AGN -Chapter 269 Little Chef Qin Brings Warmth

Under the lead of Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin, everyone at the table happily began eating the guo’er.

At times like this, the difference between those who had eaten it before and those who hadn’t became obvious.

Qin Luo was one of the ones who had.

She looked like someone who had seen the world. While eating, she even had time to offer a few praises.

The others, however, had no such leisure. They only wished they had more than one mouth and one tongue—so they could chew with two mouths and taste with two tongues at the same time.

He Cheng no longer had the mind to be jealous of why Qin Huai was Qin Luo’s biological brother. At this moment, his entire mind had only one thought:

Damn… can I, He Cheng, really get to eat something this amazing?

What did I do to deserve this?

Did I become emperor or something?

Even an emperor wouldn’t get to eat something this good!

Compared to He Cheng’s chaotic thoughts, Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong were more normally shocked.

Qin Congwen & Zhao Rong: Is Huang Ji really this incredible? Our son only trained there for a few months and he’s already this good—what would happen if he trained for two years?!

Qin Xiuli and the couple He Hua, on the other hand, were thinking: Big cities really are different. Qin Huai going out to train has improved his skills tremendously.

Qin Xiuli even started trusting the tutoring teachers from Suzhou and the city of Shan because of the guo’er, believing that these unseen tutors must be extremely reliable!

If the pastries are this good, the teachers must also be excellent!

Everyone naturally attributed Qin Huai’s rapid improvement to the deep culinary foundation of big cities. Wealthier places simply cared more about food and clothing.

In small towns, a meat bun was just casually baked and eaten. But in wealthy households, even something like a “Yuanmeng sesame cake” had a sense of ritual—golden, crispy, and still just… a very tasty meat bun.

At the table, everyone was already immersed in a sea of pastries. To eat more and try more, they began sharing everything.

Guo’er was split in half, smaller pieces were chosen for the “dream sesame cake,” and the three-ingredient buns and five-ingredient buns were divided into several portions so everyone could taste a bit of each.

There was no choice—these flour-based pastries were extremely filling. Normally, tasting a little of each was enough to make you half full. Not to mention they had already eaten a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a bowl of “Four Happiness Tangyuan” earlier.

Within just over ten minutes of starting the meal, the Qin family had gradually finished.

Only He Cheng and Qin Luo were still holding on.

At this point, it was easy to see what each person liked most.

He Cheng stubbornly carried his bowl into the kitchen and served himself a small portion of longevity noodles.

Qin Luo was enthusiastically biting into a “three-ingredient bun,” clearly showing her love for meat buns.

Even Qin Huai was a bit impressed with He Cheng. Among so many dishes, He Cheng chose to eat more noodles—so it turned out his cousin actually loved noodle dishes!

Poor kid… the He family usually only ate cheap instant egg noodles from the supermarket. He probably hadn’t had good noodles in years.

“Burp.”

He Cheng, already at full capacity—his stomach so full the noodles felt like they were pressing up to his throat, where even a slightly stronger burp might make them come out—let out a long burp after finishing his last bite.

He slumped back in his chair, belly fully distended. In his bright red, fluffy new clothes, he looked like a cartoonish little red seal that had eaten too much and lost all motivation, now just lying contentedly on a beach and basking in the sun.

Unfortunately, it was nighttime, so he could only “bask in the moonlight.”

He didn’t want to move.

He had never felt this full and satisfied before. Even though his stomach was stretched uncomfortably, even though sitting upright was hard and he just wanted to lie down, He Cheng still felt happy.

His tongue, his brain—everything was still savoring the meal.

Chicken noodle soup—delicious!

The noodles were chewy, hand-pulled strands different from regular stretched noodles. Every bite gave a satisfying springy texture between the teeth, combined with the rich aroma of chicken broth.

Especially that slurp.

Slurp.

“Four Happiness Tangyuan”—amazing!

Before today, He Cheng had only eaten basic black sesame tangyuan or the trendy fruit-filled ones. When he first saw such large tangyuan in his bowl, he even felt a bit disappointed and wanted to eat fewer of them and more buns instead.

Before today, he didn’t like tangyuan at all.

In his opinion, what was so good about them? Too sweet, no chew, easy to burn your mouth, and the soft glutinous skin didn’t have the elasticity of noodles.

Most of the time, he only ate a few during Lantern Festival for tradition’s sake.

But now—

Sorry, tangyuan, I misunderstood you.

“Tangyuan” and “sweet rice balls” were not the same thing at all.

He admitted he had been ignorant and mistaken before, thinking all glutinous rice dumplings were bad.

Four Happiness Tangyuan: absolutely legendary.

There were so many flavors he couldn’t even describe them properly. All he knew was: everything tasted good. The three sweet ones were good, and even the meat one was good.

If there was any flaw, it was that they were too big and too filling. Tonight’s meal had too many dishes, and the tangyuan took up too much stomach space. If only they were smaller…

Guo’er—delicious!

He Cheng felt the taste of guo’er was beyond description.

It was delicious in a way that contrasted sharply with its abstract, colorful appearance.

So delicious that even a full 800-word essay wouldn’t be enough to describe it.

So delicious that even though he still had debt to repay, after tasting it, he suddenly felt the urge to secretly hand over his saved 30 yuan meant for a game monthly card, just to beg Qin Huai to let him eat guo’er from the first to the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year.

Dream sesame cake—delicious!

He couldn’t explain exactly why. He had eaten it right after the guo’er, so honestly he didn’t even fully taste it—but it was still delicious!

Three-ingredient bun—delicious!

This was the bun he usually ate the most in previous years. This time he only had one bite, but it somehow felt even better than before.

Maybe it was just his imagination. Qin Huai made them every year; the taste shouldn’t suddenly change. It must be his illusion.

Five-ingredient bun—delicious!

He only had a bite of this one too and had already forgotten the taste—but it was delicious.

“Burp.”

He burped again.

Qin Xiuli felt they couldn’t keep sitting like this anymore.

They were already carb-drunk. If they stayed any longer, everyone would fall asleep happily, and the second half of the New Year’s Eve would be gone.

Not that it mattered much—they wouldn’t be eating in the second half anyway—but there were still relatives outside waiting for them.

Thinking of her relatives eagerly waiting outside, Qin Xiuli forced herself to stand up, suppressing another burp.

“Chengcheng, get up and say goodbye to your grandparents. We’re still going to your other grandparents’ house.”

He Cheng struggled to stand, nearly stumbling, but was caught by his father before falling.

He instinctively began reciting New Year greetings in a smooth chain.

After finishing, he looked at the table full of food and felt a little troubled.

To be honest, it looked like they hadn’t eaten much at all.

The real highlight tonight was the guo’er—each one weighed nearly half a jin. Combined with noodles and tangyuan, their appetite had dropped sharply.

In previous years, they could at least clear the table. This year, there was so much left that He Cheng didn’t know what to take home.

“Mom… w-what should we take?” he stammered.

Qin Huai smiled slightly.

“I already prepared it in the kitchen. Everything’s there. All kinds of pastries, extra tangyuan, and guo’er doughs—just a bit less of those, split between two people.”

“Just steam or boil them when you get home, and you can eat immediately.”

He Cheng was overjoyed. Holding his stomach, he rushed into the kitchen and came out with three large bags of food. The family of three each carried one bag and headed toward the village entrance.

The Qin family’s dining table suddenly became much emptier.

This was how things were with small families. In previous years, the New Year’s Eve dinner would have already ended by this time. Grandpa and Grandma Qin didn’t like watching the Spring Festival Gala, and most people in the village didn’t either. The TV was usually just background noise while everyone gathered to play mahjong.

Grandpa Qin’s family doesn’t have a mahjong table, so they always go next door to a neighbor’s house to play.

To compete for the mahjong venue, the three neighboring families also tried all sorts of tricks and kept upgrading their setups every year. This year, the Qin Kaigui family on the right won the competition thanks to their newly purchased automatic mahjong machine.

Grandpa Qin had already arranged it—go to his house at eight o’clock to play mahjong.

The Qin Kaigui family was also fully prepared. Since playing mahjong always needed some tasty snacks, and they hadn’t even properly finished their New Year’s Eve dinner—at most they were only about 30% full—they were waiting for the “second half” of the night.

Grandma Qin began clearing the table, while also selecting snacks to bring to the neighbors’ house.

Sweet pastries? Too delicious—couldn’t bear to bring them.

Longevity noodles? Made from such good chicken soup and such fine noodles—wouldn’t it be nicer to save them for breakfast tomorrow? Couldn’t bear to bring them.

“Dream-come-true” baked buns? Cold now—these could go.

Four-joy tangyuan? Couldn’t bear to bring them.

Three-filling buns? Couldn’t bear to bring them.

Five-filling buns? Couldn’t bear to bring them.

Qin Huai glanced at the bag Grandma Qin was packing and realized she probably didn’t care that much about the neighbor’s new mahjong machine after all. Not a single one of his signature pastries went into the bag; instead, she packed a large pile of plain radish buns, vermicelli buns, meat buns, and vegetable buns that usually no one ate.

“Grandma, you should take a bit of everything. I made a lot today, and there are still raw ones in the kitchen. These already steamed ones will just go to waste if we don’t eat them tonight,” Qin Huai advised.

Hearing this from her grandson, Grandma Qin reluctantly picked a couple of each other type of pastry and added them to the bag, muttering:

“The third daughter-in-law from Qin Kaigui’s family won over me by more than 20 yuan the day before yesterday at mahjong. Huaihuai, you worked so hard making these pastries—just give them some ordinary buns.”

Qin Huai: “……”

He felt that compared to caring about her grandson, Grandma seemed more reluctant to lose that 20 yuan at mahjong.

After some picking and choosing, Grandma Qin still packed a large bag and shouted:

“Old man! Congwen! Rong’er! What time is it? Shouldn’t we go to Kaigui’s place yet? Congwen, go ask if they’ve finished eating!”

Before Qin Congwen could even go next door, the window of the nearest house to Grandpa Qin’s place opened. Qin Kaigui’s youngest grandson shouted in a childish voice:

“Third Aunt! We’re done eating! We finished a long time ago! Hurry and come over!”

Hearing the child’s voice, the Qin Tianhe family, who were still eating their New Year’s Eve dinner, nearly ground their teeth to pieces—regretting that they had only focused on borrowing the fridge and hadn’t paid attention to upgrading their mahjong machine, missing a great opportunity.

The elders had already started their enjoyable post-dinner entertainment. In the kitchen, Qin Huai packed up the leftover dishes into the fridge and boxed the remaining pastries. He turned and asked Qin Luo, who was washing dishes:

“Luo Luo, what are your plans tonight?”

“Going out to play or just staying on your phone?”

With a pocket full of pastries, Qin Luo had become very popular in the village over the years. Wherever she went, she was welcomed. From 26-year-old unmarried “big friends” to 6-year-old kids, everyone liked playing with her.

“I’m going to Lan Jie’s house to watch TV first,” Qin Luo said cheerfully. Seeing Qin Huai packing pastries, she quickly added, “Brother, save me a few. I want to bring them for Lan Jie.”

“I know. This box is for you,” Qin Huai said, pointing to a box containing three-filling buns, five-filling buns, and pastries. “I’ll pack you some preserved tangerine peel tea in a thermos. Drink it later—it’s good for warming the stomach.”

“Thanks, bro!” Qin Luo smiled, then curiously pointed at the other boxes. “Who are those for? You packed them all mixed together… why does this box have two pastries?”

“Of course—these are for boss direct recruitment,” Qin Huai said with a faint smile.

While eating New Year’s Eve dinner, Qin Huai had realized the importance of Aunt Wang.

He urgently needed a helper skilled at chopping meat to assist him during the Spring Festival in making Four-joy Tangyuan.

This helper had to be professional, capable, able to handle long working hours—and willing.

Qin Huai felt Aunt Wang had great potential.

Of course, if she was too busy during the New Year, he already had a Plan B. His third aunt was decent at knife skills, his third uncle’s niece was passable, the village head’s son-in-law had worked as a chef before, and the village Party secretary had once been a kitchen assistant in the production team canteen when he was young.

If nothing worked out, even his second uncle’s youngest son could be considered—he had studied at New Oriental Cooking School, so his knife skills should be better than average.

Of course, Aunt Wang was still the first choice.

Qin Huai prepared the pastries.

At 7:57 PM on New Year’s Eve—a time for family reunion and celebration—Qin Huai carried two large bags of pastries and knocked on Aunt Wang’s door with a bright smile.

Aunt Wang’s youngest daughter opened the door. Even if Qin Huai didn’t recognize everyone in the village, everyone in the village recognized him. Seeing him arrive with two big bags of freshly made pastries, the girl excitedly ran inside shouting:

“Mom! Mom! Brother Qin Huai is here! He brought pastries!”

The whole Wang family was instantly stirred into excitement.

Most villagers in Qin Family Village had the surname Qin, and many were relatives. Aunt Wang’s husband also had the surname Qin and was, by relation, a somewhat distant uncle of Qin Huai.

This uncle had suffered a stroke two years ago and walked with a cane. He trembled as he came out to greet him.

Normally, such a reception wouldn’t have been necessary—but 10 minutes earlier, he had eaten two pieces of pastry.

Aunt Wang immediately accepted the “offer” and, somewhat embarrassed, said she had to return to her maternal home on the second day of the New Year and might not be back until the fifth day, at the earliest the fourth.

Unable to guarantee full availability, Aunt Wang recommended someone else—the old butcher from the village’s end, saying he was skilled at chopping meat.

The old butcher was one of the few non-Qin families in the village; Qin Huai didn’t know him well.

Ten minutes later, Qin Huai knocked on the butcher’s door with a new bag of pastries.

The 65-year-old butcher happily accepted the “offer” and recommended the former village Party secretary.

Ten minutes later, Qin Huai knocked on the former Party secretary’s door.

The whole village was once again in an uproar.

In the past, when communication was poor, news spread by word of mouth. Now, it spread through WeChat.

Not only messages, but also photos.

Pictures of Qin Huai delivering pastries door-to-door began spreading rapidly in Qin Family Village:

“Little Chef Qin is delivering New Year’s pastries door-to-door!”

“So many pastries!”

“Aunt Wang’s family is stuffed!”

After just coming out of the Party secretary’s house, Qin Huai received a WeChat message from Grandpa Qin:

“…What the heck?”

He’s delivering “warmth” door-to-door?

The whole village is excited?

Now every household is waiting for him to visit. The village head is even cleaning his house, afraid it won’t be as tidy as the Party secretary’s.

Who started this rumor?!

Even though Dong Shi wasn’t around anymore, how was there still such an outrageous rumor?

But considering the village head was already cleaning his house…

Qin Huai thought about the remaining raw pastry dough at home.

After months of training at Huangji, his pastry-making speed had improved a lot, and he had made a huge amount today—especially Four-joy Tangyuan, of which he had accidentally made over 40 jin due to abundant ingredients.

Fifteen minutes later, Qin Huai started from the village entrance and knocked on the first house.

He checked the lineage list Grandma Qin had sent him.

“Ninth… don’t I have Ninth Uncle Gong? Uncle Gong, Happy New Year! This is just a little pastry I made—Four-joy Tangyuan. Wishing you prosperity, peace, success in everything, and happiness in the new year!”

The excited uncle, who had already been waiting at the door, happily accepted the tangyuan and shoved a stack of red envelopes into Qin Huai’s hands:

“Happy New Year! Happy New Year!”

“Huaihuai, come in for some tea and watch TV!”

“Uncle Gong, I still have to go to the next house. I won’t disturb you. Happy New Year!”