The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 599 Grandpa Wang woke up quite quickly.
After losing his memory, Qin Huai stood blankly in the toilet stall.

Admittedly, he had already seen surprising things in the memories of many spirits, but this one too…

Factory Director Xu actually knew about the existence of spirits.

Qin Huai had previously thought Qu Jing was already quite capable of quietly accomplishing great things, but then he discovered that Zhao Cheng'an was also someone who couldn't keep his mouth shut. However, considering that Zhao Cheng'an was a mayfly, his behavior was not entirely unreasonable. But what was with Xu Nuo?
Do you spirits dare to reveal your true feelings when you're about to die? Relying on the fact that you're about to be reincarnated, you're afraid of nothing, regardless of the deluge after you die.

Qin Huai completely ignored the fact that he had already completed Shi Dadan's side quest—to find out the truth behind Xu Nuo's death.

His current focus is entirely on the fact that Director Xu knows there are spirits and monsters in this world.

Since Director Xu knew, when he, An Youyou, and Shi Dadan went to Suzhou to find Director Xu some time ago, did Director Xu accept the fact that An Youyou was the eldest granddaughter, or did he accept the fact that An Youyou was the eldest, and the eldest was a spirit?

Furthermore, Director Xu knew that Xu Mo was also a spirit, so did Director Xu recognize Shi Dadan at that time?

Does Xu Nuo retain his memories after being reincarnated? If so, has he come back to look for Factory Director Xu all these years?
All sorts of questions swirled in Qin Huai's mind, but unfortunately, Luo Jun wasn't there to help him sort them out this time. Qin Huai could only stand in the toilet stall and think about it himself.

Qin Huai felt it was essential for him to return to Suzhou, taking Shi Dadan and Wang Gensheng with him. The prerequisite for taking Wang Gensheng was to wake him up, and now the method for Wang Gensheng to wake up was practically obvious.

Qin Huai shook his head, took a deep breath, opened the game panel, and checked the encyclopedia.

Wang Gensheng's illustration section has suddenly changed to:
Name: Wang Gensheng
Species: Xie Zhi

Status: Awakening

Dream: 3/3
Recipes: [Lotus Root Starch Dumplings], [Family Dumplings], [Red Silk Cakes] (Click to view details)
Gifts: None
Qin Huai clicks on [Red Silk Cake].

【Red Ribbon Cake Grade B】

Creator: Xu Nuo
Dish Details: This was the last dessert made for Wang Gensheng by his only true friend before his death. A notorious playboy and spendthrift, Xu Nuo loved to joke and tease his honest friends. He probably never imagined that his modified version of the red silk cake, prepared in advance for the Mid-Autumn Festival, would become an unforgettable treat for his friend Wang Gensheng. This dessert became a part of Wang Gensheng's unspoken past, an eternal obsession, and a lifelong belief—his most cherished, most delicious, and yet most ambiguous flavor. Within 12 hours of consuming this dish, the diner will be more determined in their beliefs and more inclined to do what they believe is right.

Friendly reminder: It's time for Wang Gensheng to clarify this ambiguous situation.

Number of times you can make this in one day: (0/99) (No more than 6 per serving)
Qin Huai calmly finished reading the menu details without thinking too much. He simply wanted to watch the video tutorial and then make the red silk cake so that Wang Gensheng could have another bite.

No matter how full you are, you have to eat one more bite.

Although Grandpa Wang is old, he wakes up right after eating, and his physical condition is much better after waking up, so there's no need to worry about overeating and ruining his stomach.

Qin Huai double-clicked to view the video tutorial. He originally planned to watch it briefly in the toilet stall, but after watching it once, he found it was not simple at all.

He actually completed this side quest involving red silk cakes purely by appealing to people's emotions.

The red silk cakes made by Qin Huai and the promised red silk cakes are not entirely unrelated, but they are not closely related either.

Qin Huai's recipe is only correct in the crust and the candied rose petals in the filling; the most crucial part, the recipe itself, is completely wrong.

While listening to Wang Gensheng's description and Qin Huai's judgment based on Xu Nuo's craftsmanship, Qin Huai remained firmly convinced that the Red Silk Cake was a fabrication by Xu Nuo to deceive Wang Gensheng. Its essence was a meat-based mooncake crust combined with a fresh flower cake filling—a fusion-style, self-created dessert.

Then the video tutorial showed Qin Huai that it wasn't like that. The Red Silk Cake was a complete pastry, and it was definitely not a pastry chef's original creation based on mere whimsy. It was a mature pastry that had undergone very complete conception, production, modification, and multiple tests, with a very complete overall structure and no flaws.

Qin Huai was a little confused after reading it. He even began to doubt whether this was really the recipe for the long-lost Red Silk Cake.

Did they have candied roses during the Tang Dynasty?

Qin Huai began to regret that he hadn't studied history properly when he was in school, and that he had no idea what crops existed in the Tang Dynasty.

Such a good and well-established dessert recipe cannot be mastered by simply reading it once.

Qin Huai stayed in the toilet stall and looked at it again.

I then watched it a third time.

After watching the video tutorial three times, Qin Huai finally had a general idea of ​​what to do. Luckily, his seasoning skills were high enough, otherwise he wouldn't have dared to try it today, for fear of making a mess of it.

If Qin Huai's attempt to make awakening treats for spirits fails miserably, he'll lose face big time. Even if Luo Jun were to be reincarnated and grow up, he'd laugh for minutes whenever he heard about it.

When Qin Huai came out of the restroom, there were far fewer customers on the first floor. All the flower cakes he had made that afternoon had been sold out, and now only regular dine-in customers were in the Cloud Canteen.

When Qin Huai returned to the kitchen, Qin Luo had already thoughtfully finished the remaining half bowl of chicken noodle soup for him.

"Brother, you were in the bathroom for too long. I saw your noodles were getting cold, and I was worried about wasting them or getting a stomachache from eating cold noodles, so I ate them all for you." Knowing she was in the wrong, Qin Luo immediately made up an excuse to cultivate a good sister image when Qin Huai returned. "I specially saved a beef pie for you, but it's probably cold too. Shall I heat it up for you?"

Qin Huai didn't pay much attention. He watched the video tutorial three times in the bathroom. By then, all the snacks should have gotten cold, and Qin Huai wasn't in the mood to eat anything anyway.

"No need, Luo Luo, are you full?" Qin Huai asked.

"You're full!"

"Go back and do your homework after you've eaten. Does your school assign a lot of homework for New Year's Day? I might be going to Suzhou tomorrow. I remember you said last time that you wanted to go to Huang Ji to eat Three-Layer Duck and Squirrel Fish. Do your homework today and tomorrow morning. If it's early, we can go to Suzhou tomorrow afternoon," Qin Huai said.

Qin Luo didn't care at all why she suddenly had to go to Suzhou. She only heard the keywords "three-layered duck" and "squirrel-shaped mandarin fish," and immediately cheered. With unprecedented enthusiasm and motivation, she got up and rushed home to do her homework.

Like the Qin Huai before it, it disappeared like a gust of wind.

Qin Huai then turned his gaze to Ouyang.

"Ouyang, are you full?"

Ouyang responded with a burp.

"You go back first. I have something I want to talk to Grandpa Wang and Old Shi about."

Although Ouyang didn't understand why his good friend Qin Huai needed to tell Wang Gensheng and Shi Dadan something privately, keeping it from him, Ouyang chose to respect that. Because Ouyang was truly full, he now wanted to go home and lie down.

Ouyang also left.

Only Wang Gensheng and Shi Dadan remained at the small table. Shi Dadan, having guessed what was about to happen, remained calm throughout. He asked Qin Huai if he wanted some beef pie, and when Qin Huai said no, he put the beef pie on his own plate and ate it.

Wang Gensheng was terrified.

Grandpa Wang is a very reflective person. When Qin Huai kept him behind for a private talk, Wang Gensheng's first reaction was to wonder if he hadn't done well enough recently.

It wasn't just not good enough, it was absolutely terrible. Wang Gensheng felt that Qin Huai was probably telling him that starting tomorrow, he wasn't suited to eat in the kitchen, and that the small table outside was more appropriate for him. This incompetent relative, the tongue-tied Grandpa Wang, was going to be expelled from the ranks of those with connections starting tomorrow.

"Uncle Wang, have you eaten?" Qin Huai asked.

"I'm...I'm full."

"Can you still eat?"

"Huh?" Wang Gensheng was taken aback by the unexpected turn of events. He paused for a moment, then nodded. "He should still be able to eat a couple more bites."

Qin Huai smiled and said, "I just suddenly figured out how to make a real Red Silk Cake. Please sit here and wait for a while. You can use this time to digest your food. I'll make you a complete Red Silk Cake and see if it tastes like you imagined."

After saying that, Qin Huai went to find the ingredients needed for the red silk cake.

When Qin Huai was watching the video tutorial, he could tell that Xu Nuo's red silk cake recipe was very mature because its filling was very well-matched.

With its candied rose petals, pine nuts, raspberry jam, and a touch of white sesame seeds, this is clearly a classic sweet dessert. The filling itself isn't complicated to make either; it's a standard process of simmering and stir-frying, but you need to pay a little more attention to the proportions of the ingredients.

Qin Huai felt that Xu Nuo's recipe for the Red Silk Cake should be grade A under normal circumstances, and possibly even grade S if the chef's skill level was exceptionally high. However, the Red Silk Cake that Xu Nuo made was grade B, mainly because it was a trial product.

What Xu Nuo told Wang Gensheng in his dormitory was probably true; he hadn't made red silk cakes for a long time. Even when Qin Huai watched the video tutorial, he felt that Xu Nuo's process of making red silk cakes was both skillful and unfamiliar, and he made many small mistakes he shouldn't have.

Qin Huai was confident he could get the Red Silk Cake to A grade, provided he practiced for a while.

As for today's first attempt...

Grade B is sufficient, and the promised version is Grade B, which is more in line with the original.

Qin Huai was busy making the last batch of pastries in the kitchen. Wang Gensheng was a little confused about what was going on. Why was Qin Huai staying in the kitchen so late and sending Ouyang away, leaving only him and Shi Dadan?

Wang Gensheng wanted to ask Shi Dadan about it, but Shi Dadan perfectly played the role of a clueless taciturn man, only lowering his head to drink tea and play on his phone, without saying a word.

Wang Gensheng's anxiety lasted until Qin Huai served the red silk cakes.

It's still the version wrapped in red silk.

Qin Huai looked at Wang Gensheng with a smile, pushed the red silk cake in front of him, and his anticipation was almost overflowing from his face: "Uncle Wang, please try it. Is this red silk cake the taste you remember?"

Wang Gensheng didn't understand, but he did as he was told, reaching out to untie the red ribbon and picking up a red ribbon cake.

Wang Gensheng doesn't know how to cook or make desserts, but he can taste them. He can tell that the red silk cakes Qin Huai made this time are different from the ones he made before.

Wang Gensheng took a big bite out of honesty, even though he was already full.

chew.

It tastes completely different from before.

Although they look the same, with candied rose petal filling, they taste different.

They are all delicious.

When Wang Gensheng ate red silk cakes before, he would always think while eating. He knew the taste was wrong, but he didn't know what the correct taste was, so he could only try hard to figure out what was missing and what the difference was.

This made eating red silk cakes very tiring for him, like a hard-working but unsuccessful student who was trapped in an exam room with an endless test paper, only able to keep doing questions until he was breathless.

When Wang Gensheng picked up the red silk cake, he was actually subconsciously comparing and thinking about it, but after taking the first bite, he stopped thinking about those things.

He felt a sense of familiarity and nostalgia, as if the underachiever in the exam hall had finally solved the problem and the exam was about to end.

Not just this exam is coming to an end, all exams are coming to an end.

As Wang Gensheng ate, his eyes became vacant, he stopped chewing, and stood frozen in place.

Qin Huai was all too familiar with this state; every spirit woke up in this way.

Qin Huai couldn't help but exclaim, "Grandpa Wang woke up pretty quickly."

I woke up before I could even swallow the first bite.

Shi Dadan simply drank his tea silently without saying a word.

About two or three minutes later, Wang Gensheng came to life.

If every spirit's eyes and expression are complex the moment they wake up, then Wang Gensheng's are definitely twice as complex, or even three or four times more complex.

It was so complicated that even Qin Huai couldn't understand it. What kind of state was this? Just how chaotic must his previous memories have been for Grandpa Wang to show such an expression?

Qin Huai saw in Wang Gensheng's eyes a mixture of bewilderment, sadness, pain, confusion, relief, and relief.

It's hard to explain how a person's eyes can simultaneously convey so many emotions.

Qin Huai met Wang Gensheng's gaze and interrupted him before Wang Gensheng could speak, his face filled with complex emotions.

"Uncle Wang, I know you must have a lot of questions right now. In principle, I should go through the formalities and explain the whole situation to you, but I have a question I'd like to ask you now."

"Let me first introduce Lao Shi to you. He is Dang Kang, and in his previous life he was Xu Mo, whom you know."

Wang Gensheng looked at Shi Dadan and nodded slightly to him. Shi Dadan also smiled and nodded back to Wang Gensheng.

"Now that you've remembered all your previous memories, I think you can probably guess that Xu Nuo is a spirit."

"Before I tell you everything, I'd like you to tell me what exactly happened with Xu Nuo? Why did he die? And what happened after his death?"

"You can take your time to organize your thoughts and speak slowly."

“If you’d like, we can go to Suzhou again tomorrow to see Director Xu.”

(End of this chapter)