Chapter 140: Are You Interested in Going to Gusu?

Qu Jing's move did not change the menu at the Clouds Canteen.

Qin Huai still followed his own rhythm, making breakfast every morning and dim sum in the forenoon, then practicing Guo'er in the afternoon. He grasped both heat control and finger techniques with equal firmness; rice cakes became a fixed drop in the canteen, either glutinous rice cakes or lard rice cakes. Occasionally, on a whim, he would personally cook a pot of rice cake soup, only to discover it was not as good as the glutinous rice cakes.

However, Qu Jing would occasionally buy two pieces of plain white rice cake to take home and cook red bean rice cake soup herself. Chen Chen Huihong quite enjoyed eating it and often took Chen Chen Chen Huihui to Qu Jing's house in the evening to mooch a meal. Sometimes, she would not forget to pack a portion for Qin Huai.

Of course, if one were to say who in the entire Clouds Community welcomed the arrival of this new neighbor, Qu Jing, the most, it would undoubtedly be Old Master Xu Tuqiang.

As a die-hard fan of glutinous rice cakes, Xu Tuqiang had deeply loved them even before they became a permanent dim sum item on the canteen's menu. He never abandoned them, accompanying them from their low point to their glory.

Now that the connection who had propelled the glutinous rice cake to its debut position had moved into the community, how could Xu Tuqiang not be happy?

If conditions allowed and he did not lack ailments in that specific area, he would be itching to register for an outpatient appointment with Qu Jing at her hospital just to boost her performance metrics.

Time passed uneventfully thus, arriving at the end of October.

Qin Luo's academic performance still showed no significant improvement. She could not grasp mathematics, did not understand physics, was a mess in chemistry, and had only just entered the gate of computer science. Except for her English grades, which remained head and shoulders above the rest, and her Chinese grades, which had finally improved slightly, there was absolutely no sign of the child's efforts in her studies.

But the child had indeed lost weight.

Her face had slimmed by a whole circle; her large round face had shrunk into a small round face.

Qin Huai had reason to suspect that the cause of Qin Luo's weight loss was not burning the midnight oil studying, but rather that her recent poor grades meant she was not allowed to eat the Three-Diced Buns or Five-Diced Buns. She had no appetite for the buns her father, Qin Congwen, made every morning, ate at the school canteen at noon, and could only eat something good in the evening.

It was said that after Qin Luo discovered her second brother was truly ruthless—that if her grades did not improve, he really would not let her eat the Three-Diced or Five-Diced Buns—she had secretly resolved to study hard and remake herself. She vowed never to eat her biological father's buns again in the morning and to take back everything she had lost.

As for why Qin Huai knew about Qin Luo's secret resolution, it was because Qin Luo had posted the above words on her alternate WeChat account.

And as for why Qin Huai saw it...

It was because he was friends with Qin Luo's alternate WeChat account.

Qin Luo had originally created the alternate account because a new milk tea shop had opened behind her middle school; forwarding posts to Moments to collect likes could earn a free cup of milk tea. Qin Luo wanted to drink two cups, so she created an alternate account and added Qin Huai as a friend to ask him to like the posts.

Qin Huai guessed that Qin Luo had simply forgotten to delete him.

That unlucky child.

In sharp contrast to Qin Luo was Seeing Seeing Ouyang. Although Qin Huai had not been simmering soup every day as he had before, he still brewed a pot every now and then.

Seeing Seeing Ouyang ate Three-Diced Buns, Five-Diced Buns, Suzhou-style dim sum, various rice cakes, Guo'er, and soup every day. He had eaten himself into roundness; jogging and fitness exercises were of no use. All the weight Qin Luo had lost had grown onto his body.

However, Seeing Seeing Ouyang stated that it was all for the sake of his bro; suffering a minor work-related injury from eating was nothing. His appetite was huge, and he could still eat more!

Qin Huai thought such peaceful days would continue for some time.

After all, he recently lacked the conditions to stir up any waves.

To complete Luo Jun's side quest, his heat control was not up to standard; he could not produce the B-grade Apple Noodle Guo'er.

To complete Qu Jing's side quest, his luck was not up to standard.

Qin Huai had made every type of rice cake that Qu Jing knew and that Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan knew of. He had even searched online and discovered that meat-filled rice cakes truly existed in this world. He tried making shredded pork rice cakes, but still failed to strike great luck.

None of them tasted like the flavor in Qu Jing's memory.

Now Qin Huai had given up on the method of exhaustive enumeration and decided to rely purely on gambling with luck.

Ever since he had uncovered Qu Jing's secret and she had moved into the community, the relationship between Qu Jing and Qin Huai, Chen Chen Huihong, and Luo Jun had advanced by leaps and bounds. Everyone often gathered at Luo Jun's house for tea parties, eating high-end fruits bought by Luo Jun. The only thing missing was for Qu Jing to awaken; otherwise, they would truly be good friends who talked about everything.

Under this layer of relationship, Qin Huai very directly asked Qu Jing what types of rice cakes she liked to eat, without telling her the reason. The answer was simple: glutinous rice cakes and rice cake soup. Although Qu Jing liked other fancy types of rice cakes, she did not love them as much as those two.

With the type locked down, the rest depended entirely on luck.

Now, Qin Huai simply alternated between making glutinous rice cakes and rice cake soup every day, gambling that on some day his luck would be good enough to hit the mark and complete the side quest.

Just as Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan had said, rice cake is a very simple ingredient. Its preciousness in the past was entirely a regional issue; in essence, one cannot make many variations out of rice cake.

Qin Huai did not feel there were any fatal technical problems with his rice cake making. The failure to complete the side quest could only be attributed to bad luck. In any case, Qu Jing had already moved in; he had plenty of time. In Chen Chen Huihong's words, Qu Jing could now live at least eight more years.

Given eight years, Qin Huai did not believe he could not complete a single side quest.

As expected, the peaceful life encountered an unexpected event.

It was a good surprise.

October 29th was a date destined to be forever etched in the memories of most residents of the Clouds Canteen community.

The weather was excellent that day: crisp autumn air, a gentle breeze, and moderate temperatures. Even Grandma Ding, while strolling through the community carrying fermented rice buns, felt the day was nice enough to walk a couple more laps.

Around 3 PM, Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan and Qin Huai were in the back kitchen making Guo'er as usual.

In the main hall waited the loyal diners eager to eat Guo'er.

Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan felt he had not come to the Clouds Canteen to teach Qin Huai finger techniques.

He had come to the Clouds Canteen to grind it out with Qin Huai over heat control.

Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan never expected that at his age, he would still have to practice heat control, and he even felt a slight urge to retrain his basic skills and learn the great wok toss.

How could there be a dim sum in this world that demanded such high standards for heat control?

Qin Huai was stir-frying the filling.

Not only was he stir-frying the filling, but he was also attempting to toss the wok.

Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan had grown accustomed to it. After grinding away at Guo'er with Qin Huai for so long, sometimes when Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan stir-fried the filling to a critical moment, he also felt the need to execute a satisfying, vigorous great wok toss to put a perfect period on the stir-frying.

Suddenly, Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan's phone rang. He glanced at it; it was his biological father calling. He looked at Qin Huai, then looked at the filling in the wok, hesitated for two seconds, shifted two steps to the side, and answered the call.

The call was extremely brief. Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan hardly spoke throughout, merely humming "mm" twice before hanging up.

"Did your father call you about something?" Qin Huai had also seen the caller ID. The filling in the wok had now entered the simmering stage, so they could start slacking off and chatting.

"He said he found two dim sum chefs willing to work at the canteen for you," Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan said.

Qin Huai:!

Good heavens, Zheng Da was too reliable!

"Professional dim sum chefs? Not breakfast shop chefs masquerading as dim sum chefs?" Qin Huai felt the surprise came too suddenly; it was utterly unexpected and hard to believe.

Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan nodded. "They both trained at the Does Zhi Wei Ju and gained work experience at other restaurants after leaving. My father has connections with their masters; they can be considered reliable insiders."

"Such professionals are willing to work at a canteen?" Qin Huai was shocked.

"Yours isn't exactly a proper canteen anyway," Zheng Zheng Zheng Siyuan retorted. "The pastry departments of many grand restaurants do not reach the level of the Clouds Canteen's pastry department."

"Both of these dim sum chefs are from Shan City. They are tired of wandering outside and want to return to their hometown to work. They originally applied to other restaurants, but my father heard about it and intercepted them. Anyway, the salary and benefits here are not bad, there are commissions, the location is good, and commuting is convenient with the subway entrance nearby. Earning a living by one's skills is the same wherever you go."

"They will arrive tomorrow. I will help you conduct the interviews together."

"I am truly grateful to you and Uncle Zheng. If there is a chance, I must treat Uncle Zheng to a meal!" Qin Huai exclaimed.

"No need to wait for a chance."

"Huh?" Qin Huai did not understand that sentence.

"My father and my master mean that as long as these two dim sum chefs are willing to join, the Clouds Canteen will have reliable dim sum chefs. It can operate normally without the two of us."

"My master asked me: Are you interested in going to Gusu for a trip?"

"He is very interested in Guo'er and also wants to meet you face-to-face. My father and I have worked in your canteen for so long; courtesy demands reciprocity. You should also go work at my master's restaurant for a while."

(End of Chapter)