The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 605 Heading to Guangdong Province
After informing Grandpa Qin, Qin Huai also told his parents the good news that many of his friends would be returning to Qin Family Village with him to celebrate the New Year.

Compared to Old Master Qin's bewilderment, Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen accepted the fact in just one minute.

Well, it's certainly absurd to go to a friend's house for Chinese New Year, especially with such a large group, but considering it's Qin Huai's house, it seems quite reasonable.

Who wouldn't want to enjoy delicious snacks made by Chef Qin every morning when they wake up during the Chinese New Year, a time of national celebration?

In other words, Qin Huai didn't send out an invitation. Otherwise, if Qin Huai had simply posted a notice at the entrance of the Yunzhong Canteen, the residents of Yunzhong Community and the nearby office workers could have made a decision that went against their ancestors' wishes—to bring their families to Qinjiacun for the New Year.

After drafting for half a month and preparing himself mentally for several days, Wang Gensheng finally confessed to his wife after Chen Gong said he could go to Qinjiacun for the New Year and applied to go to Qinhuai's house for the New Year.

Chen Juan approved the application instantly.

They also offered their opinions to Wang Gensheng, feeling that he hadn't cherished his relationship with Qin Huai. How could he only secure one spot for something so important? Didn't he bring his wife?
Next time, I'll try to get an extra spot so my wife can come along too.

Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. They can see their sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters whenever they want. Why do they have to eat and celebrate the New Year together? The elderly couple has spent so many New Years with their children. They should have some private space and follow the trend of young people to celebrate the New Year at their friends' homes.

And so, the list of friends who will spend the Chinese New Year at Qin Huai's house was finalized.

Gong Liang, adhering to the principle of spending time with his wife and children, was the only spirit who didn't go to Qin Huai's house for New Year's Eve dinner. Qin Huai also asked Chen Huihong if she wanted to bring Huihui along, but Chen Huihong said no, as Huihui didn't have any familiar playmates in Guangdong Province, and the child wouldn't be happy spending the New Year in an unfamiliar place.

Speaking of which, Qin Huai can now make longevity noodles that meet the requirements.

Chen Huihui's birthday is June 28th. Qin Huai plans to make her a bowl of longevity noodles that will give her a perfect buff on her birthday. This is what Qin Huai wanted to do most when he found the recipe for longevity noodles.

Although the recipe didn't offer any helpful tips, and it was confirmed that Chen Huihui's condition had dissipated and she was now just an ordinary person, and Qin Huai didn't intend to tell Chen Huihong the truth, Qin Huai still felt that Huihui needed to eat a bowl of longevity noodles like this on her birthday.

From now on, for every birthday, Chen Huihui needs a bowl of longevity noodles like this.
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"Sister Xi, the Cloud Cafeteria is counting on you during the Spring Festival. Please put in extra effort. From the Little New Year to the Lantern Festival, everyone who works will receive triple pay. Just make the work schedule and send it to my mom. Everyone has worked hard this year, and there will be an extra two months' bonus at the end of the year. Remember to secretly give Youyou an extra 10,000 yuan and tell her it's a special perfect attendance bonus." Qin Huai pulled Huang tide aside for a quiet meeting on the second floor.

That's how the canteen in the clouds is. Neither the boss nor the managers have offices. If they want to have a meeting or discuss something, they can just go up to the second floor and whisper when no one is there.

Huang tide nodded to make a note of it, and said with a smile, "Youyou will definitely be very happy. I heard that Youyou is going to spend the New Year with everyone at Master Qin's house this year. It will be very lively. When I make New Year's greetings, I can also be lazy and make one call so that all of you can hear it."

Qin Huai laughed and said, "Then Sister Xi, you can just call Youyou to wish her a Happy New Year. She will definitely put it on speakerphone."

This year, the Lunar New Year is late, not until the end of February. Qin Huai considered that last year he stayed in Shanshi until the end of the year before returning home. Because he returned too late, he didn't have time to visit Director Qin and the children at the Sanmalu Children's Welfare Institute, and thus failed to solidify his position as "Brother Bao Bao." Therefore, Qin Huai decided to go back earlier this year.

He went back before the Lunar New Year! At the same time, Qin Huai also gave Wang Jun a long vacation. Wang Jun's main purpose in coming to Yunzhong Canteen was to be Qin Huai's assistant. Now that Chef Qin is on vacation and going home, his assistant can naturally also go home on vacation.

When Wang Jun worked at Huang's restaurant, he couldn't take many days off during the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year period was the busiest time of the year for Huang's restaurant. Huang Shengli's personal disciples were lucky to get one day off from the first to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. They usually couldn't take their annual leave until after the New Year.

That's just how the culinary industry is; it's busiest during holidays, so we take staggered holidays.

Qinhuai's current plans for the Spring Festival are as follows:

Considering that Qin Luo would definitely go crazy playing during the Spring Festival and wouldn't be able to concentrate on her homework, Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen would stay in Shanshi for a few more days to supervise their daughter's homework so that she could have a good time during the Spring Festival.

Qin Huai would return to Guangdong Province two days before the Lunar New Year to visit Cao Guixiang in the city.

Qin Huai didn't return to Guangdong Province to see Cao Guixiang for the entire second half of the year, and the two rarely video-called each other, mainly because it wasn't necessary. With Qin Huai's current skill level, he rarely encountered problems with pastry making that required Cao Guixiang's advice; Wang Jun, his excellent assistant, could make up for most of his shortcomings in cooking.

Cao Guixiang herself also felt that Qin Huai didn't need to spend too much energy practicing the basics of cooking. Knife skills only needed to be passable; while it would be good to practice controlling the heat, if there wasn't enough time, it could be left to an assistant, since Qin Huai was both a pastry chef and a breakfast chef.

Qin Huai wanted to learn everything before because he had an apprentice's mentality and felt that making pastries required hands-on experience and responsibility for every part. Cao Guixiang respected Qin Huai's ideas, believing he had talent and the will to learn, and that he should let him practice. Although the chances were slim, what if he became a true all-rounder?

Like Zheng Siyuan, who is a pastry chef, his skills in making red dishes are quite good.

But now Master Qin has become Master Qin, a true master chef. He has learned how to make good use of his assistants and how to delegate tasks that don't require a master chef to others.

With this change in mindset, and given that Qin Huai was indeed very busy, he communicated with Cao Guixiang less. They would chat on WeChat every now and then, mostly about everyday matters.

Before she became a mentor, Cao Guixiang was just an ordinary retired old lady. She didn't even go grocery shopping herself; she usually had Zhang Chu go to the market for her. She spent her time either hiking, strolling in the park, or chatting with her old friends, or watching TV and knitting at home—living a very leisurely life.

When Qin Huai was busy before, he could not talk much with Cao Guixiang. But as the New Year approached, how could he not take the initiative to bring some things, such as several suitcases full of pastry dough, to show his beloved Master Cao the results of his hard work in improving his basic stats in the second half of the year?
According to Qin Huai's plan, he would visit Cao Guixiang's family in advance to pay New Year's greetings before the New Year, and after the New Year, he would first go to Suzhou to pay New Year's greetings to Huang Shengli and Zheng Da, and take Huang Ji's accounts for the New Year period to Wang Gensheng for accounting, and then go to Hangzhou to pay New Year's greetings to Master Zhou and all the masters of Zhiweiju.

Yes, first Suzhou, then Hangzhou. Qin Huai believed that his dear Master Zheng would be able to see his cleverness in this itinerary.

Under these arrangements, Qin Huai and Shi Dadan set off together on February 11, carrying four of the largest suitcases full of raw pastry dough, to Guangdong Province.

　I'm going out for dinner tonight and meeting up with friends, so I'm a bit rushed. I'll post a short chapter first, and then another short chapter around 1 or 2 AM when I get back from dinner.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)