Qin Huai freshly wrapped a piece of sticky rice cake for Xu Tuqiang.
After placing it for 12 hours, the texture was just right, soft and sticky. The rice-white sticky rice cake looked slightly translucent and was cut into finger-width strips, wrapped in thawed and reheated red bean paste of moderate sweetness, then rolled in fine white sugar.
In two words, delicious!
Unfortunately, Qin Huai’s finger skill wasn’t great, so he couldn’t make beautifully shaped sticky rice cakes. Otherwise, Xu Tuqiang could have had the dining experience of a palace lady.
Xu Tuqiang gazed cherishingly at the small dish of sticky rice cake in front of him.
This wasn’t just ordinary sticky rice cake; it was the beginning of his happiness.
"Isn’t it just a bite of rice cake? Look at your expression, someone who doesn’t know might think you found gold." Mr. Cao ruthlessly mocked, expressionless while munching on a bun.
Heh, he didn’t even like rice cakes.
The soft texture stuck to the teeth, and now being older, eating such snacks made from glutinous rice wasn’t easy to digest, causing discomfort.
Xu Tuqiang fiercely took a big bite of the sticky rice cake.
The rice cake was sticky, and Xu Tuqiang felt the tug when he bit into it, evoking a feeling like breaking lotus but still connected by silk.
The fine white sugar evenly coated the rice cake, sticking to the lips. The pure sweetness of the fine white sugar, combined with the subtle rice fragrance of the rice cake, also wrapped with the rich and soft sweetness of red bean paste. Three textures and three flavors mingled in the mouth, blending, merging, and pulling together with the chewing.
Xu Tuqiang thought today’s sticky rice cake was tastier than those he’d bought before.
He really wanted to let out a sound of satisfaction.
But the bite of rice cake he just took was a bit large, and today’s cake was a bit sticky to the teeth, so he couldn’t open his mouth to make any sound.
After a long chew, Xu Tuqiang contentedly swallowed the first bite of rice cake.
Sitting across from him, Grandpa Qian: ...
No way, was Xu Tuqiang doing it on purpose? He hadn’t eaten so enjoyably before!
Grandpa Qian swallowed his saliva and chose to go to the hospital with indigestion discomfort over the heartache of watching Xu Tuqiang eat what he couldn’t.
It’s fine, eating less will only cause discomfort for a while.
Grandpa Qian comforted himself.
That’s what Grandpa Qian thought, and that’s what he did.
Silently getting up, he walked to the window and softly said to Qin Huai, who was pressing red dates in the steaming basket, "Master Qin, could you please also wrap a piece of sticky rice cake for me, just a small piece, I just want to taste it."
The sticky rice cake that Qin Huai made was well-received, possibly because he rarely put so much effort into making sticky rice cake. The success of this batch made Qin Huai realize that sticky rice cake has a market in this area, and there are quite a few diners who love it.
If the process wasn’t so troublesome and if the cake itself couldn’t fetch a high price, and if mass production by machine wouldn’t affect the taste, he would have considered making sticky rice cake a regular snack.
At 9:40, Luo Jun strolled leisurely into the canteen.
Perhaps because Luo Jun had already gone out several times before, his coming out to eat this time didn’t cause much of a stir among the community. The uncles chatting in the canteen merely glanced at him before continuing their conversations.
Luo Jun sat at table 9, without ordering.
Qin Huai knew what he wanted to eat.
Qin Huai found it strange at first why Zhang Shumei hadn’t come to buy breakfast at 9:30, then realized Luo Jun was coming out to eat by himself.
Qin Huai personally served a cage of Five Fillings Bun, two plates of sticky rice cake, and a bowl of mung bean soup.
"Where are my Three Meat Buns?" Luo Jun questioned.
"Try the rice cake first. Rice cakes fill you up. I’m afraid you won’t be able to eat after finishing the rice cakes," Qin Huai thoughtfully said.
Luo Jun wanted to ask Qin Huai if he could cut the cakes smaller, but he didn’t, because he discovered the rice cakes looked quite appealing, so he was willing to eat more.
Two pieces of sticky rice cake, one with red bean filling, the other with jujube paste filling, both wrapped in thick fine white sugar.
"Dr. Qu loves things sweet, so I made the sweetest ones," Qin Huai said.
Luo Jun nodded and started to try the cake.
Luo Jun slowly chewed.
He wanted to speak, but clearly, the cake was a bit sticky, so he could only continue chewing.
Luo Jun sped up his chewing and finally swallowed.
"Not bad." It was the highest praise Luo Jun had given to Qin Huai’s snacks in recent days, "But even if Dr. Qu loves sticky things, isn’t this a bit too sticky?"
"Issues with the texture can be adjusted technically. After a few more deliveries, I should be able to guess Dr. Qu’s favorite texture," Qin Huai explained.
Luo Jun nodded without speaking, finished the remaining sticky rice cake, then ate the Five Fillings Bun and mung bean soup in turn, finally pointing to the remaining piece of rice cake on the plate and said to Zhang Shumei, "Wrap this piece up to take away later."
"Also pack one cage of Three Meat Buns. I missed breakfast this morning; I’ll have them for dinner when I return at noon."
"Will there be sticky rice cake again tomorrow?" Luo Jun asked Qin Huai.
"Of course, there will be."
"Tomorrow I want those dusted with sugar powder. This sugar-wrapped version is too sweet. I’m not a six-year-old who loves sugar that much."
"Got it." Qin Huai responded, mimicking Zhang Shumei’s style, "Well then, Mr. Luo, you’re scheduled for physiotherapy at the hospital at 12:30. Is that okay? If so, I’ll arrange the time with Dr. Qu."
"Thank you for your cooperation." Qin Huai returned to the kitchen to continue making snacks.
At 12:30, Qin Huai arrived punctually at the underground garage with two flavors of sticky rice cake for Qu Jing, only to find Luo Jun already waiting by the car, and quickly opened the door.
"You were 34 seconds late." As soon as he sat in the passenger seat, Luo Jun complained.
"It shows you’re quite punctual." Qin Huai hadn’t expected Luo Jun to arrive early; he thought Luo Jun would linger at home and need him to knock on the door to bring him out.
"Why do I feel like you’re quite eager to do physiotherapy?" Qin Huai glanced at Luo Jun.
Luo Jun’s ears turned red all at once, and he angrily replied, "Nonsense. Who would like such a weird thing? Tying you to that damned bed and shocking you, it’s just paying money to suffer!"
Qin Huai thought Luo Jun was exaggerating a bit, transforming a few electrode patches into getting shocked, according to his narrative.
"But it does have effects." Luo Jun reluctantly admitted, "Before, my back would ache after watching movies for too long, but it’s gotten a bit better these past two days."
"Are you doing lumbar physiotherapy again today?" Qin Huai asked.
"For my leg." Luo Jun glanced out the window, "Xiao Qu keeps nagging me on WeChat to get leg therapy; it’s so annoying. You’re unreliable too, not initiating tasks unless prompted, and even after triggering tasks, you don’t train well. You only made sticky rice cake today, and if Xiao Qu wants a different cake, you’d have to learn again."
"Who knows how many times you’ll need to send rice cakes for this task, I’ve paid for all items anyway, so I might as well do them more thoroughly."
Qin Huai smiled without speaking. As they arrived at the hospital, he took out his phone to send a WeChat message to Qu Jing, informing her of Luo Jun’s plan to thoroughly undergo all physiotherapy programs.
This side quest was truly worthwhile, fulfilling Qu Jing’s wish, enhancing Luo Jun’s health, and conveniently examining Luo Jun’s memory.
As usual, Luo Jun led Qin Huai to the rehabilitation department.
Qu Jing was waiting at the door of the rehabilitation department for a while.
"Mr. Luo, we meet again. After you went back last time, I thought it would be at least two weeks before seeing you at the hospital again. Unexpectedly, you’re back in just a few days, seems last time’s therapy worked well." Qu Jing said with a cheerful smile, dressed in the same thorough attire as before, only with different gloves.
It could be seen, she had quite a few pairs of gloves.
"It’s just so-so." Luo Jun pushed the door open, took a deep breath, "Leg."
"You are not allowed to come in." Luo Jun shouted outside.
"Alright, Master Qin and I will accompany you outside." Qu Jing said, turning to greet Qin Huai, "Master Qin, is it you accompanying Mr. Luo today again?"
"Bored anyway." Qin Huai replied, handing the sticky rice cake to Qu Jing, "I remember you said last time you wanted to try Master Xiao Zheng’s snacks. I’m not good at making those, but sticky rice cake is somewhat similar to that style."
"Sticky rice cake happened to be sold in the canteen today, so I packed two portions for you to try, see if they suit your taste."
Qu Jing accepted the takeout bag with delight, finding chopsticks inside made her even more pleasantly surprised: "This is so timely, I got delayed this morning and left work late, so I didn’t have time to eat in the canteen. I was planning to eat after Mr. Luo’s therapy, and you brought me snacks."
"Isn’t that a coincidence? Why not try them now?"
"How could I be so bold?" Qu Jing said, "I’m still in a white coat; it’s not appropriate to eat in the corridor."
"Eat in the office!" Luo Jun shouted from inside, "Tell me if it’s good, I already told Xiao Qin that today’s rice cake was overly sweet and sticky, and he still insists it’s characteristic."
"Xiao Qu, eat it now! Tell Xiao Qin that today’s rice cake is just subpar!"
Qin Huai silently gave a thumbs-up to Luo Jun’s stellar acting.
With Luo Jun’s words, Qu Jing certainly wouldn’t stand foolishly at the door anymore.
Qu Jing knew where the doctor’s office in the rehabilitation department was. She led Qin Huai to the office, taking off her mask as she walked, revealing a pale face without any makeup.
This time Qu Jing was not only pale from long-term lack of sun exposure, but her lips also lacked color, looking like a hypoglycemic who hadn’t eaten breakfast and ran 800 meters.
"Dr. Qu, are you hypoglycemic?" Qin Huai was startled by Qu Jing’s lip color.
Last time he saw Qu Jing’s face, it was simply paler from seldom seeing sunlight over the years, but now even her lips were colorless.
"Seems like it." Qu Jing nodded, "Back in school, I had irregular meals, often fainting while writing papers."
How could such an outrageous thing be said with such a calm tone?
What kind of workaholic was this, this is too absurd.
"Then quickly go to the office and eat the rice cake. I coated my sticky rice cake with a layer of fine white sugar."