Chapter 83: The Mid-Autumn Festival Is Coming!

After her attempts to persuade Fu Lin to give up proved futile, Su Yunjin stopped caring about him altogether. Why bother with him? She adopted a cold approach, focusing entirely on training for the center position in the girl group and preparing for the upcoming selection.

A week flew by quickly. When the intensive training ended, Su Yunjin led her girl group members back to their original location. Next came the final stage of the center position girl group selection: five teams, with only ten contestants left after the eliminations.

Su Yunjin and Shao Xinghui’s teams each had three members, Wang Tao’s team had two, and Luo Zizhen and Liang Feiyue’s teams each had one member.

Before the final stage began, there was a resurrection round. The contestants who had previously received resurrection cards took turns in a round-robin battle; those who succeeded would join the ten-member girl group.

The resurrection round was planned for three episodes, but only one had aired before the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived.

According to national holidays and assorted extensions, they were supposed to have time off for the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the night of the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, Su Yunjin received a call from her fifth grandfather, saying he would visit on the fourteenth.

Originally, Su Yunjin had prepared to greet her fifth grandfather, but on the twelfth, Zhang Zhichang suddenly called for a meeting with all members.

This time, everyone truly attended—from the mentors down to the staff, all gathered in the conference room.

The meeting’s agenda was simple: the center position girl group would host a live broadcast for the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was not a competition, but a festive gathering for all students and teachers to celebrate Mid-Autumn ahead of time.

They would record an episode as well, so on the day of the festival, there’d be some publicity—essentially, a reality show.

This decision excited the entire cast of the girl group program. With so many people, it was bound to be fun: celebrate early, then head home for a few days of rest—delightful.

Next came the Mid-Autumn Festival program list. Eating mooncakes was essential, but where and how to eat them, and what activities to include, left many uncertain.

After all, it was a show; they couldn’t just chat and lounge around like at home, enjoying a leisurely day.

Being a program, it needed to be interesting and engaging. That made planning difficult, since for years, everyone’s Mid-Autumn was either spent relaxing at home or watching the gala and then relaxing some more.

The more energetic ones might go out for a meal and drinks; in the past, fireworks were allowed and added excitement. But now, with fireworks banned, festivities lacked their former spark.

So how could they make the program eye-catching? It was a real challenge.

Everyone scratched their heads, and at that moment, Zhang Zhichang turned to Su Yunjin. “Teacher Su, how do you celebrate Mid-Autumn in your hometown?”

Her hometown referred to the Seven Sects.

Zhang Zhichang knew little about that place, but had heard bits and pieces—like its long history, and that it was considered a treasure trove of Chinese heritage.

All in all, these were reputable industry rumors, and quite reliable.

Now, Zhang Zhichang genuinely wanted to know how Su Yunjin celebrated Mid-Autumn each year.

At his suggestion, everyone’s attention shifted to Su Yunjin, though they seemed rather indifferent. Each had already recounted their own family’s Mid-Autumn traditions; surely Su Yunjin’s hometown wasn’t outside China? Could it really be different?

“My family’s Mid-Autumn is fairly complicated. About a month beforehand, we start brewing osmanthus wine, which is only opened on the festival day. Mooncakes and lanterns are prepared in advance; a couple of days prior, we catch field snails and buy taro. The snails are soaked ahead of time to improve their flavor, and taro is used for pastries.

On the morning of the festival, before dawn, we go to sweep ancestors’ graves. After returning, we have lunch and open the osmanthus wine, but it’s not just for drinking—we play the Flying Flowers game.

After eating and resting, in the afternoon, the elders go ‘stealing melons and picking vegetables’—meaning they carve their homegrown vegetables into dolls and give them to childless couples.

In the evening, there’s a lantern festival, complete with riddles. If you solve one, you win a prize—the best is a pot of wine, which can be enjoyed for a while. If there’s enough, we make little paper boats and float lanterns down the river.”

Under everyone’s attentive gaze, Su Yunjin spoke in a calm tone, but her words left those present dumbfounded.

Wang Tao.

Shao Xinghui.

Liang Feiyue.

Luo Zizhen.

Zhang Zhichang.

Everyone in the room!

The atmosphere changed instantly; moments ago, they’d been dismissive, now they were shocked.

Each person was in disbelief.

The Flying Flowers game?

Stealing melons and picking vegetables?

Brewing osmanthus wine?

They’d only ever heard of such traditions, especially Flying Flowers—no one played it anymore.

“No way, sounds so much fun!”

“Just hearing about it is interesting. Teacher Su, where are you from?”

“My Mid-Autumn is always boring—apart from sleeping at home, there’s nothing else.”

“Sleeping is fine, but the worst is socializing—drinking every day. Flying Flowers, does anyone even know how to play anymore?”

“Exactly, how does it work? Honestly, I’ve only heard of it.”

The room was abuzz.

Everyone whispered to each other.

A visible spark lit up their eyes; the more playful ones even searched for the rules of Flying Flowers.

But on finding them, many were stunned.

The game was too refined: it required poetry containing the word “flower,” and none could exceed seven characters.

In short, lacking cultural knowledge, they couldn’t truly play!

“Teacher Su, where is your hometown that you still have such traditional customs?” Liang Feiyue asked amidst the chatter.

Her question echoed everyone’s curiosity. They all knew Su Yunjin was a newcomer; perhaps some special talent had prompted Zhang Zhichang to appoint her as a center position mentor.

But now, anyone could tell—such an ancient Mid-Autumn tradition spoke of a remarkable family.

Such a family, such a place, sounded extraordinary.

“It’s nothing special, just a mountain village. Maybe because it’s isolated, there’s not much entertainment, so old customs are passed down generation to generation,” Su Yunjin replied with a smile.

Her answer was intentionally vague, and Liang Feiyue wanted to probe further, but Zhang Zhichang quickly interjected, “Teacher Liang, let’s not get sidetracked.

Let’s focus on how we’ll celebrate this Mid-Autumn. I think Teacher Su’s tradition is wonderful—very traditional and meaningful.”

His words immediately drew everyone’s attention back to the festival itself.

The meeting continued, now centered on where to celebrate and how to prepare everything.

After all, Su Yunjin’s preparations began a month in advance.

They clearly didn’t have so much time now—even brewing wine would require shortcuts.

For that, Su Yunjin had a solution.

Osmanthus brew was out of the question, but plum wine was doable.

Using quality white liquor and dried plums, after soaking for a day and night, the wine would carry the salty fragrance of plums.

If yellow wine was used, it would be a true delicacy.

With the wine problem solved, everything else was easy.