Chapter 200: Xu Cheng's Shock

Qin Huai was coloring the Guo'er.

It was 1:27 PM.

Standard overtime time.

At this time in the past, the Huang Ji back kitchen would have already started cleaning up, the chef responsible for the staff meal would have already stir-fried the second dish, Dong Shi would likely be clamoring to eat Yangzhou fried rice and asking his brother to stir-fry one for him, Dong Li would ignore him, and the unnamed assistant would complain about why it was these few dishes again and then skillfully set the bowls and chopsticks.

The waiters outside would also enter a state of rest; the guests in the lobby would basically have finished eating at this point, while the guests in the private rooms would eat for a longer time, and there would be more content to chat about with more people.

When it was almost time to get off work, the head waiter wouldn't care too much about some waiters slacking off. As long as it wasn't excessive, chatting with colleagues in the corner about the day's fresh gossip was also allowed, and the head waiter herself loved to listen.

But today, everyone's state was different.

Dong Shi wasn't slacking off; he was diligently cutting vegetables.

Dong Li wasn't in a daze; he was inexplicably cutting a fruit platter.

Huang Jia wasn't stir-frying a staff meal for Qin Huai; he was seriously wiping the pot.

Huang Anyao seemed afraid of blocking someone, dragging his heavy footsteps, moving himself and his small stool to the corner of the kitchen, sitting in the corner without any dignity.

Huang Shengli was the most unimaginable; he was inspecting the kitchen as usual, but this time was clearly not the time for inspection, because everyone had no work to do at this time.

So his focus of inspection was Qin Huai, making Qin Huai feel uncomfortable all over when he was coloring the Guo'er, and he really wanted to ask Huang Shengli if he thought the color he applied today was a bit too ugly.

The waiters outside were about the same; everyone was pretending to be at work.

The greeter was sticking to their post, with no guests to greet.

The waiters in various areas walked around without dishes to serve, pretending there were guests when there were no guests to serve, a pure performance without objects. Every waiter had a smile on their face, their posture was upright, and it looked a bit eerie from a distance, thinking it was a horror movie filming set.

At the door of private room 888, the head waiter was ready for battle.

Xu Cheng, who had eaten another 1/3 of a Three-Dice Diced Baozi and 1/5 of a fermented rice steamed bun, felt that he had also implemented the health concept of eating less and more meals well today.

Six0% full, just right.

He was old, not like when he was young; eating 60% full for a main meal was enough. If he was hungry, he would eat some fruit and dim sum in the afternoon to pad his stomach.

Xu Cheng felt it was time to meet this young Master Qin.

Xu Cheng stood up: "Xiao Wang, let's go. At this time, the Huang Ji back kitchen should have already finished business. Let's go meet this Master Qin who makes dim sum."

Assistant Xiao Wang, who had been forcibly stuffed with 2/3 of a Three-Dice Diced Baozi and 4/5 of a fermented rice steamed bun by his boss, felt like collapsing on the chair to close his eyes and rest for a while at this moment, but hearing his boss say this, he hurriedly stood up and switched back to work mode.

"Okay, I'll go contact them!"

After saying that, the assistant walked to the door in one stride to open the door for Xu Cheng, and then saw the Huang Ji head waiter, who was full of smiles and had been waiting outside the door for a long time.

"Mr. Xu, are you satisfied with today's meal? May I ask if you are going to the kitchen to see Master Qin now?" The head waiter asked with a smile.

Xu Cheng smiled helplessly: "Being too famous has this disadvantage; I can be recognized wherever I go. Could it be that Master Qin in your back kitchen already knows I'm here?"

"He doesn't know yet." The head waiter said, "Master Qin is a young man, and everyone wants to give Master Qin a surprise."

Xu Cheng expressed understanding, went downstairs under the guidance of the head waiter, and said: "Indeed, I don't know where the Eight-Treasure Chestnut Pigeon story about a Bole recognizing a thousand-mile horse came from. Since then, whenever I visit a small shop, everyone looks forward to me asking the back kitchen to find a chef to report their name."

"I've visited a little less in recent years. A few years ago, there was a period of time when I doubted whether I was a professional actor. As soon as I walked to the kitchen door, I had to reveal a standard smile and start acting. The supporting actors on the side were also very cooperative, and the audience loved to watch."

The head waiter was very cooperative: "Who told you that thousand-mile horses are common, but Boles are not."

"You are willing to cooperate with young chefs to perform this scene, which can be considered as fulfilling a dream for young chefs. You have to perform well later. Our Master Qin used to sell breakfast at a community canteen in Shancheng. In order to let him fulfill this dream, the colleagues in the back kitchen performed with all their might for a whole noon. You will have to work hard to finish the performance later."

Xu Cheng was very satisfied with the head waiter's words; he didn't speak, but straightened his back and revealed a standard Bole smile.

At this moment, the self-cultivation of an actor was displayed vividly on Xu Cheng.

The assistant following behind:...

How should he put it, he felt that his boss also loved to act quite a bit.

At this very moment, the back kitchen had already entered a state of full preparation.

Dong Shi was cutting vegetables so fast that only the afterimage of the knife could be seen.

Qin Huai had just finished the 3rd Guo'er and was about to pick up the 4th Guo'er to brush on the color when he was stopped by Huang Shengli.

"No rush, rest for a while first." Huang Shengli said.

Qin Huai put down the Guo'er, looked around, and asked: "So... is there a staff meal at noon today?"

It hadn't been cooked at this time; it seemed he could only go to the side to eat something casually later.

As a dim sum chef, Qin Huai didn't like eating dim sum during main meal periods; he just loved eating rice with stir-fried dishes.

"Not important." Huang Shengli said.

Qin Huai:?

The question mark had just popped out from the top of his head when Xu Cheng arrived at the kitchen door.

Seeing that a stranger had actually entered the back kitchen, Qin Huai was a bit surprised, thinking that the person had already walked to the door, and the assistant on the side still hadn't gone up to stop him. Then he discovered that the assistant not only didn't stop the person but also invited him in.

Qin Huai:??

"May I ask if Master Qin Huai is here?" Xu Cheng walked two steps into the kitchen and asked while standing by the shelf.

The voice was steady and heavy, the words were clear, and the penetrating power was strong, making everyone in the kitchen hear it clearly.

Qin Huai subconsciously looked at Huang Shengli and found that Huang Shengli was looking at him with encouraging eyes, his face full of gratified smiles, nodding at him, signaling him to step forward.

Qin Huai looked at Huang Jia in a daze and found that Huang Jia's eyes were already full of envy, the corners of his mouth were raised with a strange smile, and there were even tears in his eye sockets, as if he had seen some exciting scene.

Qin Huai didn't want to look at anyone else anymore; he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control revealing an overly surprised expression, so he walked up quickly and nodded: "I am, may I ask who you are..."

Xu Cheng, who had many years of acting experience, saw at a glance that Qin Huai really didn't recognize him, so he switched to another acting mode, and said with a slightly impassioned voice: "I am Xu Cheng."

"I came here because of your reputation. Just now, I tasted the dim sum you made, Master Qin, and it really lives up to its reputation. May I ask if you have time later? I would like to take up a few hours of your time to interview you and write a food review for you."

At this moment, all the doubts in Qin Huai's heart were solved.

Qin Huai revealed the standard smile that everyone wanted to see, slightly surprised but well-restrained, and under the gratified, envious, and moved gaze of everyone, said the answer that everyone wanted to hear.

"Of course I have time! I am truly too excited; for a moment, I didn't know what to say. I really didn't expect that you, Mr. Xu, would actually come here specially for me, to eat the dim sum I made! I have time, definitely have time!"

The excited expression and words didn't look like they were fake. According to the normal plot development, at this moment, Xu Cheng should encouragingly pat Qin Huai on the shoulder and say a few encouraging words to the young chef, such as I think highly of you, the future is promising, keep it up, etc.

But Xu Cheng felt a bit strange.

Why did he feel that Master Qin in front of him also seemed to be acting.

His acting skills were not below his own.

Xu Cheng looked at Qin Huai meaningfully and changed his lines temporarily: "Master Qin has heard of me?"

Qin Huai:...? Changed lines?

Yes, Qin Huai was indeed acting.

Huang Anyao had told him about this segment vividly. The protagonist of the original story was a small shop chef in Siam, and the signature dish was Tom Yum Goong soup. All the above lines were translated versions.

"Of course I've heard of you, but I only heard of you a while ago. My friend admires you very much and also wants to become a food critic like you. He told me many stories about you, which are simply deafening." Qin Huai said, and even pointed to Huang Anyao, who was already so excited that he couldn't control himself in the corner.

Huang Anyao:!!!

Oh my god, at such a time, what Qin Huai was thinking of was actually him, actually introducing him to his idol at the first moment.

Dad, I'm sorry, I want to make a decision that goes against my ancestors; I want to give 75% of Huang Ji's shares to Qin Huai!

Xu Cheng looked at Qin Huai's state and knew that this Master Qin in front of him was different from the young chefs he had encountered in the past. He knew him, but obviously didn't understand him; his lack of recognition wasn't faked, so he wasn't excited at all. But in order to take care of his colleagues' mood, he acted very excited.

Truly an interesting pastry dim sum chef.

"Master Qin, were you making dim sum just now?" Xu Cheng asked.

"Yes." Qin Huai nodded, "I made some signature dim sum, Mr. Xu, are you interested in tasting it?"

Xu Cheng originally just asked casually, but since Qin Huai emphasized that it was a signature dim sum, Xu Cheng felt he had to taste it.

Xu Cheng knew very well that the dishes on the menu were not necessarily the chef's best dishes.

Many times, high-end restaurants would, for commercial and other factors, put the dishes most suitable for sale on the menu. But if you wanted to eat the truly best hidden menu, you had to go into the back kitchen and talk to the chef face-to-face.

This was also one of the reasons why Xu Cheng always liked to go directly to the back kitchen to find the chef.

Xu Cheng followed Qin Huai toward the cooking station, looking at the reactions of the chefs around him while walking.

Xu Cheng had been to the Huang Ji back kitchen; Huang Ji had been on "Zhi Wei" long ago, and Xu Cheng himself also recognized Huang Shengli's skills and also knew Huang Jia.

In Xu Cheng's view, if it weren't for the fact that Huang Shengli's waist wasn't very good and his culinary skills had declined in the past two years, with Huang Jia, this eldest disciple, as his successor, Huang Ji's future would definitely be limitless if Huang Shengli could persist for another 15 years or so. Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

Xu Cheng had been a food critic for so many years, knew countless chefs, and had seen many restaurants that were once prosperous suddenly decline.

Successors fighting for property, fellow disciples tearing each other apart, the head chef being poached by other restaurants at a high price...

There was nothing new under the sun; a restaurant like Huang Ji that was forced to retreat to the second line because the head chef's body wasn't good and headed toward decline could already be considered a very decent ending.

Xu Cheng liked to come to the back kitchen, not only to see the chef and eat hidden dishes but also to eat gossip on the front line.

There were many chefs in the back kitchen, head chefs, disciples, apprentices, assistants, each with different positions and statuses, and each with different attitudes toward the chef he wanted to interview. Xu Cheng could judge a chef's personality and characteristics through these people's attitudes.

Some chefs were standard good guys, kind to others and friendly.

Some chefs were good at socializing, talkative, and noisy enough to make the colleagues around them unbearable.

Some chefs were lone wolves, just liking to work silently by themselves, not liking to communicate with others.

Some chefs were good at directing, not only able to make good dishes but also able to manage the kitchen in an orderly manner.

Some chefs were tyrants, with every employee in the back kitchen living under his high-pressure rule, trembling with fear, not daring to have any mistakes or omissions.

Xu Cheng glanced at Qin Huai.

This Master Qin must have a very good popularity in the kitchen.

Although it was well-known in the industry that the relationships in the Huang Ji back kitchen were harmonious, being able to be harmonious to the point where no colleague showed any negative jealousy toward his luck today was enough to show that Qin Huai's interpersonal relationships were handled very well.

It seemed he could praise this Master Qin for having a good personality while writing the food review.

Xu Cheng was already conceiving the draft in his mind.

"You don't have any dietary restrictions, do you?" Qin Huai asked.

"Of course not." Xu Cheng said, his gaze still not moving away from the assistant's face not far away, when Qin Huai stuffed a still-warm Guo'er into his hand.

Xu Cheng looked at the Guo'er in his hand:...?

This is... apple dough Guo'er?

How could there be such an ugly apple dough Guo'er?

The shape of the apple was pinched okay, but was this coloring a bit...

Xu Cheng looked at Qin Huai with some complexity.

Under normal circumstances, he didn't make too many demands on the chef's plating, because some chefs were just not good at plating, or to be precise, didn't have the aesthetics in this regard. For these chefs who were not good at plating, some high-end restaurants would equip them with specialized plating chefs to make the dishes look better and sell for a higher price.

Xu Cheng felt that this was also understandable.

He also knew that for pastry chefs, styling was very important; truly high-end pastry dim sum that could sell for a price, such as boat dim sum and dough Guo'er, had very high requirements for the chef's finger techniques and aesthetics.

Styling couldn't change the taste of a dim sum, but it could make the dim sum look pleasing to the eye.

Basically, pastry chefs only started to pursue styling after their skills had been practiced to the point where they couldn't be practiced anymore.

At Qin Huai's age, Xu Cheng knew that he really couldn't blame him for not making the dim sum look too good.

Young chefs, especially young pastry chefs, must be encouraged.

But...

He understood the reasoning, but what was this thing in his hand?

This is apple dough Guo'er???

You can be bad at styling, but you can't have none at all!

Master Qin, what kind of aesthetics is this?!

This color, this combination, this fruit...

If it really doesn't work, take some art appreciation classes and learn a little bit about color matching.

Making this thing and selling it to guests is a bit shameful.

Xu Cheng was stunned.

At this moment, Xu Cheng, who had written countless food reviews, suddenly became a bit speechless.

"This is Guo'er." Qin Huai introduced, "The shape is somewhat similar to apple dough Guo'er, but it is different from dough Guo'er."

"Guo'er has meat filling."

"My heat control level is not yet home, and I didn't know you were coming in advance. The pastry part of this Guo'er is my responsibility, but the filling was stir-fried by Master Huang Shengli for me."

Xu Cheng didn't care much; everyone had their own specialty, and it was very common to divide the work to make dim sum.

What he cared about was another thing.

What is meat-filled dough Guo'er?

Meat filling, dough Guo'er, is this reasonable?

Don't think that just because this thing changed its name, I don't know it's dough Guo'er.

Xu Cheng discovered that he was indeed old.

When he was young, facing the local specialty delicacy—pickled raw pork dipped in soy sauce, he could eat it without changing his face or heart, and then go back to the hotel to dig his throat.

Now facing a dim sum that at least looked edible, his first reaction was actually to question why dough Guo'er had meat filling.

Sure enough, young people have creativity.

Xu Cheng smiled self-deprecatingly, picked up the heavy Guo'er, and took a bite.

Xu Cheng couldn't smile anymore.

Xu Cheng suddenly realized that the Guo'er in front of him actually had nothing to do with dough Guo'er; it just looked like it.

But eating it, it was a brand new, wonderful, delicious dim sum that he had never eaten before.

It was the dough skin of dough Guo'er, but not entirely.

Its dough skin had its own unique texture, the outside was hard, but the inside was fluffy and soft, especially the part soaked with meat juice, which tasted very much like a delicious bun skin, but it was completely different from a bun skin.

When the hard-outside and soft-inside dough skin was chewed together in the mouth, they would form a very wonderful texture, a texture mixed with juicy meat filling with the sweetness of carrots, making people feel that it must be a perfect match, a natural pair, and a natural texture.

The dough skin was so unique, and the filling was the finishing touch.

When Xu Cheng ate this filling, his first reaction was that this must be a bun filling.

A delicious bun filling.

A niche bun filling mixed with carrot puree.

But this filling was matched very well; the carrot puree only played a supporting role, not overshadowing the host, and the protagonist was undoubtedly the juicy meat filling.

Fresh and sweet, but not that fresh, giving people the feeling of the most ordinary pork filling, the most delicious and juicy filling made after careful stewing.

The ingredients were unremarkable, but everything was the best arrangement.

What made Xu Cheng surprised was that he actually tasted the taste of love while eating such a strange dim sum.

Clearly, his relationship with his wife was average, the two didn't meet many times now, and his wife's cooking skills weren't very good, but Xu Cheng thought of his wife whom he hadn't seen for some days while eating Guo'er.

The first thought that popped into his mind while chewing was that this dim sum was quite good, very interesting, and he should bring his wife and children over to taste it together.

Xu Cheng just ate it mouthful by mouthful, completely forgetting that he had already eaten a meal and was 60% full, and the principle of eating less and more meals.

What eating less and more meals.

Lunch was already finished, now it was afternoon tea.

Eat, everything can be eaten!

Soon, the Guo'er in Xu Cheng's hand reached the bottom, and Xu Cheng's speed of eating Guo'er also slowed down.

He was full.

He was old, his appetite wasn't as good as it was back then.

Xu Cheng expressed that when he was young, he could eat 6 of these fist-sized Guo'er in one meal!

Qin Huai looked at Xu Cheng, looked at the Guo'er in his hand that probably had four mouthfuls left, and felt that Xu Cheng should be satisfied.

After all, today's Guo'er was the best historical result achieved under the situation where both he and Huang Shengli performed beyond their levels.

Of course, Qin Huai felt that he didn't perform very beyond his level; it was mainly because Huang Shengli was a bit too beyond his level.

That big spoon-flipping was simply the God of Cooking alive.

【Apple Dough Guo'er A+ Grade】

It's just that I don't know if this A+ grade Guo'er, which is unlikely to be replicated in a short time, can move Xu Cheng and let him write more about Huang Ji Restaurant in the food review to advertise for Huang Ji.

If he could write about Huang Shengli or Huang Jia's dishes by the way, it would be even better.

Huang Shengli's waist would soon be healed and he could come back to work. With "Zhi Wei" doing publicity, Huang Ji would definitely be able to explode and create brilliance again.

In this way, it would be worthy of everyone's hard performance today.

Qin Huai looked at Zheng Siyuan and gave him a look that said your acting was really not good, not even as good as Wang Jun's.

Zheng Siyuan: Blame me?

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 201 =====