AGN -Chapter 278 Iron Stomach

Dong Shi was the last person to reply to Qin Huai.

As a chopping-board chef at Huangji, Dong Shi wasn’t allowed to use his phone during work hours, so he always rushed to catch up on gossip right after clocking out.

His first message to Qin Huai wasn’t even “holy crap, how is this filling so amazing?”—instead, it was: Zheng Shishu has completely given up again and booked a trip to Sanya.

Dong Shi wasn’t particularly concerned about the filling at all. Over the past few months at Huangji, Qin Huai had already shocked him so many times that a mere photo of minced meat couldn’t faze him anymore. Even if Qin Huai topped the “Famous Chef List” in the next evaluation, Dong Shi still wouldn’t be—

…Okay, he would still drop his jaw in shock.

While Dong Shi was sharing gossip, Qin Huai had already finished wrapping the remaining Four-Joy tangyuan in the kitchen and was now sitting in the living room with his family watching TV.

They were watching Qin Grandpa’s favorite anti-Japanese war drama.

This warm family scene—everyone sitting together, watching TV while snacking on fruit—was the first time it had happened since the New Year began.

Before this, Qin Huai had practically been living in the kitchen and couldn’t even sit in front of the TV.

“Brother, have some cherries!” Qin Luo handed him some, then looked at the fruit plate on the table and quickly shoved in sliced kiwi, mango, lychee, and longan too—so many that Qin Huai almost couldn’t hold them.

Qin Huai didn’t care much for any of it. He casually took two cherries, put the rest back on the table, grabbed a banana, and looked at Qin Luo calmly.

When someone is overly attentive, there’s usually something suspicious going on.

Qin Luo smiled ingratiatingly.

“Brother, tomorrow’s Lantern Festival. He Cheng already went back to school, and I’ll be going back in a few days too. What are we eating tomorrow?”

The private school Qin Luo attended started late because many students traveled abroad with their parents during the holidays, so school only resumed after the Lantern Festival.

He Cheng, however, had already gone back on the twelfth with his backpack.

“Lantern Festival means tangyuan, of course,” Qin Huai said. “We’ve got plenty of Four-Joy tangyuan in the kitchen. Eat as much as you want.”

Qin Luo’s face turned green.

It wasn’t that Four-Joy tangyuan tasted bad. During the entire Spring Festival, the villagers of Qin Village had eaten them almost every day. No child would complain about eating them too often.

If they didn’t want them, plenty of others did.

But Qin Luo had eaten more than anyone else.

She was actually more into meat. Four-Joy tangyuan only had one quarter meat filling, and she would rather eat pure meat dumplings every day than these “balanced” ones.

Of course, if those meat dumplings were accompanied by all kinds of treats—steamed buns, crab-shell pastries, round dream cakes, beef pies, lamb pies, pork pies, donkey meat burgers, chicken noodle soup, and fruit pastries—that would be even better.

As for donkey meat burgers—what if Qin Huai couldn’t make them?

No problem, they sold them in town.

She had already sneaked into town on the first day of the New Year after hearing from a friend about a newly opened donkey burger shop. She went straight there and ate it.

Ever since she was restricted by Grandma Qin to only eating Four-Joy tangyuan and regular meals, she had secretly spent most of her New Year allowance on donkey meat burgers and soup.

“Brother… can’t we eat something different for a festival?” Qin Luo pleaded.

“I don’t feel like cooking,” Qin Huai answered honestly.

Festivals should be for good food, but he had been overworked making pastries recently and needed a break—sunbathing, scrolling his phone, and listening to gossip was good enough.

Cooking could be left to his future self.

Qin Luo: “……”

“Luo Luo, don’t bother your brother,” Zhao Rong said sternly. “Do you think your brother hasn’t been exhausted making Four… Four-Joy tangyuan these days? You can’t even finish a test paper without me watching you, but do you know how many hours your brother spends in the kitchen?”

Qin Luo immediately shut up, fearing she’d be assigned another test paper.

“Huai, rest well. Your mom and I will handle tomorrow’s meals. Old Qin, go buy roast goose, roast duck, and white-cut chicken!”

Grandma Qin agreed immediately.

“Also, order sea bass from your Uncle Fushun, shrimp from Uncle Guai, abalone from Aunt Hongping—ask for garlic vermicelli style, and scallops too.”

“I’ll handle the rest…”

Qin Huai listened quietly, thinking this was real “group order cooking.”

One household ordered a dish, another ordered a dish—the whole meal was assembled without even turning on the kitchen stove.

He didn’t say anything, because this was actually how it always went. The only difference was that in previous years they exchanged pastries for dishes, whereas now everyone had already eaten enough pastries that they could order openly.

He looked at Qin Luo. “Have you finished your homework?”

It had been days since he last checked.

“Yes!” Qin Luo said loudly, then added firmly under his gaze, “Really! I’ve finished everything and already submitted it to the teachers. They’ve checked it too!”

“Then on the sixteenth of the first lunar month, come to the city with me,” Qin Huai said. “You’ve always wanted to eat at that seafood restaurant near the aquarium, right? We’ll go have lunch at Chef Cao’s place first. After that I’ll discuss mold-making with Master Zhang. Then we’ll go to the aquarium, and finally eat seafood.”

“If nothing goes wrong, we’ll return to Shiyang on the seventeenth. The holiday’s almost over—go have fun.”

Qin Luo instantly forgot all her earlier complaints and cheered.

“Yay!”

Zhao Rong shook her head helplessly at her daughter’s quick change of mood and continued watching TV.

Only Qin Congwen quietly asked, “Huai, who is Chef Cao?”

“Master Zhang’s wife,” Qin Huai explained. “The wife of the carpenter Uncle Zhang who made molds for you decades ago.”

Qin Congwen was deeply shocked.

“Wife”—he hadn’t heard that kind of address for a long time; it sounded like something from TV dramas.

“And you’re going to eat at her house with Luo Luo?”

“It was Zhang Zhiyun who insisted,” Qin Huai said. “On the sixth day of the New Year, they came to our house to eat tangyuan. Luo Luo argued with his grandson. After hearing we’d go to their house on the sixteenth, Zhang Zhiyun insisted she come too—to prove his grandma’s cooking is better than my pastries.”

Qin Congwen suddenly remembered.

“Oh, so that kid was Zhang Carpenter’s grandson. And that was Zhang Carpenter standing there?”

“He really changed a lot. He used to be one of the handsomest young men in Quxian—more handsome than TV actors.”

Qin Huai didn’t respond, as Dong Shi sent him another gossip update: insider info said Wang Jun would take a day off tomorrow to visit his girlfriend’s family; things were going well and engagement might happen this year, marriage next year.

Qin Huai immediately picked up his phone and dove back into the ocean of gossip.

……

Lantern Festival passed in Qin Village just like that—quiet and ordinary.

With the village’s “group-order meals,” Qin Huai enjoyed a lavish Lantern Festival feast. The leftover Four-Joy tangyuan that weren’t distributed to relatives were frozen and given to Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong to bring back to Quxian the next day for the children at the orphanage.

On the second day of the month, Qin Congwen returned to Quxian and delivered a batch of tangyuan to the orphanage. The quantity was small, only enough for a few days.

Before the New Year they ate the basic version, during the New Year they ate the upgraded version, and after the New Year they ate the premium version.

The children of Sanma Road Children’s Welfare Home had truly experienced a complete “upgraded New Year.”

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month—February 26th—at 6:17 a.m., the Qin family set off back after an early start.

Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong took their luggage and caught a ride with villagers back to Quxian. Qin Huai and Qin Luo took a ride with people from a neighboring village to the city. Old Master Qin and Old Madam Qin saw them off at the village entrance. Thinking about how quickly the lively New Year had passed, Old Madam Qin felt a bit emotional. Standing there like she was seeing off family at a train station, her nose stung and she nearly cried.

Qin Congwen had even tried to persuade Old Master Qin and Old Madam Qin to stay in Shiyang for a while after the New Year, but the two elderly people refused.

Shiyang was too far. They had lived in the village all their lives and rarely went out when they were young; now that they were older, they were even less willing to move.

“Huaihuai, Luo Luo, this is Grandma’s extra New Year red envelope. Keep it safe. Luo Luo, don’t spend it recklessly—you’re a big girl now, you should be sensible. You gave Grandma a big red envelope this year, so Grandma is giving you one too.”

While Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong were loading the luggage, Old Madam Qin quietly slipped a big red envelope to both Qin Luo and Qin Huai.

“Drink less milk tea. Grandma saw online that it’s not healthy. Drink hand-squeezed lemon tea instead,” she reminded them.

Qin Huai: …?

Milk tea isn’t healthy, but hand-squeezed lemon tea is?

Which influencer was advertising that? Some paid promotion?

Right—Ou Yang had said his hand-squeezed lemon tea shop would open on the first day of the New Year. But now it was already February 26th, and Qin Huai hadn’t seen a single post from him, nor anything in the residential group chat.

Ou Yang had also completely disappeared during the entire New Year period. The only message he sent was a “Happy New Year” text at midnight on the first day.

Of course, Qin Huai hadn’t really contacted his best friend either. He’d been busy—practically living in the kitchen and barely touching his phone.

Thinking of that, Qin Huai felt he had been neglecting his good brother. Now that the Four-Joy tangyuan was mastered, there were still many dishes to practice. Qin Luo was about to start school and wouldn’t have time to taste-test, so for large-scale testing, Ou Yang was still the best candidate.

He took the red envelope and reminded Grandma not to believe unreliable marketing accounts, and not to stay up late scrolling and forwarding videos to the family group chat.

Using the phone in the dark wasn’t good for the eyes.

Qin Luo also chimed in, saying that forwarding those videos would expose the fact that she was secretly using her phone at night.

Old Madam Qin was deeply moved and felt that her grandchildren truly cared about her, seeing them off as the car departed.

In the car, Qin Luo excitedly opened her red envelope, while Qin Huai opened WeChat and messaged Ou Yang.

After thinking for a moment, he cautiously sent just two words:

“You there?”

More than ten minutes later, Ou Yang replied with three crying emojis.

Qin Huai: ?

Got drama?

Without hesitation, Qin Huai called him.

Ou Yang picked up instantly.

“Qin Huai, bro, Qin bro, my godfather! When are you coming back? Are you coming back today? Please hurry back—if you don’t come back and cook pastries for me to send to relatives, I’m really going to be kicked out of the family!”

His voice was full of despair.

Qin Huai cautiously asked, “Did you burn your house down while setting off fireworks during the New Year?”

Ou Yang paused his wailing.

“I… I sent my entire family to the hospital.”

Qin Huai: ?

Then Ou Yang spent five minutes briefly summarizing his colorful New Year holiday.

Although he returned home a bit late, he brought a lot of pastries, so he wasn’t scolded too harshly and didn’t get his legs broken by his father.

On New Year’s Eve, his aunt heard that Ou Yang planned to start a new business—opening a hand-squeezed lemon tea shop—and fully supported him. She felt his first failure was just due to inexperience and over-ambition, which caused heavy losses.

This time, with lessons learned, opening a simple lemon tea shop should go much better.

She also heard he had studied advanced lemon tea techniques in Suzhou for two months and suggested that instead of just celebrating New Year with normal food, they might as well have Ou Yang make his new drinks for everyone to try.

The whole family agreed. Ou Yang was very happy and made not only traditional lemon tea but also many new experimental flavors.

His relatives were extremely supportive.

To not disappoint him, everyone forced themselves to finish the drinks. His grandfather even drank three different flavors to support his grandson’s “career.”

And then…

Everyone in Ou Yang’s family—except Ou Yang himself—was hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis before the first day of the New Year even ended.

Ou Yang’s grand opening plan for the first day of the New Year was immediately suspended.

Interestingly, he had also drunk a lot, but was completely fine.

The doctor concluded that the lemon tea was cold, while New Year’s Eve dishes were hot; mixing hot and cold food with too many different dishes overloaded the stomach, causing acute gastroenteritis in those with weaker digestion.

As for Ou Yang—he simply had an iron stomach.

During the entire New Year period, Ou Yang stayed at home taking care of relatives, running around from his 70-year-old grandfather down to his 7-year-old nephew, constantly apologizing and helping.

His aunt even suggested he adjust the recipe—sending his family to the hospital was one thing, but if customers ended up there too, he could get sued.

Qin Huai commented: “Six.”

As expected, Ou Yang really was the chosen test-taster he trusted—big appetite and strong stomach.

“I’ll come back in a couple of days,” Qin Huai said. “Hang in there two more days.”

“And I think your aunt is right—stop trying those random recipes. If needed, sell lemon tea and herbal tea together. I’ll teach you some fruit tea recipes. My mom’s Seven-Flavor Dampness-Removing Tea may not taste good, but it’s healthy.”

“Is your shop still opening?”

“Opening!” Ou Yang said firmly. “Absolutely opening—once my grandpa recovers!”

Qin Huai: “…Isn’t he already recovered? How bad was the gastroenteritis?”

“It got better, but when he went to the hospital they also found gallbladder inflammation. He already had stomach pain before, but he refused to go to the hospital. Luckily the gastroenteritis sent him in, and it all got treated together.”

“My dad says this counts as me offsetting my crimes, so he cut off all my allowance and froze my card.”

“Godfather, lend me 1,000 yuan!”

Qin Huai: …

Qin Luo, who had already counted her money, overheard the loud request and leaned over curiously.

“Is Brother Yang borrowing money? I can lend him 1,000!”

“Brother, Grandma gave me 2,000 in my red envelope!”

She shouted loudly, “Brother Yang, can I lend you cash? I’ll give it to you when we get back. My mom doesn’t allow me to keep more than 500 yuan on WeChat—she’s afraid I’ll randomly shop online.”

Ou Yang was deeply moved.

“No need, Luo Luo, I’ll just borrow from your brother. Luo Luo, my lemon tea shop is opening soon—you can drink anything you want for free!”

“There’s a new product called strawberry peach lemon tea—”

Qin Huai ended the call.

“No need to listen to him,” Qin Huai said calmly. “That product doesn’t exist.”