Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Because they had to wait for the cake to cool down, otherwise the cream wouldn't stick and the chocolate would melt, they only came after the rain had already finished eating noodles and dumplings.

At this time, Sha Zhu and Liu Cuilan were still in the rainwater house. There was so much rainwater that one person couldn't finish eating it all, so she pulled Sha Zhu and her godmother to eat with her, so that her family could celebrate her birthday together.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Dabiao and Qin Jingru also prepared a birthday gift for her.

"Happy birthday, Rain Water!" Zhang Dabiao and Qin Jingru said with smiles.

Girls in the 60s would never have seen this before!

The cake was topped with a light layer of cream, followed by chocolate shavings and Oreo crumbs, and decorated with grapes and almonds around the edges. In the center, on the white cream side, the words "Happy 17th Birthday to He Yushui" were written in ketchup, though the handwriting was a bit messy. There were also six frosting decorations around the cake, and in the very center stood a lit, colorful candle with the numbers 1 and 7, representing Yushui's 17th birthday.

This is a birthday cake made especially for He Yushui!

Seeing that Qin Jingru's hair still had paste on it, and Zhang Dabiao's hair still had cream and icing, He Yushui knew that they must have put a lot of thought and effort into it.

Unable to hold back, He Yushui burst into tears.

She was genuinely moved by Zhang Dabiao; only Zhang Dabiao could come up with something like this.

Qin Jingru was also moved by Zhang Dabiao. She had originally thought she was just a "little maid" used to pay off debts, and it was hard to say whether Zhang Dabiao would actually marry her. But after coming to the courtyard house, she was living a life of good food and drink, conditions that even the landlady couldn't match! Moreover, it seemed that he wasn't interested in her body at all, perhaps because she hadn't fully developed yet?

Honestly, Zhang Dabiao had absolutely no such thoughts at all, especially at only 12 years old!

Three years minimum, or a critical hit and immediate execution!

He was just doing it for fun. In the 60s, making a chocolate buttercream birthday cake was so cool!

Awesome Plus!

The main reason Qin Jingru was moved was that Zhang Dabiao had directly copied the secret recipe and given it to her by hand.

Even a fool could see how precious this thing is. With this skill, you could open a shop. Even if you can't compare to those century-old pastry shops in Beijing, you'd at least have enough to eat and drink!

So after Qin Jingru learned how to do it, she immediately folded the paper into a small piece and put it in her inner pocket.

This is a treasure that can be passed down through generations!

And Zhang Dabiao—

It's just for fun. I'm studying at home, waiting for the grade skipping exam. I'll bake a cake when I have nothing to do. Would that count as a labor class?

Sha Zhu also recognized the value of this stuff: chocolate, cream, fruit, and even the black biscuit crumbs on top—all of that was easy to obtain. With the right connections, it was still possible to get it.

But when it comes to steaming these soft cakes, every pastry shop or food factory uses a different technique, and that's where the real value lies.

He came up with several combinations, such as using date paste as a substitute for buttercream cake...

Then, Zhang Dabiao encouraged He Yushui to close her eyes, make a wish, blow out the candles, and eat the cake!

He didn't sing "Happy Birthday to You" to her. Even Zhang Dabiao in later generations didn't sing it, it was too embarrassing. And in this era, it's even less likely that this song would be sung. Why? It's a foreign song!

What He Yushui wished for has nothing to do with him. The most important thing now is to taste—how does this first version of chocolate cream cake taste!

The group divided the cake among themselves, and He Yushui even gave Liu Cuilan a piece, which moved her deeply.

Zhang Dabiao ate a piece in just a few bites—how should I put it?

OJBK tastes surprisingly good!

It seems Qin Jingru followed the tutorial strictly. If it were him...

There's a high chance something will go wrong. Zhang Dabiao knows perfectly well how patient he really is.

Needless to say, he'll make a complete mess of the final "unmolding" step.

Qin Jingru's eyes narrowed with delight—it was delicious!

He Yushui felt the same way; she thought today was the happiest day of her life, and even the way she looked at Zhang Dabiao had an indescribable meaning.

Sha Zhu, meanwhile, savored the taste slowly, saying, "Zhang Dabiao, Qin Jingru, not bad!"

"Our factory has special cakes and large loaves of bread supplied to experts about the Russian bear, but compared to what you have, they're nothing!"

At this time, Russian experts came to China to assist in the construction. Their meals were specially provided. Sha Zhu was lucky enough to get a small cake and a slice of bread. It was a novelty, but not particularly delicious.

At least in his memory, it wasn't as delicious as the old-established pastry shops in Beijing.

But that's the taste they want, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Of course, this has nothing to do with him. The experts' meals are either custom-made by foreign-related hotels or they cook with specially supplied ingredients. Some of the experts are also good at cooking.

Sha Zhu mainly cooks large pot dishes, and recently he has started cooking small pot dishes.

There weren't many opportunities to feast in the past 60 years, but precisely because of this, the ingredients couldn't be wasted, so skilled chefs were needed to cook them.

And now that I'm here at your factory to discuss business, I should at least get a decent meal, right?

So there are still special meals available, it's just that there aren't many opportunities to have them every week.

Zhang Dabiao boasted arrogantly, "This is nothing. We just didn't have enough ingredients. Otherwise, we could have made a mille-feuille cake, tiger-skin rolls, and puff pastry cakes—"

"Cakes and pastries are just a minor thing!"

Sha Zhu was speechless. "I just praised you a couple of times, and now making cakes is considered trivial?"

Although it can't compare to the culinary culture of our country's eight major cuisines, can you at least be a little more humble and act like a human being?

Forget it, Sha Zhu decided to keep quiet and ignore this bastard.

He Yushui also sent a piece to Xu Xiaoling, and after thinking about it, she also sent a piece to Mu Wanqing. She also decided to keep one for her classmates to try tomorrow.

"This is?"

"Here's a chocolate cream cake for you."

"……Thanks."

"Da Biao made it for me."

"Um?"

"Because it's my birthday today, he said this is a birthday cake."

"..."

Zhang Dabiao had no idea where He Yushui had gone. After eating the cake, he went home to read and lie around doing nothing. Anyway, even if he wanted to make another one, there was no more cream left.

Qin Jingru was still interested and asked if she could continue doing this in the afternoon. She wanted to practice more after successfully completing it!

Zhang Dabiao shook his hand, gave her some flour, eggs, sugar, and milk, and then went off to play by himself.

You can only make plain cakes, no cream or chocolate, maybe a little frosting at most, and you have to finish them all. Zhang Dabiao really couldn't eat anymore, because there were still ten caterpillars in his "little nest" whose cream had been scooped out, and he had to get rid of them, right?

But it's all carbohydrates, and all sweet, it's so cloying...

How about stuffing caterpillars with ham, bacon, lettuce, and some chili sauce?

Isn't the taste a bit too strange?

How about adding some pickled cabbage?

It's settled then!

Then, Zhang Dabiao got diarrhea... He went to the public toilet in the alley several times that night.

I'll never mix and match randomly again; it's such a waste!