AGN -Chapter 463 Somewhat Like an Old Acquaintance

In Fenyuan, aside from Qin Huai’s table, the other two tables of guests had long since finished eating.

But they refused to leave. They just wouldn’t go, stubbornly staying seated as if they were determined to linger.

At this point, they no longer cared what other dishes might be served to those two young men. After the unbelievably luxurious pot of braised shark fin was brought out, even the dullest among them understood that this was the final dish. The next one would be Qin Huai’s ordered “Peach Blossom Float.”

There couldn’t possibly be anything after that!

If there was, their teeth might really grind to pieces!

Even if those two young men could eat a lot—even if this so-called double set meal was essentially an all-you-can-eat experience—that pot of shark fin should have already filled them up.

They should be full, right, brother?

If they weren’t full yet, that would just be impolite.

In reality, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an weren’t just full—they were so full it felt like the food was about to reach their throats.

At this point, they were practically using military strategy just to eat. The chairs were no longer for sitting, only for observing. Both of them were standing while eating, because it helped the food go down more smoothly. They had already pushed past their limits, breaking their personal record for maximum food intake in a single meal.

At a moment like this, Qin Huai finally understood why Shi Dadan always ate so calmly and effortlessly in front of unlimited feasts. After all, no matter how many schemes or tricks existed, they were all meaningless in the face of absolute strength.

If you can eat, you can eat. Big appetite is king.

“Burp.” Qin Huai let out a burp.

“Uh…” Zhao Cheng’an’s burp was halfway out before he forcibly swallowed it back down.

Both of them were clearly nearing their limit.

The Peach Blossom Float hadn’t been served yet.

And half of the shark fin pot in front of them was still left—an extremely even half, with shark fin, ingredients, hotpot items, meatballs, everything included.

If they packed it up and told someone it was a whole pot, people would absolutely believe it.

The five-person crowd watching them had already changed their gaze into: So that’s all you’ve got? Wasting such good food at Fenyuan like this—you’re definitely going to be blacklisted by Chef Xia, hahaha.

Of course, if you’re willing to ask us for help, we don’t mind eating a bit for you. After all, helping others is a fine tradition among Fenyuan diners.

It was now 6:47 PM. In a few minutes, the next group arriving at 7 would be here. Hurry up and ask for help—once they arrive, there will be even more people trying to “help you eat.”

In the kitchen, Xia Murui had already seen through the monitor that the two were at their limit. He hadn’t even started preparing the Peach Blossom Float, instead focusing on dishes for the next batch of guests. He occasionally glanced at the monitor, looking very relaxed, almost as if the words “I’m in a great mood today” were carved onto his face.

Zhang Guanghang also noticed it. While watching the monitor, he looked a little puzzled at Xia Murui’s expression, clearly unable to understand why his master seemed almost possessed today.

Even his expression while watching the monitor looked strangely kind.

“Master,” Zhang Guanghang asked softly, “should we still make the Peach Blossom Float?”

“Make what?” Xia Murui sneered. The sneer was instinctive, not really malicious—there was even a hint of indulgence toward a junior. “They outside can’t eat anymore. Why make it? Besides, Peach Blossom Float can’t be packed to go. It has to be freshly poured and eaten immediately. If you put it in a takeout box and let it sit, what’s the difference from roadside fried rice with sauce?”

Zhang Guanghang: ?

So Master, you’re saying the shark fin pot can be packed up and taken away, and you’ve already assumed they won’t finish it and will need leftovers?

Master, didn’t Fenyuan originally have a rule that each person could only order one dish to avoid waste? Even though that rule was later relaxed, the principle of not wasting food still stands, right?

Do we even have takeout boxes?

Zhang Guanghang was full of question marks, but he didn’t ask. He knew his master must have other arrangements.

Xia Murui watched the monitor for a few more minutes and confirmed that the two really couldn’t eat anymore. If they continued, they would probably have to lie in bed tonight like salted fish, staring at the ceiling while digesting and trying not to burp so food wouldn’t come back up.

“Xiaohang,” Xia Murui said, “go tell them there aren’t enough ingredients for the Peach Blossom Float today, and there are no extra ingredients either. The final dish won’t be served.”

“Tell them it’s Fenyuan’s issue. As compensation, ask if they can come back tomorrow to eat again. We’ll make up the Peach Blossom Float then. The shark fin pot they can’t finish—they can take the pot home. Just remember to bring it back tomorrow.”

Zhang Guanghang: ……

Master, if you’ve been kidnapped, just blink. What exactly did those two do to you?

“Alright, Master.” Zhang Guanghang replied obediently, expressionless, and went out coldly to relay Xia Murui’s words with the precision of language arts.

When he turned back toward the kitchen again, all the diners were stunned.

The five-person group looked at Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an as if they were thinking: Are these two secretly Chef Xia’s long-lost grandsons?

Given Chef Xia’s age… even great-grandsons might be possible.

And if you think about it that way…

They began carefully studying Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an’s faces.

But no matter how they looked—

They really didn’t look alike at all.

Dazed and half-conscious, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an took the unfinished shark fin pot and got into a ride-hailing car back to their hotel. The driver even turned back to glance at the pot in confusion, clearly unable to understand why anyone would bring a whole pot of food into a taxi—and it smelled really good too.

He kind of wanted to eat it.

The two of them slumped in the back seat after their feast, stuck in a carb-induced haze where their brains could barely function.

“Qin Huai,” Zhao Cheng’an said slowly, “do you think everything that just happened was actually us not eating enough, getting kicked out by Chef Xia, and then starving to death at Fenyuan’s door… like a hallucination? I vaguely remember that guy… Zhang something telling me Chef Xia asked us to come back tomorrow.”

As he spoke, he pinched himself, grimacing in pain, still unconvinced. Then he tried to reach for Qin Huai, but Qin Huai slapped his hand away.

“Pinch yourself if you must,” Qin Huai said, slightly more awake now, sitting up straight and starting to review the evening.

Very strange. Illogical. Not like Xia Murui at all.

But somehow, it all felt like it had a traceable logic.

Qin Huai looked at Zhao Cheng’an—and kept looking.

In his previous life, Zhao Cheng’an and Chen Sheng looked nothing alike. Their minds were different too. Zhao Cheng’an didn’t have Chen Sheng’s reckless charm, nor was he the “Northern Capital Thief King.”

But if you said they were completely different, that wasn’t entirely true either. Zhao Cheng’an had many small habits that were actually quite similar to Chen Sheng.

Even though in this life, Zhao Cheng’an had completely forgotten his past memories, he was still him. Just a version who had forgotten he was once something inhuman and believed himself to be human. At his core, he was still the same person.

Considering Xia Murui’s age, he also seemed like the type who would believe in supernatural things like reincarnation.

Qin Huai’s grandparents still firmly believed Qin Luo and He Cheng were gifts brought by Qin Huai—that he was their “child-giving deity,” not a master of infertility treatment.

But Qin Huai quickly reconsidered. That possibility existed, but wasn’t likely. He only felt Zhao Cheng’an resembled Chen Sheng because of his own preconceived notion. If you removed that bias, it was actually hard to see the similarity—especially for someone like Xia Murui.

There must be another reason.

But what exactly was it?

Qin Huai fell into deep thought. Zhao Cheng’an, watching him suddenly go silent, was full of question marks.

Bro, stop looking at me like that, it’s scary. Every time you look like that, I feel like you’re about to come up with something huge. We just finished a satisfying meal—can you not overthink things?

Meanwhile, Fenyuan finally returned to normal operations. Zhang Guanghang was also thinking about what to eat after work. Originally, he planned to just order takeout, but for some reason, images of beef pancakes and pork pancakes kept lingering in his mind, refusing to leave. Now he really wanted pancakes.

Along with those pancakes, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an also lingered in his thoughts.

After enduring it for half an hour, Zhang Guanghang finally couldn’t hold back and asked:

“Master, those two guests… are they special?”

Xia Murui had no intention of hiding anything and said calmly, “Those two are very similar to an old acquaintance I knew when I was young.”

Zhang Guanghang: ?

He wasn’t stupid either. After thinking for a moment, he reacted and asked, “Is it because of the yam cake that Master Qin Huai made?”

Xia Murui let out a long sigh. That sigh carried nostalgia, melancholy, and the loneliness of someone who had watched all his friends and family pass away while he alone remained in the world for decades.

“Chen Sheng… was the name of my junior brother.”

“That name was given to him by me back then.”

“The yam cake was my master’s specialty. Among us, I learned my master’s hot-kitchen skills, while my junior brother learned the pastry work. But his skills were a bit lacking, so he never reached Qin Huai’s level.”

“The taste and appearance of today’s yam cake were exactly the same as my master’s back then. Ling Guangzhao said the recipe Qin Huai used came from an old book. Most likely, back when my junior brother was practicing calligraphy with Ping’an, he didn’t know what to write and ended up writing recipes instead. It also fits his personality to carve his own name into the yam cake. That guy’s mind was just… not very normal.”

As he spoke, Xia Murui even smiled.

“For Qin Huai to obtain my junior brother’s recipe and learn my master’s craft—it’s also fate. As for the young man next to him, Xiao Zhao… just now I even wondered if I was getting old. The way he eats actually reminds me a bit of my junior brother.”

Zhang Guanghang said nothing, because he saw the faint tears in Xia Murui’s eyes.

It was the first time he had ever seen his master like this.

His master was always strong, irritable, stubborn, and deeply caring in his own awkward way. Occasionally he felt like a little old man, but most of the time he gave the impression that he did not like talking about the past. Even when he did mention it, it was always brief, as if he were talking about someone else’s story.

This feeling—I once had a few old friends, I don’t want to speak of them, but they still live in my heart—was something Zhang Guanghang was experiencing for the first time.

“When my junior brother and I spent our first New Year at Master’s house, Master hadn’t taken me as a disciple yet. We were still apprentices at Taifeng Tower.”

“That year business was good, and Boss Lu was in a good mood. Each head chef could bring home a full banquet, and each apprentice could take one dish.”

“Everyone was overjoyed. Only my junior brother was carefree as always. He even shamelessly asked Boss Lu if he could take the leftover steamed buns home too.”

“That night at New Year’s dinner, I was afraid of being judged for eating too much and didn’t dare to eat freely. My junior brother, on the other hand, feared nothing and valued being full above all else. By the end, he was practically lying on the ground, ready to fall asleep like a corpse—exactly like those two boys today.”

“Especially that Xiao Zhao. Even the way he tries to suppress his burps is exactly like my junior brother.”

“That night, when we returned to the woodshed, my junior brother took out five white steamed buns from his chest and shoved them into my hands. He said he could see I hadn’t eaten enough, and that on New Year’s, if you don’t eat until you’re full, you won’t get another chance.”

“That night I lay on the straw in the woodshed and ate all five buns. I was so full my eyes nearly popped out.”

“Later, when we were on the run—even when I was starving, digging up roots, chewing wood, eating dirt, drinking air—so hungry my stomach twisted in pain and my vision went dark… whenever I thought of that night, I didn’t feel quite as hungry anymore.”

“When I brought back all that gold and silver to Beiping, I thought I could finally reunite with my junior brother, my master, and Ping’an. The first thing I wanted to do was treat them to a feast.”

Xia Murui’s lips trembled slightly, and he stopped speaking.

“Xiaohang… maybe I’m just getting old. When I was watching the surveillance earlier, I kept thinking—if reincarnation really exists, would my junior brother, my master, and Ping’an come to see me again after being reborn? Would they blame me for only returning to Beiping after so many years, for leaving them without even burying them, while I alone lived on all these decades?”

“I even wondered whether they would be surprised that my cooking has now surpassed my master’s.”

“But knowing my junior brother’s personality, he’d probably make a fuss, then proudly tell my master that he was right not to become his disciple back then—that it would have been better to study under me instead.”

Zhang Guanghang: …It was a very complicated relationship. Hard to fully understand, but somehow he felt he did understand a little.

Xia Murui smiled faintly and moved on, returning to cooking.

Zhang Guanghang organized his thoughts but couldn’t fully piece them together. One thing, however, he understood clearly—

His master wanted Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an to have another proper, satisfying meal at Fenyuan.

“Master,” Zhang Guanghang said, “I added Qin Huai on WeChat. Should I ask them what they want to eat tomorrow so we can prepare in advance?”

Xia Murui gave a slight nod.

Meanwhile, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an successfully brought the pot back to the hotel. They handed it to the front desk and instructed them to refrigerate it properly—it was their breakfast for tomorrow morning.

The staff didn’t understand, but they complied anyway.

The two then collapsed in their room.

Still in a carb-induced haze, Zhao Cheng’an suddenly muttered, “Qin Huai… don’t you feel today’s meal was a bit lacking?”

“No staple food,” he said.

Qin Huai: …? Are you okay, bro? Did talking about pancakes really break your brain?

The next second, a game notification sounded in Qin Huai’s mind.

“Ding. You have unlocked a new side quest: [Zhao Cheng’an’s Desire]. Please view it in your system panel.”

Qin Huai: ?

He immediately opened the panel.

[Zhao Cheng’an’s Desire]: As the disciple of the number one pastry master, Zhao Cheng’an has never enjoyed such a lavish feast. Yet after the meal, he feels something is missing. Today’s banquet had cold dishes, hot dishes, and desserts, but no soup or staple food. While soup is not essential, the lack of staple food leaves this pastry chef deeply unsatisfied. Please fulfill his desire by providing another feast complete with proper staple dishes.

Reward: A Dream Fragment of Zhao Cheng’an

Qin Huai: ……

Are you serious?

You already ate a full banquet and you’re still fixating on staple food?

You’re really committed to your obsession, huh. In your previous life you only made staple foods, and in this life even after eating a luxury feast, that’s still all you think about.

Impressive consistency.

Next time, you and Dang Kang should sit at the same table. You two can duel over staple foods.

Just as Qin Huai was speechless, Zhang Guanghang’s message arrived.

Zhang Guanghang: Hello, this is Zhang Guanghang. May I ask if you have any special dishes you’d like tomorrow?

Zhang Guanghang: Any dish is fine, even if it’s not on Fenyuan’s menu.

Zhang Guanghang: You can order freely.

Zhang Guanghang: Anything you want.

Zhang Guanghang: Any number of dishes.

Seeing this, Qin Huai: ……

Has Zhang Guanghang’s account been hacked? Is the hacker Zhao Cheng’an?

Qin Huai replied: “Is staple food also okay? We’re kind of craving staple food. If Chef Xia is too busy, I can make it myself.”

On the other side, Zhang Guanghang holding his phone: ……

What is wrong with these two?

Are all pastry chefs like this? Do they really love staple food this much?

They’re even willing to make it themselves.