Chapter 58: Qu Jing

After hanging up the phone, Qin Huai recounted his recent hypothesis to Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan; both felt it made sense. Zheng Da was in a state of sudden realization, wishing he could slap himself twice.

Oh my, how could such a brilliant idea not have been thought of by himself?

Zheng Da looked tearfully at the honey jar on the prep table. If the biggest problem with the Sophora flower steamed buns really was the honey, and he was the one who discovered and solved it, wouldn't he have successfully taken on this apprentice?

What to do now? It was very awkward.

Not only had he failed to show off in front of his future apprentice, but he had been shown up by him instead.

So annoying; he wanted to take Qin Huai as an apprentice even more now.

So frustrating; it was even harder to take Qin Huai as an apprentice now.

Zheng Da's heart was a mix of complex emotions, while Zheng Siyuan's thoughts were much simpler.

"If the problem lies with the honey, then it's much easier to handle," Zheng Siyuan let out a long sigh of relief. "Once we get qualified honey, the problem can be solved."

He could also return to Gusu to continue making pastries.

Although the Yunzhong Canteen was not bad, the regular customers were all very interesting, the elderly would stuff him with fruit, milk tea, and snacks, the kitchen was large and tidy, and Qin Huai was a high-quality friend with great culinary skills, a stable personality, and interesting conversation, but Zheng Siyuan still preferred the pastry shop in Gusu.

Having not been open for half a month, many regular customers had sent him messages asking if he had quit.

Compared to the busy life of making wontons in the morning, pastries in the forenoon, and practicing steamed buns in the afternoon, Zheng Siyuan still preferred the leisurely days of making pastries in the forenoon and selling them at noon and in the afternoon.

Grandma Ding did indeed give Qin Huai an answer that evening.

Pure, natural Sophora flower honey—she had it!

It just needed to be specially mailed, so it wouldn't arrive tomorrow, but it should arrive by the afternoon of the day after tomorrow. Grandma Ding swore that she would go to the courier terminal early the day after tomorrow to wait, and as soon as she got the Sophora flower honey, she would bring it to Qin Huai.

Qin Huai felt this was too much trouble and told Grandma Ding not to make a special trip; he would just wait for the courier to deliver it to the Yunzhong Canteen.

Grandma Ding firmly insisted that it wouldn't do; she had to go get it herself. If she didn't go get it herself, it would be a disservice to that big bag of warm fermented rice steamed buns.

It was hard to refuse such kindness.

Qin Huai could only agree; after all, he had things to do the morning after next.

The morning after next was the day to visit Luo Jun's home.

It was very critical.

This meant that Qin Huai was finally going to have face-to-face contact with the target of his side quest.

For this contact, Qin Huai had prepared a lot.

Five-Flower Tea, Seven-Flavor Dampness-Clearing Tea, three flavors of Tangerine Peel Tea, Monk Fruit Tea, Liver-Cleansing and Vision-Improving Tea...

The above was the list of herbal teas Qin Huai had hand-made the next day.

These days, the herbal teas at the Yunzhong Canteen, except for the Tangerine Peel Tea, were basically boiled by Qin Luo and Zhao Rong. Qin Huai had rarely boiled herbal tea when he was at home before. Fearing he would mess up and the tea wouldn't be authentic, he practiced a day in advance, which doubled the sales of the canteen's hand-smashed lemon tea.

Zheng Siyuan, who had never drunk herbal tea before, drank a mouthful of Seven-Flavor Dampness-Clearing Tea, and his face turned green.

Zheng Da escaped a disaster because he was on strike.

Zheng Da's reason for striking was also very simple: he had spent the whole night thinking about whether honey could be the key to the Sophora flower steamed buns failing, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt it must be the honey, making him feel emo.

Coupled with the fact that the pure natural Sophora flower honey wouldn't arrive that quickly, and Zheng Da himself wasn't very passionate about making pastries, he simply went on strike for a day to slack off.

The reason he used was that there were things to handle at the factory.

"Siyuan, can you help me make some pastries that are easy for the elderly to digest? I'll bring them when I visit the elder tomorrow morning." In order to give Luo Jun a perfect first impression, Qin Huai had started calling for reinforcements.

Zheng Siyuan said no problem.

His pastry shop was opened at the entrance of the residential area, and the customers were basically elderly people and children, so making such pastries was his area of expertise.

Since Qin Huai had specifically instructed, Zheng Siyuan planned to give these pastries more styling to make them look more appealing.

Over these past half a month, Zheng Siyuan had also figured it out: Qin Huai was indeed from a purely wild background, had no master to teach him, and learned things that were both numerous and miscellaneous. Basically, whatever was played on TV or whatever Qin Luo wanted to eat, he would learn.

Southern style, Northern style, Su style, Jing style, Dian style, Guang style... none of these existed for Qin Huai. If his pastries had to be categorized into a style, it would definitely be the Luo style.

It was all things Qin Luo loved to eat.

He had even bankrupted the child.

At the same time, Zheng Siyuan also discovered that Qin Huai didn't style his pastries at all.

Under normal circumstances, styling was an indispensable part of pastries.

It might not have any effect on the taste, but it could make the pastry look better, and when selling, it could justifiably be sold for more.

However, Zheng Siyuan soon discovered that Qin Huai indeed didn't need to style his pastries.

Because his diners were really quite wealthy.

The elderly never asked about the price when eating new products; they just opened their phones and scanned the code. The pricing of the pastries in the Yunzhong Canteen was also chaotic; the Five-Diced Baozi were a bit cheap, while the Three-Diced Baozi were ridiculously expensive, but everyone seemed to accept it.

In the Yunzhong Canteen, even for the Seven-Flavor Dampness-Clearing Tea, as long as it was boiled by Qin Huai himself, the diners could grit their teeth and drink it down.

Zheng Siyuan looked at the diners sitting in the lobby, baring their teeth, grimacing, and drinking the herbal tea as if they were facing death, then looked at Qin Luo, who was standing at the window and almost smashing the lemons into sparks, and expressed that he really didn't understand this world.

Sure enough, the outside world was still too complicated; he should just go home and open his own pastry shop.

Anyway.

Zheng Siyuan took a bite of the fermented rice steamed bun made by Qin Huai.

Soft, slightly sweet, and elastic. He couldn't taste the alcohol, but he could smell a faint fragrance of rice wine. The fragrance of the rice wine and the wheat fragrance of the bun were intertwined, and the wonderful taste spread from the tip of his tongue to the tip of his nose.

This was a taste he couldn't make.

His father was probably about the same.

After all, his father hadn't made pastries properly for many years. Without daily practice, his pastry-making skills could be said to have made no progress for decades, if not regressed.

Difficult, oh.

Zheng Siyuan sighed in his heart.

With his father's skills, wanting to take someone as an apprentice wasn't enough.

Qin Huai was tasting the herbal tea he had boiled himself.

If he had to grade the herbal tea he boiled, it would probably be: will die, can die, don't want to die, so hard to drink, hard to drink, drinkable.

The only one that was drinkable was the Tangerine Peel Tea.

It could only be said that Elder Luo Jun still had the most basic aesthetic sense; the herbal teas designated by the task were all the most palatable ones.

However, considering Elder Luo's temper.

Qin Huai thought about it and decided to remove the Seven-Flavor Dampness-Clearing Tea.

He planned to bring a few more types of herbal tea tomorrow. Firstly, to make the Tangerine Peel Tea seem less abrupt among them, and secondly, Elder Luo Jun was likely someone who liked to drink herbal tea, so bringing a few more classic styles was definitely the right move.

Qin Huai drank the hand-smashed lemon tea in front of him in one gulp and decided to bring this along too.

The elder was already 92; it was time to try some new-era herbal tea. At 9:30 AM the next day, Qin Huai brought bags big and small to the neighborhood committee to gather.

The gifts Qin Huai prepared were very diverse.

The drinks were divided into cold and hot; the cold drinks were hand-smashed lemon tea and mung bean soup, and the hot drinks were various types of herbal tea.

Pastries were prepared in two gift boxes. One box contained various pastries hand-made by Qin Huai that spanned the North and South: Honey Three-Knives, Donkey Rolling, Pea Yellow, Aiwo-wo, Ding-Sheng Cake, Jujube Cake, Butterfly Pastry, Radish Cake, Chrysanthemum Cake, Malay Cake... everything one could wish for.

The other box contained pastries hand-made by Zheng Siyuan, basically all Su-style pastries, mainly those that were easy for the elderly to digest. To prevent Elder Luo's taste from taking an unusual path, Zheng Siyuan also prepared crispy cakes, fresh meat mooncakes, and other signature pastries, focusing on letting the elder eat to his heart's content.

In addition to the pastry gift boxes, Qin Huai also prepared a box of pre-made dishes: Five-Diced Baozi, Three-Diced Baozi, Red Bean Paste Baozi, and Four-Joy Dumplings, with 25 of each, totaling exactly 100. They could be stored in the freezer and eaten after steaming.

Of course, fruit was also indispensable.

To prove his sincerity to Elder Luo, Qin Huai went to the most expensive international supermarket nearby to pick out two of the most expensive fruit baskets, and also brought along the imported high-priced fruits that Ouyang had swiped from his parents a few days ago, focusing on the principle of only wanting the expensive, not the right.

Qin Huai's rich gifts shocked everyone participating in the consolation visit.

Old Luo, who was responsible for taking photos, finished counting all the gifts, retreated to a corner with his camera, and whispered to Ouyang, "Why didn't Master Xiao Qin prepare the Seven-Flavor Dampness-Removing Tea?"

"What? There's actually no Seven-Flavor Dampness-Clearing Tea among so many herbal teas? Old Luo, did you see wrong?" Little Qian, who was responsible for writing the article, was shocked.

"I didn't see wrong, I counted them all."

Little Qian showed a look of disappointment.

Ouyang was also a bit disappointed, but he knew that in such a situation, he had to speak up for Qin Huai: "In such a formal occasion, it's impossible for Qin Huai to stuff this kind of thing into the gifts."

"Isn't it what you said, that Old Stubborn Luo gave the Yunzhong Canteen a bad review, and the activity of giving herbal tea to those with 'Luo' or 'Jun' in their names a while ago was specifically targeted at him?" Old Luo said. "It harmed me bitterly; the first one I drank was Seven-Flavor Dampness-Clearing Tea, and I had to drink two cups of lemon tea to recover!"

Ouyang subconsciously went to cover Old Luo's mouth, but it was already too late.

Qin Huai smiled and looked at Ouyang: "Is this how you promote our canteen's activities outside?"

Ouyang smirked: "This... that... actually... do you believe me if I say it's a misunderstanding?"

Qin Huai smiled slightly: "Your Elm Bark Steamed Bun is gone."

Ouyang almost shed two lines of clear tears.

Just as Ouyang opened his mouth to argue a bit for his beloved Elm Bark Steamed Bun, Chen Huihong led in a woman wearing a shirt and long trousers, wrapped very tightly from head to toe, with a hat, sunglasses, a mask, a sun-protection jacket, and gloves—not a single item missing.

"Is everyone ready?" Chen Huihong asked. Seeing Qin Huai brought so many things, she was a bit surprised and said with a smile, "Xiao Qin, you don't need to prepare so many things. This is a normal consolation visit; just bring some fruit."

"Elder Luo is also a regular customer of our canteen. What I prepared are basically pastries, herbal tea, and the like, which is a little token of my heart," Qin Huai explained.

Chen Huihong nodded and didn't say anything more, but introduced the person beside her to Qin Huai.

"Xiao Qin, this is the Yunzhong Xiaoqu I told you about, Dr. Qu Jing. Yunzhong Xiaoqu has a severe ultraviolet allergy, so she is always like this when she goes out."

"Yunzhong Xiaoqu, this is the Xiao Qin I told you about, Master Qin Huai, Qin Huai. I gave the physical examination card you gave me last time to Qin Huai's father. His father's waist isn't very good; if he goes to your hospital for treatment, please help recommend a good doctor to Xiao Qin."

Qu Jing took off her sunglasses but didn't take off her mask. After nodding slightly to Qin Huai, she put her sunglasses back on and said: "Definitely."

Then she extended her gloved hand to shake hands with Qin Huai: "Qu Jing."

Qin Huai also extended his hand: "Qin Huai."

Then the two looked at each other in silence.

"Alright, everything is ready, right? Let's set off. Xiao Ou, Little Qian, help carry the things Xiao Qin brought. Old Luo, walk at the very back later and take a few photos, focusing on Xiao Qin carrying these pastries."

"Dr. Qu is going to Elder Luo's home to check his body today, so let's move quickly and don't delay Dr. Qu's time."

Everyone moved one after another, some carrying things, some checking, some taking deep breaths.

Qin Huai walked in the middle of the team and asked Ouyang in a low voice: "Although I don't know much about home physical examinations, physical examinations usually require fasting for blood tests, right? Why not go earlier, why wait until 10 o'clock?"

Ouyang answered even more quietly: "Because Elder Luo likes to stay up late playing on his phone and can't get up too early; he usually doesn't get up until 10 o'clock. Getting up before 10 is considered early, so every time we visit, Elder Luo is in a bad mood and sprays whoever he sees."

Qin Huai:...

Such an enviable elderly life.

Can he also stay up late playing on his phone every night after he retires and insist on not getting up until after 10 AM?

Luo Jun lived in Building A, Room 1704. Building A consisted of 4-bedroom, 2-living room layouts, with areas basically between 220 and 280 square meters, considered large flat apartments.

As Ouyang said, Elder Luo had the habit of getting up late. This time was considered early. When Qin Huai and his group arrived, Elder Luo was sitting on the sofa watching TV with an unhappy face.

The show he was watching was quite trendy—a Xianxia drama.

"Elder Luo, good morning." After entering the door, Qu Jing took off her hat, mask, sunglasses, and gloves, revealing her skin, which was nearly pale from lack of sunlight, and skillfully opened her medical kit to measure his blood pressure first. "Has your diet been regular lately?"

"Eat, I eat every meal," Luo Jun said in a muffled voice.

"How are your legs and feet? Do your knees still hurt? Can you walk up the stairs?" Qu Jing continued to ask.

"Never walked them, don't know," Luo Jun pointed to the nanny who was making tea and pouring water for everyone in the dining room not far away. "If you don't believe me, ask her."

Seeing it was her turn, the nanny said: "The three meals are regular, but the time is not very regular. Breakfast is at 10:30 AM, lunch is at 3 or 4 PM, and dinner is after 9 PM."

Qu Jing nodded as if she were used to it and said: "Breakfast is much more regular than before; it used to be at 11 o'clock."

"That's because breakfast is now bought at Master Xiao Qin's canteen." As she spoke, the nanny pointed at Qin Huai. "The Five-Diced Baozi that Mr. Luo loves are the last batch at 9 AM every day. I bought the Five-Diced Baozi and kept them warm in the steamer, and at 10 o'clock, I have to go grab the first batch of pastries for sale."

"The baozi must be eaten by 10:30 AM at the latest, otherwise Mr. Luo will say it tastes a bit off when he eats it. For this reason, Mr. Luo specifically set an alarm to eat the baozi on time. At that time, I was usually still grabbing pastries and hadn't returned, so I couldn't call Mr. Luo in time."

"You talk too much," Luo Jun said unhappily. "I eat whenever I want to eat; I like to eat at 10:30 AM."

"10:30 AM is still a bit late. Since the baozi were bought after 9 AM, I suggest you still eat the baozi before 10 AM," Qu Jing said with a smile. "Please make a fist with your right hand, let me see the mobility of your hand joints."

Luo Jun made a fist and looked at Qin Huai with dissatisfaction: "Isn't it all because he's so troublesome? The baozi are only sold until after 9 AM. If he sold them until after 10 AM, there wouldn't be so much trouble."

Qin Huai:?

Blame me?

No, Elder Luo, how do you know me? Don't you never go out?

Luo Jun seemed to read Qin Huai's inner monologue and said unhappily: "I've seen your photo in the group-buying group."

"Young men these days don't look spirited at all. Your appearance isn't even half as good as mine when I was young, just a little better than the one beside you."

Qin Huai:...

Ouyang beside Qin Huai:...

Ouyang: I%*@【%】＆#!!!

This chapter is a two-in-one.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 59 =====