AGN -Chapter 177 Daily Life

That evening, the Qin family of four found a mid-to-high-end restaurant near a shopping mall. The place had an average reputation, wasn’t cheap, and its taste was far inferior to Huang Ji’s. They sat down for dinner.

After finishing the meal, Qin Huai felt this restaurant probably wouldn’t stay in business for long.

He couldn’t tell whether it was negligence or the chef’s lack of basic skills. Dishes that required high-heat stir-frying didn’t have proper heat control. Poor cooking was patched up with thickening agents, poor seasoning was compensated with pepper, and if those still didn’t work, they relied on piling up premium ingredients.

Cooking is about the combination of ingredients. Dishes can be rich in flavor but not greasy, fresh but not bland, and complementary but not randomly mixed. Beef and lamb are both excellent ingredients, each with strong, distinctive flavors—perfectly fine to cook separately. But turning them into “creative dishes” with fancy names and stir-frying everything together was simply a waste of ingredients.

After the meal, Qin Huai realized he had indeed broadened his horizons.

Previously, when eating out, the taste of dishes didn’t match their prices, and the cost-performance ratio was low. Qin Huai would only think the restaurant was a rip-off—expensive, average food, and not tasty—but couldn’t explain why.

Now, not only could he explain it, he could also point out the problems and how to fix them. It could only be said that Huang Shengli’s foundational teaching had been quite effective, giving Qin Huai a much stronger base of knowledge.

Although the food that evening was just average, the dining atmosphere was excellent. For a family meal, as long as the food wasn’t bad, it wouldn’t spoil the mood—especially since the main eater of the day had already filled up before sitting down at the restaurant.

Qin Luo had eaten eight shumai, two “guo’er” pastries, quite a few crispy cakes, and even insisted Qin Huai cook a pot of dried tangerine peel tea afterward. She drank several bowls herself.

Her appetite was so big that even Qin Huai couldn’t help but sigh—adolescence really was a phase where people change dramatically in just a short time.

High school is indeed the peak of a person’s appetite.

Of course, Ou Yang was no worse.

Although he only ate one guo’er and four shumai, he packed away one guo’er, eight shumai, and two cups of dried tangerine peel tea, saying he would bring them back to his parents’ house for dinner.

Ou Yang claimed that eating less himself was fine—he could save a bit “from between his teeth” to bring back for his parents, a filial gesture that moved the heavens.

Qin Huai even asked him if his parents hadn’t been giving him enough money lately, so he was going back to “scam” some.

Qu Jing was on the day shift that day but had a meeting in the afternoon and would return late. Qin Huai sent her a message, telling her he had saved some pastries and dried tangerine peel tea for her, and she could pick them up at Yunzhong Canteen after work.

Qu Jing only hurriedly replied with a single “OK,” suggesting the meeting was important and she couldn’t check her phone often.

As for Luo Jun and Chen Huihong’s share—

Qin Huai would bring it to them personally that evening.

Yes, tonight Qin Huai and Chen Huihong would gather again at Luo Jun’s home, enjoying some premium fruits, holding a tea-time discussion about Gong Liang’s situation, and Qin Huai would also take the opportunity to view a memory.

To this day, Qin Huai still hadn’t figured out why what he extracted from Gong Liang was memory rather than a dream—especially since Gong Liang clearly wasn’t in his first life.

The game system also didn’t have any manual or explanation; the world background had only been introduced to him by Chen Huihong after she woke up.

What a trash game—definitely a half-finished product!

After dinner, the Qin family of four strolled leisurely toward Yunzhong Canteen.

Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong needed to go back and check inventory with Huang Xi. Qin Huai had to pick up pastries, and Qin Luo’s schoolbag was still at the canteen—she needed it to go home and do homework.

Qin Luo still had at least three worksheets unfinished. Her carefree “all-you-can-eat dessert pass” had ended, and it was time to return to reality and do homework properly.

Walking along the roadside, Qin Congwen and Qin Huai slowed their pace and fell behind. Zhao Rong, for some reason, also deliberately slowed down, staying slightly ahead of them, while Qin Luo bounced and skipped in front, walking in a zigzag pattern.

Qin Huai knew that in this arrangement, Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen must have something to say to him.

Sure enough, not long after, Zhao Rong stopped and waited for Qin Huai and Qin Congwen to catch up.

“Huaihuai, your dad and I rented out our breakfast shop a little over half a month ago,” Zhao Rong said.

Qin Huai nodded. He understood what she meant.

With their practical values, Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong believed that properties left vacant were wasted and not rented out meant losing money.

Previously, during the summer, the Qin family’s breakfast shop wasn’t rented out because they still intended to return to Qu County to continue running it.

Even after Qin Luo started attending Double Sea High School, the shop remained unrented, and Qin Huai didn’t ask about it.

For Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong, who had run a breakfast shop in Qu County for over 20 years, that place was their true home. No matter how good business was in Yunzhong Canteen, it still felt like working elsewhere. After Qin Luo finished high school, they planned to return and continue their breakfast business.

“We’ve also contacted an agent for our house,” Qin Congwen added. “We asked your aunt to help show it to potential renters. If someone is interested, it’ll probably be rented out next month.”

“We’ve delayed you over the years,” Qin Congwen sighed. “If we had listened to your uncle and sent you to Zhiyiju to learn a trade during high school, you wouldn’t have had to go back and run the breakfast shop after graduating from college, working so hard from dawn till night.”

Qin Huai guessed that during the past month while he wasn’t at Yunzhong Canteen, Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen had learned a lot from Li Hua and Pei Xing about Zhiyiju and pastry apprentices.

“Dad, how is running a breakfast shop hard? Uncle Pei and the others probably didn’t tell you the whole truth—learning at Zhiyiju is even harder,” Qin Huai said with a smile.

“Huh?” Qin Congwen was stunned.

“As far as I know, Zhiyiju opens at 8 a.m., but pastry chefs usually arrive by 6 a.m. Hardworking apprentices even show up at 5 a.m.”

“Zhiyiju operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Master chefs rotate shifts—some work mornings, some afternoons—but assistants and apprentices compete to get more shifts.”

“Even master chefs’ direct disciples may arrive an hour early and leave an hour late. Working over 14 hours a day is common, and not to mention having very few days off each year.”

“In a sense, large restaurants are far more exhausting than our breakfast shop.”

“You didn’t know, but during my time at Huang Ji, I really saw the reality. During peak lunch and dinner hours, the kitchen temperature could reach around 40°C. It’s noisy everywhere—you have to shout just to communicate. Their chefs start at 8 a.m. and finish at 8 p.m. Next door there’s even a traditional bone-setting clinic; the chefs basically all have VIP massage cards and go there to relax after work.”

“If you had really sent me to Zhiyiju back then, I might not have been able to handle it.”

Qin Huai skillfully used his words to leave Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong stunned.

“So chefs at big restaurants have it that tough?” Zhao Rong was shocked. “Huaihuai, weren’t you exhausted this past month?”

“I’m fine. I was just there to learn and exchange experience—they worked a full day while I only worked half a day,” Qin Huai replied.

Before they could say more, Qin Huai changed the subject.

“Since you’ve rented out the Qu County property, you’ll be staying in Shanshi at least until Luo Luo graduates from high school.”

“We’ve been living in Sister Hong’s house without paying rent, which feels a bit improper. I’ve been thinking we might as well take out a loan and buy this house from her, put it under Luo Luo’s name, and transfer her household registration here. That’ll make things much more convenient in the future.”

Without giving them a chance to respond, Qin Huai continued, “The Yunzhong Community property is in a great location—close to transit and in a school district. In the future, when Luo Luo gets married and has children, they can even attend the same primary school as Huihui now.”

Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong opened their mouths, still trying to process this, when Qin Huai suddenly quickened his pace and caught up with Qin Luo, who was already far ahead.

“Luo Luo, hurry up and pick out the pastries and crispy cakes you want. I’ll take the rest to Sister Hong later.”

“Okay!” Qin Luo immediately sped up.

Behind them, Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong looked at each other in confusion.

After a long pause, Qin Congwen finally said, puzzled, “Property prices in our community are so high—wouldn’t taking a loan to buy a house be a bit too aggressive? Can we even pay off a mortgage in our lifetime?”

“Should we still talk about what we wanted to say?” Zhao Rong asked.

Qin Congwen shook his head. “Let’s find another time.”

“Right now, the priority is to get Huaihuai to give up the idea of buying a house with a loan.”

Originally, they intended to discuss how to allocate their savings for their children.

According to their original plan, the best life they envisioned was to buy a commercial property in the city center and let Qin Huai open a pastry shop there.

Running a breakfast shop was too hard, and Qin Huai didn’t like waking up early. They knew very well that working in Qu County for life would only bring a life of hardship. Having spent their whole lives working hard, they didn’t want their children to live the same way.

So over the years, the couple had saved up a significant fund intended to buy a shop for Qin Huai in the city.

Their plan was to give the shop to Qin Huai and a house to Qin Luo, with roughly equivalent value.

But now, with Qin Huai inheriting assets and the whole family moving to Shanshi, their original plans were disrupted, and they suddenly didn’t know how to use their savings.

Recently, they had been discussing this and finally decided to give the money to Qin Huai in advance for him to use as he saw fit—whether for renovations or equipment purchases.

They believed Qin Huai, being in the early stages of starting a business, likely needed the money.

But now…

Qin Congwen felt that, from a more experienced perspective, they should first advise young people not to make impulsive financial decisions.

By then, Qin Huai and Qin Luo had already reached Yunzhong Canteen. Qin Luo rushed into the kitchen to pick her pastries, while Qin Huai packed the guo’er and crab roe shumai to bring to Luo Jun and Chen Huihong.

“Brother, what did Mom and Dad stay behind to tell you earlier? Were they going to give you money? I heard them secretly talking about shops and houses—are you getting married after dating?” Qin Luo asked.

Qin Huai couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

“I’ve only been in Suzhou for a little over a month. Even if I were dating, going from dating to marriage in one month is a bit too fast, isn’t it?”

“But I heard there’s a very wealthy boss in Suzhou who really likes your pastries, wants to marry his daughter to you, and even offers a big sum of money for you to be a live-in son-in-law.”

Qin Huai: …

Where do these rumors even come from!

“Mom and Dad didn’t say anything. I interrupted them. Probably just their old habit of trying to treat everyone equally.”

Qin Luo’s eyes lit up. “Are they planning to pay for your tutoring classes too?”

Qin Huai: ?

“Stop dragging your feet—go finish your homework,” Qin Huai said helplessly, shaking his head. “They probably think that since we’ve hired more staff and bought new equipment recently, expenses have gone up and things might be tight, so they wanted to take some money from their savings to subsidize me.”

“I told them I’d buy you a house in the community and shut that idea down.”

Qin Luo: !!!

“But that was just talk. Don’t take it seriously—I definitely can’t afford a house here,” Qin Huai added.

Qin Luo: …

“Has Director Qin posted on Moments recently?” Qin Huai asked.

“Yes. The welfare home seems to have received a donation. An anonymous benefactor paid for all special school tuition. Director Qin must have posted at least 50 bragging posts—you didn’t see them?”

Qin Huai definitely couldn’t see them—the benefactor was him, and such bragging posts from Director Qin would naturally be hidden from him.

“Director Qin has always dreamed of a graduate from the welfare home who either built success from scratch or won the lottery and came back to hand her a 50,000 yuan check. Such bragging posts don’t fit her persona.”

Qin Luo replied, “But I remember her dream used to be someone handing her a 5 million yuan check.”

“That was years ago—it’s been downgraded to 50,000 now.”

After packing the pastries, Qin Luo headed home with her schoolbag, while Qin Huai carried the pastries to Luo Jun’s house.

Zhang Shumei opened the door. As soon as she saw Qin Huai arrive, she grabbed a bag and went out to “buy fruit,” even though the house already had more fruit than they could finish.

Not that it mattered—Chen Huihong would naturally take some anyway.

Chen Huihong was already eating.

Qin Huai glanced at the table: a fruit platter, the packed dried tangerine peel tea, assorted snacks, nuts, and even three bowls of blueberry yogurt.

Today’s tea-time spread was quite lavish.

Qin Huai naturally went to the kitchen to steam the pastries, while Chen Huihong stood at the doorway holding a bowl of yogurt, eagerly asking:

“Little Qin, tell me—what kind of spirit did you encounter in Suzhou that’s close to completing its tribulation?”

“I’ve never encountered a mid-life-stage spirit before!”

“One that can successfully complete its tribulation on its own—I’d go see it myself if Huihui weren’t still in school and I couldn’t leave!”

Chen Huihong’s excitement and curiosity were practically overflowing in her voice.

Qin Huai glanced outside and noticed Luo Jun had already silently sat down at the table, the TV paused—clearly also ready to listen.

You spirits really are quite gossipy.

But it made sense. Whether it was plant spirits like Chen Huihong or powerful beings like Luo Jun, they could only recognize first and final lives. Someone like Gong Liang, existing in a transitional stage, was probably something neither of them had seen before.

In a sense, Gong Liang was also a limited-edition card—rare.

Qin Huai cleared his throat and officially began the tea-time discussion.