The parents at cooking station No. 1 are the ones who spend money.
Though it's unclear why they chose the three-flavor rice noodles, their seasoning packet is pretty good.
The only downside is that elementary school students might not be big fans of rice noodles, so there weren't many kids supporting it, and it wasn't as popular as Wang Yihan's sugary milk tea.
Qin Huai slurped up the last bit of rice noodles and then, feeling sorry for the parents at cooking station No. 1, lit a candle for them before decisively going back for another bowl.
Also having the three-flavor rice noodles from cooking station No. 1, Chen Huixi walked over to Qin Huai with a bowl, asking crisply, "Brother Qin Huai, does Mom really not need help over there?"
Although Qin Huai calls Chen Huihong Sister Hong, he is technically Chen Huixi's uncle-in-law, but Chen Huixi thoughtfully kept things simple.
"Not for now." Qin Huai glanced at Chen Huihong, who was energetically pressing molds, "Huixi, what's our plan?"
"First, make sure everyone eats, then let everyone play!" Chen Huixi declared firmly.
"Exactly, the buns still have 9 minutes to go, let's make sure everyone gets to eat first."
If we let the kids play first, with no supervision, the dough could get messy and fillings could be everywhere; Qin Huai couldn't imagine what the buns would taste like afterward if they were shaped using the molds.
While using molds to shape buns isn't very technical, there still needs to be some skill involved.
Seven minutes later, tasked with promotion, Chen Huixi darted around classmates like a spy making contact, whispering, "The buns my mom made are about to be ready, do you want to be the first to try them?"
The words "first batch" and "be first to eat" sparked a primal desire in the students.
It's not about what to eat, but being the first to eat.
"I'll eat first, Huixi, you promised I'd eat first!"
"Me, me, me, Huixi, you ate my mom's salad, I go first!"
"I want to try first too, I love buns the most!"
The hard-working parents at the cooking stations: ?
When did my kid love buns so much? Didn't they always cry and fuss to avoid breakfast in the morning?
A minute later, they were all gathered around Chen Huihong, waiting for the buns to be ready, eager to grab the first hot bun.
Even a few parents joined the fun.
After all, when Chen Huihong was rolling dough, wrapping and using the molds, she made quite a spectacle despite the lack of actual skill. It looked impressive. Plus, she was the only parent making traditional Chinese pastries on site, looking formidable enough for the competitive parents to gather intelligence.
"Huixi, help distribute these."
"Okay, Mom!" Chen Huixi began handing out buns one by one.
Rabbit, mouse, piglet, water buffalo, and elephant, five types of animal-shaped buns, each incredibly cute. Although they weren't colored, and the craftsmanship for details wasn't superb, in this parent-child kitchen, they were impressive enough.
"Wow!" No child could resist the allure of these fancy buns.
"Whoa." Parents, surprised at how well the molds worked, sighed in regret.
"This one has red bean filling, and this one has green bean filling. The red bean filling's taste is..."
No one cared about Chen Huixi's explanations. Impatient students and parents blew on the buns symbolically before taking big bites.
That soft dough, that rich, sweet taste.
Was Chen Huixi's mom secretly this good?!
Unbelievable, she's a master pastry chef!
How can anyone compete with this?!
"Wow, Huixi, your mom is amazing!"
"Huixi, I want the rabbit one, give me another rabbit, please!"
"Huixi, can we trade moms?"
"Huixi, I want the green bean one, give me a green bean one, please!"
"Huixi, I want to make buns too; can you let me play with one?"
Seeing Chen Huixi become the center of attention made Chen Huihong smile so broadly her gums showed as she used the molds even more energetically, wanting to make ten sets right away.
Clearly, Chen Huixi was also a master at balancing, first rejecting the trade mom offer, then jotting down everyone's requests. If something was unavailable, she would make them swap for something else. Once everyone's excitement wore off and they realized the next batch would take a while, they each wandered back to their parents, bothering them instead, and Chen Huixi trotted over to Qin Huai.
"Brother Qin Huai, this is for you!" Chen Huixi raised the bowl in her hands, inside was a steaming green bean-flavored rabbit bun.
"I filled this bun myself, specially saved for you, Brother Qin Huai."
"Thank you, Brother Qin Huai, I haven't seen my mom this happy in a long time!"
Qin Huai accepted the bowl with a smile, finding this mother-daughter duo quite interesting.
The mother only wanted her daughter to shine, proudly and with grace. The daughter was mature for her age, solely wanting to make her mom happy.
It was truly a mutual journey.
"If Huixi is happy, then your mom is naturally happy too." Qin Huai said with a cheery laugh, "For sure, her favorite person is you."
"And my favorite person is Mom!" Chen Huixi said with pride, "Brother Qin Huai, let me tell you, at night I often dream of my mom holding me, and I call her Mom."
"Last year's spring outing, I spent 20 yuan to have someone interpret my dream. They said it meant that in my past life I was my mom's daughter, in this life I am my mom's daughter, and in the next life, I'll still be my mom's daughter. I'm destined to be Mom's daughter!"
Qin Huai couldn't help but chuckle hearing this; the notion of being mother and daughter as destiny was amusing.
Qin Huai shook his head and reached to take the rabbit bun.
His fingertips barely touching it.
"Ding, congratulations, you have received [A Fragment of Chen Huihong's Dream]."
A fragment of Chen Huihong's dream?
The daughter just talked about her dreams, and now he got the mom's dream too, a two-for-one deal?
But, isn't peeking into others' dreams a bit creepy?