The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 424 Dream

Travel around the world?

Qin Huai knew very well that even if Zhao Cheng'an was a spirit similar to Chen Huihui or an extremely special one, he still had to conform to the basic laws of spirits. The strange and unusual things that he dreamed about repeatedly were mostly not ordinary dreams, but the embodiment of memories or obsessions from previous lives.

So Zhao Cheng'an's obsession is to travel around the world?

Was he imprisoned in his first life, or did he die too quickly and not get enough time to play in the human world, and want to travel around freely and enjoy himself?
"Qin Huai, what about you? Do you ever have any strange or unusual dreams?" Zhao Cheng'an's conversations were based on a two-way exchange; he wouldn't talk all the time but would often pass the topic to others so that everyone could participate.

Qin Huai had anticipated that Zhao Cheng'an would throw the question back at him, and readily replied, "I rarely dream when I sleep, unless I'm obsessed with practicing making pastries. Before, when I practiced making the same pastry every day, I would sometimes dream about making pastries at night."

"What about when you were a child? Did you not dream when you were a child?" Tan Weian, who was separated from Zhao Cheng'an by a kitchen counter, stretched his neck to join the conversation and asked with a stiff neck.

Qin Huai glanced at Tan Weian speechlessly and found that he was still kneading the dough, but the dough wasn't kneaded very well, so he must have been distracted.

"What are you going to do?" Qin Huai asked.

"Four Happiness Flower Rolls, you didn't know I've been making them these past few days, did you? I'm very serious about making pastries, I learn one thing and then make it again. Qin Huai, you still haven't answered me, didn't you dream when you were little?"

Qin Huai said casually, "Dreaming? When I was a child in a children's welfare home, sometimes I would dream at night that I was calling a young woman 'Mom,' and then I would wake up and find that I didn't have a mother at all. I could only call Director Qin 'Mom.' Most of the children in our welfare home were like that."

Tan Weian: ...

Tan Wei'an obediently shut his mouth, lowered his head and kneaded the dough seriously, his face saying, "I really deserve to die. Why did I have to ask Qin Huai this question? Will Master Zhou beat me to death next week?"
Zhao Cheng'an also fell silent, buried himself in his work for a while, and then asked uneasily in a low voice, "Qin Huai, what you just said was true, or was it just to shut Tan Wei'an up..."

"It's a mix of truth and fiction," Qin Huai said frankly. "Those were things that happened when I was very young. Director Qin told me that I was abandoned at the gate of the orphanage shortly after I was born. I had a note with my birth date written on it, just like in the TV series."

“But when I was a child, there were relatively few healthy children like me who were abandoned right after birth in the orphanage. More often, the children were sent to the orphanage because their parents had an accident and no relatives were willing to raise them, or they were abandoned after being raised to a certain age because they were found to be sick.”

"So when I was little, I didn't envy other kids who had parents. After all, I never had that concept since I became conscious. On the contrary, those kids who have memories of their parents are more pitiful. They often dream about their parents at night and then wake up crying. When eating breakfast, Dean Qin would constantly comfort them, tell them stories to make them happy, or spend a lot of money to buy them fruit candy."

"I dream about it, probably because everyone else was dreaming about it back then, and I felt a bit out of place if I didn't. I heard them say that, so sometimes I dream about it at night."

“Tan Wei’an should have told you that I’ve imagined myself having a game system since I was very young. When I was in the orphanage, I imagined there was an exclamation mark in the upper right corner of my vision. At that time, I played by myself. If it weren’t for the fact that I was a good student and could speak normally, many people would have suspected that I was an idiot.”

Zhao Cheng'an didn't understand, and he was deeply shocked.

Although Zhao Cheng'an had always heard Tan Weian say that Qin Huai was mentally unstable, imagining himself with a game system that would assign him tasks, when he heard it from Qin Huai's own mouth, Zhao Cheng'an couldn't help but sigh inwardly that Qin Huai's illness had been present since childhood.

No wonder Tan Weian kept wanting to get it but couldn't; it was too late.

The conversation reached a crucial point, and the auspicious cloud-patterned pastry in Zhao Cheng'an's hand also touched upon that crucial point.

Zhao Cheng'an slowed down his movements, and worried that his arm would block Qin Huai's view, so he moved to the side. He adopted the posture of being filmed by 8 cameras at the same time, and was just about to say: Good morning, everyone. Today I am going to show you the cloud pattern part of the auspicious cloud pattern pastry.

"Luckily, when I was a kid, I just didn't like studying and thought about how to go to the arcade to play games. Otherwise, my parents wouldn't have sent me to Zhiweiju to make pastries, but to the hospital." Zhao Cheng'an picked up the auspicious cloud pattern pastry he had just finished rolling and showed it to Qin Huai. "Did you see it clearly just now? The cloud pattern is actually very simple. In my opinion, the essence of making cloud patterns is memorizing the formula. As long as you memorize the formula clearly and know each step well, you can roll out beautiful cloud patterns with your eyes closed."

"However, this only applies to relatively simple cloud-patterned pastries like the Auspicious Cloud Pattern Pastry. Your Four Happiness Roll is too difficult. It's rolled once in the front and once in the back, and it's steamed, so you can't use frying or baking to shape it. Why did you challenge such a difficult pastry right away? When I was practicing finger techniques, I never practiced the difficult ones. I didn't even bother to learn them. My master would kill me, but I would never practice them."

Qin Huai: ...You don't need to sound so arrogant.

"Why?" Qin Huai asked curiously. He felt a little empty and wasn't used to watching Zhao Cheng'an make desserts without eating something. He looked around and saw two dates on Tan Weian's kitchen counter. He took them and asked while eating.

"What's the point of practicing something you can't do?" Zhao Cheng'an retorted. "I never do things I can't do. Just like when I was in school, if I couldn't understand something, I wouldn't study it, even if my parents beat me to death."

Qin Huai: ...?
What kind of spirit is this? To develop such a personality, buddy, you're incredibly carefree.

Judging from this, Master Zhou has quite a good temper; he's been Zhao Cheng'an's master for so many years and has managed to refrain from beating him to death. Zhao Cheng'an's talent is one factor, but Master Zhou's high level of tolerance is another.

Qin Huai couldn't help but turn to Tan Weian, who wanted to join the conversation but didn't dare to speak and could only prick up his ears and pretend to be kneading dough seriously, when in reality the dough was still a mess: "Does he always talk like this?"

Qin Huai vaguely remembered that Zhao Cheng'an hadn't spoken like this a few days ago. When the four of them were chatting, Zhao Cheng'an was just a little eccentric, but he hadn't let himself go to this extent.

It can only be said that the senior brothers and sisters still exerted some pressure, temporarily suppressing Zhao Cheng'an so that he wouldn't blurt out everything.

Tan Weian looked up, moved, and said loudly, as if finally someone understood how he felt, "He's always been like this when he's with us. I've wanted to punch him for a long time!"

Tan Weian's heartfelt confession did not receive the response he wanted. Qin Huai simply nodded, then stared at Tan Weian's face and said, "If you want to make Four Happiness Flower Rolls, you can't knead the dough so hard. You'll have to roll them both the right way and the wrong way later."

"But there's not much you can do to salvage this dough. If all else fails, just knead it a few more times and use it to make pancakes. Spray it with more oil, sprinkle some chopped green onions and sesame seeds, and it should taste pretty good."

Tan Weian: (-) You surnamed Qin, you're no better. Why are you talking so rudely now?
Qin Huai chatted with Zhao Cheng'an on and off all day, during which Tan Weian tried to join the conversation several times but was ruthlessly kicked out by Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an. At this stage, Tan Weian really couldn't slack off anymore; if he did, his noodles would be a disaster.

Although his face is already a bit unsightly now.

For a fleeting moment, Qin Huai even thought that Tan Weian should be demoted from a direct disciple to an ordinary apprentice and go back to study some more; the guy was being far too lax.

"That's just how Tan Wei'an is. I don't know if it's because I was initially trained by Master Tan. I had a lot of contact with Tan Wei'an when I was young, and he especially liked to imitate me. He only learned the bad things, not the good ones. He was too lazy to do anything, only liked to do things that were easy to do and didn't like to challenge himself with difficult things. He would leave work on time and wouldn't practice for a moment longer. He learned all of those things."

"He doesn't even know how to learn anything good. I have so many good qualities, but he hasn't learned a single one of them."

At the dumpling restaurant strongly recommended by Tan Weian, Qin Huai, Zhao Cheng'an, and Shi Dadan occupied a large table for six, with a total of 14 plates of dumplings on the table.

The reason there were 14 plates of dumplings on the table was because this dumpling shop was relatively small and only offered 14 different flavors. If the owner had a bit more of an innovative spirit and was willing to introduce dumplings with fillings like chocolate strawberry, chocolate durian, mango strawberry, or mango pomelo sago, Qin Huai believed that Shi Dadan would also order a plate of each, even if it meant defying the odds.

As for why Qin Huai knew about these different flavors of dumplings...

When he was in college, he ate at a creative dumpling shop near the back gate of the school. That dumpling shop closed down after only three months.

Zhao Cheng'an crunched on pickled radishes and exclaimed, "I must say, the pickled vegetables at this dumpling shop are really delicious. Qin Huai, where did you find this place? I didn't know there was a dumpling shop like this near Zhiweiju."

"Tan Weian recommended it to me before." Qin Huai was also eating kimchi. "I originally wanted to invite Tan Weian to come with me after get off work, but his four-happiness steamed buns were so bad today that Chef Zhou kept him behind to practice for three hours. Lao Shi had already reserved a seat and eaten his first round, so I didn't want to keep him waiting too long. I can only invite him next time."

Hearing Qin Huai mention him, Shi Dadan, who had been quietly eating dumplings, looked up and gave Qin Huai a look that seemed to say, "Is it time for me, the top support, to make my grand entrance?" After receiving a shake of the head from Qin Huai, he lowered his head and continued eating.

After eating two dumplings, Shi Dadan felt he should say something and said, "The beef and scallion dumplings at this restaurant are quite delicious."

Zhao Cheng'an was a very receptive person to recommendations. Upon hearing Shi Dadan's words, he immediately picked up a beef and scallion dumpling with his chopsticks, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it whole.

"Old Shi, you like this kind of dumpling? I can also make beef and scallion dumplings. I'll make some for you tomorrow when I'm slacking off at work and bring them to you after get off work."

After saying that, Zhao Cheng'an didn't forget to remind Qin Huai: "Judging from the way Master scolded Tan Weian at the end of today, I guess Su Qian's egg tarts didn't turn out very well today either. Master will have to keep an eye on him practicing all day tomorrow and won't have time to take care of us."

"My master told me this morning that I must not try to make the auspicious cloud pattern pastry for the next three days. I must watch for the whole three days before I let you try. The more eager you are to try, the more I will stop you. The more focused you will be while watching, the faster you will learn."

“When I was learning how to make pastries, my master always used this method to mess with me. But I don’t think you have to do it this way. Tomorrow I’ll take some time off to make some dumplings for Lao Shi, and Qin Huai, you can take the opportunity to make some auspicious cloud pattern pastries. Gu Li and Tan Weian won’t tell on you.”

Hearing Zhao Cheng'an say this, Shi Dadan was instantly moved. Although he didn't understand why making dumplings at work was considered slacking off, that didn't stop him from being touched.

Moved, Shi Dadan looked up and stared directly into Zhao Cheng'an's eyes. Without waiting for Qin Huai to give him a hint, he immediately activated the assistant.

“Xiao Zhao, I heard from Xiao Qin that you like to travel all over the world.” Shi Dadan boldly spoke up.

Zhao Cheng'an gave Qin Huai a questioning look, his eyes clearly saying, "How did you become Tan Weian 2.0? Someone's already saying they heard it from Xiao Qin."

"I can only say that I have an interest in this area, but I don't have much time. I can only travel once a year. I went to Southeast Asia at the beginning of this year, and if nothing unexpected happens, I might go to the Middle East next year."

"I used to travel abroad frequently in previous years, visiting East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and even the other side of the ocean. How about we add each other on WeChat? I don't have many other hobbies, except for food. If you ask me what tourist attractions are fun, I might not remember them, but if you ask me if there are any good snacks, I can remember quite a few."

Qin Huai was somewhat surprised to hear Shi Dadan say that. He had invited Zhao Cheng'an out for dinner tonight mainly to introduce Zhao Cheng'an to Shi Dadan, so that Shi Dadan could help him get information out of Zhao Cheng'an in the future.

Unexpectedly, instead of getting information out of Zhao Cheng'an, Zhao Cheng'an revealed Shi Dadan's rich experiences, things that Shi Dadan had never told him before.

"Old Shi, you've been to so many countries in your younger years?" Qin Huai asked.

Shi Dadan smiled憨厚ly: "When it comes to doing business, I didn't know what kind of business to do at that time. I thought I would travel to other places. After traveling around China, I went abroad. But after traveling around, I found that none of those businesses were suitable for me. Seafood farming is still the simplest."

Qin Huai suddenly realized.

"Is aquaculture simple? My dad has a friend who does aquaculture. I heard that if the temperature drops by 0.5 degrees or the oxygen content is insufficient, all the seafood he raised will die, and he will lose hundreds of thousands of yuan."

"Now I've switched to raising chickens, but I don't know if it's because the pest control wasn't done properly or the density was too high, but most of the chickens died again, and I lost hundreds of thousands of yuan."

"I thought raising livestock was very difficult."

Shi Dadan waved his hand and said, "It's not difficult. As long as you master the methods and techniques, it's very simple. If you don't believe me, ask Xiao Qin. I never care about my aquaculture farm. When I'm in Guangdong Province, I often go out to sea to fish or have meals with friends."

“I’ve been away for a month or two now, and nothing has happened at the farm. We even shipped out a batch of goods a couple of days ago.”

(End of this chapter)