Chapter 295

"This is... lemon tea?"

Qin Huai looked at the large bucket of lemon tea that An Youyou brought back and fell silent.

First of all, this bucket containing the lemon tea was very large, and it could be seen that Seeing Ouyang really treated him as a good buddy.

Under normal circumstances, a one-liter milk tea is already a super large bucket, and Seeing Ouyang's bucket was visually 1.5 liters.

The ingredients in the milk tea bucket were also very rich.

Lemon slices that had been cut and then mashed, fresh strawberries that had been cut and then mashed, fresh blueberries that were mashed but could still be seen as fruit flesh and settled at the bottom, and large chunks of mango flesh.

The color of the milk tea was also very rich.

At the very bottom was the blue blueberry flesh, at the very top was the thick coconut milk of the same style as the raw coconut latte, and the color of the lemon tea in the middle was very strange, an indescribable brown.

In art, the three colors of red, yellow, and blue can be mixed in different proportions to create all kinds of colors.

And in this cup of hand-beaten lemon tea, Seeing Ouyang added strawberry jam, mango jam, and freshly mashed blueberry jam at the same time.

Red, yellow, and blue.

The final color made Qin Huai know that Seeing Ouyang had no talent in art.

On New Year's Eve, Seeing Ouyang's relatives drank these hand-beaten lemon teas, and Seeing Ouyang's grandfather even drank two large cups?

Grandpa Seeing Ouyang, you are too doting on this grandson; it's almost spoiling him.

Under normal circumstances, if someone handed Qin Huai such a drink, Qin Huai would feel that someone was plotting against him and would throw this drink away without hesitation.

But for a drink as abstract as this, Qin Huai had to taste it no matter what.

Qin Huai took a deep breath, picked up the hand-beaten lemon tea as if he were facing death, and took a small sip.

A very complex taste.

The sweet and greasy taste of strawberry jam and mango jam mixed together, the rich coconut flavor of the thick coconut milk, and the delicious coconut juice flavor of a well-known brand that was hard to hide even after mixing so many strange things.

And the fresh lemon flavor that hand-beaten lemon tea should have originally had now tasted a bit bitter.

This cup of milk tea even had bobo in it.

Qin Huai chewed silently twice, swallowed the bobo, and handed the milk tea to An Youyou.

"Put this cup of Seeing Ouyang's special hand-beaten lemon tea in the freezer, separately."

"When he comes, I want to watch him drink this bucket of lemon tea with my own eyes."

Seeing Ouyang, daring to plot against me, prepare to die!

Ugh, it tastes terrible.

Ignoring the insignificant, nausea-inducing episode brought by the hand-beaten lemon tea, Qin Huai spent the entire morning making snacks.

At first, he made Four-Joy Tangyuan, and after making enough, he turned to making Three-Diced Baozi. Three-Diced Baozi didn't need to be made too much; Qin Huai knew very well how strong the impact of Four-Joy Tangyuan was on ordinary diners who had never eaten A-grade snacks. Today was the home field of Four-Joy Tangyuan, and Three-Diced Baozi was just a supporting role.

Qin Huai mainly wanted to try how awesome master-level filling seasoning was by making Three-Diced Baozi. The difficulty of Three-Diced Baozi filling was high, and one could very directly see the level of filling seasoning.

It would be even better if it were the season for crabs to hit the market. Among the many snacks Qin Huai knew, crab roe shumai was the god of filling seasoning.

Once he thought of crab roe shumai, Qin Huai thought of the double-crab buns that Grandpa Wang wanted to eat.

Double-crab buns were also snacks that placed great importance on filling seasoning, with a higher difficulty in seasoning than crab roe shumai, and they were also more flexible than crab roe shumai.

There were two recipes for double-crab buns; they could be made with fresh crab roe or crab roe paste, making them good snacks that could be made all year round.

Grandpa Wang had already given the recipes to Qin Huai, but Master Xiao Qin's schedule had been very full before, and he couldn't find time. Plus, Grandpa Wang's condition wasn't serious (it could even be said he had no condition), so Qin Huai hadn't really studied the recipes and had only looked through them roughly a few times.

But it didn't matter; Master Xiao Qin would soon have time.

Once Han Youxin's birthday passed on March 19th, and Qin Huai completed Chen Gong's side quest—taking down the first side quest of this spirit who he met the least and didn't talk to much—Qin Huai could start studying double-crab buns.

It just so happened that Zheng Siyuan was coming to the Yunzhong Canteen on March 21st, so Qin Huai could also grab Zheng Siyuan to study together.

By then, Qin Huai would definitely give Grandpa Wang a surprise!

Master Xiao Qin, who was preparing to give Wang Laogen a surprise, was making radish cake.

Radish cake, a very simple and home-style snack.

This snack was truly home-style, with simple ingredients, simple materials, and simple production methods. Recipes could be found everywhere on the internet, all of which were more or less the same, and there were no obvious problems. As long as one's cooking skills were normal and one had their own judgment, the finished product made would be edible.

People who often make radish cake know that radish cake is best when it's just fried.

The essence of radish cake is rice flour + white radish chopped into a paste, and then adding a series of ingredients like finely chopped dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms according to the maker's own taste. These ingredients are best stir-fried first, then mixed with rice flour to make rice cake, steamed in a pot to set, and according to one's own taste, eaten after steaming or cut into small slices and fried in a pan.

Qin Luo liked to eat it fried.

Brush some oil in the pan and fry the radish cake until both sides are slightly yellow. The outermost layer is crispy and fragrant, and the fragrance of the rice flour is completely fried out. The filling inside is still soft, the radish is not dry, juicy, and one can taste the rich radish flavor.

If Qin Luo were to eat it, Qin Huai would add some chopped bacon or ham sausage when seasoning the filling, so that it would be more fragrant when fried and eaten.

The salty and fresh meat flavor combined with the already fresh shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp, and then combined with the fragrance of rice milk and juicy white radish.

It was simply the dream snack for people who loved meat and white radish.

Qin Luo wasn't there at noon today, so Qin Huai's filling seasoning was very simple to save trouble, and he didn't add meat cubes.

"Before, when Did Luo Luo was still in elementary school and I was still studying, when Did Luo Luo got tired of eating the buns my dad made in the morning, my mom would fry radish cake for her if she had time," Qin Huai chatted with the people around him while flipping the radish cake in the pan.

"Radish cake can be very simple if you want to make it simple. Use a grater to grate the white radish into fine shreds directly. If the shiitake mushroom cubes aren't cut well, you can wait until all the ingredients are processed, put them into a blender, and blend them again."

"The rice flour preparation is also simpler than kneading dough; just add water to the rice flour and keep stirring with chopsticks."

"Not to mention that radish is cheap and the cost is low. Making it at home, a whole pot doesn't cost much money."

"When Did Luo Luo was in elementary school, there was a snack shop at the school gate that sold radish cake, the fried kind. It was very cheap; you could buy three pieces for one yuan. Did Luo Luo would go to buy it every time after school. During that time, my dad would give her one yuan every day when she went to school so she could buy radish cake."

"Later, it seemed like it was because it wasn't clean or something, and several students in the school got stomachaches, so the parents made a scene. Did Luo Luo didn't get a stomachache, but my mom was worried, so she learned to make it at home for Did Luo Luo to eat."

"Originally, I didn't know how to make radish cake. It was one weekend when my parents weren't home and gave me 30 yuan to take Did Luo Luo to eat fast food next door."

"Originally, we two planned to go to the vegetable market to buy two tomatoes to make tomato scrambled eggs and split the remaining money in half. As a result, before going out, I happened to see the white radish my mom bought the day before in the kitchen. My stir-frying skills weren't great, but I was okay at making snacks."

"After discussing with Did Luo Luo, we two decided to take a gamble and try making radish cake. As a result, I didn't expect radish cake to be so simple; I succeeded without even flipping through the 'Complete Guide to Snacks' once, and it was quite delicious."

"Since then, whenever my parents went out and gave money to me and Did Luo Luo, we would both make radish cake to eat. Later, only after we got tired of it would we take a gamble and stir-fry tomato scrambled eggs."

After finishing, Qin Huai took out the fried radish cakes from the pan one by one, put in a new batch to fry, and handed the large plate to An Youyou: "Taste it."

An Youyou loved tasting dishes the most. Hearing Qin Huai say this, she happily took the plate, picked up chopsticks, picked up a piece of radish cake, and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Mmm!" An Youyou made a delicious sound, "Delicious, I've never eaten radish cake before, I didn't expect it to be so delicious."

Chen An heard An Youyou make such an evaluation of the radish cake and didn't hold back either. There was nothing to hold back in front of the boss; just eat it. He also picked up chopsticks and picked up a piece to taste.

After chewing twice, Chen An opened his eyes wide in surprise.

An Youyou wasn't deliberately flattering the boss; this radish cake was really delicious.

As a very home-style, popular, simple, and cheap snack, it is very difficult to make radish cake taste bad, but it is also very difficult to make it taste particularly delicious.

Because its ingredients are very simple, radish is full of juice but also bland. The biggest benefit of making radish into radish cake is that it can eliminate some of the radish's spicy taste.

This spicy taste was the statement of a girl in Qin Huai's high school class, who said that radish had a very strong spicy taste when eaten raw, and there was still a residual spicy taste when cooked. Qin Huai himself didn't quite understand it; in his view, this was just the radish flavor.

But for people who don't like white radish, radish cake can indeed eliminate some of the white radish taste they don't like.

Fried food is also a favorite of many children.

Chen An felt that the point where Qin Huai's radish cake was very delicious was that it reflected the umami to a great extent.

Its texture was very good, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Its taste was very good; the simple combination of shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, radish, and rice flour was actually the simplest version of the taste of mountains and the taste of the sea.

Its appearance was also very good; the radish cake cut into small square pieces was fried to a slight yellow, the base color was a beautiful milky white, and it smelled of the rice fragrance of rice flour.

Such a seemingly ordinary but actually killing 99.99% of radish cakes on the market, Chen An felt that it wouldn't be unreasonable to sell it for a sky-high price of one yuan a piece at the school gate.

Children must love it. After all, which child could refuse to eat a piece of radish cake that was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, rich in rice fragrance, and relatively light but very fresh in overall taste after school?

Chen An didn't speak, just ate silently.

Some people didn't eat, just flattered silently.

Pei Xing felt that he had lost this morning.

Although he was well-prepared to go to work early to take the lead, was proficient in the way of tea, recommended himself to win Master Xiao Qin's heart, and was the first snack master to receive Master Xiao Qin's instruction on kneading dough.

But he still lost.

Lost to Li Hua, the flatterer with good knife skills.

When Li Hua was receiving Master Xiao Qin's instruction on seasoning filling, what he said were all his words.

And Pei Xing felt that Master Xiao Qin's instruction on seasoning filling was more skillful, more substantial, more professional, and more at ease than on kneading dough.

Miscalculated. Pei Xing didn't expect that Qin Huai went to Huang Ji for further studies for several months, and what he studied was seasoning filling.

Pei Xing also saw the Four-Joy Tangyuan and Three-Diced Baozi that Qin Huai made today. As a professional chef, Pei Xing saw Qin Huai's astonishing and terrifying progress in just a few months.

Kneading dough improved, seasoning filling improved, finger techniques improved, and even knife skills seemed to have improved—the posture of holding the knife and the action of cutting vegetables were very professional, and one could tell at a glance that there was an expert's instruction.

Pei Xing wanted to improve too much.

Pei Xing stared at the radish cake in the plate An Youyou was holding, his chopsticks in his hand not going to pick it up, and recalled the words Qin Huai said during the chat just now.

Got it!

"Master Xiao Qin, actually I also learned to make radish cake with my mom when I was a child," Pei Xing said with a smile, smiling very humbly, smiling like the appearance of Xiao Pei the apprentice.

Qin Huai was flipping the radish cake. Hearing Pei Xing say this, he immediately became interested and said: "Is that so? Is the recipe from your home the same as mine?"

Pei Xing silently picked up a piece of radish cake, didn't eat it, and said: "About the same, my mom likes to add sausage, saying it's fragrant when fried and eaten."

"But when I learned it at the beginning, I couldn't compare to you, Master Xiao Qin. When I made it for the first time, the batter was too thin, and it didn't set when steamed, so it fell apart."

"I practiced repeatedly two or three times before succeeding."

"Right, Master Xiao Qin, I seem to have a little feeling for the clever force you used when instructing me on kneading dough this morning. Do you have time after lunch? Can you help me see if I found this feeling correctly?"

Qin Huai didn't think much and nodded: "Of course I have time. Actually, it's also my fault for not expressing it accurately. I really can't explain this kind of feeling clearly; practice more and you'll find it."

"You expressed it very clearly. It's my own lack of comprehension and level that I didn't realize it."

After finishing, Pei Xing took a bite of the radish cake and showed a surprised expression: "This radish cake... it's really a blessing to be your younger sister!"

Li Hua:???

No, this is already flattering?

This seemingly tactful but actually direct flattery, this exaggerated acting, this exaggerated tone.

Pei Xing, don't say you are from Zhi Wei Ju in the future. We Zhi Wei Ju don't have such a rotten actor like you!

Also, what you just said was the words I wanted to say!

Li Hua couldn't think of any new words for a while and could only grit his teeth in his heart, picked up a piece of radish cake, ate it silently, and waited for a new opportunity to win back a city in the afternoon.

Qin Huai continued to fry radish cake.

At this time, some people might be curious: don't Li Hua, Pei Xing, An Youyou, and Chen An have to work? How come they are all surrounding Qin Huai watching him fry radish cake?

Yes, they really don't work at this time.

It is already 11:51 now. The companies in the office buildings near the Yunzhong Canteen basically get off work at 12:00 noon, and in ten minutes, the hungry office workers will rush into the Yunzhong Canteen to start eating lunch.

In fact, there are already some customers who arrived first eating in the canteen now.

Eating Four-Joy Tangyuan.

At this time, the breakfast master and the snack master are not working; this is their meal time. Making snacks is a continuous, long-term work, and there is a buffer time after finishing a batch. Pei Xing and Li Hua are both very good at catching this time.

The four people surrounded Qin Huai, one because they know Qin Huai well and know that Qin Huai loves to chat, and two because they want to flatter the boss.

Pei Xing and Li Hua sincerely want to flatter.

Chen An sees if he can flatter depending on the situation. If he can't, standing on the side and watching at close range to learn something is also good.

If he really can't learn, showing his face in front of the boss is also excellent.

An Youyou simply wants to eat radish cake and brush her face in front of the boss to see if she can pick up some work to do, which is convenient for future promotion and salary increase.

An Youyou's intuition told her that the lemon tea she bought at the Xiao Ou's Hand-Beaten Lemon Tea shop in the morning seemed to be a not-so-serious work mistake.

The four people have their own thoughts and gathered together.

Qin Huai's thoughts are completely different; he is already used to this.

It was like this when he was at Huang Ji before. Qin Huai was working, and Dong Shi would slip to Qin Huai's side to chat with him after finishing his work. The apprentices at Zhi Wei Ju were also very good at finding opportunities to insert themselves, not disturbing when Qin Huai was very busy, and rushing up with snacks to ask questions when Qin Huai was actually not that busy and even very free to chat.

Qin Huai glanced at the time.

It's 11:52.

Qin Huai came to the canteen to work at 3:00 in the morning, and he has been working for more than eight hours now, interspersed with slacking off, chatting, and eating snacks. It's time to rest.

Qin Huai glanced at the steamed radish cake.

Especially a lot.

He made all the radishes that An Youyou cut this morning into radish cake.

Radish cake is fast to make and large in quantity. If not fried, it can compete with donkey-rolling in terms of volume.

"Youyou, can you fry things?" Qin Huai asked.

An Youyou was still eating the last piece of radish cake on the plate. Hearing Qin Huai ask this, she hurriedly said: "Yes!"

"You fry the remaining radish cake. What time do you get off work today?"

Qin Huai really doesn't know An Youyou's off-work time very well; An Youyou often works overtime crazily for money.

She can even get off work, sleep, wake up, and go to work, without any entertainment activities in between, being the ox and horse among oxen and horses.

"I can finish frying before getting off work!" An Youyou said loudly.

Qin Huai smiled: "Don't be too tired. You came so early today; if you are tired, go back and rest early."

"If you fry it well, the radish cake will belong to you to fry in the future."

"Starting tomorrow, radish cake will also be on the menu, sold for all three meals."

Qin Huai plans to rest for a while after lunch, then have a video call with Cao Guixiang to take an online class, cut radishes for two hours, and then go home to sleep and rest.

Adjust his schedule and go to work later tomorrow.

Of course, before resting, Qin Huai will definitely grab Seeing Ouyang to the shop and let Seeing Ouyang drink that inexplicable cup of special hand-beaten lemon tea in front of him.

An Youyou's eyes lit up when she heard Qin Huai say this.

If this is the case, hasn't she been promoted!

Promoted from a helper to one who fries radish cake.

Since she has been promoted, a salary increase must not be far away.

Yay!

"Okay, Master Xiao Qin, I will definitely fry it well, leave it to me!"

Looking at An Youyou's excited expression without any acting components, Li Hua and Pei Xing looked at each other and read the same words in each other's eyes.

Damn, miscalculated.

There is still a real flatterer here.

(End of chapter)