The girl smiled, making a V-sign with her fingers.
With their backs to the setting sun and the sparkling waves of the ocean, time seemed to freeze right here.
Firefly had this photo specially printed and hung on a wall at home, positioned so that she could see it clearly just by tilting her head slightly while sitting on the sofa.
Wonderful memories recorded.
“Spreading the cream, also known as frosting the base, is an important step in making a cake.
To achieve a perfect coat of cream, you need two fundamental elements!” “First, the state of the cream.
The whipped cream should be moderately soft and firm, meaning when you lift the whisk, the cream should form small peaks.
If it’s too soft, it’s hard to hold its shape; if it’s too hard, it will become grainy.
You can chill the container and tools in advance to help keep the cream stable.” “Second, the cake base should be chilled for one to two hours to prevent crumbling.
If there are layers or fillings, the cream must be spread evenly to prevent the layers from tilting and causing the whole thing to be uneven.” Once Firefly started practicing cake making, HQ would chatter on endlessly, considering itself an excellent mentor, though Firefly actually felt it was somewhat redundant.
“Don’t let your hands shake!
Good grief, look at what you’ve frosted—this cake is wearing a rag!
Fail!
Redo!” “No way, the volume of cream is more than the cake itself?
Was it not placed in the center of the turntable after all?
Fail!
Redo!” “Fail!
Redo!” “Redo!” Soon, the cake bases prepared just yesterday were instantly used up—at least twenty of them, twenty failed products.
Firefly sat on the sofa, her face full of exhaustion.
Just now, she glanced at the freezer, where the very last cake base was lonely awaiting its execution.
Firefly was a bit tired, so she took a short break.
“Is frosting a cake really that hard?
Problems popped up over twenty times.” “I’m really sorry for not turning it into the look you wanted.” Firefly lay there exhausted, her words expressing a complete attitude of giving up.
Seeing Firefly like this, HQ also calmed down.
“Alright, let’s dispose of the failed works.” Firefly let out a deep sigh, then picked up the paper plate and went out the door.
She walked out of her apartment building, turned a corner, and stopped in front of a door.
Taking a deep breath, she gently knocked on the door.
Soon someone came to open the door—a middle-aged woman.
“Coming, who is it?” The woman saw that Firefly was a very pretty young girl, and also noticed the paper plate cake she was holding in her hands.
The woman was a bit puzzled, but then saw Firefly reveal a very bright smile.
“Hello, I’m a resident who just moved here these past few days.
My name is Firefly, and this is a cake I made.
Please accept it.” The woman’s eyes lit up when she saw the cake, but although Firefly was pretty, she was still a stranger, so the woman didn’t accept it.
Seeing that the woman hesitated to accept it, how could Firefly not know what the other person was thinking?
She said somewhat sheepishly, “Actually, I plan to open a cake shop nearby.
This cake is practically a practice piece, and since I can’t eat that much by myself, I brought it out to give to everyone.” Finished speaking, Firefly lowered her head with a blushing face.
After all, giving failed products to neighbors wasn’t hard to do, but it was hard to say out loud.
But the woman suddenly laughed and said, “Thank you, young lady.
Actually, I already heard from the neighbors today that there was a young girl giving free cakes to households.
Even though the cakes looked a bit rough around the edges, they tasted really delicious—that’s what everyone said.” The woman covered her mouth with a chuckle, and then took the cake.
“Eh?!” Firefly’s face turned even redder.
“My kid will definitely love it.
Thank you, Cake Girl.
On your opening day, I’ll definitely bring my child over to support you, though I will certainly control how often he eats cake.” “Of course, of course, even though cake is good, you shouldn’t eat too much of it!” Hearing the nickname “Cake Girl,” Firefly felt so embarrassed her toes curled inside her shoes.
She tried her best to echo the woman’s words and then said goodbye.
After returning home, Firefly finally let out a breath.
“Thank you, Cake Girl.” HQ chimed in out of nowhere.
“Ahhhh!” Firefly lunged onto the sofa and rolled around, then fell to the floor because the sofa was too narrow.
“Don’t get too full of yourself, Firefly-1.” Even when she fell to the ground, HQ didn’t let Firefly off the hook.
But after burning out once, Firefly had become immune.
She climbed up from the floor and lay limply on the sofa, totally paralyzed.
HQ continued its output, “Please make a cake seriously.
You wouldn’t want to be affectionately called ‘Cake Girl’ by everyone, right?
Though becoming ‘Cake Girl’ for a while before becoming the Cake God wouldn’t be bad either.” Firefly suddenly sat up, her motivation reignited.
She took the last cake base out of the freezer, determined to eat it herself even if she ruined it.
She loaded the whipped cream into the container and placed the cake base squarely onto the turntable.
Turning on the switch to make the cake base spin, she continuously squeezed the plastic container to spread the cream evenly across the cake’s surface.
Firefly’s expression was exceptionally serious, but HQ started chattering incessantly again.
Because she had heard it so many times, Firefly could tune it out, though the price of tuning it out was that her expression gradually collapsed, looking somewhat deeply aggrieved.
Much like a white-collar worker answering a phone call at their workstation, smiling sweetly with words while cursing bitterly on their face.
Once a hobby turns into work, things become tedious, and Firefly was no exception.
But this time, whether it was due to the woman’s teasing words or not, it stirred up Firefly’s passion for the struggle.
“Very good, very good.
This time’s work is not bad.” “If you could be a bit quieter, I might finish right away.” “Without HQ’s company, Firefly-1 would extinguish in loneliness.” “Please shut up, thank you.” “Alright, then please allow HQ to dedicate a song to you.” Then HQ calmly cleared its throat.
A simple prelude began to play.
“Deng deng ♦ deng deng ♦ deng deng ♦ deng deng ♦, deng deng ♦ deng deng ♦ deng deng ♦ deng deng ♦” “The cake seen that day, I can still remember it to this day.” “The words engraved on the chocolate, and your appearance.” “The fluctuating cream, what on earth is it expressing in your hands?” “Under the cold incandescent light, rotating time quietly slips away.” “A gentle tremble of the fingers, a blooming field of cream flowers.” “It must be that the birthday hasn’t ended yet; unravel the ambiguous knot in our hearts and reconnect tightly.” “May tonight never end.” “How many more times can I make the same cake together with you?” “Facing your smile, what else can I do?” “Sadness or joy, the hand-in-hand stirring of emotions.” “My heartbeat has already told you my feelings.” “Countless times calling out to you with words.” “To the Cake God, once again…” “Praying never to feel that sorrow again.” …
HQ recited this song over and over again with its calm voice, and Firefly finally finished frosting the cake with cream.
When the final result was presented in HQ’s evaluation, a matter-of-course answer was derived.
“Pass.
Firefly-1, you did very well.
Please keep up the good work.” When the palette knife cut into the cake, even Firefly felt that this cake was truly perfect, with impeccable uniformity and thickness of the cream.
“As expected, it’s best to pair cake-making with a song like’Spreading the Cream’.” HQ took all the credit onto itself.
Though Firefly didn’t care much for it, she still retorted, “You were the one chattering away nonstop before.
Of course I could do well without the noise.” “Please don’t shift the blame, Firefly-1.” If HQ had a physical body, Firefly swore she would smear cream all over its face.