AGN -Chapter 327 When Competition Reaches the Extreme, You Get Everything

That afternoon, while eating crab roe mixed noodles, Ou Yang told Qin Huai everything he had discussed with Xu Tuqiang in the morning.

He recounted it truthfully, without adding any embellishment.

At the time, neither of them paid much attention to it. Qin Huai already knew how competitive the elderly folks could be. Because of this, they had previously even set up a “competition agreement” that prohibited malicious forms of competition—such as secretly giving expensive gifts to Qin Huai or his family.

At first, the agreement only banned directly giving gifts to Qin Huai. But later, some of the elderly found alternative ways, giving things to Qin Luo, Qin Congwen, and Zhao Rong instead. In the beginning, it was still reasonable—mostly fruits, snacks, or pastries. They mainly targeted Qin Luo, pretending they had just bought some food and happened to run into her, casually stuffing it into her hands.

With their excellent acting skills, Qin Luo never suspected anything. Every time she got food, she would happily come back and show off to Qin Huai. Since they were indeed cheap little items, the Qin family always saw through it but chose not to say anything. Sometimes, when Qin Huai heard a certain elder’s name mentioned too often, he would quietly tell the staff to sneak an extra serving of fermented rice buns to that person.

But then, for some reason—whether it was Qin Huai’s visit to Huang Ji that heightened everyone’s sense of crisis, or his cooking skills improving dramatically after returning—things escalated.

One elderly lady, perhaps simply too wealthy, unexpectedly slipped Qin Luo a bracelet from a famous luxury brand along with the fruit. Its price was close to six figures.

No one in the Qin family recognized the bracelet at first. Qin Luo just thought it looked pretty and wore it every day—until Chen Huihong recognized it at a glance.

The resolution was to return the bracelet. Zhao Rong then took Qin Luo to a budget jewelry shop and bought her a prettier, well-crafted, but much more affordable bracelet that Qin Luo genuinely liked. The elderly quickly updated their “strategy,” cutting off this kind of excessive competition at the source—strictly banning anyone from giving any gifts to the Qin family without reason. Anyone who violated the rule would be immediately “dealt with in the name of justice.”

Because of this incident, Xu Tuqiang, Grandma Ding, and Grandpa Qian even came personally to apologize to Qin Huai, making him quite embarrassed. In return, he treated the three of them to a tasting of pastries.

With such strict rules in place, Qin Huai believed that unless Xu Tuqiang, like Grandpa Wang, had previously eaten double-crab buns, it would be hard for him to make anything special out of them.

But at 7 a.m. the next morning, when Qin Huai arrived at the Yunzong Canteen, he realized he was wrong.

He finally understood why the elderly had set so many strict rules—and why they all followed them so seriously. Because once someone broke the rules, they were really capable of breaking them spectacularly.

Looking at the sea cucumbers in front of him—clearly of extremely high quality—Qin Huai’s face was full of confusion.

“So…” Qin Huai felt as though he had already reached a point where nothing could surprise him anymore, yet he was genuinely shocked again. His brain momentarily froze, and even his voice softened. “Uncle Xu… you have a supply channel for sea cucumbers?”

Xu Tuqiang smiled proudly, then waved his hand modestly as if it were nothing. “It’s not really a ‘channel.’ I just have relatives in that line of business—they know people at sea cucumber farms.”

“It’s similar to Old Ding’s in-laws who sell honey—trusted family connections. Didn’t Xiao Ou say yesterday that you’re planning to make sea cucumber pastries? That means you’ll need a large quantity, and the quality requirements must be high. Mine comes from family—guaranteed best quality and the most reasonable price!”

“Take a look, Master Xiao Qin. If you need it, I can call them right now. Don’t worry—if there’s any problem, just come to me. I’ll definitely give you an explanation!”

Looking at the sea cucumbers in front of him, Qin Huai found it impossible to refuse.

Currently, the suppliers for Yunzong Canteen were all arranged by Huang Xi, based on connections she had built in her previous job. Although her network was fairly broad, obtaining truly high-quality goods was still difficult.

Back when Qin Huai was at Huang Ji, he had heard Huang Anyao complain that even their suppliers “treated people differently.” If Huang Shengli personally requested top-grade goods, suppliers would do everything they could to provide them. But if Huang Anyao contacted them, they would cut corners whenever possible. Out of ten times Huang Shengli scolded him, nine and a half were because Huang Anyao had been fooled by suppliers again.

It could only be said that the young master really wasn’t suited to being a young master—his ability to handle matters and socialize lagged far behind.

The reason Yunzong Canteen had poor-quality sea cucumbers wasn’t just because cheaper ones saved money; it was mainly because Huang Xi lacked better supply channels.

Of course, under normal circumstances, a community canteen wouldn’t serve sea cucumber dishes at all. After all, who would casually sell something that sounds so high-end just from its name?

But now that Xu Tuqiang had proactively offered a reliable source—with high quality, reasonable prices, guaranteed supply, and after-sales assurance—no matter what he was about to ask for in return, Master Xiao Qin would do his best to satisfy him.

“Uncle Xu,” Qin Huai asked directly, never one for beating around the bush, “have you been craving any particular kind of pastry lately?”

He knew this was exactly what Xu Tuqiang most wanted to hear.

Xu Tuqiang was overjoyed.

What pleasant words—this was something he had only ever heard in his dreams before!

“Haha, Old Ding, Old Wang—so what if you got ahead of me? I, Xu Tuqiang, have still overtaken you in the end!”

“Do you even know who was the first to discover that Yunzong Canteen is a hidden gem?”

“Do you know the value of eating pastries seriously every day and writing proper food reviews?”

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Xu Tuqiang said excitedly, “Glutinous rice cakes!”

Qin Huai: …

He really hadn’t expected that after all this time, Xu Tuqiang’s “white moonlight” would still be glutinous rice cakes. Even after tasting premium diced-meat buns, guo’er, Four Joy dumplings, mung bean cakes, and crab roe noodles, his favorite food was still glutinous rice cakes.

What kind of unwavering love was this?

Xu Tuqiang’s persistence even made Qin Huai feel a little ashamed.

Qin Huai did have a recipe for glutinous rice cakes, but he had barely looked at it, let alone practiced it. Partly because it was difficult to make, and partly because spending a lot of time practicing it wouldn’t help him complete any side quests or main quests.

The recipe came from Qu Jing’s memories. Now that Qu Jing had already awakened—and although she loved rice cakes, her favorite wasn’t glutinous rice cakes but rice cake soup—whether it tasted good or bad, she loved it all.

Because of this, whenever Qin Huai made rice cakes, his first choice wasn’t glutinous rice cakes, but rather cooking a big pot of rice cake soup for everyone to enjoy.

Thinking about it carefully, Yunzong Canteen really hadn’t sold glutinous rice cakes for quite a long time.

Seeing Xu Tuqiang’s passion for them, Qin Huai even felt a bit guilty. He began to wonder if he had become too utilitarian in learning and making pastries—letting side quests and main quests dictate his actions.

Ever since he started intensely practicing Four Joy dumplings, he had rarely made pastries freely, just for the joy of it, like he did in the beginning.

For quite some time now, Yunzong Canteen hadn’t offered those spontaneous “Master Xiao Qin’s daily whim” pastries either.

Even the pastries Qin Luo loved—he made them far less often now.

Thinking of this, Qin Huai looked at Xu Tuqiang with a trace of gratitude—and a hint of guilt.

“I understand now.”

“It’s true, I haven’t made glutinous rice cakes for quite a while. And I also haven’t made pastries like lüdagun or crab-shell pastries recently.”

“For glutinous rice cakes, the rice cakes need to be prepared tomorrow, so the finished product will only be ready the day after. Uncle Xu, if you have time, help me spread the word—starting from now, after 11 a.m. every day, Yunzong Canteen will once again randomly sell different kinds of pastries like before.”

“Everyone is welcome to come and grab them.”

Xu Tuqiang: !

This was first-hand information!

Exclusive insider news!

“Haha, I, Xu Tuqiang, have finally worked my way into being an insider through sheer effort! Wang Laogen, let’s see what you’ll use to compete with me now!”