Chapter 271

After finishing breakfast, Master Qin went full throttle.

Three-diced buns, done!

Five-diced buns, done!

Ordinary meat buns, done!

Radish buns, done!

Char siu buns, done!

Vermicelli buns, done!

Glutinous rice shumai, done!

No one in the kitchen could be idle; even He Cheng, who was outside the kitchen, had to come in to help tend the fire after boiling water. Third Great-Aunt and Sixth Great-Aunt, seeing that they couldn't keep up with the firewood for several stoves, urgently found a few more helpers in the village.

Qin Luo and her uncle He Hua were almost chopped into coolies from chopping firewood. Doing strength training at home during the New Year, Qin Luo couldn't take it anymore by the end and ran to beg her grandfather if he could upgrade and renovate the kitchen next year, replacing the earthen stoves with gas stoves.

Our kitchen is already equipped with air conditioning; can we embrace modern technology in other equipment as well?

The hot dishes for our family's New Year's Eve dinner are just stir-fried casually for the sake of it; there's really no need to be particular about earthen stoves and firewood stoves for steaming dim sum.

Master Qin called his granddaughter foolish, saying that if this were replaced with a gas stove, what use would you and your uncle have during the New Year in the future, and how would you be able to stand tall and eat dim sum?

For an entire afternoon, the kitchen was filled with steam.

Batch after batch of dim sum came out of the steamer, with only two batches of each type steamed. If you really calculate it, the quantity wasn't actually that large.

At first glance, the Qin family had very few people, and one table could handle the New Year's Eve dinner. In reality, there were many relatives who ate dim sum, and many relatives elsewhere were waiting to be fed.

Not to mention the far ones, there was a family of relatives next door.

Qin Tianhe relied on his seniority to insist on coming over to visit with gifts, but there were many people in Qin Tianhe's family who were too embarrassed to come over and freeload. This year, Qin Tianhe's youngest son, Qin Dazhuang's family, didn't buy tickets to return for the New Year, but Qin Tianhe had many children; he had three sons and two daughters.

Ever since they grabbed the opportunity to tear down the wall, Qin Tianhe's children would all gather together every New Year, with daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren all present. Some daughters would eat two meals on New Year's Eve, eating the first half at Qin Tianhe's house and the second half at their husband's house.

If they could stuff two buns in their pockets when going to eat the second half, the daughter and son-in-law would definitely be the most dazzling people at this year's New Year's Eve table.

The Qin family's kitchen was filled with smoke for an entire afternoon, and Qin Tianhe's little grandson and granddaughter also lay on the window, looking at the neighbor's house eagerly for an entire afternoon.

Although they couldn't see what dim sum was made in the kitchen at all, they could smell the fragrance.

Such a rich fragrance of flour!

One smell and you knew it must be fluffy, white, hot and soft to the touch, and a flour-based item that would give you a huge sense of satisfaction from eating carbohydrates in one bite, and could even be chewed to reveal a sweet taste!

Qin Tianhe's grandchildren had no imagination; their minds were full of white steamed buns and meat buns, and they had no idea that their dear grandfather had already eaten two whole fermented rice steamed buns at the neighbor's house behind their backs.

The children were drooling outside, while Third Great-Aunt and Sixth Great-Aunt were drooling in the kitchen.

Too rich, it was truly too rich.

Third Great-Aunt and Sixth Great-Aunt had been tending the fire in the Qin family kitchen for these years; when had they ever seen such a battle?

Qin Huai was making longevity noodles.

The chicken soup was already there; the level of soup clarification might not be high, but the raw materials were definitely good. The chicken soup, which sacrificed seven old hens, made Qin Luo want to steal two large bowls just by smelling the fragrance. Qin Huai was confident that tonight's longevity noodles would definitely make these seven old hens die worthily.

None of them died in vain.

Third Great-Aunt, Sixth Great-Aunt, and others who didn't know much could only see that the buns, steamed buns, shumai, and so on were already completed. In reality, all the dim sum Qin Huai was going to make today had already entered the final stage.

The meat buns, radish buns, shumai, and fermented rice steamed buns were all steamed because these dim sum were not the main event tonight at all. Tonight, the Qin family had a tight schedule and heavy tasks, and their stomach capacity was very limited. These daily dim sum could be left to be eaten slowly from the first to the fifteenth day of the New Year. Steaming them in advance was to leave enough time for other dim sum.

These were all to be stuffed into the blind box gift bags; just look at them, no need to eat them.

The ones that needed to be eaten as a priority hadn't taken shape yet.

The Gastrodia stewed with pigeon was stewing in the pot. Qin Huai didn't make much, just stewed two pigeons, and the family could just drink some soup then. Anyway, his stewing wasn't that great, and the pigeon meat could be left to be eaten on the first day of the New Year.

The fruit-shaped buns were originally raw embryos, taken out to thaw and then put into the pot.

The four fillings for the Four-Joy Tangyuan had all been made, and only the wrapping of the Tangyuan remained.

The Chen Pi tea had been boiled and served. Although Third Great-Aunt, Sixth Great-Aunt, and others didn't understand why Chen Pi, white fungus, and lotus seed soup should be called Chen Pi tea, no one asked, because they had all secretly drunk it, and it was delicious.

Such delicious Chen Pi, white fungus, and lotus seed soup, what's wrong with calling it Chen Pi tea?

Isn't there Chen Pi in this soup?

Qin Huai made two batches of three-diced buns and five-diced buns, and only steamed one batch of each. This batch of steamed buns was to be distributed to each household in the village, two per household. As for how a family would divide the two buns, that was their business; anyway, Assistant Xiao Qin's heart had been delivered.

Every year, Qin Huai did this, only in previous years he sent meat buns, and this year he sent plus-sized meat buns.

For the other batch that hadn't been steamed yet, Qin Huai planned to wait until around mealtime to steam only enough for his own family, and let Qin Xiuli take the rest to eat at the second half of the New Year's Eve dinner.

Afterwards, Qin Xiuli's family of three would each be carrying two or more large bags of buns and steamed buns. If Qin Xiuli didn't walk around the village twice late at night, she would be sorry for the three-diced buns, five-diced buns, and fermented rice steamed buns in the bags.

Not to mention the dream-fulfilling sesame cakes; the meat filling had to be stir-fried on the spot, and the sesame cakes had to be eaten fresh out of the pot.

The only thing that required more time was the authentic version of the apple-shaped flour fruit, which was a true work of art and a true skill-showing dim sum.

Qin Huai couldn't make the palace lantern buns with clamped flowers, but making apple-shaped flour fruit was still a piece of cake. Previously, when Qin Huai made apple-shaped flour fruit, he only shaped them and wasn't responsible for seasoning the filling.

Before the New Year, to make it convenient for his sister to carry the apple-shaped flour fruit and show off in the village, Qin Huai specially took some time out of making Four-Joy Tangyuan to urgently learn how to season the filling for apple-shaped flour fruit from Zheng Siyuan. The effect was average, but it was enough.

Qin Huai had confidence in the villagers of Qin Family Village; he bet that the villagers of Qin Family Village had not only never eaten apple-shaped flour fruit, but had never seen it, let alone heard of it.

When the time came, the apple-shaped flour fruit would be served on the table first, photographed and posted on Moments, and then there would be no need to eat it; it would be left for the next day for Qin Luo and He Cheng to take out and show off. It didn't matter if it was cold; it could still be eaten.

It didn't matter if the taste wasn't as good as the fruit; what was eaten was an artistic conception. What was eaten was art, and what was eaten was a realm.

When the time came, Qin Luo and He Cheng would distribute the apple-shaped flour fruit to their little friends, and when the little friends ate it, wow, this thing actually tasted like an apple, and the apple-shaped flour fruit could be considered to have completed its New Year mission.

Qin Huai could be said to have arranged this year's dim sum clearly, with everyone performing their own duties.

He was also doing it methodically according to his own arrangements.

First, roll the noodles. After the noodles were rolled, there was no rush to put them in the pot to boil; leave them there, and then start wrapping the Tangyuan.

There was no need to wrap all the Tangyuan; just wrap enough for tonight and for others to take away. The rest could be wrapped after eating the New Year's Eve dinner. The Qin family's New Year's Eve activities every year were also very plain; after eating the New Year's Eve dinner, they would watch TV, set off fireworks, and play mahjong.

Qin Huai's mahjong skills were average, and he usually watched TV. This year, he could wrap Four-Joy Tangyuan while watching TV.

This spirit would definitely be able to move the God of Four-Joy Tangyuan, allowing him to make A-grade Four-Joy Tangyuan for the New Year!

After wrapping the Tangyuan, Qin Huai started boiling the noodles.

By the way, he distributed the blind box dim sum gift bags to the helpers who had completed their tasks.

Buns and steamed buns were provided in abundance!

Everyone who received the blind box dim sum gift bag was beaming with joy, saying repeatedly: "Huai Huai, Happy New Year!"

For Wang Shen's New Year gift bag, Qin Huai secretly stuffed two raw embryos of fruit-shaped buns inside and specially whispered to Wang Shen that these were good things and must be kept for herself to eat.

Wang Shen understood instantly, took out a small plastic bag from her pocket, and put the raw embryos separately.

Qin Huai: 6

He really didn't expect that Wang Shen not only brought her own kitchen knife to help but also brought her own small plastic bag.

After distributing the dim sum, the kitchen became much quieter.

Helpers like Qin Luo, who were highly suspected of stealing food, had been driven out to help Grandma Qin in the small kitchen.

Grandma Qin was cooking the New Year's Eve dinner over there.

Qin Huai entered the final preparation work.

Dream-fulfilling sesame cakes, out of the pot!

Longevity noodles, out of the pot!

Three-diced buns, five-diced buns, and fruit-shaped buns, out of the pot.

Apple-shaped flour fruit, completed!

Four-Joy Tangyuan, out of the pot!

Stir-fried cabbage with meat, out of the pot!

All dim sum had been fully prepared!

At 18:00 sharp, the Qin family started dinner on time.

The family gathered around the round table. In the center of the round table were various colorful dim sum, and outside were seafood feasts that looked flashy but no one would touch with chopsticks.

In front of everyone were two bowls: one bowl of longevity noodles and one bowl of Four-Joy Tangyuan.

The longevity noodles had a rich chicken soup flavor, and the soup was relatively greasy, but it wasn't a big problem. Grandma Qin didn't know how to clarify the chicken soup, and the soup boiled was the standard yellow color of chicken soup, but it wasn't a big problem either.

The chicken soup carefully stewed from seven old hens was just good!

He Cheng was already intoxicated.

He could tell from Qin Luo's Moments that his cousin had been eating well for the past six months, but he didn't expect her to eat so well!

Qin Xiuli was also intoxicated; she didn't want to go to the second half of the dinner this year.

Qin Huai was the head chef, but starting the meal still depended on Master Qin, who had the highest seniority.

Master Qin never liked to talk nonsense, picked up his chopsticks, and gave an order: "Huai Huai has worked hard this year too. Happy New Year, everyone! Noodles should be eaten while hot. Huai Huai said, eat the noodles first!"

"Slurp." This was the sound of Master Qin eating noodles.

"Slurp!" This was the sound of everyone eating noodles together.

"Slurp, slurp."

For a time, there was only the sound of continuous noodle eating on the whole table.

At such a time, words like "Happy New Year," "Brother, you are truly amazing," "Brother, the noodles you made are truly delicious," and "Brother, I am especially willing to go to Shanshi for tutoring next year" couldn't be said.

When the mouth was stuffed with noodles, even a "hmm" sound couldn't be made.

"Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp." Qin Luo had already started drinking the soup.

In one go.

"Brother!" Qin Luo said super loudly, "The chicken soup noodles you boiled are truly delicious!"

"Happy New Year!"

(End of chapter)