v4c81.2: Last Days of Fall part 2

Three years. Three Mid-Autumn Festivals. It’s amazing how time flies.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was one of my favourite occasions. There was just something so supremely pleasant about going to Hong Yaowu and partaking in it.

Maybe it was the cheers as we arrived with our massive wagon loaded down with food and a dragon heralding our presence. Maybe it was the laughter of the children as we got straight to work helping everybody.

Maybe it was Pops, telling me, “Welcome home, Son.”

Maybe it was because this was the first place, three years ago, where I felt like I really belonged?

Whatever it was… I loved it. I loved the… well, I guess the purity of the entire event. It was a small town festival, and the only people here all knew each other as family and friends.

It was a place where we could gather, eat good food, and have a good time. The fireworks were simple things that popped and cracked. The drums were old heirlooms that had been repaired a thousand times, and anybody could come up to bang on them. The village itself was vibrant, red and gold matching the leaves of the trees.

I had woken up with a silly grin that morning when we packed up and set out—and that small grin was still on my face.

“How long until the dumplings are done?”

“Could I have a hand over here?”

“We need some more firewood!”

“Ty An, could you get those please?”

I sat just outside the kitchen and let the sounds of food preparation wash over me. I took in the people at work, the burning fires, and the tantalizing scents. I caught one smell in particular, one that made drool gather at the corner of my mouth. Meimei was making some of her special dumplings, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. I smiled at the thoughts of food, before turning my attention back to my own task.

“Big Bro! Big Bro, is it ready yet?” Xian the Younger demanded of me. His eyes were wide and pleading—as were the rest of the children’s.

And Washy’s. The dragon was giving me the puppy dog eyes something fierce.

“Not quite yet,” I replied as I glanced down at the piece of cast iron I was rotating over the fire. It was a strange looking thing: a bulbous kettle with a top that had been screwed down tight. It was another piece from my memories. I remembered the videos of the street merchants with this iron contraption, using it for a very specific purpose—and Bowu had once more worked his wizardry. It crafted the newest dessert in Hong Yaowu, a dessert of dreams and imagination!

After a few more turns of the kettle, a few more eager bounces from the kids, and a few more trembles from an excited dragon, it was done.

I pulled the cast iron contraption off from the fire and put the mouth of it inside the woven bag.

“You ready?” I asked them.

“Three!” Xian shouted.

“Two!” the rest of the kids called.

“One!” Wa Shi roared.

I pulled down on the handle, and the kettle exploded with a terrific bang. It dumped white, fluffy clouds of puffed corn into the bag.

The kids and the dragon all cheered.

I was pretty surprised too when I found out one of the varieties of corn the Azure Jade Trading Company had gotten me popped. I remember popcorn being a special type of corn, but the pink corn I had received was truly special in more ways than one. In addition to being fabulously coloured, it also popped into something truly decadent—soft, yet crunchy in all the right ways.

And it was about to get even better. Working quickly, I transferred some of the corn to the bubbling caramel pot that had been beside the corn on the fire, and with a few tosses the popcorn was generously coated.

Now, it was still too hot to eat—but the previous batch was now cool enough and I filled up the multitude of bowls and the single platter presented to me.

The children got their popcorn and rushed off whooping, in the full throes of a sugar high and with nobody around to stop them. The dragon added on caramel apples, caramel pears, caramel water reeds, and caramel coated eggs.

Stolen novel; please report.

‘Boss. Big Bro. How do you keep coming up with such wonders!?’ the dragon asked as he popped an egg into his mouth, considering the new taste.

“Mostly just copying what other people have done,” I admitted freely. “The world is vast, and the flavours are limitless. To eat is to live; to live is to eat.”

Tears sprang to the dragon’s eyes. ‘Truly, this Wa Shi is lucky to have such a Master.’

I laughed at his expression, and added a few more caramel offerings to hid platter. “Go on and get these to Chunky and Peppa. The pepper flakes are an interesting choice, though.”

‘Pi Pa will love them,’ the dragon declared authoritatively.

I trusted his judgement. Looks like I would have to start spicing Peppa’s food more heavily, if she liked the heat that much! Well, sweet heat was good—and wait, hot honey would be great too…

Something to think of for later. We certainly had enough honey for it. And speaking of honey…

“Take as much as you want, girls,” I said to the flight of bees hovering around more of the caramel popcorn. They buzzed in what I thought was happiness before they alighted on a couple pieces and carried them off, up and away, to eat the sugar off them. I idly wondered how many of the workers were sapient, and how much they were more of a hive mind. I didn’t know, and I had a lot of trouble understanding Vajra’s answers as Chunky translated her dance for me.

I shrugged and returned my attention to filling the kettle back up. It was the first of its kind… and yet, it would probably be joined by thousands more soon enough.

I smirked when I remembered our most recent visit with Bo and Chyou.

The Azure Jade Trading Company had come around again, to collect the harvest, and let’s just say the looks on Bo and Chyou’s faces when they saw just how much I had had been rather priceless.

It was rather fun showboating, and showing them the power of my cultivation.

They got a show, and a bunch of ideas that I knew they were going to implement. I got money—but more than that, I got things. The most valuable of things, seeds. More varieties of corn, peppers, squashes, and peas, some barley, a pear sapling—and lychee. Lychee were known as the “king of fruits” and they were impossible to grow this far north—but the Palace of Pale Moon Lake City had some seeds, and the Trading Company had gotten them for me.