Chapter 188: Explosion of Orders (Thanks to Alliance Leader

The next morning, Qin Huai got up late again, as expected.

It was slightly earlier than the day before, but by the time Qin Huai was clear-headed and could see the time on his phone, it was already 7:45.

How to put it, Qin Huai had been a breakfast shop master for so many years, and after experiencing the treatment of a dim sum master for more than a month in Huang Ji, he deeply fell in love with this profession.

Get up late.

Qin Huai got used to Zheng Siyuan getting up early, but he fell in love with getting up late in Huang Ji.

Whenever he thought of this, Qin Huai felt from the bottom of his heart that he was really sorry for Zheng Siyuan.

Qin Huai didn't announce to the outside world that he would return to the Yunzhong cafeteria for normal business this time. The dim sum that dropped randomly yesterday also gave many old diners a bad premonition.

Everyone didn't ask Qin Huai directly to his face, but asked Huang Xi and Qin Luo directly or sideways on WeChat. Qin Huai let the two tell everyone honestly that he would only stay for a few days this time, and he would make dim sum in the cafeteria these days, but it would not be stable.

Now the stable breakfast masters of the Yunzhong cafeteria were still Chen An and Qin Congwen, and the dim sum masters were Pei Xing and Li Hua.

It was explained in advance, so Qin Huai slept until 7:45 without any psychological pressure. He washed up unhurriedly, took two cheese sticks and two dragon fruits he had swiped from Luo Jun's house from the refrigerator, ate them, and then went out to the Yunzhong cafeteria.

The grandpas and grandmas who were morning jogging were still sticking to it.

Grandma Ding had an appointment with her old sisters to go outing in the suburbs yesterday, and only caught up with the tail of the dim sum when she came back. She came early this morning and squatted in the cafeteria around 6:30. Seeing Qin Huai coming, she hurriedly greeted him with a large bag.

"Master Xiao Qin, you have been in Gusu for so long, it is finally time to come back and see. During the time you were away, I kept an eye on the good locust tree flower honey for you. Look, it's all top-notch."

"There are three bottles here. If you think the honey is no problem, I have 26 bottles at home. I'll bring them all over later!"

Grandma Ding said with a smile.

Qin Huai subconsciously reached out to take it.

When he was in Huang Ji, he didn't make locust tree flower steamed buns many times. The old guests in Huang Ji had memories of fermented rice steamed buns. Locust tree flower steamed buns and fermented rice steamed buns were sold together, and the sales were miserable, with no face at all.

Plus, high-quality locust tree flower honey that met Qin Huai's requirements was actually not easy to find. Huang Anyao's ability was limited, and the locust tree flower honey obtained from suppliers, although the quality was not bad, was not as good as the one Grandma Ding got. After a long time, Qin Huai basically didn't make locust tree flower steamed buns.

Of course, this was not a problem with locust tree flower steamed buns, but entirely a problem with Qin Huai's level.

Locust tree flower steamed buns were S-grade recipes. It was Qin Huai's level that was limited and could only reach B-grade, and currently, he couldn't understand the teaching video very well.

Whenever he thought of this, Qin Huai couldn't help but hold his forehead. It was hard for him to say whether this was his problem or Jiang Chengde's problem. Jiang Weijin also had two S-grade recipes, a little worse but good enough to reach S. Qin Huai could understand Jiang Weijin's teaching video.

When watching, Qin Huai even felt very familiar. Jiang Weijin had a total of two disciples, and these two disciples had taught Qin Huai. Qin Huai was simply too familiar with the teaching method of this school.

Qin Huai unscrewed the jar containing honey, sniffed it, and looked at the color again. He didn't taste it. Qin Huai knew in his heart about the locust tree flower honey carefully selected by Grandma Ding; it must be the best of the best.

"I was just worrying about not having locust tree flower honey to make locust tree flower steamed buns. Grandma Ding, I couldn't meet such good locust tree flower honey in Gusu. Thank you for your trouble in helping me find honey." Qin Huai said with a smile.

Hearing Qin Huai say this, Grandma Ding's smile became brighter, as if she saw the scene of herself carrying two large bags of fermented rice steamed buns and walking in the Yunzhong community this afternoon, and her waist straightened even more.

"Small matter, Master Xiao Qin, you can find me anytime if you need it."

Qin Huai didn't make small talk anymore, entered the changing room to change clothes, and went to the kitchen to make dim sum.

Qin Huai planned to make only one dim sum this morning—San Ding Bao.

Yesterday's B-grade San Ding Bao gave Qin Huai great encouragement. Qin Huai could reach B-grade level for many dim sum, and even the previous San Ding Bao had close to B-grade, daily B-grade level, but each type of dim sum was different.

Based on Qin Huai's own aesthetics, he felt that his B-grade fermented rice steamed buns were better than B-grade locust tree flower steamed buns, B-grade fruit and fermented rice steamed buns were about the same, B-grade longevity noodles were better than fruit, and yesterday's B-grade San Ding Bao was better than B-grade longevity noodles.

Locust tree flower steamed buns were the worst because Qin Huai made locust tree flower steamed buns very few times and didn't thoroughly understand this dim sum.

The video teaching couldn't be understood, so Qin Huai was relatively repulsive to this dim sum in his heart. Under the premise of clearly knowing that his level couldn't make the desired effect, he would practice as little as possible.

Plus, the production difficulty of locust tree flower steamed buns was the greatest among all dim sum. The leavening technique was special, and there were no other similar dim sum to refer to. Qin Huai didn't know how to downgrade this S-grade recipe most reasonably, which led to locust tree flower steamed buns being B-grade, but not very B-grade.

Qin Huai made fermented rice steamed buns very well. His recipe was B-grade, and Qin Huai's fermented rice steamed buns were absolutely qualified, but the upper limit was limited.

The grade of the recipe was placed here, and Jiang Weijin's craftsmanship was also placed here. Qin Huai hadn't seen fermented rice steamed buns above B-grade.

Zheng Da also told Qin Huai that when he worked in the state-run restaurant, although he made more steamed buns and buns, he was actually very repulsive to making this kind of basic dim sum, and he was not good

Qin Huai could understand this rejection. Zheng Da considered his own skills to be no worse than Huang Shengli's, and his talent perhaps even slightly better, so he had been single-mindedly hoping to become the head chef of the state-run restaurant. However, because he was a pastry chef, and at the time pastry chefs were not valued and their status was far inferior to savory chefs, he failed to become the head chef of the state-run restaurant.

Zheng Da held a grudge. What he liked and excelled at were high-difficulty, niche pastries, such as crab roe shumai, crab meat puffs, and lotus flower puffs. Zheng Da also loved making dough fruits, but the difficulty was too high and he hadn't received the true teachings of Jiang Weijin. For truly high-difficulty pastries like dough fruits and boat dim sum, Zheng Da loved making them in his heart, but he didn't make them very well.

Zheng Da didn't really like making basic pastries like steamed buns and baozi, even if it was fermented rice steamed buns.

Of course, not liking to make them didn't mean he didn't. According to Zheng Siyuan, Zheng Da made fermented rice steamed buns every Chinese New Year, because when Jiang Weijin was around, fermented rice steamed buns were the essential staple food to eat on New Year's Eve.

Fermented rice steamed buns are now Qin Huai's signature pastry, and he makes them very well, but Qin Huai knows that there isn't much room for improvement for him with this pastry.

Because he hasn't seen anything better.

Saying it like this might be a bit absurd, because theoretically, the pastries and dishes a chef makes can intuitively reflect his current level.

A chef with an A-level level can make A-level dishes, and an S-level level can make S-level dishes. Qin Huai's current level is only B-level, so the highest level of pastry he can make relying entirely on his own ability can only be B-level.

But Qin Huai feels that for him, the level of the recipe is more important than his own ability.

He really needs an excellent case study placed in front of him, letting him know how to do it and in which direction to work.

Before obtaining the recipe for the three-diced baozi, Qin Huai had made three-diced baozi for many years; this kind of meat-filled baozi was Qin Luo's favorite.

Even if the Qin family breakfast shop didn't sell them, Qin Huai would make them every weekend, holiday, festival, or when Qin Luo rarely did well on an exam, and he would make a large quantity at once, which could be frozen in the refrigerator so Qin Luo could eat her fill at once.

In terms of the amount of practice, the three-diced baozi and four-joy dumplings were absolutely unrivaled for Qin Huai.

But after Qin Huai got his hands on the recipe for fermented rice steamed buns, the fermented rice steamed buns quickly caught up from behind, trampling these two signature pastries underfoot.

Now that Qin Huai had just gotten his hands on the recipe for the three-diced baozi, he had only tried making it once, and the three-diced baozi had again trampled all other pastries underfoot.

Qin Huai realized that he really needed a high-level recipe placed in front of him, so he would know how to make a pastry better and in which direction to strive.

Qin Huai himself felt this way of improving was absurd.

But no matter how absurd it was, the current three-diced baozi was definitely Qin Huai's true trump card pastry; it had no buff, but it was delicious and had huge room for improvement.

The key was that he could understand the instructional videos and could practice every day!

Qin Huai was kneading dough, Li Hua and a helper with excellent knife skills were dicing, and An Youyou and another helper were wrapping baozi.

As for Pei Xing, he was making pastries on the side while trying to persuade Li Hua to switch with him; he would go dice, and Li Hua would come back to make pastries.

Anyone who has worked in a kitchen and is a professionally trained chef knows that if you want to learn some real skills from a head chef, the first thing you must do is diligently help the head chef as an assistant.

Pei Xing and Li Hua originally thought that their return to their hometown this time would be a chance to slack off, but now they realized that they actually really loved learning.

The two pastry chefs were competing for the position of helper, and the only helper with a name, An Youyou, was thinking about whether she should stop practicing kneading dough and mixing fillings and practice knife skills first.

An Youyou didn't understand why Pei Xing and Li Hua were fighting to dice, but An Youyou knew that Pei Xing and Li Hua had high wages.

A pastry chef's wage is more than double that of a breakfast chef.

In a place Qin Huai didn't know about, the pastry chefs and helpers in the canteen were competing fiercely.

Qin Huai didn't think that much; he just simply felt that the community canteen was indeed different from a large restaurant.

Pei Xing and Li Hua were both introduced by Zheng Da, and their skills were very good, nothing to complain about.

But the other helpers recruited by the canteen itself were much inferior, and they were simply not on the same level as the helpers at Huang Ji.

The helpers at Huang Ji, one by one, could all be called reserve chefs.

Especially those who helped Qin Huai; they were the elite of the elite. When Qin Huai was at Huang Ji, Huang Jia had specifically designated Wang Jun to help him.

Wang Jun wasn't considered a chef with outstanding culinary skills at Huang Ji, he hadn't even managed to become a stove chef, and when Qin Huai wasn't there, he could only do prep work. But no matter how bad Wang Jun was, he was still Huang Shengli's direct disciple. He could only do prep work at Huang Ji because Huang Ji had high requirements. If placed in an ordinary restaurant, he could also become a head chef bearing the name of a top-tier master. The helpers at the Yunzhong canteen were just helpers.

Otherwise, Qin Huai wouldn't be so short of people that he had to let Li Hua help with dicing.

Making a high-paid pastry chef in the canteen do this kind of helper work—Qin Huai felt a bit embarrassed when he said this. Fortunately, Li Hua had a good temper and was also very enthusiastic, so he agreed very readily.

Qin Huai kneaded the dough with a melancholy heart.

Is this what it feels like to have worked at a big company?

He had only been back at the Yunzhong canteen for two days, and he already started missing Huang Ji.

The customers waiting for baozi in the lobby, of course, didn't know that their Assistant Xiao Qin had already returned to the Yunzhong canteen, but his heart was still thinking about another restaurant.

Everyone was just waiting for the baozi with full expectation.

Some were waiting in the lobby, and some were waiting at their workstations.

Qin Huai didn't arrive at the Yunzhong canteen until 8 o'clock, so the office workers definitely couldn't eat hot three-diced baozi before work. However, today Qin Huai was determined to practice the three-diced baozi hard, making them in batches with the same intensity as working at Huang Ji, steaming the kitchen until the steam was as chaotic as a fairyland in the clouds, so there was no need to worry about not being able to buy them.

With Qin Huai unilaterally guaranteeing that the three-diced baozi would definitely be sold until the end of the lunch business hours, many office workers happily bought the baozi made by Qin Congwen and Chen An and went to work happily.

A few who really wanted to eat them and didn't want to waste their stomach space would buy a cup of soy milk to pad their stomachs, go to work hungry, and wait for the baozi to come out of the pot to place a group order.

Today's group order group was destined to be very lively.

At 9:19 in the morning, the first batch of baozi came out of the pot.

The neighbors who didn't have to go to work all consciously lined up to buy, and while buying, they tried to bargain.

"Little Chu, we've known each other for several months, and I, your elder, buy baozi at your canteen every morning. We are all our own people; this limit of 5 really isn't enough to eat. There's more than just my mouth in my family. How about 15? 15!"

"Grandpa Zhang, this first batch of baozi is in short supply, you buy 5 first. If it's not enough, wait for the next batch; they are all steaming in the kitchen. Your 5 three-diced baozi, next."

Grandpa Zhang returned in defeat.

Grandpa Li squeezed to the window: "Little Chu, you know the situation in your Grandpa Li's family. My grandson didn't even eat breakfast this morning, and he's counting on me to send him baozi. A teenager has a big appetite; 5 baozi aren't enough!"

"Grandpa Li, you already used this excuse yesterday, and yesterday was even Sunday, you forgot? Your baozi, next."

Grandpa Li retreated step by step.

Grandma Ding was all smiles: "Little Chu..."

"Grandma Ding, Assistant Xiao Qin asked me to tell you that he is going to make three-diced baozi all morning today and doesn't have time to make fermented rice steamed buns. Your steamed buns might not be ready for you to pick up until four or five in the afternoon. He knows you have many grandsons and granddaughters, and it's not enough to share if there are too few, so he asked if one steamer is enough for you?"

Grandma Ding immediately forgot what excuse she had just made up and nodded repeatedly: "Enough, enough, enough, Little Qin is really too polite."

At this moment, there was only one sentence in Grandma Ding's mind:

She was definitely going to make this turn this afternoon!

The situation in the canteen was intense, and the group order group was no less so.

The group order group, which had been cold for more than a month, became active again, and the speed of message refreshing was so fast that the old, broken phone of a certain waiter who didn't want to reveal his name almost crashed.

Huang Xi could only do a roll call in the group, repeatedly sending messages to confirm if there were any missed orders, while also pointing people to deliver orders, confirming the quantity of three-diced baozi with the kitchen, checking and verifying payments in time to confirm the accounts, so busy that her feet didn't touch the ground, and finally, for convenience, she stood directly at the back kitchen door to coordinate and plan.

Qin Huai felt that this scene was very familiar.

When the fermented rice steamed buns had just become popular at Huang Ji, and old customers were afraid that they wouldn't have the next meal and were frantically snapping them up, and the errand boys were endless, the head waiter of Huang Ji was standing at the back kitchen like this.

Qin Huai:...

Why did he suddenly have some ominous premonition?

It shouldn't be, right? The Yunzhong canteen is his main battlefield, and Qin Huai knows the customers here very well; it shouldn't be as explosive as Huang Ji.

Not to mention that today Qin Huai is not fighting alone; he, a head chef, is equipped with a full 6 helpers!

Yes, after the first batch of baozi came out of the pot, Qin Huai added another helper.

The unprofessional helpers worked too slowly, and the baozi weren't wrapped fast enough, so Zhao Rong also joined the ranks of wrapping baozi, and Chen An was demoted from breakfast chef to helper director, taking care of both steaming baozi and wrapping baozi.

The baozi came out of the pot batch by batch and then quickly sold out.

They were all takeout orders.

The waiters all directly hugged foam boxes to deliver takeout.

By 11 o'clock in the morning, Qin Huai saw a familiar errand boy in the canteen.

What was familiar wasn't the title of the errand boy, but the person himself.

Qin Huai considered his memory to be quite good, and if he remembered correctly, this errand boy had a period of time when he specifically ran the route from the Yunzhong canteen to the hospital where Qu Jing worked.

Qin Huai suddenly had an ominous premonition.

He let Pei Xing help watch the filling boiling in several pots, walked to the window, poked his head out and asked: "Hospital?"

"That's right, Assistant Xiao Qin, I was just saying how I suddenly received so many errand orders to buy three-diced baozi at the Yunzhong canteen, so it turns out you're back!" The boy said happily.

Qin Huai: "How many is so many?"

"About the same as the dried tangerine peel tea back then, they've all exploded, and many brothers are rushing to your place right now; I just happened to be in this area."

"When will the next batch of baozi be ready? Look at my orders here: orthopedics, neurology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, emergency... and the inpatient department, security guards, canteen..."

"Are the people in the hospital canteen also buying baozi to eat outside?"

Qin Huai also wanted to ask, why are you people in the hospital canteen also buying baozi to eat outside?

And orthopedics, neurology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, emergency, inpatient department, security guards, have you ever eaten three-diced baozi?

Our Yunzhong canteen's previous three-diced baozi were very normal, do you know that they aren't as delicious as the five-diced baozi?

Didn't you all drink dried tangerine peel tea before?

Who leaked the news?

It's 11 o'clock at noon, what are you eating baozi for when you have nothing to do?

He was planning to get off work at 1 o'clock sharp!

Qin Huai went back silently and glanced at Pei Xing, who was still making shortbread.

"That... Pei Xing, I have a request."

"Assistant Xiao Qin, please speak!"

"Today the three-diced baozi might explode, and I can't keep up, can you also help cut..." Before Qin Huai finished speaking, Pei Xing had already flashed to the dicing group and picked up a kitchen knife.

Qin Huai:...

Do you like dicing that much?

The dough wasn't even finished kneading.

Qin Huai glanced at the dough on the cutting board, took over, and continued kneading.

Li Hua was helping to watch the heat on the side where the filling was being boiled.

Qin Huai believed in Li Hua's level; the heat control was definitely better than his.

He had confidence in professionally trained chefs.

(End of chapter)