I have a wildlife zoo

The rest area outside the bamboo forest is now set up with tables!

A simple partition encircles the outside, separating it by two or three meters from the tables, leaving other visitors who aren't participating in the activity to only watch and take photos from the outside, to avoid crowding the space.

On the tables, there are mooncake molds and boxes for holding the mooncakes.

Fang Ye directed, "Okay, enter in groups, a maximum of two adults per group!"

Soon, everyone had entered. Before starting to make mooncakes, Fang Ye stood in front and asked with a pleasant expression, "Kids, does anyone know how the Mid-Autumn Festival came about and why we celebrate it?"

The little chubby boy was eager to answer, saying, "I know, it's because you get a holiday for Mid-Autumn Festival and don't have to go to school!"

The parents couldn't help but chuckle at this response; it was so straightforward and naive!

"The Mid-Autumn Festival is to commemorate Chang'e!" "We eat mooncakes during Mid-Autumn Festival!" the children called out all at once.

Fang Ye said with a smile, "Speaking of the origins of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it's actually the ancients' worship of the moon. They set the festival during the Autumn Equinox to offer sacrifice to the moon, but not every Autumn Equinox would have a full moon. So later, the festival for moon worship was moved to the 15th day of the eighth lunar month!

On this day, people enjoy the moon, watch the tides, and eat mooncakes..." Your next journey awaits at empire

He took the opportunity during the activity to explain the origins and customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival to the kids, letting them know that their country's long-standing traditional holidays are the best.

Then he continued explaining about animal mooncakes, "Today we are going to use the animals' usual feed to make their mooncakes, like for the red pandas, they mainly eat bamboo shoots, tender branches, and bamboo leaves from the umbrella bamboo..."

He made a demonstration with the mold, "When making mooncakes, first take out a chunk of dough this big for the crust, knead it flat, then add the filling inside, push the dough up over it like this, wrap it into a ball, put the wrapped mooncake ball into the mold, press down with this handle, and after it's pressed down, just lift it up and out it comes!

If you don't know how to use it, you can ask me, or watch how the parents do it!"

Because the kids might not have enough strength, the molds were specially designed to be more effortless and suitable for children.

After the explanation, the animal keeper brought over bags of prepared feed and placed them on the tables. Some bags contained apples and bamboo, and others contained radishes, green vegetables, and corn, with the vegetables torn into small pieces and the radishes and apples diced!

Each table only had one type of animal's fillings; otherwise, with various feeds on a table, it could get confusing once the action starts.

The kids eagerly looked toward the bags on their tables, "Corn, radishes, and greens— I must be making mooncakes for the alpacas!"

The little chubby boy examined the contents of his own bag, using his fingers to point at each ingredient and figuring out, "Cantaloupe, Chinese cabbage, apples, pears, cherry tomatoes... This must be for making mooncakes for the macaques, right?"

The father of the little chubby boy widened his eyes and leaned over to look at the ingredients, displaying a look of disbelief, "Is this really what macaques eat regularly? It's so lavish!"

The little chubby boy couldn't help but drool a bit, picking up a small piece of fresh and sweet cantaloupe, putting it in his mouth, and after licking his lips, gazed back at the bag, still seemingly wanting more!

He then picked up another piece and happily ate it; the father looked on enviously but was too embarrassed to take any.

Feeding animals is one thing—it's fine for a child to eat a piece, but it doesn't seem quite right for adults.

Latter, I'll have to see if there's anything delicious to buy in the zoo to compensate a little.

Lan Li roamed around the tables filming, and his camera just happened to capture this moment.

The netizens couldn't help but laugh, "Hahaha, they're supposed to be making mooncakes for the animals, but the chef sneaks a taste when no one's looking!"

"The little kid is too cute."

But when the camera moved to the macaque's ingredients, everyone was stunned!

"Do animals usually eat this well, even better than me? Feeling sour here!"

"Damn, my bag of chips suddenly doesn't taste so good!"

"Those little tomatoes look so tempting. I'm drooling over here, really want to eat one!"

"Such a feast, you can probably only get it on a holiday, right? Otherwise, the daily cost would be huge."

Lan Li saw the barrage and explained, "Actually, this is just the animals' regular feed, pretty ordinary stuff."

"Wuwuwu, this is called feed, then what I eat should be called pig swill, right?"

"Pig swill +1!"

"I suggest those who want to feed animals at the zoo check this out! Maybe they won't shamelessly throw all sorts of rubbish at the animals anymore."

The kids didn't feel much, after listening to Fang Ye's explanations they took it for granted that animals should eat these things, but the parents on the side were shocked. This was nothing like they had imagined!

On a table, Tang Xiaoxin picked out ingredients, taking out two walnuts, two apples, some pine nuts, and peanuts from a bag, she was making mooncakes for the macaw.

Qian Keke flattened and kneaded a piece of the dough for the mooncake skin, and after Tang Xiaoxin added the filling, she tried to wrap it and hurriedly said, "Oh no, it's too much! I can't wrap it!"

Tang Xiaoxin observed and said, "Two apples seem to be a bit too much, let's just put one!"

This time, it could be wrapped.

After shaping it, they put it into a mold. Qian Keke pressed down on the handle, then lifted it, and a light yellow round mooncake with a pattern appeared!

Although it had a pattern, it still looked somewhat crude, with an uneven surface like rough sandy ground.

But the two of them were delighted, looking at the mooncake from various angles, and thinking it looked good no matter how they viewed it.

"So pretty!"

After all, it was made by their own hands!

And it was their first time making mooncakes, so it was a novel experience for them.

The thought of the animals eating the mooncakes they made later made them even more excited.

Tang Xiaoxin had tried wrapping dumplings during the New Year in the past.

Her aunts in the family were fast and stylish when pinching dumplings, each looking like a little ingot. They could quickly fill a large plate, while she struggled for a long time to shape a long, flat pea, so ugly it was barely viewable.

She had been somewhat worried that making mooncakes might turn out the same, but luckily, the zoo thoughtfully prepared molds, and just a press popped them out.

Mother Qian and Mother Tang also tried making one, chatting and exclaiming, "The food for the animals in this zoo is indeed good! I remember seeing a tiger at another zoo that was all skin and bones, looking so pitiful with no spirit at all."

"I heard that's because they embezzled the food expenses, stuffing their own pockets while feeding the tiger chicken carcasses and such. It definitely couldn't have been full, and there might've been projects selling feed for visitors to throw, making money on both ends."

"No wonder the kids like coming here to see animals—the environment is good, and what the animals eat is good too. I think the reason the zookeeper gets along so well with the animals must be because of the food. Otherwise, how would these wild beasts be willing to get close to humans?"

"Mom, look at the mooncakes we made!"

Qian Keke proudly showed off the mooncake, while Tang Xiaoxin's smile bloomed!

"Wow, not bad!"

"You two stand together holding it, such a precious moment, let me take a picture to commemorate it."

Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday for reunion!

While happily making mooncakes, the relationship between the kids and their parents also grew closer.