AGN -Chapter 424 Dream

Travel around the world?

Qin Huai knew very well that even if Zhao Cheng’an was some kind of special spirit creature like Chen Huihui, he still had to follow the basic rules of spirit beings. Repeatedly dreaming about strange things usually wasn’t an ordinary dream—it was often memories or obsessions from previous lives taking shape.

So Zhao Cheng’an’s obsession was traveling the world?

Was he locked up in his first life? Or had he died too early and never gotten to enjoy the human world, so now he wanted to roam freely everywhere?

“And you, Qin Huai? Do you ever have weird dreams?” Zhao Cheng’an chatted with a very give-and-take style. He never monopolized the conversation and often tossed topics back to others so everyone could participate.

Qin Huai had already guessed the question would come back to him, so he answered naturally:

“I rarely dream when I sleep, unless I get too obsessed with practicing pastries. Back when I practiced the same pastry every day, sometimes I’d even dream about making pastries at night.”

“What about when you were little? You didn’t dream as a kid either?” Tan Wei’an, who was separated from Zhao Cheng’an by a cooking station, stretched his neck over to force himself into the conversation.

Qin Huai looked at him speechlessly and noticed he was still kneading dough. Poorly, too. Clearly distracted.

“What are you making?” Qin Huai asked.

“Four Happiness Flower Rolls. I’ve been making them these past few days—you didn’t know? I’m very serious about pastry-making, okay? I learn one thing and practice one thing. Qin Huai, you still haven’t answered me. Didn’t you dream as a kid?”

Qin Huai said flatly:

“Of course I dreamed. When I was little and living in the children’s welfare home, sometimes I’d dream about calling a young woman ‘Mom.’ Then I’d wake up and realize I didn’t actually have a mother. The only person we could call ‘Mom’ was Director Qin. Most of the kids in the orphanage were like that.”

Tan Wei’an: …

Tan Wei’an obediently shut his mouth and lowered his head to knead dough seriously. His face practically screamed: I deserve to die. Why did I ask Qin Huai something like that? Master Zhou isn’t going to beat me to death later, is he?

Zhao Cheng’an also fell silent. He worked quietly for a while before asking uneasily in a small voice:

“Qin Huai… were you telling the truth just now, or were you only trying to shut Tan Wei’an up…?”

“A mix of truth and exaggeration,” Qin Huai admitted honestly. “That was all from when I was very young. Director Qin told me I was abandoned at the entrance of the welfare home shortly after I was born. There was even a note with my birth date written on it, just like in TV dramas.”

“But back then, healthy newborns abandoned like me were actually pretty rare in the orphanage. Most kids were either sent there because their parents died and relatives refused to raise them, or they were abandoned after being diagnosed with illnesses when they got older.”

“So I never envied other kids for having parents. Since the moment I became aware of things, I never had that concept in the first place. The really pitiful ones were the kids who still remembered their parents. They’d often dream about their moms and dads at night and wake up crying. At breakfast, Director Qin would constantly comfort them, tell stories to cheer them up, or spend a fortune buying fruit candies for everyone.”

“As for me dreaming about it… maybe it was because everyone else had those dreams. If I didn’t, I’d feel left out. After hearing them talk about it, sometimes I’d dream about it too.”

“Tan Wei’an probably already told you this, but ever since I was little, I imagined I had a game system. Back at the orphanage, I imagined there was an exclamation mark floating in the upper-right corner of my vision. Back then I mostly played by myself. If my grades weren’t decent and I couldn’t talk normally, a lot of people probably would’ve thought I was stupid.”

Zhao Cheng’an did not understand.

Zhao Cheng’an was deeply shaken.

Although Tan Wei’an had long told him that Qin Huai was mentally a bit abnormal and liked imagining that he had a game system assigning him quests, hearing Qin Huai say it personally still made Zhao Cheng’an sigh inwardly:

So this condition started when he was a kid…

No wonder Tan Wei’an always said he couldn’t compete with him. Turns out he was already too late.

As the conversation reached a crucial point, Zhao Cheng’an’s Auspicious Cloud Pattern Pastry also reached a crucial stage.

He slowed his movements, worried that his arm might block Qin Huai’s view, and even shifted sideways slightly. He looked like he was being filmed by eight cameras simultaneously, as if he were about to announce:

“Good morning, viewers. Today I’ll be demonstrating the cloud-pattern section of the Auspicious Cloud Pastry.”

“Good thing when I was little I was only bad at studying and obsessed with sneaking into arcades to play games. Otherwise my parents wouldn’t have sent me to Zhiwei Ju to learn pastry-making—they’d have sent me to a hospital.”

Zhao Cheng’an picked up the pastry he had just rolled and showed it to Qin Huai.

“Did you see clearly just now? Cloud patterns are actually very simple. In my opinion, making cloud patterns is basically memorizing formulas. As long as you memorize the formulas and every step perfectly, and practice until it becomes muscle memory, you can roll beautiful cloud patterns with your eyes closed.”

“But that only applies to simpler cloud-pattern pastries like this Auspicious Cloud Pastry. That Four Happiness Roll of yours is insane. Roll forward once, reverse-roll once, and it’s steamed too, so you can’t even use frying or baking to shape it. Why would you challenge such a difficult pastry right from the start? Back when I practiced finger techniques, I never touched difficult ones. I wouldn’t even learn them. My master could beat me to death and I still wouldn’t practice them.”

Qin Huai: …

There was really no need for him to sound so proud about it.

“Why?” Qin Huai asked curiously. He felt awkward watching Zhao Cheng’an make pastries without eating something, so he glanced around, spotted two dates on Tan Wei’an’s workstation, stole them, and ate while asking.

“What’s the point of practicing something you can’t do?” Zhao Cheng’an countered. “I never do things I know I can’t accomplish. Same as when I was studying. If I couldn’t understand it, I simply wouldn’t study it. My parents could beat me to death and I still wouldn’t learn it.”

Qin Huai: …?

What kind of spirit creature was this guy?

To grow up with this kind of personality… brother, you’re way too carefree.

Thinking about it that way, Master Zhou really did have a good temper. Being Zhao Cheng’an’s master for so many years without beating him to death was impressive. Zhao Cheng’an’s talent was one thing, but Master Zhou’s tolerance was another.

Qin Huai finally couldn’t hold back anymore. He turned to Tan Wei’an—who clearly wanted to join the conversation but didn’t dare speak, so he could only perk up his ears while pretending to knead dough seriously, though the dough was still a complete mess.

“Has he always talked like this?” Qin Huai asked.

Qin Huai vaguely remembered Zhao Cheng’an not speaking this way a few days ago. During group chats, Zhao Cheng’an had only seemed somewhat lively, not completely unrestrained like this.

It could only be said that senior brothers and sisters still exerted a bit of pressure on him. Their presence temporarily kept Zhao Cheng’an from blurting out absolutely everything.

Tan Wei’an raised his head emotionally, speaking in a tone that screamed finally someone understands my suffering:

“He’s always like this when he’s with us! I’ve wanted to punch him twice for ages!”

But Tan Wei’an’s heartfelt confession received no reaction. Qin Huai merely nodded and stared at his dough.

“If you’re making Four Happiness Flower Rolls, the dough can’t be this stiff. You still have to do both forward and reverse rolling later.”

“But this dough’s beyond saving now. Just knead it a bit more and turn it into flatbread instead. Spray on more oil, add scallions and sesame seeds—it should still taste pretty good.”

Tan Wei’an: (-)

Surname Qin, you’re not a good person either. Why have your words suddenly become so vicious?

And so Qin Huai chatted on and off with Zhao Cheng’an for the entire day. During that time, Tan Wei’an tried several times to join the conversation, only to be ruthlessly driven away by both of them.

At his current stage, Little Tan genuinely couldn’t afford to slack off anymore. If he kept slacking, his dough would truly become hopeless.

Though honestly, it already looked pretty hopeless.

For one brief moment, Qin Huai even felt Tan Wei’an should be demoted from direct disciple back to ordinary apprentice so he could go through another round of intense training. The guy was simply too relaxed.

“Tan Wei’an’s just like that. Maybe because Master Tan taught me at the beginning, I spent a lot of time around Tan Wei’an when we were kids. He especially loved copying me. But instead of learning the good things, he only copied the bad.”

“Too lazy to work, only likes easy things, hates challenging difficult techniques, clocks out the moment work ends without practicing even one extra second—he learned all of that from me.”

“And somehow, despite all my many strengths, he didn’t learn a single one of them.”

At the dumpling restaurant Tan Wei’an strongly recommended, Qin Huai, Zhao Cheng’an, and Shi Dadan occupied a table meant for six. Fourteen plates of dumplings covered the table.

The reason there were fourteen plates was simple: the restaurant was tiny and only served fourteen flavors of dumplings.

If the owner had even a shred of innovative spirit and introduced fillings like chocolate strawberry, chocolate durian, mango strawberry, or mango pomelo sago dumplings, Qin Huai believed Shi Dadan would still order every single one out of stubborn curiosity.

As for why Qin Huai knew such dumpling flavors existed—

Back in college, he had eaten them at a “creative dumpling shop” behind his university. The shop closed after only three months.

Crunching pickled radish loudly, Zhao Cheng’an sighed:

“Not gonna lie, this place’s pickles are really good. Qin Huai, how did you find this shop? I didn’t even know there was a dumpling place like this near Zhiwei Ju.”

“Tan Wei’an recommended it before,” Qin Huai said while eating pickles too. “Originally I wanted to invite him tonight after work, but his Four Happiness Flower Rolls were too terrible today, so Master Zhou kept him behind for three extra hours of practice. Old Shi had already grabbed seats and finished one round of food, so I couldn’t make him wait too long. We’ll invite Tan Wei’an next time.”

Hearing Qin Huai mention him, Shi Dadan—who had been quietly eating dumplings the whole time—looked up and gave Qin Huai a look that said:

Has the moment finally come for me, the gold-medal support player, to shine?

After Qin Huai subtly shook his head, Shi Dadan lowered his head and continued eating.

After eating two dumplings, Shi Dadan felt he should contribute something to the conversation.

“This shop’s beef and scallion dumplings are especially good,” he said.

Zhao Cheng’an was someone very willing to accept recommendations. Hearing that, he immediately picked up a beef-and-scallion dumpling with his chopsticks, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed casually a few times, and swallowed it whole.

“So you like this flavor, Old Shi? I can make beef-and-scallion filling too. Tomorrow I’ll slack off at work and make some for you to take home after work.”

Then Zhao Cheng’an didn’t forget to remind Qin Huai:

“Judging from how Master scolded Tan Wei’an at the end today, Su Qian’s egg tarts were probably awful again, so Master’s going to spend all day supervising him tomorrow and won’t have time to watch us.”

“This morning Master specifically told me not to let you touch Auspicious Cloud Pastries for three days. He wants you to watch for a full three days before trying yourself. The more eager you are to make them, the more I’m supposed to stop you. That way you’ll focus harder while watching and learn faster.”

“When I was learning pastries, Master always used tricks like this on me. But honestly, I don’t think you need to follow it that strictly. Tomorrow I’ll find some time to slack off and make dumplings for Old Shi. Qin Huai, you can use that chance to secretly make some Auspicious Cloud Pastries. Gu Li and Tan Wei’an won’t snitch.”

Hearing Zhao Cheng’an say this, Shi Dadan was instantly moved.

Although he didn’t understand why making dumplings during work counted as slacking off, that didn’t stop him from being touched.

Shi Dadan looked directly into Zhao Cheng’an’s eyes emotionally. Without even waiting for a signal from Qin Huai, he immediately activated support mode.

“Little Zhao, I heard from Little Qin that you enjoy traveling around the world,” Shi Dadan boldly opened the conversation.

Zhao Cheng’an threw Qin Huai a puzzled look that clearly said:

How did you turn into Tan Wei’an Number Two? Now people are starting conversations with ‘I heard from Little Qin’ too?

“I guess you could say I’m interested in it, but I don’t really have much time. I can only travel once a year. Earlier this year I went to Southeast Asia. If nothing unexpected happens, next year I’ll probably head to the Middle East.”

“I used to travel abroad a lot too,” Shi Dadan said. “East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, even across the ocean. How about this—we add each other on WeChat. I don’t really have any hobbies besides eating. If you ask me which tourist attractions are fun, I probably won’t remember. But if you ask about delicious local snacks, I definitely remember plenty.”

Qin Huai was a little surprised hearing Shi Dadan say this.

Tonight’s dinner had mainly been arranged so Zhao Cheng’an and Shi Dadan could get acquainted, making it easier for Shi Dadan to help extract information from Zhao Cheng’an in the future.

Unexpectedly, instead of getting information out of Zhao Cheng’an, they ended up uncovering Shi Dadan’s rich life experiences—things he had never mentioned to Qin Huai before.

“So you really visited that many countries back then, Old Shi?” Qin Huai asked.

Shi Dadan smiled honestly.

“I was doing business back then. At the time I didn’t know what kind of business I wanted, so I thought I’d travel around and look. After traveling all over China, I went overseas. In the end I realized none of those businesses suited me. Aquaculture turned out to be the simplest.”

Qin Huai suddenly understood.

“Aquaculture is simple? My dad has a friend in that business. I heard the temperature dropped by half a degree or the oxygen levels were too low, and an entire batch of seafood died. He lost hundreds of thousands.”

“Now he switched to raising chickens, and because disinfection wasn’t done properly—or maybe the density was too high—half the chickens died too. Another loss of hundreds of thousands.”

“I thought farming was really difficult.”

Shi Dadan waved his hands repeatedly.

“It’s not difficult. Once you understand the methods and techniques, it’s actually simple. If you don’t believe me, ask Little Qin. When I’m back in Guangdong, I never manage anything at the farm. I’m usually out fishing at sea or eating with friends.”

“I’ve been away for one or two months already, and nothing’s happened at the farm. A shipment even went out a couple days ago.”