AGN -Chapter 286 Any Recommendations?

The method for making Four-Joy Tangyuan had already been described many times before.

So Qin Huai followed the same familiar steps and made another batch.

Sometimes, he had to admit that Luo Jun was an incredibly considerate old hand. Most of the time, you didn’t even need to tell him anything—he would proactively have Zhang Shumei prepare everything that could possibly be prepared in advance.

The ingredients for the aged tangerine peel tea were set beside the sink.

The bag of glutinous rice flour sat on the kitchen counter.

The black sesame candy filling and red bean paste filling that Qin Huai had mailed over two days earlier had already been fully thawed and were covered neatly on the counter.

The candied fruits and nuts were placed right beside the rice flour.

Even the pork had been freshly bought that morning—the perfect cut for making the meat filling for Four-Joy Tangyuan. It had been placed in the most visible spot on the top shelf of the refrigerator, impossible to miss the moment the fridge door was opened.

Incidentally, next to the pork was a freshly dressed pigeon.

Qin Huai first set the aged tangerine peel tea to simmer, then began making the tangyuan.

After more than a week of knife-skills training, Qin Huai’s Four-Joy Tangyuan might not have improved by leaps and bounds, but it could at least be said that they were no longer exactly the same as before.

His knife-skills training hadn’t increased his proficiency level at all. It was more like dismantling everything and starting over from scratch.

In martial arts novels, rebuilding one’s skills after losing them usually meant that a gifted prodigy had fallen from grace—losing all their cultivation, suffering damaged meridians, and being cast into the depths of despair. Then came countless hardships, at least five episodes of television drama or half a million words of novel padding, along with fortuitous encounters, a few beautiful confidantes or loyal brothers, and a journey through the cold and warmth of human nature before finally attaining peerless martial arts and returning to awe the world.

That was not Qin Huai’s story.

He had no great power to lose in the first place.

He had simply forgotten his old, flawed fundamentals and started over as a beginner, relearning how to hold a knife from the ground up. He reset himself to zero and spent several days practicing basic knife work.

When Qin Huai held the knife now, he felt that he could finally be considered at least half a professionally trained chef.

The grip, the force, the smoothness of the movement…

Even something as simple as finely chopping candied fruits and nuts now felt effortless and elegant.

Master Cao, your unofficial disciple has finally graduated!

Qin Huai happily chopped candied fruits in the kitchen before moving on to the pork. Outside the kitchen, Chen Huihong peeked in secretly, holding a bowl of fruit salad. As she ate, she whispered to Luo Jun:

“Luo Jun, why didn’t you ask Zhang Shumei to chop the meat for Xiao Qin? You know what his meat-cutting skills used to be like—only a tiny bit better than mine.”

Luo Jun: “…Is that somehow my fault?”

“I’ve only eaten so much Four-Joy Tangyuan! Out of all the tangyuan you brought back from Gusu, I only got eight jin. During the New Year, when Xiao Zhang went home, I gave her three jin. There was nobody at home to cook them for me, and I even burned a pot trying. How was I supposed to know what kind of meat was needed?”

Luo Jun looked like he wanted to breathe fire and roast Chen Huihong on the spot.

“And you even wanted me to write tasting notes. Why should I write tasting notes for Qin Huai? Do I look like the kind of person who writes tasting notes?”

“Aren’t you the one who writes—”

“I write complaints!”

Qu Jing had to stuff her mouth full of rice cake soup just to keep from laughing out loud.

An hour later, when both had cooled to the perfect serving temperature, Qin Huai brought out the aged tangerine peel tea and the Four-Joy Tangyuan from the kitchen.

The television in the living room had already been turned off. Luo Jun sat at the dining table, munching on cherries while watching Qu Jing carefully remove pomegranate seeds with a small pair of tongs.

Chen Huihong was also watching, cracking sunflower seeds as she did. Every so often, she would sneak a few pomegranate seeds from Qu Jing’s already-filled bowl into her own mouth.

“Mr. Luo, given the current condition of your legs and back, you really should be going to the hospital regularly for physical therapy. I heard Sister Hong mention just the other day that you haven’t gone out at all these past few months. Sitting at home all day at your age isn’t good for you.”

“You’re not Bi Fang anymore. You have a human body now. Even if your constitution is stronger than that of ordinary humans, you’re still ninety-two. You shouldn’t avoid medical treatment.”

“Since you’ve already paid for the therapy, you might as well go.”

Qu Jing spoke gently as she continued peeling pomegranate seeds. Whether Luo Jun listened or not seemed almost irrelevant, since her attention was entirely focused on the pomegranate rather than on him.

Luo Jun expressionlessly chewed on a cherry. Only when he saw Qin Huai emerging from the kitchen carrying a tray did he straighten up.

“The Four-Joy Tangyuan and the aged tangerine peel tea are ready. They’re both at the perfect temperature to eat right away.”

As Qin Huai approached the table, Qu Jing quickly stood up to help him set the bowls down.

Two bowls for each person.

There were only four chairs at the table. Luo Jun and Chen Huihong sat together, while Qin Huai and Qu Jing sat together. In front of Qin Huai’s seat was a perfectly shaped, beautifully colored banana without a single black spot.

Almost the moment he sat down, Qin Huai casually picked up the banana and started eating it.

Luo Jun began by tasting the aged tangerine peel tea.

For Luo Jun, even S-grade Four-Joy Tangyuan had to take second place to the tea.

After just one sip, he offered a calm assessment.

“Your skills weren’t wasted. This is better than before.”

“That might be because the tea you drank before had to be shipped across provinces. By the time it arrived, the flavor had already deteriorated considerably,” Qin Huai said, fully aware of his own level.

After all, his aged tangerine peel tea was still only D+ grade. Grades didn’t lie.

Luo Jun said nothing and simply continued drinking.

Chen Huihong had already started eating the Four-Joy Tangyuan while fiddling with her phone. On her screen was the Notes app, containing her detailed tasting notes from the New Year holiday.

When Qu Jing saw this, she followed suit and opened her own tasting notes.

Qin Huai: …

Seriously, how little faith did everyone have in A-grade Four-Joy Tangyuan?

He had to say it again: A-grade Four-Joy Tangyuan and B-grade Four-Joy Tangyuan were practically two completely different dishes.

Four-Joy Tangyuan was the epitome of a combo dish—1 + 1 + 1 + 1 was greater than 4. Even if only one component improved while the other three remained unchanged, fixing that single weak link would bring a qualitative leap to the overall flavor and dining experience.

Clearly, Chen Huihong and Qu Jing hadn’t yet discovered that leap, because they were still eating in their old order: first the red bean filling, then the black sesame, and only afterward the meat filling.

Chen Huihong ate quickly.

She was probably hungry.

Qin Huai didn’t eat at all. He simply stared at her, waiting for her to try the meat-filled tangyuan.

Today was the first day of Master Qin’s lightning-fast return, and he intended to prove himself before these three spirits—to show that all his hard work over the New Year had not been in vain.

Chen Huihong scooped up the fresh meat tangyuan.

She opened her mouth.

She bit off nearly half of it in one bite.

She began chewing.

Her expression changed.

She was about to speak.

This was the moment!

“Oh!”

She looked at the tangyuan in her spoon with some surprise. The meat filling, wrapped in the glutinous rice skin, looked perfectly ordinary once cooked—especially to an untrained eye.

“Xiao Qin’s cooking really has improved. This meat-filled tangyuan tastes so much better than before.”

Then she eagerly finished chewing and devoured the rest of the meat filling before moving on to the final mixed-nut tangyuan.

After finishing the entire bowl, Chen Huihong even drank a couple of sips of the flavorless cooking broth, still wanting more.

“Delicious. This time, it’s genuinely delicious.”

And that was all—no exaggerated expressions, no further commentary. She simply moved on to drinking her aged tangerine peel tea.

Qu Jing ate much more slowly. By the time Chen Huihong had already started drinking tea, Qu Jing had only just finished the meat-filled tangyuan.

By nature, Qu Jing was not someone who openly displayed her emotions. Even after awakening, she had merely changed from being withdrawn to being a normally introverted person.

“Delicious.”

She gave her verdict on today’s Four-Joy Tangyuan. Then, worried that such a simple comment might sound perfunctory, she looked at Qin Huai with complete sincerity and said firmly:

“It’s really, truly delicious.”

“Much better than before. I… how about I go back and write you a new review?”

Qin Huai: …

Even though he was being praised, why did he still feel like this wasn’t quite the triumphant return he had imagined?

“No need, no need.” Qin Huai waved his hands repeatedly. “My Four-Joy Tangyuan has reached a good enough level for now. There’s no need for another review. Wait until I start practicing glutinous rice cakes—then you can write one.”

The recipe for glutinous rice cakes had been pieced together from Qu Jing’s memories, so she was the most qualified person to evaluate it.

“Alright, I’ll definitely write it seriously.” Qu Jing smiled and nodded.

Luo Jun’s tea gathering lasted until after six in the evening. The four of them hadn’t discussed anything particularly profound or important. They barely talked about spirits at all; instead, they simply shared stories about how they had spent the New Year.

Luo Jun’s holiday had been dull and uneventful, spent watching dramas, watching movies, and writing negative reviews.

Qu Jing’s wasn’t much more exciting. She didn’t dare tell Luo Jun and Chen Huihong too much about visiting her biological parents, for fear of slipping up. The rest of her holiday had been spent on hospital duty, and there hadn’t even been any particularly dramatic doctor-patient disputes worth recounting.

Compared to the incidents in other departments, disputes in neurology always seemed rather ordinary. And since they worked at a private hospital, even those were relatively mild.

Qin Huai’s holiday had also been fairly monotonous—making tangyuan and slicing radishes.

The most entertaining stories, naturally, came from Chen Huihong. Though her exploits didn’t quite match Ou Yang’s feat of sending his entire family to the hospital on New Year’s Eve, they were impressive in their own right.

She had managed to send herself to the hospital on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Perhaps inspired by Qin Huai’s cooking, or perhaps because she had eaten too many delicious steamed buns at his place last year and had grown dissatisfied with her mother’s buckwheat buns, Chen Huihong had become overconfident.

On New Year’s Day, she had volunteered to cook a meal for the family.

While chopping vegetables, she cut her hand three times.

None of the cuts were serious; a few bandages were enough.

Then, while stir-frying, she failed to control the heat properly. Some dishes were undercooked, others overcooked—but that wasn’t the real problem.

The real problem came when she made soup.

Chen Huihong prepared a huge pot of radish and pork rib soup.

Then she forgot about it.

The kitchen caught fire.

And while putting out the fire, she was gloriously injured and ended up in the hospital on New Year’s Day.

The tea gathering finally ended with Luo Jun declaring:

“Chen Huihong, if you want to die, just jump off a building. There is absolutely no need to enter a kitchen. From now on, don’t even think about setting foot in mine!”

What a warm and cheerful tea party it had been.

After it ended, Qin Huai had originally planned to head home, lie down, and spend the rest of the pleasant day scrolling on his phone.

But before he even reached the apartment building entrance, he suddenly felt a little regretful that he hadn’t eaten any plain white rice today. During his stay at Cao Guixiang’s home, he had fallen in love with proper meals. Every day, the thing he looked forward to most was mealtime.

After all, who could resist a home-cooked meal prepared by Cao Guixiang herself?

Homestyle dishes with rice—one bite of food, one bite of rice, and then spooning the savory sauce over the rice…

Slurp.

“Slurp.” Qin Huai suddenly realized he was hungry.

He decided to stop by his family’s cafeteria and see whether the chefs had been slacking off over the past few months—whether their cooking had declined.

At six in the evening, Yunzhong Cafeteria was at its second busiest time of the day.

For ordinary office workers, dinner offered many choices. On payday, they might treat themselves to something nice; when money was tight, they might simply eat whatever was convenient at home. The everyday meals at Yunzhong Cafeteria were considered quite affordable compared to nearby fast-food places, making it a popular choice after work.

Even during the period when Master Xiao Qin had been away, office workers still came to Yunzhong Cafeteria for an ordinary meal, sitting in their usual spots and sighing over the good old days when they could freely enjoy his pastries and dim sum.

Tonight, the cafeteria was especially crowded.

Everyone had heard the news: Master Xiao Qin had returned like lightning.

Around three in the afternoon, he had briefly appeared at Xiao Ou Hand-Shaken Lemon Tea before disappearing again—possibly as a walking advertisement for the tea shop.

But there were photos and videos as proof, which had greatly encouraged both new and old customers. Everyone was already looking forward to tomorrow’s breakfast.

Only after losing something do people truly appreciate how wonderful it once was. For many customers who hadn’t been able to travel to Gusu, the days when they could enjoy Master Xiao Qin’s handmade buns and pastries every morning now seemed like a dream.

And now, that dream had returned.

One ordinary office worker, known only as Xiao Zhang, came to Yunzhong Cafeteria after work as usual.

His company had strict rules: no more than thirty seconds of phone use during work hours, and bathroom breaks could not exceed five minutes. On top of that, he had spent the entire afternoon in meetings and was utterly exhausted, making him one of the few regular customers who hadn’t checked the group chat.

On his way over, Xiao Zhang had noticed that Xiao Ou Hand-Shaken Lemon Tea across the street seemed to have opened. The place was packed, with customers lining up in a long queue.

As he entered the cafeteria, he thought to himself that people always said milk tea shops were hard to run, yet this one was clearly thriving. This whole area around Yunzhong Cafeteria really must have excellent feng shui.

“Handsome, what would you like?” the server at the food counter asked enthusiastically.

Looking at the dishes—which hadn’t changed much in months—Xiao Zhang replied without much enthusiasm, “Stir-fried pork, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, cauliflower, and a bowl of seaweed soup.”

“Coming right up.” The server quickly plated his meal. “We also still have some peach cookies that Chef Pei made this afternoon. Would you like two?”

“Sure, I’ll take two.”

Xiao Zhang accepted his tray and began looking for a seat.

At that moment, he heard the young man behind him jokingly ask the server in a familiar tone:

“Pei Xing’s pastries are still selling all the way until six in the evening? Has he been slacking off lately, or are they just not as popular anymore?”

The familiar voice made Xiao Zhang glance back.

And with that single glance, he froze.

Qin Huai, wearing a face mask, was pointing at the scrambled eggs with tomatoes and telling the server to give him a little extra so he could pour the sauce over his rice.

“M-Master Xiao Qin!” Xiao Zhang’s voice trembled.

For a moment, tears nearly welled up in his eyes.

Master Xiao Qin, do you have any idea what kind of breakfasts we’ve been forced to endure while you’ve been away?

Without you, even lunch lost its flavor. Without your pastries, the meals just weren’t the same!

“Shh.” Qin Huai made a quieting gesture. “Don’t make a scene. I’m not officially back at work yet today.”

Xiao Zhang immediately clamped his mouth shut.

“Remember to come early for breakfast tomorrow,” Qin Huai said with a smile. “There will be lots of new items, and they’re even better when eaten fresh in the cafeteria. And if you have time, you should also stop by Xiao Ou Hand-Shaken Lemon Tea across the street.”

“It’s really delicious!”

“Absolutely!” Xiao Zhang said excitedly, doing his best to keep his voice down so as not to attract attention, making it seem as though they were simply two acquaintances who had happened to meet at the serving counter.

“Do… do you have any recommendations?” Xiao Zhang asked.

Qin Huai replied, “Just don’t order any of the weird-flavored lemon teas.”

“The strawberry, coconut milk, blueberry, and mango ones—I highly recommend those.”