CHAPTER 486: CHAPTER 270: MASTER ZHANG

But if you come to the Qin Family to celebrate the New Year and have a bowl of Four Happiness glutinous rice balls...

Wow wow wow wow wow!

It’s New Year!

However, this New Year’s joy might only be felt by those outside the kitchen.

The kids are running around happily, their pockets seemingly filled with endless loose change and candies. As long as they don’t fuss about wanting to play on their phones or tablets, the adults won’t scold or hit them during the New Year celebrations.

Kids are happy, adults are excited, and everyone is either holding a bowl of rice balls or walking around chatting and gossiping. To avoid appearing like they’re just here for the food, they pitch in with any work they see.

There are so many people coming and going in the Qin Family’s yard that it’s hard to see even a fallen candy wrapper. The broom is just by the wall, and those who see it take a moment to sweep, keeping the yard spotless.

This is the visible work, but there’s much more hidden work that goes unseen.

If there aren’t enough bowls, they go home to get more.

If there aren’t enough people to wash dishes, volunteers enthusiastically sign up to wash them.

When there are too many guests needing tea and hot water, the small kitchen has a stove for boiling water, which anyone can use.

As for the main kitchen, not just anyone can enter; you need connections to get in.

Zhao Siqiang is undoubtedly one of those with connections.

As Qin Huai’s real uncle, Zhao Siqiang has always been good to his nephew even before Qin Huai showed his exceptional pastry skills to the family. Zhao Siqiang wasn’t wrong when he said he really cares for his little sister.

After Zhao Rong married and adopted a boy from the orphanage due to being childless for many years, Zhao Siqiang gave Qin Huai the thickest red envelope every year to shield his sister from gossip. In an environment where kids’ red envelopes were usually five or ten yuan, Zhao Siqiang made an unusual choice—

he gave Qin Huai a 200 yuan red envelope.

Qin Luo is no exception.

It was precisely because of these years of deep friendship that Zhao Siqiang could stand out in the annual New Year visits, joining Qin Huai’s third uncle, Zhao Sizhuang, in visiting on the second day to grab a bite first.

They even came back for more after eating.

Incidentally, Qin Huai’s third uncle was the one who, during Qin Huai’s high school years, offered his connections to send Qin Huai to Zhiwei Restaurant as an apprentice. Although the third uncle wasn’t very capable and liked to boast, he did have good intentions.

Upon stepping into the main kitchen, Zhao Siqiang was stunned.

The inside of the kitchen and the outside were like two different worlds.

It’s not that the kitchen was shrouded in mist like a fairyland, but the whole atmosphere was completely different.

The kitchen wasn’t quiet, nor was it bustling. Zhao Siqiang felt like he’d mistakenly entered a hotel’s kitchen rather than a rural one.

Everyone here was diligently doing their job, in perfect order and coordination, centered around one person.

That person was his good nephew, Master Qin!

Qin Huai was making red bean filling.

The red bean and peanut brittle filling sent from Gusu was almost gone. Originally, Qin Huai intended for it to last 3-5 days, but it barely lasted two.

The villagers were just too enthusiastic!

And practicing skills was truly joyful.

At first, Qin Huai worried that his helpers weren’t professional enough, not skilled enough, and not well-coordinated, which might affect his skill level with the Four Happiness glutinous rice balls. But now Qin Huai realized he was overthinking it.

In terms of skills, the villagers surely couldn’t compare to the staff at Huang Ji’s Kitchen, nor could they match professional chefs in coordination, but they had the heart to be helpers!

Most importantly, there were many of them.

While professionals like Aunt Wang were rare, there were plenty who could start a fire, chop wood, mince meat, and cook.

And the biggest feature of the kitchen at Mr. Qin’s house was its size.

It could accommodate many people.

Huang’s Kitchen was built to maintain the normal operation of the restaurant, divided into many areas with many professional chefs, and the section dedicated to pastries wasn’t particularly large.

The Qin Family’s kitchen, in terms of area, was comparable to Huang’s Kitchen and was only used for pastries. As long as you wanted to crowd people in, accommodating twenty or thirty helpers was definitely no problem.

If it were last year’s New Year, Qin Huai might not have been able to manage so many under-skilled and poorly coordinated helpers. The more people, the more chaos, the busier it got.

But this year, Qin Huai had returned after further study.

As a professional master chef, whenever there was a new person in the kitchen, Master Qin immediately knew what job to assign them.

Amidst cooking the red bean filling, Qin Huai looked up and saw his uncle coming, feeling immensely happy.

"Uncle, you’re here just in time. There are many people now, and many ingredients aren’t being handled properly. Did you bring your notebook? If not, ask my grandma to give you one."

"When the new batch of Four Happiness glutinous rice balls is made, you can help count next to me and calculate how many bowls are needed. Make sure the dishwashers coordinate the timing of washing and delivering bowls properly; don’t mess it up. It got messed up earlier when a little girl delivered the bowl in a rush and slipped, breaking all the bowls."

In his early years, Zhao Siqiang worked in the production team to count farm tools, making him very professional at this.

Hearing Qin Huai’s words, Zhao Siqiang immediately felt like he was back in his younger days, and he replied, "Don’t worry, Huaihuai, you can rely on your uncle for this task. There won’t be any more misplaced, mixed, or broken bowls."

"Uncle, has Chengcheng arrived?" Qin Huai asked again.

Chengcheng was particularly good at stoking the fire.

"Just set off, still on the way."