Kitchen.
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li were responsible for washing and preparing the ingredients, so they arrived early.
By the time Huang Jun put on his chef's uniform, wore his mask, and finished sanitizing before entering the operations room, the two were already busy inside.
"Good morning, Aunt Lin, Aunt Li..."
"Chef Huang, you're here..."
"Good morning, Chef Huang..."
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li heard his greeting and both looked up, responding with smiles.
In the end, they didn't forget to ask about Qingqing and Weiwei, the lovely sister duo, and upon hearing that Huang Jun had already sent the two little ones to their classroom, they couldn't help but ask caringly, "The two sisters didn't cry, did they?"
It's no wonder they asked this. Mainly because they could vaguely hear the cries of children entering the kindergarten from the kitchen, which was even more noticeable at that moment, so they worried that Qingqing and Weiwei might see other children crying and get influenced to cry along.
Actually, their concern was reasonable.
In the lower classes, many of the children had just been comforted by the teacher but when other little ones who cried came over, they immediately started crying again.
Fortunately, in class (4), such situations were not common.
Those kids who found it easy to cry remembered Huang Jun's promise earlier. Whenever they felt like crying, they'd recall the promise and wouldn't let the tears start flowing.
Back to the main topic.
Huang Jun took some maltose out of the cabinet while saying with a smile, "No crying – they're being good!"
"That's good, that's good. I knew Qingqing and Weiwei are well-behaved and wouldn't cry."
Upon hearing this, Aunt Lin and Aunt Li were relieved and then showed expressions of "not finding it strange": "That's how it is when school starts, especially when new students join. After a few days, kids get used to it and it's much better."
Huang Jun came up to an induction cooker and placed a small pot on it.
Then, they saw him pour small chunks of maltose into the pot.
Aunt Li and Aunt Lin, not knowing what was going on, asked curiously when they saw this series of operations: "Chef Huang, what are you going to make?"
Huang Jun answered truthfully: "I'm making some sugar figures for the kids."
"Ah?"
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li's eyes widened, mouths gaped big enough to fit an egg, their words filled with disbelief: "Chef Huang, you can make sugar figures?"
In their impression, sugar figures seemed fun but were actually a skilled art.
Plus, it was a folk art.
The level of difficulty could be imagined!
Huang Jun nodded: "Yes, I can blow, draw, and mold sugar figures, but I'm not very skilled; just enough to entertain kids."
"That's still impressive!"
After hearing his sincere words, Aunt Lin and Aunt Li were no longer surprised and began to anticipate his sugar figure-making skill.
"Chef Huang, are you going to mold or draw sugar figures this time?"
"Draw sugar figures."
Huang Jun thought it would be best to make sugar figures that could be eaten and seen, and it was better to draw them.
These words reminded Aunt Lin and Aunt Li of their elementary school days when vendors selling snacks around the school always included sugar figure drawings.
A small stool, a small table, a little stove, a sugar spoon, a carved board, and a turntable; that was all the sugar artist's setup for sugar drawing.
At that time, wherever there was "sugar figure drawing" at school or home entrance, kids would always gather around.
Cheap sugar figures became the children's favorite snacks.
But now.
With kids having more snack options like chocolates, cakes, nuts, and other high-end snacks, sugar figures are no longer just simple child-entertainment items. Sugar figure drawing is gradually forgotten and hard to find in the city's streets nowadays.
To kids today, "sugar figure" is a strange term...
What a pity...
While Aunt Lin and the others were silently lamenting, the hard maltose chunks in the small pot began to melt quickly under low heat.
The melted syrup first exhibited a pale yellow color, but as time went on, it gradually turned dark red.
Huang Jun adjusted the heat to the minimum.
When the syrup's temperature was controlled to a certain level, it didn't require further attention.
Next was the most critical part!
He took out a clean bamboo stick from a bunch and placed it gently on a nonstick board.
Then, he picked up a small spoon and scooped some syrup from the pot.
Considering his dear daughters both liked rabbits.
Thus...
He decided to start by drawing a rabbit.
Though it was his first time using syrup for sugar figures, thanks to the system's enhancement, everything proceeded smoothly without any sign of being flustered.
Aunt Li and Aunt Lin, seeing his movements, guessed: "Chef Huang, are you starting to draw?"
"Yes."
Upon hearing a confirmed answer, Aunt Lin and Aunt Li couldn't resist getting closer to watch, though their hands didn't stop working.
And then, they saw him begin to swiftly move the spoon across the nonstick board.
In that moment, the golden syrup seemed to come alive, turning into threads, weaving across the nonstick board.
In less than two minutes.
An adorable golden little rabbit came to life on the nonstick board, also appearing vividly in their eyes.
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li watched as if spellbound, even forgetting about their task.
"That's so realistic! Look at this little rabbit, it's so lifelike, so cute… The kids will surely love it."
"Yes, amazing, Chef Huang. Your skill could even be showcased!"
Hearing these compliments, Huang Jun smiled modestly and said, "You're too kind, just passable..."
Chef Huang, oh, Chef Huang...
Is this what you call "just passable"?
Do you have a misunderstanding with these words?
Your skills could rival those master sugar artists!
Though modesty is good, being overly modest is boasting…
At that moment, Huang Jun picked up the bamboo stick from the table, with the warm air blowing, the syrup quickly solidified, ensuring the rabbit wouldn't fall apart.
Then, he started drawing rabbits again, asking as he did: "Aunt Lin, Aunt Li, what patterns do you like? I'll make one for you both too."
"We get one too??"
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li pointed at themselves in disbelief.
Huang Jun laughed: "Making sugar figures isn't a big deal. Tell me, what pattern do you want?"
Aunt Li eagerly said, "I'll have a butterfly, can I?"
Then, worriedly asked, "Will it be difficult?"
"Not difficult!"
Huang Jun shook his head, looked up at Aunt Lin and said, "Aunt Lin, how about you?"
"I'll have a cat!"
"Okay, hold on just a moment!"
Huang Jun smiled gently, then steadily placed the syrup-filled spoon on the nonstick board. Using the bamboo stick as the center, he quickly began drawing again with the syrup.
In just five minutes, a butterfly about to fly and an adorably shaped small cat vividly appeared in front of Aunt Lin and Aunt Li.
Their eyes shone with unrepressed joy.
"Wow, it's really a butterfly and a cat! The form, it's so lifelike, almost as if alive..."
"Chef Huang, I thought you were only good at cooking, didn't expect you could draw sugar figures so well too. I must say, your skill is really… What's the word?"
"Exceptional!"
"Yes, this skill is really exceptional..."
Aunt Lin admired the beauty of the sugar figures, truly not expecting Huang Jun to be so good at creating art with syrup.
Yet more surprises awaited.