The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 602 See you again

When it came to going to Suzhou to meet Director Xu, Qin Huai was undoubtedly a man of action. After Wang Gensheng expressed his willingness to go with him, Qin Huai immediately booked plane tickets for him, Wang Gensheng, Shi Dadan, Qin Luo, and An Youyou, and also booked a return ticket for Qin Luo on the 3rd.

The others can stay a few more days, but Qin Luo has to go back on the 3rd because her child needs to return to school.

Even the children were still carrying their schoolbags, which contained airplanes from their homework assignments. There was no way they could finish all their holiday homework in one night and one morning, and they would have to continue doing it when they arrived in Suzhou.

The customers at Yunzhong Restaurant were already used to Qin Huai's sudden disappearance. Many even felt it was expected that he would go to Suzhou on the first day of the new year. Some customers who managed to snag the last batch of red silk cakes at Yunzhong Restaurant the previous night remarked that they knew Chef Qin wouldn't suddenly stay up so late making pastries for a New Year's giveaway.

There must be a reason for this!

We could only sadly eat the snacks made by Pei Xing and Chen An at the Cloud Cafeteria, waiting for Chef Qin to return soon.

Meanwhile, on the plane to Shanshi, An Youyou drank herself into a stupor, learning from Zhao Cheng'an how to hold a beverage tasting contest on the plane, while asking Shi Dadan and Wang Gensheng what they were going to buy when they went to see Factory Director Xu.

From a financial perspective, An Youyou doesn't want to buy anything.

She had gone out for half a month to visit her younger brother, and although she gained a lot, she didn't convert it into cash and instead spent a lot. After returning to Shanshi, An Youyou first went to the secondhand market and spent 180 yuan to buy a cheap small table. Then, on the day she received her salary the following month, she ordered an altar table online for more than 3000 yuan, which she thought was very beautiful and high-quality, even the wood lacquer was very nice.

If you buy an altar, you should naturally put fruit on it.

From that day on, An Youyou became obsessed with collecting unwanted fruit from the Cloud Cafeteria every day, much to Qin Huai's exasperation. Qin Huai knew very well that given An Youyou's financial situation, after spending 3000 yuan on a table, she would have to cut back on food for a month and wouldn't have enough money to buy fruit from a fruit shop (the fruit at the fruit shops near the Cloud Cafeteria was quite expensive). So, he secretly messaged Huang Xi, asking her to add apples, bananas, and oranges to the employee meal allowance.

Not every employee likes to eat these fruits. When faced with colleagues who don't like fruit, An Youyou shamelessly asked for some. Her colleagues were very generous, and a few even asked her curiously if she kept pets like rabbits or hamsters, and why she was asking people for discarded fruit.

An Youyou also generously admitted that she has a pet, a toad, which eats everything.

It could be said that among all these awakened spirits, only An Youyou is still sustainably living in poverty.

For An Youyou, seeing her younger brother was certainly a happy thing, but as the eldest, it wasn't good to see her younger brother empty-handed. However, buying things for her younger brother wasn't so pleasant.

On the plane, An Youyou tried to persuade Shi Dadan and Wang Gensheng to do what she did: bring a box of milk and a fruit basket to the nursing home, as she really couldn't afford anything more expensive.

Shi Dadan and Wang Gensheng were barely persuaded by her. Wang Gensheng originally wanted to bring two boxes of milk.

After landing in Shanghai, the group immediately took the high-speed train to Suzhou. Logically, since Lin Qi was in Shanghai, everyone should have stopped by to visit him. However, An Youyou knew the priorities. She knew the main purpose of this trip was to go straight to Suzhou to visit Director Xu. Since everyone would have to fly back from Shanghai anyway, they could stop by the nursing home where Lin Qi lived on their return trip.

Dinner was, of course, at Huang Ji Restaurant.

The night before, Qin Huai called Huang Shengli to tell him that they would be coming to Suzhou to see Factory Director Xu the next day. Although Huang Shengli didn't understand why Qin Huai and his group would go all the way to Suzhou to see Factory Director Xu, whom they had no real connection with, he was a mature adult and wouldn't ask questions directly like Huang Anyao did. He simply smiled and said that it was fine as long as they had time to come.

Huang Shengli reserved a private room for Qin Huai and personally cooked three dishes of duck, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, Wensi tofu, and braised eel in sizzling oil. Qin Luo ate with gusto, saying that he could write four papers that night.

Qin Huai said he didn't believe his sister's nonsense at all. When they came out to play, she stayed in a room by herself and no one cared. She even carried her phone with her. Qin Luo would be lucky if she could finish half a test paper tonight.

It's possible to play on your phone until 4 a.m.

Wang Gensheng is a person who doesn't like to take advantage of others.

The first thing he did after finishing his meal was to ask Huang Anyao if Huang Ji needed his help with the accounting. Huang Anyao was so touched by Wang's heartwarming words that he almost burst into tears. He wanted to hug Wang Gensheng's legs and cry, wishing he could give Wang Gensheng the USB drive and computer on the spot.

Qin Huai quickly stopped Huang Anyao, telling him not to rush. While settling accounts was important, they had more important things to do.

It's not too late to come back and check the accounts after you've seen Director Xu.

Because he had to get up early the next day to make breakfast, Qin Huai went to bed early that night and didn't send a message to Qin Luo at two or three in the morning to check if his sister was staying up late playing on her phone.

Early the next morning, Qin Huai went to Huang Ji's shop to make fermented rice buns and red silk cakes.

Yes, red silk cake.

For Wang Gensheng, the red silk cake was an unforgettable yet unmentionable treat. But what about for Factory Director Xu? Would Factory Director Xu not know what his son was going to buy in the countryside? As Xu Nuo's father, would Factory Director Xu not know where his unfortunate son spent his money all day long, or what novel things Xu Nuo was going to make for his family on Mid-Autumn Festival?

Qin Huai remembered seeing it in the memories of Wang Gensheng and Shi Dadan. Xu Nuo usually cooked for his family. The factory director and his wife, as well as Xu Nuo's grandmother, all liked his cooking.

Red silk cakes are important to Wang Gensheng, and equally important to Factory Director Xu. Since they've already come all this way, how can they just make fermented rice buns?

Not to mention that the recipe for Red Silk Cake was already quite good, and Qin Huai was very interested in this dessert. If he weren't in a hurry to come to Suzhou to see Director Xu, Qin Huai would probably be practicing making Red Silk Cake at the Cloud Canteen right now, turning the entire Cloud Canteen into a sea of ​​Red Silk Cakes.

At 8:17 a.m., Qin Huai personally sorted and packed six large bags of fermented rice buns and red silk cakes. Last time Qin Huai went to the nursing home, he was unprepared and only brought a small amount of fermented rice buns, so only the elderly people eating in the canteen could each get half a bun.

This time, Qin Huai went all out to ensure that Director Xu received a full share of the food, including plenty of fermented rice buns and red silk cakes!
Huang Anyao squatted at the kitchen door, his mouth stuffed full of red silk cakes, craning his neck to watch Qin Huai pack the snacks. When Qin Huai came out with six large bags of snacks, he quickly went up to help carry four of them.

"Qin Huai, what kind of pancakes did you make this morning? They're so delicious! You asked me to prepare so much red silk yesterday, was it for wrapping the pancakes? Let me tell you, although I don't know how to make pastries, I'm really fast at packing them, and I tie the bows so pretty!"

“Every year, Huang’s Restaurant sends New Year’s gift boxes to its VIP customers, and I’m the one who packs them.”

Qin Huai was surprised that Huang Anyao had this skill, and couldn't help but look at the young master in a different light, saying, "Then in the future, whenever I have time to sell red silk cakes at Huang's, I'll leave the packaging to you."

"This pastry is called Red Silk Pastry." Huang Anyao followed along cheerfully, helping Qin Huai carry the pastries to the hotel. "Qin Huai, you're the owner of our Huang's now, why don't you just move to Suzhou!"

“I do have some shares, and I can give them all to you.”

Qin Huai: "...I have no such plans. My sister is still studying in Shanshi."

"Our schools in Suzhou are also very good!"

“I recently inherited another fortune, and most of the properties are in Shanshi, so I can’t come to Suzhou.”

"again?"
.
At 9:47 AM, Qin Huai and the others arrived at the entrance of the nursing home. Gong Liang, as usual, had visited the nursing home the day before to greet Director Xu and frankly admitted that he, Wang Gensheng, and An Youyou were all spirits, and that Shi Dadan was the reincarnation of Xu Mo. Gong Liang had other commitments this morning and didn't come with Qin Huai and the others, but he briefly explained the meeting last night.

In short, Director Xu accepted the situation well.

In Gong Liang's words, Director Xu only expressed brief surprise at the fact that Gong Liang was also a spirit, and then it ended there. This suggests that Director Xu recognized Shi Dadan and An Youyou during their last meeting, and even somewhat suspected that Wang Gensheng was also a spirit.

It can only be said that Director Xu is indeed the smartest of An Youyou's 13 underlings besides Jiang Weiguo. Not only is he capable, but he also has a great attitude and an excellent ability to learn.

When Qin Huai and the others got out of the car, Director Xu was already waiting for them at the entrance of the nursing home.

Factory Director Xu was wearing a somewhat worn-out cotton-padded coat, a woolen hat, and cotton-padded shoes. The coat and shoes were thick and must have been very warm; from a distance, he looked like an ordinary retired old man who enjoyed playing chess in the park.

Qin Huai was surprised that Director Xu would actually come to the entrance of the nursing home to wait for them.

Keep in mind that it's January now, and the weather in Suzhou is cold in January, especially when it's windy and the sun isn't out. No matter how old the elderly are or how thickly they're dressed, they'll still shiver from the wind when they stand outside.

Fortunately, the sun is out now, otherwise the nursing home staff wouldn't have made Director Xu wait for someone at the door.

Qin Huai went straight up to him: "Director Xu, why are you waiting for us at the door? It's so cold outside, please come in quickly!"

Factory Director Xu smiled at Qin Huai, noticing the large and small bags in Qin Huai's hands: "Yesterday, Xiao Gong told me to come at 9:30. I saw the time and you hadn't arrived yet, so I thought I'd come out and wait. The sun hadn't come out for the past few days, but it's sunny today, and it's warm too."

Hearing what Director Xu said, Qin Huai felt even more embarrassed: "I could have arrived at 9:30, but I was a little unskilled at packing snacks and wasted too much time."

"Come on, it's cold today, don't stand in the wind. I've brewed some tea: pre-Qingming Longjing, Phoenix Dancong, and Liuan Guapian. Xiao Gong told me you like Ya Shi Xiang hand-beaten lemon tea. I certainly don't have Ya Shi Xiang hand-beaten lemon tea here, but I know Ya Shi Xiang is Phoenix Dancong. I just got a can a couple of days ago." Director Xu said with a smile, and seeing Wang Gensheng, who had been dawdling at the back of the group, finally muster up the courage to come to the front, he smiled at Wang Gensheng.

"Xiao Wang, it's been a long time."

Wang Gensheng was a little afraid to face Director Xu. He lowered his head like a primary school student who had done something wrong: "Director Xu, it's been a long time."

“I heard from Xiao Gong that you’re doing well at work in Shanshi, which puts my mind at ease. When I introduced you back to Shanshi, there were actually better jobs available, but I was worried you wouldn’t be used to it. Knowing your personality, I was sure you’d have conflicts with your colleagues, so I found you a job that didn’t seem so good. I even thought you’d been resentful all these years for not coming to Suzhou because I hadn’t introduced you to a better job, and for not promoting you or giving you a raise when you were at the cotton mill. I’m relieved to hear that you’re doing well.”

"No, Director Xu, I don't resent you, I know. I just... I haven't been back to Suzhou for many years, and I don't know how to face you. When I went back to Suzhou last year, I asked Lao Qian about you and found out that you were living in a nursing home. I gave Lao Qian 600 yuan and asked him to bring me some things when he came to visit you at the nursing home."

In his haste, Wang Gensheng told the truth, since he wasn't good at lying.

Factory Director Xu smiled and led the way.

An Youyou, curious and stubborn, walked up to Wang Gensheng and whispered, "Uncle Wang, why haven't you come to Suzhou to see Xiao Jiu all these years?"

Wang Gensheng: ...

What else could it be? It's the feeling of being apprehensive about returning home.

Factory Director Xu led everyone back to his room, where, as he had said, he had brewed three pots of tea and prepared chairs in advance.

Factory Director Xu poured tea for everyone, and Qin Huai and the others sat down obediently.

“When Xiao Gong came to me yesterday and told me about this, I felt both surprised and that it made sense.”

“Back then… before Xiao Nuo died, he told me that he was a spirit and that he would be reincarnated. If he had memories, he would come back to find me. I didn’t really believe it. This kid has always been like this, he can’t keep his mouth shut and says whatever comes to mind. I thought he thought it was a clever way to comfort me before he died so that I wouldn’t be so sad.”

"To comfort me, they even dragged Xu Mo into it."

"Before I could even ask Xu Mo, that silly kid committed suicide."

Upon hearing Director Xu's words, Shi Dadan lowered his head in shame and said in the same way Wang Gensheng apologized as a primary school student, "Director, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. You are the most innocent. You even lost your life."

“At first, I resented Xiao Wang a little. I felt that Xiao Nuo died because of Xiao Wang’s report. Although I couldn’t blame Xiao Wang, it was hard for me not to resent him.”

"But after the truth was found out... this matter had nothing to do with Xiao Wang. In fact, it gave me the feeling that I was the one who killed Xiao Nuo. I didn't know who to blame or who to hate, but I had nowhere to vent my resentment. I could only take care of Xiao Wang while giving you important responsibilities, and at the same time, I distanced myself from you and didn't want to have much contact with you."

"Later on, I started to hope that what Xiao Nuo said was true. I hoped that there really were spirits in this world, and I hoped that my son could come back to see me after he was reincarnated."

"I have lived to this day with this hope in my heart."

"When you came to see me last time, I recognized Xu Mo at first glance." Director Xu smiled and looked at Shi Dadan. "You really haven't changed at all. When you're feeling guilty, you don't even dare to look at me. Before, every time Xiao Nuo brought you to our house for dinner, you were always a big guy, with your head down, huddled in the back, eating faster than anyone else."

"The last time I came to the nursing home, the big guy was huddled up behind Xiao Qin and Youyou with his head down. He ate a meal for seven people at lunchtime, which shocked the cafeteria staff."

Shi DaDa:......

Shi Dadan didn't know what to say, so he could only look up and give a simple, honest smile.

"Xiao Jiu, did you recognize me last time?" An Youyou asked impatiently.

Factory Director Xu nodded: "My son and Xu Mo are spirits, so it's not surprising that my eldest son is a spirit too."

"Then can you call me Boss like Xiao Qi?" An Youyou's eyes sparkled with excitement that I could be the boss again.

Factory Director Xu: ...

Factory Director Xu nodded, his smile fading, and addressed him very seriously: "Boss."

(End of this chapter)