Chapter 126

"These two recipes of yours... they seem just like what my father taught me," Zheng Siyuan said, standing in front of the kitchen counter, frowning as he looked at the recipe Qin Huai sent him on WeChat. "The ingredient ratios are exactly the same."

"Is it such a coincidence?" Qin Huai was a bit surprised. He knew many recipes online, and he knew that recipes with exactly the same ingredient ratios were actually very rare.

"Are old recipes all about the same? This was bought by Luo Jun 60 years ago. Back then, there were no digital scales, and it was impossible to be precise down to the milliliter or temperature," Qin Huai guessed.

"It's possible. But I suspect the master who sold the recipe to Mr. Luo and my grandmaster belong to the same school," Zheng Siyuan said. "Information was closed off back then; similar recipes mean the school is likely the same. Tracing it back, they might even have been taught by the same master."

Zheng Siyuan put down his phone. "It's a pity this recipe was bought sixty years ago, otherwise we could ask about the lineage of the master who sold it."

Zheng Siyuan began to knead the dough.

Seeing that Qin Huai had stopped chatting and started working, An Youyou hurriedly brought over a large basin of already-minced meat filling and asked, "Master Xiao Qin, Master Xiao Zheng, is the meat minced to this degree okay?"

Zheng Siyuan looked and nodded. "It's fine."

An Youyou trotted back to work.

Zheng Siyuan scanned the people in the kitchen.

As soon as An Youyou returned to the counter, she continued wrapping buns. Qin Congwen was mixing filling, Chen An was kneading dough, Zhao Rong was cutting vegetables, and Qin Huai was slacking off.

Calling it "slacking off" wasn't accurate, as Qin Huai had theoretically finished his work.

At this point, Qin Huai had not only steamed the first batch of Three-Treasure Buns and Five-Treasure Buns but also kneaded the dough for the fermented rice buns, and even mixed the filling for the fresh shrimp and crab roe buns—he had completely exceeded his tasks.

Zheng Siyuan glanced at the time: 6:10 AM. He hadn't arrived late either.

"Did you come early today?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"No. I was actually 10 minutes late today. You don't know—I dreamed I was stir-frying filling last night. The oil sheen on the surface of the filling I made, the control of the moisture, the finish of the sauce—it was simply... exquisite!" Qin Huai savored the dream from last night fiercely. "I was a bit reluctant to get up this morning, so I left late."

Zheng Siyuan could only use six dots to express his lack of understanding.

"Why do I feel like everyone's work progress is especially fast today?" Zheng Siyuan continued to ask.

Usually at this time, Chen An, Qin Congwen, and Zhao Rong should still be wrapping buns. Clearly, one batch of buns had been finished, and they were already making the filling for the next batch; the progress was significantly faster.

"Oh, it's probably because Youyou came," Qin Huai said. "My mom told me that since it was Youyou's first day as a kitchen helper, she was so excited she couldn't sleep and came to work at 2:30 AM."

"Although her kneading technique isn't great—even worse than my dad's—she works fast and knows a lot. Cutting vegetables, washing vegetables, mincing meat, mixing filling, wrapping buns, wrapping dumplings, wrapping shaomai—she knows it all. When I arrived this morning, all the ingredients we two needed to prepare for snacks today were already prepped," Qin Huai said, then pointed at Chen An.

"Chen An might have been infected by Youyou; his efficiency today is also very high."

"I'm really worried they'll wrap too many buns and won't be able to sell them."

Zheng Siyuan could only shake his head, indicating he didn't understand this "coming to work at 2:30 AM" thing.

It was all the fault of this breakfast-making group, making him, who only came to work at 6:00 AM, feel out of place.

Zheng Siyuan wasn't affected by the efficiency of the new "involution king." He continued at his own pace, making wontons first, then snacks, methodical and never involuting.

On her first day as a kitchen helper, An Youyou was still a bit reserved when sitting with everyone to eat the bubble wontons.

Although the Cloud Canteen provided three meals, the food for kitchen staff—especially breakfast chefs like Chen An—was different from that of the outside servers.

For breakfast, Chen An could eat Three-Treasure Buns, Five-Treasure Buns, bubble wontons, and crepe wontons. If he got tired from working in the morning, he could swipe a snack or two from Qin Huai to tide himself over. The outside servers didn't have such good treatment; their breakfast was usually buns wrapped by Chen An or Qin Congwen. When Qin Huai made new products, he would call everyone to taste them, but for daily snacks, they likely could only eat the sponge cakes that didn't sell in the canteen.

It was An Youyou's first time eating the crepe wontons made by Zheng Siyuan in the morning.

In her excitement, she ate three bowls, got full, and couldn't eat the bubble wontons.

An Youyou regretted it so much she wanted to give herself two slaps.

Qin Huai still remembered that An Youyou originally wanted to be an apprentice; he didn't mind spending extra time cultivating an excellent employee.

"An Youyou." After An Youyou finished the wontons and conscientiously washed the bowl, Qin Huai stopped her. "Did you only do odd jobs at home before?"

An Youyou nodded. "Basically, whatever my parents couldn't get to, I did. Occasionally, I had to deliver goods and buy groceries."

"Then is there anything you want to learn?" Qin Huai asked.

After watching video tutorials for so long yesterday afternoon, Qin Huai deeply felt that Jiang Weiming's cooking mode was excellent. Habitually teaching others meant movements would involuntarily slow down; slowing down meant being more focused, and being focused meant not making mistakes.

Qin Huai wanted to try it.

An Youyou hesitated for a moment and asked very softly, "As long as I want to, can I learn?"

Qin Huai:?

So there *was* something she wanted to learn?

"What do you want to learn?" "Five-Treasure Buns!" An Youyou said without hesitation.

Qin Huai was a bit surprised. "Why?"

"Because Five-Treasure Buns are expensive!" An Youyou said decisively. "I heard Master Chen say this morning that breakfast chefs get a commission on sales. Five-Treasure Buns are 35 each, so more commission means more money. I want to learn the one that makes more money!"

Qin Huai:... What a simple reason. Just how much do you love money? Your parents...

Well, your parents are also outrageous, only giving 200 for a month's work; loving money is normal.

"Okay." Qin Huai nodded.

As soon as these words were out, Chen An and Zheng Siyuan, who were secretly eavesdropping on the side, were stunned. Chen An opened his eyes wide in surprise, his face full of disbelief and regret.

Translating his expression, it was probably: *Holy crap, this works too? Five-Treasure Buns are something you can learn just by wanting to? Boss, I want to be an apprentice too! *

"But you have to learn it backward. I don't have time to practice kneading dough lately, so you might have to start by learning to boil and stir-fry the filling."

"As for me, I'm not very good at teaching. I'll just do it slowly, and you watch from the side. If you don't understand, ask. You probably understand this teaching mode, right?"

An Youyou nodded.

Chen An was moved.

Chen An felt that since he had already fallen one step behind, he couldn't fall a second step behind. Action was better than just being moved—he moved!

Chen An stepped forward quietly, gathered his courage, and asked, "Master Xiao Qin—ah, no, Boss, can I apply for a transfer?"

Qin Huai:?

"I want to transfer to be an apprentice!" Chen An said with a sincere face. "I also want to learn Five-Treasure Buns!"

Qin Huai:...

"No need to transfer; you can just watch from the side too. But you two can't affect your daily work. Our kitchen is already under high pressure; the regular buns, steamed buns, shaomai, fried dough sticks, wontons, sponge cakes, and steamed cakes all rely on you two."

"Don't worry, Master Xiao Qin. I found a small room very close to here yesterday. The rent is cheap, and it takes less than an hour to ride my electric scooter over."

"I can get up earlier in the morning and come over at 2:30 AM to finish the work first."

Chen An:?!

"I can also come early to finish the work first," Chen An immediately stated.

Qin Huai: "... That's not necessary. Just arrive at the shop at the normal time; you coming too early makes it look like I'm coming to work very late."

Zheng Siyuan didn't want to talk anymore.

He really didn't understand these breakfast makers.

Chen An and An Youyou went back to work with high enthusiasm, and Qin Huai continued making snacks. Zheng Siyuan was also silently making snacks. After enduring for about 10 minutes, Zheng Siyuan finally couldn't help but ask:

"Why do you want to teach boiling the filling first?"

Zheng Siyuan didn't understand at all; who teaches someone by starting with their own weak points? Qin Huai's heat control didn't have much room for teaching others either.

"Actually, Mr. Luo gave me three recipes yesterday. There's one recipe I think you might not like, so I plan to practice it myself first. The core point of that recipe is stir-frying the filling," Qin Huai explained.

Zheng Siyuan frowned; he felt Qin Huai was slandering him a bit.

How could there be a recipe he wouldn't like? He was a very tolerant snack master.

Zheng Siyuan pressed him, and Qin Huai told him.

Zheng Siyuan:...

Zheng Siyuan took a deep breath.

Zheng Siyuan felt that although he was tolerant, this world was a bit too crazy.

No, how could there be such a recipe for pastries in this world???

And it was a recipe from 60 years ago!

What on earth did the pastry world experience 60 years ago?!

"I told you, you probably wouldn't like this recipe, so I plan to practice it myself," Qin Huai comforted Zheng Siyuan.

"No," Zheng Siyuan took another deep breath. "I'm very interested in this recipe. I want to see what the pastries made from it are like."

He wanted to see what kind of pastries this recipe, which went against his ancestors, could produce.

(End of chapter)