That night, Qin Huai once again found himself slicing carrots in his dreams.

He dreamt that Earth was ruled by a group of alien rabbits, and all humans were captured to slice carrots. These rabbits had many demands: they either wanted transparently thin carrot slices or a large quantity of uniformly sized carrot shreds.

If the carrots were not sliced well, one would be dragged away and eaten. In order to save his life, Qin Huai spent day and night slicing carrots in his dream. Due to lack of skills, he couldn't slice the transparently thin carrot slices, so he could only produce a large quantity of carrot shreds.

Qin Huai was so angry that he gritted his teeth, envying those skilled workers who could slice qualified carrot pieces. No matter how he practiced, he just couldn't produce qualified carrot slices; the more he tried, the more disheartened he became, feeling more helpless with each effort.

In the end, facing a mountain of carrot shreds, Qin Huai raised his head to the sky and roared:

"I want to slice transparently thin carrot slices!"

And then Qin Huai woke up.

At the moment of waking, Qin Huai felt that the roar from the dream still echoed in his ears, swirling around him, leaving him in a daze.

Qin Huai reached for his phone by the bedside and glanced at the time.

11:42 AM!

What the hell, it's almost noon.

On the first day of training at Master Cao's house, he overslept until 11:42 AM. Such an act, if not condemnable with death, at least warrants an apology.

It was ridiculous. Qin Huai didn't expect such a bold thing to happen to himself. Even though he did go to bed quite late last night, he shouldn't have slept past 11 AM.

Qin Huai got up at lightning speed, dressed, and rushed out of his room. Back in high school, waking up late with only ten minutes left before class was a life-or-death race, even biking as fast as sparks flying—he was never this fast.

While rushing out of the door, Qin Huai didn't forget to tidy his hair, making it look less like a chaotic morning bedhead.

Zhang Chu and Cao Guixiang were already in the living room. Hearing the sound from Qin Huai's room, they knew he was awake. Before Qin Huai could get to the living room and apologize, Cao Guixiang smiled and said:

"Xiao Qin, no need to rush. We are having a late meal today. Last night, Grandpa Zhang and I went to bed late, and only woke up at 10 AM this morning. We just finished breakfast."

"It's not even noon; I haven't cooked yet. You can have some breakfast with us and skip lunch to enjoy dinner, or wait till 2 or 3 PM to have lunch with us."

"The broth is ready, and the ingredients are all prepped. Cooking won't take long."

"I'll make one big dish and two small side dishes for lunch for you to snack on, and we'll have a big dinner. Yunyun and Qingqing will only come at night since they have school today."

Zhang Chu had a bowl in his hand, with an unfinished Four Happiness glutinuous rice ball inside, agreeing: "Yes, Xiao Qin, you decide how you want to eat. Grandma Cao and I can't eat much. This rice ball fills up the belly too much; I just ate two more buns and haven't finished this bowl since 11 AM."

Cao Guixiang rolled her eyes at Zhang Chu: "Still think you're a young guy in his teens, eating so much for breakfast? At your age, just eating slightly more buns... A whole Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns, two Three Meat Buns, plus wanting Four Happiness glutinuous rice balls. I told you not to eat so much, leaving two for you to eat later; you insisted on eating all and left my bowl unfinished."

Zhang Chu protested: "But Gui Xiang, when you leave some, you leave the Mixed Fruit Filling and Sesame candy ones, which I don't really like."

Qin Huai: …

If they don't like them, why not just cook meat filling and red bean filling ones? He wrapped four kinds of filling in different shapes, easy to differentiate.

Still, Master Cao has a chef's basic compulsion; every serving of Four Happiness glutinuous rice must include four flavors.

Just as Qin Huai revealed a puzzled expression, he realized he'd missed the point. He rushed out to apologize, not to debate why Four Happiness glutinuous rice must be cooked with four flavors.

"Master Cao, Grandpa Zhang, I sincerely apologize for oversleeping today. I didn't expect to wake up this late. I stayed up too late last night and forgot to set an alarm. I'm not sure what happened; perhaps it's…" Qin Huai began apologizing immediately, looking sincere and speaking honestly.

Cao Guixiang waved her hand dismissively: "It's normal. You practiced knife skills until so late last night. I'd worry you couldn't keep up without sleeping until this time."

"Yes, yes," Zhang Chu agreed, "When I was young, I worked late into the night under a kerosene lamp when clients needed something urgently. The next day, let alone sleeping until noon, sometimes until sunset, it's normal."

"Xiao Qin, will you eat now or have some breakfast to tide you over? If breakfast, I'll cook the glutinuous rice for you," Zhang Chu asked.

"Just some breakfast is fine. No need for Master Cao to make lunch for me specifically; I'll save my appetite for dinner." With Cao Guixiang and Zhang Chu so accommodating, Qin Huai could only go along, skipping the apology.

Zhang Chu put down his bowl and went to the kitchen to cook Four Happiness glutinuous rice for Qin Huai, while Qin Huai went to the washroom to freshen up, then had breakfast.

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