"Sure enough, the old man at the back lived a long life, for over 100 years."
"The custom of boiling bean soup spread, with the more types of beans used, the better. Each type with 100 beans, the more types, the better the symbolism, the deeper the blessings."
"Every New Year, my grandma wanted some good fortune, but with too many types of beans, the soup didn’t taste good. So she usually only put in a few types of beans or just cooked mung bean soup, red bean soup, drinking a few more bowls, the symbolism was the same."
"Luoluo mentioned bean soup, which reminded me that many times, the diversity of ingredients isn’t to make the dish delicious, but because the more diverse, the better the symbolism."
"Think about it, on Mr. Gong’s birthday, Master Jing made two types of snacks, Qianhua Gongdeng Bun and Four Happiness glutinous rice, both with great symbolism. Similarly, the complicated ingredients in mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball might not be to make them taste better, but for their symbolism."
"So I felt inspired, combined this with various hints from winter melon candy, and thought it should be this way. I practiced at home for a few days."
"You see, this path is feasible. Shouldn’t we follow this direction..." Qin Huai deliberately paused, giving Zheng Siyuan and Tan Wei’an time to chime in.
Tan Wei’an was a bit bewildered. He thought Qin Huai made sense, but he didn’t understand.
He felt Qin Huai was weaving a story to fool him, but the logic seemed smooth, and he couldn’t figure out why Qin Huai would make up a story to fool him.
He didn’t understand.
He didn’t understand how one could deduce such an astonishing idea from clues about winter melon candy and a WeChat chat with his sister.
Is this what genius is? Is this the world of a genius?
When Master Tan, Tan Wei’an’s grandfather, was alive, he always told Tan Wei’an that although his talent was decent, there was still a big gap compared to true geniuses. Tan Wei’an always felt that his grandfather was undermining him to boost others.
How could there be a big gap, at most a slight one.
Now Tan Wei’an feels his grandfather was right.
Zheng Siyuan suddenly realized, "I see. I hadn’t thought of that layer."
Not you, just accepted it like that?
Qin Huai chatted with his sister about the New Year, and the mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball just broke through, does that make sense?
"To think of such a method and still make delicious mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls, you deserve to be a master." Zheng Siyuan exclaimed.
"Exactly," Qin Huai agreed, "I think with our level, at most we can make it taste alright. To make it outstanding from this base, it’s indeed too difficult."
No, did you guys just happily move on to the next part?
Did you gloss over the previous part so lightly?
Do geniuses’ minds work this magically? Are they this accepting? Do they understand each other so well?
Tan Wei’an quietly moved away from the two, walked over to Guli, and asked, "Did you hear what Little Brother just said? Do you understand it? Do you think it’s reasonable?"
Guli continued making Ruyi Roll, saying calmly, "I don’t understand, but since Master Qin and Master Xiao Zheng understand it, this thought process is probably correct."
Tan Wei’an went to make snacks with a puzzled look on his face.
Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan weren’t idle either. Since Zheng Siyuan didn’t come to Huang Ji in advance, he started making, boiling, and eating glutinous rice balls as soon as he arrived, taking a long time, so there wasn’t enough time to make wontons anymore.
Qin Huai took the initiative to suggest that Zheng Siyuan didn’t need to make wontons this morning, and he would make chicken soup noodles, which was faster to knead.
Zheng Siyuan loved chicken soup noodles and agreed on the spot, saying he wanted to eat two bowls.
He hadn’t had chicken soup noodles for many days.
Since he didn’t have to make breakfast, Zheng Siyuan went to work early to help Qin Huai, kneading a batch of guo’er dough.
Currently, the only people in Huang’s Kitchen who can help Qin Huai with such tasks are Zheng Siyuan and Zheng Da.
At 8:40, Dong Shi rushed to Huang Ji for breakfast.
As soon as he entered the kitchen, Dong Shi was pleasantly surprised to find that Qin Huai was making breakfast today, and there was chicken soup noodles to eat. Yay!
What a wonderful day!
If he could eat a bowl of chicken soup noodles made by Qin Huai in the morning, Dong Shi thought he wouldn’t even mind if he didn’t hear any new gossip about Sixth Master’s love life during the lunch break.
"There’s mixed fruit filling glutinous rice balls over there, Dong Shi, if your stomach can handle it, help me taste one and give some feedback." Qin Huai said casually.
Dong Shi had a great sense of taste and was good at expressing it, though he talked a lot of nonsense, making him an excellent taste-tester.
Indeed, every gift comes with a secret price tag.
The cost of eating chicken soup noodles this morning was to eat a mixed fruit filling Four Happiness glutinous rice ball before the noodles.
Let’s do it for the sake of his friendship with Qin Huai.
Dong Shi, looking like he was on a heroic mission, walked to the basin, trying to pick a small one out, only to find they’re all about the same size, so he had to choose one he thought was slightly smaller.
The glutinous rice balls were a bit cold.
But that didn’t affect eating them.
Dong Shi took a big bite.
For the sake of friendship... eh?
This glutinous rice ball!
It was actually a bit tasty!
If a year ago Dong Shi had tasted this kind of mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball, he would have said just one word—passable. But not now, now Dong Shi has eaten many that were either outrageously bad or just averagely bad.
Now suddenly eating one that’s actually decent.
How can there be such a delicious, so normal mixed fruit filling glutinous rice ball in this world!
"Qin... Qin Huai, did you make this?" Dong Shi was astonished.
"Yes." Qin Huai was still kneading the dough, without looking up, "Haven’t you heard about the new approach the other day? I’ve been practicing these past days. Well, how’s the result?"
"Great, really great!" Dong Shi was very supportive.
In the next second, Dong Li came to work.
"Bro!" Dong Shi pounced on him like an overjoyed husky, excitedly announcing, "Brother, I think the rumor is true. Qin Huai must be secretly working tirelessly and burning the midnight oil to make snacks every night after going home!"
"Go taste that glutinous rice ball, that’s the evidence!"
Who’s spreading such rumors out there about him?