AGN -Chapter 256 New Year Holiday Plans

With the “if you’re bad at it, practice more” atmosphere in full swing, the Spring Festival drew ever closer.

For a high-end restaurant with booming business like Huang Ji, there was no such thing as closing for the New Year. In fact, very few restaurants shut down during the holiday. Of all the public holidays, the Lunar New Year was undoubtedly the busiest and most profitable time for the restaurant industry.

Naturally, owners kept their restaurants open to maximize profits. To ensure the staff stayed motivated and avoided mistakes, they usually offered not only triple pay, but also generous holiday bonuses.

And Huang Ji’s bonuses were especially lavish.

One portion from Huang Shengli, one from Zheng Da, and Gong Liang would add another on top of that.

As Dong Shi liked to say, ever since Huang Shengli had accepted him as his final disciple, he had never once spent New Year’s Eve eating reunion dinner at home. If he managed to get home for even one meal before the seventh day of the new year, that already counted as a favorable work schedule—thanks to his senior brothers looking out for him and his brother.

Dong Shi and Dong Li were still young, and both were single as could be. They had no relationship obligations and no family responsibilities. As long as the red envelopes were thick enough, they weren’t in any hurry for a holiday. The precious pre-seventh-day New Year leave was reserved for coworkers with families. Single people simply didn’t get priority.

Every New Year’s Eve, Dong Shi would happily count one red envelope after another—first his own, then his brother’s—only to discover, to his sorrow, that Dong Li’s total was always higher. After a brief period of sadness and indignation, he would resolve to work harder the following year and earn more than his brother. Then, on New Year’s Day, he would promptly go back to slacking off and gossiping as usual.

Everyone at Huang Ji knew that this year’s red envelopes would be even thicker than usual.

There was only one reason:

Business was simply too good.

On an ordinary Thursday, with mediocre weather and chilly temperatures, Huang Ji was still packed. Customers lined up as always, whether they were buying pastries to go or dining in.

The streets were already filled with a festive New Year atmosphere. Many shops had hung up bright red lanterns and posted notices announcing holiday price increases. More pedestrians could be seen wearing red scarves and red gloves. Quite a few customers, having successfully reserved a spot online, arrived at Huang Ji by bicycle and, upon entering, immediately removed their thick red scarves.

Even Huang Anyao, without needing any prompting, had proactively purchased a large batch of festive decorations, couplets, and “Fu” characters. He planned to plaster every window in Huang Ji with them in a few days—until a staff member with some sense of aesthetics pointed out that such an arrangement would look gaudy and tacky. Forced to compromise, he instead decided to hang decorations in every corner of the restaurant.

As for the extra “Fu” characters, Huang Anyao handed out two to every employee. Even Qin Huai received a pair, which showed just how many Huang Anyao had bought.

Since everyone received two “Fu” characters, the day’s conversation naturally drifted toward New Year plans.

Although Huang Ji’s New Year routine was the same every year—from the Little New Year all the way through the first lunar month, followed by staggered holiday leave according to the schedule—there were always things worth discussing.

For example, the red envelopes.

And New Year’s Eve dinner.

Every year on New Year’s Eve, Huang Shengli personally prepared a grand feast—a massive banquet large enough for the entire Huang Ji staff. That day, the restaurant would not extend its business hours. Everyone got off work on time. Those who needed to return home could leave promptly to make it back for the family vigil and the latter half of the Spring Festival Gala. Those who stayed behind would gather at Huang Ji to enjoy the reunion dinner together and welcome the new year.

In previous years, they had also organized activities, though those had been Huang Anyao’s idea, and the response had been lukewarm. Everyone felt they were unnecessary, so they were eventually scrapped.

No matter how busy business got, the New Year always called for good food.

At the moment, Dong Shi was enthusiastically chattering away about the New Year’s Eve feast.

“The New Year’s Eve dinners the past two years were so lively! Master cooked the dishes himself, Martial Uncle Zheng handled the pastries and dough work, and whenever Mr. Gong was in a good mood, he’d hand out red envelopes—1,000 yuan in each one—just giving them to anyone he saw.”

“But last year was a bit quiet. There was too much work on New Year’s Eve, and Master overexerted himself. Later, his old back injury flared up again. Everyone thought it was because he strained himself that day.”

“At the time, no one was in the mood to eat. Eldest Senior Brother was determined to take Master to the hospital, but Master insisted there was no need to go during the New Year. They nearly started arguing in the kitchen. In the end, it was Mr. Gong handing out red envelopes for five straight minutes that eased the tension.”

“But this year will definitely be better—much livelier! Oh, right, Qin Huai, when are you planning to head home?”

Qin Huai calmly continued wrapping tangyuan without even looking up.

“On the sixth. The twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.”

“I’ve already bought my ticket.”

Dong Shi looked disappointed.

“So early? Then won’t you miss out on Master’s, Martial Uncle’s, and Mr. Gong’s red envelopes? We only hand them out on New Year’s Eve.”

Qin Huai paused mid-wrap, then looked up at Dong Shi speechlessly.

“Is that really the important part?”

“And another thing,” Qin Huai said in a clear voice, his expression blank as his gaze swept across the people gathered around him. “Why are all of you clustered around me? Is discussing New Year vacation really such fascinating gossip?”

Tan Wei’an, Huang Anyao, Huang Jia, Dong Li, and the rest of the eager onlookers all gave awkward, embarrassed smiles in perfect unison.

But none of them moved.

Across from Qin Huai, Zheng Siyuan continued calmly chopping meat filling for him, his expression perfectly normal.

The only one who betrayed himself was Gu Li, who had been quietly practicing nearby like part of the background. His hands froze for a moment before he discreetly retracted his eavesdropping ears and resumed making pastries.

Qin Huai could only sigh helplessly.

After all, this wasn’t his first day making Four-Joy Tangyuan. In fact, counting from the day he first decided to practice them, he had probably spent even more time on Four-Joy Tangyuan than on crab roe siu mai.

All the setbacks had long since passed. The exploratory phase was over.

What remained now was simply repetitive practice.

Every day, Qin Huai made a great many Four-Joy Tangyuan.

During work hours, the only pastry he was officially responsible for was Guo’er. By now, he had become so proficient at making it that he could practically shape and color it with his eyes closed. It had become pure muscle memory.

Naturally, his production speed had increased dramatically.

But Huang Ji’s customer flow was fixed.

The restaurant already operated at full capacity every day. There was no room for a significant increase in customers, and Guo’er was limited to one serving per dine-in guest. Once Qin Huai’s efficiency improved, he suddenly found himself with some extra free time.

Previously, he had used that time to make other pastries for variety.

Now, all of that extra time went into Four-Joy Tangyuan.

All four flavors.

Every single day.

And Four-Joy Tangyuan itself wasn’t exactly a flashy pastry. There was no dazzling preparation process, no glamorous appearance. Strip away the elegant name, and at its core, it was simply a large tangyuan.

Qin Huai genuinely couldn’t understand why anyone found it worth watching.

When he was young in Qiu County, there were elderly women who made handmade tangyuan every day to sell to neighbors. They would sit by small tables, rolling tangyuan over and over again. Yet no children ever gathered around to watch.

The kids would rather play with mud or hopscotch nearby.

That alone showed just how boring the process was.

So what was going on?

Was it because Huang Ji had been so busy lately, and Wang Jun had been too occupied to go on dates with his girlfriend, leaving everyone starved for fresh gossip? Had they really become so bored during their breaks that they had come to watch him make tangyuan?

Wasn’t that just a little too pathetic?

Honestly, if they were that idle, they should just go find relationships of their own.

Qin Huai fell silent, and everyone exchanged glances.

Deep down, they all knew that spending their break huddled together in the kitchen, watching someone make tangyuan, was… admittedly a little strange.

But they couldn’t help it.

They were just too curious.

They desperately wanted to know why Qin Huai was still obsessively practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan. What exactly was he aiming for? What kind of perfection did he want to achieve?

After all, the tangyuan were already delicious.

Far superior to 99% of the tangyuan on the market.

If tangyuan of this quality were sold outside an elementary school, they would utterly crush every breakfast stall and snack shop nearby. The competition would be left in ruins, while children would worship them as the god of breakfast. Other vendors would curse under their breath even as they pushed into the crowd to buy some for themselves.

Huang Anyao didn’t know much about cooking, but he liked to think he knew good food.

Or at least knew how to talk about it.

In his eyes, Four-Joy Tangyuan wasn’t some especially refined or high-end pastry. It was a simple, affordable treat. Its lower bound was low, and its upper bound didn’t seem especially high either. It was the kind of snack you might casually buy from a street vendor and think, “Not bad.”

So what was there to practice so intensely?

But everyone at Huang Ji understood Qin Huai’s habits by now.

If he practiced a pastry obsessively, it meant that pastry still had enormous room for improvement.

Master Qin might be a bit fickle—always eager to try something new, always falling in love with the next pastry that caught his eye—but his skill was beyond question.

Every pastry he had ever devoted himself to had ultimately reached remarkable heights.

If Qin Huai believed a pastry was worth practicing, then it must have untapped potential.

That was the Qin Huai Seal of Approval.

Even when others couldn’t see how a pastry might be improved, as long as Qin Huai was working on it, they believed without question that a breakthrough was possible.

Zheng Siyuan was the number one believer in this philosophy.

By now, Zheng Da had already stopped practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan. Every afternoon after work, he slipped away as fast as possible. Zheng Siyuan couldn’t be bothered to argue with his father, and as a result, the family refrigerator held far fewer Four-Joy Tangyuan than before.

His mother and sister no longer had to live in fear of the mixed-fruit filling, nor did they seize every opportunity to foist tangyuan onto unsuspecting visitors.

Of course, Zheng Siyuan himself was still practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan.

He followed Qin Huai’s lead, practicing all four flavors.

Even after lunch service ended, he stayed behind in Huang Ji’s kitchen instead of going home, helping Qin Huai by chopping meat filling.

At present, the situation was this:

Qin Huai was practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan with near-manic dedication, but he still didn’t know when the breakthrough would come—when he would finally be able to create a savory pork-filled tangyuan worthy of standing alongside the other three sweet fillings.

Qin Huai himself couldn’t find a clear direction or pinpoint exactly what was wrong, so naturally, he had no way to explain it to others. Even when discussing it with Zheng Siyuan, most of their conversations revolved around the balance and harmony between the four different fillings.

So Qin Huai said nothing. He simply kept working in silence.

Zheng Siyuan, in truth, also had no idea what kind of Four-Joy Tangyuan Qin Huai was ultimately aiming for. But if Qin Huai was practicing it so relentlessly, then there had to be a reason. While quietly conducting his own research, Zheng Siyuan also helped Qin Huai whenever he could.

As for everyone else, they were even more confused. They had absolutely no idea what Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan were trying to accomplish. All they knew was that the two of them made Four-Joy Tangyuan every single day, and the tangyuan seemed to show no obvious changes from one day to the next.

When you don’t understand something, the only solution is to watch more closely.

At first, they had watched in secret.

Now, they watched openly.

It could be said that not a single person in the kitchen understood why Qin Huai still hadn’t grown tired of Four-Joy Tangyuan and moved on to Double Crab Buns. Yet everyone firmly believed that if Master Qin was doing this, there must be a good reason.

In fact, every one of them believed in Qin Huai more than Qin Huai believed in himself.

Surely, given enough time, the Four-Joy Tangyuan would undergo a complete transformation and emerge in a perfected form that would amaze everyone.

Meanwhile, the man who had somehow earned all this confidence was simply wrapping tangyuan in utter boredom.

To be honest, Qin Huai himself found making tangyuan incredibly dull.

Master Qin, who was always eager for novelty, genuinely disliked making the same pastry day after day. Sometimes, halfway through wrapping tangyuan, he would be seized by the urge to knead dough and make fermented rice steamed buns or San Ding buns. Failing that, mung bean cakes, glutinous rice cakes, osmanthus cakes, crab-shell pastries, donkey rolls, pea cakes, or lotus cakes would all do nicely.

Anything.

As long as it wasn’t Four-Joy Tangyuan or Guo’er.

At this point, even the post-wrapping heat-control practice had become a welcome change of pace.

Bored out of his mind, Qin Huai decided it was time to stir up some gossip himself.

Since everyone was already here, they might as well chat.

“When do you get your New Year holiday this year?” Qin Huai asked.

Surprised that Qin Huai had actually addressed him directly, Dong Shi answered excitedly.

“This year, definitely after the seventh day of the new year. At first, when Sixth Senior Brother broke up with his girlfriend, I thought my brother and I might get the fifth or sixth off. But now he’s dating again, and this is exactly the time he needs to spend with his girlfriend over the holiday to strengthen their relationship. If I’m lucky, I might get the eleventh or twelfth off. If I’m unlucky, I may have to wait until after the Lantern Festival.”

“Actually, taking leave after the Lantern Festival is pretty great too. No need to visit relatives—just go home and lie around. That’s my favorite kind of holiday.”

Then he asked, “Qin Huai, what do you usually do when you go home for New Year?”

“Make pastries,” Qin Huai replied.

After thinking for a moment, he added, “Buns, steamed buns, rice cakes, steamed dumplings, rice noodle rolls, all kinds of baked flatbreads, beef pies, pork pies, and lamb pies.”

“In previous years, I made all sorts of things. This year should be better. I’m planning to focus intensively on Four-Joy Tangyuan while I’m home.”

Everyone: ?!

Just what secret mysteries did Four-Joy Tangyuan hold that Qin Huai needed to go home and undergo special intensive training for it?!

Qin Huai continued, turning to Tan Wei’an.

“What about you? When do you get time off for New Year? By the way, your exchange program should be ending soon, right? New Year’s almost here—shouldn’t you be heading back?”

Caught off guard, Tan Wei’an froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected that merely standing around to watch would suddenly make him the center of attention.

“Yeah, we should be heading back soon. Boss Su has already urged us several times.”

“But I don’t think there’s any rush. There’s still some time before New Year. If you’re leaving on the sixth, then we’ll leave on the sixth too. After all, going back just means going back to work.”

Huang Anyao asked curiously, “Does Zhīwèijū close for New Year?”

“Same as you—rotating shifts,” Tan Wei’an replied. “Though on New Year’s Eve, we don’t stay open all day. We close at five in the afternoon. Locals can go home for the holiday, and those from out of town usually take one or two days off beforehand to travel home. Since we’re short-staffed during the holiday, and some of the master chefs also return home, we offer fewer varieties of pastries and make smaller quantities.”

“Work is work no matter where you do it. Qin Huai, if you ever need people for an exchange like this again, don’t bother contacting Boss Su—just come directly to me. I can send you some staff. Distance doesn’t matter; there are plenty of people in Shan City who’d be happy to come.”

Tan Wei’an was practically spelling it out:

If Yunzhong Cafeteria needed extra hands next year, please call me first.

After all, helping out at another restaurant might just mean doing odd jobs.

But helping out under Qin Huai meant actually learning something valuable.

Every morning, Master Qin even brought his little sister along to taste-test everyone’s practice pastries.

“Deal. If I need help, I’ll definitely contact you,” Qin Huai agreed immediately.

And this wasn’t mere politeness. He genuinely thought he would probably need the help.

Zhīwèijū’s assistants were simply too professional.

It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but much harder to go from luxury back to frugality.

Once the New Year was over, Qin Huai’s exchange and training period at Huang Ji would also come to an end. When he returned to Yunzhong Cafeteria, he worried that without such capable assistants, making pastries just wouldn’t feel the same.

Sigh.

He was no longer Little Master Qin.

He was now Master Qin.

And when Master Qin entered the kitchen in the morning, if he didn’t receive a cup of hot tea immediately, he would, quite simply, feel thirsty.

Qin Huai smacked his lips.

A sharp-eyed assistant from Zhīwèijū instantly brought over a cup of warm tea.

“Master Qin, have some tea and take a short break.”

Qin Huai accepted the cup and took two large gulps. Then he suddenly remembered that they were discussing holiday schedules—and someone had already gone home early for New Year.

Namely, Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong.

Back in Shan City, Yunzhong Cafeteria had effectively been ownerless for the past two days.

The boss was in Gusu for an exchange program.

The boss’s younger sister was in Gusu attending extra classes.

And the boss’s parents had gone back to their hometown for the holiday.

As a result, Yunzhong Cafeteria had entered a state of complete self-management.

Employees clocked in on their own, clocked out on their own, managed operations on their own, and even handled inventory purchases on their own.

The entire system ran on trust.

Qin Huai sent Huang Xi a message asking about the cafeteria’s New Year holiday schedule. Normally, he didn’t pay much attention to such matters—Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen usually handled them—but since the topic had come up, he figured he should at least know how his own business was operating.

After all, what if Dong Shi suddenly asked:

“Qin Huai, how does your cafeteria handle New Year leave?”

And he, the owner, couldn’t answer?

Best to find out in advance.

Huang Xi replied almost instantly, sending over the duty roster.

Qin Huai took one look and thought: Well, would you look at that.

During the New Year period, the servers would rotate shifts.

Chen An, who needed to return to his hometown, had taken extra leave and would be off from the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month through the sixth day of the new year.

Since Chen An handled breakfast, and most of the nearby office buildings would also be closed or operating on reduced schedules during that period, customer traffic would drop sharply. Not serving breakfast wouldn’t hurt business much, so Zhao Rong had approved the leave.

Li Hua was local, but he had a family to spend time with, so he would be off from New Year’s Eve through the second day of the new year.

Huang Xi would be off on New Year’s Eve, as well as the second and third days.

Only Pei Xing, who was single, didn’t need to travel home for New Year, and lived especially close to the cafeteria, would work every single day during the holiday.

Even An Youyou was taking the third and fourth days off, probably just to get some rest.

In the end, Pei Xing was the one carrying the entire Yunzhong Cafeteria on his shoulders.

Qin Huai was deeply moved and immediately sent him a message.

“This period has been tough on you. I’ll be back at the cafeteria after New Year. If you have any questions about pastry-making, feel free to ask anytime—we can work on them together.”

When Pei Xing received the message, he was so touched he nearly burst into tears.

Although the boss hadn’t sent him a private message in exactly two months and three days, and his replies in the work group had been perfunctory at best, the boss still cared about him!

Little Master Qin had him in mind!

All his hard work had been noticed!

Filled with emotion, Pei Xing kneaded dough with even greater vigor.

“Pei Xing, isn’t it almost time to get off work? Why are you making more dough? Did the closing time change?” Li Hua asked.

Pei Xing replied stiffly, “…I just don’t feel like leaving so early today. I want to make another batch.”

“But if you make another batch, it probably won’t sell. The elderly regulars are all in Gusu and haven’t come back yet. There aren’t many customers buying pastries in the evening.”

“…Don’t worry about it. If this batch doesn’t sell, I’ll pay for the ingredients myself. I just happen to really love making pastries.”