In the kitchen, the Qin Family had everyone they could put to work there.
The neighbors also had everyone they could put to work there.
Everyone knew that this year Qin Huai returned home late, and many materials for making snacks needed to be prepared in advance.
In previous years, aside from having dinner in the countryside on the day of the Little New Year, Qin Huai would return by the latest on the twenty-eighth to prepare supplies for the upcoming 15-day long stretch.
This year, Qin Huai only returned to the countryside on New Year’s Eve, and many villagers in Qin Family Village were worried that Qin Huai had made a lot of money outside and didn’t want to work anymore, planning to take it easy this New Year.
Seeing Qin Huai head straight for the kitchen as soon as he got home, everyone was relieved.
In the kitchen, the helpers were already in their places.
While in the minibus earlier, Qin Huai had already hinted to Qin Luo about the snacks to be eaten tonight. Besides the mentioned snacks, Qin Huai planned to brew Dried Tangerine Peel Tea, stew Gastrodia with pigeon, stir fry Cabbage and Meat, to round off the year perfectly.
Due to tight schedules and heavy tasks, even the family’s long-cultivated helpers were clearly insufficient at this moment. Qin Huai asked Mr. Qin and Granny Qin to urgently issue a call in the village, seeking helpers with excellent skills and rich work experience.
The pay? A bag of blind box snacks.
The aunt from a family at the village head ran a handmade beef ball shop in town; as soon as she heard about this good fortune, she decided not to make her family’s New Year’s Eve dinner, grabbed her cleaver, and went straight to Mr. Qin’s house.
Master Qin, having returned from advanced studies in Gusu, began assigning tasks to the helpers.
"Mom and Dad, you’re familiar with the ingredients for Three Meat Buns, Five Fillings Bun, Meat Buns, Char Siu Buns, Vermicelli Bun, Shiitake Mushroom Bun, and Radish Bun. Your task today is to guide aunt, younger uncle’s wife, second uncle, and second cousin aunt in processing these ingredients, and then help wrap the buns."
"Uncle and Luoluo, your task today is chopping firewood; chop when it’s insufficient, and evidently, Grandpa and Grandma haven’t prepared enough firewood today."
"Grandma, when the steaming basket starts steaming, hold a phone timer on the side to keep track of the time. Timing is crucial, and whether the snacks today turn out tasty depends entirely on you."
"By the way, the chicken soup I asked you to help with yesterday is all done, right? You’ve stewed seven old hens, should you stew more if it’s not enough? That’s plenty."
Further stewing will leave us with no chickens left this year.
"Grandpa, your task is to chat with the village chief and the others outside and receive gifts, but please don’t let them into the kitchen; it’s just too busy today to spare time for socializing."
"Aunt Wang, your task is the most important. How the meat for handmade beef balls should be sliced initially, and how today’s meat should be minced — but not too tight, slightly loose; do you understand what I mean by that?" Qin Huai asked.
Aunt Wang, who applied with her cleaver, nodded emphatically.
"Third Aunt and Sixth Aunt, the heavy responsibility of tending to the fire is entrusted to you."
Seeing that Qin Huai had assigned tasks to everyone, He Cheng, who suddenly found himself unemployed, felt a bit lost. In previous years, he always chopped firewood while tending to the fire; why the unemployment this year?
"Brother, what about me?" He Cheng voiced his job inquiry.
"Your task is also very important; you’re mainly in charge of brewing tea and serving tea."
He Cheng didn’t understand and went to the grandpa’s room to look for tea leaves.
Under Master Qin’s direction, everyone in the kitchen began their tense snack preparations in earnest.
Qin Huai’s first task was, of course, kneading dough.
Although his main task this New Year was to make the Four Happiness glutinous rice to Level A, today’s New Year’s Eve snacks needed to be abundant and colorful. Among the snacks Qin Huai excelled at, dough-based ones still comprised the majority.
Qin Huai started by kneading dough for the Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns.
More Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns would be made; it’s unique, requires long fermentation, and is simple. With so many relatives and villagers helping today, making extra for everyone to take home is a nice way to introduce Huang Ji’s special Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns to Qin Family Village.
Back when Huang Ji was still a state-owned restaurant and Master Jing was around, it was very popular for nearby residents to rush to the state restaurant before the year-end to buy Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns and eat them for New Year.
Huang Shengli and Zheng Da said that, during their childhood, the taste of Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns was essentially synonymous with the taste of New Year’s.
Having a plate of braised pork at home for New Year wasn’t impressive; having a big basin of Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns truly was.
This year, it’s time for Qin Family Village residents to try the taste of New Year from decades ago beloved by Gusu people.
Qin Huai skillfully began kneading the dough.
The Third Aunt and Sixth Aunt, tasked with tending the fire and yet to begin, started skillfully praising.
"Huaihuai’s skill, just a glance at his dough kneading, and you know his skill must be exceptional," Third Aunt praised.
Sixth Aunt was not to be outdone: "Indeed, Huaihuai is a child I watched grow up, and knew he was different. The way he kneads dough, just like they perform in TV dramas."
"Yes, indeed." Third Aunt, temporarily out of more insightful words, could only agree.
While they praised mindlessly, Qin Congwen was genuinely bewildered.
If you had to find a second person in this kitchen who could barely be called a pastry chef, it would definitely be Qin Congwen.
Truthfully, Qin Congwen felt that his bun-making skills had improved this year.
Previously, Qin Congwen only knew his son was incredible at making snacks and kneading dough was delicious, but he couldn’t replicate it nor understood how it was good. Qin Huai couldn’t really explain when asked either.
Qin Huai could only tell Qin Congwen that this was how he kneaded, and when it felt right, it was right. This kind of stream of consciousness exchange could only occur between Qin Huai and Zheng Da.