Chapter 41

To help Old Man Wang recall better, Qin Huai served him another plate of steamed buns, letting him eat while he remembered.

Old Man Wang said slowly in a tone of reminiscing about the past: "It was just... delicious."

The crowd, who had pricked up their ears expecting to hear some earth-shattering words:...

"The overall feeling of that steamed bun was just different. Once you lifted the steamer lid, you felt that this was the taste. That steamed bun was especially fragrant and had a very rich steamed bun flavor. Do you understand what I'm saying, Assistant Xiao Qin? That fragrance was like the aroma of rice wine and the aroma of steamed buns kneaded together; just smelling it made me swallow my saliva."

"I remember back then, the state-run restaurant only sold rice wine on Sundays when they were closed, one batch at 7:00 AM and one batch at 11:00 AM. Once Sunday arrived, the street would be packed solid. Many children would go there specifically to join in the fun, not to buy steamed buns, but just to stand at the street corner and smell the aroma to satisfy their cravings."

Seeing Old Man Wang drifting further and further off-topic, Qin Huai hurriedly pulled the conversation back: "What did it taste like when you ate it?"

"It was chewier, softer, and more fragrant. The sweet aroma of the rice wine seemed to have seeped into the steamed bun, and what's more, it only had the aroma of wine without any strange odors. I remember back then, most people praised Master Jing's dough-kneading technique. When our factory's purchasing agent, Xue, went on a business trip, his wife bought him three steamed buns to keep in his bag to eat on the train. The buns were pressed for a whole night, but when he took them out, they puffed back up again. You tell me, isn't that amazing!"

Xu Tuqiang, who had finished his baozi and was drinking soy milk to fill the gaps, snorted: "That's bragging, isn't it? How could a steamed bun pressed for a whole night still puff up? It would have turned into a flour pancake long ago."

Xu Tuqiang didn't believe it, but Qin Huai did.

"Old Man Wang, have you ever seen how those steamed buns were made?" Qin Huai asked.

Old Man Wang shook his head: "The kitchen of that state-run restaurant didn't allow outsiders in. It was good enough that we could line up to the shop door; how could we have ever seen how they were made?"

Qin Huai thought about it and felt it made sense. This kind of dough-kneading and leavening technique definitely belonged to the level of a family secret; how could it be easily seen by others?

Qin Huai smiled: "Old Man Wang, thank you. I've been researching rice wine steamed buns during this time. If you have time, please come over more often to help me taste-test. I remember you love the fresh shrimp filling crab shell yellow, right? What a coincidence, we have this snack tomorrow. If you come at 6:00 AM sharp, you can eat them hot right out of the steamer."

Old Man Wang took a bite of the steamed bun, moved to the point where tears almost flowed from his eyes.

That's great, his beloved crab shell yellow has finally been noticed by the company again!

After the old men and women left, the Yunzhong Canteen returned to a brief period of quiet.

Qin Huai thought about Old Man Wang's description while wrapping baozi.

Admittedly, Old Man Wang's description certainly had elements of exaggeration. Everyone who knew Old Man Wang knew that his job as an accountant at the Gusu Cotton Textile Factory decades ago was all of his youth and beautiful memories. As long as it was a memory related to Gusu, it was beautiful, had filters added, and was buffed.

Under this filter, it was normal to elevate the taste and quality of the rice wine steamed buns by another level.

But it was absolutely beyond doubt that Old Man Wang had eaten better rice wine steamed buns.

Qin Huai didn't know if the secret techniques of Qin's Pastry Shop had been passed down, but it was inevitable that there were people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens.

After finishing the basic meals, Qin Huai made another batch of rice wine steamed buns.

This time, he was more serious and meticulous, controlling the temperature precisely with a thermometer for almost every step, just short of writing an experimental report and doing data analysis.

【Rice Wine Steamed Bun b-】

Still a little off.

But where was it off?

Qin Huai considered his dough-kneading skills to be no worse than Qin Wan's in the video tutorial, and he watched the fermentation process the whole time, guarded the steamer while cooking, and watched the video tutorial over and over again to ensure that no step was missed.

He admitted that he couldn't compare to Jiang Chengde's miraculous culinary skills, so he hadn't even tried the Sophora flower steamed buns.

But the rice wine steamed buns shouldn't be like this!

This steamed bun shouldn't have been made several times without knowing where the failure occurred!

Qin Huai locked himself in the storage room, watched the video tutorial again, and returned to the kitchen to fight again.

Qin Congwen felt that his precious son Qin Huai seemed to be a bit obsessed.

Although Qin Huai had been a bit abnormal for more than 20 days, not knowing why he was fixated on buckwheat steamed buns, he was still normal at that time.

At that time, Qin Huai was still sticking to his principle of working two days and resting one, slacking off for one hour after working for two, getting off work at 12:00 sharp, and counting the afternoon steamed bun making as overtime.

But today, it was very abnormal!

Today, Qin Huai hadn't rested at all!

Not only did he not rest, but he didn't get off work at 12:00 sharp to go back for a nap!

Working from 4:00 AM to 4:00 PM, a full 12 hours, except for spending a few dozen minutes alone in the storage room, he was just making steamed buns in the kitchen. This was more than just abnormal; it was simply obsession.

He must have been provoked!

At 4:05 PM, the kitchen had become a restricted area.

Except for Qin Huai, who was still guarding the steamer in the kitchen, everyone else was squatting outside the kitchen. The squatting spot wasn't the best viewing position at Table 9, but in a corner where they couldn't be seen from the kitchen.

"Uncle, you said Qin Huai has been working for 12 hours today without stopping?" Ouyang, who was skipping work with his leader, gnawed on a steamed bun, looking surprised. "Did he accidentally drink a quadruple-concentrated iced Americano as soy milk this morning and can't sleep?"

Qin Congwen automatically ignored the second half of Ouyang's sentence and yawned with a worried face: "From 4:00 AM until now, he's been in the kitchen. See the steamed buns placed over there? Originally, the afternoon steamed buns were snatched up, but today they are given away directly, one bag per person, and there's still so much left there now."

"If I weren't worried about Huaihuai, I would have gone back to sleep long ago. His mother couldn't hold on at 3:00. Did Luo Luo went back at 2:00. I estimate I can hold on for a while longer until 5:00. By then, Did Luo Luo should be awake, and I'll let Did Luo Luo come over to take my shift."

"Do you know what's going on with Huaihuai? I wasn't here last night. Did he suffer any blow while making steamed buns last night? Did someone pick on him? Mock him? Call him trash? Say he was useless at making steamed buns? Say he wasn't as good as others? Say he was a loser?"

Crowd:...

Why are you so familiar with these mocking words that you can say them right away?

Ouyang said: "No, I ate them last night, Did Luo Luo ate them, and Sister Xi and the others ate them too. They were all full of praise!"

Huang Xi nodded: "That's right, Assistant Xiao Qin suddenly came to the shop yesterday to make rice wine steamed buns and asked me to find him rice wine. When the buns came out of the steamer, there were no customers in the shop, and the quantity wasn't large, so we just shared them among ourselves."

"Yes, yes, yes." An Youyou nodded frantically to prove her innocence. "We all said the steamed buns were especially delicious, and they really were delicious, the same taste as today. The boss's reaction yesterday was also normal. After Sister Xi asked him if the rice wine steamed buns were a new product in our canteen and if they would be on the menu later, he nodded and said yes, and also asked Sister Xi to order the menu board."

"Then was he provoked by something today?" Enthusiastic lady Chen Huihong asked with concern, turning her head to ask Chen Huihui, who was eating afternoon tea steamed buns. "Huihui, did your brother Xiao Qin ask you how the steamed buns tasted today?"

Chen Huihui shook her head, a little disappointed: "Brother Qin Huai has been in the kitchen all afternoon and didn't talk to me."

Chen Huihui, who felt she was about to be unemployed and lose the precious job of a taste-tester, expressed her sadness.

The sunlight fell on the rice wine steamed bun in Chen Huihui's hand. Chen Huihui lowered her head and took a hard bite, swallowing the warm sunlight and the sweet steamed bun together.

"I remember now!" Qin Congwen slapped the table. "This morning, I seemed to hear Old Man Wang say that Huaihuai's steamed buns weren't as delicious as the ones he ate in Gusu when he was young."

"Could it be that he was provoked by this sentence?"

Ouyang was even more surprised: "No way, Qin Huai isn't the type of person who would be provoked to work for 12 hours by such a few words, right?"

If he had known that Qin Huai had such a personality of striving for excellence when under pressure, he would have told Qin Huai in college that the baozi he made weren't as delicious as those in the Sixth Canteen, and wouldn't he have been able to eat baozi to his heart's content every day?

"Doesn't look like it." Chen Huihong didn't think so. "Xiao Qin shouldn't be like this because of one sentence. I feel like he was provoked by something else."

In an instant, a terrible thought occurred in Qin Congwen's mind.

"Wendy." Qin Congwen muttered. "I knew my lip-reading wasn't wrong."

"Could it be that our Huaihuai really has an online relationship, and that foreigner named Wendy wants to eat rice wine steamed buns?"

Crowd:???

What the heck?

Qin Huai in the kitchen didn't know about the speculation outside.

If he knew, he would definitely hold up the dough and shout: Reject rumors, start with me, and start with telling Qin Congwen not to read lips randomly anymore.

Qin Huai guarded the steamer and yawned. For so many years, he only yawned when he got up early for work, the first time he yawned when he was about to get off work.

He didn't know what was wrong with him either; he just felt unhappy in his heart.

For many years, or rather, never before, had he felt such a strong sense of frustration.

From the first time he kneaded dough at the Fuli Academy, Qin Huai had never encountered such a situation.

It was always him following what others taught, following the recipes and the steps in the tutorials, finding out the finished product wasn't good, simultaneously finding out the person, the recipe, and the tutorial weren't good, and then changing it.

Being able to change it for the better was naturally a happy ending, and if it couldn't be changed, it couldn't be blamed on him.

This feeling of learning from a tutorial, where the tutorial was incredibly detailed, yet he couldn't make the finished product no matter what, was simply unprecedented.

The most critical thing was that after making it so many times, Qin Huai hadn't discovered where he went wrong.

It was clearly only a little bit off, from b- to b was just that small minus sign, but he couldn't get past it no matter what.

Qin Huai guarded the steamer, knowing the time was almost up.

Intuition told him that this batch wouldn't work either.

Out of the steamer.

【Rice Wine Steamed Bun b-】

Qin Huai:...

Really want to scratch my head.

But according to the kitchen rules, you can't touch your hair in the kitchen.

If you want to ask who set this rule, it was himself.

Qin Huai left the kitchen silently.

The table of people in the corner stood up immediately, just like students who were chatting in a group during evening self-study and suddenly saw the head teacher walk in from the back door, filled with a trace of guilt in their panic, flustered, not knowing what to do, so they just stood up and pretended to leave.

Chen Huihong, Ouyang, and Chen Huihui realized something was wrong after standing up; why were they feeling guilty?

They were all enthusiastic neighbors who heard Qin Huai's state wasn't right and came to support him and eat a couple of steamed buns by the way!

"Dad, the last batch of steamed buns is ready, they're all in the steamer, remember to take them out later." Qin Huai said. "I'm going back to sleep first."

Qin Congwen nodded hurriedly: "Go back quickly, have a good sleep."

Qin Huai had only walked a few steps towards the inner door when he suddenly stopped, turned his head, and said to Huang Xi: "Sister Xi, the rice wine is used up, remember to get another batch, get more."

"It would be even better if you could buy handmade rice wine. This stuff should be quite easy to buy. Before, there were shops specifically selling this kind of handmade rice wine on the pedestrian street in my hometown."

Huang Xi nodded: "Don't worry, Assistant Xiao Qin, I will definitely buy it for you."

"Oh, by the way, there's one more thing." Qin Huai looked at Chen Huihui with a hint of apology. "Huihui, I was too busy today and didn't notice you came."

"Brother Qin Huai says sorry to you here. I might not have time to research buckwheat steamed buns recently, so your taste-testing will be paused for a period of time. When I'm done with my work, I'll make the buckwheat steamed buns you love again. Don't worry, I'll definitely make them even better than before."

Chen Huihui was still holding the unfinished rice wine steamed bun in her hand. Hearing Qin Huai say this, she nodded firmly, her face full of trust in Qin Huai.

"I believe in you, Brother Qin Huai, you are the best! You can definitely..." Chen Huihui thought of the topic everyone was discussing just now and hurriedly changed her words, "... make rice wine steamed buns even more delicious than the ones Grandpa Wang ate when he was in Gusu!"

Qin Huai was amused by Chen Huihui's words, finding that this child really couldn't hide things just like Qin Luo when she was young. He smiled, nodded, and went back.

After going back, Qin Huai watched the video tutorial again and fell into a deep sleep, exhausted.

I don't know if it was because of thinking about it during the day and dreaming about it at night, or if he was really obsessed with making rice wine steamed buns, but when Qin Huai dreamed at night, he actually dreamed that he was watching Qin Wan make rice wine steamed buns.

It wasn't the perspective of a close-up of hands in the video tutorial, but the perspective of a bystander.

In the dream, Qin Wan was followed by several children whose faces couldn't be seen clearly. Qin Wan was taking care of the children while mashing rice wine and kneading dough, and the whole kitchen was chattering and lively.

At the end of the dream, a pot of fragrant rice wine steamed buns came out of the steamer. Qin Huai had just gotten a steamed bun and hadn't had time to eat it before he woke up.

Woken up by the alarm clock.

Oh, the damn 4:00 AM work time.

Qin Huai calculated the time and found that he had actually slept for 10 hours.

Sure enough, work makes people sleep.

There is no better sleeping pill in this world than work.

Qin Huai smacked his lips, feeling a bit regretful that he hadn't been able to eat the sweet rice wine steamed bun in his dream.

If he had eaten it, that would have been great. If he had eaten it, maybe he would have had inspiration and known what to do.

Qin Huai shook his head, threw the absurd thought out of his mind, and felt that he might really have become delirious from making steamed buns.

The weather wasn't very good today, it was drizzling. Assistant Xiao Qin tidied up, took his umbrella, and set off for work, fully prepared.

When he arrived at the Yunzhong Canteen, Qin Congwen was already yawning while wrapping baozi.

"Huaihuai!" Seeing Qin Huai come, Qin Congwen hurriedly raised a smiling face. Seeing that Qin Huai was full of energy and not as lethargic as himself, he felt relieved. "Hungry, right? Your mother boiled tea eggs, go eat one quickly."

Qin Huai obediently listened and went to eat the tea egg, then began the routine dough kneading.

The daily Five-Diced Baozi and Three-Diced Baozi were indispensable, and since he promised Old Man Wang yesterday that he would make crab shell yellow today, today's oven snacks were also indispensable.

At 6:00, the one who stepped into the Yunzhong Canteen on time wasn't Old Man Wang, but Huang Xi, who came to work early.

Because of the rain, the old men didn't go for their morning run and were late for their usual time.

"Assistant Xiao Qin." Huang Xi smiled and raised the packaging bag in her hand. "Yesterday you wanted handmade rice wine. There is a shop downstairs where I live that specifically sells this. I bought it after work yesterday and put it in the refrigerator for a whole night. Today I specifically set off early to bring it over."

As she spoke, Huang Xi placed the packaging bag on the window: "It shouldn't have been rained on. The boss who sold the rice wine told me to put it in the refrigerator's cold storage area, saying that high temperatures would kill the yeast and it wouldn't be suitable for making steamed buns."

"You see if this rice wine can be used. If it can, I'll talk to the boss about bulk purchasing, it can be much cheaper."

Huang Xi's words were like a thunderbolt, waking Qin Huai up at once.

Qin Huai thought of the video tutorial where every movement Qin Wan made was very slow.

Kneading, rubbing, or mashing rice wine, all were slow and gentle.

He initially thought this was just Qin Wan's nature; after all, in Chen Huihong's dream, Qin Wan was a woman who looked very gentle.

But what if some of the steps in this had to be slow?

Qin Huai hurriedly went to find the pestle for mashing spices.

"Huaihuai, what are you looking for?"

"Pestle!"

Qin Congwen & Zhao Rong:?

Rice?!

Zhao Rong was a bit confused: Is their Huaihuai really provoked?

Making steamed buns without flour and changing to rice instead?

Rice steamed buns???

This chapter is a two-in-one.

By the way, shamelessly asking for a monthly ticket (*ˊˋ)

(End of chapter)