"Why did you suddenly want to eat this? Do you like it?" Qin Huai was a bit puzzled. If Zhao Cheng'an liked it, given his personality, he would have made it himself. But in all the time Qin Huai spent at Zhiwei Restaurant, he never saw Zhao Cheng'an make Fuling Cake. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"I don't particularly like it," Zhao Cheng'an said. "It's just that every New Year's Eve, Taifeng Building would give us workers Fuling Cake as a New Year's snack. Back then in Beiping, it was trendy to give Fuling Cake for New Year. When you asked me what I wanted to eat next year, I suddenly remembered this and thought it would be fitting for the New Year."

Hearing this, Qin Huai suddenly felt that Fuling Cake and New Year's Eve were a perfect match.

The taste of the New Year, indeed.

"Alright, I'll go back to my room and research a bit. Do you know how to make it? If you do, send me a message on WeChat. What I find online might not be very reliable. I'll try making it tomorrow, but I can't guarantee it'll turn out well. If it does, I'll make more before you go to Beiping, so you can bring some to Master Xia as a New Year's gift from me."

Zhao Cheng'an nodded.

Not long after, the Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns was ready.

Over on Zhou Hu's side, the tarot reading was also coming to an end.

Qin Huai glanced at the steaming hot Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns in the steamer.

[Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns Level S-]

The level remained unchanged.

Earlier, Zhao Cheng'an had sounded so confident. Qin Huai thought Zhao Cheng'an was out of his mind, but he also had a bit of hope that maybe he had somehow improved without realizing it. After looking at the steamer, he decided it was Zhao Cheng'an who was out of his mind.

What exactly was he expecting?

Everyone had been waiting in the kitchen for so long, even though they eventually joined the tarot reading activity at 15 yuan per session. Qin Huai, believing that they shouldn't waste the trip, gave everyone a bun, and Mr. Xu gave them half (the old gentleman couldn't eat too much at night). Then everyone dispersed.

Zhou Hu tidied up his tarot cards and returned to his room for further study. Before leaving, Chen Huihong transferred Zhou Hu 300 yuan for tomorrow's 20 readings, giving Master Zhou yet another tough task the next day.

Qin Huai then returned to his room and first searched online for how to make Fuling Cake.

It seemed quite simple, actually.

Fuling Cake consists of two parts: the cake and the filling.

The cake is made with poria powder and white flour, and should be thin like a crepe, ideally as thin as a cicada's wings and exceptionally soft. This is why Zhao Cheng'an would complain about the hotel-provided Fuling Cake in Beiping having too thick a crust. The most challenging part of this snack is making the crust as thin as possible.

As for the filling, it's actually a very basic sweet filling.

There are many recipes online for fillings, some simple, some complex, with ingredients like nuts, osmanthus sugar, and honey. The essential rule for the filling is that it must be sweet, but not overwhelmingly so.

Qin Huai also stumbled upon some stories about Fuling Cake. Despite looking quite ordinary and being relatively simple to make, it is indeed an imperial snack. Legend has it that Empress Dowager Cixi once fell ill and had no appetite. The Imperial Chefs racked their brains to choose a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient to make a snack and eventually settled on poria, creating the Fuling Cake. Empress Dowager Cixi was very satisfied after eating it and rewarded the ministers with the snack, significantly elevating its status. Once the snack made its way into the public, it became quite popular.

Zhao Cheng'an mentioned that Fuling Cake was trendy in Beiping during New Year, likely for this reason.

When Qin Huai found the third recipe online, Zhao Cheng'an sent him the recipe. It was a very standard one, using pine nuts, peach seeds, osmanthus, and honey as the main ingredients for the sweet filling.

Qin Huai mentally went over this recipe's combination, rehearsed how to make it tomorrow, and fell asleep with plans to attempt making Fuling Cake first thing in the morning to avoid any mishaps on his first try.

Even if there's a mishap on New Year's Eve, it should be a discreet one, without anyone knowing.