Chapter 16: The First Customer

The filling in the wok was still simmering over low heat. Qin Huai took a moment to check the fermentation of the dough next to it, then started another wok to begin making the filling for Three-Diced Baozi.

Three-Diced Baozi, as the name suggests, is the youthful mini version of Five-Diced Baozi.

The production steps are basically the same, only the filling has two fewer dices—no shrimp or sea cucumber—and the taste is slightly different from Five-Diced Baozi. It can't be said to be inferior; it's just that each has its own merits.

Five-Diced Baozi uses richer ingredients and is more difficult to make. Anyone who has cooked sea cucumber dishes knows that sea cucumber is an extremely difficult ingredient to handle. It has no flavor of its own, is sandy, and has a fishy smell. If used well, it's the flower that adds to the brocade; if messed up, it's the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

Compared to the Five-Diced Baozi, which is prone to failure, Three-Diced Baozi is simpler and easier to master. Apart from the high requirements for ingredients, as long as there are no major mistakes when preparing the filling, it's hard to fail, and the taste won't be too bad.

To make Three-Diced Baozi, the chicken must be a year-old hen that is both tender and fat, the pork must be pork belly with a perfect balance of fat and lean, and the bamboo shoots should be selected according to the season—winter bamboo shoots are best.

Whether it's Three-Diced or Five-Diced Baozi, the most crucial flavor is "freshness." This freshness comes not only from the variety of ingredients but also from their freshness. The requirements for raw materials are very high; even a little cutting corners will greatly affect the taste of the baozi.

This destined that the price of these two types of baozi could not be cheap.

The filling for the Three-Diced Baozi began to simmer, and the filling for the Five-Diced Baozi had reached the stage of thickening the sauce.

Qin Huai operated on two fronts with ease; he had been doing this every New Year, so he was used to it.

The Qin family would gather for New Year's Eve, and on the first day of the New Year, guests would arrive with chickens, ducks, fish, shrimp, pork belly, fresh bamboo shoots, and sea cucumbers to pay their respects, all for the sake of the Spring Festival limited edition Five-Diced and Three-Diced Baozi. If Qin Huai didn't operate on two fronts, he wouldn't be able to keep up, and he wouldn't even be able to step out of the kitchen door during the entire New Year period.

Qin Luo changed her clothes, and from squatting at the kitchen entrance looking on with longing, she moved to squatting by the cooking station looking on with longing, her face written with "hungry, want to eat."

Squatting closer made it smell even better.

*Slurp. *

After thickening the sauce, Qin Huai put the Five-Diced Baozi filling into the freezer to chill and took another look at the dough on the cutting board.

Still needed a little more time.

Qin Luo turned her head and looked at Qin Congwen with resentment, saying: "The dough is less than half an inch thick when pressed by hand, and it rises high when released. Dad, when will you be able to knead dough like the one written in the 'Suiyuan Shidan' like Brother?"

Qin Congwen:?

Targeting me?

Zhao Rong glared at Qin Luo and said: "You're being pedantic at a time like this, and I haven't seen you get such high scores in Chinese class. If your dad could make that... whatever it is, would he still be running a breakfast shop for over 20 years? Don't just stand there, come over and wrap baozi."

"Oh." Qin Luo went to wash her hands.

"Did Luo Luo, don't wrap baozi yet," Qin Huai called out to her. "Go get the molds from the shelf. The red bean paste and mung bean paste should be thawed. Use the dough Dad kneaded and press 5 sets of baozi for each mold."

Hearing Qin Huai say this, Qin Luo instantly became happy. In her view, using molds to press baozi was much more fun than wrapping them. Qin Congwen never let her play with the molds at home.

"Did Luo Luo, be careful," Qin Congwen reminded her.

Qin Congwen didn't stop Qin Luo from playing with the molds because he was worried about the molds; it was mainly because the molds were a bit heavy, and he was afraid Qin Luo would hurt herself. However, Zhao Rong had always felt that Qin Congwen's worry was groundless. Qin Luo had been able to eat and sleep well since she was a child but didn't grow tall; she was only a little over 1.6 meters tall but had great strength, and had always been the main force in the family for carrying watermelons in the summer.

In the words of Old Man Qin, this child would definitely be a great hand at farming in the countryside.

"Don't worry, Dad!" Qin Luo went to play with the molds happily.

The family worked in their respective roles until 5:30 AM, when the sun rose.

The sky outside was just beginning to brighten when someone arrived at the Cloud Canteen, entering through the outer door.

The person who entered was a capable-looking woman in her early 30s, with short hair and flat shoes. Qin Huai found her face somewhat familiar but couldn't remember where he had seen her. Just as Qin Huai was thinking about whether to put down the baozi in his hand and go to the kitchen door to take a look, the woman walked to the kitchen door herself.

"Boss, I'm Huang Xi." Huang Xi accurately found Qin Huai behind the cooking station.

After Qin Huai delegated all matters of the Cloud Canteen to Huang Xi, he only set one rule: no one except kitchen staff could enter the kitchen without changing clothes. Huang Xi was perfectly complying; she stood about 30 centimeters away from the kitchen door, maintaining a good distance.

Qin Huai suddenly realized. He had been preparing ingredients and setting the menu at home for the past few days and had only seen photos of Huang Xi, not the real person, so he didn't react immediately.

"Master Qin, Master Zhao, Did Luo Luo, good morning," Huang Xi greeted the others with a smile.

"No need to call me Boss, call me... Master Xiao Qin," Qin Huai said. That's what the neighbors in Qu County called him.

Qin Congwen was Old Qin, Qin Huai was Xiao Qin, and the owner of the 10-yuan stir-fry fast-food restaurant next to the Qin family breakfast shop was also surnamed Qin. However, since the titles "Old Qin" and "Xiao Qin" were already taken, everyone usually called him "Baldy Qin." "Master Xiao Qin," Huang Xi said smoothly. "The others will arrive around 6:00. I see the dim sum is already steaming; do you need me to hang the menu signs now?"

Qin Huai nodded.

Huang Xi immediately got busy, and Qin Luo ran to the window to tell Huang Xi which menu signs to hang.

The menu signs were wooden signs customized two days ago, each marked with the dish and price, making them easy to change.

Although Qin Huai hadn't met Huang Xi, they had communicated quite a bit on WeChat over the past few days. Because of the operating hours, Huang Xi had divided the waiters' shifts into long and short shifts.

The long shift was from 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM, and the short shift was from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The two shifts rotated, changing every half month. The odd-job workers had it harder, needing to work long shifts all the time, so their salary was increased by 500 yuan on top of the original base.

After Huang Xi hung the menu signs, Qin Huai had just finished wrapping the batch of Three-Diced Baozi and put them in the small steamer. He poked his head out of the window and asked: "Isn't the shift at 6:30? Isn't 6:00 too early?"

Huang Xi smiled: "Today is the first day of business, so it's only right to arrive early to prepare. It won't be like this once we get on track in a couple of days."

As they were speaking, the inner door opened.

An elderly man wearing an undershirt, traveling light, who clearly looked like he was out for a morning jog, poked his head in. Only after seeing that there were indeed people in the canteen did he feel at ease entering.

"Are you open?" the old man asked, then saw the small mountain of steamer baskets in the kitchen through the window.

Without waiting for Huang Xi to answer, the old man walked directly to the window and examined the menu signs hanging there.

"Small meat baozi for 6 yuan a basket, fresh meat baozi for 1.5 yuan each, shiitake mushroom and vegetable baozi for 1 yuan... quite cheap. Three-Diced Baozi for 25 a basket, two in a basket. Five-Diced Baozi for 35 a basket, one in a basket... what are these two, selling so expensive?"

"Red bean paste baozi are all 3 yuan, why are red bean paste baozi more expensive than meat baozi?" The old man looked like he wasn't a fool with money and didn't want to be ripped off.

Huang Xi was about to explain when she was interrupted by the old man again: "By the way, I received a flyer at the entrance of the complex two days ago saying that with the flyer, you get 30% off. I didn't bring it with me this morning, can I still get the 30% off?"

Huang Xi finally found an opportunity to speak and quickly said: "Of course. Our flyers are just for promotion. All customers who dine in the shop until the 10th will enjoy a 30% discount."

The old man nodded with satisfaction and muttered: "30% off, 24.5."

"Expensive."

"But 30% off..."

"What if it's delicious?"

"No, still a bit expensive."

"Forget it, I've even eaten 35-yuan crab roe soup dumplings, what's a 24.5-yuan baozi? Give me a basket!"

"And give me a basket of that Three-Diced Baozi, and a cup of soy milk." Without Huang Xi even needing to speak, the old man convinced himself.

Huang Xi: "Okay, but our baozi are still steaming, you might need to wait a few minutes."

After learning that the baozi weren't ready and he had to wait a few minutes, the old man went to the cashier to pay and get his receipt, asking Huang Xi to pour him a bowl of soy milk first, as he was parched from his morning jog.

At the moment the old man paid, a game notification sound rang in Qin Huai's mind.

"Ding, congratulations on completing the main quest 【Canteen Opening】, gaining quest reward: Popularity +100."

"Ding, a new optional main quest has been discovered. Please check the quest panel."

Qin Huai continued wrapping baozi, while the old man sitting at Table 9, closest to the window, made a phone call.

"Hey, what do you mean I'm late for my morning jog again? Am I, Xu Tuqiang, the kind of person who is late? I was in a rush this morning and didn't even have time to drink water. I'll go to the convenience store across the street to buy a bottle of water first, it'll take 5 minutes, I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon."

After hanging up, Xu Tuqiang shouted at the window: "Young man, hurry up with that baozi, I have something to do, I'm in a rush."

After saying this, Xu Tuqiang took another big gulp of soy milk; he really was thirsty.

Qin Huai:...

Old Man Xu, it's generally not recommended to eat breakfast before a morning jog; it's easy to get indigestion.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 17 =====