It’s still not exactly delicious, but it’s not as bad as before.
It’s still a bit too sweet. Qin Huai was just starting to try using the taste of winter melon candy to mask the flavors of other ingredients. The dosage was still too much, though, even after trying to control it.
But compared to before, there’s been a significant improvement.
Many of the elders even gave it positive reviews, perhaps holding back their true feelings.
They said that compared to all the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls they’ve had before, the one they had tonight can be considered delicious.
Even though it’s still sweet and not tasty, it’s already the most delicious among the untasty ones.
Qin Huai thought the elders were being manipulated by the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls.
Maybe because they hadn’t tasted good ones before and the first time they had it was an overwhelming version, many of them thought this is the normal taste of mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls, just that being outsiders, they’re not accustomed to it.
Once they defined it as untasty in their minds, the normally untasty ones became tasty.
On the third day, Qin Huai continued his attempts.
Still not tasty, but there’s some progress compared to the second day. It was no longer as sweet on the foundation of being untasty. Qin Huai felt he had touched on a bit of the right proportion for the winter melon candy.
On the fourth day, Qin Huai, while controlling the use of winter melon candy, started trying to highlight the flavors of other nuts and candied fruits.
This was the thought process for making a normal mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball.
Winter melon candy would cover most of the other ingredients’ flavors but shouldn’t cover them all; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball but a winter melon candy ball.
On the fourth day, Qin Huai was very cautious during the process because he knew he had found the right path.
Unlike before when he was like a headless fly crashing around randomly without direction, he could be bold and creative, however whimsical. But once he’d found the correct direction, it was down to strict variable control and step-by-step testing.
Over four days, not a single elder was missing from those eating the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls.
Every evening, rain or shine, they arrived on time; standing from Qin Huai’s house to Gong Liang’s house; those who couldn’t stand brought their own little stools, each with a determined attitude and firm expression.
Saying they would not drop out, they wouldn’t let Master Qin down.
Then privately they secretly created a small group chat to discuss how long they would have to keep eating these mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls.
Even though they were not as bad as before, they were still not tasty. Truly, each place has its own taste and as outsiders, they’re not used to the local flavor.
Then on that day, the elders were surprised to find that their tastes seemed to have been assimilated.
The mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball, which seemed like a headache, didn’t taste as bad anymore.
Not correct, it’s not that it’s just less bad—it had become not bad.
It had turned into a taste that people could accept, a very normal taste.
Of course, it still wasn’t good.
It was just a sweet one, filled with a lot of nuts tucked into glutinous rice, looking richly filled and nutritious, but with an extremely ordinary taste. Eating one or two is not much of an issue, just an ordinary glutinous rice ball.
Something with many substitutes, you don’t eat it when there are better options, but it’s okay to have it when there are none.
Grandma Ding was dumbfounded.
She was holding a bowl and a spoon, eyeing the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball with a tiny bite taken out, exposing the filling inside. At first glance, it looked quite nice, rich in ingredients.
Grandma Ding suspected that she had been self-hypnotizing herself on the way there, and it worked successfully.
On her way, she’d been telling herself to encourage Master Qin, to praise the taste of the glutinous rice ball as acceptable, to praise more, and to accept it.
Grandma Ding genuinely wanted to encourage Qin Huai and truly hoped Qin Huai would believe her words so he would stop making the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls and move on to something else.
Grandma Ding said that even at her age, she had come from hardship as a child, and even now, though she has quite a bit of money and life is good, she did indeed suffer a lot when she was young.
Now that she’s older, she wants to eat something sweet but not this kind of sweet.
It’s enough to have Ouyang for the taste tests, he’s young and can handle it.
Grandma Ding suspected that she really had fooled herself, even her taste buds were deceived.
"I feel like today’s rice ball is okay... Is it... is it my problem?" Grandma Ding began to question her life.
An unnamed grandma was also puzzled: "I don’t know, because I also think it’s okay."
Then this grandma widened her presbyopic eyes, staring at the rice ball, wondering aloud: "Is this still the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball?"