Chapter 47 Immortal Brew

“Single order from Zhongsha Building 19, 17 cups of hand-shaken lemon tea!”

“Single order from Blue Sky Block C, 9 cups of hand-shaken lemon tea.”

“Still Blue Sky Block C, 11 cups of hand-shaken lemon tea.”

“Blue Sky Block A, 8… one of them is for the security guard on the first floor, so a total of 8 cups of hand-shaken lemon tea.”

“Zhong—”

In the quiet afternoon, watching one order slip after another being posted, Qin Luo was pounding lemons so hard it felt like sparks were flying.

Qin Luo: Wait, do people in big cities not know what hand-shaken lemon tea is???

If conditions allowed, she would have used the large basin that had previously been used to soak mung beans.

While working furiously, Qin Luo looked around with a pleading expression.

Her parents weren’t around—they had gone home to rest.

Huang Xi wasn’t around—she had gone back to rest.

An Youyou wasn’t around—she was out delivering orders.

The other service staff weren’t around either; aside from one person left to record orders, everyone else had gone out for deliveries.

As for her brother…

Qin Huai was in the warehouse studying the tutorial video for locust flower buns.

Qin Luo actually suspected her brother was just finding an excuse to slack off and play on his phone in the warehouse, but she didn’t dare say it out loud. After all, the locust flower buns sounded delicious—if he really made them, she would be the first to try.

Qin Luo, who had already become an emotionless “hand-shaken lemon tea machine,” felt for the first time that work was exhausting.

It might even be better to go clean toilets.

“Hey, why is no one here today? Is Qin Huai around? I just heard from my colleagues at the neighborhood committee that today’s new hand-shaken lemon tea is especially good. Since we’re so close, we won’t order delivery—we’ll come in person. On behalf of our committee, I’ll buy 9 cups.” Ou Yang walked into the cafeteria holding a bottle of iced black tea.

As soon as Qin Luo saw Ou Yang, it was as if she had seen a savior. She immediately shouted, “Brother Yang! Brother Yang, come help me shake a few cups of lemon tea!”

Ou Yang: ? Wasn’t I here to spend money? How did I end up working?

Three minutes later, Ou Yang changed into the Yunzhong Cafeteria kitchen uniform and joined the lemon-shaking team.

Qin Huai carefully re-studied the locust flower bun tutorial. When he came out of the warehouse, he was stunned.

“When did Ou Yang get hired?”

After thinking for a second, Qin Huai decided not to dwell on it. He walked into the kitchen and said, “Make me one cup—less ice, full sugar, with duck-shit aroma tea base.”

Ou Yang: I%@#*!

Qin Huai returned to the cooking station and began his first attempt.

Having learned from the previous experience with fermented rice buns, Qin Huai tried not to deviate from any step when making the more difficult locust flower buns, and kept the ingredients as consistent as possible.

Wheat flour, buckwheat flour, locust flower honey, cold water.

Yes—locust flower buns require cold water for kneading.

Normally, dough is made with warm water so it works for most types of pastries. When making buckwheat buns, Qin Huai would first blanch the buckwheat flour with boiling water because it’s hard to form into dough; blanching makes it softer and easier to shape.

Using cold water for kneading, however, was something Qin Huai had only done when making dumpling wrappers. For buns, he usually used warm water at a lower temperature.

In other words, locust flower buns were unconventional right from the kneading stage.

But since it was hot now, using cold water wasn’t a problem.

Following the tutorial, Qin Huai mixed buckwheat flour and regular flour in an 8:2 ratio and added a small amount of honey.

Keeping the honey quantity low was another key point he had noted from the video.

As for the kneading technique—honestly, Qin Huai hadn’t fully figured it out.

Jiang Chengde’s kneading process looked very casual. It felt like watching a master in a cultivation world demonstrate sword techniques—casually waving his sword a few times in the air, then sheathing it.

And the mountain opposite gets split in two.

Then the master kindly asks the disciples: “How was that? Did you understand?”

The disciples: 0.0

Right now, Qin Huai was that disciple.

He could only rely on his previous experience making buckwheat buns.

Because buckwheat mixed into flour is harder to knead into shape, it couldn’t be handled gently like fermented rice dough. It required force.

In a sense, kneading dough and throwing a javelin are similar—both rely on brute force to achieve results.

Qin Huai kneaded with strength.

Hmm… this feeling…

No different from making buckwheat buns before.

Once the dough was formed, it was time to ferment.

Locust flower buns require a warm environment for fermentation. Following the tutorial, Qin Huai soaked a damp cloth in hot water, let it sit for a while, then covered the dough and waited.

The fermentation time for locust flower buns is much longer than regular buns, and there’s little to observe during the process. Qin Huai didn’t idle either—he practiced with normal buckwheat dough and continued making buckwheat buns.

Chen Huihui’s task still hadn’t been completed.

And Grandma Ding’s ears still needed protecting.

Finally finishing a batch during the busy lunch rush, Ou Yang sat on a small stool in the kitchen for the first time, drinking the hand-shaken lemon tea he had personally made…

“Luo Luo, why do I feel like your brother’s dough kneading earlier looked like a robot glitching—jerky and stop-and-go,” Ou Yang complained bluntly. “Remember to tell him—37 cups of today’s lemon tea at noon were made by me. I should get a commission.”

Qin Luo nodded and noted it down. “Then Brother Yang, are you coming back this afternoon to shake tea?”

Ou Yang: “…Is it possible that I still have a job this afternoon?”

Qin Luo thought for a moment. “Can you do it in your office? I’ll have Youyou come pick it up.”

Ou Yang: So this side job is unavoidable today?

Qin Luo: Brother Yang shakes lemon tea with extra force—stronger than herself. It tastes great.

Ou Yang still had over ten minutes before work, so Qin Luo, feeling that he had helped her a lot, took out a precious chilled mung bean jelly dessert that had been stored in the fridge for at least three days (and she wasn’t even sure if it was still edible) and shared it with him.

The two of them ate while watching Qin Huai make buns—like a side dish to the meal.

“Luo Luo, isn’t the first dough your brother kneaded a bit different? The later ones have all fermented, but that one hasn’t changed at all. Did he forget it?” Ou Yang not only ate the mung bean jelly but also started critiquing Qin Huai’s cooking.

“Impossible,” Qin Luo shook her head. “Usually only my dad would make that kind of mistake. My grandma said my brother always has his reasons for doing things—we just wait to eat.”

“But why are there so many hand-shaken lemon tea orders today? There are plenty of milk tea shops nearby, and places that sell lemon tea too. It’s not that special, is it?” Ou Yang took a big sip of the lemon tea he made himself—not that he could say it tasted bad—but still commented.

“I don’t know,” Qin Luo replied. “There’s a promotion today. Herbal teas are free with meals—five-flower tea, dried tangerine peel tea, and seven-herb dampness tea. Only the hand-shaken lemon tea has to be purchased.”

“I don’t know why, but the herbal teas didn’t even use up half a pot, while the lemon tea suddenly sold like crazy. Not just me—two cooking chefs and Youyou were all helping shake tea.”

“After lunch, orders dropped a lot, but suddenly a bunch of delivery orders came in again—especially from people who had ordered lunch earlier.” Qin Luo glanced at the remaining herbal tea. “Brother Yang, want some herbal tea? My mom said seven-herb dampness tea is especially good for health in summer!”

Ou Yang had never tried herbal tea before and didn’t think much of it, so he nodded. “Sure, I’ll give it a try.”

Qin Luo poured him a cup.

Ou Yang took a big gulp.

=()

Ou Yang immediately grabbed a sip of hand-shaken lemon tea to follow.

Folks—this hand-shaken lemon tea… is truly an immortal brew!