Chapter 282: Iron Stomach

Dong Shi was the last one to reply to Qin Huai.

As a cutting-board chef at Huang Ji, Dong Shi couldn't play with his phone during work hours, so he seized the time to share gossip as soon as he got off work.

The first message he replied to Qin Huai wasn't even "Holy crap, how is your meat filling so awesome," but "Junior Uncle Zheng is slacking off again, booked a ticket to Sanya to play."

Dong Shi didn't pay attention to the meat filling at all; the shock Qin Huai gave him during his few months at Huang Ji was enough; a mere photo of meat filling wouldn't shock him, even if Qin Huai topped the list in the next famous chef selection, Dong Shi wouldn't…

Alright, he would be shocked to the point of dropping his jaw.

When Dong Shi shared gossip with Qin Huai, Qin Huai had already finished wrapping the remaining Four-Joy Tangyuan in the kitchen and was sitting in the living room watching TV with his family.

Watching the anti-Japanese drama that Grandpa Qin loved most.

This warm atmosphere of the whole family sitting together, watching TV while eating snacks and fruit, was the first time it had appeared in the Qin house since the New Year.

Previously, Qin Huai was almost living in the kitchen and couldn't sit in front of the TV at all.

"Brother, eat some cherries!" Qin Luo handed the cherries to Qin Huai, looked at the fruit platter on the coffee table, and stuffed the cut kiwi, mango, lychee, and longan to Qin Huai, stuffing them until Qin Huai could barely hold them.

Qin Huai had no interest in these fruits Qin Luo stuffed to him; he grabbed two cherries casually, put the remaining fruit platter back on the coffee table, picked up a banana, and looked at Qin Luo very calmly.

Offering favors without a reason—either a traitor or a thief.

Qin Luo showed a fawning smile.

"Brother, tomorrow is the Lantern Festival. He Cheng has already started school, and I'll start school in a few days too; what are we eating tomorrow?"

The private school Qin Luo attended started school late, reportedly because many students would go abroad for vacation with their parents during the New Year and couldn't return if school started too early, allowing Qin Luo to enjoy the holiday until after the Lantern Festival.

He Cheng couldn't; he returned to school with his schoolbag on the twelfth.

"Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, of course we're eating Tangyuan." Qin Huai said. "Four-Joy Tangyuan, there's plenty in the kitchen, all you can eat."

Qin Luo's face turned green.

It wasn't that the Four-Joy Tangyuan wasn't delicious; throughout the entire Spring Festival holiday this year, the villagers of Qin Village could almost eat Four-Joy Tangyuan every day, and there wasn't a single child who didn't know what was good for them who would shout that eating large Tangyuan every day was too greasy and they didn't want to eat it.

If you don't want to eat it, there are plenty of people who do.

But Qin Luo ate more than anyone else.

Qin Luo's heart still loved eating meat; the Four-Joy Tangyuan only had 1/4 meat filling Tangyuan; Qin Luo would rather eat pure meat Tangyuan every day than eat Four-Joy Tangyuan with a reasonable combination every day.

Of course, it would be even better if she could have Three-Ding Bao, Five-Ding Bao, Crab Shell Yellow, Dream-Fulfilling Shaobing, Beef Pie, Lamb Pie, Pork Pie, Donkey Meat Fire-Shao, Chicken Noodle Soup, and Guo'er on the basis of eating meat filling Tangyuan.

What, you say Qin Huai doesn't know how to make Donkey Meat Fire-Shao?

Qin Luo indicated it didn't matter; they were sold in town. When she went to visit her best friend's house on New Year's Eve, her best friend shared the good news that a new donkey meat fire-shao shop had opened in town, and Qin Luo slipped out on the first day of the first lunar month.

To town to eat it.

In the days when Qin Luo was sanctioned by Grandma Qin and could only eat Four-Joy Tangyuan and normal meals, Qin Luo often slipped to town to buy donkey meat fire-shao and donkey offal soup, and all the cash red envelopes she received for the New Year went to the donkey meat fire-shao shop.

"Brother, can't we eat something else on a big holiday?" Qin Luo's voice carried pleading.

"Don't want to make it." Qin Huai said very honestly.

It should be good to eat something good on a big holiday, but Qin Huai indicated that he had been injured from making snacks some time ago and needed to relax; basking in the sun in the courtyard, playing with his phone, and listening to gossip was quite good.

Making snacks…

Leave it to the future self.

Qin Luo: …

"Did Luo Luo, don't bother your brother. You know how hard your brother has been practicing Four… Four-Joy Tangyuan during this period, and you still need me to stare at you to write one paper a day; how many hours does your brother work in the kitchen every day?" Zhao Rong turned on the strict mother mode, and Qin Luo immediately shut up, fearing that her mother would make her write another paper tomorrow.

"Huaihuai, rest well. Mom and Grandma are responsible for tomorrow's meal; Old Qin, go to town tomorrow to buy a roast goose, then buy a roast duck, and then buy a white-cut chicken!"

Grandma Qin also felt it made sense and echoed: "Your mom is right; our Huaihuai has been working hard for more than ten days, rest tomorrow."

"Son, tomorrow you go to Uncle Fushun's house to order a plate of grouper, Uncle Guaizi's house to order a plate of shrimp, Aunt Hongping's house to order a plate of abalone, want garlic vermicelli, she also makes scallops well, then order a plate of scallops."

"I'll go to Shun… to order the rest."

Qin Huai listened from the side, sighing in his heart that this was what "putting together a meal" truly meant.

Piece together a dish from this family, piece together a dish from that family, the kitchen at home didn't even light a fire, and the dishes for the Lantern Festival were ready.

Qin Huai didn't speak, because it was about the same in previous years, but in previous years he would exchange snacks for dishes, and this year every household had eaten a lot of snacks, so Grandma Qin could order openly.

Qin Huai looked at Qin Luo: "Did Luo Luo, have you finished the papers the teachers assigned?"

Qin Huai hadn't cared about his sister's studies for several days.

"Finished." Qin Luo said loudly, meeting Qin Huai's gaze, her face full of determination, "Really, all of them were written seriously, all sent to the teachers for inspection, and the teachers have all finished explaining them!"

"Then you go to the city with me on the 16th of the first lunar month." Qin Huai said decisively, "Didn't you always want to eat at the seafood restaurant at the entrance of the aquarium in the city? At noon we'll go to Master Cao's house for a light meal, and after eating, I want to discuss the mold matter with Master Zhang, and after discussing, we'll go to the aquarium in the afternoon, and go to the seafood restaurant to eat after visiting."

"I remember you start school on the 19th of the first lunar month; if nothing goes wrong, we should return to Shan City on the 17th of the first lunar month; it's the last few days of the holiday, have fun."

Qin Luo didn't expect that the last few days of her holiday would be so happy, with food and fun, and she instantly forgot the bitterness of studying and writing papers before, feeling that this winter vacation was really great.

"Yay!" Qin Luo cheered.

Zhao Rong looked at her daughter whose face changed faster than flipping a book, shook her head helplessly, and continued watching TV.

Only Qin Congwen asked curiously in a low voice: "Huaihuai, who is Master Cao?"

"She is the wife of Carpenter Zhang, the wife of that Carpenter Zhang who you ordered molds from decades ago." Qin Huai explained.

Qin Huai's explanation deeply shocked Qin Congwen.

"Madam," Qin Congwen remarked that the last time he heard someone address a person's wife like that was on a TV show.

"Then Huaihuai, you go to Master Cao's house for a meal, is it okay to take Did Luo Luo?" Qin Congwen asked.

"It was Master Cao's grandson who took the initiative to mention it; on the sixth day of the first lunar month, Master Cao's family came to our house to eat Tangyuan, and Did Luo Luo had a fight with her grandson Zhang Zhiyun. Hearing that I was going to their house for a meal on the 16th of the first lunar month, Zhang Zhiyun insisted that Did Luo Luo go together to prove to Did Luo Luo that the food his grandmother made was more delicious than the snacks I made."

After Qin Huai said this, Qin Congwen instantly had an impression, and suddenly realized: "So the child who fought with Did Luo Luo that day was Carpenter Zhang's grandson; then wouldn't the one standing on the side be Carpenter Zhang."

"Really didn't expect Carpenter Zhang to grow up like this now; he was a famous handsome guy in Qiu County back then; even the male lead in the TV drama wasn't as handsome as him."

Qin Huai didn't understand Qin Congwen's shock; just at this time, Dong Shi sent a message to share the latest gossip. According to informed sources, Wang Jun asked for a day off tomorrow to go to his girlfriend's house to pay a New Year call; the progress was gratifying and he was expected to get engaged this year and get married next year.

Qin Huai quickly picked up his phone and wandered in the ocean of eating melons.

The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month passed by so plainly for the Qin family.

With the blessing of the villagers' "piecing together a meal," Qin Huai ate a sumptuous Lantern Festival feast. The remaining Four-Joy Tangyuan that weren't distributed to relatives were frozen by Qin Huai, and he let Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong take them to Principal Qin when they returned to Qiu County the next day to distribute to the children in the welfare institute.

On the second day of the first lunar month, Qin Congwen specifically returned to Qiu County to send a batch of Four-Joy Tangyuan to the welfare institute, but the amount sent that day wasn't much, just barely enough to eat for a few days.

Eating the low-profile version before the New Year, the mid-profile version during the New Year, and the high-profile version after the New Year, the children of the Sanmalu Children's Welfare Institute could be considered to have had a complete advanced version of the New Year. The 16th of the first lunar month, which was 6:17 AM on February 26th, the Qin family, who got up early, returned.

Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong took their suitcases and took a ride from someone in the village back to Qiu County, and Qin Huai and Qin Luo took a ride from someone in the neighboring village to the city. Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin sent them to the village entrance; thinking that the lively New Year had passed so quickly, Grandma Qin felt a bit sad, and when she stood at the village entrance sending people off, she felt like she was standing at the train station sending off relatives going far away, and her nose felt sour and tears almost fell.

Qin Congwen also tried to persuade Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin to live in Shan City for a period of time after the New Year, but the two old people were unwilling to go.

Shan City was too far; the two old people had lived in the village for a lifetime, hadn't gone out much when they were young, and were even more unwilling to move when they were old.

"Huaihuai, Did Luo Luo, this is an extra red envelope Grandma gives you this year, keep it well. Did Luo Luo, you can't spend this money randomly after taking it; you are also a big child now and sensible; you give Grandma a big red envelope this year, and Grandma also gives you a big red envelope."

While Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong were moving luggage, Grandma Qin quietly gave Qin Luo and Qin Huai a big red envelope each.

"Drink less milk tea; Grandma saw on the internet that drinking milk tea is unhealthy; drink hand-beaten lemon tea instead." Grandma Qin exhorted.

Qin Huai: …?

Milk tea is unhealthy, and hand-beaten lemon tea is healthy?

Which marketing account advertised hand-beaten lemon tea? Did Seeing Ouyang invest in the traffic?

By the way, Seeing Ouyang claimed that his hand-beaten lemon tea shop opened on the first day of the first lunar month. As a result, it was already February 26th, and Qin Huai hadn't seen Seeing Ouyang's Moments, nor had he seen any relevant news from the Cloud Community group.

Throughout the New Year period, Seeing Ouyang also evaporated from the world, except for sending a New Year blessing text message to Qin Huai at midnight on the first day, and there was no news.

Of course, Qin Huai didn't contact his good brother much either. Busy, almost living in the kitchen, no time to look at his phone.

Thinking of this, Qin Huai felt that he had really neglected Seeing Ouyang, this good brother. Now that the Four-Joy Tangyuan had been practiced, there were still many dishes waiting to be practiced, and Qin Luo was about to start school and didn't have much time to taste dishes; for real volume, he still had to look at Seeing Ouyang.

Qin Huai took the red envelope and reminded Grandma to watch less unreliable marketing accounts, and not to wake up in the middle of the night and play with her phone to forward marketing account videos to the family group.

Playing with the phone with the lights off is bad for the eyes.

Qin Luo also reminded Grandma that forwarding like this easily exposed the fact that she played with her phone in the middle of the night.

Grandma Qin was very moved, feeling that it was indeed her grandson and granddaughter who cared about her, and watched the vehicle leave.

In the car, Qin Luo excitedly opened the red envelope, and Qin Huai clicked on WeChat to send a message to Seeing Ouyang.

Thinking for a while, Qin Huai sent two words very cautiously: Are you there?

After more than 10 minutes, Seeing Ouyang replied with three crying emojis.

Qin Huai:?

Is there gossip?

Without any hesitation, Qin Huai made a call.

Seeing Ouyang answered instantly.

"Qin Huai, brother, brother Qin, foster father! When are you coming back? Are you coming back today? Come back quickly; if you don't come back to make some snacks for me to send to my relatives, I'll really be kicked out of the house." The sound of Seeing Ouyang crying and howling came from the other end of the phone.

Qin Huai asked very cautiously: "Did you play with fire during the New Year and burn your house down?"

Seeing Ouyang's howling stopped: "I… I sent my whole family to the hospital."

Qin Huai:?

Then Seeing Ouyang spent 5 minutes simply and concisely describing his rich and colorful life during these ten-plus days of the New Year.

Although Seeing Ouyang returned home late for the New Year, he brought a lot of snacks home, so he wasn't scolded too much, nor was his leg broken by his father.

On New Year's Eve, Seeing Ouyang's eldest aunt heard that Seeing Ouyang planned to start a business again and open a hand-beaten lemon tea shop, and she was very supportive. She felt that although Seeing Ouyang failed in his first business venture, that was because young people had no experience, and he made such a big deal at once, so he lost a lot.

This time he learned from experience, and opening a simple hand-beaten lemon tea shop would definitely be better than last time.

Seeing Ouyang's eldest aunt also heard that he had learned advanced experience in hand-beaten lemon tea in Suzhou for two months, and suggested that since everyone was drinking something on New Year's Eve, why not let Seeing Ouyang make some hand-beaten lemon tea he newly developed for the family to taste.

This proposal received unanimous approval from the whole family, and Seeing Ouyang was also very happy; he not only made traditional hand-beaten lemon tea but also made many new products.

It can only be said that Seeing Ouyang's relatives were very supportive of him.

In order not to let the child down, everyone bit the bullet and finished the lemon tea, and Seeing Ouyang's grandfather even drank three cups of lemon tea with different flavors to support his grandson's business.

Then…

Everyone in Seeing Ouyang's family except Seeing Ouyang didn't even make it to the first day of the first lunar month; they were admitted to the hospital on New Year's Eve because of acute gastroenteritis.

Seeing Ouyang's opening plan for the first day of the first lunar month was also suspended because of the sudden hospitalization of the whole family.

By the way, Seeing Ouyang also drank a lot that day, but he was fine.

The doctor's diagnosis was that the hand-beaten lemon tea was cold, and there were many hot dishes in the New Year's Eve dinner; the mixing of cold and hot plus the variety of food was too rich, and those with poor or average gastrointestinal tracts couldn't stand it, and the food clashed, so they had acute gastroenteritis.

As for Seeing Ouyang, he also had an iron stomach.

Throughout the New Year period, Seeing Ouyang was taking care of relatives at home, from his 70-year-old grandfather down to his 7-year-old nephew, Seeing Ouyang was busy taking care of them and apologizing.

Seeing Ouyang's eldest aunt advised Seeing Ouyang to change the recipe; it was fine to send the family to the hospital, but don't send the guests to the hospital, or he would be sued.

To this, Qin Huai: 6.

Seeing Ouyang was worthy of being the chosen taster he favored; not only was his appetite large, but his gastrointestinal tract was also good.

"I'll be back in two days." Qin Huai said. "You hold on for two more days."

"And I think your eldest aunt is right; don't try those messy recipes of yours. If it really doesn't work, you can sell hand-beaten lemon tea and herbal tea together; I'll teach you a few more fruit tea recipes; my mom's Seven-Flavor Dampness-Removing Tea is not good to drink but is good for the body."

"Is your hand-beaten lemon tea shop still opening?"

"Opening!" Seeing Ouyang said decisively. "Must open; open as soon as my grandfather recovers!"

Qin Huai: "…Is your grandfather not recovered yet? Is acute gastroenteritis so serious?"

"Acute gastroenteritis is better, but when we went to the hospital, we incidentally found out he had cholecystitis. My grandfather had abdominal pain before, but the old man threw a tantrum and refused to go to the hospital to death; thanks to the acute gastroenteritis that night, he was sent to the hospital, and it was incidentally treated together."

"My dad counted my merits and demerits as offsetting, deducted all my living expenses, and stopped my card."

"Foster father, lend your son 1000 yuan!"

Qin Huai: …

Qin Luo, who had finished counting the money, heard Seeing Ouyang's super loud request for 1000 yuan on the phone and leaned over curiously: "Is Brother Yang borrowing money? I can lend him 1000 yuan."

"Brother, there were 2000 yuan in the red envelope Grandma gave me just now!"

Qin Luo also asked super loudly: "Brother Yang, is it okay to lend you cash? I'll give it to you when I go back; my mom won't let me have more than 500 yuan on WeChat; she's afraid I'll buy things randomly online."

Seeing Ouyang was very moved: "No need, Did Luo Luo; Brother Yang will just borrow money from your brother. Did Luo Luo, Brother Yang's hand-beaten lemon tea shop is opening soon; after it opens, you can drink whatever you want, no money!"

"Brother Yang has a new product here, Berry Peach Hand-Beaten Lemon…"

Qin Huai cut off the phone.

"Don't listen to him." Qin Huai said calmly. "They don't have this new product in their shop."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 283 =====