Seeing Qin Huai and Qu Jing come into the kitchen together, Dean Qu’s worried expression finally disappeared. While making buns, she quietly observed Qu Jing.
Qu Jing was wearing a mask and gave Dean Qu a slight smile. The part of her face not covered by the mask showed almost no change, only her eyes crinkled slightly.
Dean Qu, with great understanding, picked up on Qu Jing’s smile and continued to make buns, completely at ease.
Among all those present, only Qin Huai noticed the silent exchange between the two, while no one else was aware.
A staff member next to Dean Qu was surprised and asked, "Hey, when did Jingjing arrive?"
"She just got here. She found out that Master Qin and Master Xiao Zheng would be volunteering at the orphanage today and, worried we might be understaffed, took a few hours off just to come over," said Dean Qu.
The staff member smiled and said, "Of all the kids who have left our orphanage over the years, Jingjing is the most promising and returns the most often. Dean Qu, you’ve raised a good daughter. When Jingjing gets married, you must take the main seat at her wedding."
The joking staff member appeared to be only a few years older than Qu Jing, about 35 or 36, and likely didn’t know about Qu Jing’s middle school days.
Dean Qu maintained her composure, responding with a smile, "Yes, when Jingjing gets married, maybe I’ll really sit in the main seat."
While Dean Qu was joking around, Qin Huai was relatively quiet on the other side.
Only Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan knew how to make dumplings; everyone else was completely at a loss, so the area around them was basically a vacuum. Apart from the occasional person delivering ingredients, even quiet conversations were inaudible.
"When will we head back?" Zheng Siyuan asked.
"Probably after five. As soon as the dumplings are done, we can leave." Qin Huai glanced at the remaining ingredients and thought they might not even last until five.
Seriously, was Zheng Siyuan working too fast?
How many times did the orphanage staff wow while I was away? Were they forming a team to scam Master Xiao Zheng?
"Around four," Qin Huai immediately corrected.
"Those buns..." Zheng Siyuan even wanted to make buns.
"The people at the orphanage will finish them," Qin Huai said. "It’s a group activity anyway. Look how happy the kids are making them."
Zheng Siyuan fell silent and continued to work hard.
As Qin Huai expected, all the dumplings were done by a little after four. Before leaving, Qin Huai specifically sought out Dean Qu to repeatedly remind her that the dumplings wouldn’t last as long as buns, even if they were put in the freezer, and couldn’t be kept for ten days or half a month.
Not to mention, the dumplings are expensive, and the longer they’re stored, the worse they taste. The best way to enjoy them is to eat them all in the shortest time possible.
Dean Qu nodded, indicating she understood, and led Qin Huai to her office to get some documents.
Qin Huai felt like he’d been in and out of Dean Qu’s office three times today.
"Xiao Qin, Jingjing talked to you just now, right?" As expected, once they were in the office, Dean Qu couldn’t resist bringing up the previous matter.
"You really... don’t mind?" Dean Qu looked at Qin Huai.
"I really don’t." Qin Huai looked at Dean Qu with candor.
What was there to mind? Qu Jing wasn’t even human.
Qin Huai indicated that as a system-led protagonist, he already had a Bi Fang waiting to die, a Bai Gao who was stingy, and a Luan bird who sacrificed their future. Adding another creature with severe self-destructive tendencies seemed reasonable.
What was unacceptable about it?
Their Luoluo, being a normal person, accepted that her brother had a system from the time she was in kindergarten.
Although Luoluo isn’t quite accepting of it now.
"Dean Qu, I also grew up in the children’s orphanage," Qin Huai said. "You can’t expect every child from the orphanage to be normal, or horror films wouldn’t so frequently source material from us."
Handing the documents to Qin Huai, Dean Qu said, "I’m really happy Jingjing has a friend like you."
"The matter of introducing Jingjing to someone you mentioned last time, I think we should take it slow," Dean Qu said. "She already has a friend she can confide in, and I think that’s already great."
Qin Huai thought he should connect Dean Qu with Zheng Da on WeChat so they could share experiences on not pressuring people to marry.
That way, Zheng Siyuan might be so touched that he’d stay at Yunzhong Restaurant to work for a couple of years.
"Dean Qu." Qin Huai took the documents. "Is there anything Qu Jing has especially loved to eat since she was a child?"
Dean Qu didn’t expect Qin Huai to change the subject so fast. After thinking for a bit, she said, "Would sticky rice cake count?"
Qin Huai was stunned. He hadn’t expected that Qu Jing really loved sticky rice cake, and had since childhood. But what about the yam? Did the jujube and yam cake lose favor?
"When Jingjing was very young, maybe around three or four, one winter, our orphanage made sticky rice cake soup. Since Jingjing was very obedient from an early age, and we never had to worry about her eating or sleeping, the sticky rice cakes in the soup were cut into very small pieces. We didn’t pay much attention as we fed her because she had her own little spoon to feed herself."
"As a result, she ate too much and got a stomachache. We were so frightened we sent her to the hospital overnight. We thought the child would have learned her lesson and wouldn’t eat sticky rice cake again."
"But a month later, when we made sticky rice cake soup again, Jingjing ate another big bowl. At that time, Sister Zhang, who had been looking after Jingjing since she was young, hadn’t retired yet. If she hadn’t seen it, we might have had to send Jingjing to the hospital for a stomachache once again."
"Later, when Jingjing went to school, whenever she did well in her exams, our orphanage would make sticky rice cake. She loved any kind of sticky rice cake—osmanthus sticky rice cake, sticky rice cake soup, pan-fried sticky rice cake slices—there wasn’t a single kind she didn’t love."
"I remember Jingjing specifically told me that Master Qin’s sticky rice cake was particularly delicious, and almost every dinner she had was sticky rice cake."
Qin Huai left the orphanage deep in thought, holding the documents.
On the way back, Qin Huai drove seriously while Zheng Siyuan, seated in the passenger seat, was incessantly messaging, likely chatting with Zheng Da.
"Si Yuan, I have a question for you," Qin Huai suddenly spoke.
Zheng Siyuan put down his phone, with a knowing expression, he said, "You’re talking about the minced meat we fried this afternoon, right?"
"I think you made a good point, your performance at the orphanage is indeed better than usual at Yunzhong Restaurant. This afternoon you used a big pot, which makes controlling the heat more challenging. But your filling turned out fine, showing that the orphanage really is your comfort zone."
Zheng Siyuan mentioned he had prepared this speech all afternoon.
"No, I wanted to ask what you thought about the sticky rice cake I made?"
"It’s alright," Zheng Siyuan said. "I’ve only had it twice; it tasted normal. Why?"
"Do you think there’s still plenty of room for improvement?"
Zheng Siyuan thought carefully and shook his head. "Sticky rice cake is basically just rice cake."
"My dad told me that sticky rice sounds fancy, but it’s essentially just regular southern glutinous rice. The reason sticky rice cake is considered an imperial snack is primarily due to rarity—northern glutinous rice isn’t suitable for making rice cake, and southern glutinous rice is as precious as gold when shipped north."
"In short, sticky rice cake doesn’t have much technical content. My sticky rice cake could be slightly better because my pastry shop sells it regularly, so I make it more often. If you make it daily like I do, with time, you’d make it just as well."
Then, Zheng Siyuan boldly guessed, "Has Luoluo been craving sticky rice cake again lately?"
"But... is the meat-filled sticky rice cake not quite good?"
Qin Huai looked deeply at Zheng Siyuan, thinking that the apple dough ball must have hit Zheng Siyuan too hard.
Meat-filled sticky rice cake, and he used the phrase ’not quite good’ to describe it.
Zheng Siyuan seemed to be far too accepting right now.