The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 636 Extra: Xia Murui's Story (Part 1)

My name is Xia Murui, and I am a chef.

I've been a chef for most of my life. Although I don't have many friends, I've made a name for myself in the industry and accumulated some wealth. My life was originally quite ordinary, until one day two young guests came to Fenyuan.

One young man shared the same name as my former colleague and even looked very similar. Another young man had an unfamiliar name, but his personality was very similar to my junior colleague who had been dead for over half a century.

At the time, I thought it was a coincidence, but it wasn't until their second visit that I realized it was destiny. Since then, my life has been filled with many surprises, and now I will tell you about them.
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During the Spring Festival, the villagers of Qinjiacun felt as if they had eaten their way into another world.

Every morning, the first thing everyone in the village, young and old, does after waking up is to take a bowl and go to Qin Huai's house to offer New Year's greetings. Whether or not to bring fruit, milk, or other gifts isn't the point; the key is to bring your own bowls and chopsticks so as not to add to Qin Huai's burden of washing dishes. Along with your own bowls and chopsticks, remember to grab two red envelopes. Once you enter Qin Huai's courtyard, simply hand the red envelopes to Qin Luo, and you can happily wait in line at the kitchen door for some snacks.

Sometimes, the villagers of Qin Family Village feel that what they are giving out isn't a red envelope, but an entrance ticket. After paying the ticket, they can eat as much snacks as they want, with steamed buns and mantou being the standard fare, and there are limited-time surprises every day.

From Four Happiness Dumplings to Red Silk Cakes, from Three Delicacies Buns to Dream-Fulfilling Baked Cakes, the villagers of Qin Family Village ate with utter rapt attention. If this were a dream only possible during the Lunar New Year, everyone hoped to remain immersed in it forever, wishing for 363 out of 365 days to be a true New Year celebration.

It is a wonderful thing to be able to live in Qin Family Village and become a member of Qin Family Village!

The villagers sighed in this way.

Unfortunately, this dream didn't last 363 days, or even 15 days.

Master Qin ran away ahead of time.

Of course, Qin Huai didn't run away because he felt the work pressure was too great and he didn't need to grind basic stats. Qin Huai really wanted to give back to his fellow villagers, but Zhao Cheng'an's annual leave was simply not enough.

In Qin Family Village, it's not just ordinary villagers who are engrossed in enjoying the snacks; Zhao Cheng'an is another example.

Zhao Cheng'an has had a tough life these past few lifetimes.

In his first life, he was a helper at Taifeng Restaurant. Although Master Chen didn't personally take him on as an apprentice, everyone assumed he was the apprentice's apprentice. At that time, although Zhao Cheng'an didn't have much money and gave his monthly wages to Chen Ping'an to buy medicine, he still ate well.

Tai Fung Lou has a very good menu.

Master Chen was very open to giving his apprentices special meals. Zhao Cheng'an could eat whatever he wanted with home-cooked dishes back then, and after going to the Li family, he ate special meals every day. Before going to the Li family, he could occasionally eat special meals from Jiang Chengde, and the food was excellent.

In later generations, Zhao Cheng'an didn't eat as well.

In this life, Zhao Cheng'an ate quite well. As the former number one chef (though he lost that title after Qin Huai woke up), Master Zhou had been providing Zhao Cheng'an with special meals since he was a child. Zhao Cheng'an had also eaten his share of Master Zhou's signature pastries and boat-shaped snacks. Logically speaking, Zhao Cheng'an's meals in this life were quite good.

Until Qin Huai woke up.

No matter how skilled or talented Master Zhou is, he is still just a middle-aged man who hasn't retired yet. He hasn't even lived to be 80 years old. How can he compare to Qin Huai, who is 20 years old and has 80 years of service?

Zhao Cheng'an didn't understand at first.

They all successfully transcended tribulations, all integrated memories from previous lives, and all worked as helpers at Taifeng Restaurant. So why is it that after Qin Huai woke up, he was like someone with a cheat code, making S-grade pastries while only his potato dumplings were A-grade?

When he woke up and merged with the memories of his previous lives, everything he merged with was full of bugs. He no longer hoped for cheat codes; he just wanted to fix these bugs as soon as possible.

It's unfair, extremely unfair!
We're all special creatures, so what if you're Feifei? You're just a cat, aren't you? We mayflies are...mayflies!

Zhao Cheng'an lodged a strong protest, feeling a surge of sorrow, and ate two extra pieces of snacks.

Then I couldn't stop eating.

It's so delicious, it's absolutely delicious!

Steamed, boiled, baked, fried, sweet, salty, sour, and even bland—they're all delicious! How can a pastry chef be so versatile, making every pastry taste good?

Most dim sum chefs are only proficient in one or two kinds of dim sum, but Qinhuai is only proficient in one or two kinds of dim sum.

After realizing that he might be the first of all the spirits to go back to work, Zhao Cheng'an became even more saddened.

Although Gong Liang arrived late, he could define his own holiday.

Although Chen Gong and An Youyou also have to go back to work, the former can take as much leave as he wants, and President Han will approve his leave. The latter just acquired 52% of the shares in Yunzhong Canteen, and the owner is Qin Huai, so theoretically, staying by the owner's side is equivalent to going to work.

I must be the first to go back.

Unwilling to return to work, Zhao Cheng'an resorted to crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide. He first complained to Master Zhou, then to Xia Murui, and finally to Qin Huai. With the help of Qin Huai and Xia Murui, he successfully secured an extended holiday to return to work after the Lantern Festival. He also persuaded Qin Huai to go to Beiping with him to celebrate the Lantern Festival and pay New Year's greetings to Xia Murui.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Cheng'an took Master Qin, who was the physical provider of food and clothing for Qin Family Village, to Beiping.

In response, the villagers of Qin Family Village and the group of spirits said: Zhao Cheng'an, you **********!

The trip to Beiping during the Spring Festival was not originally in Qin Huai's plans. Before Qin Huai woke up, Xia Murui was just a stranger he had seen briefly in his memories. She was a highly respected senior in the culinary world, and also Zhao Cheng'an's senior in the neighboring red-cooked food circle. She had nothing to do with him.

Qin Huai has now woken up.

Looking back, Qin Huai and Xia Murui are actually quite related.

To put it simply, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an were a well-known duo of patients at Taifenglou. They both suffered from a strange disease that prevented them from growing up, and they were both connected to the family through connections.

To outsiders, Qin Huai was a distant relative of Qin Wan, who initially stayed at the Jiang family's house and was widely recognized as a relative of the head chef at Taifeng Restaurant, brought in by Jiang Chengde. Zhao Cheng'an, on the other hand, was a mentally challenged apprentice whom Chef Chen hadn't formally accepted, and who desperately needed someone to look after him; he was a relative of the second chef.

The relationship between these two people with connections isn't very good.

Qin Huai thought the mayfly was crazy. "We're spirits, not idiots. Why do we always look like we're not thinking straight? We're not serious about our work, we're not diligent in learning to cook, and all we care about is what to eat each day. We have no ambition."

Zhao Cheng'an thought Feifei was crazy. "We're spirits, not here to work! Why are you working so hard? Who are you trying to kill by working yourself to death every day? Taifeng Restaurant only has the two of us full-time pastry helpers. If you're so amazing, it makes me look like a complete idiot. I know you want to repay your Qin Mama, but if you want to, just do it! Aren't you Feifei? Just let her make a wish to you, why are you acting like a workplace workaholic?"

Unfortunately, the two of them were also colleagues, working together at work and learning skills together.

At that time, because Zhao Cheng'an was widely considered to be mentally ill, Xia Murui took good care of this junior brother. While caring for him, she would also show concern for his fellow sufferers, doing small things like saving food for Qin Huai.

In addition, Xia Murui was also a Scroll King, and the two Scroll Kings would occasionally exchange their experiences. Therefore, even though Xia Murui didn't talk much and Qin Huai didn't like to talk to anyone other than the Jiang family, and the two didn't communicate much most of the time, their relationship was actually quite good.

At least in Qin Huai's view, his relationship with Xia Murui was much better than his relationship with Zhao Cheng'an at that time.

In this situation, how can one not visit old friends during the Lunar New Year?

Not to mention that Xia Murui had already sent over the Lantern Festival menu.

The last time Qin Huai saw dishes comparable to this menu was Cao Guixiang's bird's nest and shark fin banquet.

Speaking of Cao Guixiang, she made a special trip to Qinjiacun on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year to join in the festivities. The Zhang family enjoyed the snacks very much, and in the end, they left with a trunk full of snacks.

On the day Cao Guixiang arrived, Qin Huai made the pastries very discreetly, and the villagers of Qin Family Village couldn't detect any particularly subtle differences. However, Cao Guixiang could definitely tell at a glance that Qin Huai had broken through from A-level to S-level. Qin Huai's previous achievements could all be explained by his extraordinary talent, but this sudden enlightenment was hard to explain.

So Qin Huai chose not to explain and to keep it to himself.

Even though she had kept a lot hidden, Qin Huai's progress still deeply impressed Cao Guixiang. Cao Guixiang had originally come specifically to help, and also to encourage Qin Huai, telling him not to be too hasty, not to worry too much, and to believe in his talent.

Upon arrival, Cao Guixiang spent two days memorizing her lines but couldn't utter a single one. She just kept helping in the kitchen. In the end, she was too tired and didn't stay all day, running away at 2 pm.

Before running away, Cao Guixiang reminded Qin Huai to come to her house for dinner after the New Year, and if possible, to bring Luo Luo along as well.

Luo Luo is an honest child. Qin Huai asked Luo Luo to take more snacks to Cao Guixiang's family, so Luo Luo packed up all the snacks in the kitchen and stuffed them into the trunk of the car, so much so that the trunk could hardly be closed.

Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing were so happy that they wished they could become sworn brothers with Qin Luo on the spot.

The grand feast at Cao Guixiang's house after the New Year is something to look forward to, but right now, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an clearly have something more worthy of study—

Fen Yuan's Lantern Festival menu.

"Shark fin soup in casserole, braised pork belly, clear soup with willow leaf swallow's nest, braised sea cucumber with scallions, peach blossom sauce, stir-fried double crisp, braised mutton strips, Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, fish maw stewed with ham, almond Buddha's hand, crispy apple, stir-fried pearl chicken, shiitake mushroom and duck feet, lotus seedpod and tofu, shredded chicken and white fungus, fresh mushroom and bok choy, roast...roast suckling pig?"

"There's also roast duck, braised lamb chops, sweet and sour pork with pineapple, shrimp in tomato sauce, braised round fish with ham, and crab meat with bamboo shoots."

“I can understand all of that, but Provençal stew, beef stew in Burgundy, and duck confit are French dishes, right? Xia Murui knows French cuisine?”

Qin Huai studied the Lantern Festival menu with a puzzled look on his face on the plane.

"Zhang Guanghang will be there." Zhao Cheng'an took a bite of yam cake, a sip of iced cola, and downed the rest of his iced cola in one gulp before calling to the flight attendant, "Another iced cola, please!"

"Okay, sir." The flight attendant smiled and took the cup away.

"Are you sure this is the Lantern Festival menu that Xia Murui sent you, and not Fenyuan's March menu?" Qin Huai looked at the menu again from beginning to end in disbelief. "If I remember correctly, Fenyuan is not open on the Lantern Festival, so theoretically, there will only be four people eating there that day: me, you, Zhang Guanghang, and Xia Murui."

“Yes.” Zhao Cheng’an nodded.

"Are there really this many dishes for four people?"

“Yes.” Zhao Cheng’an continued to nod. “I asked you if you wanted to bring Lao Shi along, but you said Lao Shi doesn’t know Xia Murui, and it wouldn’t be good to just bring him over for a free meal. Besides, we’re going to pay our respects to Xia Murui this time because you’ve woken up, and the three of us want to catch up. It would be awkward if Lao Shi sat on the side and couldn’t understand us.”

"You also said that there's no need to worry about Lao Shi's thousand-day breakfast mission being interrupted. You've prepared enough breakfast for Lao Shi to eat these few days. He'll eat it sparingly and there won't be any problem. You'll be back after the Lantern Festival."

"Since you've put it that way, of course I won't insist."

Qin Huai: "...I didn't expect you to suggest bringing Lao Shi along because Lao Shi has a big appetite."

"Didn't I send you this menu the day before yesterday?"

"I've been making desserts during the day and going through my memories at night these past few days, I don't have time to look at this."

"Oh." Zhao Cheng'an took another bite of yam cake. "I thought your appetite had increased dramatically after you woke up, and that you thought these dishes would be no problem for you. I thought we four could finish them without you bringing Lao Shi."

Qin Huai: ...

“I am Feifei, not Dankang, much less Taotie.”

Zhao Cheng'an showed a regretful expression.

“However…” Qin Huai pointed to the menu on his phone, “With so many dishes, even with Zhang Guanghang’s help, can Xia Murui finish them all? I heard before I woke up that he hasn’t been feeling well lately, and Fenyuan is often closed. Fenyuan was open during the Chinese New Year before, but it seems that it was only open for one day this year.”

Zhao Cheng'an rolled up his sleeves: "That's why the two of us have to go two days early!"

"If the head chef can't handle it, then the two of us who are professional helpers are!"

Qin Huai gave Zhao Cheng'an a deep look.

"Flight attendant, two more Cokes, please."

"Hey, why are you drinking Coke? Don't you not like drinking anything on the plane?"

"I ordered this for you."

Zhao Cheng'an: ?

"Don't get involved in the work when it comes to helping out. Your job is to eat more. Start working on your appetite now. I believe in you!"

Zhao Cheng'an: ? ? ?

(End of this chapter)