Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 849 - 423: Dream

Traveling around the world?

Qin Huai knew very well that even if Zhao Cheng’an was a unique spirit like Chen Huixi or something extremely special, he still had to comply with the basic laws of spirits. Strange things that are repeatedly dreamt about are usually not ordinary dreams; they are often manifestations of memories or obsessions from previous lives.

So Zhao Cheng’an’s obsession is to travel the world?

Was he confined or did he die too quickly in his first life, not having played enough in the human world, and wanting to thoroughly enjoy traveling everywhere?

"What about you, Qin Huai? Do you ever have strange dreams?" Zhao Cheng’an kept the conversation balanced, never monopolizing it, and often throwing topics to others to create inclusion.

Qin Huai had anticipated Zhao Cheng’an would throw the question back, so he replied easily, "I rarely dream when I sleep unless I’m practicing snacks and get obsessed. When I was practicing the same snack every day, sometimes I would dream about making snacks at night."

"What about when you were a child? Didn’t you dream then either?" Tan Wei’an, who was on the other side of a cooking station from Zhao Cheng’an, stretched his neck into the conversation, stubbornly asking. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Qin Huai looked somewhat speechlessly at Tan Wei’an, seeing he was still kneading dough, but not doing a great job, likely because he was distracted.

"What are you making?" Qin Huai asked.

"Four Happiness Flower Rolls, I’ve been making them for the past few days, don’t you know? I’m serious about making snacks. I learn one and make one. You haven’t answered me yet, didn’t you dream when you were a kid?"

Qin Huai responded blandly, "Dream? When I was a kid in the orphanage, sometimes I’d dream at night of calling a young woman ’mother,’ only to wake and find out there was no mother, just had to call Director Qin ’Mom.’ It’s like that for most kids in the orphanage."

Tan Wei’an: ...

Tan Wei’an shut his mouth obediently, focused on kneading the dough, his face clearly showing regret, thinking why did I ask Qin Huai that question, will Master Zhou kill me later?

Zhao Cheng’an also went silent, working for a while before nervously asking in a small voice, "Qin Huai, were you serious earlier or just said that to make Tan Wei’an shut up..."

"Half truth, half fiction," Qin Huai admitted openly, "It was from when I was very young. Director Qin told me I had been abandoned at the orphanage door shortly after being born, with a note that had my birthdate on it, just like in TV dramas."

"But when I was a child, there were relatively few healthy infants abandoned at the orphanage like me. More often, children whose parents had accidents and no relatives were willing to raise them, or once a sickness was discovered at a certain age, were abandoned."

"So as a child, I didn’t envy others having parents because I never had that concept from the start. Instead, those kids with memories of their parents were more pitiful; they’d often dream of their moms and dads and wake up crying. During breakfast, Director Qin would comfort them nonstop, tell stories to cheer them up, or spend a lot to buy them candies."

"I maybe dreamed because everyone else did, and if I didn’t, I’d feel left out, listening to them talk about it, so sometimes dreams would come."

"Tan Wei’an should have told you, ever since I was a kid I imagined I had a game system. At the orphanage, I imagined an exclamation mark in the upper right of my vision. Back then, it was just me playing with myself; if not for my decent grades and normal speech, many people might have thought I was a fool."

Zhao Cheng’an didn’t quite understand and was deeply shocked.

Although he often heard Tan Wei’an say Qin Huai wasn’t quite stable mentally, imagining a game system giving himself tasks, hearing it firsthand from Qin Huai still made Zhao Cheng’an ponder that Qin Huai’s condition started in childhood.

No wonder Tan Wei’an couldn’t figure it out sooner; it was too late.

The conversation reached a critical point just as Zhao Cheng’an’s Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake hit a pivotal stage in its preparation.

Zhao Cheng’an slowed down his movements, careful not to block Qin Huai’s view, shifting aside a bit, taking the stance of presenting in front of multiple camera angles, almost ready to say: "Good morning, everyone; today I’ll demonstrate the cloud pattern part of the Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake."

"Luckily, as a kid, I simply didn’t like studying and was always thinking about how to spend time in the arcade gaming. Otherwise, my parents would’ve sent me to a hospital, not Zhiwei Restaurant to make snacks." Zhao Cheng’an lifted the freshly rolled Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake for Qin Huai to see, "Did you catch that? The cloud pattern is pretty simple; to me, making cloud patterns is about memorizing formulas. As long as you know the formula clearly, rehearse every step enough times to muscle memory, you can create beautiful cloud patterns with your eyes closed."

"But this only works for simple cloud-patterned snacks like the Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake. Your Four Happiness Rolls are ridiculously difficult, needing one normal and one reversed roll, plus it’s steamed and can’t rely on frying or baking to set the shape. Why start with such a challenging snack? When I practiced Finger Skill, I never attempted the hard ones; if my master wanted to beat me, I still wouldn’t do it."

Qin Huai: ...there’s no need to be so proud.

"Why?" Qin Huai asked, somewhat curious, feeling his mouth a little empty, unaccustomed to not snacking while watching Zhao Cheng’an make snacks. He glanced around, spotted two dates on Tan Wei’an’s cooking station, swiped them, and continued eating while asking.