Chapter 622
Everyone is here
Chapter 622 Everyone is here
That evening, everyone ate crab roe and pork buns made by Qin Huai, except for Qin Luo.
Qin Luo's dinner consisted of plain noodles that Qin Huai had traded 12 crab roe and pork buns for from the neighbor's house. Qin Huai had specifically instructed that the noodles must be made with the most ordinary three-yuan pack of egg noodles from the supermarket, and that they must be cooked with plain water, absolutely no homemade chicken broth, just two greens, and absolutely no eggs. The bowl had to be big, and there had to be plenty of noodles. No other side dishes or side dishes were allowed, not even homemade pickled vegetables or cucumbers.
When the neighbor heard that Qin Luo had developed a fondness for plain noodles after a year of studying away from home, they were overjoyed and immediately cooked a large bowl. However, because they cooked too much and didn't add enough salt, the already plain noodles became bland and watery. Qin Luo could only eat the whole bowl with tears in her eyes, while deleting the photos she had taken on her phone. That night, she even did two practice tests.
Qin Huai was deeply moved by his younger sister's repentance. After confirming that Qin Luo's two papers were not just scribbles, but were actually written seriously and were only limited by her abilities, Qin Huai immediately handed over the power to order food for tomorrow to Qin Luo, saying that she could order whatever she wanted to eat, even during the New Year!
Qin Luo was overjoyed and ordered 18 kinds of desserts.
Grandpa Qin and Grandma Qin were both shocked. That night, Grandma Qin even secretly asked Qin Congwen to confirm if Luo Luo's condition was normal. After studying away from home for two years, her appetite had grown so much. Grandma Qin said that she was also a grandma who liked to watch short videos and often came across videos on scientific parenting. She knew that chubby boys were not healthy, and that it was very difficult for teenage girls to lose weight quickly if they ate too much. Their Luo Luo had been able to eat a lot since she was little, and her appetite couldn't be any bigger.
Qin Congwen calmly replied, "Mom, you're making a fuss over nothing. What's so special about Luo Luo's appetite? She can eat even more tomorrow."
On the second day at noon, Grandma Qin saw someone who could eat even more.
Shi Dadan, who lives in the city, arrived a little earlier than Zhao Chengan, who flew in from Hangzhou.
The first thing Shi Dadan did upon returning to the village was to bring his family and drive half an hour to Qin Huai's house for lunch.
This was the first time the people from Qinhuai had seen Shi Dadan's wife and two children.
Well, it's not quite what I imagined, but it's also quite the same.
Shi Dadan's wife is named Lin Xiaohong. Judging from their names alone, one might think they are a couple who share both joys and sorrows, but that's not the case at all. When Shi Dadan met Lin Xiaohong, he had already been running a restaurant in Qiuxian County for many years and had made a fortune. Lin Xiaohong's family were fishermen, and they were not ordinary fishermen with many fishing boats.
In Lin Xiaohong's words, she was the one who actively pursued Shi Dadan because her family was wealthy at the time, and she particularly enjoyed eating at the restaurant owned by Shi Dadan in Qiuxian County. Later, when she heard that the restaurant was going to close down, she was worried that she would never be able to eat good food again, so she simply took the initiative to pursue the owner and win him over. However, after winning him over, she discovered that the owner also couldn't eat, and he had to go to the chef's house to mooch off him.
As a relative of the boss, she had to save face and couldn't go to freeload like the boss all the time; she could only do it intermittently. Later, Shi Dadan's successful opening of his aquaculture farm was also due to Lin Xiaohong's family having many channels for selling seafood. Shi Dadan only needed to manage the aquaculture, while his father-in-law helped with the sales.
Lin Xiaohong's brother was eager to learn Shi Dadan's advanced aquaculture techniques. He worked at the aquaculture farm for two years without any reward, only to find that there seemed to be no real technology involved. The seafood in the farm was simply healthy; it grew well and never got sick. In the end, he returned empty-handed.
Lin Xiaohong felt very regretful about this. She regretted that her brother had worked for less time without pay. Among all the spies in the farm, her brother was the most meticulous, thorough, serious, considerate, and responsible. None of the other spies were as good as him. Moreover, while the other spies demanded wages, her brother didn't have to pay them a penny. He even often bought snacks for her two children, giving them money out of his own pocket.
Shi Dadan's two children are named Shi Hui and Shi Wen. The reason for choosing these names was very simple. Lin Xiaohong and Shi Dadan were both uneducated and allergic to books, but they were also rich. As the saying goes, you want what you lack most. Lin Xiaohong longed for a scholar to emerge from her family, preferably one of her two children.
The name Hui was chosen to wish the daughter to be intelligent, while the name Wen was chosen to wish the son to be literary.
Everything turned out differently than expected.
The daughter inherited her parents' aversion to books, while the son was terrible at literature, calligraphy, and even martial arts. While others excelled in both, her son was utterly inept at both. Lin Xiaohong boasted that she was once the village's most beautiful girl, with a gentle temperament and a line of suitors stretching from one end of the village to the other. In recent years, however, her temper had become increasingly volatile, and she would frequently storm into the fish farm and yell at people in the fishponds—her two unfortunate sons were largely to blame.
How did Qin Huai learn all this detailed information...?
Qin Huai was making pastries in the kitchen that afternoon when Lin Xiaohong enthusiastically offered to help out. Qin Huai overheard her chattering away.
It can only be said that Lin Xiaohong truly lives up to her reputation as someone who curses at a fishpond; she has a very strong urge to vent.
Incidentally, the catch that Shi Dadan brought for Qin Huai on this voyage included: large grouper, large yellow croaker, sea cucumber, shark fin, abalone, and bird's nest. When Qin Huai pointed to the two boxes of bird's nest and asked Shi Dadan if they were also caught from the sea, Shi Dadan just smiled憨厚ly and said that he found them at home.
Qin Huai felt that Shi Dadan had gotten into the habit of delivering ingredients to Cao Guixiang's family before, and had delivered a portion to himself according to Cao Guixiang's standards.
As for Shi Hui and Shi Wen...
Qin Luo and He Cheng got along very well with the two. In the words of these two unlucky kids, they hadn't met anyone whose grades were worse than theirs from elementary school to university in many years.
The Shi family ate heartily at the Qin family's house until 8 pm before leaving. Before leaving, Lin Xiaohong enthusiastically asked Qin Huai if he wanted to bring any vegetables when he came over for breakfast the next morning, saying she could dig them up from the fields in their village and that she could definitely find the freshest ones. Shi Hui and Shi Wen also said they would definitely dig up the freshest ones, and that they could get up early to dig in other people's vegetable gardens!
Qin Huai politely declined, saying that it wasn't necessary and that bringing a stomach would suffice.
At 8:57 p.m., Zhao Cheng'an arrived late, looking pale and unsteady on his feet. It was obvious he was carsick.
I didn't vomit immediately when I got off the bus because I had already vomited several times on the way here.
Qin Huai poured Zhao Cheng'an a cup of hot water without tea leaves, telling him to drink a couple of sips to calm down, and asked, "The road in our village was repaired a couple of years ago, so theoretically it shouldn't be bumpy. It's probably just motion sickness, isn't it? You get motion sickness, but last time you rode so many roller coasters at the amusement park?"
Qin Huai looked at Zhao Cheng'an with a look that said, "No wonder you were hospitalized for so long because of gastroenteritis."
Zhao Cheng'an: ...
"If you have limited annual leave and have to take a plane, high-speed train, and minibus all in one day, wearing a sweater without time to take it off, and you're in a bit of heatstroke, you'll end up like me."
After Zhao Cheng'an finished speaking, he suddenly vomited.
Qin Huai: ...
It's hot, don't you know to take off your sweater?
If it were an ordinary person, Qin Huai would have already begun to suspect that the other party had something wrong with his mind at this moment, but now that he was standing in front of Zhao Cheng'an, and considering that the other party was a mayfly, all of this seemed perfectly normal.
Qin Huai calmly comforted Zhao Cheng'an, telling him to drink more hot water. Then, he gestured to Qin Luo to bring over one of the leftover fermented rice buns from the kitchen so Zhao Cheng'an could have something to eat.
Zhao Cheng'an gulped down a cup of hot water, paused for a minute, and then Qin Huai stuffed a slightly cool fermented rice bun into his hand. He subconsciously took a bite.
I only took one bite, a very casual bite.
Zhao Cheng'an's eyes widened instantly. He didn't even have time to chew and swallow the steamed bun in his mouth before he asked in a muffled, surprised voice, "You've figured it out again?"
"What upgrade did you get? Don't you just need to leaven the dough for fermented rice buns?"
"You've leveled up? What's above Master? Sect Leader? Patriarch? Nascent Soul? Tribulation Transcending? Deity Transformation?"
Qin Huai: ...Dude, you should read less fantasy novels and cook more food!
This is an urban food novel, not an urban cultivation novel.
Qin Huai was taken aback by Zhao Cheng'an's exaggerated reaction. He thought for two seconds whether Zhao Cheng'an was deliberately acting, and then realized that Zhao Cheng'an's acting skills were not that good.
Qin Huai's slightly puzzled gaze fell on the half-eaten steamed bun with fermented rice wine in Zhao Cheng'an's hand.
[Sweet Rice Wine Steamed Buns - Grade S]
His rank hasn't changed; he hasn't reached S-rank. Why is Zhao Cheng'an making such a fuss? Did Master Zhou mistreat him at Zhiweiju? He wasn't allowed to eat the pastries made by the master chefs, nor the pastries he made himself. He could only eat the pastries made by the apprentices every day. After not eating good food for so long, his tongue suddenly couldn't adapt?
"I didn't understand." Qin Huai could only tell the truth. "Did you get carsick and vomit too many times on the way here? Is your tongue a little numb? The level of this fermented rice bun hasn't changed, and my base stats haven't changed either. If I had understood, I would have sent you a WeChat message as soon as possible, okay?"
"I can send WeChat messages incredibly fast."
I'll be heading back at 4 AM tonight and rest for a day. If things go well, I'll resume normal updates tomorrow; if not, I'll resume normal updates the day after.
(End of this chapter)