Chapter 81

Yaoyao hesitated for a moment, shaking her head, "No need, thank you, big brother."

Xia Zhi smiled and asked, "Is Yaoyao worried about me?"

Yaoyao looked at him seriously and said, "Mm... cooking in the kitchen is different from kneading dough. The oil and wok temperatures get very high. It's dangerous for big brother since you can't see."

The little girl's serious manner of lecturing others was truly adorable.

Xia Zhi nodded with a smile, "Yaoyao is truly a kind-hearted child."

What Yaoyao said was correct - for an ordinary blind person, the kitchen would indeed be a dangerous place.

Xia Zhi stopped insisting on cooking and lowered his head to continue making pastry skins.

Although he was the only one making the pastry skins while the other four people wrapped mooncakes, his movements were extremely skilled, and his efficiency was much higher than these four clumsy novices.

Soon, several neat stacks of pastry skins appeared on the table.

Zhu Zi suddenly noticed something: "Look, all these pastry skins seem to be the same size!"

Shenhe had noticed this earlier: "Not just the shape, the thickness is almost identical too."

"Big brother's skills are amazing!"

Xia Zhi rubbed his slightly sore wrist and smiled, saying "Thank you."

Afterwards, he also joined in wrapping mooncakes. Unlike the others who chose fillings they liked, he selected fillings according to recipes.

First, he made Five-Nut mooncakes, referring to walnuts, almonds, olive kernels, melon seeds, and sesame seeds.

This flavor was a long-standing tradition, almost a must-eat mooncake variety in all regions of his original world. Unfortunately, due to the high price of raw materials, most Five-Nut mooncakes sold in the market were poorly made products. Their taste was difficult to describe, and this affected the reputation of authentic ones as well.

For high-quality Five-Nut mooncakes, the shape should be drum-like, with slightly protruding edges. The patterns and characters on the surface should be clear, the shape proper, without broken skin or exposed filling, with distinct edges. The edges should be ivory-colored, the bottom reddish-brown, with a sweet taste, soft with a slight crispness, having various nut fragrances. Eating them at night with a cup of clear tea would be considered one of the pleasures of moon-viewing.

Next, he made Lotus Seed Paste with Egg Yolk mooncakes, which was one of his personal favorite flavors.

Then he made Red Bean Paste and Ham mooncakes, one sweet and one savory, to satisfy everyone's different tastes.

After that, he made Rose and Osmanthus mooncakes, using lotus seed paste and red bean paste as the core filling. Xia Zhi didn't make many flower petal mooncakes, leaving most of them to make Snow Skin mooncakes later.

Snow Skin mooncakes were different from traditional ones - they weren't baked but steamed, and needed to be frozen afterwards. The finished product had a milder taste and was more suitable for combining with flower petals.

Later came the time for free creation. Following his [Culinary Mastery] knowledge, Xia Zhi combined various compatible fillings in appropriate proportions to make new flavored mooncakes that he had never tasted before but was certain would be delicious.

Xia Zhi wrapped mooncakes quickly while chatting with everyone.

"Where does Yaoyao live?"

"At Yujing Terrace."

Zhu Zi immediately said, "I heard the housing prices there are really expensive! So Yaoyao's family is quite wealthy."

"No, no, it's because Yaoyao is currently training with Master, so I'm living at Great Master's home. Yaoyao's actual home isn't in Liyue Harbor, it's in Qingce Village."

"Qingce Village? I heard the boss mention it, there seems to be a lot of bamboo there."

"Yes, there are indeed many bamboo trees near Yaoyao's home, and many small animals too."

"What kind of training does Yaoyao do now?"

"I practice spear techniques every day, and have to study too."

"Isn't spear practice tiring?"

"Mm... the spear is too long and very heavy."

"Qingce Village is quite far from here, does Yaoyao miss home?"

"Sometimes I do, but Master often takes Yaoyao back to visit, and also takes Yaoyao to Cloud Retainer's Abode to visit Sister Shenhe and Auntie Cloud Retainer. Auntie Cloud Retainer is so nice to me, she gave me many fun adeptal items, and also gave me Yuegui."

"Yuegui?"

"This is it."

Yaoyao pointed to the mechanical rabbit in the bamboo basket beside her.

"It's a pity big brother can't see, Yuegui is very cute and also very capable. It once helped me drive away bad people."

So this mechanical rabbit was made by Cloud Retainer. It could even attack automatically - truly worthy of being an adeptal mechanism.

Last time, Xia Zhi heard Shenhe talk about how her master had also made cooking mechanisms. Looking at it this way, Cloud Retainer's mechanical arts must be quite impressive.

Xia Zhi nodded with a smile: "It's alright. If Yaoyao says it's cute, then Yuegui must be very cute indeed."

"Big brother, can't your eyes be cured?"

"No."

"Have you been to Bubu Pharmacy to see Dr. Baizhu?"

"No, but Dr. Baizhu probably wouldn't be able to help either."

Yaoyao hung her head, her mood becoming a bit downcast.

The little girl couldn't bear to see human suffering - it seemed her adeptal training was still insufficient.

Xia Zhi said softly, "Yaoyao doesn't need to worry. I've already gotten used to my current life. Whether I can see or not isn't important."

"Mm."

Yaoyao responded, but in her heart, she was still thinking that when she got back today, she must ask her master if there was any way to help.

At the same time, an invisible silver progress bar on Yaoyao finally reached its end.

[100%]

"Progress bar has reached 100%, obtained Silver Chest reward."

Xia Zhi lowered his head, continuing to wrap mooncakes while silently calling out the system panel.

Opening the inventory, he saw a silver chest lying quietly inside.

By now, he no longer needed to rely on recycling chests to exchange for points to get by.

He chose to open it.

A familiar bottle appeared before him.

[Recovery Pill]

Quality: Silver

Type: Consumable

Properties: None

Effect: Restores vitality and vigor, grants dragon-like strength and tiger-like vigor

Hidden Effect: None

This was an item similar to [Calming Pill], not only was the bottle serving as the carrier the same, even the effect description was equally simple, with just eight characters.

However, [Calming Pill]'s actual effect was extremely powerful, and it could even be cut open to refine [Calming Incense], and the refined incense likewise possessed the "calming" effect.

Looking at this ordinary-looking [Recovery Pill], Xia Zhi estimated its actual effect should be similarly impressive. He could cut it open tonight and try to refine new incense with it.

If his prediction wasn't wrong, what he'd refine should be [Recovery Incense], and its aroma should possess the mysterious effect of restoring physical strength.

He just wondered how many points this [Recovery Incense] would sell for in the [Shop]. The previous [Calming Incense] was 3 points - surely it wouldn't be lower than that price?

Xia Zhi put the wrapped mooncake on the table, picked up a new pastry skin, and looked at the last four characters in the effect description on the system panel.

Dragon-like strength and tiger-like vigor...

It meant being full of energy and fighting spirit.

Although it was a proper idiom, why did it sound so much like the effect of some strange little pill?

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