Chapter 17: You Call This a Baozi?

Eight minutes later, the first batch of Five-Diced Baozi came out of the steamer.

Under normal circumstances, Qin Huai didn't recommend customers eat baozi straight out of the steamer.

It wasn't that they weren't delicious; it was mainly because they were hot.

Scalding hot.

Every year, there were always a few stubborn customers who insisted on eating the hottest ones, only to end up doing a tap dance while holding the baozi in their mouths.

Old Man Xu clearly didn't care. He didn't even care about indigestion, let alone a mere scalded mouth. As soon as Huang Xi placed the small steamer on the table, he reached out and grabbed one.

He bit into half of the baozi in one go.

"Whoa," Old Man Xu exclaimed.

It was damn hot!

Old Man Xu's first reaction was to spit out the piping hot baozi, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn't.

His tongue had already tasted the flavor.

Fresh.

The baozi skin was soft and tender; the inner side had absorbed the juices from the meat filling, while the outer side was fluffy and slightly sweet. The juice enveloped the filling, filled with the tenderness of the shrimp and the freshness of the diced bamboo shoots. The smooth sea cucumber mixed in became the best buffer. The flavors of the mountains and the sea converged in one small baozi, and the delicious taste spread all the way along his tongue.

Old Man Xu couldn't help it; he curled his tongue and chewed hard.

"Hiss—"

It was so hot, why was this damn baozi so hot!

But...

It was so delicious!

Old Man Xu had always felt that "thin skin and big filling" was the best praise for a baozi. After all, it's just a baozi; how good could it possibly be? No matter how good it is, it's still just a baozi.

But now.

Is this a baozi?

It's this delicious, and it's actually a baozi?!

Old Man Xu chewed away, steam constantly spraying from his mouth. He couldn't bear to spit it out, nor could he bear to swallow it. After a struggle, he finally swallowed it, took a sip of soy milk to soothe his mouth, and continued eating.

After two bites, the baozi was finished.

Old Man Xu let out a satisfied sigh, rubbed his belly, stood up, and prepared to walk toward the outer door. After taking two steps, he stopped and turned around.

"Young man, give me 3 more baskets!" Old Man Xu walked straight to the cashier to pay, scanning his code with the air of someone swiping a gold card without a care.

Ten minutes later, because Old Man Xu had delayed them by eating five baskets of baozi, his morning jogging friends, who had been stood up, stormed into the canteen and arrested Old Man Xu at Table 9.

"Xu Tuqiang!" the leader of the old men shouted sternly.

Old Man Xu stuffed a baozi into his mouth and said: "This one's on me."

Then he turned his head and shouted: "Give me another basket!"

The leader of the old men subconsciously took a bite, held the baozi in his hand, and shouted angrily: "Don't give me that... eh?"

The old man looked at the baozi.

He chewed twice.

After thinking for a moment, he started gnawing on the baozi right there.

The other old men:?

Old Cao, what's wrong with you? We were waiting for you to deliver justice, why are you eating baozi?

Two minutes later, the four old men who had come to deliver justice to Xu Tuqiang opened a separate table, isolated Xu Tuqiang, and each ordered a few baskets of Three-Diced or Five-Diced Baozi, eating while isolating him.

When Old Man Cao finished two baozi and had satisfied his craving, he finally continued the "justice": "Old Xu, you're really something. Your complex has such a good place and you actually hid it from us."

"Who hid it from you?" Xu Tuqiang, who was so full he was hiccuping, drank the last bit of soy milk to settle his stomach and sprawled on his chair. "This shop just opened today. Didn't you get the flyers they were handing out outside two days ago?"

After saying this, Old Man Xu let out a long hiccup.

"Are we still jogging later?"

"Jogging my ass," Old Man Cao said, taking a fierce bite of a Three-Diced Baozi. "Why would I jog after eating so much? Disbanded, we'll jog tomorrow."

"We'll eat again after jogging tomorrow!"

After saying this, Old Man Cao turned his head to look at the price on the menu sign, showing a pained expression: "It's delicious, but it's really expensive. 35 yuan for one baozi, it's gone in two bites. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was eating gold."

"Gold is much more expensive," Xu Tuqiang retorted ruthlessly. "It's good enough that there's food to eat. Money is meant to be spent. I don't know why you're so stingy, Old Cao, acting like a mythical creature that only consumes and never excretes all day long. You're a man with an eight-figure net worth, ordering two baskets of Three-Diced and one basket of Five-Diced Steamed Buns—if people didn't know, they'd think you couldn't afford it."

After saying this, Xu Tuqiang waved his hand stylishly: "Beauty, give me another basket of Three-Diced and one basket of Five-Diced Baozi to go, take them back for my old lady to try."

Provoked by Xu Tuqiang, Old Man Cao couldn't take it and immediately added an order.

Xu Tuqiang only had one wife at home, but Old Man Cao had a wife, a son, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson—five people, they could eat.

"Beauty, give me another 18 baskets of Five-Diced and 5 baskets of Three-Diced!" Old Cao shouted in an even louder voice.

Qin Huai in the kitchen:...

No, is the one-upmanship of you rich old men always this strange?

I've seen people compare cars, watches, and yachts, but this is the first time I've seen people compare the amount of baozi they buy.

Ten minutes later, the old men left triumphantly, each carrying a bag of baozi. Old Man Cao stood the straightest; he couldn't help it, he had a big family, and his grandson was at the age where he could eat—one grandson ate as much as three people.

The new employees who had just arrived at the door were stunned to see customers walking out of the canteen carrying baozi, thinking they had missed a notification that the shift started early. Being late on the first day of work, the new employees walked into the shop in fear and trepidation, afraid of being docked pay as soon as they started.

Huang Xi calmly explained the situation to the three of them and told them to hurry up and change clothes to prepare for work. The arrival of the old men was just an accident, but since orders had already been placed and the staff had arrived, Huang Xi simply changed the sign outside to "Open for Business," opening early.

There wasn't much foot traffic at this time; the nearby office buildings basically started work at 9:00, so the foot traffic wouldn't be heavy until after 8:00. After 6:00, a few customers entered through the outer door; some left after seeing the menu and finding no noodles or soup, while others thought the meat baozi were quite cheap and bought a few to go.

Because of the price, no one asked about the Three-Diced and Five-Diced Baozi. Most people would exclaim as soon as they saw the price tag. After all, this wasn't a tourist attraction, and 35 yuan for a baozi was still a bit beyond the consumption level of normal people.

Seeing that there weren't many customers and the peak traffic hadn't arrived yet, Qin Huai simply moved his small stool to the side of the shelf, sat down, and decided to slack off until 7:00.

This "work two, slack one" work philosophy was something he had always liked.

Work for two hours, slack for one hour—happiness doubled.

Qin Huai's slacking lasted until 6:30.

As soon as it hit 6:30, Chen Huihong and Chen Huihui stepped into the Cloud Canteen through the inner door on time.

Chen Huihui was wearing her school uniform, her hair in double ponytails tied with pink bows, and she wore a pink headband embedded with pearls. She walked in happily, carrying a small pink school bag.

"Good morning, Brother Qin Huai." Chen Huihui ran to the window and greeted Qin Huai in the kitchen with a smile. "Brother Qin Huai, are there any rabbit baozi this morning?"

"Yes, there are," Qin Huai said softly. "How many does Huihui want?"

"Two!" Chen Huihui held up two thumbs. "Mom said if I eat too many sweets, I'll get cavities, so I can only eat two red bean paste baozi."

Qin Huai subconsciously looked at Chen Huihong.

Ever since he realized that Chen Huihong was likely not human, Qin Huai's attitude toward her had become a bit complicated.

He wasn't afraid, just very curious.

Curious about what she actually was.

Qin Huai had also analyzed it over the past two days; he felt that to unlock Chen Huihong's species, he had to unlock her dreams first. But how to unlock dreams was something Qin Huai hadn't figured out yet.

The last dream was unlocked when he touched the animal baozi Chen Huihong made. Qin Huai wasn't sure if it was a random drop from touching dim sum made by Chen Huihong, or if it was a random drop from interacting with her more.

This thing seemed to have a high degree of randomness; Chen Huihong cooking was a low-probability event to begin with. Moreover, the last dim sum was handed to Qin Huai by Chen Huihui, so Qin Huai couldn't even be sure which of the mother and daughter the dream was unlocked from.

Qin Huai planned to interact and spend more time with Chen Huihong and Chen Huihui, build up favor, and strive to unlock the dream as soon as possible.

Chen Huihong was looking up at the menu and pointed to the Five-Diced Baozi: "Is this baozi a dim sum from Guangling? I think I've eaten it before."

As expected of a rich woman, she was well-informed.

"You're right."

"Give me a basket of Five-Diced Baozi, a basket of Three-Diced Baozi, two rabbit red bean paste baozi, a bowl of mung bean soup, and a bowl of soy milk. Just half a bowl of soy milk, Huihui can't drink too much." Chen Huihong began ordering, leading Chen Huihui to sit at Table 9.

At this time, the baozi were ready-made, so they were served quickly.

Small plates, small steamers, and small bowls were placed on the table, looking quite sumptuous.

Chen Huihong took out her phone to snap a photo, then picked up a rabbit red bean paste baozi for Chen Huihui, while she picked up a Five-Diced Baozi and started eating.

Chen Huihui didn't eat first; instead, she picked up the rabbit red bean paste baozi and looked at it in her hand.

The baozi with eyes drawn on it looked even more lively. Chen Huihui couldn't put it down, liking it so much that she didn't notice her mother next to her had frozen.

Chen Huihong was truly frozen.

When the well-informed Chen Huihong ate the Four-Joy Dumplings, she simply felt that Qin Huai's craftsmanship was really good and the dumplings were quite delicious, almost catching up to the craftsmanship of the masters at those old-brand dim sum shops.

This time, Chen Huihong began to doubt her own memory.

In her impression, Five-Diced Baozi wasn't this delicious.

Could it be that her taste was more demanding a few years ago, and such delicious baozi couldn't catch her eye?

That shouldn't be, right?

Chen Huihong looked at the baozi—it looked unremarkable.

She chewed a bite carefully—it was heavenly.

Chen Huihong remembered Qin Huai's self-introduction.

His family ran a breakfast shop in the county, an old brand, quite famous, and the neighbors around were very fond of it.

The southern county was actually this terrifying.

"Huihui." Chen Huihong called out to Chen Huihui, who was about to eat the baozi, and held her hand. "Don't eat it yet."

Chen Huihui:?

Chen Huihong raised her hand, signaling for another basket of Five-Diced Baozi.

"Eat this." Chen Huihong pushed the steamer toward Chen Huihui, her expression firm. "It's delicious."

Chen Huihui picked up the baozi in confusion and took a light bite.

!

Chen Huihui, who always ate slowly and deliberately, rarely opened her mouth quickly, followed by a second bite.

"Mom." After swallowing the baozi, Chen Huihui looked up happily. "Can we eat baozi for lunch today too? I don't want to eat in the canteen."

Chen Huihong nodded firmly: "Okay!"

My precious daughter, Mom has the exact same intention!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 18 =====