Chapter 65

At six o'clock, the first batch of morning-jogging grandpas and grandmas who came to the Yunzhong Canteen for breakfast discovered that the randomly dropping Master Xiao Zheng was no longer dropping, and let out the first batch of wails.

At seven o'clock, the second batch of grandpas and grandmas from nearby neighborhoods who came to the Yunzhong Canteen for breakfast discovered that Master Xiao Zheng really wasn't a canteen employee, but just came to exchange ideas and help out and had now gone back, and let out the second batch of wails.

At ten o'clock, the crowd of diners who skipped work/slacked off/squatted to buy snacks discovered that not only was Master Xiao Zheng gone, but Master Zheng was also gone, and all the randomly dropping delicious Suzhou-style pastries were also gone, and let out the third batch of wails.

At 10:30 AM, Chen Huihong sat in the Yunzhong Canteen and called her younger brother with a solemn face, asking him why he hadn't recruited a qualified pastry chef after such a long time.

Chen Huihong's brother:...

Sister, wasn't it you who said there was no rush?

What could Chen Huihong's brother do? He could only quickly call the HR manager, tell him to hurry up with the recruitment, and by the way, ask his sister for the address of Zheng Zheng Siyuan's pastry shop in Gusu, and have his assistant go buy a batch of pastries tomorrow to bring back.

"Xiao Qin, don't worry. I'll have my brother hurry up with the pastry chef recruitment and strive to find you a helper this month." Chen Huihong put down her phone and promised.

"Actually, it's not that urgent. It's mainly because my mom has already decided on a private high school in Guangdong Province and is already in contact with their admissions office. At the end of the month, my mom is going to take Did Luo Luo back, so now the canteen not only needs to recruit a new pastry chef but also extra kitchen helpers. Cleaning and odd-job workers are easy to recruit, but I think kitchen staff should be chosen carefully." Qin Huai explained.

Chen Huihong highly agreed with Qin Huai's point of view and nodded repeatedly: "That's for sure. Xiao Qin, you just focus on making snacks; leave all these small matters to me, you only need to do the final review."

"Is Chen Huihui still at her uncle's house?" Qin Huai began to care about Chen Chen Huihui.

"Yes, she's playing with cats at her uncle's house." Chen Huihong said with a smile, "I asked her if she wanted to come to the canteen at noon to eat the noodles you made; she was still hesitating there, asking me if she could eat both chicken soup noodles and Locust Flower Steamed Buns."

"My brother wanted to eat them as soon as he heard about Locust Flower Steamed Buns, but he was too lazy to make the trip himself and asked me to buy two bags to bring to him. Where would I buy two bags for him? I told him to come eat them himself in a couple of days."

Qin Huai understood the implication and immediately said: "A while ago, the Locust Flower Steamed Buns were in the trial stage, so the quantity was naturally small, for fear that the taste wouldn't be stable. This morning, I already asked Sister Xi to order the menu cards for the Locust Flower Steamed Buns; in a couple of days, they will be officially on the menu just like the Fermented Rice Steamed Buns. Don't talk about two bags; three, four, or five bags are all fine."

"Sister Hong, you can come pick them up directly this afternoon. I was planning to make a bit more to practice this afternoon anyway, as long as you don't mind that these are my practice buns."

"Your brother has been helping me with recruitment and helping Did Luo Luo research schools during this time; I just didn't know how to thank him."

"By the way, are you hungry now? I've already prepared the handmade noodles; would you like to taste the chicken soup noodles I just learned?"

Chen Huihong naturally wouldn't refuse and nodded happily.

Qin Huai went into the kitchen to cook the noodles.

Cooking noodles doesn't take many minutes; soon, a steaming bowl of noodles with chicken soup as the base and vegetables and shiitake mushrooms as toppings was ready.

【Longevity Noodles C+ grade】

It didn't reach B-grade, but C+ grade was already quite good. As an ordinary bowl of noodles, Qin Huai believed this bowl of noodles could kill 99% of the machine-pressed noodles in the surrounding area.

As for the remaining 1%...

What if Zheng Da suddenly had a whim and decided to open a noodle shop nearby?

Qin Huai personally served the noodles.

He wanted to watch Chen Huihong eat.

There was a warm reminder after the dish details of the Longevity Noodles, specifically urging Qin Huai that making Longevity Noodles for Chen Huihong would bring a surprise.

Since the warm reminder said so, Qin Huai naturally wanted to see what the surprise was.

It's just that he didn't know if C+ grade Longevity Noodles were qualified; if C+ grade couldn't bring out a surprise, Qin Huai decided to practice well these few days and strive to practice a B or B- grade.

"Please taste it. These chicken soup noodles are also in the trial stage; if you feel there are any problems, tell me at any time." Qin Huai sat down directly, sitting opposite Chen Huihong.

Chen Huihong picked up her chopsticks.

There were a few grandpas chatting nearby who had long been accustomed to Qin Huai's behavior of cooking special meals.

Master Xiao Qin and Chen Huihong have a good relationship, so it's normal to cook special meals; the canteen's recruitment is all handled by Chen Huihong outside anyway. Eating a bowl of special noodles, no one is jealous.

The one who really deserves to die is that guy named Ding, who takes so many Fermented Rice Steamed Buns home every day; the grandpas said their teeth were about to break from grinding.

"These noodles look very chewy." Chen Huihong sighed, picked them up, and looked at them carefully, "Why does it seem like there's only one strand? Doesn't this become Longevity Noodles?"

"This is a special method; there is only one strand in a bowl of noodles. It's good to be like Longevity Noodles; the meaning is good." Qin Huai explained.

Hearing Qin Huai say this, Chen Huihong felt it made sense, so she didn't think much and took a bite.

Chen Huihong was stunned.

It wasn't the ordinary kind of stunned, but like a system crash; her mouth was biting the noodle without biting it off, her chopsticks were holding the noodle suspended above the bowl, her lips didn't move, her nose didn't move, and even her eyes didn't blink. Only her gaze changed from carrying a smile to confusion, then emptiness, and finally repeating clarity.

Qin Huai was also a bit stunned; he was truly stunned, and even looked around a bit nervously to see if any diners were looking this way and noticing Chen Huihong's abnormality. After about 40 or 50 seconds, Chen Huihong moved.

She silently finished the whole bowl of noodles in one breath, just like eating Longevity Noodles without biting them off.

Then she wiped her mouth quietly, looked up at Qin Huai with no expression, her eyes holding three parts shock, two parts doubt, and five parts of an indescribable subtlety.

At this moment, Qin Huai felt that the Chen Huihong sitting in front of him was a bit like the Chen Huihong in the dream.

"I really didn't expect it." Chen Huihong spoke.

"What?" Qin Huai didn't understand.

Chen Huihong looked at Qin Huai deeply again, took a deep breath: "I didn't expect that I could actually wake up."

Qin Huai:?

Seeing Qin Huai's confusion, Chen Huihong smiled: "Let me think about how to explain it so you can... I am Bai."

Alright, Qin Huai felt there was no need to explain.

Mom, spiritual energy has recovered, and the monsters from the Classic of Mountains and Seas have recovered their memories of their past lives.

"I know." Qin Huai said sincerely, "It's just, Sister Hong, do we really have to have such... inhuman conversations in such a public place as the lobby? Can we at least go to the second floor? There's no one on the second floor."

"Sure." Chen Huihong got up and walked to the second floor with Qin Huai.

"I know you should have some special methods to know who I am, but how did you know?" Chen Huihong asked with some curiosity.

"To tell you the truth, I've had a system since I was a child." Qin Huai knew it was time to be honest again.

The last time he was this honest was with Qin Luo, who was in kindergarten.

Chen Huihong:?

"My system has a game panel and will also issue tasks. Completing tasks can earn dreams, all of which are your dreams. I watched many very complex... stories of you and Chen Huihui in your past life in the dreams."

Chen Huihong:??

Now it was Chen Huihong's turn to be confused. Chen Huihong thought for a long time before saying: "Wow."

"A system."

"But now I know how to explain it to you."

"Have you read the Classic of Mountains and Seas?"

Qin Huai shook his head: "I've already ordered it; it will arrive tomorrow."

"It's indeed worth reading. You can understand it as us monsters from the Classic of Mountains and Seas needing to enter the world to undergo tribulation once we have cultivated to a certain level."

Qin Huai nodded: "I understand this; there are such plots in the novels Did Luo Luo reads."

"It's about that meaning. You can understand it as entering the three thousand small worlds, or you can understand it as running out of deep mountains and old forests; anyway, it's all undergoing tribulation."

"If the tribulation is successful, you enter another level."

"If the tribulation fails, you will enter reincarnation again with your memories."

"Then what counts as success and what counts as failure?" Qin Huai asked with some curiosity.

"It depends on us." Chen Huihong said, "Some monsters undergo tribulation, come to the human world for a walk, eat, drink, play, and enjoy the world, and very naturally and happily succeed in their tribulation."

"Some monsters undergo tribulation, experience all the states of human life, suffer all kinds of hardships and torments, but in the end, can only enter reincarnation with unwillingness and regret."

"If there is unwillingness and obsession in the heart, it will fail."

"When first entering reincarnation, we still carry memories, still know what we are, and know our purpose is to resolve the unwillingness and obsession in our hearts."

"After reincarnating a few times—more than three or five times, less than one or two—the memories fade. By the last life, we will completely forget what we are and just think we are ordinary people, at most feeling some hidden reluctance in our hearts."

"If we still can't remember who we are in the last life, still can't let go, and still can't wake up, then we are truly dead."

Qin Huai understood. He looked at Chen Huihong: "So... you are..."

"The last life." Chen Huihong nodded.

"Thank you for letting me wake up."

(End of chapter)