Chapter 44 A Chain Reaction Triggered by Slacking Off Once

After returning home, Qin Huai happily drank beverages, watched TV, played on his phone, and even played music through a speaker. He was multitasking—slacking off in four different ways at once. As a result, in his excitement, he went over his allotted time.

By the time Qin Huai snapped out of his “sea of slacking off,” it was already close to quitting time.

In the morning, those who had managed to grab fermented rice buns. At noon, they happily came to eat, only to discover that all the pastries had already been sold out in the morning. For office workers hoping to eat anything pastry-related, their only option was a 1.5-yuan meat bun—their “sky had collapsed.”

Qin Huai, however, felt that since he had already started slacking off, he might as well go all the way and treat it as a day off. At the same time, he messaged Chen Huihong to inquire about the progress of hiring new pastry chefs.

As Yunzhong Canteen’s business continued to flourish, Qin Huai increasingly realized that relying on a single pastry chef—himself—was completely unsustainable. Pastries should be handled like breakfast offerings: divided into categories and price tiers. His own pastries would follow a high-price, low-volume model, while other pastry chefs would produce affordable, high-volume, and diverse options.

Habits can be cultivated—especially eating habits.

By now, Yunzhong Canteen had developed a large base of loyal customers, mostly nearby office workers.

Those who liked cutting it close and ordering takeout would enjoy delivery straight to their desks. Those who preferred eating while walking on their commute would reward themselves with a premium five-fillings bun if they had money, or simply “reward themselves” by looking at one if they didn’t.

According to an unnamed tip from Ms. Zhou of a media company, the opening of Yunzhong Canteen had caused many convenience stores in office buildings to see a decline in breakfast sales. Items like scallion pancakes, egg-filled pancakes, jianbing guozi, and roujiamo were especially affected. Xiao Qin Master had quietly become the public enemy of convenience store owners.

Another unnamed Mr. Li from a gaming company revealed that although Xiao Qin Master had become their “enemy,” many convenience store owners secretly supported him by going to Yunzhong Canteen to buy buns themselves.

Mr. Li insisted on reporting, without naming his company, the owner of a blue-sign convenience store downstairs, Mr. Zhang: “It’s outrageous. When I went to buy cigarettes, Mr. Zhang was eating a five-fillings bun. The aroma filled the entire store and made me so hungry I spent 5 yuan on a sausage. Such a cunning and evil marketing tactic!”

Meanwhile, Mr. Zhang, the owner of the blue-sign convenience store who preferred to remain unnamed, said: “Although Xiao Qin Master isn’t exactly a saint, their buns are really good.”

Delicious. Loved them. Always wanted more.

There were also morning items like sesame pastries, mung bean cakes, pea flour cakes, bean rolls, crab roe crisps, walnut crisps…

All very tasty.

Owning a shop is great—you can skip work and wait for freshly made pastries to buy them at the right time. Heh.

But today, Mr. Zhang was not feeling “heh.”

Because Xiao Qin Master had taken the day off!

Taken a day off!

Too much! How could someone making breakfast and pastries just skip work? In this day and age, only bosses slack off… wait—you’re saying Xiao Qin Master is the boss?

Even more outrageous! How can a boss skip work? Only terrible bosses like me skip work… what do you mean he’s a good boss?

Dressed in a mask and looking somewhat sneaky and humble, the distressed Mr. Zhang asked, “Is Xiao Qin Master unwell this morning? Will he come in the afternoon?”

The staff politely replied: “We’re not sure. Xiao Qin Master has his own schedule and plans. He may be busy with other matters today. Please see if there are other pastries you like—we also have meat buns, vegetable buns, and tea eggs.”

Mr. Zhang: ?

Depressed, Mr. Zhang bought meat buns, vegetable buns, and tea eggs and brought them back to his convenience store. Upon seeing his own stock of the same items, he fell into silence.

Zhang Shengcai, what is wrong with you? Your “supporting the enemy” habit has become muscle memory—you buy anything you see!

Frustrated, Mr. Zhang went to the warehouse to sort inventory and opened the group chat [Yunzhong Canteen Desk Delivery Group No. 1], angrily posting:

“Is Xiao Qin Master not feeling well today?”

Manager Huang Xi replied: “Yes, Xiao Qin Master isn’t feeling very well and went home early to rest.”

Someone from Guangyao Building Floor 26 (can’t afford the premium buns edition): “What?! Is he okay??? Heat-related illness? Drink more herbal tea!”

Blue Sky Building A, Floor 7: “What?! Heat-related illness??? I know a great herbal tea shop, I’ll order some for him!”

Blue Sky Building B, Floor 9 (group order): “You mean the one with the yellow sign on the pedestrian street? That place tastes terrible!”

Guangyao Building Floor 11 (group order successful): “Agreed! Not even as good as Yunzhong Canteen’s mung bean soup!!!”

Central Building C, Floor 22: “Isn’t Xiao Qin Master from Guangdong? He should know herbal tea. Could your canteen add herbal tea to the menu?”

Blue Sky Building B, Floor 9: “Add it! Add it!”

……

Central Building Floor 11 (one missing for group order): “What?! Xiao Qin Master is adding herbal tea?! Yay!!!”

At the same time, while Qin Huai was reviewing resumes of pastry chefs sent by Chen Huihong, a game notification suddenly rang in his mind.

“Ding! Congratulations, you have discovered a new side quest. Please check the quest panel.”

Qin Huai: ?

Even slacking off can trigger a side quest?

Seems like he should slack off more in the future.

Qin Huai opened the quest panel. Under [Chen Huihui’s Wish], a new side quest had indeed appeared.

2. [Luo Jun’s Wish]: As a herbal tea enthusiast, Luo Jun’s most hated herbal tea shop in his life is Lin’s Century Herbal Tea Shop, located on the pedestrian street opposite Blue Sky Building with a yellow signboard. This shameless shop not only charges high prices, including a 4-yuan packaging fee per cup, but its signature tangerine peel tea tastes terrible. Moreover, when he left a sincere negative review, the shop complained and accused him of being a competitor. The player is tasked with fulfilling Luo Jun’s wish by providing him with a tangerine peel tea that suits his taste.

Quest Reward: [Luo Jun’s Approval], Unknown (Choice: Yes/No)

Qin Huai: …

So… who exactly is Luo Jun?

He searched through the names of regular customers he remembered from Yunzhong Canteen. There were people with the surname Luo, but none named Luo Jun.

How could this game system assign quests involving people he didn’t even know?

He didn’t know Luo Jun at all—how was he supposed to complete the quest?

Qin Huai knew how to make tangerine peel tea. Not only him, but Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen could make it too. It wasn’t technically difficult—normally it just involved soaking gynostemma and dried tangerine peel in hot water. For more unusual methods, he’d have to look up recipes online.

But he didn’t even know the person who issued the quest—what was he supposed to do?

Was he supposed to brew large pots of tangerine peel tea at the shop every day and give it out until Luo Jun eventually showed up and drank it?

And based on the description, Qin Huai felt that Luo Jun’s “wish” wasn’t really about drinking good tangerine peel tea—it was more like wanting to beat up the owner of Lin’s Herbal Tea Shop.

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Qin Huai stared at the side quest in deep thought.

Why were all these side quests so abstract?

Chen Huihui’s “dream bun,” even she herself didn’t know what it was supposed to be.

Luo Jun wants tangerine peel tea, but he doesn’t know who Luo Jun is.

This is difficult.