Qin Luo heard Qin Huai instruct Huang Xi to inform the suppliers to deliver more materials for handmade lemon tea tomorrow. She was smiling foolishly, thinking she could drink handmade lemon tea every day from now on, unaware of what she was about to face.
The next day, when Qin Huai arrived at the cafeteria, he found that Huang Xi was already there.
"Sister Xi, why are you here so early?" Qin Huai was extremely surprised.
It wasn’t 6 o’clock, it was 4 o’clock, and the sky was still dark. The distance from Huang Xi’s home to the Yunzhong Restaurant wasn’t short; she must have woken up at 3 o’clock to arrive so early. Those unaware might think Huang Xi was a newly hired pastry chef at the shop.
"There was a problem with the supplier. Frangipani and Hangzhou chrysanthemum were out of stock. Last night, I had to urgently contact the supplier from the restaurant I previously worked at to get these two ingredients. The quality should be good, but I had to go pick them up myself. Their warehouse dispatched at 3:30, and I came over right after collecting them," Huang Xi said, looking slightly tired.
Zhao Rong, poking her head out, shouted, "Xiao Xi, I think you should go home and rest. Don’t come to work today, we’ll give you a day off."
"Exactly," Qin Congwen chimed in, "You’ve only slept for a few hours, even a body made of iron can’t handle it."
Qin Huai hadn’t expected that choosing two kinds of cold tea ingredients would make Huang Xi toil all night, so he quickly nodded, "Yes, Sister Xi, you go rest. I’ll ask my sister and An Youyou to oversee the breakfast deliveries, and my mom and dad can temporarily cover the suppliers’ side."
Huang Xi had been working for so many years, always within the food service industry. From regular employee to store manager and back to a regular employee, bosses who advised her to take it easy were rare back then.
Huang Xi blinked her slightly red eyes from lack of sleep, yawned, and tears welled up again. She nodded cheerfully, "Thank you, bosses."
"By the way, Master Qin, last evening Grandma Ding came by specifically and sent over two jars of locust flower honey. She said they were the best quality she got from her in-laws, beneficial for health, and asked you to keep it to make honey water."
"I placed the locust flower honey on the second shelf of the first rack to the left in the warehouse, Master Qin, Master Qin, Sister Rong, I’ll head back now, you all take care," Huang Xi said with a smile, and with light steps, she clocked out.
Huang Xi’s words reminded Qin Huai that he seemed to have stood up Grandma Ding.
That day, when Qin Huai gladly accepted the honey from Grandma Ding, he did so with the intention of making locust flower buns the next day.
Indeed, he would absolutely not be able to make S-level locust flower buns.
Of course, A-level isn’t feasible either.
Qin Huai isn’t very confident about B-level, either.
After all, Jiang Chengde’s video tutorial really isn’t that great — it’s too fast, too impressive, like a top student solving problems, mentally going through the process while writing just the simplest steps to earn marks on the paper.
The problem is, Qin Huai isn’t a top student like Jiang Chengde, and he finds Jiang Chengde’s steps a bit tricky to understand.
And he can’t WeChat Jiang Chengde to ask for detailed steps.
If the key to fermented rice buns is the temperature, there are many keys to locust flower buns.
Kneading the dough, fermenting with honey, deflating, kneading again, second fermentation, steaming — all are crucial.
In short, throughout the entire video, wherever the dough appears, it’s crucial.
The most difficult part, undoubtedly, is the honey fermentation.
At the start, Qin Huai envisioned doing well by making the fermented rice buns on his first try, then practicing the locust flower buns piece by piece, conquering the toughest honey fermentation first, then tackling the other tricky steps one by one.
Then piecing it all together to see if he could assemble a B-level locust flower bun.
But Qin Huai didn’t expect his plan would crash on the first step.
Not only did the fermented rice buns not succeed on the first try, but they also failed for two whole days, almost breaking his spirit.
Over several days, Qin Huai first crashed and burned, then doubted himself, then picked himself up and persevered, then suddenly understood, then exceeded expectations, and finally rewarded himself. It was such a brilliantly tumultuous period that it pushed the locust flower honey and buns to the back of his mind.
And who knows what Grandma Ding has been going through these past few days.
In her family, besides a little grandson who loves locust flower honey buns, there’s also a second granddaughter who loves milk buckwheat buns, and a granddaughter who loves honey goat milk buckwheat buns.
These past few days, let alone locust flower honey buns, Qin Huai hasn’t even made buckwheat buns.
If all three children cried together...
Let’s hope Grandma Ding is a bit hard of hearing as she’s older.
Qin Huai went to the warehouse and found the locust flower honey Huang Xi mentioned; the quality was indeed very good, even better than the jar Grandma Ding brought over a few days ago.
It was clear that if all three kids caused a commotion, even a former kindergarten director couldn’t withstand it.
Qin Huai began kneading the dough.
The locust flower buns would need to be made, but not now. The morning was for Three Meat Buns and Five Fillings Bun time. Now that the fermented rice buns had been perfected, Qin Huai felt that they could also be added as a regular morning drop item, considering the buff from the fermented rice buns was quite good.
Being able to taste the flavor of kindness from others early in the morning should help improve one’s mood when facing work.
The only regret is that the quantity of Buff buns is a bit limited — 3 trays a day, with each tray limited to 24 buns. Only the first 72 lucky customers of the day can experience the buff. If they encounter someone with an especially large appetite, eating three or four at once...
Qin Huai could only say that being lucky is indeed an important element to attaining happiness.