Well this fic is devoted to a Chinese holiday based on the Moon, called the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. There are many stories about it, and I hear the Cantonese version. The Mandarin version is the most accepted version, the one about Hou Yi and Chang Er. The one about the deity and the nobleman seems better IMHO. You can always research the history if you are unsure and want to know more. Most things told in this story is fact, the rest is FICTION. Chang Er and Hou Yi are part of the tradition, but they are more of a part to it than the Nobleman and the Deity.
The only part of this story that is FACT is the story is the part about Hou Yi, not counting the mooncake ending. You can go to my profile for a link to a truer history about mooncakes.
Mooncakes are round, cylinder shaped. They are eaten with a certain fork, and eaten on a certain month; the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Some people eat Mooncakes ahead of time because they cannot hold it in. One day I fell into a conversation about Mooncakes and discussed the fillings...I believe peanuts are not a filling...
Enjoy!
Peanuts and Mooncake: Filling Festival
Disclaimer - I do not own Dynasty Warriors, etc.
"I can't say much more than perfect!" she giggled, grabbed the pastry in front of her and dashed back to the mansion. Holding it out she said, "Father! Look at this one! Doesn't it convince you to surely allow me to eat just one bite of the Mooncake now? Father, please, you know how much I love these."
Lord Huang shook his head and denounced his daughter right there.
"Hey!" Yue Ying exclaimed. "I'm still here!"
"I know, I know," replied her father. "You're just hungry."
"Not just for any old food! MOONCAKES! Please, I've been waiting all year for them to come back just for the festival!"
Lord Huang sighed. "And you think that a peanut-filled Mooncake would convince me that you could have one now instead of tomorrow, the festival?"
She blinked and simply replied, "I like peanuts. Would you like to make your daughter happy?"
Lord Huang laughed. "Would you like your father happy and wait just eight more hours and eat it then? I'll let you have a thousand cakes to yourself if you can just wait a little longer."
"But how can I?" she whined. "Eggs, flour, other stuff that I forgot, all incrusted inside a round, cylinder-shaped pastry that you know I cannot resist."
Lord Huang shook his head.
"Stupid," she muttered. "They do this on purpose. I'm too rich for this."
Lord Huang sighed. "Yue Ying, there is so much more than the festival than just Moon Cakes and the usual celebration. There was once a powerful archer named Hou Yi; and during his time there were ten suns and one moon; the suns heated the earth and took turns to. The moon, however struggled. At one point, all the suns scorched the earth.
"Hou Yi took over and shot each and every one of them, all except for one to balance the moon. He threatened to shoot the last sun because of the danger it would have caused the earth if the suns plan had a success. But of course, destroying the sun would also destroy the moon and now he considered it.
"Soon after he found a potion, more of an elixir he stole from a deity, which would allow him to destroy the sun and the moon; it allowed a request to be granted even if it meant to destroy the rites of Heaven and Earth, yin and yang.
"But of course, his beautiful wife soon learned of his plan. She, Chang Er, rapped her mind over and over to prevent her husband's rage. Finally, she thought of the most brilliant plan anyone could think of, but, of course, she would have to become a sacrifice. Thinking it over, she agreed to those terms and was willing to give herself for a world once again balanced.
"Chang Er took the elixir that her husband stole and drank it. Once she did, she felt light; light enough, in fact, to soar into the moon. Hou Yi wondered where his wife was and when he figured it out, he decided not to shoot down the final sun for the sake of his wife and his wife only. They never again saw each other.
"Hou Yi recalled what his wife once asked him, to make a pastry that had not ever been attempted. That was the first Mooncake. Well, it was terrible-tasting, but it looked good. That's why they have the shape of a sphere and the name 'Mooncake'.
"You see, the festival honors Chang Er, her brilliance, her skill and what people say caise. If it weren't for her, would we get the mirth of the sun and the radiance of the moon?"
Yue Ying, pretending to be asleep next to the Mooncake just snored and ignored her father.
Thinking quickly her father added, "It's a shame, because a curse occurs . . ."
"What?" asked Yue Ying.
"No, no, it's far to complex to explain, daughter . . . besides, I said to other people so many times; I don't think you need to hear an old man's story, is that right?"
"What curse?" she exclaimed. Rapping her head she grunted and walked inside. She muttered to herself, "What curse exactly is he talking about? Well, if I know my father, he just said that to make me listen . . . maybe there's a scroll in my room about the festival's history."
Once she was upstairs, she muttered and slapped scrolls down on to the floor with the rest. "One by one, stupid worthless scrolls; I have no scrolls on the festival! What kind of child am I if I don't know tradition? Oh well, I'll just go buy one . . . but if I don't dress as a peasant they'll rip me off, so what clothes can I wear?"
She pulled open one of her many closets. After hours of searching, she found suitable attire fitted for a peasant, keeping some items on her in case a merchant annoyed her, such as a few throwing knives and such. Throwing a rope down her window and climbing down, she took her horse and started for the marketplace.
X-X-X
"No, I'm not looking for that!" she exclaimed, shoving the scroll back at the merchant. "I am an educated peasant! Do you think that I should be able to read if I wanted to buy a scroll on the history of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival!"
The merchant laughed. "What kind of peasant is educated?"
Snarling, she walked away, but cleverly and unnoticeably removed one of the wheels of his cart and then, smiling, walked away as his stand collapsed. The peasants stared at her, and then with a single glare, she scared them away. "I love it when I do that," she said, winking to herself.
Then she noticed a peanut-filled Mooncake on a table outside a house, no one guarding it. "No one has to know . . . but how did I know it had peanuts?"
Taking a fork specially designed for Mooncakes from her clothes, she cut a piece and took a bite. "MMMM! I LOVE THESE!"
One of the farmers called out to her, "My lady, what are you looking for?"
She threw the fork in the air. "Just some information about the festival," she called back, remembering her true motive while trying to hide her desire for peanut-filled Mooncakes. "Do you know anything about this 'curse'?"
She walked over to him. Behind him further across the farm was another person harvesting.
"I don't have knowledge of this," he said. "But I do have some scrolls on the history. Would you like to take a look at them?"
Yue Ying nodded.
The farmer called out, "I'll be right back! Stick to the work!"
"Right, right!" replied the other person. "Leave the youngest brother to do all the hard work while he gets to go home relax and go with the girl . . . lucky . . . "
The farmer brought Yue Ying in a directed her to a room filled with scrolls. She gasped and then said, "When I attempted to buy all the scrolls in the kingdom, I was wondering why I got just a few scrolls!"
The farmer laughed and replied, "I have a strong desire for knowledge. When I first bought all these books, I began reading and reading . . . In a week I finished them all."
Yue Ying explored the room, pulled out scrolls and ran her fingers over the sheets. "You got them all when they were set on the stalls!"
"Of course. I can't imagine having merchants' filthy hands ruin wisdom recorded hundreds of years ago." He walked over and said to her, "This is one of my favorites."
"I don't understand it," she muttered. "What is this . . . wait a minute . . . Is this one of the scrolls you have on the Festival?"
"It is," he replied. "The story of Hou Yi and Chang Er is the beginning, you can say about the festival. This happens after Hou's story. It was a story about a deity.
"Even though she was only eight years old, she was beautiful, charming, intelligent and the word deity is insulting if you use it to describe her. She was also very playful; one day, she went to the Hills of Heaven, her home and laughed as she rolled down the hill.
"She rolled down to Earth. There she met the mortals, who were perverted, disgusting and just plain nasty. Scared, she ran off to a place where there were less people. Luckily she bumped into a boy nine years of age. He was kind-hearted and couldn't bear even killing a bug. He took her inside his little house and introduced her to his family. She was delighted and played with him endlessly.
"Ten years on earth is ten minutes in Heaven, only if you spend it right. The deity and the boy grew and planned to become married. Everyone was overjoyed.
"Then the deity's father discovered that his treasured daughter was gone. He searched everywhere and noticed she was on Earth. He took her and both went back, the soon-to-be-husband unaware that his deity had been taken back.
"The deity snuck out and went to tell her man the truth about herself and her background and to lay out a peanut-filled Mooncake on a grassy field on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He listened. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, he laid out a cake and waited all night for her. Eventually he fell asleep; the morning he awoke, the cake was gone and he felt a year of fun with his deity.
"The next day he tried the same thing, but nothing happened and the cake remained in its position. So he waited for the event the next year and did the same. He felt the same the next morning.
"So after Hou Yi and Chang Er comes the story about the deity and the nobleman. That is why sometimes younger brother and I lay out a peanut-filled Mooncake outside our house on the festival date."
So that was theirs…? Yue Ying laughed nervously. "F-For what?"
"After hearing the story about the deity and the noblemen, most people lay out a peanut-filled Mooncake outside their home and wait for someone to ask for or take a piece. The person who would take the first bite is said to be their future lover."
Yue Ying swallowed down and then tasted the cake again. "Wait, why peanuts?"
"Three reasons," he replied. "One is because of the story. Two is because younger brother and I like peanuts. Three is because not a lot of people like peanuts and surely that's . . . "
He took a look at her and then finished his thought with, "I must be foolish talking nonsense to you. Forgive me."
Yue Ying frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"What kind of person am I," he asked, "If I talk this way to Lord Huang's daughter?"
"How did you know it was me!" exclaimed Yue Ying.
"Each perso-"
"OLDER BROTHER!" exclaimed the younger brother. "LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!"
He sighed. "Forgive my brother. He gets over-excited at certain events . . . Come with me. I wonder what's wrong."
"Yes, but I would rather stay here and read some of these-WHOOP!" He grabbed Ying's sleeve and tugged her outside.
"Younger brother, what is it?" he asked.
"Look at the Mooncake we laid out! A bite was taken!"
Yue Ying bit her lip and walked back slowly.
"I wonder who decided to eat it," wondered Jun.
Noticing an object reflecting off the floor, the older brother turned to Yue Ying. He took the Mooncake fork and went to her.
"It's not mine!" she exclaimed.
"There's Lady Huang encrusted in the fork. Of course it is yours."
"I'm not the only L-Lady Huang here!" she exclaimed. "What about the sisters of my father, my cousins, my nieces, my . . . my . . . "
He pulled her collar up; she would think of this as interrogation, but after he pressed his lips against hers, maybe, just maybe, probably she thought otherwise. She was sure it wasn't when he slipped his tongue.
He pushed her away. "Yes it was you."
Blushing Yue Ying retorted, "I had some back at the mansion! What are you accusing me of!"
"I know your father to be quite traditional and honorable," he replied. "He would not allow you to eat this until tomorrow."
"How do you know my family?" Yue Ying asked.
The younger brother hesitated. "I'll be inside!"
"No, you stay here and work on the fields!" exclaimed his brother.
"No! You had your break and longer!" The younger brother snorted and walked inside.
The older brother sighed and redirected his attention back to Yue Ying. "Why don't you just adm-"
"I'll admit it, I took a bite JUST BECAUSE I WAS HUNGRY."
"Why didn't you ask me to make something for you?"
"I . . . didn't want to trouble you."
"Not true. I can read you like a scroll."
"I WANTED CAKE!" Yue Ying exclaimed. "I'm Lady Cake! Is that enough for you?"
The older brother laughed. "And I'm Zhuge Liang. How fortunate am I to meet a woman whose family created cakes."
"I was joking," replied Yue Ying, blushing.
Zhuge Liang laughed. "So was your father about the 'curse'."
Her eyes widened. "How did you know about that?"
"I think I know you two better than you know yourself." He took two forks from his robe. "Hungry?"
Eagerly she took one and stabbed it into the cake. She lifted her fork along with the entire pastry.
Zhuge Liang's eyes widened. "You can eat all that?"
"Maybe you can't read me that easily," she replied, winking.
"Get that fork off of the cake, Yue Ying." The fork fell from Yue Ying's hand along with the entire cake.
"F-Father . . . " she said nervously.
"I hope you learned that curiosity can lead to danger and wonder," said Lord Huang. "Am I correct?"
Yue Ying nodded.
"Zhuge was right, there is no curse. I did that to try to distract you from peanuts and Mooncakes. And as for you, Zhuge Liang," he continued. Holding out another peanut-filled Mooncake, he asked, "Hungry?"
Yue Ying whined. "HEY! Father, let me have one bite . . . I won't ever ask you or anyone else on this world for anything again! I'll-I'll become more feminine! Please, I'll do anything for the caaaaaake . . . "
"Let this be a lesson to you," Lord Huang said sternly.
After taking a bite, Zhuge Liang kissed Yue Ying, filling her with the familiar and pleasant taste of Peanuts and Mooncake.