That night, Qin Huai kept making snacks until midnight.
Actually, Qin Huai could continue.
But the guests who ca to pay their respects really couldn't eat any more.
The guests who ca on the first day, more or less, had the mindset of coming to help. Even Li Liang was sharing a car with this mindset, to help while paying respects.
Considering that Luo Jun had limited manpower, there were also limited guests arriving at the funeral ho early with this mindset. Adding to this, Qin Huai spent the entire day in a daze. Many people ca to help during the day, found that everything was in order and didn't need them to stay, so they left after eating the buffet.
These warm-hearted people missed out on the evening's snack feast. Running back and forth again would take three hours and wasn't worth it, so they secretly decided to co earlier the next day to help—if you're going to help, help the whole day!
There were small rooms for the family to rest temporarily in the funeral ho. Qin Huai originally planned to rest in one of those rooms, but Zhou Hu was the first to disagree, saying how could the esteed client who pays the final balance rest in such a humble room!
Zhou Hu invited Qin Huai to rest at his place, which was only 3 kiloters away from the funeral ho. It was a three-room, one-hall apartnt, organized in its chaos, clean and tidy, with excellent feng shui. Both the main and guest bedrooms faced south. There was a pond of goldfish and twelve pots of lush plants at ho. Most importantly, the bedding in the guest bedroom was brand new, perfect for the esteed client to relax.
Zhou Hu extended his invitation warmly, and Qin Huai also wanted to visit Zhou Hu's house, hoping to discover a new side quest, so he gladly accepted.
As soon as he entered Zhou Hu's house, Qin Huai was stunned.
How to put it, the only accurate part of Zhou Hu's description was the three-room, one-hall setup and the goldfish and twelve pots of plants. It's not dirty, but it's undeniably cluttered, with all sorts of strange things piled up in the living room.
Vermillion, talisman paper, peach wood sword, Eight Diagrams Mirror, Compass, Daoist Robe, a pile of calendars, an old Eight Diagrams chart, unopened packages, heaps of clothes, and a ss of miscellaneous items.
Let's put it this way: if two bodies were hidden among these things, Qin Huai wouldn't be able to tell.
Clearly, Zhou Hu hadn't been ho for a while. Even he was shocked when he ca in.
"Uh...Master Qin, the house is a bit ssy. Please excuse . I've been busy with Mr. Luo's funeral planning, running between the city and the funeral ho. I haven't been staying here, mostly in the city, letting people from our company co to my house to feed the fish, water the plants, and pick up deliveries, which piled up like this," Zhou Hu explained awkwardly.
Qin Huai nodded in understanding. He was fairly familiar with Zhou Hu and knew his situation well.
Since his father went to jail, Zhou Hu had been living alone. Because of the mortgage pressure, work was tough. He stepped out each day well-dressed, while the ho situation was more unkempt.
The school district house in the city was rented out due to its pri location. The house near the funeral ho was an old family house of Zhou Hu's, unrentable and thus left vacant. In theory, Zhou Hu lived here, but he was often out and about. Given the demands of his job, he was at the call of duty day and night, spending more ti in the funeral ho's small room than at ho.
Qin Huai glanced at the blank talisman papers on the table, indicating that Zhou Hu hadn't resorted to scamming since becoming financially secure.
Zhou Hu, smiling awkwardly, quickly led Qin Huai to the room. Just as Zhou Hu described, the guest bedroom was very clean and tidy, with brand-new bedding.
"This room was cleaned by a housekeeping lady from our company earlier today, specifically prepared for you, Master Qin. I anticipated you wouldn't want to go back because you'd be keeping vigil," Zhou Hu explained, "I just didn't expect the rest of the house to be so ssy... The cleaning lady only tidied this room."
"Planner Zhou, I might only be able to give you the remaining gift box of dumplings after Mr. Luo's funeral, delivered with the final paynt," Qin Huai said.
Zhou Hu didn't expect Qin Huai to rember the gift box of dumplings at this ti, and quickly said, "That's not urgent, Master Qin. Whenever you're ready, just let know."
Then Zhou Hu stepped aside to leave the room. Before going out, Zhou Hu thought for a mont, adopted a serious expression, and said in a low voice, "Master Qin, my condolences."
Qin Huai nodded slightly.
At night, Qin Huai lay in bed, unable to close his eyes for a long ti.
When making snacks, he felt a wave of calmness wash over him, no longer in a daze, freeing him from thinking about those ssy things, the successful or unsuccessful Crossing Tribulation of Luo Jun. Even though pondering these things was aningless because checking Luo Jun's status in the ga panel would provide the answer.
Yet, Qin Huai hadn't opened the ga panel.
He couldn't articulate what he hoped to see if he wished for Luo Jun's success or failure in the Crossing Tribulation.
Considering his relationship with Luo Jun and as the owner of this gaming system, Qin Huai naturally hoped for Luo Jun's success, as he hoped for the successful Crossing Tribulation of every spirit.
But Qin Huai couldn't deny his desire to see Luo Jun again. Even if the person he saw wasn't nad Luo Jun, wasn't a 92-year-old man, but a grumpy, seemingly uncivilized child who was fond of swearing and displaying a scornful look, Qin Huai longed for that eting.
Then he could return most of the inheritance he had safeguarded for Luo Jun over the years, keeping a small part for himself, troubled by how to spend so much money.
These chaotic thoughts never entered Qin Huai's mind when he was making snacks. While making snacks, his mind focused solely on the task.
All he saw was the dough, all he cared about was the snacks, and all he anticipated was the guests' reactions to tasting the snacks he made. Would they be happy? Satisfied? Surprised?
All the complex thoughts would vanish in the presence of the snacks.
Qin Huai turned over, closing his eyes with slight annoyance.
It was troubleso; if only he could keep making snacks.
Indeed, people should make snacks.
People's wandering thoughts co from having too much free ti.
Qin Huai decided to tell Zhao Cheng'an this when he saw him the next day.
Qin Huai turned over again.
Unable to sleep, thinking about making snacks.
Also tempted to open the ga panel and check on Luo Jun's status.
Qin Huai closed his eyes, trying hard to fall asleep first.
Five minutes later, failing in his effort, Qin Huai resignedly opened his eyes, sat up like a carp leaping out of water, held the pillow, and opened the ga panel in the darkness to check Luo Jun's status.
Na: Luo Jun
Species: Bi fang
Status: Currently in the process of reincarnation
mory: 3/3
Recipes: Dried Tangerine Peel Tea, Apple Dough Ball, Gastrodia Stewed Pigeon (click for details)
Gift: Entire inheritance (market value approximately 7.9 billion)
Qin Huai: ...What kind of ghostly status is "currently in the process of reincarnation"? Can this status even be displayed?!
Qin Huai sighed, indeed, Bi Fang's storyline unfolded as he, the director, screenwriter, and actor, had set it up. Unless sothing unexpected happened, he would see a grumpy kid in a few years.
Aha, I get to see the kid version of Bi Fang.
The kid version of Bi Fang has to study, from kindergarten all the way to university, locked up in school every day just for studying.
Thinking about it, it's kind of exciting.
The last bit of lancholy and sadness in Qin Huai's heart was instantly dispelled. He clicked on the entire inheritance in the gift section, wanting to see if the ga system could detect the specific shares and how it estimated the market value of 7.9 billion.
Nothing ca up.
Qin Huai glanced at the ti on his phone. After tossing and turning, thinking about everything, it was only 12:31 AM.
He's indeed not good at staying up late.
Chen Huihong's overnight Mahjong had just started, and Qu Jing's year-end bonus fight was still uncertain.
Co to think of it, Qu Jing was rather miserable, playing Mahjong with seasoned hands like Chen Huihong, Shi Dadan, and Gong Liang — one an old hand at the table, one a lucky beast, and one a scamr who could make soone count money for him after being sold. Losing only a month's salary in an afternoon was quite an effort for her.
Thinking about how he couldn't sleep anyway, he decided to make so snacks. Qin Huai got up directly, thinking about how he might find flour at Zhou Hu's place, and headed to the clean and tidy kitchen through the cluttered living room.
Honestly, Zhou Hu's kitchen was pretty clean, clearly showing it wasn't used often. The tiles on the kitchen walls had hardly any signs of oil smoke.
Qin Huai rummaged through the cabinet.
There was flour, a small tub of cooking oil, eggs, and two pieces of aged cured at in the fridge, although he didn't know why cured at was in the fridge.
Qin Huai also found two dried-up green onions on the stove, but there were no other ingredients.
He could make egg pancakes.
Qin Huai thought.
Making egg pancakes sounded nice; Qin Huai hadn't made pancakes in a while. Speaking of which, he always hoped to develop a similar recipe to refine his pancake-making skills.
Though Qin Huai wasn't sure what there was to refine about pancake-making, as making pancakes was theoretically easier than making stead buns.
Qin Huai joyfully started to make pancakes.
Zhou Hu's range hood seed a bit old and needed maintenance; it was particularly loud.
"Sizzle."
Accompanied by the delightful sizzling sound and aroma of oil-frying, the simple batter combined with a little egg and hot oil to create a fragrant, oily sll full of carbohydrates that wafted out through the ajar kitchen door.
Along with the aroma, the loud noise of the range hood spread out too.
Qin Huai placed a finished egg pancake on a plate to cool.
The egg pancake was beautiful.
Golden yellow with brown spots in the center, any egg pancake enthusiast would know how delicious a pancake like this would be.
Unfortunately, it lacked so green onion, if only he had chopped so to fry in. The green onion would embed itself in the egg pancake, retaining its lush green color while the pancake had a slight oily sheen, the taste...
Passing kids would be drooling.
Regrettably, there were no passing kids at Zhou Hu's place, but there was a bewildered hoowner.
Just as Qin Huai was happily humming a song and starting a second pancake, a hesitant, curious voice mixed with shock ca from behind him, the shock layered with "are you okay?"
"Master Qin, you..."
Qin Huai turned around to see Zhou Hu, his hair a ss like a bird's nest, bleary-eyed, and with a face full of astonishnt.
"Planner Zhou, did I wake you?"
"Want so egg pancakes?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I ca to the kitchen to check for ingredients to make so snacks."
Zhou Hu: Big sponsor, are you out of your mind?
Do you know where this is? This is near a funeral ho, you know how terrifying it is to suddenly hear cooking sounds in the middle of the night? Even though we engage in Feng Shui scamming, we kind of believe it in our hearts.
Zhou Hu swallowed, forcing a smile.
"Well, that's really appreciated. I just woke up hungry in the middle of the night."
"Master Qin, if you can't sleep tomorrow night, what snacks do you want to make? I'll prepare the ingredients for you in advance."
"This range hood of mine is broken, doesn't work well, you can leave it off."
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