AGN -Chapter 239 A Lethal Amount of Winter Melon Candy

Seeing that the Xiao Xu had such an unexpected and extreme range of “ways to die,” Qin Huai had not anticipated it at all.

After thinking for a few minutes—work time began, and he stopped thinking about it.

He focused on making pastries.

At the start of the evening service, Huang Shengli announced to everyone in the kitchen that the 16th would be a day off.

Naturally, everyone was overjoyed.

After the release of Zhi Wei, business at Huang Ji had exploded. The original four days of monthly rest were temporarily suspended and redistributed to other months. Of course, if there was something urgent, leave could still be taken. Compared to the pressure in the dining hall, the kitchen workload was actually not too heavy.

Now, with a unified day off, it was effectively an extra holiday—no one disliked that.

Even Dong Shi temporarily gave up observing Wang Jun’s love life and started excitedly discussing with others whether they should sleep at home and watch TV on the 16th or go out and have fun.

That night, Qin Huai sped up his work, finishing the usual batch of pastries 20 minutes early so he could get off work sooner and go home to make the Four-Season Sweet Dumplings.

At home, only Ou Yang was there, sorting through the 40 jin (about 20 kg) of winter melon candy they had bought earlier that day. The others had not arrived yet.

It was still early. The elderly customers had restraint—they knew not to arrive too early and disturb Xiao Qin’s cooking.

Seeing Qin Huai return, Ou Yang quickly said: “Qin Huai, come check if this winter melon candy is okay. I feel like the seller scammed me—either on price or quality. He kept smiling when I paid, I don’t even know why.”

Since ingredients were crucial, Qin Huai immediately checked it and found no problem.

It was perfectly normal winter melon candy—qualified product.

“How much did you pay?” Qin Huai asked.

After hearing the price, Qin Huai felt it was reasonable. Ou Yang had paid more than the restaurant’s bulk purchase price, which was normal—restaurants always get better rates.

Even if Huang Anyao, the young boss, wasn’t very capable, he wouldn’t mess up procurement pricing that badly.

“What did you tell the seller when you bought it?” Qin Huai asked.

“I told him I just like eating it at home,” Ou Yang replied.

Qin Huai: “……”

Winter melon candy is essentially candied winter melon—very sweet and cloying. Most people think it tastes like fatty meat when eaten alone. Who on earth buys 40 jin of it for personal consumption?

Qin Huai guessed the seller probably didn’t know how to react to such an unusual customer, so he just smiled.

In a way, the seller had actually guessed correctly.

“It’s fine. The candy is okay. I’ll start cooking the syrup. Ou Yang, help me bring the nuts and dried fruits into the kitchen and sort them,” Qin Huai said.

Yesterday, although Qin Huai had figured out the principle behind the Hundred-Flavor Filling dumplings, applying it in practice was still very difficult.

Theory was one thing—execution was another.

Using winter melon candy as the dominant flavor to override all nuts and dried fruits and forcibly unify the taste wasn’t as simple as just adding more candy.

He still needed to test proportions.

If everything were thrown in randomly with only winter melon candy maxed out, the result would probably taste worse than the worst five-nut mooncake on the market.

And Qin Huai was actually looking forward to that failure.

Because this kind of failure now had direction—each failure would bring him closer to success.

Ou Yang had already finished sorting the nuts and dried fruits into bowls, almost using every bowl in the house.

Ou Yang’s hands were slightly trembling.

So much winter melon candy… how many dumplings was this going to make?

If he had to eat four of those Hundred-Flavor dumplings, it would kill him.

But today, Qin Huai wasn’t planning to make normal flavors—only the Hundred-Flavor filling. He had already notified the tasting group in advance.

As a result, the elderly group arrived in full force, each looking like they were marching to their doom.

Even Gong Liang came, first to arrive, proudly declaring he would be the first to try.

Soon, the dumplings were cooked.

Looking at the pot, Ou Yang suddenly realized a problem—they had made fewer dumplings than usual.

There weren’t enough for everyone.

Each person would only get one.

Ou Yang raised the issue.

Qin Huai was shocked: “You want to eat four of these?”

So brave, brother. This is just a tasting session—no need for martyrdom.

In the end, each person received one dumpling.

They all lifted their bowls and took a bite.

Disgusting.

So disgusting.

Consistently disgusting, as always.

The winter melon candy flavor was overpowering, cloyingly sweet to the point of nausea, hitting the brain like a wave of sugar-induced dizziness.

Ou Yang was eating in the kitchen.

Qin Huai had not eaten yet.

“How is it?” Qin Huai asked.

“Too sweet,” Ou Yang frowned. “So sweet it feels sickening.”

Qin Huai extracted the key point: “Only sweetness? Nothing else? No mixed fruit aroma? No chaotic blend like before—like raisins clashing with preserved fruits, or a weird mash like someone dumped everything in the kitchen into a pot?”

Ou Yang shook his head firmly.

“No. Just sweetness. Pure winter melon candy sweetness.”

Qin Huai now had clarity.

The principle was correct.

The others also gave similar feedback: too sweet, overwhelming, almost unbearable.

Even those elderly customers with dulled taste buds, who liked sweetness more than others, couldn’t handle it. They all agreed: the winter melon candy was at a “lethal level,” and everything else was drowned out.

After the tasting, Qin Huai picked up his own bowl.

Two dumplings.

A sign of his seriousness.

He took a bite.

Oh my god.

Too sweet.

So sweet it was disgusting.

So sweet he wanted to kick the chef who made it.

Thankfully, he hadn’t told Zheng Siyuan yet. Otherwise, he would definitely be considered insane.

Then Gong Liang knocked on the kitchen door.

He held up an empty bowl.

“Any more?” he asked.

“I think one isn’t enough to evaluate. I need two.”

Qin Huai: “?!”

A fraud like you—if you applied this persistence elsewhere, you’d already be successful.