Read Novel Full Chapter 56 – Cream Cake
Chapter 56 – Cream Cake
Huo Xuewen’s arrival and departure didn’t have much of an impact on anyone except that Ning Shaoyun occasionally showed signs of worry.
That evening, when it was time for Huizhu and Chenchen to take medicine, the house turned into a battlefield of screams and cries. Only Xiao Feng remained obedient—without a word, the child swallowed the pill, didn’t even complain about the bitterness, and opened his mouth for Xia Mian to inspect like a good little patient.
This made Xia Mian’s heart ache terribly. After quickly letting him drink water, she immediately brought out the cream cake she had brought in the afternoon and cut a slice. “Whoever finishes their medicine gets to eat cake!”
With that incentive, Mao Huizhu and Chenchen also swallowed their medicine in record time.
Seeing the three kids marvel at the artificial cream, Xia Mian shook her head. “Tomorrow, I’ll let you try a real cream cake.”
When Mao Huizhu heard there would be more tomorrow, she immediately lit up. “Sister Mian, you’ll make it tomorrow?”
“Yes, tomorrow.”
Chenchen: “Better than this one?”
“Yep, way better!”
The trio were instantly filled with eager anticipation.
Making the cream cake wasn’t too hard. The troublesome part was whipping the eggs and cream. In this era, cake was still a rare treat, and bakeries were few and far between. Xia Mian searched the whole market, but people didn’t even know what an egg beater was.
“Egg beater?” The shopkeepers all had the same puzzled reaction. “Why would you invent a thing just to stir eggs? Can’t you just use chopsticks?”
In short, egg beaters did not exist, let alone electric ones. They could do it manually, of course, but beating eggs until they turned stiff would take so long that even if the whole family took turns, their arms would be useless afterward.
Besides, today was just the test run; there would still be a proper baking session later.
So Xia Mian had no choice but to rack her brains.
When Ning Shaobai was leaving for work, he saw Xia Mian leaning against the gateframe, eyes half-closed in deep thought. Just as he was about to ask what she was doing, the girl’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Dr. Ning!”
Ning Shaobai instantly became alert. “What?”
Xia Mian’s eyes sparkled. “You have an electric fan at home, right?”
Ning Shaobai looked around. They were both bundled in coats and the wind that managed to sneak through still felt cold enough. Knowing she was having a crazy idea again, he frowned, “A fan? In this weather? What kind of nonsense are you up to?”
Xia Mian smiled ingratiatingly. “Don’t worry about that. Just let me borrow the fan, pretty please? I promise I’ll return it next week.”
Ning Shaobai’s frown deepened.
So Xia Mian immediately clung to his arm and started begging loudly. “Please, please, pleeease…”
“Talk like a normal person!” Ning Shaobai shivered.
“Go ask Uncle Li for it.” He raised his hand to check his watch, then warned her, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Xia Mian immediately cheered. “Don’t worry!”
Ning Shaobai sighed helplessly. As if he could stop worrying!
He didn’t think much of it afterward, but when he passed by the Xia house after work that evening, he heard waves of exclamations and cheers coming from inside—especially Xia Mian’s, whose laughter was downright cocky.
Ning Shaobai paused, then stepped inside. He had a strong feeling it had something to do with the electric fan he’d lent out that morning.
Sure enough, as he entered, he saw Xia Mian and Mao Huilan hoisting the fan base, squealing with excitement. The grill and blades were completely missing. Only the base and motor remained, with a wooden stick fastened to the motor shaft and a few bent bamboo strips fashioned into a makeshift egg beater. He had seen something like this while studying abroad, but how on earth had this girl come up with the idea?
“Okay! Turn it up to the max, we’re almost there!” Xia Mian issued commands while Mao Huilan pressed the highest-speed setting.
The macgyvered electric egg beater spinned rapidly. The cream in the porcelain bowl was already thickening, turning whiter, fluffier, and looking more delicious by the second.
The kids and Mao Huilan, gathered around the bowl, were marveling at the magical transformation.
“Wow!”
“Auntie Mian, amazing!”
“So this is how cream is made?”
“Wow wow wow! Amazing!”
Xia Mian said proudly, “Of course I’m awesome! Just wait—the cream cake will be ready soon!”
Just as they were about to cheer, Ning Shaobai suddenly spoke up. “Does Second Aunt know you’re doing all this?”
His sudden voice startled Xia Mian and Mao Huilan so much that they nearly dropped the fan base.
It was the peak hour for the skewer stalls, which was exactly why Xia Mian had chosen this time to make the cream—otherwise, if Xia Wenyue found out she had dared to dismantle an expensive fan, she’d definitely get a beating…
Ning Shaobai looked at her frightened expression and said blandly, “Careful not to break it.”
Full of survival instinct, Xia Mian hugged the fan base tightly and let out an awkward chuckle, “H-hello, Dr. Ning, what brings you here?”
Ning Shaobai glanced at the cream in the porcelain bowl. “If I’m not seeing it myself, how else would I know just how awesome you girls are?”
“I-is that so? Haha, perfect timing!” Xia Mian said ingratiatingly. “Our cream is just ready—want to try some? It tastes amazing!”
Seeing Ning Shaobai still staring at the fan base in her hands, Xia Mian patted her chest and assured him, “Don’t worry, I just took off the grill and blades to clean them thoroughly. I promise I’ll return it as good as new!”
Ning Shaobai rolled his eyes.
Chenchen’s eyes darted around, reading the atmosphere. Then he piped up cleverly, “Auntie Mian, is the cake baked yet?”
“Yeah!” Xia Mian clapped her hands. “All done! I’ll go get it now. Don’t touch the cream—it’ll be perfect with the cake.”
With that, she darted off toward the next room to fetch the cake.
Xiao Feng quickly followed. Ever since a hospital visit yesterday, he’d become unusually clingy and had been trailing Xia Mian like a little tail all day.
Mao Huizhu and Chenchen ran out too—clearly for the cake.
As for Mao Huilan…
She said miserably, “Dr. Ning is way too scary. I don’t dare be alone with him!” Especially since they had just dismantled his fan. Thinking about it now, becoming Xia Mian’s accomplice really was a reckless move!
So Xia Mian led a trail of children to get the cake. Because the stall had a new competitor now, business had slowed down a bit, so Xia Wenyue had someone build an oven in the side kitchen. Initially, it was for baking sesame cakes to sell, but then Xia Mian taught her how to make croissants, and she started selling both. After testing, the sesame cakes sold better, so now Xia Wenyue baked two batches of them every day before setting up her stall.
Thanks to that oven, Xia Mian dared to even attempt making cream cake—the base cake was baked in it. As soon as they stepped past the screen door, the rich, sweet aroma of sponge cake filled the air.
Mao Huizhu exclaimed, “It’s done baking, right?”
“Done!” Xia Mian rolled up her sleeves and put on oven mitts. “It’s ready to eat. Stand back, don’t get burned.”
When the perfectly baked golden-yellow sponge cake came out of the oven, even Xia Mian couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. It had been a long time since she had this kind of treat, and she was craving it too.
Huizhu and Chenchen were already stomping their feet in impatience. “Can we eat it now? Can we?”
“Yes, yes!” Xia Mian cut the cake and placed it on a big plate to carry into the main room. “Come on, let’s go frost it!”
By the time they were back, Ning Shaobai had already taken the makeshift beater off the motor and was standing at the table scraping the cream off it with a spoon. His cold, meticulous demeanor made it look like he was performing surgery.
Seeing the dismantled fan made Xia Mian a little guilty. She quickly rushed over and took the tool from him. “Let me do it, let me do it—how could I let Dr. Ning handle this kind of task?”
Ning Shaobai snorted lightly and did not comment.
Then Xia Mian suddenly spotted something suspiciously white at the corner of his mouth.
Ning Shaobai, noticing her annoying grin, said irritably, “What?”
Xia Mian said slyly, “Dr. Ning, is the cream tasty?”
Ning Shaobai paused, then said coolly with a straight face, “How could I know?”
Xia Mian didn’t argue. She simply handed him the first slice, heavily frosted. “Dr. Ning, please accept this.”
Ning Shaobai glanced at her and accepted it without fuss.
“Sister Mian, hurry up!” Mao Huizhu urged impatiently.
Chenchen was also eager, and while Xiao Feng didn’t say a word, his wide eyes stared at her intently.
Using a spoon, Xia Mian quickly spread the homemade cream onto the sliced sponge cake. Since this was just a taste test, no fancy decorations were needed.
Mao Huizhu solemnly gave instructions during the handout. “No one’s allowed to eat yet! We all eat together once we’re ready!”
So the three kids plus Mao Huilan all stared eagerly. Xia Mian hurriedly frosted five pieces and placed one in front of each person.
Mao Huizhu called out, “One, two, three—dig in!”
The moment the cake entered their mouths, the soft aroma of the sponge and the smooth, sweet richness of the cream filled their senses.
It was pure happiness.
Xia Mian watched as the faces of the three children lit up all at once. Even Chenchen, usually the most well-mannered eater, had cream on his nose after taking a huge bite with his head down.
Xiao Feng munched on his cake, his cheeks puffed out, giggling as he looked at Chenchen’s cream-covered face.
Chenchen hadn’t even noticed. He beamed to Xia Mian, “Auntie Mian, this is even better than yesterday’s cake!”
Mao Huizhu didn’t lift her head as she ate, proving Chenchen’s words true through action.
Good times never last—because it was so delicious, everyone polished off their slice in no time. Xia Mian gathered up the remaining pieces and told the still-hungry kids, “These are for Second Aunt, Second Uncle, Sister Huimei, Sister Ning, and Aunt Wei. You’ve had your share!”
Mao Huizhu couldn’t wait, “Make more tomorrow!”
Xia Mian looked at the equally eager gaze on the boys and laughed, “This isn’t something we can make every day. We have to wait until Xiao Feng’s birthday. On that day, I’ll make a big, beautiful one, and you’ll all get to eat until you’re full!”
Mao Huizhu still remembered the little cake from before. “Will it be as pretty as the one from yesterday?”
“Yes, just as pretty, with lots of flowers.”
Chenchen didn’t care about how it looked—he only had one concern, “Make it really big, bigger than today’s!”
“Okay, big!” Xia Mian laughed.
Of course, today’s biggest slice was reserved as a bribe to appease Ning Shaobai. Just before he left, Xia Mian handed him a piece thickly layered with cream and pleaded, “Please don’t tell Second Aunt about the fan, okay? I’ll definitely return it to you 100% intact.”
Ning Shaobai calmly took the cake, “That depends on how you behave.”
Xia Mian grinned slyly. “Don’t you want extra cream?”
Ning Shaobai gave her the look. “Return the fan tomorrow.”
Xia Mian huffed, “If you keep this up, Dr. Ning, I’ll have to use my trump card.”
Ning Shaobai narrowed his eyes vigilantly.
Then Xia Mian suddenly shouted, “Huizhu! Chenchen! Xiao Feng! Dr. Ning won’t let me make cream—!”
Hearing the patter of three little feet rushing over, Ning Shaobai quickly clapped a hand over Xia Mian’s mouth.
Xia Mian was silenced, but her almond-shaped eyes curved in smug triumph.
Ning Shaobai tapped her forehead and cursed through gritted teeth, “Troublemaker!”
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