Chapter 268

Qin Luo didn't know if her only task for the New Year was to eat, but she knew that her current task was definitely to wrap.

Wrap Diced Baozi.

Wrapping Tangtuan isn't very difficult, but the Qin family breakfast shop never sells Tangyuan, and the Qin family members have no work experience in this area. Not knowing how much filling is needed, nor what the 4 shapes of Tangtuan should look like to be considered good-looking, they could only stare blankly from the sidelines.

Qin Huai could only arrange for the others to work on wrapping Diced Baozi, while he made all the Tangtuan himself.

It was fortunate that he was a skilled worker; he had wrapped enough Tangtuan during this period.

After the first batch of Tangtuan was wrapped, Director Qin boiled a pot according to the headcount, 4 per person. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Qin Luo to eat only 4, but considering she hadn't stopped eating on the way back, she was counted as one portion for today.

Qin Huai wasn't at ease while boiling the Tangtuan, looking into the pot from time to time and reminding Director Qin to turn down the heat.

Director Qin had a criminal record; that pot after pot of sesame glutinous rice skin soup was her past achievement. As the director of a children's welfare institution, her skill points might have been put into taking care of children, but absolutely none were in cooking.

"The hot Tangyuan are out of the pot! Come, everyone stop for a moment and eat the Tangyuan first. Huaihuai, stop wrapping; it's fine if you don't finish, eat the Tangyuan first." Director Qin skillfully served the Tangtuan and handed out bowls, and when she handed a bowl to Qin Luo, she almost subconsciously used a spoon to feed her.

Qin Luo took the bowl and immediately scooped up a Tangtuan, ready to eat.

"Did Luo Luo, 3 minutes and 50 seconds." Qin Huai reminded her.

Qin Huai wasn't too worried about Qin Luo getting burned; while Qin Luo had an iron mouth and iron stomach, she also had great self-awareness regarding her own physical condition. If she really ate something extremely hot, she would spit it out immediately.

Qin Huai was worried that others would follow suit and end up in the hospital tonight.

Everyone present was older, and an esophageal burn was no small matter.

Hearing this, Qin Luo hurriedly stopped her mouth and took out her phone to start the stopwatch: "Brother, it took Director Qin a while to serve the Tangtuan just now, so I'll set a countdown for three minutes."

Qin Huai nodded.

Old Man Qin was hard of hearing and didn't catch the conversation between the siblings, so an unnamed volunteer asked curiously: "Is there something special about this big Tangyuan?"

Qin Luo nodded solemnly: "After many tests and precise calculations by my brother, this Four Joy Tangtuan must be eaten 3 minutes and 50 seconds after being served for the best temperature."

Everyone suddenly realized, feeling that the snacks in big cities were indeed different, even precise to the second. How respectful, how respectful.

Then they all put down their bowls and stared at Qin Luo's phone, waiting for the three-minute countdown to end.

Because Old Man Qin was hard of hearing, he didn't hear a single word and couldn't figure out the situation. After asking Director Qin a few questions loudly, he suddenly realized: "I know, I've seen this on TV. When the imperial chef serves a dish, it's only considered finished after pouring something over it in front of the Emperor and waiting a few seconds."

Qin Huai:...

It didn't have to go that far.

3 minutes and 50 seconds is actually...

Ouyang's greatest contribution to the Four Joy Tangtuan.

After three minutes, following the vibration of the phone, everyone picked up their bowls and started eating.

Qin Luo had a lot of experience and ate the red bean paste filling first. Everyone else felt she was very experienced and followed suit, also eating the red bean paste filling first.

One bite down.

Everyone had no reaction, only Qin Luo was somewhat disappointed.

The red bean paste filling used for the Tangtuan this time was the most ordinary finished product bought on the market, the kind that was neither good nor bad. It wasn't as good as the homemade red bean paste filling used by some breakfast shops for red bean buns, and it was even less comparable to the red bean paste filling Qin Huai made himself.

"This big Tangyuan tastes the same as the small Tangyuan. Do people in Gusu not like small Tangyuan, so they make them this big?" Old Man Qin muttered to Director Qin, thinking he was being very quiet, not knowing that everyone in the kitchen heard him.

Director Qin roared back very loudly: "Maybe, but the glutinous rice skin Huaihuai made is quite delicious."

Look, Director Qin's love for Qin Huai was fully revealed at this moment.

Qin Luo chose the sesame sugar filling Tangtuan for her second one. One bite down and she was even more disappointed; it was just the taste of the most ordinary frozen Tangyuan you could buy in a supermarket.

Of course, the glutinous rice skin was a bit better.

Old Man Qin concluded: "People in Gusu just like eating big Tangyuan!"

The third one, fresh meat filling.

Qin Huai and Qin Luo bit into the fresh meat filling Tangtuan at almost the same time, and both were shocked.

How should I put it? When the red bean paste and sesame sugar fillings are very delicious, the fresh meat filling Tangtuan will appear plain and unremarkable, with no memorable points, just a passing savory Tangtuan used to balance the salty and sweet.

But when the red bean paste and sesame sugar fillings are very average, the fresh meat filling Tangtuan becomes very delicious.

One bite down can be called stunning.

That inclusive taste of pork, the firm texture, the overflowing juice, the seasoning of the salty filling, met the tongue that was slightly exhausted from eating two sweet Tangtuan in a row. At the moment the tip of the tongue touched the meat filling, oh, the great meat filling Tangtuan conquered the diner's taste buds.

"Mm." Qin Luo made a sound of praise, chewed and chewed, swallowed it impatiently, and praised excitedly, "Brother, you succeeded! Today's meat filling Tangtuan is so delicious!"

Qin Huai:...

Silly child, this doesn't count as success; this at most counts as no comparison, no harm.

If you had eaten a bowl of the sesame glutinous rice skin soup Director Qin boiled first, and then ate a very ordinary sesame sugar filling Tangtuan, you would also think the latter was very delicious.

Qin Luo swallowed the meat filling Tangtuan almost ravenously, then scooped up a mixed-fruit filling Tangtuan and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Mm." Qin Luo made a sound of praise again.

Louder than Qin Luo's praise was Old Man Qin's exclamation.

"These last two flavors are not bad. The big Tangyuan in big cities really have something to them!"

Under such a method of eating that praises after first criticizing, Director Qin and the others felt that the Four Joy Tangtuan was a snack very much worth eating.

Qin Congwen even felt he had discovered the "wow" factor: the secret of the Four Joy Tangtuan is to eat the plain and unremarkable red bean paste and sesame sugar fillings first, and then eat the delicious meat and mixed-fruit fillings, thereby highlighting the latter.

This is the same philosophy as the Diced Baozi sold in their Qin family breakfast shop: the first batch sold is Qin Congwen's, and only from the second batch are Qin Huai's mixed in.

If you don't eat the first batch, everyone won't know how precious the second batch of Diced Baozi is.

Qin Congwen understood.

Sure enough, the tricks in big cities are deep!

After finishing the Tangtuan, Qin Huai continued to wrap Tangtuan.

The others had finished wrapping their Diced Baozi, but Qin Huai was still wrapping Tangtuan.

Seeing that everyone couldn't help much, Director Qin, adhering to the principle that not staying in the kitchen to add to the chaos is the greatest help, led everyone to her office to appreciate the children's paintings from this year.

Mainly leading Qin Congwen, Qin Luo, and Zhao Rong.

Ever since the watercolor pens in the Fuli Academy had a complete set of colors, the children's painting level had made rapid progress, and the works they painted were finally something for people to look at.

Qin Huai suspected that Director Qin would smuggle in private goods during this painting appreciation process.

But he had to wrap Tangtuan and couldn't stop her.

Even if he could stop her, he couldn't; every year when the New Year arrives, it's painting appreciation time. Graduates who return to the Fuli Academy to visit Director Qin and kind-hearted people who come to the Fuli Academy to volunteer can all go to her office to appreciate them. The director's office has almost become an art museum exhibition hall.

Qin Huai could only wrap Tangtuan silently, letting Director Qin eat more of the average Tangtuan, and give Director Qin fewer of the delicious Tangtuan after the New Year, to express his dissatisfaction.

At 10:30, Qin Huai ended the battle.

Qin Luo, who had been playing on her phone for an hour, was stunned the moment she discovered that Qin Huai had actually finished wrapping all the Tangtuan, exclaiming about what kind of training camp Qin Huai had attended in Gusu, and how his work efficiency had suddenly become so high.

Qin Huai could only say that everyone really knew nothing about the customer traffic at Huang Ji.

At 10:36, Qin Congwen finished organizing the Tangtuan to be taken back and distributed to the neighbors, and drove back.

At 10:58, the Qin family arrived downstairs at the residential complex.

The entrance to the unit building was packed.

Familiar neighbors lined up in a long queue, each one full of joy. Those who knew understood they were lining up in the middle of the night to receive Tangtuan; those who didn't might think they were lining up at the supermarket entrance before dawn to receive eggs.

The moment Qin Huai got out of the car and saw the long queue, for a moment he thought he had returned to the entrance of Huang Ji.

Qin Huai had ended his exchange at Huang Ji, but not completely.

Seeing Qin Huai and the others return, the neighbors greeted them enthusiastically.

"Huaihuai, you're back. Is your family's breakfast shop still open?"

"Huaihuai, is Shanshi fun? When do you plan to come back?"

"Huaihuai, what is Four Joy Tangtuan? I looked it up online, it seems to be just four flavors of big Tangyuan. Is it because they eat this for the New Year in Shanshi that you wrapped this this year? Are you still selling Four Joy dumplings this year?"

"Huaihuai has lost weight, right? Must be tired thin. Big cities are so hard; our small county town is still better!"

"Thank you, Master Zheng," Qin Huai also accepted the red envelope.

"Huaihuai..."

(End of chapter)