Chapter 259

Whether the fresh meat Tangyuan stood up or not, no one knew, but the elderly folks who tasted it certainly stood up.

Tasting before was actually a bitter chore.

Qin Huai's mixed-fruit Tangyuan had extremely high instability; at first, it was purely disgusting, and later it was half disgusting and half delicious. Whenever you felt that Master Xiao Qin's mixed-fruit Tangyuan was on the right track, Qin Huai could use facts to tell you that you were overthinking it.

But back then, it was a Tangyuan blind box; there was only a certain probability of winning and eating mixed-fruit Tangyuan. When eating Tangyuan, one could enjoy the joy of opening a blind box, so it wasn't too hard to endure.

Later, Qin Huai's Tangyuan-making technique improved, and just as the dawn of victory was about to arrive, Qin Huai stopped making them.

The tasting was paused, and Master Xiao Qin went on strike.

Those days, the elderly folks lived in great confusion; they had bought the houses, but the pastries were gone.

Huang Ji's business was still booming; if you wanted to eat pastries, you had to go queue at six in the morning, and dining in was even more of a luxury. Not to mention that as the New Year approached, their children at home were also asking when the vacation would end and when they would return to Shancheng. Those few days without pastries made the elderly folks feel a dozen years younger—

Feeling like they were having a midlife crisis.

Fortunately, the confusion was only temporary, and everyone soon welcomed the dawn of victory.

Master Xiao Qin resumed the tasting activity! Not only was it better, but it was also unlimited; you could continue after finishing one portion, and you didn't even need to work hard to memorize lines every day because Master Xiao Qin now issued questionnaires.

Every day, you only need to answer the questionnaire honestly to eat Tangyuan to your heart's content; it's truly so happy!

It would be even better if the questionnaire didn't ask every day what kind of meat-filled pastry you like to eat most, what requirements you think delicious meat-filled pastries should meet, and which one you like most among the following meat-filled pastries.

After filling out too many questionnaires, many elderly folks became unconfident.

When they picked up the questionnaire and saw the questions, the first sentence that popped into their minds was: Do I really like this pastry?

Master Xiao Qin sends similar questionnaires every day; could it be because I filled it out wrong?

Should I like this kind?

The elderly folks were confused, and Qin Huai was also confused.

7 days, a full 7 days, Qin Huai had been practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan every day. Whether the Tangyuan had improved, Qin Huai wasn't sure, but his proficiency in mixing fillings had risen a lot.

Yes, the proficiency in mixing fillings had surged again.

Qin Huai glanced at the game panel and found that the proficiency in mixing fillings was already (65943/100000).

Simply leaving everyone else in the dust.

The heat control that Qin Huai had been practicing hard (at least it looked that way) was still struggling at the intermediate level. 10,000 proficiency points seemed easy to grind, but when it came to heat control, it was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Last time Qin Huai's finger technique upgraded, the heat control proficiency was over 6,000; now it was only 7,000, an increase of less than 1,000.

The proficiency in mixing fillings surged by 8,000 directly.

This gap made Qin Huai want to talk to the mixing filling and tell it to slow down and stop rising, to wait for other skills; if it rose so fast, it would make heat control very awkward.

He also wanted to be a hexagonal warrior.

It was too painful for a single-subject god of war to make high-difficulty pastries.

At this rate of growth, Qin Huai was afraid that before heat control reached the advanced level, mixing fillings would be at the master level.

Why does everything he practices increase seasoning?

Crab roe shumai is a pastry specialized in mixing fillings, so it's fine that the proficiency rises fast, but why does Four-Joy Tangyuan rise so fast too?

Is mixing filling so important for making Tangyuan?

The confused Master Xiao Qin confusedly mixed the filling.

In the kitchen, Qin Huai was mixing the filling, and Ouyang was counting the number of questionnaires. Two elderly folks couldn't stand the call of their children and grandchildren and bought tickets to go back in the morning, so the number of tasters changed, and Ouyang needed to check the number of questionnaires repeatedly.

At this time, someone might ask, what effect does having a few more or less have?

None; actually, Ouyang just wanted to find something to do so he wouldn't look like he was doing nothing in the kitchen, looking like a top-tier well-connected person just waiting to eat Tangyuan.

Ouyang had already counted for the sixth time.

He didn't want to count for the seventh time.

Ouyang felt he had to find something else to do. He looked at Qin Huai, who had started wrapping Tangyuan, looked at the living room outside where people had started entering, and looked at the small stool Chen Huihong left in the kitchen (Chen Huihong had sent Huihui back to sleep). Ouyang knew what he could do.

"Qin Huai, when are you planning to go back to your hometown?" Ouyang asked.

He decided to chat!

"The 6th," Qin Huai said.

Ouyang did the math and was shocked: "Isn't that already the 29th of the lunar year?"

"Yes," Qin Huai nodded. "On the 29th, I'll take Luo Luo back, on the 30th I'll prepare the pastries for the New Year's Eve dinner, and then stay at home making pastries until the 15th of the first lunar month, and then I can return to the Yunzhong Canteen."

Ouyang was conflicted: "If I stay in Gusu until the 29th of the lunar year before going back, my grandfather will break my legs."

Hearing Ouyang say this, Qin Huai couldn't help but look up at him. You lost 6.6 million when opening a store and almost weren't beaten to death by your own father, but going home on the 29th of the lunar year will directly get your legs broken? Your Ouyang family's house rules are a bit puzzling.

"Then you should go back earlier," Qin Huai said. "Going back earlier means I'll have to eat less Tangyuan for several days," Ouyang blurted out.

Qin Huai:...

Is he that fond of eating Tangyuan?

Risking having his legs broken just to eat it?

Seeing how much Ouyang loved eating Tangyuan, Qin Huai stopped wrapping Tangyuan, stared blankly at him, and asked: "Ouyang, where do you think the Four-Joy Tangyuan tastes better than ordinary Tangyuan?"

Ouyang was stumped by this question from Qin Huai. After thinking for a long while, he whispered: "Four-Joy Tangyuan..."

"Has four flavors?"

Qin Huai:...

Tired, let it be destroyed.

Buy a ticket and go back early, lest your grandfather breaks your legs.

That night, Qin Huai received another batch of questionnaires that were much the same as before.

Everyone's favorite Tangyuan was still the red bean paste one, but the proportions were different. After this period of hard practice, the proportion of those who liked red bean paste had dropped to 50%, those who liked sesame sugar had risen to 25%, mixed-fruit was 20%, and meat filling accounted for 5%, which was basically negligible.

Well, actually, only one person voted for meat filling.

That person was Gong Liang. Gong Liang accurately discovered through many days of questionnaire surveys that Qin Huai's focus was actually on meat filling, so to make Qin Huai happy, he had been checking meat filling since the third day.

Qin Huai was very moved that he had this heart.

If Gong Liang didn't only eat red bean paste and mixed-fruit Tangyuan when sitting at the kitchen door with Gong Baozhu in the afternoon, Qin Huai would be even more moved.

Qin Huai looked at the fresh batch of questionnaires and sighed deeply.

On one hand, he knew clearly that his current ability couldn't make A-grade pastries, and the current Four-Joy Tangyuan was normal.

But on the other hand, he knew clearly where the Four-Joy Tangyuan was lacking.

It was just lacking in the pure meat filling.

As long as he mastered the pure meat filling, the Four-Joy Tangyuan would definitely be A-grade.

And Qin Huai would have his first pastry made by his own strength.

Qin Huai knew on one hand that his level wasn't enough, and on the other hand, he thought, what if? What if the level was actually enough? What if it was just a little bit away? What if it only needed hard practice to do it?

Four-Joy Tangyuan was like a carrot hanging in front of Qin Huai. As the donkey pulling the mill, in order to gnaw on this hard-to-gnaw carrot, Qin Huai could only keep walking around the millstone, spinning in place.

"Brother, I've finished my homework!"

Just as Qin Huai was doubting life while looking at the questionnaires, Qin Luo returned from next door, holding snacks given by Gong Baozhu. Qin Huai glanced at it and found it was his favorite honey butter flavored potato chips.

There was half a bag of chips left. Qin Huai naturally snatched the chips from his sister's hand and started eating, saying: "If you're done, play with your phone for a while."

Qin Luo didn't play with her phone but sat opposite Qin Huai and asked: "Brother, when I was doing homework next door today, I heard Grandpa Xu and the others discussing whether to answer falsely on the questionnaire."

"What false answer?" Qin Huai continued to gnaw on the chips.

Qin Luo tried to take back the chips, but failed, so she could only grab a big handful, eat a bite first, and then say: "It's whether to choose fresh meat filling for the last question."

"Everyone can see that you made this questionnaire to practice fresh meat Tangyuan, but the fresh meat Tangyuan is really very average; it's not as delicious as the red bean paste one at all."

"Grandpa Xu and the others want to choose fresh meat filling to make you happy, but they are worried that false answers will affect your practice. Uncle Gong said that if there's one person doing this kind of false propaganda to let you know everyone's heart, it's fine, but if there are too many people, it will look too fake."

Qin Huai was startled and asked: "Then did Grandpa Xu and the others discuss why the fresh meat Tangyuan doesn't work?"

Qin Luo thought for a while. Qin Huai returned the chips to her, and Qin Luo thought faster: "It was mentioned a few times, but everyone doesn't know where it doesn't work; they just simply feel that the fresh meat Tangyuan is not as delicious as the other Tangyuan."

"Everyone is unwilling to eat the fresh meat Tangyuan first; they all eat it third or last, eating it to cleanse the palate after being tired of the sweet fillings."

"I think, brother, you don't need to worry too much; the fresh meat Tangyuan not being as delicious as the others is simply a problem of your ability. Your Dream-Fulfilling Shaobing is the same; I think the fresh meat Tangyuan is at least better than the Dream-Fulfilling Shaobing," Qin Luo comforted.

Qin Huai:?

Did you learn how to comfort people from Ouyang and Chen Huihong?

Qin Huai silently took the chips away: "Don't eat anymore, go to sleep early."

"Go eat Tangyuan across the street tomorrow morning."

Qin Luo:???

Qin Luo: qaq

Qin Luo: My chips!!!

Brother, give me back my chips; I only ate half a bag!

Sitting on the high-speed train for a day was too tiring; a short chapter for now, will add more chapters to make up for it starting tomorrow.

(End of chapter)