AGN -Chapter 253 Chew, Chew, Chew

A bowl of tangyuan held four dumplings, each with a different shape. All of them were a beautiful porcelain white at first glance—clearly cooked to perfection.

They had been boiled in four separate pots, which also made serving them much easier. Dong Shi handled all the plating, ladling out bowl after bowl, while Qin Huai stood nearby timing everything down to the second, counting down the final 3 minutes and 50 seconds. Qin Luo, meanwhile, stood on tiptoe at the kitchen door, waiting so eagerly that her eyes practically stretched out.

Although Qin Luo technically didn’t need to wait the full 3 minutes and 50 seconds, eating too much overly hot food wasn’t good for the body. Better to make the child wait a little longer.

Three minutes and fifty seconds later.

Qin Huai carried out two bowls of freshly served tangyuan. Outside the kitchen, Qin Luo, Chen Huihong, and Chen Huihui were already seated on little stools. The stools weren’t from Huang Ji—they were probably brought by Chen Huihong herself. She came fully equipped.

“Four-Joy Tangyuan,” Qin Huai announced, handing a bowl each to Qin Luo and Chen Huihong.

Qin Luo grabbed hers immediately. With lightning speed, she scooped up a red bean-filled tangyuan and stuffed it into her mouth. She bit off more than half in one go and began chewing furiously.

Chew chew chew.

Only after swallowing the first one did she have time to exclaim:

“Brother, it’s so delicious! Freshly made Four-Joy Tangyuan tastes amazing! It’s way better than the frozen ones from the fridge! I want this again tomorrow!”

When it came to enthusiastic praise, Qin Luo was a true professional.

Having delivered her lines, she buried her head back in the bowl and continued eating. Her mouth was so full she couldn’t even make an “mm” sound anymore. She had transformed into a ruthless tangyuan-chewing machine.

While Qin Luo was devouring her tangyuan, Chen Huihong wasn’t idle either. In many moments, the glow of maternal love still shone brightly within her. She never ate alone and always remembered to share with her daughter.

“Come on, Huihui, open wide. Mommy will feed you.”

The bowl was rather large, and Chen Huihong was afraid her daughter might not be able to hold it steadily, so she fed her directly.

Chen Huihui opened her mouth wide, took a big bite, and, just like Qin Luo, began chewing enthusiastically. Her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s.

She tried to speak while chewing, but her mouth was too full. All that came out were muffled “mm-mm” sounds.

Chen Huihong didn’t notice her daughter’s predicament. At that moment, her maternal instincts had temporarily taken a back seat.

She had just selected a sesame-sugar filling tangyuan—the classic sweet black sesame filling that everyone knew and loved, the very same filling that formed the basis of Director Qin’s famous sesame glutinous rice skin soup dumplings.

Chen Huihui had taken a small bite, leaving more than half of the tangyuan still in the spoon. The missing corner caused it to sag slightly, and the black sesame filling began to ooze out.

It truly oozed.

A thick, glossy black filling, rich and velvety, just like the impossibly perfect images in television commercials. Encased in the white glutinous rice skin was an abundance of black sesame paste, dark and shiny, flowing as smoothly as molten chocolate lava. Just looking at it, one could almost taste its sweet richness.

Not just sweetness, but also the fragrant aroma of freshly ground sesame.

It was the taste of tangyuan.

It was the taste of festivals.

In Chen Huihong’s eyes, there was nothing left but the tangyuan.

She felt as though she hadn’t seen a black sesame tangyuan this perfect in several lifetimes. Having eaten plenty of pastries made by Qin Huai—and in her first life, even more exquisite pastries made by others—she still found herself swallowing hard in anticipation.

Almost instinctively, she popped the entire tangyuan into her mouth, attempting to swallow it whole.

She failed.

So she settled for biting off most of it in one go.

The rich sweetness of black sesame instantly filled her mouth. She didn’t even dare open her lips, afraid that the wonderful sensation would escape. Like Qin Luo and Chen Huihui, she could only keep chewing.

Chew chew chew.

At that moment, all three of them moved in perfect synchronization.

No one spoke.

Finally, Chen Huihui, who had taken the smallest bite, finished first. After swallowing, she shouted:

“Mom, this big tangyuan is so yummy!”

With her maternal instincts restored, Chen Huihong fed the remaining half from her spoon to her daughter. Chen Huihui resumed chewing with her hamster cheeks.

A bowl of Four-Joy Tangyuan contained only four pieces. It didn’t sound like much, but each dumpling was quite large. Glutinous rice desserts were inherently chewy and difficult to swallow quickly, so finishing a bowl took some time.

Seeing that even Qin Luo—normally famous for eating quickly—had only reached her second tangyuan, Qin Huai decided to head back inside, eat a bowl himself, and then come back out to refill hers.

Based on his understanding of his little sister, one bowl would definitely not be enough for a first-time treat this delicious. At the very least, she’d need two.

As for exactly how many bowls she’d eat, that depended on whether she still wanted to save room for Zheng Siyuan’s gauze wontons and bubble wontons, and whether she still had interest in xiaolongbao, rice cakes, shaomai, and more rice cakes.

When Qin Huai returned to the kitchen with his empty bowl, Huang Ji’s back kitchen had already been conquered by Four-Joy Tangyuan.

Almost everyone was holding a bowl. Spoon in one hand, mouths moving nonstop.

Chew chew chew.

Every now and then, a muffled “mm!” of highest praise could be heard.

Among all the tangyuan eaters, Tan Wei’an undoubtedly had the most expressive face.

He would take a bite, glance at the filling, his eyes filled with thirty percent shock, thirty percent confusion, and forty percent existential crisis. He chewed once and thought for a second. Chewed again and blanked out for another. He looked less like he was eating tangyuan and more like the tangyuan was eating him.

It was as if a gigantic Four-Joy Tangyuan hovered over his head, slowly devouring his soul. With every bite it took, it emitted a muffled “mm.” And with every chew, Tan Wei’an’s gaze grew a little duller.

He was utterly stunned.

He knew Qin Huai was an exceptionally talented pastry chef—someone worthy of respect and study, the Master Qin everyone admired.

He also knew Qin Huai possessed astonishing learning ability and an equally astonishing capacity for self-correction. He learned everything quickly. He even failed faster than others. When making mixed-fruit tangyuan, Qin Huai always managed to fail in more spectacular ways than anyone else.

Moreover, Qin Huai came from an unconventional background. He wasn’t bound by rigid rules. He was innovative, creative, always eager for something new, always learning, always researching.

A person like that—whatever achievements he made—shouldn’t really be surprising.

Tan Wei’an tried to convince himself that Qin Huai’s sudden mastery of Four-Joy Tangyuan over just a few days—improving every aspect, not only making breakthroughs with the mixed-fruit filling, but also somehow elevating red bean, black sesame, and meat fillings he hadn’t even focused on before—was perfectly normal.

Master Qin, after all. Any accomplishment was understandable.

He should accept it. Understand it…

Understand my foot!

Inside Tan Wei’an, a tiny version of himself was having a complete meltdown—screaming, smashing bowls, tearing down walls, rolling on the floor, twisting, struggling, crawling through the darkness.

How was he supposed to accept this?!

Wasn’t Qin Huai at work with him every single day?

Hadn’t Qin Huai not even been making Four-Joy Tangyuan these past two days?

He’d only started arriving at Huang Ji one hour earlier than usual yesterday and today.

Did Qin Huai secretly have forty-eight hours in a day?

Or maybe he sleepwalked at night—and every night while sleepwalking, he practiced making Four-Joy Tangyuan, until last night when he suddenly achieved enlightenment.

Seriously, what was going on?

Even if Qin Huai went home and secretly practiced after work every day, there were only so many hours in the night.

And sure, the dark circles under his eyes had been a little more pronounced these past couple of days, but not that pronounced. It didn’t look like he’d been pulling all-nighters.

Could all-nighters really produce miracles?

Should he go home tonight and try an all-night practice session himself?

Tan Wei’an took another bite. This one was filled with red bean paste.

The sweetness was perfectly balanced. The texture was silky smooth. The filling had that fine, sandy consistency that paired beautifully with the soft, chewy glutinous rice skin. A slight press of the tongue was enough to make the red bean paste melt and flow across his mouth.

He had eaten many red bean tangyuan, and many red bean pastries.

As a professional pastry chef, Tan Wei’an understood something well:

The simpler the filling, the harder it was.

Not harder to make.

Harder to improve.

The red bean and black sesame fillings are easy enough to make passable. Making them decent is also fairly simple. Even making them delicious isn’t all that difficult. But making them so memorable that one bite etches the flavor into your mind—so perfect that the filling and the pastry seem like a match made in heaven—that is incredibly hard.

Qin Huai’s Four-Joy Tangyuan hadn’t quite reached that level yet, but Tan Wei’an felt he had at least touched the threshold.

Because the fillings matched so well.

With a professional’s keen palate, Tan Wei’an realized that this was an exceptionally well-balanced bowl of Four-Joy Tangyuan. The four fillings complemented one another, forming a harmonious whole. Each was delicious without overshadowing the others, yet each retained its own distinct character.

He savored the warm red bean filling in his mouth.

It was extraordinarily delicious.

Just then, Zheng Siyuan walked over to Qin Huai with his bowl in hand and asked in a certain tone, “The fillings you made yesterday—were they specially designed for today’s tangyuan?”

Qin Huai was ladling out more tangyuan. Hearing the question, he nodded.

“More or less. They were specifically made as tangyuan fillings. The flavors themselves didn’t change too much, but I adjusted the texture and improved how well the fillings pair with the glutinous rice skin.”

Zheng Siyuan took a bite, chewing calmly as he asked, “Is this what you’ve been researching lately?”

“Yes,” Qin Huai replied without hesitation.

After all, the past two days also counted as “lately.”

Then Qin Huai began his performance.

“Four-Joy Tangyuan is supposed to have four flavors. We focused on the mixed-fruit filling before because we hadn’t figured it out yet, so we had to keep experimenting. Now that we’ve found the right recipe for the mixed-fruit filling, of course the other fillings need practice too. Only when all four flavors are complete can it truly be Four-Joy Tangyuan.”

“If you focus on just one flavor and let it stand out while neglecting the other three, then that one becomes the star while the others are reduced to supporting roles.”

“But in reality, all four are part of a single whole. Naturally, you can’t favor one over the others.”

Zheng Siyuan nodded in full agreement.

“You’re absolutely right. I overlooked that.”

“For some time now, I’ve been so focused on the mixed-fruit filling that I completely ignored the other three. Actually, it wasn’t until the day you came to my house and made tangyuan that I realized it. When I ate all four flavors that afternoon, it suddenly struck me that it had been a long time since I’d had a proper bowl of Four-Joy Tangyuan.”

“My father and I have been making mixed-fruit filling every day, wrapping mixed-fruit tangyuan every day, and eating mixed-fruit tangyuan every day. My mother and sister complained several times that they were sick of it, but neither of us paid much attention. Looking back, they were already telling us something important: mixed-fruit tangyuan alone isn’t enough. Four-Joy Tangyuan needs all four flavors to be complete.”

“I was actually planning to talk to you about this in the next couple of days. Yesterday, I saw you making fillings but not tangyuan, so I didn’t mention it. I didn’t expect that you’d already thought of it.”

Qin Huai was momentarily stunned. He hadn’t even finished making up his explanation, and Zheng Siyuan had already completed it for him.

All he could do was say, “Do you want the new recipes for the red bean and black sesame fillings?”

“As for the pure meat filling, I still don’t think mine is good enough. Give me another couple of days to work on it.”

That morning, while making the tangyuan, Qin Huai had already felt that the pure meat filling wasn’t as polished as the other three sweet fillings. He had decided to go home that evening and rewatch the tutorial videos a few more times. In fact, he planned to watch them every night before bed until he could practically recite them by heart.

All knowledge points.

Must learn.

The teacher will definitely test this.

Tan Wei’an felt like he finally understood.

While it looked as though Qin Huai had spent all this time focusing solely on mixed-fruit tangyuan, in reality, he had been secretly practicing the other three flavors at home every day.

While Tan Wei’an was still agonizing over how to combine the many ingredients of the mixed-fruit filling without disaster, Qin Huai had already been looking at the bigger picture, preparing for the overall success of Four-Joy Tangyuan.

And just when Tan Wei’an thought the research on Four-Joy Tangyuan was nearing completion—that the mixed-fruit filling had finally been perfected and no longer ended in spectacular failure—Master Qin had already moved on to considering how the four flavors should complement one another and elevate the dish as a whole.

Qin Huai was always one step ahead of him.

No—more than one step.

Sure enough, his own vision had been too narrow.

Master Qin truly had remarkable foresight.

At that moment, Tan Wei’an was filled with renewed respect for Qin Huai.

He felt as though he had suddenly understood so much more.

So that was why Qin Huai had abruptly stopped practicing mixed-fruit tangyuan. It wasn’t because he was fickle, nor because he only had a three-minute attention span for new pastries. He had been researching something else—preparing for an even greater improvement to Four-Joy Tangyuan.

Qin Huai hadn’t been slacking off.

He hadn’t been goofing around.

He had been quietly working hard all along, secretly amazing everyone.

“Qin Huai, you’re incredible!” Tan Wei’an exclaimed sincerely.

Qin Huai: …

What exactly had Tan Wei’an imagined this time?

Qin Huai said nothing. He simply continued eating his tangyuan.

Chew, chew, chew.

Really delicious.

Master Jing’s tutorial videos were incredibly useful.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Dong Shi had also come up with his own explanation for Qin Huai’s rapid improvement.

Holding his bowl, hunching over like an undercover operative making a clandestine street contact, Dong Shi sidled up to Dong Li and whispered, “Brother, I think I’ve figured out the pattern behind Qin Huai’s pastry breakthroughs!”

Dong Li, unusually interested in his younger brother’s gossip, raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?”

Qin Huai’s pastry improvements had a pattern? Didn’t he usually just improve randomly, with no discernible logic whatsoever?

“Do you remember how, after Qin Huai came back from Shan City last time, his Three-Diced Buns suddenly improved by leaps and bounds?” Dong Shi asked.

Dong Li nodded.

Qi Tian, drawn in by the gossip, quietly edged closer.

“Have you noticed any recent changes around Qin Huai?” Dong Shi continued mysteriously.

Huang Jia was also intrigued and moved closer without hesitation.

“What changes?” Dong Li asked.

“His little sister, Luoluo, is here!”

Dong Li: ?

“It was the same last time! When he went back to Shan City, Luoluo was there. He must have spent several days making Three-Diced Buns for her, and that’s why they improved so dramatically.”

“And now that Luoluo has just arrived, Qin Huai has spent two days making Four-Joy Tangyuan for her, and once again his skills have advanced by leaps and bounds!”

“What does that tell us? It proves Qin Huai wasn’t lying. Ever since he was little, he’s made pastries for his sister. He improves the fastest when he’s making them for her!”

Everyone: ?!

At that exact moment, Qin Luo, having just finished her bowl outside, called excitedly into the kitchen:

“Brother, I’m done! I want another bowl! I want another bowl of the pure meat ones!”

“And I want tangyuan again tomorrow too!”

Almost instantly, everyone in Huang Ji who had just heard Dong Shi’s brilliant deduction turned in perfect unison to stare at Qin Luo, their eyes shining brightly.

Qin Luo: …?

Under the collective gaze, she instinctively took a step back. Slowly lowering the bowl she had been holding, she asked cautiously:

“Um… are we only allowed to eat one bowl of tangyuan here?”