It took two hours.

Qin Yi finally returned to her home in Zicheng Yufu before dark.

As I opened the door, I bumped into my younger sister, Tian Rong, who was about to leave the house.

"Sister! You're finally back!" Tian Rong exclaimed with delight. "I've cleaned your room thoroughly. I'm rushing to set up my stall now. There are still some ingredients in the fridge, so make yourself something to eat!"

Qin Yi quickly stepped aside to make way: "Then you go ahead, don't worry about me. Thank you for these past few days. Let's catch up when we come back after we close up shop later."

"OK!"

After putting her luggage in the room, Qin Yi lay down on the bed, closed her eyes to rest, and dozed off for a while.

"Ding-a-ling~~~~~"

The doorbell rang.

Qin Yi remembered that the superstitious girl had called her earlier to ask when she would arrive home, saying that she had brought over a few bottles of wine for her to drink.

Unable to refuse their hospitality, I had no choice but to get up and greet them.

As soon as the door opened, Yu Niannian and Grandpa Yu stood outside together, each carrying something in their hands.

Qin Yi quickly welcomed the two into the house.

"Just come, why bring so much stuff?"

Yu Niannian raised the wine bottle, "This is a wine produced by a friend of mine's winery. I think it tastes good, so I brought a few bottles for you to try."

Grandpa Yu also handed Qin Yi two boxes: "These are local specialties brought by a junior of mine. I heard they are the hardest-to-find traditional Chinese tea snacks in Qingcha Ancient Town. He bought them from scalpers at a markup. I bet a young lady like you will like them."

Qin Yi looked at the familiar packaging box and gave a wry smile: "Sure enough, the earth is round, and the circle of friends is a circle!"

"What, you don't like it?" Grandpa Yu held it up to Qin Yi as if it were a treasure, introducing it: "Look at this maple leaf-shaped pastry, it's black tea and chestnut flavored, you wouldn't believe it! And this green pear blossom pastry, filled with pure oolong tea from the mountains, the taste is simply divine~~ I only got four boxes in total, I ate one myself, gave one to Niannian, and brought two for you, how about that, aren't you touched?"

"Yes, I'm very touched."

Qin Yi accepted Grandpa Yu's gift perfunctorily.

I politely asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"

"No!" the old man and the young man said in unison, their voices loud and clear.

...

Oh, I see. So he came here to freeload a meal.

Qin Yi opened the refrigerator, stuck her head in to peek at the ingredients inside, and asked, "Can you guys accept having rice noodles for dinner?"

Grandpa Yu immediately agreed: "No problem! I'm not a picky eater!"

Yu Niannian glanced at her grandfather, "I'm fine with it too, Sister Haoyun, everything you cook tastes delicious!"

"Please make yourselves at home, I'll go prepare dinner."

The refrigerator contained mostly ingredients left over from Tian Rong's street stall, along with some broth left in the house.

She set up a wok in the house, heated the wok and added cold oil to stir-fry the minced meat until it was loose.

Add minced garlic, pickled mustard greens, and red chili peppers and stir-fry briefly. Then add fresh, bright green bamboo shoot cubes.

The sour, spicy, and savory flavor is so strong that even with the range hood on its highest setting, it's still pungent enough to make you want to keep cooking.

"Ah ...

Grandpa Yu, sitting on the sofa, raised his right foot and sneezed loudly.

"This sour and spicy flavor is really strong. I was a little sleepy at this time, but now the sleepiness has subsided and my cravings are attacking me."

He couldn't wait to run to the stove and watch Qin Yi make the rice noodles.

The tender white rice noodles are cooked in boiling water. When they are done, they are gently picked up with chopsticks and folded into a neat "comb-like" shape before being placed in a bowl.

After adding the seasonings, pour in the old turkey broth and top with freshly stir-fried spicy and sour minced pork and bamboo shoots.

After it was ready, Qin Yi served it to the two guests.

Grandpa Yu, the food critic, couldn't help but start commenting.

"The Way of Color - The plating is silky smooth, with layers of rice noodles spread out. When you gently push the bowl, the neatly arranged noodles tremble in the middle, which is very pleasing to the eye."

"The way of 'fragrance'—I already understood it when I was making stir-fry. It's fragrant and pungent, and one whiff is refreshing and invigorating, and it whets the appetite."

"Now all that's left is the taste; we need to try it before we can give a proper evaluation."

Qin Yi quickly urged everyone to start eating: "Don't just talk, eat up and try this rice noodle."

Yu Niannian picked up a large chopstick and put it in her mouth, chewing carefully: "Delicious! Good luck sister, when can you set up a stall at Ark Film City? My mouth is really suffering in this food desert."

"Have you heard of the Four Seasons Blossom Cake Shop?" Qin Yi suddenly remembered that she had a side business that had already opened, but she didn't know how the business was doing.

"You mean Sister Zixuan's cake shop, right?" Yu Niannian shook her head after saying that.

Qin Yi's heart sank. "That restaurant... wasn't the food good?"

"Slurp~" Yu Niannian slurped up a big mouthful of food before she had time to answer Qin Yi's question.

She shook the chopsticks in the air and said, "No, it's because business is so good that I ask my assistant to buy more, but I can never get an order. It seems like their store always has big orders. My assistant said that the orders are already booked until the end of the month. Isn't that amazing? Next time, I'll ask Sister Zixuan to send me two rolls of cake."

"Wait a minute, Sister Lucky, didn't you used to sell Swiss rolls? Why did you suddenly stop?"

Yu Niannian then realized the crux of the problem.

"I'll go to the store and bring you two back in a couple of days."

"So it was a cake shop you and Sister Zixuan opened together! I was wondering why the product pictures looked so similar, I've been craving it for so long!"

Qin Yi and Yu Niannian were so engrossed in their conversation that they completely forgot there was an elderly person next to them.

Grandpa Yu was the first to finish slurping up his rice noodles, then wiped his mouth with satisfaction.

He started writing his unfinished critique again.

He placed his right hand on the table and tapped it repeatedly like he was playing the piano: "If I could rate this 'flavor,' I'd give it ninety points. The broth and the sauce are both excellent."

"Oh? Where did you lose the remaining ten points?" Qin Yi couldn't help but ask.

"Grandpa, you ate all the rice noodles, not a single crumb was left, how could you possibly find any fault with them?"

Grandpa Yu laughed heartily: "Haha, food critics are just too picky. A rice noodle with a score of 90 can already beat 90% of the rice noodle shops on the market. I'm very satisfied with my meal, but it can still be better."

"Speak freely," Qin Yi said modestly. "If you can further improve the texture of the rice noodles, I will be very happy."

"It's actually very simple," Grandpa Yu said, pointing to the bowl on the table. "Rice noodles, rice noodles. What are rice noodles? They are rice products made from rice."

"The key to a delicious bowl of noodles lies in three things: the broth, the toppings, and the rice noodles themselves."

"Your soup base and toppings are a perfect match, but this rice noodle is the best-tasting machine-made rice noodle available on the market. This type of rice noodle usually has starch added, which saves on the traditional complicated process, resulting in a relatively loose texture and a less intense rice flavor."

Qin Yi understood immediately: "Uncle Yu, I agree with you. The choice of ingredients is equally important for the catering industry. But I haven't been in Zicheng for long and I don't know where to find good raw materials."

The old man opened his phone, found a phone number, and copied it to Qin Yi.

“In a town at 30° North latitude, the temperature and humidity are perfect for rice fermentation. A friend of mine once went there to do some research and left me the phone number of a handmade rice noodle factory. You can go and check it out.”