The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 638 Extra Chapter: Xia Murui's Story (Part 3)
Qin Huai's suggestion deeply moved Xia Murui. Xia Murui had various concerns about not recognizing Jiang Weiguo, or rather, he was both eager for Taifeng Restaurant to reopen and afraid of it reopening. But his desire to see his old friend was genuine.

At this age, to have the chance to reunite with old friends is truly a rare and precious experience in life.

Even though Xia Murui had already reunited with the two reincarnated acquaintances, he still wanted to see with his own eyes how Jiang Weiguo was doing now.

Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an came to Beiping to pay their respects to Xia Murui for the New Year and to celebrate the Lantern Festival with him. Now that the three of them had chatted and enjoyed some snacks, Qin Huai naturally wanted to show Xia Murui the festive spirit he had learned from his chef, Little Qin—

Make Poria cocos sandwich cakes.

Zhao Cheng'an also wanted to show his senior brother how much progress he had made recently.

His appetite has increased dramatically.

During the Spring Festival, Zhao Cheng'an ate snacks until he was stuffed every day in Qin Family Village. He spent time with Dang Kang day and night, and his appetite improved slightly, much faster than his cooking skills.

After Zhang Guanghang finished checking the rooms where Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an would be staying for the next few days, he walked back from the backyard of Fen Garden and entered the kitchen. What he saw was Qin Huai making Fuling cakes, Xia Murui sitting in a chair eating them with a smile, and Zhao Cheng'an standing next to her wolfing them down.

Even though he was mentally prepared, Zhang Guanghang still found it hard to get used to such a loving master.

Well, Zhang Guanghang felt that his master was better when he had a blank, stern face. His kind master always gave him the illusion that his master was about to be swindled out of everything by two con artists.

“Master, the rooms have been checked and there are no problems. I’ve put two extra pillows in each room, one high and one low, all new. Rubber pillows and buckwheat pillows are also ready, in the cabinet in the small room to the east,” Zhang Guanghang said.

Xia Murui nodded and waved to Zhang Guanghang: "Xiao Hang, come and eat some Fuling cake. A few years ago... about 70 years ago, Fuling cake was the most popular food during the New Year in Beiping."

Zhang Guanghang strode forward and looked at a plate of freshly baked, still-warm Poria cocos sandwiches.

With Qin Huai's current skill level, it's hard to find fault with the appearance of his pastries. Of course, they're also flawless in terms of taste.

Qin Huai's pastries are now very mature and textbook-style. The pastries he makes should be exactly the same as those in textbooks. If the pastries in textbooks are different from those made by Qin Huai, then there must be a problem with the textbooks, and they need to be changed.

As a native-born Chinese-French mixed-race child from Beiping who speaks fluent Beijing dialect from a young age, Zhang Guanghang has naturally eaten Fuling cake.

Since adulthood, Zhang Guanghang has not been a big fan of sweets, or more accurately, he doesn't like overly sweet sweets. He prefers sweets that have a hint of sweetness, but not too much, with a delicate texture, a unique flavor that is sweet but not cloying, yet not completely devoid of sweetness.

Poria cocos sandwiches clearly did not meet his aesthetic standards. In Zhang Guanghang's opinion, most of the Poria cocos sandwiches sold in Beijing's pastry shops were too sweet, and the Poria cocos cakes were not thin enough.

The Poria cocos cakes on the plate are now clearly thin enough.

A hint of doubt flashed in Zhang Guanghang's eyes.

He didn't really have any issues with Qin Huai. Compared to Zhao Cheng'an, Qin Huai hadn't really cheated Xia Murui much; he'd only gotten a few houses and a courtyard house. Qin Huai didn't usually communicate with Xia Murui, and he certainly wouldn't chat with her on WeChat after midnight. Moreover, Qin Huai's pastry-making skills were clearly superior to Zhao Cheng'an's. Although his aesthetic sense was a bit questionable—Zhang Guanghang still didn't understand why Qin Huai insisted on making those awful potato dumplings—he still held a positive view of Qin Huai himself.

Zhang Guanghang vaguely remembered that Qin Huai's cooking skills last time didn't seem to be this good.

Yam cake is delicious, but it's not entirely without its flaws.

But the poria cocos sandwich in front of me...

Is Poria cocos sandwich a specialty snack of Qinhuai?

It's unbelievable that a pastry chef's specialty is such a simple and ordinary snack.

Zhang Guanghang picked up a Poria cocos sandwich and took a bite.

The Poria cocos cake is very thin, almost like paper. Because it was freshly baked, it was still warm and crispy, with a unique flavor. It is a uniquely styled snack that meets Zhang Guanghang's aesthetic standards.

The filling is a bit sweet, just like every Poria cocos sandwich Zhang Guanghang has ever had before. It's a simple and pure sweet filling with a soft, candy-like texture, like thick honey. It also has a few bits of nut pieces mixed in, which makes it quite delicious.

Normally, Zhang Guanghang wouldn't like such sweet pastries. Out of respect for his master, he would only eat a small taste at most.

But today, as Zhang Guanghang savored this ordinary yet not-so-ordinary snack, he unknowingly finished one and still felt a little unsatisfied, so he subconsciously picked up a second Poria cocos cake and started eating it.

By the time Zhang Guanghang realized what was happening, he had already eaten three Poria cocos sandwiches.

Xia Murui laughed from the side, "Xiao Hang, you haven't eaten so many sweets in years. I remember you loved sweets when you were little. Every winter you would clamor for candied hawthorns and your face would be covered in sugar every time. One year during the Spring Festival, nougat was popular and you ate more than two pounds in one day. Since then, you haven't eaten sweets much."

Zhang Guanghang, suddenly brought up in his dark past: ...

Zhang Guanghang remained silent, simply picking up the fourth Poria cocos sandwich.

Zhao Cheng'an, standing to the side, analyzed with great experience: "That must be because he ate too much sugar. I have experience with this. I once ate more than three pounds of pig's trotters during the Spring Festival and threw up. For several years after that, I felt nauseous whenever I saw pig's trotters."

Zhang Guanghang remained silent, simply eating his poria cocos sandwich.

Xia Murui asked with great concern, "Have you seen a doctor? Did you upset your stomach?"

"That was many years ago. It's fine not to eat pig's trotters. Back then, pig's trotters were quite expensive, so not eating them saved money," Zhao Chengan said.

"Ah Sheng, do you want to eat pig's trotters this year? If you do, I'll make them for you tomorrow. I probably won't have time for the Lantern Festival."

"eat."

While silently munching on a poria cocos sandwich, Zhang Guanghang listened to Xia Murui and Zhao Cheng'an chatting, and at the same time, he couldn't help but glance at Qin Huai, who was diligently making poria cocos sandwiches on the side, as if he were just a background figure.

For some reason, Zhang Guanghang felt as if he hadn't experienced such an ordinary yet festive New Year in many years.

Since that's the case, he'll just have to make a proper French meal for the Lantern Festival. Zhang Guanghang originally planned to just cook something simple and stuff those two swindlers with ordinary dishes.

No, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an aren't actually dead frauds.

Zhang Guanghang felt that the private investigator's investigation was not thorough enough, and that the two of them might really be distant relatives of his master.
.
Over the next two days, Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an clearly sensed a change in Zhang Guanghang's attitude towards them.

The most noticeable change was that Zhang Guanghang cooked many French dishes for them that the two of them had never eaten before.

They were all quite delicious.

You can tell that Zhang Guanghang puts a lot of effort into cooking.

Zhang Guanghang even found out from somewhere that Qin Huai loved bananas and cheese sticks, so he had the housekeeper at Fenyuan deliver bananas and cheese sticks to Qin Huai's room every day. As a result, Qin Huai had an extra meal every night after eating during the day and returning to his room. For three days, he was either hiccuping or on his way to hiccup.

This kind of treatment is usually only available to diners in Qinhuai, since the dim sum is all about large portions and filling meals. Now it's Qinhuai's turn to enjoy it, and for the first time, Qinhuai empathizes with Tan Weian, deeply realizing that eating isn't easy either.

Tan Weian had really suffered before, being so full every day and not even eating S-grade desserts. Meanwhile, Zhang Guanghang started liking Qin Huai and Zhao Chengan's posts on WeChat Moments.

Qin Huai rarely posts on WeChat Moments, but Zhao Cheng'an is a WeChat Moments posting maniac. He can post eight times after eating a meal. Many of Zhiweiju's direct disciples have long since blocked Zhao Cheng'an's WeChat Moments.

Qin Huai was surprised that Zhang Guanghang hadn't blocked Zhao Cheng'an's WeChat Moments.

On the Lantern Festival, Zhao Cheng'an posted a total of 13 updates on his WeChat Moments, 7 of which were about food. Qin Huai didn't like any of Zhao Cheng'an's posts, treating them as advertisements for online businesses and just laughing them off. But Zhang Guanghang liked every single one of them without fail.

So much so that when Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an were about to leave, Zhang Guanghang took the initiative to pack up all the dishes that could be packed so that they could take them on the plane or check them in directly. Qin Huai couldn't help but quietly ask Xia Murui.

"What's wrong with Zhang Guanghang?"

Xia Murui calmly said, "Xiao Hang is actually a very warm-hearted child."

Qin Huai: ...

I see. I really didn't see that coming before. Every time Zhang Guanghang contacted Qin Huai, he asked Qin Huai to tell Zhao Cheng'an not to push his luck, to swindle less money, and not to chat with Xia Murui after midnight, endangering the old woman's life and health.

To be fair, Zhang Guanghang's actions were quite kind in a way, except that the object of his kindness was his beloved master.

"Xiao Hang has been learning his craft from me since he was a child, so he hasn't had much time to make friends. He's never had any friends growing up. Qin Huai and A Sheng, if you're willing to take him along, you can talk to him more."

"It's probably because I'm getting more and more withdrawn as I get older. Xiao Hang learned from me and has a rather withdrawn personality."

Qin Huai nodded, not taking his words to heart, while Zhao Cheng'an didn't nod, but he did take his words to heart.

On the day the two left Beiping, Zhao Cheng'an enthusiastically chatted with Zhang Guanghang on WeChat every day. Zhang Guanghang's attitude changed drastically in just seven days, from initially replying politely to simply reading but not replying, and eventually refusing to like Zhao Cheng'an's posts on WeChat Moments.

However, Zhang Guanghang still seemed to read Zhao Cheng'an's messages, though he didn't reply. Three days after Zhao Cheng'an asked Zhang Guanghang if he still had the jam they had last time, saying he thought it was delicious and wanted to share it with his colleagues at Zhiweiju, Zhao Cheng'an received the jam from Zhang Guanghang.

A total of 16 bottles.

When Zhao Cheng'an sent another message to Zhang Guanghang, asking if he had any other French specialties he could send, Zhao Cheng'an had not yet received anything.

Clearly, Zhang Guanghang not only blocked Zhao Cheng'an's WeChat Moments, but also blocked Zhao Cheng'an himself.

When Zhao Cheng'an sent the message to Zhang Guanghang, Zhang Guanghang had already gone to Japan for further studies.

About a month later, Zhao Cheng'an received some local specialties from Zhang Guanghang in Japan. Zhao Cheng'an and Qin Huai remarked that Zhang Guanghang was indeed very warm-hearted and a good person; although he read their messages but didn't reply and had blocked them from posting on social media, he still genuinely sent them.

Zhao Cheng'an made this remark in front of Qin Huai.

Zhao Cheng'an was unable to sign for the package in person because on the day it arrived at Zhiweiju, Zhao Cheng'an, Qin Huai, and Xia Murui were in Z City tracking Jiang Weiguo.

The three initially went to the countryside to stake out the area, but they found nothing. They learned that Jiang Weiguo had gone to the city to scold his son.

The three followed him all the way to Z City and arrived at the health restaurant owned by Jiang Jiankang. Because Qin Huai had eaten at Jiang Weiguo's house for a few days a few months ago and had met Jiang Jiankang, Wang Xiulian, and Jiang Feng, it was inconvenient for him to show himself, so he could only observe quietly.

Zhao Cheng'an and Xia Murui also secretly observed in order to cooperate with Qin Huai.

The three of them, like obscure celebrities who were afraid of being recognized by fans but actually had no fans at all, were fully armed with hats, turtlenecks, gloves, masks, scarves, and sunglasses, and sat eating noodles at the noodle shop next to the health-focused restaurant.

Of course, Qin Huai does not admit that he dressed like a 180th-tier celebrity. He said that the inspiration for his outfit came entirely from Qu Jing's experience of pretending to have a UV allergy.

It's just that Zhao Cheng'an's thieving instincts were too strong, which made the three of them seem suspicious. When Zhao Cheng'an was still the King of Thieves in Beiping, he didn't seem to have that thieving instinct at all, but now, for some reason, he seems so suspicious.

Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an have good hearing and can hear the sounds from next door. Xia Murui is old and a little hard of hearing, so she might not be able to hear even sitting in the health restaurant. It's better to listen to Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an relay the information.

Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an were listening with great interest to Jiang Weiguo's swear words, each one unique.

"You've improved; that's what you mean by improved cooking skills."

"Where's the progress? I think your cooking skills haven't improved, your sense of taste has deteriorated, your eyesight has worsened, and you've been kicked in the head by a donkey."

"Look at what you've cooked!"

"You dare to sell this stir-fried green peppers with pork? You dare to boast that you were a head chef at a state-run restaurant back in the day? I think our state-run restaurant didn't go bankrupt because of the bad economy, it went bankrupt entirely because you took over after I retired."

"Next year, your mother and I won't need to raise Da Hua, Er Hua, San Hua, or Si Hua anymore. We already have enough pigs at home. If you ask me, we don't need to slaughter the new Da Hua this year. We can just take Da Hua to Manager Hu's house and apologize to him. If I hadn't retired early to make it easier for you to get married and given you my position as head chef at the state-owned restaurant, the state-owned restaurant wouldn't have gone out of business so early."

"How could I have raised such a son?"

"Why are you looking at me? I have words on my face. Even your older brother knew what I did to him back then, and he was told to practice cooking right after I scolded him. What are you standing here for?"

"Stir-fry the dishes. Didn't the customer order twice-cooked pork? Stir-fry it, stir-fry it right in front of me. I want to see how you can stir-fry twice-cooked pork after you specially called me back from the countryside to say you've improved."

"..."

Zhao Cheng'an clicked his tongue in amazement: "Jiang Weiguo must be in very good health."

"He curses with such force, I feel like he's in better health than me."

After speaking, Zhao Cheng'an stood up and took off his hat, scarf, mask, and sunglasses. The little girl at the next table looked at him expectantly, but when she saw that there was only an ordinary face under the layers of clothing, she immediately looked disappointed and wondered why Zhao Cheng'an had covered himself up so tightly.

Zhao Cheng'an was completely unaware and said with great interest, "While we're eating noodles, the neighbors have already started complaining about everything from stir-fried pork with chili peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and stir-fried cabbage to stewed chicken with mushrooms. Now they're making twice-cooked pork. I'm going to go over there and order all of these dishes to see just how bad they are and why they're complaining about them so much."

Qin Huai: ...

Dude, how can you be so bored?

Xia Murui whispered, "We can order more pork dishes. Qin Huai said that Seventh Young Master is best at pork dishes, and if his son inherits the skill, he should also be good at pork dishes."

"Okay, then let's order sweet and sour pork ribs, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, braised pork belly, and Dongpo pork knuckle!"

"Can you finish this? We just finished a bowl of noodles!" Qin Huai was shocked by Zhao Cheng'an's appetite.

Zhao Cheng'an smiled smugly: "Do you think I've been training for nothing these past two months?"

Qin Huai: ...?
Dude, aren't we chefs? Haven't we practiced our cooking skills at all in the past two months, but instead increased our appetites?
(End of this chapter)