Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1217 584: What Else Can a Snack Master Do?

Qin Huai fried two more egg pancakes, one for himself and one for Zhou Hu. After eating, the two of them went back to their rooms.

At the door of the room, Zhou Hu reminded Qin Huai not to go back to the kitchen and fry more egg pancakes. Qin Huai was not a relative of Luo Jun, and the entire funeral process was handled by their professional team, so Qin Huai seemed to have nothing to do. However, the event itself was mentally exhausting, and if Qin Huai didn't sleep tonight, he definitely wouldn't last through tomorrow.

Qin Huai nodded to show he understood and sent a message to Qin Luo before sleeping, asking her what snacks she wanted to eat the next day.

Qin Luo promptly replied with a list of dishes.

Qin Huai once again caught his sister red-handed playing on her phone in the middle of the night. But feeling in a good mood, he decided to let her off this time and kept it a secret for her.

Sigh, he really was a good brother.

Qin Huai complimented himself in his mind, turned off his phone, and went to sleep.

A dreamless night.

The next day, when Qin Huai woke up, Zhou Hu had already left for the funeral home. Before leaving, Zhou Hu sent Qin Huai a message on WeChat, telling him that there were no good breakfast shops nearby, and the breakfast sold wasn't as good as Qin Huai's cooking. The funeral home offered breakfast, but it didn't taste very good.

Qin Huai could go to the funeral home after waking up to borrow the kitchen to make breakfast. Zhou Hu had to manage and coordinate the planned performances in the village today and asked Qin Huai to understand.

Qin Huai looked at the time and realized he had no time to make breakfast. His only task today was to pick up someone at the airport.

He was to pick up Cheng Gong at noon and Zhao Cheng'an in the afternoon. The airport was far from the city and even farther from the funeral home. Barring any surprises, the whole day would pass by the time he picked up both people.

And then an unexpected situation occurred.

Cheng Gong's flight was delayed, arriving around the same time as Zhao Cheng'an. As an efficient assistant to the president, Cheng Gong considerately suggested that he could take Zhao Cheng'an to the funeral home, so Qin Huai didn't need to pick them up. He told Qin Huai to handle his own tasks, but if he had time, it would be great if Qin Huai could make two plates of Green Bean Cake for him.

Since coming back from vacation and returning to work, Cheng Gong deeply appreciated the difficulty of shifting from a luxurious lifestyle to a frugal one. During his vacation, he couldn't work long hours or give his all to serve his dear President Han, but he could enjoy unlimited snacks.

Who could refuse Master Qin's snacks?

The workaholic Wen Yao Fish couldn't refuse either.

Suddenly with nothing to do, Qin Huai could only continue to borrow the funeral home's kitchen to make snacks. As he made them, he got hooked, thinking that Qin Luo was coming in the evening to pay respects and have a buffet. Qin Huai not only made the snacks listed by Qin Luo but also made a bunch of snacks he thought Qin Luo would like.

From lamb shumai, Eight Treasure Cake, Furong Cake, lotus root powder balls, Dream Come True Sesame Bun, Three Meat Buns, Five Fillings Bun, sugar triangles, pork pan-fried buns, to soup-filled dumplings…

Don't question why there are so many varied items. Just know that Qin Luo loves to eat everything.

When Zhao Cheng'an arrived with a large suitcase, panting and looking a bit disheveled, while Cheng Gong, dressed in a suit, appeared sharp and pristine with just a business backpack, this was the scene they encountered at the funeral home entrance.

It was packed with people.

The registration area for red envelopes was filled with people, and the staff was playing recordings at maximum volume, yelling to the queued crowd, "This is the guest registration for Mr. Luo Jun, Mr. Li's registration is straight ahead and to the right, Mr. Wang's is straight ahead and to the right and then left, Mr. Hu's is left and then straight."

"This isn't..."

"Miss, I heard the buffet here is very good, especially the snacks. Can I pay 300 to bring my kid in for a meal?"

"I'm from next door; I'll pay you 300 too. Can I come and have a meal at your place?"

"I..."

"No need to pay, no need to pay, your intention is enough. You can eat directly, don't cut in line, don't argue, don't waste food, and you can't take it away!"

"Miss, maybe I should still pay 300. I heard you have scratch cards, and I want to scratch a couple."

"...Really, no need to pay, two scratch cards per person, come to me to collect them."

"Miss, we are..."

"No need to pay!"

"No, we are the family from the hall next door. The food at the funeral home is really bad, but the buffet here smells so good. Can we pay you a food fee to eat here for the next few days?"

"...?"

Zhao Cheng'an: ...?

Zhao Cheng'an looked confused at the chaotic scene before him, turned to Cheng Gong, and asked, "Is this still the funeral site?"

Why does it feel like a year-end party?

Cheng Gong responded calmly, "Mr. Luo must have his clever ideas."

Zhao Cheng'an, dragging his suitcase, was not in a hurry to go in. He watched for a few minutes on the side, then went up and raised the white envelope in his hand, "I'm Zhao Cheng'an, and I'm really here to pay condolences to Mr. Luo! I'm a friend of Mr. Luo! Make way, make way, there's another person over there. I want four scratch cards; can you give me more? How about six for good luck?"

Cheng Gong: ?

In the end, Zhao Cheng'an successfully got six scratch cards and happily walked with Cheng Gong towards the mourning hall. They hadn't even gone inside and were already stunned at the entrance.

There were too many people, forming a long line.

Of course, the line was for the buffet.

Off to the side, there were people supervising to prevent line-cutting. The supervisors were Xu Tuqiang, Grandma Ding, Grandpa Qian, and Chen Huihong, all of whom Zhao Cheng'an was very familiar with.

Chen Huihong even brought the community committee's loudspeaker, shouting with it, "Don't cut in line, queue in an orderly manner, no taking more than your share, wasting is strictly prohibited, and there are rewards for reporting. Any spotted line-cutting or wasteful behavior will lead to immediate expulsion, and there's a shuttle bus in the parking lot to take you to the performance venue. You can still catch the evening performance now, and the bus will shuttle you back to the city, so don't worry about the return trip."

"I'll emphasize once more that we are having a funeral here, not a buffet or a performance event. There's no need to pay a white envelope fee each time or buy tickets to enter, and there's no for-profit nature involved!"

Seeing Zhao Cheng'an and Cheng Gong arrive, Chen Huihong excitedly shoved the megaphone into the arms of a young man nearby, took a swift step forward, and, ignoring Zhao Cheng'an, excitedly said to Cheng Gong, "Xiao Chen, you're finally here. Do you have any issues with staying up tonight?"

"Jingjing lost her entire quarterly bonus last night; today, we're really embarrassed to have her play mahjong again. But if we don't play, I tend to get sleepy. Qin Huai is making snacks during the day, so he definitely can't stay up at night. You can play mahjong, right? How about we team up to stay awake?"

Cheng Gong nodded slightly, "I know a little, but I may need to occasionally take some time to handle work matters while playing mahjong at night."

"No problem."

Zhao Cheng'an: ? Sister Hong, I'm standing right here with this huge suitcase, and you don't even see me?

"What about me?" Zhao Cheng'an asked, feeling overlooked by Chen Huihong and trying to make his presence known.

Only then did Chen Huihong turn her gaze to Zhao Cheng'an, "Xiao Zhao, why did you bring such a big suitcase? You're just in time. The kitchen is ahead, take a left, and go straight. Youyou's been helping Qin Huai all day in the kitchen; she's probably exhausted. You can go help with making snacks."

Zhao Cheng'an: ???

Making snacks at Luo Jun's funeral, is this reasonable?

Zhao Cheng'an stubbornly said, "Can I scratch off my lottery tickets before I go? I just got six of them."

"Go ahead."

In the end, Zhao Cheng'an managed to scratch off 280 yuan, smiling happily as he went to the kitchen to make snacks with Qin Huai.

Of course, Zhao Cheng'an only smiled happily for a while. When he found out that Qin Huai was going to another venue to make snacks the next day but he had to stay at the funeral home to continue making snacks, Zhao Cheng'an wasn't so cheerful anymore.

"Qin Huai, don't you think this is unreasonable? Even if our main job is pastry chefs, we shouldn't have to make snacks at a friend's funeral!" Zhao Cheng'an tried to awaken Qin Huai's conscience with emotional words, "This is Luo Jun's funeral!"

"Look at how the funeral has turned out now! It's almost like a party."

"Didn't Mr. Luo want to turn the funeral into a party from the start?" Qin Huai retorted, "They even set up two stages, with uninterrupted performances of drama, comedy, opera, stand-up, and song and dance. Even an ordinary company annual party doesn't have such a rich lineup."

Zhao Cheng'an was momentarily speechless but still tried to move Qin Huai with emotion in his voice: "But this is Luo Jun's funeral!"

"Shouldn't we do something appropriate for a funeral? Like mourning the deceased or something."

"If nothing else, playing mahjong like Sister Hong is fine too."

"Qu Jing lost a month's salary in the daytime and his quarterly bonus at night yesterday. Apparently, Old Shi was incredibly lucky at the table, Sister Hong was strategic, and Gong Liang excelled at calculating the cards. Qu Jing lost that much money only because the other three let him off easy."

"Originally, Sister Hong wanted to invite An Youyou to play mahjong and stay up, but An Youyou, having once played with Shi Dadan in Shanghai, refused to sit at the table at all costs."

"As for mourning the deceased... I checked Mr. Luo's status this morning, and he's still in the process of reincarnation."

Hearing this from Qin Huai, Zhao Cheng'an had something to say: "I have experience with this; reincarnation doesn't happen that quickly. You can't die today and be reincarnated tomorrow."

After saying that, Zhao Cheng'an realized that Qin Huai had completely sidetracked him. His main point was obviously why he had to make snacks at Yunzhong Restaurant, Zhiwei Restaurant, and now at Luo Jun's funeral.

"What I wanted to say is, why do we have to make snacks at such a place? This is a funeral, a funeral should be..."

"Why can't we make snacks?" Qin Huai asked Zhao Cheng'an back, "We're both pastry chefs. If we want to do something at Luo Jun's funeral, isn't making snacks the only thing we can do?"

Zhao Cheng'an: Damn it, he makes such a good point that I can't even argue.

"Besides, isn't this the kind of funeral you wanted? Luo Jun incorporated a lot of your ideas into this funeral, including buying 880,000 yuan worth of scratch-off tickets. If you stay up at night, you can scratch a few books secretly. Last night, Sister Hong scratched two books and only won 1,260 yuan, which made her so angry that she won't scratch anymore."

"1,260 yuan is quite a lot," Zhao Cheng'an said.

"Old Shi also scratched two books and won 9,000."

Zhao Cheng'an: ...

Having been quietly listening on the side and busy with work, An Youyou suddenly looked up with bright eyes upon hearing this: "Boss, can I go scratch a couple of books later?"

"I want to scratch too," Zhao Cheng'an said.

"Everyone scratch, everyone scratch."

"Oh, by the way, there's one more thing." Qin Huai glanced at the buns in the oven, "I'm inviting Zhou Hu to my house for the New Year tonight. Youyou, do you want to come to my house for the New Year this year?"

"I know you're probably not interested in going home for the New Year."

"Can I come?" An Youyou was overjoyed, "Is the boss going to cover the round-trip airfare, and even my return flight after the New Year, to go to your house for the New Year?"

"...Yes, you can even take some things back to your grandma. Every year during the New Year, the gifts my family receives pile up to the ceiling, and my grandparents can't give them away fast enough."

"Great, boss, you can count on me to do all your dishes this New Year!" An Youyou said happily.

"Zhao Cheng'an, do you want to come too?" Qin Huai asked again.

Zhao Cheng'an: "…I'll pass; Zhiwei Restaurant hardly takes vacation for the New Year."

"Plus, I have my own parents; going to your house for the New Year is odd. You're not even giving me a red envelope. We only get three days off at Zhiwei Restaurant for the New Year, and I still have to go to Beiping. Xia Mubing said he prepared a particularly large New Year's red envelope to give to me personally."

Now it's Qin Huai's turn to be speechless.

"...When you go to Beiping, remember to wear more clothes, dress warmly, and maybe wear a helmet."

"Why?"

"I'm worried Zhang Guanghang might knock you out with a club."