AGN -Chapter 243 When Flavor Isn’t Enough, Add Emotion

After getting off work, Qin Huai made three different kinds of mixed-fruit filling tangyuan.

One was Zheng Da’s style—traditional, simple peanut and melon seed filling. One was Zheng Siyuan’s advanced, more difficult almond and walnut filling. And the third was his own favorite—an intermediate almond-peanut filling.

Yes, the mixed-fruit filling research squad had effectively split into three directions, with three independent white-bun pastry masters each pursuing their own ideas.

The reason Zheng Siyuan only argued with his father and not Qin Huai was because he felt Qin Huai’s version also had difficulty and research value—unlike his father’s, which was simply lazy.

At moments like this, Qin Huai never spoke up. He also never revealed why he specifically made the almond-peanut filling.

Qin Luo liked almonds. Qin Huai liked peanuts.

Especially as the New Year approached, Qin Huai felt that the “peanut-loving gene” engraved in his DNA was about to activate.

Grandma Qin had a special skill in stir-frying peanuts—peanuts fried in their shells mixed with sand, making them incredibly fragrant. If Qin Huai didn’t have to make desserts, giving him a bucket of peanuts and Qin Luo a bucket of almonds would be enough for the siblings to squat in the courtyard and eat all afternoon without even watching TV.

Although Qin Huai had his own preferred mixed-fruit filling, he was also familiar with the other two versions. He could make all of them.

For pastry fillings, anything that tasted good was a good filling.

That night, Qin Huai wrapped a large number of tangyuan—enough to fill an entire basin—but he only called over Ou Yang, and no one else. He even posted in the tasting group: “Because Huang Ji is off tomorrow, I’m going to sleep early tonight, so I won’t make tangyuan.”

He made a whole basin—but only cooked four pieces.

Ou Yang looked at the prepared tangyuan and asked curiously: “Are these going to be mailed to Luo Luo? But isn’t she coming back in a couple of days anyway? Or are they for Mr. Luo? Can an elderly person eat that many tangyuan? I saw on the news that old people shouldn’t eat too many glutinous rice foods—it’s easy to choke.”

“Mr. Luo doesn’t like overly sweet food,” Qin Huai said while watching the heat and stirring the pot. “Tomorrow I’m going to Chef Zheng’s house for dinner, so I won’t be making pastries. I’ll store the rest in the fridge and trouble you tomorrow morning to deliver them to the tasting group elders.”

Ou Yang still didn’t understand.

“Why not just eat them today and tell them not to come tomorrow?”

From his experience in the tasting group, freshly made tangyuan were the best. Once refrigerated, the taste definitely dropped.

Qin Huai actually wanted to say: this was all to set up a surprise for Gong Liang tomorrow and complete several tasks at once.

After successfully “balancing both sides” during the afternoon and taking on the task of making Four-Happiness Tangyuan, Qin Huai suddenly realized this was an opportunity.

Gong Liang was the kind of person who could become very emotional in specific situations. Qin Huai had already discovered this during the Crab Roe Siu Mai side quest.

He was the type who, when given a dish carrying “bond, friendship, memory,” could be deeply moved—even if the taste wasn’t perfect, a single bite could trigger waves of emotion and complete the task.

“Inadequate flavor, memory makes up for it.”

During the afternoon, Qin Huai even went to the restroom for ten minutes just to repeatedly re-read the side quest “Gong Liang’s Desire” and discovered there was room to exploit.

Game quests had loopholes. He had already proven that before.

The quest description repeatedly emphasized the importance of Qin Gou Lantern Dumplings and Four-Happiness Tangyuan in Gong Liang’s memories—they represented youth, family, friendship, and nostalgia.

In other words, these dishes were heavily “buffed” for Gong Liang.

The requirement was: he wanted to eat the Four-Happiness Tangyuan and Qin Gou Lantern Dumplings he had once had at a birthday banquet.

The birthday banquet was the key condition.

Originally, Qin Huai thought the best strategy was to serve these dishes on the actual birthday for maximum effect.

But there was a loophole: it never said who had to make them.

As long as Gong Liang ate them, it was enough.

The rest depended on stacking buffs.

If the emotional value was high enough, one bite could complete the quest.

Tomorrow was the opportunity.

Because tomorrow’s dinner was a small, tightly-knit gathering.

Only Zheng Da, Zheng Siyuan, Huang Shengli, Huang Anyao, Qin Huai, Gong Liang, Guo Mingzhu, and Gong Baozhu would attend.

In a sense, this was Gong Liang’s close circle of friends.

Originally, only Zheng Da and Huang Shengli were supposed to cook—one handling pastries, the other handling savory dishes, combining into a perfect pairing.

Huang Shengli had already said there would be no complicated dishes—just a few home-style specialties, mainly to enjoy the rare gathering and let Zheng Da practice pastry-making.

Meanwhile, Qin Huai had been persistently experimenting with mixed-fruit filling tangyuan. His refusal to give up—even through failures and disasters—had deeply moved Gong Liang.

In Gong Liang’s words: “Chef Qin has me in his heart!”

Qin Huai felt the buffs were already stacked to the limit—only the fact that it wasn’t Gong Liang’s birthday was missing.

As for Qin Gou Lantern Dumplings, Qin Huai had tried them before. The difficulty was purely technical. Forcing himself to make them now would result in both suffering and an ugly final product.

Instead of spending half a year mastering them, it was better to take a gamble.

If it failed, he could still train later.

So before leaving work, Qin Huai quietly approached Zheng Da and used his refined “art of persuasion” to express admiration for the Qin Gou Lantern Dumplings and praise Zheng Da’s previous work.

“Oh, that last batch was pure art!”

He wanted to see that “artwork” again tomorrow.

Under normal circumstances, Zheng Da might have hesitated—it was too much effort.

But yesterday, Zheng Da didn’t hesitate at all.

He needed to prove himself.

His son actually dared to question his pastry philosophy!

What’s wrong with peanut and melon seed fillings? Simple is fine—tasty is king!

Do you think your father can’t make complicated pastries? Do you think I’m someone who only cuts corners? Don’t underestimate me!

To Zheng Da, Qin Huai’s request was a blessing in disguise. If he could make two plates of “art-level” Qin Gou Lantern Dumplings tomorrow, he could both show off and prove his skill.

He would transform from a “lazy trickster” into “Chef Zheng with his own philosophy.”

Most importantly, he wouldn’t need to say anything—once the dumplings hit the table, everything would be proven.

So Zheng Da agreed immediately, even adding a bit of bravado: last time was just casual work, not art. Tomorrow he would make something truly astonishing.

With that settled, Qin Huai felt the Four-Happiness Tangyuan side should also be fine.

If flavor wasn’t enough, emotion would make up for it.

The buffs were already stacked.

To secure tomorrow’s decisive victory, tonight would be a little inconvenient for the tasting group elders and the Gong family next door.

No food tonight—but tomorrow’s sudden feast would be far more effective.

Qin Huai casually lied: “If you eat today and don’t eat tomorrow, then tomorrow you won’t have anything. It’s just overnight storage, it won’t affect the taste much.”

“When you cook it tomorrow, just be careful not to break it.”

Ou Yang was immediately moved.

Good brother!

No more words needed!

As long as his milk tea shop stayed open, Qin Huai would always have free hand-shaken lemon tea.

Just then, the tangyuan came out of the pot.

Only four pieces were cooked—two per person, three flavors as a blind box.

After a 3-minute and 50-second cooldown, Qin Huai and Ou Yang both started eating.

The first one Qin Huai got was the peanut-melon seed flavor.

Honestly, it was simple and ordinary—but very stable, very hard to go wrong, and suited to public taste.

It was also the easiest to control and the least likely to fail.

“Mm.” Qin Huai let out a satisfied sound.

Just then, his phone rang.

It was a WeChat call—Qin Luo.

He answered.

“Hello hello hello hello hello, brother brother brother brother! Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me?! Say something if you can hear me! Hello hello hello!”

Qin Luo’s voice filled the kitchen, so loud that even the uncooked tangyuan seemed to want to cover its ears.

So excited—definitely good news.

Qin Huai swallowed the tangyuan.

“Say.”

“Brother! I have news—”

“Early vacation?” Qin Huai interrupted.

Qin Luo froze for a few seconds, then excitedly continued: “Yes! I’m done with my exams tomorrow, and then I can come to Suzhou to find you!”

“Mom already booked my flight for tomorrow afternoon. I’ll take the high-speed rail after landing and arrive around 11 PM! Brother, what’s fun in Suzhou? What’s good to eat? What can I eat at 11 PM?”

“You barely came home these past months, and I’ve only been eating school cafeteria food and Brother Chen An’s buns. I’ve lost weight! Grandma even said my face got thinner and transferred me 500 yuan to eat well!”

“Oh really? That’s good. When you come, give me that 500 first and pay back some of your dessert debt,” Qin Huai said calmly while eating.

Qin Luo froze again.

“Brother!!”

“Paying debts is only natural. Your exams are starting, right? How did you do? Think your New Year pocket money will be enough to repay it?”

Ou Yang looked at Qin Huai in shock, like he was witnessing a ruthless capitalist.

“Brother!!” Qin Luo almost screamed.

“Alright, alright. Forget it. I don’t know what’s fun in Suzhou—ask Ou Yang. Food? You’ve got plenty nearby: crab roe lion’s head, stewed fish head, braised whole pig head, stir-fried eel, squirrel mandarin fish, shredded dried tofu soup, shrimp with Biluochun tea, soft-shelled eel noodles, corn with pine nuts, tofu pudding, water shield soup, cherry meat, Yangzhou fried rice, Dongpo elbow, Dongpo pork…”

“And I’ll introduce you to a guy named Huang. He’ll talk while you eat—it tastes even better.”

Qin Luo swallowed.

“But now that you’re in high school, you can’t just spend the holidays eating and playing. You need to study.”

“I’ll study! I’ll finish homework before going out to eat!”

“You studying alone at home isn’t safe either.”

“I can go to tutoring!”

“This is Suzhou. You’re in a private school—where are you going to find tutoring?”

Qin Luo panicked. “Then what do I do?”

“I have a plan,” Qin Huai smiled.

“Hire one-on-one tutors. After exam results come out, whichever subject is weak, we hire that subject. Pay everything upfront.”

“That way, if Mom wants you to go back, I’ll say the classes aren’t finished and refunds aren’t possible. She’ll feel bad about the money and let you stay until the classes are done.”

Qin Luo was delighted.

“Brother, you’re so smart!”

Then she hesitated.

“But…”

“It’s expensive.”

“It’s fine. I know people.”

Only then did she relax.

“Then it’s settled! I can stay in Suzhou until New Year! Brother, you won’t confiscate my phone like Mom and only let me use it two hours a day, right?”

“Of course not,” Qin Huai smiled. “As long as you finish your classes and homework, you can do whatever you want.”

If she still has time left, of course.

Qin Huai hung up.

Ou Yang stared at him.

“So every holiday, she’s tricked into tutoring like this?”

Qin Huai waved it off.

“That’s not tricking. When I was in high school, my parents made everything fair. I took tutoring, she took tutoring—math, Chinese, English, Olympiad, even Go lessons. Her grades were actually pretty good in elementary school.”

“Middle school? I already stopped tutoring. She didn’t want to go sometimes, my parents were busy, so it was fine.”

“Now it’s the important stage. The family isn’t short on money. More tutoring is good for her.”

Ou Yang: “I think you just don’t want her to enjoy the holiday too much.”

“How can you say that?” Qin Huai said seriously. “I’m a well-known good brother within ten miles of my hometown.”

“Caring about my sister’s studies is my duty.”