Chapter 152

By the time the noon business ended, Qin Huai was already numb.

Numb with exhaustion.

His body wasn't very tired, but his heart was.

He just watched tray after tray of steamed buns, baozi, and dumplings come out of the steamer, and batch after batch of crab-shell-yellow pastries and shaobing come out of the oven, as if by magic; one second they were fully stocked, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.

Qin Huai felt as if he had become a worker on an assembly line, not knowing when he would get off work, nor how much more work there was to do, only able to see a long, endless line of dim sum waiting to be made.

By one o'clock when Qin Huai got off work, he had completely forgotten about his promise that morning to be responsible for the staff meal.

He couldn't do it; he simply couldn't do it.

Looking at Wang Jun, who was still cleaning up, Qin Huai asked sincerely, "Do the pastries at Huang Ji always sell this well?"

No wonder the previous pastry chef retired three years ago; he must have been worked into retirement.

Wang Jun answered honestly, "Today should be an exception."

"Our shop hasn't stocked pastries for a long time, so many regular customers thought Master Zheng had come back temporarily to help out for just one lunch, which is why they bought so much."

"Originally, if Master were here, it would be much better if he went out to explain the situation to everyone, but Master went for physical therapy this morning. When the eldest apprentice went to explain, everyone didn't believe him, which led to this misunderstanding."

"When Master comes over this afternoon, he can explain the situation to the customers tonight, and then sell them for a few more days to put everyone at ease, and this situation won't happen again."

Qin Huai reluctantly accepted Wang Jun's explanation: "It's been hard on you all too. I really didn't expect the pastries to sell so well; if I had only made two or three types, the situation might have been a bit better. If I had known, I would have called Zheng Siyuan to ask before making the list last night; I would have only listed two items."

Wang Jun said sincerely, "It's not that the pastries sell well, it's that your skills, Qin Huai, are good."

Qin Huai was stunned.

From childhood to adulthood, Qin Huai had actually heard many similar compliments, but none of them had any reference value.

When he was selling steamed buns near the Third Road residential area, the neighbors nearby were all ordinary folks, and the peers he was compared to were all ordinary breakfast shops, so Qin Huai's skills being a cut above the rest didn't mean much. After all, no matter how good your skills were, you couldn't sell steamed buns of the same size for two yuan when others sold them for 1.5 yuan; it was easy to get criticized.

Later, when he arrived at the Yunzhong residential area and a new batch of neighbors praised him, Qin Huai was indeed very pleased. But the neighbors didn't just praise Qin Huai; they also praised Zheng Siyuan and Zheng Da, praising every pastry chef with superb skills equally.

Now that he had come to Huang Ji, another batch of people was praising him.

This batch of people was more professional compared to the neighbors, after all, they were all peers.

But there was a difference in the praise from peers.

When Huang Shengli praised him, Qin Huai would feel it was Huang Shengli's daily encouraging education.

When Huang Anyao praised him, Qin Huai would feel it was because Huang Anyao hadn't eaten the food his father made for several months, a lack of face from the young proprietor.

When Huang Jia praised him, Qin Huai would feel it was an inherited encouraging education.

When Dong Shi praised him, Qin Huai would feel it was just his rambling because he talked too much.

But Wang Jun was different.

It wasn't that Wang Jun's level was very high or that his praise was particularly precious. On the contrary, Wang Jun's level was considered the worst among Huang Shengli's disciples, not even comparable to Dong Shi, the closed-door disciple.

But Wang Jun was an honest man.

He was an honest man who wouldn't lie, and even if he didn't want to answer directly and gave a tactful reply, one could still hear that he was trying hard to be tactful.

"Are my skills... really that good?" Qin Huai asked.

Ever since he came to Gusu, everyone told him his skills were very good. The strong response from customers at noon today also opened Qin Huai's eyes, and now that even a recognized honest man said so, Qin Huai really started to believe it.

"Of course." Wang Jun nodded without hesitation, "If your skills, Qin Huai, can't be considered good, then there probably aren't many pastry chefs in the whole country whose skills can be called good."

Qin Huai was so shocked by Wang Jun's seemingly flattering but actually very sincere words that his eyes widened. He quietly pulled Wang Jun to the side, lest others hear and think he was very narcissistic.

"Describe to me roughly to what extent my skills are good." Qin Huai asked in a low voice, "No, first tell me what level Zheng Siyuan is at."

Qin Huai felt it was more reliable to ask about Zheng Siyuan's level; after all, he knew Zheng Siyuan's level very well and could estimate his own level through Zheng Siyuan's.

"Brother Zheng is the No. 1 among the young generation of pastry chefs." Wang Jun said.

Qin Huai:!

What?! Zheng Siyuan is this awesome!

If he's this awesome, why is he opening a pastry shop at the entrance of a residential area?

He actually let such an awesome person work as a beast of burden in the Yunzhong canteen for a month, selling crepe wontons for only 10 yuan a bowl.

No wonder the Yunzhong canteen, which usually had no one dining in the morning, had more people dining in the morning than at noon since Zheng Siyuan arrived; people ate wontons from 7 o'clock to 9 o'clock, and even if there were no seats, they would hold their bowls and squat at the door to eat.

He had thought it was because the people in that area had never eaten crepe wontons and only their shop sold them, which was why the business was particularly good.

Qin Huai swallowed a mouthful of saliva in shock and asked, "Is this... generally recognized?"

Wang Jun thought for a moment: "It's not generally recognized, but we all think so."

"Brother Zheng is actually very famous in the southern pastry chef circle, but he doesn't work in restaurants, doesn't like to go out to communicate with peers, and doesn't participate in culinary exchange meetings, so his fame is limited to our circle."

"Many people don't even know what Brother Zheng is called, only knowing that Master Zheng has a very capable son."

"The residential area where Brother Zheng opened his pastry shop is actually very famous in our Gusu; many of Huang Ji's regular customers specifically bought houses in that residential area just to make it convenient to buy pastries."

Qin Huai didn't understand, Qin Huai was greatly shocked.

"Then excluding the young generation?" Qin Huai pursued, "Compared to pastry chefs nationwide, what level is Zheng Siyuan roughly at?"

Wang Jun thought seriously: "It should also be considered top-tier."

"Brother Zheng is currently in the rising phase of a pastry chef and hasn't reached his peak state, but in fact, the gap in pastry chefs in China is very serious now. There are many old masters with good skills, basically concentrated in Zhi Wei Ju, but they are old and have limited energy, so it's impossible for them to participate too much in pastry production, mainly focusing on teaching apprentices."

"There are very few middle-aged chefs who can show their skills, and as far as I know, several of the more famous ones don't have skills as good as Brother Zheng's."

"I heard Master and the eldest apprentice talk about it before, saying that Master Zheng didn't want to make pastries back then and went into business instead, not only because he felt that being a pastry chef earned too little money, but also partly because he felt that pastry chefs had no future."

"Now most high-end restaurants on the market don't attach much importance to pastries, and those who can show their skills in pastries are few and far between. Coupled with the changing environment, unless it's a family of chefs, few people are willing to apprentice from a young age to practice basic skills, but pastries have very high requirements for basic skills; it can be said that one must practice the basic skills of both savory and pastry cooking."

"In fact, pastries are far inferior to savory cooking; this can be seen just from culinary competitions. Although there aren't many culinary competitions in China now, there are always a few every year, and the prize money is always tens of thousands of yuan, with some even reaching over a hundred thousand."

"In such comprehensive culinary competitions, pastry chefs are at a disadvantage. Under normal circumstances, culinary competitions should have separate competitions for savory and pastry cooking, but there hasn't been a specialized pastry chef competition in China for many years."

"This can also be seen from restaurants; there are many famous restaurants for savory cooking. FJ has Ju Bao Lou, Gusu has Huang Ji, Huaiyang cuisine has Cheng Fang Ju, Shu region has Wu Family Restaurant, and Beiping has even more, Ba Bao Zhai, Yong He Ju, Ru Yi Fang, Shun De Lou, Tong De Ju, basically all old brands passed down from the Republic of China era. But for pastries, the only one that is truly famous and remembered is, frankly speaking, Zhi Wei Ju."

Hearing Wang Jun say this, Qin Huai felt he could say a few words; he was familiar with the old brands passed down from the Republic of China era, having seen them in his dreams.

"I know about this; there was a Tai Feng Lou in Beiping before, but it seems it has been closed for many years." Qin Huai said.

Now it was Wang Jun's turn to be stunned: "Is there such a restaurant?"

Qin Huai nodded solemnly; this was the selection of the crazy young lady.

Qin Huai stopped delving into this topic: "So the current situation is that there are capable pastry chefs, but they are all relatively old, and although their techniques are good, their physical strength can't keep up, so they basically don't work on the front line. There is a gap, and leaders of the young generation like Zheng Siyuan can be considered top-tier in the entire industry."

Wang Jun nodded.

Qin Huai converted it for himself slightly.

First of all, Zheng Siyuan's level is definitely higher than his; this is absolutely beyond doubt. If Zheng Siyuan's fresh meat mooncakes were a buff dish, they could pin Qin Huai's fermented rice steamed buns to the ground and beat them.

But Qin Huai didn't think he was too far behind Zheng Siyuan, probably just a thin line, mainly because his knife skills and heat control were too poor, and his finger techniques weren't very good either.

Knife skills were okay; pastries didn't need them much. As Qin Huai made more types of pastries and they became more difficult, he increasingly discovered that heat control was actually one of the indispensable basic skills in pastry production. To be an excellent pastry chef, it wasn't enough to just steam baozi well or bake crab-shell-yellow pastries well.

For pastries that are relatively difficult, the filling is the most important of all.

Qin Huai felt that if his heat control was improved to the same level as Zheng Siyuan's, his level should be on par with Zheng Siyuan's, or even better.

By substitution, wouldn't he become top-tier in the industry?

By further substitution, he is now close to the top-tier level in the industry!

Although there is a lot of water in this top-tier level of the pastry industry because of the serious gap, the most top-tier is top-tier, and the second top-tier can also be considered top-tier.

But no matter what, it's top-tier!

It's a top-tier where a single Wuding bao sells for 65 and still sells out.

He is actually this awesome.

"Could it be that I am really a genius?!" Qin Huai muttered.

Wang Jun:...

As an honest man, he sometimes really wants to fight you geniuses.

The staff meal at noon was made by Huang Jia himself.

Thanks to Qin Huai, the kitchen staff responsible for savory dishes at Huang Ji had a relatively easy time this noon; the amount of stir-fried dishes ordered by customers wasn't large, as they were all grabbing pastries.

Easy work meant everyone had nothing to do, and Huang Jia, as the head chef, had finished his work before 1 o'clock. Seeing that the pastry side was kneading fermented rice so fast it was almost a blur, and the more Qin Huai kneaded the dough, the more hopeless his expression became, Huang Jia, who rarely finished work so early, felt very guilty.

He felt that Qin Huai was so busy today, and he himself had an unshirkable responsibility. If he had slightly persuaded Qin Huai when he sent him the list last night, Qin Huai wouldn't have become a kneading immortal today.

Huang Jia knew he should have persuaded him.

But he had a moment last night when he wanted to know the level of the pastries on Qin Huai's list even more. He even wanted to know which 120 types of pastries Qin Huai knew.

He didn't expect that this small selfishness almost worked Qin Huai into a state of autism.

Huang Jia felt very guilty, so he took the initiative to take on the heavy responsibility of making the staff meal, specially cooking for Qin Huai, allowing Qin Huai to eat squirrel mandarin fish, Wensi tofu, sizzling eel paste, and authentic Yangzhou fried rice for the staff meal at noon.

Purely special cooking, Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan ate three dishes and one fried rice, while others ate the big pot meal as usual.

Regarding this blatant act of special cooking, no one had any objections.

The sales champion enjoys privileges everywhere.

Qin Huai held his bowl, which was filled with a beautiful bowl of Yangzhou fried rice; the rice was fried grain by grain, golden in color, looking at first glance very much like the legendary golden egg fried rice that often appears in food literature, the legendary egg fried rice that the Empress Dowager loved most, with every grain of rice evenly coated with egg liquid.

Of course, only at first glance.

Huang Jia didn't have that level, and Yangzhou fried rice wasn't ordinary egg fried rice either.

The ingredients for the fried rice were very rich, with eggs, shrimp, beef cubes, ham, carrot cubes, and other ingredients mixed together, sprinkled with green onions, making it extremely fragrant and tempting to eat.

Qin Huai ate a mouthful of Yangzhou fried rice and a mouthful of sizzling eel paste, a mouthful of Yangzhou fried rice and a mouthful of squirrel mandarin fish, a mouthful of Yangzhou fried rice and a mouthful of Wensi tofu, eating mouthful after mouthful and simply couldn't stop.

Qin Huai felt that if the staff meal was of this grade every day, then being a beast of burden at Huang Ji wasn't bad.

Although Huang Jia's skills weren't as good as Huang Shengli's, they were far superior to other chefs, at least far superior to the 10-yuan stir-fry next to the Qin family breakfast shop.

Qin Huai didn't want to complain about Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong's cooking skills; he just wanted to say that if the family breakfast shop was busy and Zhao Rong didn't have time to cook, she would give him 20 yuan to take Qin Luo to eat 10-yuan stir-fry next door.

That was Qin Luo's daily little happiness.

This was also why after Qin Huai inherited the Yunzhong canteen, their family of four ate at the canteen every day; it wasn't that the savory chefs at the canteen had high cooking skills, but mainly because they loved eating at the canteen.

Moreover, eating at the canteen every day had its benefits; the surrounding residents trusted the food safety of the canteen very much, after all, the boss's family ate there every day.

Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan ate lunch happily.

"Siyuan." Qin Huai suddenly spoke, "I just found out that your pastry level is considered top-tier in the industry." Zheng Siyuan nodded faintly: "I suppose so, but it's also like picking the tallest among the short."

"Then why don't you work in a restaurant, or open a restaurant yourself? Because it's too tiring?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

He always felt that a top-tier pastry master in the industry opening a pastry shop at the entrance of a residential area to sell affordable pastries was very much like the Shaolin sweeping monk, but the Shaolin sweeping monk was a character that only appeared in novels.

"That's not it." Zheng Siyuan said, "It should be said that it's not entirely so; opening a pastry shop can sometimes be quite tiring when business is too busy."

"Compared to making pastries, I enjoy the process of pastries being sold and watching everyone eat them more." Zheng Siyuan said, "If you are in a restaurant kitchen, it's hard to get feedback from diners in the first instance."

"And I'm not short of money." Zheng Siyuan patted the carrot cubes that fell on his Dior pants, "And I feel that my current skills are not enough to become a head chef of a famous restaurant. If I go to work in a restaurant, I would also go to famous restaurants like Yong He Ju or Zhi Wei Ju."

"But my level isn't considered top-tier in Yong He Ju, and it's impossible to surpass the famous head chefs in those restaurants known for savory dishes."

"I don't like being a foil for others." Zheng Siyuan said faintly, "Actually, I stayed at Huang Ji for half a year seven years ago. At that time, Master's health was still very good, and Huang Ji had a constant stream of customers every day, and the number of waiters and kitchen staff was about 1.5 times what it is now."

"At that time, although there were many customers praising me and my pastry sales were not bad, I was always a foil for Master. Everyone could never be coming for my pastries; they must be coming to Huang Ji for Master's skills. I don't like living such a life."

"Perhaps to some extent, I am the same as my father; we are both unwilling to be inferior to others. It's just that my father chose to go into business, and I chose to open a pastry shop at the entrance of a residential area."

Qin Huai expressed understanding and continued to shovel rice.

"But you are definitely not such a person." Zheng Siyuan said, "I feel that you don't care about these things at all."

Qin Huai said: "Perhaps, I feel it's normal that there are people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens; even if you are invincible in the world, it's possible that extraterrestrial demons will come. I have no interest in being number one."

"I feel that as long as family and friends are happy, it's better than anything as long as everyone eats happily."

"Then are you willing to stay at Huang Ji for a while longer?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"Eh?" Qin Huai was stunned.

Could it be that Zheng Siyuan has shares in Huang Ji?

"Master's health is not good, and given his personality of not being able to stay idle, I feel he will retire in a few years." Zheng Siyuan pointed to the sizzling eel paste in the plate, "You can also taste Huang Jia's skills; they are not as good as Master's."

"Although I haven't paid much attention, I also know that Huang Ji's business is getting worse day by day."

"So I hope that if possible, you can stay at Huang Ji for a while longer, at least until Master has recovered his waist, can return to the kitchen and persist until retirement, without recurrence in between."

"With you here, Master won't worry about Huang Ji's business, and won't act recklessly from time to time and insist on cooking two good dishes."

Qin Huai was still shoveling rice, chewed and swallowed, and asked: "Must it be me? I feel that you returning to Huang Ji to work for a while should also be okay; the sales of mooncakes are also very good."

"Do you know how the customers guessed this noon?" Zheng Siyuan answered the question with another question.

"How did they guess?"

"They thought my father was invited back by Master to save the situation, which is why they were so crazy about grabbing pastries."

"Ah?" Qin Huai was bewildered; Zheng Da wouldn't degenerate to this point, right? Zheng Da's skills were much better than his.

"Perhaps in the hearts of the diners, your skills are stronger than mine."

"I am not even willing to work beside a savory chef who is better than me, let alone a pastry chef who is destined to be better than me?"

"Didn't you just say it? Even if you are invincible in the world, you can encounter extraterrestrial demons. I think now in the hearts of those diners, you are probably that extraterrestrial demon."

"Ah?" The extraterrestrial demon opened his mouth in a daze, not knowing what to say, thought for a moment, and continued to eat.

Yangzhou fried rice is really delicious.

After a short nap, at 2:30 in the afternoon, the extraterrestrial demon began his first formal teaching.

Huang Shengli, who returned from physical therapy, looked radiant.

Huang Shengli had already formulated a complete and detailed teaching plan, formulated overnight last night.

As a savory master who loves to take apprentices, Huang Shengli has very rich teaching experience.

Whether it's a formal background or a wild path, solid basic skills or almost no basic skills, Huang Shengli has corresponding teaching methods.

Even for geniuses, Huang Shengli has a plan.

Huang Shengli also taught Zheng Siyuan for a while when he was a child.

Huang Shengli felt it was time to let Qin Huai know what a true famous teacher is; he is not a fake famous teacher like Zheng Da who can't even speak clearly, he is a gold-medal famous teacher with rich teaching experience, nine disciples under his name, one nephew, and famous in Gusu.

Online classes before gave him no room to play, now that it's a practical class, he must let Qin Huai know the gold content of a famous teacher.

"Xiao Qin, I roughly understand your heat control level here. Let's not have pressure on our first day of practical practice, don't be afraid of problems."

"I remember Siyuan told me that you really want to practice flipping the spoon now. I think you can practice, but you have to start from the simple ones."

"How about we start by stir-frying some green vegetables?"

"You stir-fry once, then I stir-fry once. I won't say anything, you tell me what problems you think you have by observing my process."

Huang Shengli started teaching with a smile.

Qin Huai nodded solemnly and started stir-frying green vegetables.

Stir-frying green vegetables is a step that every chef with a formal background will experience.

Qin Huai hadn't experienced it.

He really hadn't stir-fried green vegetables.

The first time he stir-fried was tomato and egg, when he was in high school, stir-frying for Qin Luo to eat. Qin Luo was very supportive and ate three bowls of rice with a plate of tomato and egg.

Of course, mainly because Qin Huai only knew how to stir-fry tomato and egg at that time.

That day Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong went out for something, the 10-yuan stir-fry next door was closed, the brother and sister thought about it, embezzled half of the twenty yuan for the meal each, and made something casually themselves.

Qin Luo cooked rice, Qin Huai stir-fried vegetables.

Qin Huai was very serious.

Heat the pot and burn the oil.

Pour in the vegetables.

Crackle.

Stir-fry over high heat.

Stir-fry quickly.

Low heat.

Wave the spatula a few more times.

Out of the pot!

A plate of green vegetables that looked edible but didn't have very good appearance was born.

Huang Shengli didn't speak and started his own performance.

Heat the pot and burn the oil.

Pour in the vegetables!

Beautiful stir-frying.

Flip the spoon!

Beautiful spoon flipping.

The green vegetables in the pot were still looking fresh and lively.

Out of the pot!

A plate of green vegetables that looked very delicious and had a very outstanding appearance was born.

Huang Shengli's stir-fried green vegetables were placed next to Qin Huai's stir-fried green vegetables, making Qin Huai's green vegetables look like they should be poured into the swill bucket.

Whether it's savory or pastry cooking, the simpler the dish, the more you can see the chef's level. Because simple represents the public, and the public represents commonality; only what everyone has seen can show the gap.

"Did you see anything?" Huang Shengli asked with a smile.

Qin Huai thought for a moment: "Heat control is very important. The secret to stir-frying green vegetables is to stir-fry over high heat. Green vegetables cook quickly, so it is very important to heat them evenly during the stir-frying process. I don't know how to flip the spoon, so I will stay in the pot for too long because I am worried that the green vegetables are not cooked, which leads to the green vegetables being stir-fried until old and the appearance is not good."

"And if the time of stir-frying over high heat is controlled well, the appearance of the vegetables will be better."

"Also..."

Huang Shengli:...

You said all my words, what should I say?

Huang Shengli could only nod: "Try it."

Qin Huai started to try.

One plate, two plates, three plates...

Each plate had different technical errors.

It's easy to talk on paper, but hard to practice.

Qin Huai understood the truth, but he couldn't control his hands.

Qin Huai just stir-fried plate after plate of green vegetables like this. By the time he stir-fried to the end, it might be that the kitchen was about to start work, and there were many people passing by him, such as Huang Jia, Dong Shi, Dong Li, Wang Jun, these familiar faces, basically passing by every two or three minutes.

Taking vegetables, taking plates, etc., very busy.

Huang Shengli didn't say anything, and every time Qin Huai stir-fried a plate of vegetables, he nodded, signaling Qin Huai to continue.

Although Huang Shengli spoke little, Qin Huai felt it was very effective. By the time he stir-fried to the end, he felt more and more, and compared with the first plate of green vegetables with not very good appearance, Qin Huai felt that his later vegetables had quite good appearance.

A few plates even looked a little pretty.

Qin Huai happily stir-fried plate after plate and simply couldn't stop.

Dong Shi couldn't help it and grabbed his own brother to ask: "Brother, how long did we stir-fry green vegetables at the beginning?"

Dong Li said expressionlessly: "Three months or so, Master said to stir-fry for three months first to practice the feel."

Dong Shi looked at the vegetables in the bucket (stir-fried too much to fit, so he could only pour them into the bucket) in a daze and said: "Why do I feel that Qin Huai doesn't even need a week."

Dong Li looked at Qin Huai, who was stir-frying in full swing, calmly: "People are different, accept your fate."

"It's fortunate that you are a closed-door disciple, otherwise Master would have persuaded Qin Huai to change his profession."

Two-in-one

(End of chapter)