruined by Gu Taohua.
Better she rest up now, and tomorrow she could rely on Gu Taohua to carry the basket.
Gu Taohua nodded and swiftly snatched up a mung bean pastry, darting out from the stove. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
Chen Sufen took Gu Taohua’s place at the stove, tending the fire while Tong Huaqiong started shaping the mung bean pastries.
Mung bean pastries were more complex than mung bean cakes.
Mung bean cakes required only cooking the mung bean paste and shaping it, whereas mung bean pastries involved wrapping with an oily crust and baking.
Every step required careful attention.
Especially the baking, as failing to control the heat would ruin the taste of the mung bean pastries.
With little money on hand, Tong Huaqiong couldn’t afford to waste ingredients and start over due to failures.
Hence, she meticulously crafted each batch, observing the heat seriously.
In this era without thermometers, one had to rely on experience.
Thankfully, Chen Sufen had the experience of controlling the hearth’s heat, which was a huge help.
"Sufen, you’ve worked hard. You won’t go unpaid. Once we make profits, you’ll get your share," Tong Huaqiong said as she placed mung bean pastries into a big iron pan.
On hearing this, Chen Sufen quickly shook her head, saying, "We’re family, no need to talk about money."
As long as her mother-in-law didn’t torment her, her second brother-in-law’s family didn’t work her to death, her younger brother-in-law didn’t harbor ill thoughts, her sister-in-law got along with her, and Man Er wasn’t mistreated in this household.
She was content.
She dared not hope for more!
Tong Huaqiong chuckled softly, shaking her head; Chen Sufen was like an ancient steamed bun.
No wonder the original Tong Dajiao had bullied her relentlessly!
"Your words don’t matter, but mine do," Tong Huaqiong asserted authoritatively.
Given Chen Sufen’s temperament, Tong Huaqiong had to wield authority.
"Also, forgot to mention. A few days ago, I went to the Zheng Family to annul the engagement. Upon selling buns at the dock, I went to find Da Han, but he wasn’t there. His coworkers said he went to the city to work for a wealthy family. Next time he comes home, he won’t be allowed to wander outside. He’ll work here at home instead."
Keeping Gu Dahuan at home was a huge relief for Chen Sufen.
Afterward, their family of three could stay together, and she wouldn’t have to worry about her husband working outside as much.
Fearing failure might waste materials, Tong Huaqiong only baked one batch of mung bean cakes.
Estimating the time was about right, she started to take the batch off the stove.
As she lifted the lid, the aroma wafted out first. Tong Huaqiong inhaled deeply, carefully prying out the mung bean pastry.
After moving all the mung bean pastries into a basket, Tong Huaqiong took one, cracked it open, giving herself half, and handing the other half to Chen Sufen.
Fragrant without being overwhelming, sweet without being cloying, and flaky enough to crumble.
Tong Huaqiong couldn’t help but commend herself; who would’ve thought she could make such delicious mung bean pastries under primitive conditions?
If she could return, she might become a culinary video sensation, possibly a new food influencer.
No doubt, she’d be akin to Wang Gang in the baking world!
"How does it taste?" Tong Huaqiong asked, blowing away the steam from the mung bean pastry.
"Delicious,"
Originally intending to save it for Man Er, the aroma from the mung bean pastry was too tempting for Chen Sufen to resist indulging.
This was the tastiest mung bean pastry she’d had, surpassing the confections mother-in-law had once brought from Pingchuan County.
The two exchanged smiles; the mung bean pastry succeeded, ready for tomorrow’s launch in town.
Tong Huaqiong was unaware that many in Qinghe Bay had been awoken by the fragrance from the Gu Family, sniffing the air, searching for the source of the aroma, some children even driven to tears by it.
After tidying up the kitchen, Tong Huaqiong and Chen Sufen brought the freshly made pastries into their room.
Fearing Gu Dashu’s family might behave unscrupulously and sneak in, she was cautious to prevent stealing.
Lying on the bed, with aching arms, Tong Huaqiong still thought about how to potentially leverage this era’s materials to create more delicious pastries.
"If butter and assorted dried fruits could be added, it would definitely attract more people."
"If only these ingredients were available."
Murmuring to herself, Tong Huaqiong slowly drifted into slumber.
