Chapter 205

Does Zhi Wei Ju's reinforcements have arrived!

Zheng Da's phone call excited everyone in the Huang Ji back kitchen.

Everyone basically knew about Zheng Da borrowing people from Does Zhi Wei Ju's master chefs, but Zheng Da hadn't said anything, and for several days in a row, no one had come. Qin Huai and Zheng Zheng Siyuan hadn't asked, and everyone else hadn't dared to ask.

Huang Ji and Does Zhi Wei Ju were really not familiar with each other.

Huang Ji was a proper, traditional savory-dish restaurant, and before Qin Huai came, it didn't even touch pastry dishes. Usually, let alone pastries on the menu, there wasn't even knife-cut steamed buns.

On weekdays, Huang Huang Anyao always attended the exchange meetings. When he attended, besides being able to tell everyone upon returning that the pastries at the exchange meeting hosted by Does Zhi Wei Ju were very good, he couldn't say anything useful; he was purely a hanger-on.

Up until now, Huang Huang Anyao didn't even have the WeChat of the Does Zhi Wei Ju boss, only being in the same group as the Does Zhi Wei Ju boss.

Therefore, with no news about the reinforcements for several days in a row, everyone assumed the matter had fallen through and didn't talk about it at all.

Unexpectedly, not only did it not fall through, but Zheng Da had also negotiated a big deal, directly grabbing 6 people!

These were 6 regular troops!

Given the level of internal competition at Does Zhi Wei Ju, everyone at Huang Ji couldn't even imagine how much easier things would be for everyone after these 6 people arrived.

These past few days, Wang Jun had almost suspected that he was actually a pastry chef.

Zheng Da grabbed Huang Huang Anyao to go pick people up with him. As soon as the two left, the Huang Ji back kitchen became lively. Dong Shi, relying on being the closed-door disciple, being young, having a sweet mouth, and fearing nothing, ran in front of Huang Huang Shengli and asked directly:

"Master, which 6 people did Uncle Zheng borrow from Does Zhi Wei Ju?"

"How would I know that? Have you finished your noodles? If you're finished, go to work. There are many customers these past two days, so prepare more dishes in the morning. Didn't you see that your senior brother Gao Tang has to boil an extra pot of soup than usual?" Huang Huang Shengli didn't answer, smilingly dismissing Dong Shi, and then saw the second person who ran in front of him to ask directly.

Qin Huai.

In a certain sense, it was not without reason that Qin Huai and Dong Shi could get along so well.

"Master Huang, are Uncle Zheng and the masters at Does Zhi Wei Ju very close?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

"Average." Huang Huang Shengli answered objectively, while the Huang Ji employees on the side who were seemingly eating wontons/noodles/preparing dishes all quietly pricked up their ears, preparing to listen to gossip.

"Your Uncle Zheng is indeed skilled, but in previous years, his heart wasn't in pastries, and he was only focused on expanding business to make money. Actually, this is human nature, but many of the old masters at Does Zhi Wei Ju are older, and people are also quite rigid, not liking Zheng Da's style."

"Among the old masters at Does Zhi Wei Ju, the only one who had a relatively good relationship with him should be Master Tan Wenyan. Master Tan was relatively much more tolerant, feeling that Zheng Da's actions couldn't be considered unconventional."

"At least he was doing pastry business, and the pastries he sold were all quite delicious, so it couldn't be considered wasting his own skills."

"Master Tan Wenyan?" Qin Huai searched in his mind and was very certain that he hadn't seen this name on the Master Chef List.

Two days ago, after Qin Huai got off work, he went home and studied the Master Chef List thoroughly. Even if he couldn't remember every Chinese chef on it, at least he could recognize those ranked in the top 70.

A master chef at Does Zhi Wei Ju couldn't be ranked after 70th.

"Master Tan was very old, and his health wasn't very good; he passed away due to illness two years ago." Huang Huang Shengli said softly.

Qin Huai understood instantly and stopped asking.

But Huang Huang Shengli knew what Qin Huai wanted to ask and continued: "Although your Uncle Zheng had an average relationship with the master chefs at Does Zhi Wei Ju, he had a very good relationship with the Does Zhi Wei Ju boss."

"The Does Zhi Wei Ju boss, Su Ming, is also a pastry chef. His skills aren't as good as the several master chefs at Does Zhi Wei Ju, but he has taken in quite a few disciples, and his level of teaching disciples is quite good."

"Opening a restaurant is certainly profitable, but no matter how profitable it is, it can't compare to opening a factory to do business and distributing goods nationwide. In terms of pastry skills, Zheng Da can't compare to the several master chefs at Does Zhi Wei Ju."

"But in terms of doing business, in terms of improving formulas, and how to improve pastries that originally required manual production by pastry chefs to industrialize production, ensuring quality control, guaranteeing quality and quantity, and ensuring the taste doesn't differ too much, no one in the entire southern region is more professional than Zheng Da."

"Su Ming wants to promote pastries labeled with the Does Zhi Wei Ju brand to all parts of the country, so it's inevitable that he has to seek advice from Zheng Da."

"I heard that Does Zhi Wei Ju tried it last year, and the sales were very poor. I guess the formula wasn't improved well, there was serious incompatibility with the local environment, and the quality control wasn't up to standard."

"I reckon the Does Zhi Wei Ju boss must want to cooperate with Zheng Da, which is why Zheng Da's borrowing of people this time went so smoothly, and he could borrow 6 people at once so quickly even on short notice."

"There has always been the principle of only outside chefs going to Does Zhi Wei Ju to learn and exchange; I have never heard of Does Zhi Wei Ju chefs going to other places to learn and exchange."

Qin Huai suddenly realized.

Because Qin Huai had known how to make pastries since he was a child, the Qin family didn't buy them outside much and wasn't very familiar with the pastries sold on the market.

But Qin Huai had also eaten a bit of the dozen boxes of pastries Zheng Da sent to Qin Luo a few months ago, and the taste was indeed very good; there must be a unique formula.

To put it exaggeratedly, the egg yolk pastries, thousand-layer cakes, and several other pastries Zheng Da sent to Qin Luo were all more delicious than the so-called freshly made pastries sold in many pastry shops.

Zheng Da might not be able to become the most powerful pastry chef nationwide, but he must be the pastry business boss who understands technology and formulas the best nationwide.

"So the 6 people Uncle Zheng borrowed this time aren't ordinary apprentices." Dong Shi couldn't help but interject.

"You talk too much." Huang Huang Shengli glared at his closed-door disciple with annoyance, feeling that this disciple was good at everything except having a mouth that was too loose. "Where would Does Zhi Wei Ju have ordinary apprentices?"

That was true; as the number one pastry restaurant in the south and a famous cradle for pastry students, Does Zhi Wei Ju's standards for recruiting handymen were ridiculously high.

You couldn't get in without some talent and connections. Qin Huai's uncle said back then that he could find people and connections to stuff Qin Huai into Does Zhi Wei Ju, which was also because Qin Huai's uncle was very confident in Qin Huai's talent.

According to Qin Huai's uncle's theory back then, he only needed to find people and connections to stuff Qin Huai into the queue of apprentice interviews, and the gold would automatically shine, then be spotted by someone and recruited as a personal disciple, shining and heating up to reach the peak of life.

As for what specific connections Qin Huai's uncle had...

He had an old classmate working in Hangcheng who was an old regular customer of Does Zhi Wei Ju and often went there to buy pastries, so he could help Qin Huai's uncle pay attention to Does Zhi Wei Ju's recruitment information.

The pleasant gossip time ended, and everyone at Huang Ji accelerated their eating, then began tense work.

Customers were already lining up outside. Although they were basically all here for the pastries, most of these customers who came to line up early would choose to dine in. After all, since they were already here, Huang Ji wasn't some unknown restaurant; they had come from far away, so they had to eat the pastries and also taste the dishes.

Huang Ji was a standard savory-dish restaurant. Even if it had become more famous for pastry dishes over the past month, at least the savory dishes shouldn't hold back the pastry dishes.

Everyone in the Huang Ji back kitchen didn't want to lose face.

On the other side, Huang Huang Anyao and Zheng Da met Does Zhi Wei Ju's reinforcements at the subway entrance.

Zheng Da was stunned when he saw the person in the lead.

"Tan Tan Weian, Gu Li!" Zheng Da greeted them with surprise.

The two people in the lead were exactly the two disciples of Master Tan Wenyan, the master chef at Does Zhi Wei Ju who had the best relationship with Zheng Da, whom Huang Huang Shengli had just introduced. Among them, Tan Tan Weian was Master Tan's grandson, and Gu Li was Master Tan's closed-door disciple.

"Master Zheng, long time no see." Tan Tan Weian smiled and stepped forward, dragging his suitcase, glanced at Huang Huang Anyao, who was holding his phone on the side of the road looking for a car, and continued, "I heard from Boss Su that it was you who personally opened your mouth to borrow people from Does Zhi Wei Ju, so I took the initiative to volunteer with my junior brother."

"The two of us are not very skilled, and we hope you won't mind."

"How could I mind? I'm relieved to have the two of you here. I can finally rest; these past two days have really tired me to death." Zheng Da couldn't help but reveal his true feelings.

Tan Tan Weian:?

Huang Huang Anyao's exclamation broke the awkwardness: "Oh my, it turns out it's across the street; I got the location wrong. Uncle Zheng, don't be anxious, I'll make a call. It shouldn't be traffic-jammed at this time, right? No, no... but business has been so good lately, what if there's a traffic jam?"

Zheng Da looked at Huang Huang Anyao and could only say that sometimes he really sympathized with his senior brother for having such an unlucky son.

Unlike him, his son was good in every way except for not wanting to go on blind dates, especially that innate pastry talent, which was simply a perfect inheritance from him, his own father.

By the time Zheng Da and Huang Huang Anyao led the 6 people from Does Zhi Wei Ju to Huang Ji, it was already 9:30. From far away, the group saw the long line of people waiting for food at the entrance of Huang Ji.

An unknown Does Zhi Wei Ju chef whispered in surprise: "So many people, doesn't Huang Ji only open at noon? Does one Weibo post from Xu Cheng have such a big influence? Could it be that the rumor is true, and the cover of next year's opening issue will be Huang Ji?"

"Gu Li, isn't your dad the head chef of Guanhelou? Both are in Gusu, did you get any news?"

Gu Li, who was cued, remained silent.

"Not talking again, you're always like this, no wonder others say you..." The unknown chef still wanted to say something, glanced at Tan Tan Weian, and didn't dare to say more.

Tan Tan Weian walked in the front and talked to Zheng Da: "Business at Huang Ji will probably drop many people's jaws by the time the next issue of "Zhiwei" is published. During this period, many people in Does Zhi Wei Ju have been talking about Master Qin, and some have even secretly come to Gusu to buy pastries made by Master Qin during their holidays; those who have eaten them have all praised them endlessly."

"A few days ago, I even heard Master Zhou muttering, saying how could such a good seedling go to Huang Ji to exchange, he should have come to our Does Zhi Wei Ju to exchange, he would definitely bring him up well."

Master Zhou was the one ranked 41st on the Master Chef List, the master chef with the highest ranking at Does Zhi Wei Ju.

Hearing Tan Tan Weian say this, Zheng Da almost jumped up: "What do you mean by bringing him up well? Little Tan, let me tell you, don't you dare have any evil intentions this time. I was wondering why Su Ming would be so generous, giving me 6 people at once and sending both you and Gu Li. Qin Huai is my nailed-down closed-door disciple; I agree if you want to snatch people, but my senior brother won't agree!"

Tan Tan Weian smiled and said: "How could that be? Master Zheng, you're overthinking it. Master Zhou and Master Su are just relatively enthusiastic people who want to exchange more with pastry chefs from all over the country."

The look Zheng Da gave Tan Tan Weian was already no different from looking at a robber.

The group changed their clothes and walked into the back kitchen.

Zheng Da introduced his 6 capable assistants for the next month to Qin Huai with a cold face, and after the introduction, he pulled Wang Jun aside and whispered to Wang Jun to be sure to manage them well and not let the opposing side have any opportunity to take advantage.

This left Wang Jun confused, only wanting to scratch his already sparse hair, thinking about when he had changed from a chopping-board worker to a management person.

After Zheng Da finished instructing Wang Jun, he pulled Huang Huang Shengli to the warehouse door to discuss countermeasures.

After listening to Zheng Da's nervous speech, Huang Huang Shengli was a bit speechless: "What are you afraid of? With Does Zhi Wei Ju's intensity, even if Xiao Qin were tricked into exchanging there, he would come back after at most three days."

"And what exactly are you nervous about? Have you forgotten that Xiao Qin also came to us to exchange? Xiao Qin is going home before the New Year, and he won't come back after the New Year. People have their own industries; why would he work for me?"

Zheng Da understood.

Zheng Da went back to knead dough leisurely, glanced at Qin Huai's side, and found that those from Does Zhi Wei Ju were indeed quick at work and had clear division of labor.

Qin Huai had been at Huang Ji for so long that his work area was no longer just the small piece temporarily partitioned off at the beginning.

Huang Ji's kitchen was large enough. Although Huang Huang Anyao's marketing plan wasn't good and his ability wasn't high, he could still complete the work if it was really assigned to him.

Under Huang Huang Anyao's ant-moving-style renovation, the current Huang Ji back kitchen was clearly divided into a savory-dish area and a pastry-dish area. The equipment had also been updated a lot; the steamers and steamer baskets had all been replaced with new ones, with super increased capacity.

To facilitate Qin Huai and Zheng Zheng Siyuan making pastries, the pastry-dish area was particularly large, so temporarily adding people wouldn't seem crowded, and there were plenty of cooking stations.

It could be said that Huang Huang Anyao had also gone all out in order to eat pastries.

As soon as the Does Zhi Wei Ju chefs started work, they made Qin Huai feel what the treatment a real master chef should have was like.

There was no need for verbal instructions; with one look, everyone knew what to do.

Sometimes there wasn't even a need for a look; everyone was a professional helper who would find work for themselves, and one was even so professional that he almost consciously looked for a teapot to make tea due to muscle memory.

The master chefs at Does Zhi Wei Ju were all very old and insisted on working on the front lines to teach disciples. As their physical functions couldn't keep up, a lot of work had to be divided among disciples and helpers.

How to work, what work to do, and where to find work to do was the first lesson every Does Zhi Wei Ju chef learned at Does Zhi Wei Ju.

It could be said that those from Does Zhi Wei Ju were all professional helpers, especially the personal disciples of the master chefs, who were professionals among professionals.

They were so professional that Qin Huai almost wanted to open his mouth and say whether everyone had made a mistake; he wasn't a master chef.

Was this treatment a bit too high?

And...

While mixing the filling, Qin Huai glanced at Gu Li's kneading technique.

The skills of this closed-door disciple of the late Does Zhi Wei Ju master chef... were a bit lacking.

With 6 reinforcements coming to the Huang Ji back kitchen, Zheng Zheng Siyuan naturally didn't need to help Qin Huai, and Qin Huai himself didn't need that many helpers; he already had several helpers himself.

So, arranged by Tan Tan Weian, the 6 reinforcements from Does Zhi Wei Ju were divided into two; Tan Tan Weian led 3 people to help Qin Huai, and Gu Li led 1 person to help Zheng Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Zheng Siyuan's fresh meat mooncakes were also very popular at Huang Ji.

Especially now that there were many customers from out of town, fresh meat mooncakes were originally a famous pastry in the Gusu area, and many out-of-town customers had great interest in fresh meat mooncakes, and were even more amazed after eating them.

Zheng Zheng Siyuan's fresh meat mooncakes couldn't beat Qin Huai's fermented rice steamed buns at Huang Ji, entirely because the fermented rice steamed buns had memory reinforcement among Huang Ji's old customers, with filters and buffs added.

Let alone fresh meat mooncakes not being able to beat fermented rice steamed buns, even A-grade fruit buns might not necessarily be able to beat fermented rice steamed buns.

Fermented rice steamed buns sold at Huang Ji were the undisputed ace pastries.

"Your technique is too heavy." Qin Huai watched Gu Li kneading dough and couldn't help but say, "You can't use so much force when kneading the dough for fresh meat mooncakes."

"It needs to be lighter, use the strength of your palms, and use clever force."

(End of chapter)