Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1216 583: Interested in Spending the New Year at My Place?

Addition for the alliance leader of reader 20231128142234433! (The name is too long for the chapter title)

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Five minutes later, Qin Huai and Zhou Hu each had an egg pancake and one chopstick, enjoying the deliciousness.

As for why they had only one chopstick each...

Guess what, Zhou Hu's house surprisingly only has two chopsticks. He has 12 plates, 8 bowls, but only two chopsticks—a really strange combination.

"Master Qin, I didn't expect you to fry egg pancakes so well." Zhou Hu wasn't even hungry initially. Who could be hungry after eating 2 fermented rice with steamed buns, 1 bowl of dried tangerine peel tea, 4 pieces of yam cake, and 2 beef patties in the evening?

But Zhou Hu could be hungry.

Because he only had one chopstick, Zhou Hu ate with oil all around his mouth, burying himself in the pancake with its enticing aroma making the taste even better.

"It's average. Mainly, you have no ingredients at home; I rarely make this kind of pancake," Qin Huai said, "My sister likes stuffed ones, and egg pancakes aren't stuffed."

Zhou Hu sighed, "Master Qin, you really have a good relationship with your sister, unlike me..."

Qin Huai knew a bit about Zhou Hu's family, simply put, it was nonexistent. Zhou Hu originally had few relatives, his mother passed away early, and he barely has contact with his mother's side. His father's side possibly has no one due to ancestral grave robbing, and after Zhou Hu's father went to prison, Zhou Hu basically has no family.

Zhou Hu and his father weren't particularly close, visiting once a year during the New Year.

In Zhou Hu's words, his side business was busiest during the New Year. Old clients liked some superstition, calculating career, love, family for the next year; soon-to-be-married couples would match their birthdates with him, so although New Year was lonely for Zhou Hu, it was also busy.

Zhou Hu and Qin Huai squatted at the kitchen door eating egg pancakes.

As for why they were squatting at the kitchen door...

Probably because Zhou Hu's living room had no space to sit, the sofa and chairs were all piled with stuff, it was easier to squat than to clear it.

"Master Qin, many family members of the deceased go through this process." Zhou Hu tried to comforting Qin Huai while eating.

In Zhou Hu's view, Qin Huai's behavior of frying egg pancakes late at night was a typical reaction to major shock leading to mental issues.

"It's hard for everyone at first, staying busy helps forget sorrow, once you're idle, you feel lonely and want something to do. I understand your status perfectly, if you..."

"I'm not in that state," Qin Huai interrupted Zhou Hu, "I just wanted to make some snacks."

Zhou Hu wanted to wear a robe and ask Qin Huai how long he had this symptom and whether he needed to buy a talisman to change his luck.

Zhou Hu held back.

He glimpsed the talisman paper on the table, a light bulb went off: "Master Qin, how about I draw you a Wealth Gathering Talisman? People like it more than the Lucky Charm, I sell many during the New Year. I'm not planning to draw this year, and leaving this talisman paper here is a waste, how about I draw you a few?"

Qin Huai swallowed the pancake in his mouth: "I just inherited 7.9 billion in wealth."

Zhou Hu: ...Even if you're the client paying up, I want to fight you, you darn rich person.

Qin Huai smiled: "Planner Zhou, I know you're trying to comfort me, I'm really doing fine. While frying the pancake, I discovered my sister sneaking to play on her phone at night, she texted me saying not to be sad and that she'd come with my parents to the funeral parlor tomorrow after school to pay respects to Mr. Luo."

As he spoke, Qin Huai waved his phone: "My sister already comforted me, I'm obviously fine."

Zhou Hu didn't quite get the logic, probably because he didn't have a sister and couldn't understand Qin Huai's words.

Just as Zhou Hu wanted to say more, Qin Huai quickly shifted the topic to Zhou Hu.

"Planner Zhou, after Mr. Luo's funeral, what are your plans?"

"Huh?" Zhou Hu, with a mouthful of egg pancake, voiced his confusion.

"Once the funeral is over, I'll settle the final payment for you. By then, you'll receive a large sum and not need to work. Do you have any plans? Like traveling or resting at home?"

Zhou Hu was stumped by Qin Huai's question. His expression clearly showed he was more dedicated to working than An Youyou and Cheng Gong. These years, crushed by mortgage, had made Zhou Hu give up thinking about what to do during rest.

Zhou Hu began seriously considering.

As Zhou Hu pondered, Qin Huai softly whispered: "Planner Zhou, have you been to Guangdong Province?"

"No, I attended university locally, haven't really left Shan City," Zhou Hu instinctively replied.

"Then, Planner Zhou, are you interested in checking the feng shui of my grandparents' old house during New Year and celebrating with us in our village?"

"Huh?" Zhou Hu was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that being woken up to eat an egg pancake would somehow lead to plans about taking a job out of town for the New Year.

Qin Huai's invitation for Zhou Hu to go to Guangdong Province for the New Year was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but similar plans and thoughts had long been brewing in Qin Huai's mind.

The connection between Qin Huai and Zhou Hu was entirely because of Luo Jun. Theoretically, once Luo Jun's funeral was completely over, Qin Huai and Zhou Hu would have no further connection and would merely become acquaintances who like each other's posts online.

Moreover, this sort of superficial friendship wasn't the same as with Gong Liang. At the time when Gong Liang hadn't woken up yet, he was in Gusu, but the intersection with Qin Huai actually happened at Huang Ji. Qin Huai could take the initiative to go to Huang Ji to engage and trigger a side quest with Gong Liang, but there wasn't such an intersection with Zhou Hu.

Zhou Hu didn't even live downtown. He lived next to the funeral home, more than an hour's drive from the city center. And Zhou Hu was short on money. Even if Qin Huai paid the remaining balance, Zhou Hu wouldn't get rich.

This lack of money meant that even if Zhou Hu really liked the snacks Qin Huai made, he wouldn't drive more than an hour just to queue up and buy two bags of snacks from Yunzhong Restaurant. To have Zhou Hu come to Yunzhong Restaurant regularly, his business would need to be concentrated around Yunzhong Restaurant, and it would have to be the kind of business sizeable enough to make Zhou Hu willing to come over every day.

Considering Zhou Hu's line of work, Qin Huai wasn't very hopeful that Zhou Hu's business would concentrate around Yunzhong Restaurant.

If their primary work couldn't intersect, then only their side jobs could.

But Zhou Hu absolutely loathed his side job and would wash his hands of it for good if he had the money.

Qin Huai had once considered pretending to be obsessed with superstitions and buying charms from Zhou Hu, following in the footsteps of Xu Tuqiang, to gather more interactions as Zhou Hu tried to persuade him to turn back.

This idea was snuffed out by Qin Huai in just a few minutes. It was bothersome and unrealistic, and most importantly, it wasn't fair to Zhou Hu.

Zhou Hu sold fortune-telling reluctantly because he genuinely felt he was committing fraud and felt guilty, not wanting victims to go astray and get in too deep. This intention was good, and Qin Huai refused to exploit Zhou Hu's goodwill to trigger more side quests.

In such a challenging decision, Qin Huai could only opt for Zhou Hu's relatively more acceptable task of feng shui appraisal.

Zhao Cheng'an's courtyard wasn't free either. When he and Zhou Hu were hospital roommates, Zhao Cheng'an kept fishing for information from Zhou Hu. Of all the fortune-teller's profitable ventures, the one Zhou Hu rejected the least and felt most comfortable accepting money for was house feng shui.

To Zhou Hu, many times, feng shui wasn't about changing fate, just altering the layout of a house to make it more transparent, livable, and better lit.

When doing feng shui, he wasn't a fortune teller; he was an interior designer.

One really had to give it to Master Zhou for being so well-rounded.

Based on this information, Qin Huai suddenly extended the invitation to Zhou Hu while eating an egg pancake.

Zhou Hu instinctively wanted to refuse, "Master Qin, I'm thinking of not doing any side jobs this year."

"How can this be considered a side job? I never planned on paying Planner Zhou," Qin Huai replied.

Zhou Hu: …?

"I just think Planner Zhou, you're a great person. Look, the two of us really just have a simple client and service provider relationship. I'm not even the direct client; I'm just the one who settles the final payment."

"You absolutely don't have to pay attention to me. No need to go out of your way to have the cleaning lady tidy up the guest room in advance so I can stay at your place tonight. No need to go out of your way to comfort me when I can tell you've been trying to all day but just didn't get the chance."

Zhou Hu lowered his head a little embarrassedly.

"I know you don't have anywhere to go during the New Year, and you're not particularly fond of it either because it's loud and lively everywhere, and everyone goes home, whereas your home is quite lonely."

"So, I'm actually extending an invitation from a friend's perspective to spend the New Year at my place, to hang out. Besides, you're off work for the New Year, no need to work."

"Since you'd be coming anyways, you might as well check the feng shui at my grandparents' house. My grandparents have piled up lots of stuff and appliances at home. No matter how much my parents tell them, they refuse to throw those things away, but my grandpa has great faith in fortune tellers. I'll introduce you to my grandpa as a hereditary feng shui master from Shan City, famous in these parts. You'll advise him to get rid of all those old odds and ends, especially those that are expired, and he'll definitely listen to you."

"I'll cover travel expenses, food, and lodging. How about it? Not a bad deal for a business trip, huh?" Qin Huai said with a smile.

Hearing Qin Huai say that, Zhou Hu's eyes immediately lit up.

At that moment, Zhou Hu felt that Qin Huai was the person who understood him the most in the world. This was what he had wanted to do for many years, to use his identity as a fortune teller and apply his feng shui skills to do some good for his clients.

This was his life's ambition!

Zhou Hu actually wanted to be a fortune teller, but not one who deceives people. He wanted to be a fortune teller who truly benefits the people!

"Leave it to me, Master Qin!" Zhou Hu said excitedly, "Don't worry, I'll definitely convince your grandpa to let go!"

"Planner Zhou, do you want more egg pancakes? I still have some batter left."

"Sure! Add two eggs this time, I think the last pancake lacked a strong egg flavor."

"Alright."