Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Great minds think alike. I'm wondering if your senior brother is reminding you of something. Use your little brain and think about what he's reminding you of."

"Do I look like I need a heads-up?"

[Don’t you look like that?]

"No, no, no. I'm a principled person. I refuse workplace romances. I'm her superior, and it's wrong to take advantage of her by taking advantage of my position!"

【to be honest. 】

"Okay, to be honest, it's more or less the same. Right now is the most vulnerable moment in her life, and she's asking me for help. No matter what, I have to wait until she figures things out, because she has a knot in her heart that must be untied, otherwise she'll remember this for the rest of her life. We'll talk about what happens next later. We still have a lot of time. In the meantime, I'll help her as much as I can."

Apollonia was silent for a while:

[Maraca (Roman Yayan)! Didn't you clear the game once? Why do I feel like you always choose the right branch? Are you aiming for the perfect ending where everyone is conquered? That's terrifying! You won't use the same trick on me later, will you? Do you think I'll fall for it so easily?]

"No. I mean, that's not my intention at all. But Miss Apollonia, you're setting a flag."

[Ahhh! You tricked me! But I'm already prepared. Oh, no, there's still a lot of time! Why am I doing a combo on myself?!]

On the bay window of the Tianzihao elegant room on the 29th floor of Jinling Hotel.

Phaethon sat there, crunching his biscuits and looking out the window.

"Are you thinking about something?" asked Yanqiu on the opposite side.

"Yeah, indeed. Is this really okay? Don't you need my help with something?"

"Oh, today is Mid-Autumn Festival, so our job today is to enjoy the scenery here. I used to think I was already very busy. Rehearsals, practice, work. Rehearsals, practice, work. After meeting you, I realized that there are people who can fill their schedules so tightly. You are amazing. Can't you just take a break?"

"Ah, I still have a lot of things to do. Now is not the time to be idle."

"No, you're not thinking about that. Or not today, anyway. What are you thinking about?"

"."

"Ah, how about this." She turned and walked to the bed, handed over Fu Fu's life-size pillow, and placed it between the two of them.

"Come, talk to it. Fu Fu is a noble person from the Heavenly Blessings. It's very smart."

As he spoke, Fu Fu sat down firmly, tilted his puppet head, and prepared to listen to what was said.

"Okay. Fufu. Do you have a father?"

"Uh," Yanqiu answered for it, "Tianyi Guiren grew from a bean pod, so she has no father. If you ask me, Tianyi Guiren, like Sun Wukong, regards the sky as their father and the earth as their mother. So, do you miss your father again? Indeed, today is Mid-Autumn Festival, and you can't go home, but it seems a little more complicated."

"Can you still tell?"

"Empathizing with others is my specialty. I'm an actor, and I empathize with my characters every day. That's why I feel your emotions are so complex. It's like you're thinking, but your thoughts are melancholy and depressed. But beyond that, your emotions seem to carry some anticipation. Ah! Tell me! This is the first time I've seen someone so conflicted. Tell me, just treat it as your job for today, okay?"

"." Phaethon turned his head. "I heard that every company will give their employees Mid-Autumn Festival gifts today, right?"

"Oh, yes, I prepared it for you too. I prepared a shampoo and conditioner kit for you. Wait, no? No? He didn't send it, did he? Is he going to fire me?"

"Ah," Phaethon hugged his head. "If they had copied my squid, I'd be free. Now what's going on? I'm stuck halfway. Miss Yanqiu, when is the latest time for this to be delivered?"

"At the latest, it's usually delivered at noon, because everyone has a family dinner in the evening and everyone has to go back to their own homes in the afternoon. So if it's not delivered at noon, then it's not delivered. It's still two hours before noon. Do you want me to make a phone call for you? No need, right? Well, I don't know what to do. How about some more bread?"

Crunch.

Chapter 445: Sharing Food

"Ah, noon, right? It's noon."

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was ten minutes until noon.

"He should be back by now. If he doesn't give me mooncakes or something when he comes back, will he dislike me? But why should he dislike me? I haven't done anything wrong." She hugged her head and leaned against the mailbox at the door. "It would be great if I could call him too."

She wanted to wait a little longer, but "Hmm?" She sniffed and smelled a burnt smell, as if coming from the house.

"No way! I didn't cook anything when I left home this morning. Could it be a fire???"

She suddenly looked up and saw the horse-head wall on the roof. The houses in Jiangning City were all townhouses, so there were horse-head walls between each house to separate them.

Is a gable roof really fireproof? Yes, but it doesn't actually stop the spread of fire. Its primary purpose is to hold back the spread of fire for a short while while the fire department arrives to pull down the burning house.

Although Shaoping hadn't done that for four years—after all, the brick-and-concrete building wouldn't collapse even if they pulled it—the structure of the horse-head wall was still there. The sight of it reminded Phaethon of fire—she turned and pushed the door open. She walked around the screen at the doorway and into the kitchen, where three large steamers stood, the smell of burnt food wafting from.

She raised her hand and turned off the gas stove.

"Ah! Why did you turn it off!" Shangluo suddenly appeared at the kitchen door.

"You steamed it? Where are you?"

"I went out to buy something."

"How dare you go out with the stove on?"

“It’s steamed anyway.”

"You can steam anything until it becomes burnt!"

"Ah, this." The smell had dissipated a little when he opened the door just now, and now he could smell it. "It's really burnt. How can steamed food become burnt? It's clearly all steam."

"How would I know? I just started steaming food. How would I know that someone could burn it?"

"I see." After analyzing the mistakes, Shangluo learned his lesson. "It turns out you can't put too much in at once. If you put too much, the part near the edge of the steamer will get burnt."

"So, what are you steaming?"

"Mooncakes."

"Mooncake?" On the plate was a shapeless mass of beige carbohydrates. But the edges did have sunflower-like petal shapes.

"I have a question. First of all, why do you define it as a mooncake? What is your definition of a mooncake?"

"Hmm," Shangluo thought for a moment, "This is made with a mooncake mold. I went to the Imperial Garden this morning and borrowed the mold from Zhu Ling."

"So it's a mold for making steamed bread for pandas, right?"

"Oops, that's the wrong way around. It's a mooncake mold used to make panda steamed bread. Look, it looks so much like a mooncake."

"You also know that this is 'like' mooncake, right?"

"Ahem." He coughed. "I think the filling of a mooncake can be freely defined. As long as the shape is a mooncake, it can be defined as a mooncake."

"If the baklava pastry is made into a round shape, would you also define it as a mooncake?"

"I think it's OK~"

"Okay." Phaethon pressed his forehead. "Next question. Why do you suddenly want to make mooncakes?"

"Because this is our company's benefit. Um, it's a Mid-Autumn Festival benefit."

"Aren't there mooncakes at the door?" She was in such a hurry when she first entered that she didn't notice them. Only when she turned around did she see three huge mooncake gift boxes with solemn appearances placed on the sofa.

"That was given to me by the imperial court. Let's eat it together later. But even though it's delicious, I think I should give you a separate portion."

"Aren't there mooncake gift boxes in the state-owned store next door?"

"How can that kind of common mooncake gift box match the style of our company?"

"." Phaethon was silent. "So this lump is in line with the style of our company?"

"I think it's OK~"

"."

"Well," Shangluo sat down. "Actually, it's because we were pressed for time. I just knew I had to give out mooncakes. I used to eat mooncakes with everyone else, but this year is my first time being the head of the family. So, I'm sorry, the preparations were a bit rushed. But you see, apart from the burnt ones, the middle part is still edible. I'm very confident in the shape of these, you see, they look exactly like mooncakes."

"Oh my God." Phaethon sighed, "What on earth have I been struggling with all this morning?"

"I think you should worry about dinner tonight. Your family is very rich, right?"

"I guess so. Just barely. What's the matter?"

"Do you know anything about meat? Yes, Apollonia said, you do."

"Understood. Let me go buy some ingredients for the barbecue, okay?"

"Well, I've already prepared everything else. But when it comes to choosing meat, I really don't know how to do it. I need a professional to help."

"Don't worry, leave it to me. As for you, why are you steaming so much at once?"

"because."

[Because I added more water to the noodles, I mixed a large bowl of noodles at once]

"Let me guess. You added more flour and more water, and mixed a whole bowl of it at once?"

"Can you talk to her?"

"No, but I saw you hesitated for a moment, so I guessed based on the situation. You can't steam too many steamed buns at once. There's too much moisture in them, and they'll get moldy by tomorrow. The weather here is so humid that even a stone can get moldy, let alone steamed buns. These steamed buns must be eaten today."

"Well, what can I do? It doesn't matter what I do, as long as I don't waste it."

"Wait, let me try first." She walked to the door with a good-looking one and looked towards the intersection.

"Ah Huang! Come here!"

Outside, there was the sound of claws clattering on the cobblestone road as they walked towards the door.

A thin dog half the height of a man sat down at the door.

"Hey man, isn't this the dog that patrols the street? Are you familiar with the dog?"

"I've been hanging around here much longer than you, so of course it knows me. Come on, Ah Huang, do you want to try this?"

She broke off a little bit and gave it to Ah Huang to eat.

Ah Huang was stunned for a moment and ran away.

"Tsk, even dogs won't eat it." Phaethon took the rest back. Anyway, it was just broken, so it wasn't a big deal.

"Don't expect a dog to cleanse this tasteless food."

"Alright, alright, I'll handle this. You still have things to do with the convoy, right? Go quickly, don't delay."

"Then, please trouble you?"

"Well, let's go."

She waved her hand and waited until Shangluo left empty-handed before returning to the table.

After washing her hands, she took the peanut butter and took a sip.

"It's light, but not bad. It has a very sincere taste. I think it will last a long time. It's really delicious."

Chapter 446 Mooncakes

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to bring the mooncakes I was going to give to the guests. Are the mooncakes I made okay?"

"It's okay, go ahead."

"Everyone! The 19th Jiangning Longjiang Team, Shaoping Fourth Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncake Party is about to begin. Please take your seats."

"Oh!!!" There had never been so many people in the room. There was no room around the table, so they had to set up a circle around it. Sitting in the center were a row of peas on a shelf, all dressed in their tiny clothes. The largest flower pot sat in the center, and the other peas were arranged in a circle around it.

In theory they are the most important in the team, so of course they sit in the middle.

There are more people today than ever before because there are other guests today - Gao Shiyu from the Yanshan team is here, Zhang Baoling from the Wudang team is here, and even the Lan Fang team, who I haven't seen much of before, is here.

"Shangluo, this year is so lively, it's all because of you."

"Well, it's our school's business after all, so it's my duty. Oh, by the way, monitor, are you free tonight? A friend of mine has a birthday tonight, are you free to go?"

"In the evening?" Qi Yuan thought for a moment, "Sorry, I'm going out to the night market with my parents tonight. Maybe next time."

[So there are people who will reject you~] Apollonia teased.

"I'm not a panacea, so of course some people will reject me. It's normal for people to have their own things to do. Let me see who else hasn't been invited. Well, I've mentioned almost everyone you've met. It's going to be quite lively this time, and there are even people from the Water Tribe supporting you. Is that satisfactory enough?"

Satisfied, satisfied, very satisfied! I say, don't eat too much of this mooncake! Save some room for sizzling barbecue tonight!

"Okay, okay, got it. I'll go move the things first."

Among the guests seated at the table, Lu Liang was wondering, "So why should I come too?" "I'm not participating in the car race."

"Hey, Senior Sister, you're supposed to be our guide," Zhang Baoling muttered quietly beside him. "So, for this gathering, we're just going to eat mooncakes, right? No need for any performances?"

"It seems so. I remember last Mid-Autumn Festival, I vaguely heard some noisy noises here. I guess it won't be necessary this year."