"The Four Happiness glutinous rice balls are ready, are there any more bowls? There are no bowls left in the kitchen."
"Bring two more to serve the glutinous rice balls."
"The family of the third child, have your daughter and son wash the bowls faster, we need them!"
"Luoluo, don’t stand idle, stop listening to gossip. Go to the house of your ninth great-uncle at the end of the village to ask if there are any bowls left, bring them all, and ask them to come over tonight to eat."
"Luoluo’s uncle, you’re not in a hurry to leave, right? If not, go to the kitchen to help out, we need people, is there anyone who can cut vegetables? We don’t need a meat chopper, just someone who can use a knife to chop nuts and dried fruits is fine, and a few strong ones to chop wood. Are there any? Quickly get into the kitchen!"
"I remember a few years ago there was a girl quite good at lighting the fire, she even helped Huaihuai in the kitchen, why hasn’t she come today? Didn’t come back for the New Year? She came but stayed home and didn’t come over. Now calling her over, isn’t that troublesome? It’s not troublesome? Quickly call her over, we need people, really lacking people."
On the first day of the New Year, Granny Qin was only tallying all kinds of New Year’s goods brought by distant relatives, but by the second day, she had already become the foreman, shouting everywhere to get real relatives to work.
It’s not that she doesn’t trust unfamiliar relatives, but real relatives are reliable, no risk of them slacking off or sneaking food after a while.
If caught doing that, how will they come next year to celebrate New Year and snag snacks?
Qin Huai’s uncle was dumbfounded.
As the legitimate uncle of Qin Huai, he definitely has a name. Uncle’s name is Zhao Siqiang, and he’s two years older than Granny Qin. Over at the Zhao family, names are given based on generational character, so Qin Huai’s uncles and aunts are all Zhao Si x, except for Zhao Rong.
It’s said that Zhao Rong was a posthumous child, born when the family was so poor they couldn’t even decide whether to raise this little daughter, so they hadn’t even decided on a name. Later, when they decided to keep her, they casually picked the name Rong.
Of course, this is Zhao Rong’s version.
Uncle Zhao Siqiang absolutely disagrees, according to him, in the Zhao family, they cherish little daughters, and choosing a name with the character Si for girls is tough, a single Rong sounds better.
That’s right, for so many years, the Zhao family has worried about their little sister, so during New Year, they’re reluctant to let the whole family visit her; instead, they actively go to her house.
Despite being seventy, with graying hair, walking with a cane, four generations under one roof, having so many tables for a family feast.
But his love for the little sister remains unchanged! Every year during New Year, he, as the elder brother, would personally come to the little sister’s house with bowl and chopsticks, leading his victorious sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters to celebrate.
The one Granny Qin just mentioned as skilled in lighting the fire is Zhao Siqiang’s third granddaughter, who couldn’t join the competition this year but no problem, Zhao Siqiang’s village and Qin Family Village are in the same county, they can just have his daughter and son-in-law drive the granddaughter over.
Her mom and dad can also ride on their daughter’s success and come over for a bite.
Before entering the kitchen, Zhao Siqiang said, "I have two daughters-in-law particularly good at washing dishes, they wash them clean and fast."
"Call them over, call them all over!" Granny Qin said they are short-staffed, anyone with skills is welcome.
Zhao Siqiang joyfully assembles his people.
Compared to the chaos outside the kitchen, inside it’s very organized.
Once inside the kitchen, everyone belongs to Qin Huai.
After the first day of practical operation, Qin Huai realized that he underestimated the villagers and himself.
The number of distant relatives from their family is far more than shown in previous years, as long as they want, same town, same village, same county, same city, can all be distant relatives.
In fact, previous years’ distant relatives weren’t this enthusiastic, not because Qin Huai didn’t have the skills, although the game’s system wasn’t activated at that time, Qin Huai’s pastry skills were already famous for miles around.
Three Meat Buns, Five Fillings Bun, Four Happiness Dumplings are Qin Huai’s signature dishes during New Year, and only close relatives can taste such good snacks, regular relatives get meat buns, and further ones only get vegetable buns.
So in those days, everyone knew Qin Huai was skilled, but they couldn’t taste the really good stuff.
They visited on the first day of the New Year mainly because Qin Huai’s house was lively with people, being idle, Qin Huai’s place was also known for gathering all the town gossip, where not a place to visit for New Year?
Why not bring two kilos of apples to visit Qin Huai’s place, hear some gossip, hopefully snag a couple of buns?
It’s safe to say, while Qin Huai’s house was busy most times, borrowing bowls wasn’t as exaggerated as this year.
This year, those aware of the situation know these people came to visit Qin Huai’s place for New Year, while the clueless might think it’s a new scam crime den luring folks from ten miles around with offers of free eggs, rice, oil, etc., to attend a seminar.
On the afternoon of the first day, even the police were mobilized, plainclothes officers came to check the situation, ate a bowl of Four Happiness glutinous rice balls, immediately understood, went home to fetch two bags of dry goods as New Year gifts and ended up taking home a small bag of Four Happiness glutinous rice balls.
Then this plainclothes officer became a distant relative of the Qin family, living nearby in the next village, his daughter still washing dishes at Qin Huai’s neighbor’s house.
The charm of Four Happiness glutinous rice balls, is not on the same level as ordinary vegetable buns or meat buns.
During New Year, a bite of delicious meat buns only makes visitors exclaim, "Wow, this meat bun is so tasty, if only I could have another one."