Chapter 240: Master Xiao Qin has me in his heart!

Whether Dong Shi inquired about little Xu from Huang Shengli and Zheng Da, Qin Huai didn't know. Anyway, the two-day period had arrived, and there was no news from Dong Shi.

Qin Huai didn't ask him either. He was doing the Four-Joy Tangyuan very happily.

Doing the Four-Joy Tangyuan until now, Qin Huai suddenly understood a little why Master Jing would cook a pot of Four-Joy Tangyuan without styling when Gong Liang had a birthday.

Because opening a blind box is really happy.

Especially when many people gather together to eat tangyuan, watching everyone open blind boxes, happiness is doubled.

Qin Huai now goes to work during the day, makes enough Guo'er, and starts making Four-Joy Tangyuan, opening a wave of blind boxes for everyone in Huang Ji's kitchen first.

Practice fire power with Huang Shengli in the afternoon, go to work in the evening, and cook a batch of Four-Joy Tangyuan after getting off work and going home, opening a batch of blind boxes for the old customers of Yunzhong Canteen.

Basically, every night at eight o'clock, Qin Huai's living room is full of grandpas and grandmas waiting to eat Four-Joy Tangyuan blind boxes. If Qin Huai's house can't sit, they sit in Gong Liang's house next door. Anyway, Gong Liang's couple must be squatting in Qin Huai's house.

Qin Huai's already rich kitchenware has ushered in a wave of upgrades and updates, buying a new large pot, a large pot specifically used for cooking tangyuan.

One round tangyuan rolls in the boiling large pot, and Qin Huai counts the time in his heart. Having cooked tangyuan for so long, he has also learned a little bit. If he says he wants to cook tangyuan to just the right state, color, transparency, taste, and toughness, he definitely can't do it with his current level.

However, reaching the basic level of the public cooking tangyuan, and leading a little bit, while far exceeding Dean Qin, and throwing away her level of cooking sesame filling tangyuan six streets, is still no problem.

The steaming hot tangyuan is out of the pot.

Seeing Ouyang hands over bowls on the side, a small stack of bowls piled high, Qin Huai skillfully serves tangyuan into the bowls, four per bowl, then pours a little soup, and puts on a small spoon.

Perfect midnight snack.

That is, glutinous rice products are a bit full of stomach. If you eat too full at night and eat this, it is easy to be too full to sleep.

Of course, this problem will not appear among the diners eating tangyuan today.

Everyone has experience, knows the importance, and knows that the body is the capital of the revolution. If you really eat and drink too much and something happens, and Xiao Qin Master is scared and doesn't cook tangyuan at night, wouldn't everyone have nothing to eat.

Eating full for a meal and eating full for every meal, everyone can still distinguish.

After serving all the tangyuan, Qin Huai didn't let Seeing Ouyang serve it out, but clicked on the game panel casually, glanced at the experience value of fire power, and glanced at the experience value of other skills by the way.

Now Qin Huai's skill panel has turned into:

Player name: Qin Huai

Unlocked illustrations: 7/12

Skills:

Dough leavening (Advanced): Your dough leavening technology has defeated 96% of dim sum chefs in the country. (20127/100000)

Filling adjustment (Advanced): Your filling adjustment technology has defeated 97% of dim sum chefs in the country. (57932/100000)

Finger technique (Primary): You don't do any styling for dim sum at all. (999/1000)

Oil case (Intermediate): The fried dough sticks you fried are not bad. (872/10000)

Knife work (Primary): Family level. (179/1

Heat Control (Intermediate): Still need to work hard. (6277/10000)

Dish Tasting (Advanced): Fine, you really do know how to eat. (Cannot be upgraded)

Management (Intermediate): Still know how to do business; won't lose money. (1999/10000)

Lying (Master): Saying what people want to hear to their faces and something else behind their backs—that's you, isn't it! (359317/1000000)

Evaluation: A moderately famous pastry chef.

Eh, the finger technique is just a little bit of experience away from leveling up.

Qin Huai regretted not making two more Guo'er tonight. If he hadn't seen it, that would be one thing, but now that he had, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if he didn't grind out that bit of experience.

Speaking of the proficiency of these skills, Qin Huai felt it was quite magical.

The dry ones die of drought, the wet ones die of flood.

He didn't need to deliberately grind the proficiency for dough leavening and seasoning anymore; as long as he made pastries daily, the proficiency grew rapidly. Any pastry he made could increase the proficiency of these two skills.

Especially dough leavening—as long as he was making pastries, there was no way the proficiency wouldn't grow.

Yet, what Qin Huai wanted to grind right now was heat control proficiency.

From Zheng Siyuan's perspective, Qin Huai was undoubtedly a very fickle pastry chef. He loved every new pastry he saw, threw away the old ones as soon as he learned them, and kept his eyes on the pot while eating from the bowl. No new pastry could keep Qin Huai interested for more than a few months; he was a total scumbag pastry chef.

It was simply outrageous!

And yet, Qin Huai was lucky; he could always inexplicably obtain many new pastry recipes, and they were all good ones.

Qin Huai admitted it himself: he was indeed a bit of a scumbag when it came to pastries, but he couldn't be blamed entirely.

There were simply too many side quests, and the tasks were arduous.

The hurdle of the Four-Joy Tangyuan hadn't been cleared yet, and someone had already delivered the recipe for the Double-Crab Bun to his door.

He couldn't keep up; he simply couldn't keep up.

Qin Huai had the heart to grind heat control proficiency—to bring this currently relatively weakest main skill to an advanced level—but he could only set aside time to practice, and he was often interrupted by all sorts of unexpected situations.

For a pastry chef, heat control wasn't that important.

After arriving at Huang Ji, Qin Huai deeply felt that as long as the craftsmanship was there, any shortcoming was a small problem for a master chef.

If the heat control wasn't good, he would just find a few pastry or even savory chefs who were good at heat control to help out.

If the finger technique wasn't good, he would pick a few pastry chefs with excellent finger techniques to specifically do the styling for the pastries.

As for the knife skills being too poor...

It didn't matter. For a master pastry chef, there were no pastries that required them to cut vegetables themselves.

Huang Shengli held an appreciative attitude toward the heart Qin Huai had shown in persistently practicing heat control intermittently for such a long time.

Huang Shengli greatly admired this kind of chef—who had already reached the status of an absolute master, was obeyed by everyone in the kitchen, had someone save meals for him when he arrived late, had someone hand him tea when he raised his hand, and had helpers scrambling to do work at a single glance—for still being willing to humbly ask for advice and practice diligently like a novice apprentice, grinding various stir-fried meat dishes in the kitchen every afternoon.

Setting everything else aside, this spirit alone was worthy of praise.

If Qin Huai knew what Huang Shengli was thinking, he would definitely say to him: "Master Huang, don't appreciate me yet, help me think about how to grind heat control proficiency."

Grinding heat control proficiency was too hard.

Although the finger technique actually had the lowest efficiency for proficiency right now, Qin Huai made so many Guo'er every day that, logically speaking, the finger technique proficiency should be skyrocketing, breaking through intermediate to advanced in minutes, and heading straight for master level.

But imagination is plump, reality is skinny. The finger technique proficiency was as abstract as Chen Gong's side quests, making it impossible for people to understand what its mechanism actually was.

In terms of difficulty, the difficulty of the dough fruit was absolutely top-tier, maxed out. As a chaotic version of the apple dough fruit, the difficulty in finger technique was also quite high, which was why there was no one in the kitchen who could help Qin Huai when he made dough fruit.

The requirements were too high. In terms of real technique, only Zheng Da and Zheng Siyuan could help Qin Huai, but with their level, it was impossible for them to help anyone.

Wang Jun and Tan Weian could help color the Guo'er only because they had artistic attainments far beyond ordinary people; otherwise, they wouldn't even be qualified to do the coloring.

Qin Huai couldn't figure out this finger technique proficiency, so he simply stopped studying it and let it grow slowly on its own.

Anyway, he didn't have an urgent need to grind finger techniques right now.

But Qin Huai really had an urgent need to grind heat control now; many dishes were just lacking in heat control, waiting there, hungry, for Qin Huai to level up his heat control.

Longevity Noodles were one, Guo'er was actually one, and the Three-Ding Bun counted as half. (S-level dish grades were too high; Qin Huai didn't dare to hope for them for the time being.)

Judging from the recipes he had figured out so far, while there were low-level recipes, the quantity was very small, and they were basically dominated by A-level or even S-level ones. Qin Huai knew that the higher the grade of the recipe, the higher the requirements for the chef's various skills.

You could have shortcomings, but one shortcoming needed other strengths to pull it up.

An A-level Guo'er could be completed by Qin Huai and Huang Shengli together, but what about an S-level one?

Qin Huai knew very well that he had taken a shortcut by making the A-level Guo'er with Huang Shengli. Because in the original recipe for Guo'er, the proportion of savory cooking was higher than that of pastry cooking.

He used B+-level pastries to match Huang Shengli's A+-level fillings, relying on luck to scrape together an A-level or even A+-level Guo'er, but not every pastry was as special as Guo'er.

To forge iron, one must be strong oneself. As the proficiency in dough leavening and filling preparation became higher and higher, the deficiency in heat control became increasingly prominent.

Qin Huai also wanted to grind heat control proficiency, but he couldn't grind it.

Normally stir-frying vegetables and meat, the speed of grinding proficiency was very average. The effect when boiling Four-Joy Tangyuan was slightly better; basically, one pot could yield 10–20 points of proficiency. But boiling Four-Joy Tangyuan was time-consuming and mentally exhausting, and Qin Huai couldn't just boil them without wrapping them.

Making Four-Joy Tangyuan that satisfied Gong Liang was also one of the top priorities right now.

He couldn't stop practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan just to grind proficiency; wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?

As Qin Huai's thoughts wandered further, his gaze at the Tangyuan gradually became dull. He almost had "I'm zoning out" written on his face.

Seeing Ouyang was also zoning out; he was staring at the clock on his phone.

After eating Tangyuan for such a long time, Seeing Ouyang had gained experience.

Tangyuan fresh out of the pot absolutely could not be eaten, especially the red bean paste and black sesame fillings; that temperature was really no joke. At best, you'd be doing a tap dance; at worst, you'd get burned and end up in the hospital.

If your tongue got burned, it would be over; it wouldn't heal for a while, severely affecting your ability to eat.

Therefore, after many attempts, Seeing Ouyang finally calculated the best time to eat Tangyuan.

3 minutes and 50 seconds after coming out of the pot!

If you scooped up the Tangyuan and blew on it, this time could be reduced appropriately; the specific reduction depended on each person's lung capacity.

Seeing Ouyang stared at the time, his drifting thoughts gradually returning.

3 minutes and 48 seconds.

3 minutes and 49 seconds.

3 minutes and 50 seconds!

Time's up!

Start!

Seeing Ouyang moved; he moved very quickly. His movements were as fast as lightning, and one could only see a blur. Almost in a "whoosh," a bowl of Tangyuan closest to him was held in Seeing Ouyang's hands. The next second, he scooped up a large, plump Tangyuan and brought it to his lips.

Take a bite to wrap it.

Can't wrap it.

Settle for the next best thing: bite off half.

Congratulations to Seeing Ouyang, he hit the jackpot—it was a hundred-fruit filling!

Seeing Ouyang put on a mask of pain.

Seeing Ouyang began to scream silently, frowning, beating his chest and stamping his feet, weeping internally, drinking two mouthfuls of the flavorless Tangyuan soup, chewing and swallowing it in one gulp, and looking at the remaining half of the Tangyuan with a "death-defying" look before wrapping it in one bite.

Seeing Ouyang sadly scooped up the second one, impatiently putting it into his mouth, wanting to relieve the torture brought to him by the hundred-fruit flavored Tangyuan just now.

Take a bite.

Congratulations to Seeing Ouyang, he hit the jackpot again—it was still a hundred-fruit flavored Tangyuan!

Seeing Ouyang almost shed two lines of tears instantly, kneeling down directly with his hands raised above his head, lifting his proud head to ask the heavens why.

But he wouldn't do that, because he couldn't ask the heavens with his head raised; he could only ask the kitchen ceiling.

"Qin Huai, how many hundred-fruit filling Tangyuan did you wrap today? When I looked in the kitchen just now, I felt like you didn't wrap many!" Seeing Ouyang asked indignantly.

Seeing Ouyang's indignant voice pulled Qin Huai back to reality. Qin Huai was stunned to see that Seeing Ouyang had actually hit the jackpot: "Your luck is quite bad today. We ran out of winter melon sugar at home, and since I boiled less sugar, I didn't make many hundred-fruit fillings—only 8 in total."

"Out of these 21 bowls of Tangyuan, you managed to get one; you should go buy a scratch-off ticket during the day."

Seeing Ouyang:...

I'm tired, let it be destroyed.

Qin Huai opened the kitchen door and said to the old men and women outside who had long stopped chatting and were all staring at the kitchen door with expectant but restrained, excited but reserved gazes: "The Tangyuan are ready, you can eat them now."

The old men and women filed in one after another to get Tangyuan. Everyone who saw that the half-Tangyuan in Seeing Ouyang's spoon was a hundred-fruit filling beamed with joy, and those who were closer to Seeing Ouyang even teased him a bit.

"Little Ou, Grandpa knew you were a good person, helping to test the temperature and even getting a hundred-fruit filling."

Everyone felt it was all very normal. Even though Qin Huai's pastries came with a "Master Xiao Qin" filter, this filter couldn't turn hundred-fruit filling into a delicious filling.

For the loyal customers of the Cloud Canteen, they were already used to trial tasting.

Back when Qin Huai practiced pastries in the afternoon, the old men and women often helped with trial tasting.

They understood the logic: they didn't charge for the bad ones, and they charged a little for the good ones depending on the situation.

The old men and women were prepared before coming to eat the Tangyuan tonight, as they didn't charge for it.

As it turned out, after eating, they realized that three flavors were charged, one flavor was free, and the two balanced each other out, so it didn't cost anything.

Although the hundred-fruit flavored Tangyuan was bad, it was bad with character, bad with soul, bad with entertainment value, and bad in a way that filled the old men and women with laughter while eating, making it hard for everyone to refuse.

Who could refuse a free Tangyuan blind box?

Not getting a hundred-fruit filling Tangyuan was a profit; getting one was just contributing to Master Xiao Qin's pastry career, offering some completely unimportant opinions, and saying some very unprofessional but emotionally charged reviews.

He didn't know what he could help with, but he could help a little bit.

Xu Tuqiang used to be able to occupy the C-position at Table 9 in the Cloud Canteen, but now he couldn't occupy it at Qin Huai's house. Not being squeezed out of the house and standing in the hallway or eating in Gong Liang's house was considered a victory.

Although Gong Liang's house had heating and floor heating, making it much warmer than Qin Huai's house, everyone loved standing in Qin Huai's house to eat.

Being close to Master Xiao Qin made it feel better to eat!

"These meat-filled, sesame-filled, and red bean paste-filled Tangyuan are clearly all quite delicious. Why does Master Xiao Qin insist on making this deathly bad hundred... passion fruit filling?" Xu Tuqiang muttered.

"It's hundred-fruit filling, what passion fruit filling? Passion fruit is sour; it would probably be even worse in Tangyuan," Grandpa Qian complained.

"Who said passion fruit is bad? That's because you don't know how to buy it. Little Chen, don't you think so? That passion fruit you did a group buy for last time was delicious. My granddaughters hold onto them every day and won't let go. When there's a chance to do that group buy again, I'll buy more." Grandma Ding spoke up for passion fruit.

Chen Huihong was muttering in her heart about what Qin Huai was thinking, how he could make such bad Tangyuan, how he could still make such bad pastries even with a system, and why he called everyone over to trial taste it. Before, wouldn't it have been enough to just let Seeing Ouyang eat this kind of thing?

Could it be that Qin Huai's system had mutated recently and needed to collect everyone's negative emotions? It was a good thing she didn't bring Huihui today; it was truly bad luck that there were actually two hundred-fruit filling Tangyuan in one bowl today.

"Ah, what group buy? Director Ding, haven't the furniture for your house already been moved in? Oh, passion fruit, right? That's simple. I'll go back and tell my brother; if there's good stuff, he'll help keep an eye on it, and I'll tell you when the group buy starts." Chen Huihong continued to struggle with the hundred-fruit filling Tangyuan with a bitter face.

The customers of the Cloud Canteen had all found the feeling of grabbing pastries in the canteen back in the day; they chatted while eating, harmonious and incredibly happy. Gong Liang's mood was more complicated.

Gong Liang glanced at his wife, who was humbly asking a certain aunt for tips on how to be lazy while babysitting, laying a solid foundation for taking care of their future grandchildren. He looked out the window with melancholy, feeling that his sadness was truly understood by no one.

At first, he thought he was special.

He thought Master Xiao Qin only cooked privately for him, and even invited him to eat at Huang Ji in the morning, and let him eat his way into the Huang Ji kitchen.

As it turned out—

Gong Liang looked at the room full of people.

This was actually just Master Xiao Qin's hobby.

Master Xiao Qin just loved to cook privately. Chen Huihong, Qu Jing, Seeing Ouyang, and that Luo Jun, who everyone said was still in Shancheng and hadn't come over, were Qin Huai's first priority for private cooking; he might not even be able to squeeze into the first priority.

Gong Liang was worried.

How could he not even be able to squeeze into the first priority?!

It was all Zheng Da's fault for renting such a small house; now there was nothing left to add to this house.

Just as Gong Liang was feeling melancholy, his phone rang—it was a WeChat notification; someone had sent him a message.

Gong Liang took a look.

Qin Huai (Birthday 6.1): Mr. Gong, are you free later? I plan to make two more Pincer-Flower Palace Lantern Buns for you later. If you aren't sleeping too late today, I'll call you over to eat when they're done.

Qin Huai (Birthday 6.1): This is my first time making Pincer-Flower Palace Lantern Buns; please don't mind if they aren't made well.

Qin Huai had specially brought some ready-made leavened dough home today, originally intending to make rabbit buns for Huihui.

As a primary school student, Chen Huihui had her own persistence.

No matter how delicious the fermented rice steamed buns, Three-Ding Buns, or Five-Ding Buns were, her favorite remained the rabbit red bean paste buns with their cute shapes.

Children had small appetites; two small rabbit buns and a glass of milk in the morning were enough to fill her up. Anyway, the quantity wasn't large, so Qin Huai planned to wrap a 5-day supply at once and let Chen Huihong take them back to freeze in the refrigerator, steaming them for Chen Huihui every morning.

Now it seemed Chen Huihui wouldn't be able to eat them.

Qin Huai basically didn't add finger technique proficiency when making rabbit buns; he was afraid that even 10 rabbit buns wouldn't grind out a single point of proficiency.

It was better to gamble with the Pincer-Flower Palace Lantern Buns.

As for it being his first time making them, if he failed and made a bad impression on Gong Liang, would it matter?

Are you kidding? Gong Liang had already eaten the failed crab roe shumai before, and now he had eaten the hundred-fruit filling Tangyuan. Qin Huai couldn't imagine how a red bean paste Pincer-Flower Palace Lantern Bun could fail in a way that surpassed the previous two predecessors.

Looking at the message Qin Huai sent, Gong Liang only felt warm in his heart, and his back straightened.

Master Xiao Qin has me in his heart!

Although his hobby is private cooking, he has me in his heart!

I, Gong Liang, must be in the first tier!

(End of chapter)