Qin Luo wasn’t sure if his task during the New Year was just to eat, but he knew his current task was definitely wrapping.
Wrapping glutinous rice balls wasn’t too hard, but the Qin Family Breakfast Shop never sold them, and the Qin Family members had no experience making them. They didn’t know how much filling to use or what the four different shapes should look like. They could only stand by and watch helplessly.
Qin Huai had to assign the others to wrap buns while he made all the glutinous rice balls himself.
Thankfully, he was an experienced hand, and he’d wrapped enough glutinous rice balls recently.
After the first batch was wrapped, Director Qin cooked a pot, four pieces per person. Normally Qin Luo wouldn’t be able to eat four pieces, but considering she’d been eating non-stop on her way back, she counted as one serving today.
Qin Huai was worried while the rice balls were cooking, frequently checking the pot and reminding Director Qin to turn down the heat.
Director Qin had a history; her infamous pot of sesame glutinous rice skin soup was her handiwork. As the orphanage director, her skill points might have focused on taking care of children, but none were in cooking.
"Hot rice balls are ready! Everyone, take a break and eat the rice balls first. Huaihuai, stop wrapping; it’s okay if we don’t finish, just eat first." Director Qin served the rice balls expertly and almost instinctively tried to feed Qin Luo with a spoon when handing her the bowl.
Qin Luo took the bowl and was about to eat the rice ball directly.
"Luoluo, three minutes and fifty seconds." Qin Huai reminded.
Qin Huai wasn’t too worried about Qin Luo getting burned. She had a tough mouth and stomach and was very aware of her body’s state. If she really ate something too hot, she’d spit it out immediately.
Qin Huai was more worried about others imitating her and ending up in the hospital tonight.
Everyone present was older, and an esophageal burn was no small matter.
Hearing this, Qin Luo quickly stopped and pulled out her phone to start a stopwatch: "Brother, Director Qin took a while to serve the rice balls, so I’ll just count down three minutes."
Uncle Qin, who was hard of hearing, didn’t catch the siblings’ conversation. A curious volunteer without a surname asked, "Is there something special about the big rice balls?"
Qin Luo nodded solemnly: "After many tests and calculations, my brother determined that the Four Happiness Dumplings must be eaten three minutes and fifty seconds after being served for the best temperature."
The crowd was enlightened and felt that the snacks in big cities were indeed different, precise to the second. Impressive.
Then they all put down their bowls and watched Qin Luo’s phone, waiting for the three-minute countdown to end.
Uncle Qin, who hadn’t heard a word, was puzzled, and after asking Director Qin loudly a few times, he had an epiphany, "I know, I saw this on TV. The imperial chef has to pour something in front of the Emperor for a few seconds before the dish is ready."
It wasn’t that serious.
The three minutes and fifty seconds were actually...
Ouyang’s greatest contribution to the Four Happiness Dumplings.
After three minutes, with the vibration of the phone, everyone picked up their bowls and started eating.
Qin Luo experienced and displayed red bean filling; others thought she was experienced and imitated, choosing red bean filling first too.
No one reacted much, only Qin Luo seemed a bit disappointed.
This time, the red bean paste filling used was the most common store-bought product, neither good nor bad, unlike some breakfast shops’ homemade bean paste, not to mention Qin Huai’s homemade red bean paste, which was incomparable.
"These big rice balls taste just like the small ones. Do people in Gusu not like small rice balls, so they make them so big?" Uncle Qin murmured, thinking no one else could hear him in the kitchen.
Director Qin shouted back loudly, "Maybe, but Huaihuai’s glutinous rice skin is pretty tasty."
See, Director Qin’s love for Qin Huai was evident at that moment.
Qin Luo chose the sesame sugar filling for her second one, and was even more let down. It tasted just like the most common frozen dumplings you can buy in the supermarket.
Of course, the glutinous rice skin was a bit tastier.
Uncle Qin concluded, "The people over in Gusu really do seem to like big rice balls!"
For the third one, the fresh meat filling.
Qin Huai and Qin Luo bit into the fresh meat glutinous rice balls almost at the same time, both surprised by them.
How to put it? When the red bean paste and sesame sugar fillings are very tasty, the fresh meat rice ball seems plain, not memorable, just a savory dumpling to balance the sweet and salty.
But when the red bean paste and sesame sugar fillings are mediocre, the fresh meat rice ball becomes incredibly delicious.
One bite was stunning.
The encompassing pork flavor, the firm texture, the rich juices, the salty seasoning, meeting the tongue slightly tired of two sweet fillings, touched by the meat filling.
Oh, the mighty meat-filled rice ball conquered the diner’s taste buds.
"Mmm," Qin Luo sounded an appreciative hum, chewed eagerly, and swallowed quickly, exclaiming excitedly, "Brother, you did it, today’s meat-filled rice balls are so delicious!"
Silly girl, that’s not success. It’s merely the absence of harm when there’s no comparison.
If you eat a bowl of Director Qin’s sesame glutinous rice soup first, then a very ordinary sesame sugar filling rice ball, you’ll find the latter extremely tasty too.
Qin Luo devoured the meat-filled rice ball and then scooped a mixed fruit filling rice ball into her mouth.
"Mmm," Qin Luo made another sound of praise.
Louder than Qin Luo’s praise was Uncle Qin’s exclamation.
"These last two flavors aren’t bad; the big city rice balls really have something special!"
With such a way of eating, wanting to criticize first then praise, Director Qin and others felt that the Four Happiness Dumplings were very much worth eating.
Qin Congwen even felt he’d discovered the secret to the Four Happiness Dumplings, eat the mediocre red bean paste and sesame sugar fillings first, then the tasty meat and mixed fruit fillings, highlighting the latter.
This was the same philosophy as Qin Family Breakfast Shop selling buns. The first batch was Qin Congwen’s, then the second batch mixed with Qin Huai’s.
If you don’t eat the first batch, you won’t know how valuable the second batch of buns is.
Indeed, big cities are full of tricks!
After finishing the rice balls, Qin Huai continued wrapping them.
The others had finished wrapping their buns, but Qin Huai was still wrapping rice balls.
Seeing that no one else could help, Director Qin, adhering to the principle that not staying in the kitchen to make a mess was the biggest help, led everyone to her office to admire the children’s artwork from the year.
Mostly leading Qin Congwen, Qin Luo, and Zhao Rong.
Since the orphanage’s watercolor pens became fully stocked, the children’s painting skills have improved tremendously; their work is finally something people can look at.
Qin Huai suspected Director Qin might slip in some personal agendas during this artwork appreciation session.
But he had to wrap the rice balls and couldn’t stop her.
Even if he could stop it, he couldn’t, as every year when the New Year came, it was artwork appreciation time. Graduates visiting Director Qin and kindhearted volunteers could all visit her office to appreciate them; it was almost like an art gallery exhibition hall.
Qin Huai could only silently wrap rice balls, so Director Qin would eat more of the regular rice balls. After the New Year, he’d give Director Qin fewer tasty rice balls, a one-time expression of his dissatisfaction.
By 10:30, Qin Huai finished his task.
Having played with her phone for an hour, Qin Luo was stunned when she found out Qin Huai had finished wrapping all the rice balls, exclaiming what kind of training camp he’d attended in Gusu to suddenly become so efficient at work.
Qin Huai could only say that everyone truly had no idea about the customer flow at Huang Ji.
At 10:36, Qin Congwen packed the rice balls to distribute to neighbors and drove back.
At 10:58, the Qin Family members arrived downstairs at the apartment complex.
The entrance to the building was packed.
Familiar neighbors lined up in a long queue, all cheerful, knowing they were here to line up for rice balls at night, while outsiders might have thought they lined up for eggs at the supermarket before it even opened.
As Qin Huai got out of the car and saw the long line, he briefly thought he was back at the entrance of Huang Ji.
Qin Huai had concluded his exchange at Huang Ji, but it wasn’t completely over.
Seeing Qin Huai and the others return, the neighborhood folks greeted them warmly.
"Huaihuai, you’re back! Is your family’s breakfast shop still open?"
"Huaihuai, is Shan City fun? When are you planning to come back?"
"Huaihuai, what are Four Happiness Dumplings? I looked them up online; they seem to be big rice balls with four flavors. Is it because people in Shan City eat these for New Year’s, so you’re making them this year? Will you still sell Four Happiness Dumplings this year?"
"Huaihuai looks thinner, from exhaustion? Big cities are tough; our small county is better!"
"Luoluo’s gotten taller!"