Chapter 149

After eating the welcome banquet, Qin Huai felt that the food had reached his throat. He just wanted to go back and lie down quickly, not wanting to speak at all, because as soon as he opened his mouth, he felt the taste of dishes like Three-Set Duck, Crab Roe Tofu, Sizzling Eel Paste, Squirrel Mandarin Fish, Braised Silver Carp Head, etc., surging up.

The taste was quite good, but it was a bit nauseating when mixed together.

This feeling is commonly known as being full.

Qin Huai felt that he had never been so full in his first 20-plus years of life.

Dong Shi was afraid that Qin Huai wouldn't find the house Zheng Da rented for him on his first day, so he volunteered to send Qin Huai back.

Qin Huai felt he was overthinking. The residential complex across from Huang's Restaurant was a standard old residential complex with only 6 floors and no elevator. The greening area of the complex was large, and although the facilities in the complex were very old, and the number plates in front of many unit doors had fallen off, the layout was still very normal.

The house Zheng Da rented for Qin Huai was 1-102, which was very easy to find.

"Qin Huai, do you really want to be responsible for the snacks for the staff meals? Let me tell you, our shop has a lot of staff. You saw everyone in the back kitchen today, and there are even more waiters in the front. Everyone eats together. If you steam steamed buns, you probably have to triple the amount of this afternoon, and it's still not enough." Dong Shi's mouth couldn't stay idle at all, and he could find topics in any situation.

"Having said that, the fermented rice steamed buns you made this afternoon were really delicious, feeling like the same kind as the ones Uncle Zheng made. However, Uncle Zheng usually doesn't cook much, and it's good if he can make snacks once or twice a year. Fermented rice steamed buns... I feel like I only ate them once the year before last."

Qin Huai was a little shocked to hear Dong Shi say this. He knew that Zheng Da's main business now was business, and he didn't have much interest in making snacks, and didn't want to do it much, but he didn't expect him to have no interest to this extent.

No wonder when he was at the Cloud Canteen a few months ago, Zheng Da worked diligently for two weeks and then started to find various excuses, not coming in the morning and slipping away in the afternoon. It turned out that he had made 10 years' worth of snacks in two weeks.

Qin Huai was even a little moved, just feeling sorry for Zheng Da.

Alas, wait, why didn't Zheng Da come to the welcome banquet tonight? Didn't anyone notify him?

"Is Master Zheng not in Gusu? I didn't see him today." Qin Huai asked.

"Uncle Zheng went to Hangzhou." Dong Shi said, "It seems that a production line in Hangzhou had a problem. He left temporarily last night and probably won't be back for a few days."

Qin Huai nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The residential complex was right across from Huang's Restaurant. Qin Huai asked Dong Shi again if he would start work at 9:00 tomorrow. After getting an affirmative answer, the two walked to the entrance of the residential complex.

One of the street lamps at the entrance of the residential complex was broken. You could see clearly nearby, but in the distance, it was all dark shadows.

"Xiao Dong? Just off work at this time?" An old man who returned from shopping bumped into Dong Shi at the entrance of the residential complex and greeted him with a smile.

"Just finished eating." Dong Shi answered in a familiar tone, "Uncle Qian, this is the new Master Qin in our restaurant, specifically responsible for pastry snacks. He is expected to exchange for one or two months and then leave. You must come to support him tomorrow when you have time."

The old man squinted and looked at Qin Huai, nodding with a smile: "Master Huang is finally willing to recruit a new pastry snack master. Should have done this long ago. When Master Jing was still there, the state-run restaurant sold both snacks and stir-fry."

"Xiao Zheng has high aspirations, wants to make money, and didn't become a chef but went into business. Your master felt that it's better to have nothing than to have something bad, and the snack master he recruited was only satisfied if he had Xiao Zheng's skills, fearing that he would lose Master Jing's reputation."

"If you ask me, how many years has it been? Except for us old things, who still remembers Master Jing? You haven't even seen your master's master. It's not shameful to hire other snack masters and sell some ordinary snacks. Your master is just too stubborn."

Dong Shi didn't answer: "Master just feels that our shop doesn't have a powerful snack master, and a promising snack master coming to our shop would be delayed."

The old man smiled and left.

Qin Huai was a little confused listening on the side. He knew who Master Jing was, but wasn't Huang's Restaurant opened by Huang Shengli? What did it have to do with Master Jing?

"Why would Master Huang not hire a new pastry chef in order not to lose Master Jing's reputation?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

Dong Shi hesitated very rarely, thought for two minutes, and then explained: "Qin Huai, have you noticed that there are all old residential complexes near our restaurant, and there are no shopping malls."

Qin Huai nodded; he had noticed it long ago.

Although the residential complex Zheng Da rented for him was an old residential complex, compared with other real old residential complexes around, it was already considered to have very good and new facilities.

"Because this area is the old city, Huang's Restaurant was the previous state-run restaurant. After the state-run restaurant closed, my master didn't want the restaurant to close, so he bought it with his own money and opened the current Huang's Restaurant on the original site. Later, after the business got better, he took over the surrounding shops and expanded it into what it is now."

"Two years ago, Huang's Restaurant was called Huang's Restaurant. Later, Brother Anyao felt that the name Restaurant sounded like selling wine, so he changed the name, and Master agreed. But there are still many people who habitually call our restaurant Huang's Restaurant, but it doesn't matter, because generally everyone calls us Huang's."

"There used to be many state-run factories around here. If you turn two streets forward, it's the previous cotton mill, but the cotton mill closed long ago."

"Many residents living around here are old guests of our shop. But the frequency of eating is not high, maybe once a month, but they have eaten for many years. Some guests, such as Uncle Qian just now, he was an accountant in the cotton mill before. My master said that he lived near here forty years ago when Huang's was still a state-run restaurant. These people have all tasted my master's master's skills."

"My master thinks he only learned six points of his master's skills, which has already lost his master's face. Uncle Master might have only learned five or six points."

"Master said that he opened Huang's Restaurant on the original site of the state-run restaurant. The guests who came to support at the beginning were all for the sake of his master. He cannot lose his master's face."

"So the requirements for chefs are relatively harsh. Our restaurant itself is mainly red-case, and pastry chefs coming to our restaurant really have no future. They can't earn fame or big money, and it's hard to recruit those with particularly good levels."

"Three years ago, Master Zhang, the pastry chef of our restaurant, retired and returned to his hometown. Later, he couldn't find a pastry chef that Master was satisfied with, so he simply closed the pastry part. If there was a need, he would find Brother Siyuan to help."

Hearing Dong Shi say this, Qin Huai was inexplicably nervous and almost walked to the wrong building.

"Then Master Huang calling me over to issue work uniforms and exchange directly, isn't it a bit too rash?"

Although he didn't know Master Jing, Zheng Da, Huang Shengli, and Zheng Siyuan were all very good people, and they could teach him everything even though they met by chance. If he performed abnormally and lost Huang's face, wouldn't he indirectly lose Master Jing's face?

Dong Shi didn't understand at all: "Rash? No, Qin Huai, your skills are so good. If you didn't have your own community canteen in Shancheng, I would have wanted to call you to work in our restaurant directly."

"I feel your skills are on par with Brother Siyuan, and some snacks are even more delicious than what Brother Siyuan makes." As he spoke, Dong Shi smacked his lips, "Can you still make fermented rice steamed buns for staff meals tomorrow? Tell me secretly, do you have any snacks you are particularly good at?"

"... Are sesame seed cakes and crab shell yellow okay? These two snacks have always been highly praised in my canteen. I have a friend who can eat one or two jin every time." Qin Huai was confused by Dong Shi's topic change, took out the key to open the door, stood at the door, and pulled the topic back.

"Siyuan's skills... are they considered very good?"

Qin Huai knew that Zheng Siyuan's skills were definitely considered good among the younger generation, and Zheng Siyuan also told him so. But in Qin Huai's imagination, the older the chef, the higher the culinary skills. The best among the younger generation, when placed among the real top experts in the industry, were just mediocre ordinary people.

After all, Qin Huai had his own judgment on Zheng Siyuan's skills. In terms of overall strength, Zheng Siyuan was stronger than him.

However, Zheng Siyuan was a bit biased, only good at Su-style snacks. The snacks he was particularly good at could approach A-level, normal performance was between B-level and C-level, and if he did something he wasn't familiar with, it was easy to flip directly to D-level.

However, Zheng Siyuan didn't really do things he wasn't familiar with. He just liked to make those few things he was good at.

And what levels were the recipes Qin Huai obtained through memory?

Jiang Chengde's Sophora flower steamed buns to coax his sister, S-level.

Longevity noodles that flipped the car because of distraction when helping to watch the heat, A-level.

Qin Wan's fermented rice steamed buns, B-level.

Jiang Weiming's red-case hard-made pastry, apple-shaped dough fruits that couldn't wrap the baozi filling into the dough fruit, B-level.

Averaging this out, the average level of pastry snack recipes Qin Huai obtained was A-level.

Qin Wan, an ordinary woman who was not a chef at all, could make B-level fermented rice steamed buns, which led to the impression in Qin Huai's mind that B-level snacks should be the average level of large restaurants. The kind that would be embarrassed to go out without B-level.

As for the legendary Does Zhi Wei Ju, which gathered the most top pastry masters in the country, that should be a master who could make A-level or even S-level snacks casually. Pei Xing and Li Hua were simply dishes, so they were outed by Does Zhi Wei Ju back to their hometowns.

There are slackers everywhere, isn't Qin Luo also studying at Shuanghai High School?

Qin Huai felt that his understanding and judgment had no problems.

Dong Shi felt that Qin Huai might be a little crazy.

Dong Shi's expression was sluggish, looking at Qin Huai with the expression of looking at a god: "Of course."

"If Master could recruit a pastry chef of Brother Siyuan's level, our shop wouldn't have had no pastry chef for three years."

"Brother Siyuan is recognized as the most awesome pastry snack maker among the younger generation. Although he hides in the pastry shop at the entrance of the residential complex every day making pastries, my brother, Eldest Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, and Sixth Senior Brother all feel that Brother Siyuan is much more powerful than the direct disciples of Does Zhi Wei Ju."

"Not to mention that Brother Siyuan is still in the rising period. I feel that in a few years, the number of people in the country whose pastry level is higher than Brother Siyuan can be counted on one hand."

"If he is willing to come to Huang's, Uncle Zheng spends some money to buy him manuscripts to brush up his reputation, he will definitely be on the list for the next famous chef selection!"

Qin Huai was also stunned. What, Zheng Siyuan is so powerful.

No wonder Chen Huihong took Zheng Siyuan and Zheng Da as standards before, and couldn't recruit a snack master, and didn't even have one he could look at. It turned out it wasn't a problem with Chen Yingjun's company HR.

Then was it too wrong for him to let Zheng Siyuan be a beast of burden in the canteen?

While Qin Huai was stunned, Dong Shi quickly jumped to the next topic and said happily: "During this period, Master's back is not very good, and he hasn't cooked much. The business in the shop has declined, and Senior Brother has been worried about this."

"Now it's good, you and Brother Siyuan both come to the shop to help. Brother Siyuan's pastry shop is being renovated, plus the time for ventilation, it is estimated that it will take more than two months. If you can stay in our shop for two months, Qin Huai, and wait for Master to raise his back, the business in our shop will definitely be able to go up a level."

"When the New Year comes, I will definitely be able to get a super thick red envelope!"

Qin Huai felt that if he had to stay in Huang's for two months, he should have the opportunity to see the residents of Cloud Residential Complex in Huang's Restaurant.

After Dong Shi finished his desire for the New Year red envelope, he went back happily. Qin Huai sat on the sofa and thought for a while, sent a WeChat message to Huang Jia, and told him the snack list he set for tomorrow.

Huang Shengli knew Qin Huai's cooking habits very well, knowing that Qin Huai was a snack master who didn't follow the menu at all. He let Qin Huai come to Huang's and stay in the Cloud Canteen, playing freely, without planning in advance, and doing whatever he wanted when he arrived at the shop the next day.

Anyway, Huang's back kitchen had ingredients and snacks, and nothing was missing. If Qin Huai felt that there were not enough people, there were helpers. It could be said that he had everything he wanted.

Qin Huai originally planned this, but after being popularized by Dong Shi today, he suddenly felt a lot of pressure. Qin Huai thought carefully and even felt that Dong Shi might be lying to him, raising Zheng Siyuan's skills, indirectly raising his skills, and not letting him have such great psychological pressure.

Better fight a battle with certainty.

Play randomly when making staff meals. On the first day of work, give new diners something he is good at.

After Qin Huai sent the WeChat message, he washed up and went to sleep.

On the other side of the mobile phone, Huang Jia looked at the WeChat message sent by Qin Huai, his face full of question marks.

This recipe...

Is it a bit too comprehensive?

Beijing-style mung bean cake, round dream sesame seed cake, fermented rice steamed buns, four-joy dumplings, Chen Pi tea, two flavors of crab shell yellow, Five-Diced Baozi, glutinous rice cake, date paste yam cake, and Sophora flower steamed buns.

Sophora flower steamed buns were also specially marked to require untreated Sophora flower honey.

Huang Jia thought for a while, removed the Sophora flower steamed buns from this list, sent it to the foreman of Huang's, asked her to change the electronic menu, and at the same time urgently made a batch of new pastry menus before noon business.

Then he went to sleep with the question of what kind of steamed bun Sophora flower steamed bun was.

At 7:00 the next morning, Qin Huai really couldn't sleep, so he had to get up, walk around, play with his mobile phone, and grind until 8:00, feeling too bored, so he went across the street to work.

Huang's had already opened.

There were even people in the kitchen.

Qin Huai was a little surprised. Didn't Dong Shi tell them that Huang's started work at 9:00 in the morning? He didn't expect Huang's to have a volume king, who came to work at 8:00.

After changing clothes and entering the back kitchen, it was Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan was seasoning the meat filling. Qin Huai was very familiar with this filling; it was the filling for the crepe wontons and bubble wontons that Zheng Siyuan made every morning.

The two looked at each other and said in unison.

"Can't sleep."

"Used to it."

"Might as well come over early to make snacks and rest at noon."

Seeing that Zheng Siyuan had already reached the step of seasoning the meat filling, Qin Huai felt that he couldn't lose, so he rolled up his sleeves and started kneading the dough.

Make four-joy dumplings first.

Don't ask, if you ask, it's because Qin Huai hasn't eaten breakfast yet and wants to eat.

At 9:00 in the morning, the staff in the back kitchen of Huang's Restaurant arrived one after another to work.

Every worker in the back kitchen of Huang's Restaurant who arrived on time was stunned.

The back kitchen was filled with a thick breakfast fragrance.

What is breakfast fragrance? Because there were many types, it couldn't be smelled for a while.

"Want to eat dumplings?" Qin Huai asked while wrapping baozi, "Four-joy dumplings. If you want to eat baozi, you have to wait another 10 minutes. There are wontons on Zheng Siyuan's side, but he doesn't have time to cook them now, so you have to cook them yourself."

Zheng Siyuan was eating four-joy dumplings, using chopsticks to press the soaked white fungus, checking the soaking situation, and said without raising his head: "The one on the left is crepe wontons, and the one on the right is bubble wontons."

Everyone was stunned.

Huang Anyao, who rarely appeared in Huang's in the morning and specifically came over to greet Zheng Siyuan and Qin Huai, was also stunned.

Huang Anyao asked happily: "Our shop... is wrapping breakfast?!"

Slept through the nap, and it was dark when I woke up...

Afraid that writing two chapters would be too late, so I wrote a 2-in-1 chapter.

(End of chapter)