Chapter 61: Defeating the Summer Heat and Eating Melons

When Chen Taotao came out of kindergarten, she was all smiles and in exceptionally high spirits as she walked with Chen Zhou.

"What happy event have you run into again?" Chen Zhou asked.

"Today, I was the first kid picked up to go home! And it was Mommy and Daddy who came!"

Chen Zhou took his daughter's small backpack. "Then I'll come to pick you up at this time from now on."

"That's wonderful, Daddy! If Mommy comes to get me, she's already missed ten... more than ten kids."

Chen Taotao's ten fingers were hardly enough.

Chen Zhou helped her out, "There are thirty children in your class now. If your mom comes, you're either ranked fifteenth or sixteenth."

"Right!"

Actually, Chen Taotao didn't know if her dad was right or not.

Of course, the doting father had just guessed. But it was probably pretty close to the truth.

Chen Zhou patted his daughter's little head. "After dinner tonight, I'll take you to the residential complex to play in the water. There'll be other kids there too."

"Super-duper great!" Chen Taotao responded excitedly.

However, if they waited for Ms. Lin to get off work, eat dinner, and then head over together, they would only catch the tail end of the summer-cooling event. Eating a limited-edition watermelon would probably be out of the question.

So Chen Zhou decided to buy two from the intersection on the way.

He would take them back, wash them, chill them in the refrigerator, and eat them a bit later. That would be just right.

While picking out the watermelons, the melon vendor chatted casually with Chen Zhou for a bit.

He even brought up Chen Zhou's steamed bun stall—

"My business was great a while back because there was a guy selling steamed buns right by the entrance of the residential complex over there, with a huge line of people. It brought a lot of foot traffic to my spot too. It's just that he seemed to have moved away these past few days, and I haven't seen him set up his stall. The main thing is, I never got to taste those buns."

Chen Zhou smiled and pointed him in the direction:

"You might not know this, but he switched to breakfast hours and opened a shop right here in this complex. You can go try it when you have time. The taste is really good."

"Oh, he's still around here? I thought the urban management officers chased him off," the melon vendor said with a happy look on his face. "I'll definitely go try it when I have time."

Chen Zhou reminded him, "Morning or noon is fine, but noon is probably best. There are fewer people then."

"Got it, thanks, brother!"

Carrying two watermelons, Chen Zhou could no longer hold the little girl's hand.

So Chen Taotao started orbiting her old man like a particle in Brownian motion.

She poked her head out from his left side and asked curiously, "Daddy, was the uncle just now talking about you?"

"It was me."

Chen Taotao kept talking as she skipped around to his right side. "Then you should have told him that your buns are super delicious."

"You can tell the uncle that next time you see him."

"I will tell him!"

...

Back home, taking care of the child, cooking.

Chen Zhou's culinary skills could be enhanced through points exchange.

This skipped some of the arduous training process.

Chen Zhou figured that even if he couldn't reach a master level in every single aspect, he should at least patch up his weak points first and move closer to being a professional.

After opening the shop, besides making a bit more money, his points would gradually become abundant.

He could afford to let loose a little.

As for recipes, there is an old saying: "A bad person racking their brains is no match for a fool's sudden flash of inspiration."

Delicious things are delicious all the same, while unappetizing things each have their own unique ways of being bad.

Therefore, innovation could wait for later.

For now, it was best to rely on existing recipes and make slight adjustments based on local tastes and actual business conditions.

Regarding cooking, Chen Zhou had recently gained some insights of his own:

Skills in culinary arts like knife work and heat control certainly didn't overlap directly.

But when it came to specific dishes, the actual cooking process meant that everything was connected in a way—it wasn't all that rigid.

Take pork, for example. Whether it's used for stuffed buns, made into poached meatballs, or braised, stewed, or stir-fried, the gamey and unpleasant odors must be dealt with in the early stages.

The methods include adding scallions, ginger, spices, rice wine, blanching, deep-frying, and so on.

A reasonable choice must be made among them according to the subsequent cooking steps.

For instance, when putting it into steamed buns where the alcohol flavor cannot easily evaporate, one has to put in extra effort from other angles.

On second thought, putting aside human connections, the original meaning of fine food might simply be using the art of cooking to narrow the distance between humans and nature.

Of course, the relationship here was that of the eater and the eaten.

After quickly stir-frying two dishes, Ms. Lin arrived home as well.

The family of three enjoyed a nice dinner together.

Chen Taotao was full of energy and wanted to drag her parents outside right after eating.

Ms. Lin stopped the two of them: "Wait a minute." She fetched some floral water and sprayed it on them both.

Then she grabbed three small plastic stools and handed them to Chen Zhou.

Without Ms. Lin, this family would most likely have been covered from head to toe in mosquito bites by tonight.

...

The Sunshine City residential complex had over a thousand households, totaling nearly three thousand people of all ages. So, whenever an event was held casually in the small plaza, it was always bustling and lively.

The bigger kids were physically stronger and occupied the center of the foam party zone.

The smaller tots splashed around the edges in the water and bubbles.

Watched over by a few parents, they were all having a great time.

Chen Zhou had indeed gained some popularity in the complex lately, and many neighbors recognized him.

Every now and then, someone would come over to greet him:

"Taking the kid out to play!"

"Your morning shop is great, saves me from cooking at home."

"I haven't had it for a few days and I'm really craving it. Your steamed buns are definitely top-tier among all the ones I've had."

After all, it was a community shop with so many neighbors watching; if the steamed buns were sloppy, they wouldn't even pass the test right at their own doorstep.

Gradually, seven or eight parents gathered around Chen Zhou.

He couldn't recall the names of most of them, but their faces were looking more and more familiar.

People chatted a bit about the steamed buns to break the ice, and then drifted into casual gossip.

Mid-conversation, some mother suddenly brought up, "I heard there was going to be free watermelon, how come we didn't get any here?"

Someone immediately echoed, "Yeah, I just walked a whole circle and didn't even see a watermelon rind."

That same big guy's wife teased him, "Right, and that's why you tripped earlier!"

...

Chen Zhou figured that with only a limited batch of thirty, so many people eating and taking some away meant it definitely wouldn't be enough.

So he called out to Lin Yifan, asking her to keep a close eye on the child.

He headed back upstairs for a moment.

Before long, he brought down the watermelons from his own home, already cut up:

"These are limited too, folks, don't be shy, go ahead and share. I didn't hold any special events for the shop opening, so treating everyone to some watermelon is just a token of my appreciation."

People exchanged polite words for a moment, but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation of chilled watermelon.

"I'm only eating buns from your place from now on. *Splat*"

"Support, I've got to support this. *Splat*"

"Boss Chen, no wonder your business is so good."

Chen Zhou smiled and replied, "We're all neighbors here, what boss?"

Aside from the watermelon, Chen Zhou had also prepared two garbage bags to save anyone from littering.

The father who had tripped earlier looked at Chen Zhou with a gaze that held a few more layers of approval.