Chapter 87 Big Pieces

At 4:00 a.m. the next morning, Qin Huai arrived at the cafeteria on time.

Arriving on time was actually quite rare for him, because he usually set his alarm for 4:00 a.m., quickly got dressed and freshened up, and headed to the cafeteria—typically arriving around 4:15.

After all, he was the boss, and no one could deduct his full attendance bonus.

But today, Qin Huai arrived exactly on time.

That meant he had something very important to do.

Indeed—he could not delay the glutinous rice cake any longer.

Yesterday afternoon, Qin Huai completed the final steaming of the rice cake a little before 4:00 p.m. and covered it with a damp cloth. By 4:00 a.m. today, it had been just over 12 hours.

Based on Qin Huai’s years of experience making glutinous rice cakes, covering a full basin for about 12 hours was optimal. If left too long, the cake would become slightly hard.

A slightly firmer texture wasn’t actually a problem—people had different preferences, some liking soft and sticky, others preferring a bit of chew.

But Qiu Jing preferred a soft, sticky texture.

If not for the fact that he couldn’t wake up early enough, Qin Huai would have been waiting in the cafeteria at 3:30 a.m.

The first thing Qin Huai did upon entering the kitchen was lift the damp cloth.

The rice cake looked excellent.

The off-white cake had a uniform texture. Qin Huai scooped a small spoonful to taste—it was soft and sticky, slightly chewy without being tough, with a very pleasant mouthfeel. Without any white sugar or red bean filling, it carried a faint aroma of glutinous rice.

To Qin Huai, this was simply the natural taste of rice cake, but Qin Luo insisted it was the unique fragrance of glutinous rice.

Eating it plain had its own charm.

Of course, dipping it in white sugar, or wrapping it with sweet red bean paste, turning the glutinous rice cake into a true sweet dessert, made it even better.

“Huaihuai, you made rice cake,” Qin Congwen said at a glance.

In the Qin family, the one who loved rice cake the most was actually Qin Congwen.

Unfortunately, Qin Congwen was no longer at the age where Qin Luo could cry and demand food whenever she wanted. As the head of the family (at least in his own mind), he had to maintain a middle-aged man’s dignity—such as agreeing tactfully when his daughter wanted glutinous rice cake, and casually having a bite himself.

If he could secretly pack a couple of pieces to take home and eat before bed—so full that he couldn’t eat breakfast the next morning—that would be even better.

Seeing Qin Huai’s rice cake, Qin Congwen’s eyes lit up.

In fact, when he arrived early in the morning, he had guessed that the damp cloth might be covering rice cake—but he didn’t dare touch it. After all, Qin Huai had recently been experimenting with new pastries, and Qin Congwen never touched ingredients prepared by Qin Huai for fear of ruining them.

“This batch is pretty good. It’s slightly sticky on the teeth, because I intentionally made it softer and stickier. Dad, want to try some first?”

“Sure, sure.” Qin Congwen put down his buns and went to wash his hands.

Qin Huai watched as Qin Congwen took a small bite.

Two bites.

Three bites.

Qin Congwen began looking for white sugar, and Qin Huai silently handed it over, asking, “Dad, the red bean paste filling is already prepared. If you really want it, I can finish the rice cake now.”

At the final step, glutinous rice cake was very simple—just wrap in red bean paste and coat with fine white sugar. If someone liked it very sweet, they could coat it heavily in sugar; if they preferred less sweetness, just a light sprinkle; if moderate, only the filling.

Qin Congwen’s habit of dipping directly in white sugar was quite bold.

“Huaihuai, no need to trouble yourself. I’ll just have a taste,” Qin Congwen said, already holding the bowl.

Qin Huai: “……”

Forget it. As long as his father was happy.

Zhao Rong had little interest in rice cake. She glanced at Qin Congwen, who was eating with obvious delight while trying to act nonchalant, then turned to Chen An, who was kneading dough.

“Xiao Chen, why don’t you go try some too?”

“No need, no need,” the reserved Chen An replied, not realizing what he was missing. “Sister Rong, I haven’t finished kneading this dough yet.”

Qin Huai took the red bean paste filling out of the freezer to thaw and began preparing buns as usual.

Red bean-filled glutinous rice cake was his standard version. Later, he planned to steam some dates for a date paste filling. Online recipes for glutinous rice cake came in many variations—simple, common, and suited to public taste could be made in many styles.

As long as customers liked it, fillings could range from red bean paste to mung bean paste to date paste—even salted egg yolk with pork floss was fine.

For pastries, taste is what matters.

But Luo Jun’s tangerine peel tea was definitely an outlier.

Because they arrived early, the “San Ding Bao” and “Wu Ding Bao” were also ready earlier than usual. Rarely, before the morning joggers entered, the buns were already done.

Qin Huai and the others took the opportunity to have breakfast.

Chen An took a bite of a San Ding Bao, then a bite of a Wu Ding Bao, silently scolding himself for being too shy the previous day to eat the more expensive buns and only eating his own. He resolved to eat more today to make up for it.

While eating, he secretly observed Zhao Rong and Qin Huai, surprised to find that no one seemed to mind how much he ate. So he kept going.

“Xiao Chen, have some soy milk to go with it. Eat more for breakfast—you’ll be busy later,” Qin Congwen said, handing him a bowl of soy milk.

“Thank you, Brother Qin!” Chen An said with his mouth full, then swallowed and praised Qin Huai, “Chef Qin, your skills are absolutely amazing. I’ve sold breakfast for so many years, and I’ve never seen a breakfast chef as skilled as you!”

Qin Huai accepted the praise with a smile.

He also thought his skills were quite good.

“Chef Chen, my dad has a bad back and can’t stand or sit for long periods. We’ll need your help with chopping fillings and preparing ingredients in the future,” Qin Huai said.

“Don’t worry, Chef Qin. I’m young—leave all that to me! Kneading dough too!” Chen An said confidently.

He had plenty of strength.

For daily breakfast, the meat filling must be chopped perfectly!

While they were eating, the morning joggers arrived.

As regulars, the moment they entered the cafeteria, they immediately noticed something different.

The buns were already ready today—no waiting required.

“Chef Qin, are the buns ready?” Elder Wang asked as usual.

“Yes. San Ding Bao, Wu Ding Bao, mushroom buns, vermicelli buns, chive buns, and pork-and-cabbage buns are all ready. We also have red bean paste glutinous rice cake this morning, but only a limited amount. The date paste version will be a bit later—the dates are still steaming.”

Upon hearing that there was glutinous rice cake, Xu Tuqiang, who had been walking at the back at a leisurely pace, suddenly stepped forward, his voice rising.

“Glutinous rice cake!”

“Xu Tuqiang, what are you yelling about? My ears hurt,” Elder Cao complained, rubbing his ears.

Xu Tuqiang shot back: You don’t understand! Do you know the value of having glutinous rice cake first thing in the morning?!

Eighteen days!

Eighteen full days!

It had been eighteen days since Chef Xiao Zheng returned to Suzhou!

Since then, Xu Tuqiang had not seen any pastry related to glutinous rice cake at Yunzhong Cafeteria. Although pork lard rice cake wasn’t his favorite, it could serve as a substitute. After all, it had been twenty-three days since Yunzhong Cafeteria last sold glutinous rice cake.

Finally, Chef Xiao Qin remembered he could make this dish!

Seeing Xu Tuqiang’s excitement, Qin Huai smiled. “Elder Xu, you really like glutinous rice cake? Then you’re in luck. I plan to focus on making glutinous rice cake for a while. If nothing unexpected happens, we’ll sell it every morning.”

Xu Tuqiang: !!!

He was so excited he almost wanted to donate money to the cafeteria to establish a glutinous rice cake foundation.

In the end, all his thoughts boiled down to one sentence:

“One piece!” Xu Tuqiang said with a trembling voice. “Cut a big piece, coated in white sugar—I like it sweet!”