Chapter 233

Qin Huai felt that Zheng Siyuan was sometimes really very "filial."

How should I put it... everyone didn't let Zheng Da off.

"That's not necessary." Qin Huai chose to let Zheng Da off, "I just feel bored, not tired."

"When the rice cakes are ready tomorrow, I plan to use them to boil soup. Do you want to taste it?" Qin Huai took the initiative to invite them.

Rice cake soup made from wrong glutinous rice + wrong technique + wrong heat = wrong rice cakes.

They say two negatives make a positive; Qin Huai really wanted to know what four negatives would make.

The rice cakes on the cutting board were simply a collection of wrong answers, gathering every problem that could possibly appear on a rice cake.

Zheng Siyuan refused on the spot: "No need, I don't like eating rice cakes."

Then Zheng Siyuan couldn't help but be curious and asked one more question: "Who do you plan to give this rice cake soup to?"

"Qu Jing." Qin Huai said honestly.

Qin Huai planned to call Qu Jing later and ask her to take time off tomorrow afternoon to come to Huang Ji to eat rice cake soup.

If the warm reminder was correct, Qu Jing should be about to wake up after drinking the rice cake soup. According to the normal process, after Qu Jing woke up, she would definitely tell Qin Huai some supplementary stories, and Qin Huai would also have to introduce the tea party configuration to Qu Jing.

It just so happened that Chen Huihong was about to bring Huihui to Gusu. By then, two awakened spirit creatures would gather together, and they could make a video call to Luo Jun to have a tea party in the air together, which was simply a beautiful thing.

Qin Huai's honesty shocked Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan looked Qin Huai up and down in disbelief, unable to understand how Dr. Qu had offended Qin Huai without even coming to Huang Ji, to actually have to suffer this disaster. He wanted to say something but finally closed his mouth and didn't say it.

Zheng Siyuan felt that Qin Huai might indeed be under a bit too much pressure these past two days.

He had become abnormal.

Since Qin Huai was going to ask Qu Jing to come to Huang Ji for a meal tomorrow afternoon, he naturally had no time to practice his heat control. After Huang Shengli returned from the hospital after his physical therapy, Qin Huai briefly explained the reason for his leave tomorrow, and Huang Shengli readily agreed.

Huang Shengli didn't forget to praise Qu Jing: "Dr. Qu is really a warm-hearted and good doctor. When Anyao and I went to the hospital at noon today, Dr. Qu was worried that we were unfamiliar with the rehabilitation department since it was our first time, so she specifically waited for us at the hospital entrance and led us to the rehabilitation department."

"Yes, yes, Dr. Qu didn't even have time to eat and packed it from the cafeteria. It's fortunate she didn't eat, otherwise she wouldn't have had room to eat rice cakes." Huang Anyao echoed, "Qin Huai, it's so troublesome for you to have Dr. Qu run over specifically to eat rice cake soup tomorrow afternoon. Why don't I run an errand and send it to her?"

"Actually, Dr. Qu and I have something to discuss tomorrow afternoon, so it's just right to eat rice cake soup." Qin Huai explained vaguely.

"Oh." Huang Anyao nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The next morning, Qin Huai specifically came to the kitchen early to uncover the cloth.

As expected, the quality of the rice cakes was very poor.

It was poor enough that even Huang Anyao could see it.

Qin Huai only made a small piece of rice cake, considering that rice cake soup was usually a large portion, and this rice cake wasn't delicious; if he really let Qu Jing finish this piece, it would be a bit too difficult for her.

Qin Huai cut off a small piece and boiled a small portion of rice cake soup for himself to taste first.

Qu Shan's way of boiling rice cake soup was very simple: slice the rice cakes, beat an egg into egg drop and pour it in, and then add whatever was available.

If there were radishes, add radishes; if there were Chinese cabbage, add Chinese cabbage; if there were wild vegetables, add wild vegetables. The main point was to be rich.

Qin Huai chose to add everything, filling it with radishes and Chinese cabbage. Since there were no wild vegetables, he threw in two stalks of spinach. Then, without considering the heat, he boiled it all in a mess. When the soup boiled, he didn't turn down the heat but kept stirring to ensure it wouldn't burn at the bottom.

Then, a pot of extremely terrible rice cake soup, which made all the chefs at Zhi Wei Ju feel that Master Qin might be crazy, was ready.

Zheng Siyuan, who was wrapping wontons, silently moved two steps away from Qin Huai, fearing that Qin Huai would invite him to drink the rice cake soup.

The rice cake soup was boiled by Qin Huai until it was sticky, but Qin Huai knew this was the effect he wanted.

【Rice Cake Soup, E+ grade】

Sigh, some steps were done too well, a bit of an extraordinary performance. Fortunately, it didn't reach D-grade.

Qin Huai hadn't eaten an E-grade dish before.

Qin Huai picked up the bowl, took a spoon, boldly scooped a large spoonful, and put it into his mouth.

Hmm...

Today is ruined.

Such a terrible texture. The taste couldn't be called hard to eat, because the rice cake itself didn't have much taste, and radishes and Chinese cabbage were standard combinations for boiling soup. Once the over-boiled radishes and cabbage were mixed into the already sticky rice cake soup, the stickiness and the overly soft and mushy texture made one feel...

Like eating paste.

Remembering the bitterness and thinking of the sweetness, family members.

Qin Huai put on a mask of pain.

Zheng Siyuan brought over a bowl of boiled wontons: "Eat something good."

Having seen people go crazy making pastries, it was really rare to see someone like Qin Huai who made pastries until he became abnormal.

Qin Huai felt that this afternoon must be a test of the friendship between him and Qu Jing. If your friend inexplicably brought you such a bowl of weird rice cake soup and told you not to ask why but to eat it first, you really couldn't take a bite without a basic level of favorability.

After the lunch business ended, Qin Huai had been waiting for news from Qu Jing.

Qu Jing didn't understand Qin Huai's weird behavior of suddenly asking her to take a few hours off to come to Huang Ji to eat pastries, but she respected it and came. After Qu Jing sent a message to Qin Huai after getting off the subway, Qin Huai immediately started boiling the rice cake soup. When Qu Jing arrived at the shop, the rice cake soup wasn't fully boiled yet, so the waiter led her to the 555 private room first.

Qu Jing sat in the private room, feeling a bit lost, and sent a message to Huang Anyao asking if Qin Huai had encountered any problems recently.

Huang Anyao was squatting in the kitchen, looking at the message in confusion, then looking at Qin Huai, who was focused but like a witch brewing soup, stirring the bubbling and rolling pot non-stop, and replied:

Seems like a little.

Huang Anyao: Qin Huai seems a bit abnormal today.

Qu Jing in the private room was even more nervous.

Comforting a friend in a bad mood—her social skills hadn't reached that lesson yet.

Ten minutes later, Qin Huai personally carried a large bowl of rice cake soup into the private room.

The rice cake soup was placed steadily in front of Qu Jing.

"I know my behavior today might be very weird, and this bowl of soup also looks very unappealing, but don't worry about it. Just drink it first; once you drink it, you'll understand everything." Qin Huai said solemnly.

Qu Jing also nodded solemnly: "I know!"

Then she started drinking the soup.

The rice cake soup was just out of the pot and very hot, so Qu Jing scooped up a spoonful and kept blowing on it.

She took a bite.

Qin Huai stared at Qu Jing with very expectant eyes.

Qu Jing ate very slowly, not knowing if it was because it was too hot or because it was hard to eat.

Qin Huai felt that the E+ grade rice cake soup shouldn't be a big problem; he really couldn't make an E-grade one. Qin Huai didn't know what he did right when making the rice cakes; this grade just wouldn't go down.

Qu Jing scooped up the second spoonful, her movements still very slow, but her expression changed.

The originally slightly serious expression gradually became relaxed, her eyes began to go blank, as if she were recalling some things she had forgotten for a long time.

Third spoonful.

Fourth spoonful.

Qu Jing stopped moving.

It wasn't like Chen Huihong's quiet stillness; her stillness was more like a kind of melancholy contemplation.

Qin Huai saw tears gradually gathering in her eye sockets, turning into teardrops, embedded in her eye sockets and spinning. Qu Jing's eyes were wide open, empty and dull, only the tears were lively.

A few dozen seconds later, Qu Jing moved.

She looked up at Qin Huai, and tears fell down with a splash, dripping into the rice cake soup.

She looked at Qin Huai, her eyes very complex—there was astonishment, there was being moved, and of course, more was gratitude.

She moved her lips.

"Thank you."

"I actually almost... completely forgot Grandfather."

Qu Jing blinked, and tears fell again.

Qin Huai could only force a joke to ease the atmosphere: "It's fortunate that the private room door is closed, otherwise if the passing waiter saw it, they would think the rice cake soup I boiled was too terrible and made you cry."

Qu Jing smiled and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"I'm not the first one to wake up, right? You look very proficient in the process."

Qin Huai nodded: "Sister Hong was the first to wake up. Luo Jun... his situation is very special. He didn't forget, but he also didn't want to wake up. Now he just simply wants to wait for death; this can be told to you later."

Qin Huai briefly explained his system and how he could obtain the memories or dreams of spirit creatures by completing tasks.

Qu Jing listened in a daze; it was obvious that for spirit creatures, the system was also an out-of-bounds and rebellious exam question.

"Is it convenient to talk about what happened after the first lifetime?" Qin Huai asked.

"Actually, there's nothing." Qu Jing said lightly, "I sorted out the food and property in the house and threw them into the village head's courtyard overnight. Then I went into the mountains and found the bear's den, where I found fragments of Grandfather's blood-stained clothes."

"Then I committed suicide."

Facing Qin Huai's stunned expression, Qu Jing smiled: "Actually, spirit creatures like Mr. Luo who know they failed the tribulation but still want to live painfully are very rare."

"Most spirit creatures are like me—failed, knew they couldn't let go, so they committed suicide to start the second lifetime."

"Because in the second lifetime, at least one can forget some things."

"Otherwise, living alone is too painful."

(End of chapter)