"Old Secretary, in my opinion, guests shouldn't be arranged to stay at your house. Your place is too far; it's inconvenient for them to co for als."
As soon as these words were out, the Old Secretary, who had been diating, imdiately switched to combat mode: "Qin Sande, what do you an? What do you an my house is too far? I think Hu Zi is quite right; your house is just not suitable for hosting guests. It leaked earlier this year."
"That was because the water pipe cracked!"
As Qin Congwen's old van approached, everyone stopped arguing and the dissatisfied parties fell silent.
Qin Congwen got out of the car with a big smile, exuding the aura of soone returning ho in glory after years away, and said with so excitent to Mr. Qin and Granny Qin: "Dad, Mom, we're back!"
Mr. Qin nodded with a smile.
The back door of the vehicle slowly opened, and Qin Luo's complaining voice ca from inside: "Dad, did you forget to check the door? It's even harder to open today than it was the past few days!"
With that, Qin Luo hopped off the car and jumped in front of Granny Qin: "Grandma, Happy New Year!"
"Grandpa, Happy New Year!"
Granny Qin grinned widely: "Oh, our Luoluo is such a good child, starting New Year's greetings before it even arrives. I heard from your mom that you've been doing well in school this year. I knew it, our Luoluo just wasn't really trying before. Now you've grown up and know to study seriously."
Qin Luo didn't know what to say and could only smile sheepishly.
Qin Huai got off the car carrying large packages and asked: "Grandma, the things I ntioned to you earlier, the ones sent from Shan City, did you put them in the fridge?"
Before returning to Guangdong Province, Qin Huai had reminded Huang Xi to ti the delivery of the various frozen ingredients he had prepared in advance. After all, even when an army marches, provisions co first; and the sa goes for making a large batch of snacks. Preparing the ingredients beforehand saves much unnecessary hassle.
At Yunzhong Restaurant, with so many skilled assistants, Qin Huai could easily manage large quantities of snacks with their help. Qin Family Village was different. In Qin Family Village, finding a few villagers with decent at-chopping skills to help was already challenging, let alone other skills.
Most of the snack-making processes in the village had to be completed by Qin Huai alone, so if he didn't prepare in advance, it would be hard to achieve the desired results.
Even if the stead snacks transford the village into a fairyland, it wouldn't be enough.
"Huaihuai." Seeing Qin Huai getting off, Granny Qin imdiately went to greet him, holding the little notebook she usually used for writing lyrics, filled with crooked big characters, "Here's the list, see if there are enough people. If not, there are many backups."
If Qin Huai had coaxed Zhou Hu into coming to Qin Family Village for his favor, resulting in more and more people showing up, eventually turning into this situation—where the vinegar filled up the dumplings—it was Mr. Qin and Granny Qin who provided the dough, rolling pins, at filling, vinegar dishes, dumpling plates, and the people to help cook them.
If Qin Huai wanted to co back to the village this year to showcase his skills and improve his proficiency in each skill, he needed soone to help with coordination and assistance.
If no one was there to help direct and arrange the work, just washing dishes could lead to quarrels.
Mr. Qin and Granny Qin were the ones helping with coordination and organization.
Qin Huai had already talked it over with the elders before the new year, informing them of his plans for the celebration this year and asking for their help in recruiting and arranging for villagers willing to lend fridges, dishes, washing stations, tables, chairs, and benches, and to assist in the kitchen. Who would be responsible for washing dishes, who would cut vegetables, who would chop at, who would help with the fire... These are skills honed from years in the village, with intimate knowledge of each household and their situations.
In recent years, Granny Qin frequently sighed about how tis had changed, and she was getting older. If she had these skills when she was younger, she would have already run for Won's Director in the village.
Granny Qin whispered to Qin Huai: "For now, we've arranged these people. If they're not enough, let know anyti, Huaihuai. We can only announce this list for now; adding people last minute would be urgent, and early announcent might cause disagreents."
In his heart, Qin Huai silently gave Granny Qin a thumbs up, thinking she was truly worthy—coming close to winning the village Won's Director election with just a three-vote loss, thinking of all this.
"Okay, Grandma," Qin Huai said softly.
"Co on, Huaihuai, let Grandma show you the kitchen. This year, your grandpa had nothing to do, so he remodeled it for you. See if you like it," Granny Qin said loudly on purpose, pulling Qin Huai towards the kitchen, with Qin Huai understanding the pretext for hiding him, quickly keeping up.
Once in the kitchen, Qin Huai saw right away that it hadn't been remodeled at all; they simply bought two more fridges.
"Grandma, why are there so many people at ho today?" Qin Huai asked with so curiosity.
Qin Huai could actually guess why the neighbors and Old Secretary had co to argue, likely about accommodation for people like Chen Huihong. Mr. Qin's house only had three empty rooms, which Qin Huai already planned—for Zhou Hu, Mr. Xu, and An Youyou.
Zhou Hu had to stay at the house to get closer and improve favor. Mr. Xu was older, and Qin Huai wasn't comfortable with him staying elsewhere. An Youyou, being Mr. Xu's eldest and most familiar with him, had common topics for chat.
As for others, Qin Huai had asked for everyone's opinions, and they didn't mind where they stayed. Every household in the village was about the sa—none particularly wealthy, nor especially poor. Most had elderly residents, with young people coming ho only for a few days each year, and no one had extravagantly decorated hos.
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