Chapter 621
Hellish Chat
Chapter 621 Hellish Chat
In theory, crab roe and pork buns should be made with fresh crab roe. This is the freshest, most authentic, most flavorful, and best way to combine the seasonings of crab roe and pork to their fullest potential.
Just like crab roe shumai, only crab roe shumai made with fresh crab roe is true crab roe shumai; those made with crab roe sauce are heretical.
Qin Huai's crab roe shumai is only made during crab season, making it the true seasonal specialty of Yunzhong Canteen.
However, Master Qin has his own ideas about the crab roe and pork buns.
Although Qin Huai didn't make crab roe and pork buns often, he felt that both fresh crab roe and crab roe sauce made with fresh crab roe were a good match for crab roe and pork buns. In fact, Qin Huai felt that the latter made the buns even better.
Qin Huai is happily mixing fillings.
Master-level seasoning, and with more than half of the experience bar in it, allows Qin Huai to chat and relax while seasoning, doing things by hand, thinking, and talking—that's the benefit of high base stats.
Zhou Hu is still looking at the feng shui. According to Qin Luo's report, the feng shui consultation is over, and Zhou Hu is now teaching Old Master Qin how to make changes. Soon, they will move on to the decluttering and minimalism step.
Considering that the number of victims of Grandpa Qin's "never decluttering" mentality has now increased to two, today's number one victim, Qin Luo, has moved from the kitchen to the bedroom to supervise Grandpa Qin's decluttering process and make sure he doesn't miss a single item.
An Youyou was eating fruit in her room.
The kind that involves eating a lot.
The Qin family already had an abundance of fruit during the Spring Festival, not to mention that Grandpa Wang had specially sent over a dozen boxes of fruit from the city. Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin were already worried that so much fruit would spoil if no one ate it. When An Youyou heard that the two elderly people had such a worry, she immediately offered to help solve the problem. She didn't even go to the kitchen; after looking around the room, she started eating fruit in the room.
Incidentally, An Youyou's room also faces the sun, the kind that gets sunshine in the afternoon. An Youyou was very satisfied and moved a small stool to sit by the window to eat fruit.
Everyone was busy, so Qin Huai could only chat with Director Xu.
Grandma Qin strolled outside, Zhao Rong washed vegetables in the kitchen, Qin Congwen chopped meat, and Qin Huai couldn't speak too clearly while chatting, but he could ramble on to a certain extent. Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen accepted their precious son's occasional bouts of illness, where he would say things they couldn't understand, as long as others didn't object.
If others have objections, the two of them will try to make others not have objections, or ignore their opinions.
My son makes such good pastries, so what if he has some mental issues? It's not like he's had mental problems for the first time. Can't you be a little more understanding? My Huaihuai is much better than he was when he was a child. When he was little, he would always shout that he had a system.
"Director Xu, do you really enjoy crab roe-based desserts?" Qin Huai asked.
Factory Director Xu nodded, then shook his head: "I don't really like it. I don't have any particular favorite things. When I was young, I was afraid of being hungry, so I liked anything that was edible. Before, we would eat whatever Xiao Nuo made. That girl was good at cooking and had a lot of ideas. She often made some pastries that we had never even heard of."
Speaking of this, Director Xu's face showed a nostalgic expression, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, revealing a smile that he himself probably didn't even realize: "My wife used to tell me in private that since Xiao Nuo likes making pastries so much, if it really doesn't work out, we should find a way to get him a job as a chef in a state-run restaurant. There's no need to force him to go to university. After all, even if my wife and I force him, he won't listen."
"Xu Nuo probably doesn't want to be a chef at a state-run restaurant, right?" Qin Huai said casually. He vaguely remembered Shi Dadan telling him, and he also remembered seeing it in his memory, that Xu Nuo simply loved making and eating delicious food, and didn't love working.
The work of a pastry chef in a state-run restaurant is actually quite tiring.
“He didn’t want to, and the kid wasn’t lazy, he just… wasn’t interested in this. He always wanted to run away, but back then we needed a certificate to go out. He was a drifter without a job, and he was always thinking about running away. No wonder people outside called him a spendthrift and a street urchin.”
"Later, his mother and grandmother kept nagging him, so he went to work at a state-run restaurant. He wasn't even a temporary worker, the kind who didn't get paid." Director Xu shook his head as he spoke. "At that time, his mother and I knew that this child was beyond our control. From then on, as long as he didn't break the law, he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he was happy."
"That thing happened afterward..."
“My wife cried almost every day for the first few months. I was also very sad, but the sadder I was, the more I wanted to believe that what Xiao Nuo told me was true. I had this thought in my mind, no matter how absurd it was, I would think... what if? At first, I didn’t plan to tell my wife about this. In our time, let alone when I was the director of a cotton mill, people would think that I had gone crazy because of the pain of losing my son.
"Later, I was afraid that my wife would be too heartbroken, so I told him quietly."
"So, Master Qin, do you know what she did?"
"What is it?" Qin Huai asked.
"She secretly went to an abandoned temple in the wilderness to burn incense, hoping that Xiao Nuo could be reborn into a good family in her next life."
Qin Huai was startled, his hand trembled as he mixed the filling, and he accidentally flung a piece of crab roe and pork filling away. Qin Huai hadn't expected the topic to turn like this. He knew that Factory Director Xu wasn't one to reminisce about the past. Even back in the nursing home, after they'd been completely open with each other, Factory Director Xu always spoke in a calm tone about interesting things, mostly amusing and entertaining tales. Sadness was never a part of his stories, and Qin Huai and the others could tell that he deliberately avoided discussing certain issues.
For example, making promises.
Director Xu rarely mentions Xu Nuo, or even his name. He usually refers to him as "my son" or "my two sons," as if this casual mention, along with mentioning him with others, would make him overlook the matter.
As a result, Director Xu changed his mind today and took the initiative to mention that he couldn't handle Qin Huai anymore.
Qin Huai was somewhat at a loss. He began to wonder if it was because he was making crab roe and pork buns again today, and had asked Director Xu if he liked crab roe desserts, that the scene had triggered his sadness and made him start reminiscing about the past.
In this scenario, if Director Xu were a spirit, he would have already uncovered two side quests.
Thinking of this, Qin Huai wanted to slap himself and say again: I deserve to die. I only remembered that Director Xu had a particularly good ability to learn and was the only pure human in this group. I forgot that Director Xu was actually a real old man who was only a few years younger than Luo Jun. Given time, he might even outlive Luo Jun.
Qin Huai, you're abusing the elderly!
Qin Huai really wanted to ask Director Xu what he liked to eat so he could make amends, but then he remembered that Director Xu had just said that he didn't have any favorite foods.
Qin Huai, you abused the old man who begged for food when you were a child.
Qin Huai was tempted to send a WeChat message to An Youyou, telling her to stop eating that damn fruit in her room and come to the kitchen to save her boss.
Qin Huai fell silent.
The moment Qin Huai fell silent, Director Xu could tell what was troubling him. He smiled and said slowly, "You didn't say anything you shouldn't have. I just casually mentioned some things from before. There's no need to be so paranoid."
"Say whatever you want, just like old... Youyou."
Since Director Xu has said so, Qin Huai really has some questions he wants to ask.
Qin Huai cleared his throat: "Did your wife have any regrets before she died?"
Qin Congwen: ?
Zhao Rong: ? ?
The couple exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes. Their faces were filled with disbelief: "My son has lost his mind from making so many pastries lately. How dare he ask such a rude question! Even Luo Luo wouldn't ask such a hellish question!"
Factory Director Xu was also speechless for a moment, his face full of doubt. "Was your guilt just now fake? Was it just to set up this question?"
“Actually, I have no regrets.” Director Xu said calmly. “Before she died, she told me that she couldn’t wait for Xiao Nuo to come back to find her. Knowing Xiao Nuo’s personality, if he remembered her and came back to find her dead, he would definitely cry in distress. So she specially wrote a letter to Xiao Nuo, sealed it with sealing wax, and forbade me to open it, for fear that I would tell Xiao Nuo the contents of the letter as soon as I saw him.”
“She also told me that when I see Xiao Nuo, I should go to her grave to visit her, write a letter about Xiao Nuo’s situation and burn it for her, and don’t forget to burn a copy for Mom as well. She needs to know if the incense she has burned for Buddha over the years has been effective, and whether Xiao Nuo has been reincarnated into a good family.”
Factory Director Xu chuckled as he spoke, “She doesn’t believe in any of this at all. She’s not sincere when she burns incense, and she always haggles over the price when she buys incense, afraid of overpaying.”
Qin Huai also smiled.
Qin Congwen was chopping minced meat not far from Qinhuai, but when Director Xu spoke, Qin Congwen silently moved the chopping board to a place far away from the two of them. Qin Congwen felt that it was too hellish.
Although he couldn't understand it at all, he felt like he was in hell, and at the same time, he sighed in his heart that it was really not easy to serve the client. It was amazing that the two of them could keep talking in this way.
Just as Qin Huai was about to say something, Qin Luo ran happily into the kitchen and loudly announced the best news of the day.
"Brother, Grandpa is clearing things out. He's taken out all our notebooks, composition books, and drawing books from all these years!"
Qin Huai: !
"Dad didn't find them all when he was looking for them. In Grandpa's room, there were your composition books from junior high and fifth grade. You wrote about Dad carrying you to the hospital on a rainy night, and the teacher's comment was to tell you not to copy your deskmate's composition. It cracked me up. I even took a picture of it, hahaha!"
Qin Huai: ?
(End of this chapter)