Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1268 609: Surprise

Qin Huai happily spent two days at Cao Guixiang's home, and during that time, he made plenty of dough for the buns and steamed buns that Shi Dadan loved. This ensured Shi Dadan would have breakfast every morning before the New Year and be satisfied before Qin Huai left the city for Qiu County.

By the way, the Level S Longevity Noodles were only made once by Qin Huai.

Although the family had the means, making broth was a complex and energy-consuming task. Every year during the New Year, Cao Guixiang was the most exhausted because the Zhang Family had continuous feasts throughout the holiday. Qin Huai did not want Cao Guixiang to be so tired before the year-end. The taste of Level S Longevity Noodles was enough to know, with no need to have them every day.

On the night before Little New Year's Day, Qin Huai returned to Qiu County.

Qin Congwen, Zhao Rong, and Qin Luo arrived half a day earlier than Qin Huai. It was said that Qin Luo exceeded expectations and completed 90% of his winter vacation homework before coming back, showing the great allure of the New Year.

When Qin Huai got home, Qin Luo was holding a mop, diligently working like a busy little bee, cleaning the floor.

Cleaning the house, Qin Luo was a pro.

Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong were not idle either; they went out to shop. Qin Huai would make snacks at the orphanage tomorrow. However, the orphanage usually did not prepare so many ingredients, and since Qin Huai did not notify Director Qin in advance, intending to surprise him, he would be responsible for the grocery shopping.

The Qin Family had run the Breakfast Shop in Qiu County for over twenty years, knowing well which vendor's vegetables were the freshest, whose meats were affordable, which bosses were honest, and who liked to cheat on the scales. Even though the Qin Family Breakfast Shop had closed nearly two years ago and the premises rented out to a new Breakfast Shop, the business connections remained. As long as Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen made an appearance, they could still secure the best market ingredients.

"Brother, you're home!" Upon seeing Qin Huai return, Qin Luo cheered, tossed the mop aside, and ran over to take the insulated lunch box from Qin Huai's hands, "Wow, you're great, brother! I knew you would bring me food, so I didn't eat lunch or dinner on purpose!"

"Did Mom and Dad eat?" Qin Huai asked.

"They did, at the 11-yuan self-service stir-fry downstairs. It used to be 10 yuan, but Uncle Liu said it went up to 11 yuan last July. When I went downstairs to buy a mop today, Aunt Fang from the small supermarket asked when you would open the Breakfast Shop again. Aunt Fang said the boss who rented our shop makes buns almost as well as Dad, and his meat buns cost 50 cents more than ours." Qin Luo said this while opening the lunch box, gasping in awe.

Cao Guixiang made the food Qin Huai specially packed from the city to bring to Qiu County.

The three of them, Qin Congwen, Zhao Rong, and Qin Luo, landed at the city airport at 11 a.m. today and went directly to Qiu County without delay. They were definitely too tired from the trip to cook.

The Qin Family house had been unoccupied for a year. Although Qin Huai's aunt, Qin Xiuli, had come over to do some basic cleaning every few months, houses age slowly when occupied, but when vacant, they age much faster, even causing appliances to break down quickly.

In Mr. Qin's words, a house without people's presence ages like this.

Cao Guixiang had mentioned before, inviting Qin Huai to bring Qin Luo for a meal at her house, but they never got the chance. This time, she simply made extra dishes at lunch to have Qin Huai bring to Qiu County.

Inside the lunchbox were two meat and two vegetable dishes, all home-style dishes: braised pork, braised chicken wings, celery beef stir-fry, and blanched cabbage hearts. At this moment, the blanched cabbage hearts had the most appealing appearance; even cold, they looked verdant and crisp. The layer of solidified oil flowers on the surface made the green even brighter.

The other three dishes didn't look great due to the oil solidifying, nor did they smell tempting, but Qin Luo could tell she was about to eat some truly delicious fare because she had basic knowledge of good cuisine.

Qin Luo quickly took the lunch box into the kitchen to steam the dishes.

"Price of self-service stir-fry went up by one yuan, so it's normal for meat buns to increase by 50 cents, probably because of rising meat prices," Qin Huai said. "Did mom and dad go to the market to buy ingredients?"

"Yes, as soon as we got home, mom sent the list you gave her, had me go downstairs to the printing shop and print it out."

This was Zhao Rong's habit; she liked her shopping lists printed out, buying according to the paper list.

"Did they take the van?"

"Yes, dad even sighed as they left, saying thank goodness they didn't sell the van, otherwise they'd have nothing to bring back the stuff they bought." Qin Luo nodded.

Now the Qin Huai family had almost decided not to live and develop in Qiu County and would settle in Shan City. Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong felt a bit reluctant because they had lived in Qiu County their entire lives; the furthest they planned was buying a shop in the city for Qin Huai to open a snack shop. Now they've moved across provinces, only coming back for the New Year, effectively cutting ties with the first half of their life's connections and social circles.

Yet Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong did not regret it. To them, their children's development was more important than anything else. Qin Luo needed parental supervision for his studies in Shan City, and Qin Huai's Yunzhong Restaurant needed family to help oversee daily management and operations. Fifty was the prime age for working hard. If it weren't for his skills being far from those of Yunzhong Restaurant's other chefs, Qin Congwen did not want to give up the role of breakfast chef which he considered important, and he personally wished to contribute his talents on the front lines until he was sixty.