Chapter 176

At 8:37, the crab roe shumai made by Qin Huai came out of the steamer.

As usual, Qin Huai made the crab roe shumai according to the number of people, two for each person. It wasn't that Qin Huai was stingy and afraid of trouble, but mainly because Qin Huai found that crab roe shumai paired with crepe wontons was actually a very good breakfast set.

Two crab roe shumai paired with a bowl of crepe wontons, plus a tea egg or a cup of soy milk, is the perfect breakfast.

Eating it makes you energetic for a day.

Yes, Qin Huai also boiled soy milk.

The tea egg was bought by Gong Liang at the breakfast shop at the entrance of the residential area at his request. As a tea egg lover, Qin Huai felt that if you didn't have a tea egg with this level of breakfast, it simply wouldn't have a soul.

After working at Huang Ji for more than half a month, Little Master Qin finally found the feeling of being a breakfast shop master again.

Everyone who has eaten the breakfast he made says it's good.

In the following days, Qin Huai had been practicing crab roe shumai in an ordinary way.

Making a batch in the morning and a few batches in the afternoon, the chefs in the back kitchen of Huang Ji lived a life where crab roe shumai was enough.

They were even a bit tired of eating it.

Dong Shi knew that saying this would make him seem a bit ungrateful; after all, Qin Huai's craftsmanship wasn't bad, and crab roe shumai didn't cost money and was considered a staff benefit. Such a good benefit, no matter which company it was placed in, employees would wake up laughing in their dreams.

But eating it every day, one meal in the morning and one meal in the afternoon, every day without fail, and only eating one day less when on vacation, it was indeed a bit tiring.

Dong Shi didn't know if other chefs in the back kitchen of Huang Ji had the same thoughts as him, but he knew there was one person who definitely wouldn't get tired of eating it.

Gong Liang.

Gong Liang really loved eating crab roe shumai.

Eating it every day, rain or shine, squatting at the kitchen entrance to eat in the morning, and squatting at the kitchen entrance to eat in the afternoon.

Gong Liang was even tired of eating crepe wontons, but he wasn't tired of crab roe shumai.

Sometimes when Gong Liang came to the kitchen entrance of Huang Ji in the morning, he brought his own breakfast pairings.

White porridge, century egg and lean meat porridge, plain noodles, egg pancakes, fried pancake rolls, pan-fried buns, Shaxian steamed dumplings, corn boiled by his wife, mixed noodles, lamb soup...

He was just short of bringing another chef.

But no matter what breakfast Gong Liang brought, he had to eat the crab roe shumai.

Eating it as a pairing.

In the afternoon, Gong Liang sometimes also ate it as a pairing.

Pairing it with some fruit, some side dishes, and sometimes some tea, moving the big chair to a small stool and moving it into the kitchen, rubbing against the small table where Huang Shengli drank tea, and chatting with Huang Shengli while eating, chatting about the gossip of old neighbors back then.

Directly opening the tea party into the back kitchen of Huang Ji.

Huang Shengli was also enjoying it. Now the teaching task of crab roe shumai had basically nothing to do with him. Of course, Huang Shengli also felt that it had nothing to do with Zheng Da.

Qin Huai didn't really need to learn how to make crab roe shumai anymore; it mainly relied on practice. Repeated practice, practicing over and over again, practicing day after day, increasing the quantity, and it was best to practice muscle memory.

If Zheng Da could say something, he could give some guidance when watching from the side, but Zheng Da had a clumsy mouth. He saw problems very accurately, but spoke about them very abstractly. If it weren't for Qin Huai being able to match his abstract brainwaves to understand what he said, outsiders would only feel that it was really like a chicken talking to a duck.

Simply put, the student didn't really need the teacher's guidance anymore.

Under these circumstances, Zheng Da's old problem of not liking to come to the kitchen flared up again.

At first, it was slacking off every three days, then it was slacking off every two days, and now it was directly changed to working one day and resting one day, making Huang Shengli not know what to say about him.

If you say Zheng Da doesn't want to accept Qin Huai as his closed-door disciple, that's impossible. Anyone with eyes can see how much Zheng Da wants to, wanting to pass on everything he has.

If you say he wants to, he is now working one day and resting one day.

He hasn't even accepted a disciple yet and he's already working one day and resting one day. If he really accepted one, Huang Shengli didn't dare to imagine how many days he would rest.

However, Huang Shengli also knew that Zheng Da hadn't been a proper chef for many years. His main job wasn't this, and trapping him in the kitchen was useless. Qin Huai didn't necessarily need Zheng Da to stare at him from the side to practice crab roe shumai now; having him help watch from the side was enough.

Moreover, Huang Shengli was also a bit tired of eating it.

It was just that Zheng Da wasn't there, and there was no one to chat and argue with him, making it a bit boring to stay in the kitchen alone. Huang Shengli's waist was recovering very well now, and physical therapy didn't need to be done every day, entering the final recovery period.

If there were no accidents, he could return to Huang Ji after normal recuperation after the New Year and continue to serve as the head chef.

Now Huang Shengli didn't need to worry about Huang Ji's business. The gold-lettered signboard of the savory dishes wasn't there, but the gold-lettered signboard of the pastry dishes was still there. There was no need to worry about the turnover, and the reputation was gradually recovering.

Huang Shengli was recuperating temporarily, not retiring permanently. Old customers were very patient in waiting for the head chef to return, and it was acceptable to change their tastes and eat more snacks while waiting.

It can be said that Huang Shengli had almost no worries now, except for being slightly bored when accompanying Qin Huai to make crab roe shumai in the afternoon.

So Huang Shengli ignored Gong Liang's serious boundary-crossing behavior of moving the small stool into the back kitchen, acquiesced to all this, and let Gong Liang become his chatting partner, drinking afternoon tea and eating crab roe shumai while chatting.

Who told Gong Liang to be good at chatting?

As long as Gong Liang wanted to, even if he had only known someone for two hours, he could find a topic the other person liked and chat for an afternoon.

Unknowingly, Qin Huai had practiced crab roe shumai for a whole month.

Now Qin Huai picked crabs and shrimp as professionally as a professional who had been in the aquatic industry for 20 years. No more crab peddlers could pass off inferior goods in front of him and quietly stuff second-rate crabs to him.

As for peeling crabs and processing crab meat, that was even more beyond reproach. That technique, that speed, Qin Huai could go outside and fool others, saying that he was a master who specifically peeled crabs in a shop selling internet-famous crab roe mixed noodles, and people would believe it.

With such high-intensity practice, the taste and quality of crab roe shumai naturally improved.

If there were no accidents, Qin Huai felt that the crab roe shumai he made now should be between C+ and B-. The probability of C+ was higher; to reach B- required extraordinary performance, a particularly good state on that day, or being very handy when mixing the filling.

For Qin Huai, if a snack could reach the B-grade level, even if it was B-, it was a signature snack.

Taking it out was definitely not embarrassing.

Of course, Qin Huai knew that crab roe shumai still had room for improvement.

With his current skill panel, crab roe shumai could definitely reach B+ grade. He also really needed to practice crab roe shumai to B+ grade, because this snack was simply too professionally matched and too suitable for grinding the proficiency of filling preparation.

Yes, grinding proficiency.

In a whole month, Qin Huai's filling preparation proficiency was ground to 39877/100000.

Grinding 32,000 proficiency in a month, this speed was no longer taking a plane, it was simply taking a rocket. Qin Huai didn't usually look at the attribute panel, and didn't even click on the game panel much when no side quests were triggered.

Plus, this month was indeed high-intensity practice of crab roe shumai, opening his eyes every day was crab roe shumai, and before going to bed was also crab roe shumai. Although he was no longer a laborer, the fishy smell of shrimp and crab still lingered on his body and couldn't dissipate. The skin of the "crab person" had never been taken off, and he hadn't thought about caring about proficiency.

Qin Huai just simply felt that his filling preparation had indeed improved a lot.

Practicing difficult snacks is like this; specializing in one aspect leads to fast progress.

The experience points added by grinding addition and subtraction within 20 and grinding linear algebra problems are definitely different.

Of course, the premise is that the player must have the strength to grind linear algebra.

Qin Huai felt that he seemed to have ground a lot of proficiency, but he didn't expect to grind so much.

After discovering that he had ground a whole 32,000 points of filling preparation proficiency in a month, Qin Huai even regretted that the intensity this month wasn't high enough. If he had increased the intensity, practiced extra after returning at night, added crab roe shumai to the menu and made it in the morning, and ground it hard for two months, grinding until the crabs went off the market regardless of the cost.

Maybe the filling preparation proficiency could really be ground to master level.

Of course, this is only under ideal conditions.

The reality is that Qin Huai can't do it.

The current intensity is all because the crabs are about to go off the market, and it will be too late if he doesn't grind. Qin Huai has a sense of urgency, so he seizes the time to practice.

If it were normal times, he would be considered diligent and hardworking if he could grind out 16,000 in a month.

December 16th, the day Qin Huai ground crab roe shumai proficiency for 30 full days.

It can be considered a full month.

In the afternoon, Qin Huai was working diligently in the back kitchen making crab roe shumai as usual.

Huang Shengli and Gong Liang were sitting at the small table drinking tea, and the other employees didn't like to hide in various places to watch Qin Huai cook as they did before; now everyone was used to it.

Everyone found that the genius Little Master Qin, who liked to learn a little bit of this and a little bit of that, also embarked on Zheng Siyuan's old path, starting to specialize in one snack and living a boring, mechanical, repetitive life.

In fact, the life of a chef is like this; whether learning new dishes or old dishes, it is an infinitely repetitive process. The process of stir-frying is full of changes, but the overall work is always repetitive and unchanging.

This is also why Dong Shi is very popular in the back kitchen. A chef like him who talks a lot, loves to talk, knows how to talk, likes to talk, and can update the latest gossip in real-time without affecting the normal work of colleagues is really rare.

Of course, it's not completely unaffected. Sometimes his gossip is too wonderful, and colleagues will listen and listen and become fascinated and then slack off. Today, there was obviously no wonderful gossip; Dong Shi wasn't even in the kitchen, taking advantage of his break time to go out to explore gossip.

The back kitchen was filled with the rich fragrance of crab roe shumai.

This fragrance meant that the first large steamer of crab roe shumai this afternoon was about to come out of the steamer.

After staying in the back kitchen of Huang Ji for a long time, even Gong Liang, a pure layman, could smell the state of food through the fragrance.

Huang Shengli was playing with his phone while drinking tea, glanced at Gong Liang who was playing "Elimination," and found that Gong Liang's level was a whole 80 levels more than his, put down his phone and said: "I found that you really love eating crab roe shumai, and you don't get tired of it."

Gong Liang continued to pass the level, raised his head and lowered it again, saying: "How could one get tired of eating crab roe shumai?"

Huang Shengli looked at Gong Liang.

Gong Liang failed to pass the level, put down his phone: "Okay, it seems only I don't get tired of it; I feel like you guys got tired of it long ago."

"However, crab roe shumai is just different from other snacks; it's just not easy to get tired of," Gong Liang said stubbornly, "Don't talk about a month; even if you let me eat for two months, three months, from September to December, I won't get tired of it."

"Thinking that the crabs are about to go off the market, the taste of the crab roe steamed dumplings eaten in the last few days is not as good as before. The fattest season for crabs has passed, and there will be no fresh crab roe to eat soon, so I wish I could go back to September to find Little Qin in Shanshi and let him start learning in advance, so that I could eat for at least two months this year!"

Huang Shengli:...

You didn't consider Qin Huai's life at all. Have you considered how a chef feels making this difficulty of crab roe shumai for three consecutive months a year?

Huang Shengli glanced at Qin Huai.

Forget it, Qin Huai is different.

Qin Huai really loves making it and enjoys it. Looking at his posture, he also wishes that the crabs were fatter for two more months so he could make it for two more months.

Just as he was talking, the crab roe shumai came out of the steamer.

Qin Huai lifted the steamer lid, nimbly clipped out the crab roe shumai inside, and clipped a plate. Qin Huai frowned and sized it up for a while, then sighed deeply. After waiting for the crab roe shumai to cool down a bit so it could be eaten, he ate one himself first.

Frowning.

Gong Liang could taste that the crab roe shumai of the last two days wasn't as good as before, and Qin Huai could certainly taste it too.

Qin Huai also knew that this wasn't a problem with his technique, but entirely a problem with the crabs.

The crabs were almost off the market.

The crabs at this time were far less fat than in November, the crab roe wasn't as good, and the meat quality wasn't as good. Crab roe shumai not only tests the chef's technique but also tests the quality of the ingredients very much, otherwise Huang Shengli wouldn't have let Qin Huai practice picking crabs first.

There was no need to pick the crabs now; no matter how you picked them, you couldn't pick good ones.

Qin Huai knew that his crab roe shumai assault this year was about to come to an end, and Gong Liang's side quest would definitely not be completed this year.

Young hero, please come back next year.

Qin Huai was a little disappointed.

He wasn't disappointed that Gong Liang's side quest couldn't be completed; Gong Liang wouldn't be in a hurry anyway. Even if there was no intervention from Qin Huai in this life, he would likely be able to successfully overcome the tribulation.

Qin Huai was disappointed that he wasn't making crab roe shumai, so where would he find such a professionally matched snack to grind the proficiency of filling preparation.

The feeling of grinding filling preparation proficiency was too good, much better than when grinding heat control proficiency.

When Qin Huai practiced heat control, he knew he was a rookie, and there was some improvement in the process of practicing, but even if he improved, he was just a rookie who was making progress.

Practicing filling preparation is different; practicing filling preparation is "I know I am strong, and the more I practice, the stronger I become."

This feeling is simply too good.

Qin Huai carried a small plate with 4 crab roe shumai and walked to Huang Shengli and Gong Liang, placing the plate on the small table.

"Master Huang, Mr. Gong, the quality of today's crab roe shumai might not be very good, even worse than yesterday."

Huang Shengli smiled: "This isn't your mistake either. The crabs going off the market this year is indeed a bit early. In previous years, it wasn't this unfat at this time. The core of crab roe shumai is crab roe; without good crab roe, you can't make good shumai, and you can't blame the chef."

Gong Liang very supportively clipped the shumai first, and only opened his mouth when the shumai was at his mouth: "Yes, yes, Little Master Qin, your craftsmanship is obvious to all. I've eaten shumai for a month, and except for these few days, the ones before were better and better the more I ate, and I couldn't stop at all; it was simply addictive."

"It's a pity that I'm not majoring in aquaculture, otherwise I would definitely go and study whether I can raise a kind of crab that has full crab roe all year round."

After speaking, Gong Liang took a bite of half, proving his love for eating with practical actions.

Crab roe shumai true love fan.

"We were just saying, Gong Liang said that he didn't catch up with a good time this year. If he had known you in September, he would definitely have pestered you and pestered you to make him crab roe shumai for at least two months," Huang Shengli said helplessly.

Qin Huai smiled: "That's definitely no problem. Time was too short this year, but next year I will definitely make crab roe shumai for Mr. Gong for at least two months, eating from mid-September to mid-November."

Gong Liang's eyes were shining.

Huang Shengli waved his hand quickly: "Assistant Xiao Qin, don't say that. You just say it casually, but Gong Liang is going to take it seriously."

"I'm also serious," Qin Huai said, "Master Huang, I think crab roe shumai is really suitable for practice, and I also feel that I didn't make enough this year."

Huang Shengli:...

Fine, I really don't understand you pastry chefs.

Gong Liang swallowed the shumai in his mouth, showing a smile that could be called honest, and said happily: "Then I will really have a treat next year. From now on, I won't say I'll eat crab roe shumai for a month. From now on, I'll eat crab roe shumai for two months, or even three months!"

As soon as the words fell, the game prompt sounded in Qin Huai's mind.

"Ding, congratulations to the player for completing the side quest 【Taste of Memory 3】, obtaining the task reward: 【A segment of Gong Liang's memory】, Popularity Drainage +2000."

Qin Huai:?

Completed?

This task was completed so inexplicably?

Is Master Jing's craftsmanship that bad? Not necessarily, right? Today's crab roe shumai definitely isn't B-grade.

Looking at Gong Liang's happy appearance, Qin Huai suddenly had a bold guess.

"Mr. Gong, I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"Do you still remember what the crab roe shumai made by Master Jing tasted like back then?"

Gong Liang smacked his lips, as if savoring, then shook his head: "I don't remember; how many years has it been? I forgot long ago."

Huang Shengli:?!

"Anyway, Master Jing's craftsmanship is definitely beyond reproach, but Little Master Qin, your craftsmanship isn't bad either. I believe that one day you will be able to reach the height of Master Jing."

Huang Shengli said angrily: "You don't even remember what the snacks made by my master tasted like, and you still have the face to say every day in front of me and Zheng Da that our craftsmanship is far inferior to my master."

"Old Huang, you can't say it like that. Sometimes I use aggressive tactics, and sometimes what I say is the truth. After so many years, you can't expect me to always remember the taste of the dishes your master made. Speaking of which, this isn't because your and Zheng Da's craftsmanship isn't good. If the two of you made dishes similar to Master Jing, wouldn't I remember?"

"You ask me now, and I definitely can't remember clearly or say it, but if you could let me go back to taste a dish made by Master Jing back then, it would definitely be different."

Huang Shengli knew that the reason was such a reason, but he didn't want to chat about gossip with Gong Liang again this afternoon.

Qin Huai showed a look of realization.

Sure enough, although this side quest was to make Gong Liang remember the taste in his memory, in fact, Gong Liang himself really didn't remember what the taste in his memory was specifically.

If you can't remember the taste, remembering the feeling back then is also fine.

Back then, Gong Liang ate crab roe shumai for a month straight, which was unforgettable for a lifetime. Now Gong Liang also ate crab roe shumai for a month straight.

Although the taste was far inferior to back then and could only be considered a flat replacement, it was enough to make Gong Liang recall the beautiful feeling back then.

Sometimes food doesn't need favorability to beautify and add filters; beautiful memories can also do the same.

"Master Huang, I want to take a vacation starting the day after tomorrow and finish the vacation I didn't take this month and last month. I'll take 6 days off in a row and go back to Shanshi to make some snacks for my sister. Do you think the time can be arranged?" Qin Huai asked.

"Of course no problem. I'll tell Huang Jia tonight; it won't affect anything," Huang Shengli nodded readily, "You've been working hard for more than a month without rest. Why don't you take a week off to adjust well."

"No need, 6 days is enough."

Gong Liang was eating crab roe shumai on the side and didn't say anything.

He had already moved next door to Qin Huai, and being close to the water, he had already eaten enough crab roe shumai for a month, so it was fine not to eat for 6 days.

The most critical thing was that he had gained a lot of fans from restaurants in other places by watching "Zhi Wei" during this period.

It just so happened that during the 6 days Qin Huai was resting, he would take his wife and children to eat a few different meals in other places to change their tastes.

Slurp.

(End of chapter)