January 3rd, sunny, with a gentle breeze.
Being the last day of the New Year’s holiday, the business at various major restaurants, malls, and other entertainment venues across the country is always better than usual.
The business at Huang Ji Restaurant is also better than usual.
Yesterday, Qin Huai went back early to rest and adjust his schedule, but he couldn’t change his body clock overnight, wanting to sleep in but unable to.
Compared to his previous wake-up time of 4 a.m., his current work schedule of starting at 9:30 a.m. is several time zones away.
Qin Huai woke up early in the morning, feeling bored, watched a variety show for over ten minutes but found it uninteresting, and grew tired of the cheese sticks in the fridge, so he decided to make something sweet to eat.
After some thought, Qin Huai felt making breakfast at home was a good idea.
Making Four Happiness glutinous rice balls.
Ouyang heard the noise from the kitchen, walked out of his room with messy hair, and turned green seeing the unshaped, blind box-style Four Happiness glutinous rice balls cooking in the pot.
If anyone were to claim they’ve eaten the most mixed fruit-filled Four Happiness glutinous rice balls recently, Ouyang would have something to say.
Even though the rice balls Qin Huai practiced in the kitchen in the afternoon were shared among the fearless crowd of Huang Ji, most of those that Qin Huai practiced more on at night at home ended up in Ouyang’s stomach.
Sometimes, Ouyang feels that those small meals he eats at the Bone Setting Shop every night are Qin Huai’s compensation to him.
"Qin Huai, what flavor are these..." Ouyang cautiously asked.
"Normal flavor, with radish filling, not mixed fruit." Qin Huai stirred the pancakes in the pot. "Do you want some, how many bowls?"
Hearing Qin Huai say this, Ouyang felt relieved and immediately stated, "Two bowls!"
A few minutes later, the rice balls were ready.
Qin Huai served one in a regular bowl, while Ouyang served a big bowl, both having enough experience to start chatting first instead of eating right away, allowing the rice balls to cool.
"Huihui will have her vacation the day after tomorrow, right?" Qin Huai said. "Have you rented the house for Sister Hong?"
"All rented." Ouyang, with a spoon in hand filled with rice balls, blew on it while speaking, "It’s in the building behind; Sister Hong likes to shop, so I rented her a three-room place. I saw the house, a bit old, with 20-year-old furniture. After discussing with Sister Hong, we replaced it with new furniture and have been busy with it these days."
"Huihui finishes her exams on the afternoon of the 5th, and Sister Hong will arrive on the 6th."
"Changing furniture?" Qin Huai was a bit surprised, "That must cost a lot, right?"
"Quite a lot." Ouyang nodded, "I asked Mr. Gong next door, and he recommended a full set of smart home appliances. Sister Hong plans to buy that house directly, but the owner seems reluctant to sell, still negotiating."
The renting style of the rich is truly puzzling.
"Do you have anything to do today?" Qin Huai continued to ask.
Ouyang blew twice more, began eating, and was lucky enough to get a meat-filled one, no need to perform a tap dance.
"No." Ouyang mumbled, "I planned to eat at Huang Ji today, but haven’t you become famous in some magazine? Definitely can’t get a meal there, I still have a lot of money left from my dad, so I plan to have a good meal at Guanhe Building for lunch."
"Anything in the afternoon?"
"If it’s convenient, could you drop by Huang Ji after lunch? You might not know Uncle Wang arrived in Gusu yesterday..."
"I know." Ouyang chewed and swallowed the remaining rice ball and took out his phone from his pajama pocket, opened WeChat and showed Qin Huai the pinned group chat.
[Yunzhong District Residents Chat Group]
There’s even such a residents chat group in Yunzhong District? How come he didn’t know this as a district resident?
Opening the group messages, Qin Huai found there were quite a few people, mostly familiar faces. Xu Tuqiang, Uncle Wang, Grandpa Qian, Grandma Ding were all there, as well as Chen Huihong, everyone discussing about plane tickets, lodging, and hotels.
"Are Grandma Ding and the others planning a group trip?" Qin Huai asked.
"They’re organizing a group to come over." Ouyang pointed at his phone, "No idea who spread the false news saying that you were favored by the boss of Huang Ji, planning to marry their daughter and let you inherit Huang Ji, indicating you’d soon stay in Gusu as a son-in-law, not returning to Yunzhong Restaurant."
"I didn’t even hear that Huang An Yao has sisters."
Is that the main point?!
"Did everyone form a tour group just for this?" Qin Huai was shocked.
He found he really didn’t understand the residents of Yunzhong District, no wonder he couldn’t get into that residents group chat.
"Maybe they just want to visit for fun too." Ouyang expressed he wasn’t very clear about why either, "Gusu is nice, isn’t Sister Hong bringing Huihui over as well?"
Qin Huai was briefly convinced, thought for a while before remembering he wasn’t trying to discuss this, and quickly steered the topic back.
"As I was saying, yesterday Uncle Wang came to Huang Ji to line up for snacks and bumped into Qu Jing. Recently, with Huang Ji’s good business, Qu Jing was too embarrassed to ask me to cut in line for small meals, so she has been sneaking in during holiday times to get snacks herself."
"Isn’t today the launch day for the new guo’er? Qu Jing hasn’t had Four Happiness glutinous rice balls, so after lunch come over and help me deliver snacks to Qu Jing, you know her hospital’s address, right?"
"Yes." Ouyang nodded, thought for a bit, and asked, "Is the Four Happiness glutinous rice ball you’re delivering to Dr. Qu a proper rice ball?"
Qin Huai: "...I can make proper mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls!"
After finishing his meal, Qin Huai watched another half-hour of drama, then headed out to Huang Ji when it was about time.
It’s rare to go to work this late, feels unusual.
As soon as he exited the district gate, Qin Huai was astonished by what he saw.
Qin Huai’s residence was right across from Huang Ji, only a 5-minute walk to work, very close.