Chapter 260: New Year Holiday Plans

In an atmosphere where everyone was practicing dishes more and more, the Spring Festival drew ever closer.

High-end restaurants with good business like Huang Ji Restaurant do not have a tradition of closing for the New Year. In fact, very few restaurants close during the New Year; among all holidays, the New Year is undoubtedly the time when restaurant business is at its best.

To make money, the proprietor keeps the restaurant open, and to ensure employees work wholeheartedly without making mistakes, there is often an extra bonus on top of triple wages.

The bonuses at Huang Ji are undoubtedly generous.

Huang Shengli gives one, Zheng Da gives one, and Gong Liang adds yet another.

In Dong Shi's words, ever since he was taken in as a closed-door disciple by Huang Shengli, he has never eaten a New Year's Eve dinner at home on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month. Being able to go home for a meal before the seventh day of the New Year is considered a good shift arrangement for that year, with his senior brothers taking care of him and his brother so they could go home early for the New Year.

Dong Shi and Dong Li are young and are both "single dogs," so they have no pressure from dating and no worries about taking care of a family; as long as the red envelopes are thick enough, they are in no rush for the New Year holiday. The precious New Year holiday before the seventh day is reserved for colleagues with families; the single dogs aren't in line for it yet.

Every year on New Year's Eve, Dong Shi happily counts one red envelope after another, counting his own and then his brother's, only to find that his brother's total is higher than his. After feeling sad and upset, he turns his grief and indignation into motivation, deciding that he must practice his culinary skills diligently next year to get more red envelopes than Dong Li, only to end up slacking off and gossiping as usual on the first day of the New Year.

Everyone at Huang Ji knows that this year's red envelopes will definitely be thicker than in previous years.

For no other reason than that business is too good.

On an ordinary Thursday, with average weather and cold temperatures, business at Huang Ji remains booming, and the lines of customers buying dim sum and dining in are long as usual.

The atmosphere of the Spring Festival on the street is already very strong; many merchants have hung up festive red lanterns and posted notices about price increases for the Spring Festival. There are many more citizens on the street wearing red scarves and red gloves, and the first thing many customers who successfully queued online and cycled to Huang Ji do upon entering the shop is to take off their thick red scarves.

Even Huang Anyao, without needing a reminder from anyone, consciously purchased a batch of festive decorations, couplets, and "Fu" characters, intending to cover every window of Huang Ji with "Fu" characters in a few days, only to be told by a waiter with an aesthetic sense that this method was too ugly and tacky, leaving him no choice but to settle for hanging the decorations in every corner of Huang Ji.

Huang Anyao gave two of the extra "Fu" characters to every employee, and even Qin Huai received two, which shows just how many Huang Anyao purchased.

Because Huang Anyao gave everyone two "Fu" characters, the conversation that day naturally turned to the New Year.

Although every year at Huang Ji, the New Year is the same—working from the Little New Year all the way through the first lunar month, and then taking the New Year holiday based on the shift schedule.

But there are still some things worth talking about, such as the red envelopes and the New Year's Eve dinner.

Every New Year's Eve, Huang Shengli personally prepares a table of New Year's Eve dinner, a super large table, a luxurious New Year's Eve dinner that all Huang Ji employees can eat. On that day, Huang Ji does not extend business hours and closes on time; those who need to go home can leave on time to catch the New Year's Eve vigil and the second half of the Spring Festival Gala, while those who don't go home stay at Huang Ji, and everyone eats the New Year's Eve dinner and keeps the vigil together.

They even held some activities in the past two years, but the activities were organized by Huang Anyao and the response wasn't very good; everyone felt there was no need to do something extra, so they simply cancelled them.

No matter how busy business is, one must always eat something good during the New Year.

Dong Shi is excitedly chattering about the New Year's Eve dinner.

"The New Year's Eve dinners in the past two years were so lively. Master cooked the dishes, Master Uncle Zheng made the pastry dim sum, and Mr. Gong would give out red envelopes when he was in a good mood, with 1,000 yuan in each envelope, giving them to everyone he saw."

"It was just a bit bleak last year. There was too much work on New Year's Eve last year, and Master was a bit exhausted. Later, Master's back injury flared up, and everyone felt it was caused by the injury on New Year's Eve."

"At that time, no one was in the mood to eat. Senior Brother was determined to send Master to the hospital to get checked out, but Master said there was no need to go to the hospital on such a big holiday. Because of this, Senior Brother and Master almost argued in the kitchen, and it was only later that Mr. Gong eased the atmosphere by giving out red envelopes for 5 minutes."

"But this year's New Year will be better; this year's New Year will definitely be livelier. Oh, by the way, Qin Huai, when do you plan to go home?"

Qin Huai calmly wrapped tangyuan, and without raising his head, he said: "The 6th, I'll go back on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month."

"The ticket is already bought."

Dong Shi felt a bit regretful: "So early? Then won't you miss out on the red envelopes from Master, Master Uncle, and Mr. Gong? We all give out red envelopes on New Year's Eve."

Qin Huai's hand wrapping the tangyuan paused, and he looked up at Dong Shi, speechless: "Is that the point?"

"Also," Qin Huai's voice was clear, his expression numb, and his gaze swept over the circle of people around him, "Is the New Year holiday such gossip worth listening to? Why are all of you gathered around me?"

Tan Weian, Huang Anyao, Huang Jia, Dong Li, and a series of other onlookers all simultaneously showed awkward and embarrassed smiles, while not moving their feet, standing right where they were.

Zheng Siyuan, who was mincing meat for Qin Huai opposite him, minced the meat calmly, his expression as usual.

Instead, Gu Li, who was silently practicing like a background board not far away, had his hand movements stiffen, and he withdrew his little ears that were eavesdropping to continue making dim sum.

Qin Huai was very helpless.

It wasn't his first day making Four-Joy Tangyuan; if you really look at it, from the day he decided to start practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan until now, the time spent making Four-Joy Tangyuan might even be longer than that for Crab Roe Shumai.

The car had already flipped, the research had already ended, and all that remained now was the boring, repetitive practice.

Qin Huai makes a lot of Four-Joy Tangyuan every day.

During working hours, the only dim sum Qin Huai needs to make is Guo'er. By now, Qin Huai is very proficient at making Guo'er, basically reaching the point where he can shape and color it with his eyes closed, forming muscle memory.

Correspondingly, the production speed has also become much faster.

But the customers at Huang Ji are constant.

Huang Ji is at full capacity every day, and the number of customers cannot increase further, and Guo'er is a dim sum limited to one portion per dine-in customer. After the production speed of Guo'er increased, Qin Huai suddenly had some extra free time.

Previously, this time was used to make other dim sum as a supplement, but now all this time is allocated to Four-Joy Tangyuan.

Qin Huai has to make a lot, a lot of Four-Joy Tangyuan in 4 flavors every day.

And Four-Joy Tangyuan itself is not a dim sum that shows off skills; it has no cool production process, no gorgeous appearance, and setting aside its nice name, its essence is actually just big tangyuan.

Qin Huai really can't understand what is worth watching about making tangyuan.

When he was a child in Qu County, there were some elderly grandmothers who would make handmade tangyuan every day to sell to the neighbors, sitting by a small table every day rubbing tangyuan in a basin, and he never saw any children who liked to come over and watch.

Children would rather play with mud or hopscotch on the side than watch, which shows how boring this production process is.

What, is it because there are many chores at Huang Ji as the New Year approaches, and Wang Jun hasn't had time to go on dates with his girlfriend recently, leading to everyone having no fresh gossip to eat, so they are bored enough in their spare time to run to his side and watch him make tangyuan?

Isn't that a bit too boring?

If it's really that bad, why don't you go find a partner yourselves; don't be so idle.

Qin Huai remained silent, and everyone looked at each other.

Everyone knew very well that the behavior of not resting during such break times and all gathering in the kitchen to watch someone else make tangyuan was somewhat perverted.

But there was no help for it; they were just too curious.

Everyone really wanted to know why Qin Huai was still frantically practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan, and what exactly he wanted to make Four-Joy Tangyuan look like.

The tangyuan now is already very delicious!

It's at a level that kills 99% of the tangyuan on the market.

If this level of Four-Joy Tangyuan were sold at the school gate, it could beat all the breakfast shops and stalls at the school gate into a state of total defeat, being revered by the children as the God of Breakfast, while the other stall owners would curse in their hearts while rushing into the crowd to snap them up.

Huang Anyao doesn't understand culinary arts, but he feels he can be considered someone who knows how to eat.

At least he knows how to talk.

In Huang Anyao's understanding, Four-Joy Tangyuan really doesn't count as a very high-end dim sum; it's just a very ordinary, affordable dim sum. Its lower limit is very low, and its upper limit isn't high; it's a dim sum that can appear on the streets and alleys at any time and be considered okay to eat occasionally.

What is there to practice about such a dim sum?

Qin Huai has been communicating at Huang Ji for so long that everyone knows Qin Huai's habit of practicing dim sum.

If he practices a dim sum, it means this dim sum has a lot of room for improvement.

Although Master Qin is a bit fickle, inconstant, and loves one after another, his professional ability is absolutely obvious to all. As long as it is a dim sum that Master Qin has practiced frantically, it has achieved very good results in the end.

If Master Qin practices it, it means this dim sum has value for improvement and room for a breakthrough.

This is Master Qin's selection; many times everyone doesn't know how this dim sum can break through, but as long as Qin Huai practices it, everyone firmly believes that this dim sum will definitely be able to break through in the future.

Zheng Siyuan is the number one believer in this philosophy.

Now Zheng Da no longer practices Four-Joy Tangyuan and slips away every day after work at noon. Zheng Siyuan is too lazy to argue with his father, and there are many fewer Four-Joy Tangyuan in the refrigerator at home, so the pressure on Zheng Siyuan's mother and sister to eat tangyuan has also been reduced a lot.

They no longer have to turn pale at the mention of mixed-fruit tangyuan, nor will they catch every opportunity to give tangyuan to others.

Of course, Zheng Siyuan is still practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan, following Qin Huai's rhythm and practicing all 4 flavors.

He doesn't go home after work at noon, but stays in the Huang Ji kitchen to help Qin Huai mince meat.

The current situation is roughly that Qin Huai is frantically practicing Four-Joy Tangyuan, but he doesn't know when he will be able to break through, and when he will be able to make fresh meat tangyuan worthy of the other three sweet fillings. Qin Huai himself cannot find the direction or figure out the reason, let alone explain it to others, and when discussing with Zheng Siyuan, it is mostly just discussing the pairing between the four types of tangyuan.

Therefore, Qin Huai says nothing, just silently does it.

And Zheng Siyuan actually doesn't know what Qin Huai wants to make the tangyuan into, but since Qin Huai has practiced it, there must be his reasons, so Zheng Siyuan helps Qin Huai while silently researching on his own.

Others are even more confused about the situation; they don't know what Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan are doing at all, but these two people are indeed making Four-Joy Tangyuan every day, and the Four-Joy Tangyuan made every day has no changes.

If you can't figure it out, you can only watch more; at first, it was watching secretly, but now it is watching blatantly.

It can be said that no one in this kitchen now knows why Qin Huai hasn't been fickle and abandoned Four-Joy Tangyuan to embrace the double crab bun, but everyone believes that Master Qin must have his reasons for doing so.

Everyone believes in him more than Qin Huai believes in himself.

After a few days, Four-Joy Tangyuan will definitely be reborn and become a better version that amazes everyone.

Qin Huai, who was inexplicably trusted by everyone, was boringly wrapping tangyuan.

In fact, Qin Huai himself felt that wrapping tangyuan was very boring.

The fickle Master Qin really hates making the same dim sum every day. Sometimes, halfway through wrapping tangyuan, Qin Huai really wants to knead dough to make some fermented bean curd steamed buns or San Ding Bao; if that doesn't work, mung bean cakes, glutinous rice cakes, osmanthus cakes, crab shell yellow, donkey rolls, pea cakes, or hibiscus cakes would also be fine.

In short, as long as it's not Four-Joy Tangyuan and Guo'er.

The heat practice after wrapping tangyuan has become a supplement.

The bored Qin Huai felt it was time to take the initiative to chat about some gossip.

Although he didn't know why everyone was so idle, since they were here, let's chat for a while.

"When are you taking your New Year holiday this year?" Qin Huai asked.

Seeing that Qin Huai actually took the initiative to ask him, Dong Shi excitedly replied: "This year it will definitely be after the seventh day. At first, after the sixth senior brother broke up, I thought it would be my and my brother's turn to take a holiday on the fifth or sixth day. Now that the sixth senior brother has just started dating, it's the time when he needs to spend the New Year with his girlfriend to enhance their relationship. If we are lucky, we can take a holiday on the eleventh or twelfth, and if we are unlucky, we might have to wait until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to rest."

"Resting after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is also quite good; no need to pay New Year visits, just lying down when you get home. I like resting after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month the most."

"Qin Huai, what do you do when you go home for the New Year?"

"Make dim sum," Qin Huai said, thinking for a moment, "Make steamed buns, mantou, rice cakes, steamed dumplings, rice noodle rolls, and all kinds of baked cakes, beef cakes, pork cakes, and lamb cakes."

"In previous years, what I made was very mixed, but this year it should be much better. I plan to make a surprise attack on Four-Joy Tangyuan when I go home this year."

Everyone:?!

What mystery does Four-Joy Tangyuan have that we haven't penetrated, that you actually want to make a surprise attack on it when you go home for the New Year!

"Tan Weian, what about you? When are you taking your New Year holiday? By the way, this exchange of yours should be over, right? It's almost the New Year, shouldn't you be going back?" Qin Huai continued to ask Tan Weian.

Suddenly cued, Tan Weian was stunned. He didn't expect that he would become the center of gossip just by being a strong onlooker, so he hurriedly said: "It is time to go back; Boss Su has urged me several times."

"But I don't think it's urgent; there is still some time before the New Year. If you go back on the 6th, we will also go back on the 6th; anyway, going back is just to work."

Huang Anyao asked curiously: "Does Zhi Wei Ju close for the New Year?"

"The same as you, rotating shifts," Tan Weian said, "But we won't be open all day on New Year's Eve; we close at 5 pm. Locals can go home for the New Year, and those from out of town usually ask for leave to go home a day or two in advance. There are fewer hands during the New Year, and some masters also have to go home for the New Year, so the types of dim sum sold during the New Year won't be too many, and the quantity won't be large."

"Working anywhere is the same. If there is such an exchange in the future, Qin Huai, don't contact Boss Su, just tell me directly. I will give you some people; it doesn't matter if it's a bit far. There are many people in Shan City who are willing to go."

Tan Weian was almost explicitly stating that if your Cloud Canteen needs helpers to do odd jobs next year, please contact me first.

After all, going to other restaurants to exchange and do odd jobs might be purely odd jobs, but coming to Qin Huai's place to exchange and do odd jobs will definitely allow one to learn real things.

Master Qin brings his sister to taste the dim sum everyone practices every morning.

"Okay, I will definitely contact you when the time comes," Qin Huai agreed in one breath.

This is definitely not just polite; Qin Huai feels that he will most likely really need it when the time comes.

The helpers at Zhi Wei Ju are really too professional.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

After the New Year, Qin Huai's learning exchange at Huang Ji will be over. When he returns to Cloud Canteen, Qin Huai is afraid that without capable helpers, he won't be comfortable making dim sum.

Alas, he is no longer the original Master Xiao Qin; he is now Master Qin.

When Master Qin enters the kitchen in the morning, if he can't drink a cup of hot tea at the first opportunity, he will be thirsty.

Qin Huai smacked his lips.

A sharp-eyed Zhi Wei Ju helper immediately brought a cup of warm tea.

"Master Qin, drink some tea and take a break."

Qin Huai took the teacup and drank two big gulps, suddenly remembering what everyone was chatting about regarding when to take a holiday, but someone had already taken a holiday and gone home for the New Year in advance.

That person was Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong.

Cloud Canteen, far away in Shan City, had been without a boss for two days.

The boss is exchanging in Gusu, the boss's sister is taking remedial classes in Gusu, and the boss's parents have gone back to their hometown for the New Year. The entire Cloud Canteen has already entered a non-management mode, relying entirely on employees to consciously go to work, consciously get off work, consciously manage, and consciously stock up.

It's all about trust.

Qin Huai sent a message to Huang Xi, asking about the New Year holiday arrangements for Cloud Canteen. Qin Huai usually doesn't care about such things, with Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen helping to handle them, but since they were chatting about it, Qin Huai decided to care about the holiday situation of his own canteen.

What if Dong Shi suddenly asks a question while chatting: Qin Huai, how does your canteen take a holiday for the New Year?

What should he do as the boss if he can't answer?

Must ask clearly first.

Huang Xi replied in seconds, sending a shift schedule.

Qin Huai took a look, good fellow.

Waiters rotate shifts during the New Year, and Chen An asked for a few extra days off because he had to go back to his hometown for the New Year, so he won't be working from the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month to the sixth day of the first lunar month.

Chen An is a breakfast master, and during that period, most of the office buildings near Cloud Canteen are also on holiday, and those that aren't are also on rotating shifts, so the customer flow drops sharply, and it doesn't matter if the canteen doesn't sell breakfast, so Zhao Rong approved the leave.

Li Hua is a local, but has a family and needs to accompany his wife and children for the New Year, so he won't be working from New Year's Eve to the second day of the first lunar month.

Huang Xi won't be working on New Year's Eve and the second and third days of the first lunar month.

Only Pei Xing, because he has no partner and doesn't need to go back to his hometown for the New Year, and lives very close to the canteen, is on full attendance during the New Year.

Even An Youyou is on holiday on the third and fourth days of the first lunar month, probably wanting to rest for two days.

In the end, Pei Xing carried it all for Cloud Canteen.

Qin Huai was very moved and sent a WeChat message to Pei Xing.

Qin Huai: You've worked hard during this time. I will return to the canteen after the New Year. If you have any questions about making dim sum then, just say so at any time, and we can exchange ideas together.

Pei Xing, who received the message, was almost moved to tears.

Although the boss hasn't sent him a private message for two months and three days, and the messages he replied to in the work group were also very perfunctory, the boss has him in his heart!

Master Xiao Qin has me in his heart!

His efforts are all seen by Master Xiao Qin!

Thinking of this, Pei Xing kneaded the dough even harder.

"Pei Xing, aren't you getting off work soon? Why are you kneading dough again? Has the off-work time changed?" Li Hua asked.

Pei Xing: "……I don't want to get off work so early today, I'll make another batch."

"If you make another batch, it won't be sold out. The grandpas and grandmas are all in Gusu and haven't come back, and there are few people buying dim sum at night."

"……Don't worry about it, if this batch of materials isn't sold out, I'll pay for it myself; I just love making dim sum."

There is more later.

Also, today is Did Luo Luo's birthday, remember to go to the character column to give Did Luo Luo a heart~

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 261 =====