Chapter 296: Entrapment

The lunch hour is the time when the Yunzhong Canteen has the most dine-in customers.

Although the skill level of the several savory-dish chefs at the Yunzhong Canteen is quite average, the prices are affordable and of good quality. Furthermore, because of Qin Huai's culinary skills, the canteen has built a resounding reputation in the vicinity, so business has always been good.

Business this noon was exceptionally good; by 12:03, the canteen was already packed with people.

According to tips from informed sources, the Yunzhong Canteen was serving the Four-Joy Tangyuan from the morning again this noon.

Not every regular customer has the time to eat Four-Joy Tangyuan in the morning. Many office workers eat on a tight schedule and clock in on time, leaving themselves only two minutes to buy breakfast. To avoid being late and getting docked pay, even if they discovered a delicious new product, they wouldn't have time to eat it.

These people had intended to come earlier tomorrow morning.

As it turned out, it was a pleasant surprise that they were also selling them at noon.

Quite a few office workers who could make excuses to slip out early appeared at the Yunzhong Canteen before 12:00, using all sorts of reasons, and got to eat the piping hot Four-Joy Tangyuan.

Admittedly, the Four-Joy Tangyuan is very expensive.

But there are also cheap options; the new product, radish cake, is very cheap.

Five yuan per serving, two pieces per serving. The radish cake is freshly pan-fried, golden, crispy, and has an excellent appearance.

The ones with poor appearance are even buy-one-get-one-free, four pieces for five yuan—the value for money is maxed out.

Although the ones with poor appearance are those that weren't fried very well or had the wrong heat control—some weren't fried long enough so the outer skin isn't crispy, while others were fried too long and turned a bit black—they are clearly failed products at a glance.

But it doesn't matter; with a buy-one-get-one-free deal, what else is there to be picky about?

Failed products are delicious too!

This radish cake is simply delicious; the flavor is good, it's fresh enough, and the radish flavor is rich.

Many office workers paired a bowl of Four-Joy Tangyuan with a serving of radish cake, eating with great relish.

Qin Huai was also eating.

Qin Huai wasn't eating Four-Joy Tangyuan; he was sitting in his usual good spot in the corner by the window on the second floor, eating a normal meal.

Stir-fried tomato with egg, red-braised lion's head meatballs, steamed pork with preserved vegetables, and stir-fried pork with chili—all very normal home-cooked dishes. It's just a pity that being too home-style, the flavor was far inferior to the home-cooked dishes made by Cao Guixiang.

Qin Huai had eaten home-cooked meals at Cao Guixiang's house for a few days and had become picky. Suddenly eating such ordinary home-cooked dishes, he couldn't adapt for a moment and could only silently look at his phone photo album to quench his thirst with the thought of plums.

The phone photo album was full of photos Qin Huai had taken before eating meals a while ago.

Every dish Cao Guixiang made was perfect in color, aroma, and taste; the appearance was good and the taste was even better, making one drool just by looking at them.

Qin Huai chewed on the ordinary red-braised lion's head meatball without tasting it. He looked up at the office workers around him who were burying their heads in the Four-Joy Tangyuan, *chew, chew, chew*, and didn't forget to gnaw on a piece of radish cake in the gaps of eating the tangyuan. He only felt that he was out of place with everyone else.

Sigh, sometimes I really envy them for not having eaten the home-cooked dishes made by Cao Guixiang, so they can still eat the Four-Joy Tangyuan and radish cake they made themselves.

Just as Qin Huai was feeling melancholy, Seeing Ouyang came over excitedly carrying a food tray.

Qin Huai glanced at Seeing Ouyang's food tray.

Two bowls of Four-Joy Tangyuan, three plates of radish cake, three San Ding Bao, a plate of peach blossom cakes, and a steamer of beef steamed dumplings.

It's clear to see that the hand-shaken lemon tea shop is indeed making money; Seeing Ouyang has become wealthy.

"Old Qin, it's really different now that you're back; there's so much more food to eat in this canteen." Seeing Ouyang said cheerfully, putting down the tray. Qin Huai's hands were quick, and he reached out with his chopsticks to swipe a beef steamed dumpling from Seeing Ouyang.

He stuffed it into his mouth and chewed.

Average.

Li Hua understands more than Pei Xing, but he doesn't have Qin Huai's monstrous talent; he isn't a super genius who understands everything with a single hint from the teacher and can improve immediately upon doing it.

He did a little subtraction, but not much; he's a bit reserved.

"Is that so?" Qin Huai silently picked up the Seeing Ouyang-special hand-shaken lemon tea he had prepared long ago from the side of his seat and placed the lemon tea on the table. "Drink some."

Seeing Ouyang glanced at the lemon tea, a bit confused: "What is this?"

"It's the hand-shaken lemon tea you specially prepared for me this morning." Qin Huai smiled and squeezed the words out from between his teeth. "Drink, drink as much as you want."

Seeing Ouyang:...

The special blend he made this morning... is it this color?

Seeing Ouyang didn't think much of it, picked up the lemon tea, and took a big gulp. The lemon tea had only been taken out of the freezer for a few minutes and was a bit icy. Seeing Ouyang was first chilled into a sharp intake of breath, then smacked his lips and asked excitedly:

"How is it? What do you think of this new product I'm researching? Is it especially delicious!"

"The mouthfeel is unique, and the layers are rich. This was actually inspired by the four recipes you gave me yesterday; it's a masterpiece that combines four flavors into one."

As he spoke, Seeing Ouyang took two more gulps and picked up his chopsticks to start eating the beef steamed dumplings.

"But it's not very stable right now, and the color isn't good-looking. Once I improve it a little more, it will definitely be a hit!"

Qin Huai:...

Not a brother, is there really no problem with your sense of taste?

Sometimes some of your tastes really make me feel scared. Are you really human?

Qin Huai looked at Seeing Ouyang deeply and asked: "Do you often have some inexplicable dreams? Do you feel like you possess some memories that don't belong to you? Do you often feel like you aren't you?"

"Do you have any unfulfilled wishes or tasks you want to complete?"

Seeing Ouyang:?

No game prompt sound rang out.

Qin Huai was a bit disappointed and continued to swipe steamed dumplings, saying: "Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything just now."

"Don't develop new products anymore; just stick to your drinks."

"Listen to a brother's advice: the catering industry isn't very suitable for you."

It's no injustice that you lost 6.6 million opening a fish hotpot restaurant.

Seeing Ouyang didn't quite understand what Qin Huai was talking about, but considering Qin Huai is always like this, and even has the habit of imagining he has a game system that will issue tasks, Seeing Ouyang understood again.

Maybe he got up too early this morning, the work pressure is high, and he's rambling.

Seeing Ouyang thoughtfully picked up another steamed dumpling for Qin Huai and buried his head in eating tangyuan.

Tangyuan is still the best!

It's much better than the tangyuan eaten when in Gusu!

With money, two bowls aren't enough to eat; I'll eat another bowl later!

"By the way, Qin Huai, are you going to test dishes this afternoon? If you are, tell me, and I'll turn off the takeout orders."

"You don't know how many cups of drin... fruit tea I sold this morning; the takeout order machine just kept *ding-ding-ding* and never stopped. The delivery guy even asked me if it was a new store opening and running a promotion, why were there so many orders."

Qin Huai said: "Not testing today; I'll test after I go to City A to finish the catering and come back." "Rest assured, I'll definitely find you for testing dishes."

Qin Huai can foresee that making double-crab buns will definitely have a long process of failure; if he doesn't find Seeing Ouyang, who else can he find?

There are those with a bigger appetite than Seeing Ouyang, but there really is no one more tolerant than Seeing Ouyang.

In the afternoon, Qin Huai and Cao Guixiang had a video call to cut radishes, an online teaching session.

Only after truly starting to practice knife skills did Qin Huai realize that knife skills are indeed a foundational skill.

A major characteristic of basic skills is that they must be practiced continuously; before mastering them, even if you stop for a day, you will regress a lot.

This is something that must be paid for with a sufficient amount of sweat and time; there are no shortcuts to take.

Qin Huai hadn't practiced knife skills for just one day yesterday, and when cutting radishes in the afternoon, he felt much more rusty. For the first 20 minutes, no matter how he cut, it felt wrong.

When Qin Huai was cutting radishes, An Youyou was still frying radish cakes. Chen An had already reached the end of his shift and was now beside An Youyou, eating radish cake while pointing out how she should control the time to flip them.

"Is it my hallucination? Why do I feel that the boss's radish cutting isn't even as good as mine." An Youyou muttered.

Chen An, who was silently eating radish cake: It's not your hallucination; it's just not as good as yours.

But Chen An didn't say it, just looked at the pan: "Flip it, and you poured too much oil; you can pour a little less next time."

An Youyou hurriedly withdrew her gaze from watching and flipped them.

On Qin Huai's side, the phone stand was placed on the kitchen counter. The wooden stand made by Zhang Chu himself was very steady, not shaking or wobbling.

Cao Guixiang on the other side of the video was sunbathing in the park. The background was a lush green shrubbery; the flowers hadn't bloomed yet, and only the green color looked very monotonous.

"Assistant Xiao Qin, do you feel that you've become much rustier after stopping for a day?" Cao Guixiang said with a smile. "Practicing knife skills is like this; you have to practice every day. Even if you only practice for 30 minutes, that's still practicing. Stopping for one day means retreating ten steps; you can't be lazy."

Qin Huai said helplessly: "So, Master Cao, you deliberately told me to rest well when I got home and didn't need to practice knife skills, just to let me experience the price of being lazy, right?"

Cao Guixiang covered her mouth and laughed embarrassedly: "Using this method to remind you and let you learn at such an early stage is more useful than you learning it after you've really suffered a big loss because of laziness later."

"How does that saying go? People teaching people, they can't learn; events teaching people, they learn in one go."

Qin Huai:...

Master Cao, you've changed; you weren't like this before.

You've learned to dig a hole for me to jump into.

"Focus a bit; you can't stare at your phone while I'm chatting with you. Don't be influenced by my words. Your ears can listen to my words, and your mouth can answer, but your eyes, your entire attention, should be on the cutting board, on the kitchen knife, and on the radish you want to cut." Cao Guixiang raised her voice to remind him.

"The kitchen is a very noisy environment. As the boss, as the master chef, there must be many things that will distract you, and there will definitely be people coming to find you suddenly. But no matter what happens, it cannot affect the cooking you are doing on your hands right now."

"Why do many apprentices cut their hands when practicing knife skills? It's because their attention isn't focused, and they are distracted. Master chefs have muscle memory; even if they cut with their eyes closed, they won't necessarily cut their hands, but apprentices don't have this level."

"Now that the kitchen knife is so sharp, cutting your hand is no small matter. Although when I learned to cook back then, the words my master often kept on his lips were that you'd learn your lesson after cutting yourself a few times, but who would want their apprentice to really suffer such a bloody lesson?"

As Qin Huai listened, he couldn't help but look up at his phone again.

"Distracted again." Cao Guixiang warned. "Use your ears to listen to me speak, but keep your attention focused on the kitchen knife."

"Master Cao, this is simply entrapment." Qin Huai is used to Huang Shengli's online courses; he has never taken an online course like Cao Guixiang's.

Cao Guixiang's offline teaching and online teaching are simply two different modes.

"I am indeed practicing entrapment." Cao Guixiang glanced at the sky, feeling that the sun in this place was a bit too strong, and changed to a shadier place to continue sunbathing. "I caught one as soon as I cast the line; I didn't expect the fish to take the bait so easily."

Qin "Fish" Huai:...

Qin Huai didn't speak either, just silently cut the radish.

"Yes, that's right. This is the state I want: you are listening to me speak, but only your ears are listening, and your mind is all on cutting vegetables."

Qin Huai:...

"Yes, even better; this is the state right now."

"Keep it up for two more days; in two days, you can chat with me while cutting radishes. Assistant Xiao Qin, you don't know, Yunyun and Qingqing really miss you since you left."

"They could only come to my house for dinner on weekends, but when you were here, they could come on weekdays too. Yesterday, Qingqing kept asking her mother when you would come back to practice cutting radishes."

"Old Li, who sells radishes, also asked my Old Zhang yesterday why he wasn't buying radishes anymore, saying that if it was because they were too expensive, the price could be lowered by 8 cents. I knew my Old Zhang bought them too expensively, and he was still being stubborn with me, saying how could wholesale radishes be that expensive."

"Actually, it was only after you left, Assistant Xiao Qin, that I realized those radishes didn't need to be all taken to the pig farm; some could be kept at home to pickle. My pickling level is also okay; when the educated youth went to the countryside, our production team had a female educated youth from Sichuan, and I learned how to pickle from her."

"But Yunyun doesn't eat spicy food, and Old Zhang and I don't really like pickles either. I haven't pickled for many years, and I don't know if my skills have become rusty."

"When we were in the production team, Old Zhang and I lived entirely on pickles, relying on pickles to eat wild vegetable porridge every day."

"Eh, by the way, Assistant Xiao Qin, when are you going out for catering?"

Qin Huai was already trying very hard to focus his attention on the radish. Hearing Cao Guixiang suddenly cue him, he helplessly stopped cutting the radish and looked at his phone: "Master Cao, this is too deliberate."

"There's progress." Cao Guixiang squinted as if looking at the radishes Qin Huai cut. "The phone is a bit far and it's not clear; bring it closer and let me see."

Qin Huai brought the phone closer.

"Not bad, not influenced by what I just said; the radishes are the same as the ones cut before." Cao Guixiang nodded approvingly. "Continue cutting, just like before; I'll say my part, and you cut your part."

"If you want to answer my questions, you can also answer."

Qin Huai was already starting to adapt to Cao Guixiang's unique video teaching method. While cutting vegetables, he slowly organized his language: "The birthday banquet on the 19th; I expect to arrive in City A on the 18th."

"General Manager Han hasn't actually been in contact with me, but the flight and accommodation have already been arranged in advance, and 50% of the deposit has been paid."

"I haven't done catering before and don't know the specific process. I was thinking today whether I should take the initiative to contact them. After all, I'm not the only pastry chef at the birthday banquet; there are also two senior savory-dish chefs."

"Compared to those two senior savory-dish chefs, I feel like I'm just an add-on. And I don't have many snacks to make, so I was wondering if there's nothing that needs to be communicated with me in advance."

Qin Huai got distracted and cut a piece of radish that was exceptionally failed.

"Distracted, yo."

"For a normal banquet, the pastry chef is indeed an add-on. However, since General Manager Han has paid such a high price, your sincerity and attitude should also be set right; it's best to contact the other party in advance."

"Don't worry too much about the rest; just for the Four-Joy Tangyuan alone, I believe there are few pastry chefs on the market today who can do better than you."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 297 =====