Compared to the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, the Rabbit Bun is simply on easy mode.
During the steaming of the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, Qin Huai effortlessly finished making the remaining Rabbit Buns, regaining control of his hands, and finally didn’t have to internally scream at his hands to move.
Qin Huai wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he even felt that his hands were a bit more nimble than before.
Of course, this was definitely Qin Huai’s imagination; it’s not like his skills had leveled up, no such rapid progress had occurred.
While Ouyang was in the restroom, Qin Huai took the opportunity to check on the status of his upgraded Finger Skill.
Finger Skill (Intermediate): You’ve finally started shaping pastries. (9/10000)
Where did this game system learn to be so sarcastic? There’s no one around him this sarcastic.
Anyway, with Finger Skill upgraded to Intermediate, Qin Huai has finally gotten all necessary Skills (except Knife Skills) out of the Basic struggle, making his skill panel look not as off-putting.
Only when you seriously work on proficiency do you realize how hard it is to be a hexagonal warrior like Zheng Da.
Chen Huihong carried the Rabbit Buns home, and while leaving, she also took two packs of cheese sticks from Qin Huai’s fridge. Qin Huai glanced at the time; it was getting late, so he quickly carried the freshly steamed Qianhua Gongdeng Bun to Gong Liang’s house.
Although Ouyang’s sense of taste may be problematic, there is definitely no problem with his sense of aesthetics.
At least his eyesight is okay.
He wasn’t wrong; the Qianhua Gongdeng Buns Qin Huai made are a bit crooked. This is because Qin Huai’s Finger Skill level isn’t high enough, his hands aren’t steady enough, and his actions aren’t practiced enough. So when pinching the floral edges, he didn’t do it well, causing the edges to be uneven in length.
The raw bun was a bit crooked, and this crookedness was magnified after steaming.
This is also why shaping pastries is difficult; every little issue can be amplified during steaming. To avoid disaster, you must minimize errors during the process.
These two Qianhua Gongdeng Buns have undoubtedly been botched.
But the mess wasn’t severe. Although they’re crooked, it’s still clear they’re Qianhua Gongdeng Buns. The shape does have commendable aspects and isn’t outright ugly.
Qin Huai knocked on Gong Liang’s door.
Gong Liang seemed to be squatting at the door, as the door swung open immediately, startling Qin Huai.
"Master Qin, you’ve worked so hard. To make buns for me this late at night, it must have disrupted your sleep."
"A while ago, a friend recommended a really excellent sleep-aid aroma to me. I’ll buy some and bring it over in a few days; it’s very beneficial for sleep."
As Gong Liang spoke, he deftly took the plate, inviting Qin Huai inside.
Qin Huai waved his hand indicating he wouldn’t go in. It was indeed very late, and he said a couple more things before hurrying home to wash up and sleep, or else he’d be late for work the next day.
"Mr. Gong, it’s indeed my first time making Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, and I’m not very skilled with Finger Skills, so they’re a bit ugly, please don’t mind."
"I don’t know what Qianhua Gongdeng Bun you’ve had before looked like, could you please recall and compare them to mine? If there are any issues or shortcomings, please let me know on WeChat. It’s late, so I’ll head back for now and come by tomorrow morning to collect the plate."
"Oh, how could I trouble you, Master Qin, to come and get it? I’ll deliver it to you tomorrow morning!"
After Qin Huai left, Gong Liang looked at the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun on the plate with a moved expression, only looking but not eating.
"Old Gong, are you going to eat the bun or not? If you don’t eat it soon, it’ll get cold. If you don’t eat it, I’ll start."
Guo Mingzhu couldn’t hold back any longer.
"I’m trying to recall what the previous Qianhua Gongdeng Bun I had looked like. It’s been so many years; I hardly remember, just that it was quite pretty. Mingzhu, do you remember?"
Guo Mingzhu shook her head, indicating how could she remember after so many years? She can’t even remember the taste, let alone the shape.
"Are you going to eat it?" Guo Mingzhu didn’t want to reminisce; she just wanted to eat the bun now.
"Mingzhu, you go ahead and eat it. Let me recall a bit more; otherwise, I won’t be able to report back to Master Qin."
Gong Liang continued to reminisce.
Guo Mingzhu looked at the bun, then at her husband, thought for a moment, and reluctantly decided not to eat as well. She sat by the dining table and, like Gong Liang, stared at the buns on the plate, trying hard to recall.
What exactly did the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun they once ate look like?
Couldn’t remember at all; just remembered being stuffed after eating the Four Happiness glutinuous rice that day. Glutinous rice dumplings were indeed filling, making it hard to sleep at night due to fullness.
How long Gong Liang and Guo Mingzhu spent reminiscing about the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun that night was unknown to Qin Huai. He only found out the next morning when he woke up to a lengthy WeChat message from Gong Liang that was comparable to a work report.
It turns out that when people really push themselves, they can discover how great their memory actually is.
The message Gong Liang wrote was vivid, as if he had a bun made by Master Jing beside him for comparison.
The WeChat message was very useful.
Although as a layman, Gong Liang couldn’t possibly know the actual difficulty of making Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, based on his description, Qin Huai could vaguely see that Master Jing’s Qianhua Gongdeng Bun looked better than Zheng Da’s.
Still more practice needed.
Damn, there are so many skills to hone; why is becoming a hexagonal warrior so difficult?
After going to Huang Ji, Qin Huai didn’t mention to Zheng Siyuan what he discovered the night before.
Qin Huai planned to try making a few more on his own first, ensuring his guessing and misdirection were correct before telling Zheng Siyuan.
He also needed to give himself a few days to come up with explanations.