Chapter 376: Burying one's head in the sand

Just looking at Zheng Da's first reaction, Qin Huai could roughly guess that Zheng Da simply didn't like the Four-Joy Roll dim sum, because his reaction was a bit too intense.

It seemed a bit like a stress response.

What kind of damage did the Four-Joy Roll actually cause to Zheng Da?

On the way to the residential area, Qin Huai quietly took out his phone and sent a message to Dong Shi, asking Dong Shi to make sure to find out this news within tomorrow.

It might have been Huang Ji's clock-out time, as Dong Shi replied almost instantly, promising to complete the task and ensuring that Qin Huai would hear the complete cause and effect the first moment he arrived at Huang Ji tomorrow.

Then he casually asked if Qin Huai would be making breakfast tomorrow morning. If he were making breakfast, he would come earlier, coming on an empty stomach.

It could be seen that ever since Qin Huai left Huang Ji, the employees of Huang Ji had lost their precious breakfast.

Zheng Da drove Qin Huai all the way to the residential area. Since Old Man Wang only rented a house in the residential area and didn't buy one, Old Man Wang temporarily lived with Qin Huai. Tan Weian and Luo Jun lived in the house bought by Chen Huihong, and Zheng Siyuan lived in the house bought by Xu Tuqiang. Under normal circumstances, Zheng Siyuan should go home, but Zheng Siyuan complained that his home was too far from Huang Ji and he had to travel for a long time every day, so it was more convenient to live directly in the residential area opposite Huang Ji.

As for Shi Dadan, he found an agent to rent a house in the residential area before setting off. The house was rented right below Qin Huai's, which was also convenient.

Qin Huai could see that Zheng Da really wanted to take the opportunity to live with Zheng Siyuan on the grounds of caring for his son, and hinted several times, but Zheng Siyuan didn't pay any attention to his own father at all. Zheng Da could only leave sadly, scolding a few more "unfilial son" in his heart.

It was the first time Qin Huai lived with Wang Laogen, and it was a rare opportunity to have such an open and honest chance to have close contact and chat when bored.

Qin Huai did want to chat a bit more, but Wang Laogen had absolutely no interest in this aspect. He was now entirely focused on tomorrow's account settlement, already full of fighting spirit, and only wanted to recharge his energy and go to bed early to start the tense and intense accounting work tomorrow.

The soul of the 40-year professional accountant belonging to Wang Laogen was already burning fiercely.

Considering that Wang Laogen had no interest in chatting, Qin Huai could only give up. After all, he had also arranged a very wonderful script for Wang Laogen tomorrow, and he needed to rehearse it one last time in his heart tonight to ensure that there would be no problems with the plot development tomorrow.

Then Qin Huai chatted with Shi Dadan on WeChat until 1 AM, deeply analyzing and discussing tomorrow's script.

Shi Dadan was also one of the important extras for tomorrow, a very important one, used to set the atmosphere.

A good night's sleep.

But when Qin Huai woke up, it was already 8:30 AM the next day. Qin Huai, who discovered he had overslept again, got up in a hurry and saw Wang Laogen and Shi Dadan in the living room.

Wang Laogen was sitting at the dining table wearing reading glasses and looking at a laptop.

Yes, Wang Laogen was so well-equipped that even the laptop was brought by himself.

Shi Dadan was sitting opposite Wang Laogen, calmly eating wontons. One look at the wontons and you could tell they were the bubble wontons made by Zheng Siyuan; he still loved making bubble wontons in the morning so much.

"Xiao Qin, you're awake." Shi Dadan said happily when he saw Qin Huai get up, "Old Wang specifically went to Huang Ji to pack a portion of wontons for you to bring back. You can eat the wontons first and then go to Huang Ji. That Master Huang at Huang Ji said that it's normal for you to be unable to get up this morning after rushing around all day yesterday, so don't worry, it's fine whenever the dim sum starts selling."

Qin Huai, who had never been brought up by his grandparents (Old Man Qin and Grandma Qin lived in the countryside all year round), was stunned. Is this the treatment of being brought up by grandparents in legends? If you oversleep in the morning, you won't be urged or woken up; instead, someone will buy breakfast, pack it, and bring it back, waiting for you to eat.

"Then... have Zheng Siyuan and the others arrived at Huang Ji?" Qin Huai was too shocked, and only after asking did he realize he had asked a stupid question.

"Zheng Siyuan and Tan Weian have both arrived. Luo Jun... when Old Wang and I came back from Huang Ji at 8 o'clock, he didn't seem to have come yet. He should have arrived by now."

"Right, Old Wang."

Hearing Shi Dadan call him, Wang Laogen adjusted his reading glasses, looked up at Shi Dadan, detached himself from his focused working state, reacted for two seconds, and then nodded: "Seems like it. Is Xiao Luo that young man who talks a lot? He doesn't seem to have come."

Qin Huai indicated that he already understood the situation and hurried to the bathroom to wash up. Shi Dadan got up and went to the kitchen to pour Qin Huai's portion of bubble wontons from the thermal bucket into a bowl, brought it out, and placed it on the dining table.

Qin Huai finished washing up in a hurry, buried his head in eating while replying to WeChat messages. Shi Dadan sat beside him, accompanying him in silence, while Wang Laogen stared at the computer with a frown.

It was the first time Qin Huai saw this expression on Wang Laogen's face. If Qian Master and Xu Tuqiang had seen Wang Laogen in this state, they definitely wouldn't have gone around saying that Wang Laogen was likely suffering from dementia.

"Old Man Wang, what's wrong?" Qin Huai asked tentatively.

"These accounts are too unprofessional, messy. Is this how accountants do accounts now?" Wang Laogen frowned, "The spreadsheet account books are made like this. It's simply too easy for an accountant to do something, and they could easily make the factory... restaurant lose hundreds of thousands."

"Uh... Huang Ji might indeed not have a professional accountant." Qin Huai didn't know much about Huang Ji's personnel situation, but the Fuli Academy canteen should be about the same. They were all led by a professional foreman, and the old employees might not be very professional, but they were relatively very serious and responsible.

"The most unprofessional thing is that I asked Xiao Huang for the accounts this morning, and he just gave them to me directly."

"Can account items be given casually? He even gave me the purchase orders!" Wang Laogen sighed deeply, "I just took a simple look, and he even gave me the accounts for March this year. Except for the spreadsheet being okay, these things are simply a mess."

Qin Huai:...

Truly worthy of you, Huang Anyao.

"Then, Old Man Wang, you can just stay at home and clear the accounts today, and then go to Huang Ji for dinner in the evening. Let's see what you'll have for lunch today..."

"Just agreed with Old Wang, I'll deliver food to him at noon." Shi Dadan said happily, "Old Wang said that this account will probably take five or six days to clear. If he carries the computer around, data leakage will also be a problem, so he won't go out these few days."

"His computer isn't even connected to the internet."

"Xiao Qin, you can just rest assured and make dim sum. I'll handle the rest. Call me anytime if you have anything, and remember to call me when the Double Crab Bao is out of the steamer."

Qin Huai initially thought that Shi Dadan came to Suzhou with him to revisit the old place. He didn't expect Shi Dadan to be here to assist him. He was moved for a moment, nodded, finished the wontons, and went out to work.

When Qin Huai went out, Shi Dadan also very thoughtfully asked Wang Laogen: "Old Wang, want to eat some fruit? Your eyes will hurt after looking at the computer for a long time, especially looking at these words. My eyes hurt just looking at the words. Xiao Qin has quite a lot of fruit at home. I'll wash two apples for you to gnaw on."

Gold medal assistant. It would be even better if he didn't judge Wang Laogen's appetite by his own.

The house where Qin Huai lived was less than 5 minutes away from Huang Ji. He had walked this road many times every day a few months ago, from autumn to winter. The clothes he wore became thicker and thicker, and more and more people on the road could recognize Qin Huai.

It was spring now, and Qin Huai actually walked out of a different feeling on this road.

Clearly, Shi Dadan was the one who came back to revisit the old place. As a result, before Shi Dadan went to find the old place, Qin Huai walked out of the feeling of revisiting the old place first. He didn't feel it last night because the light was too dark, but now the sky was just right, the temperature was suitable, and walking on the familiar road, Qin Huai walked out of a bit of emotion and expectation instead.

Having not seen the employees of Huang Ji for a few months, thinking about it now, he really missed them a bit.

Although Dong Shi sent messages to Qin Huai with high intensity on WeChat every day, sharing the latest gossip, making Qin Huai almost know everything about Wang Jun's emotional experience (no emotional experience after breaking up), chatting on WeChat and chatting offline were different.

Qin Huai also missed Dong Shi chattering and chatting about gossip beside him.

In the short 5-minute road, Qin Huai almost reviewed the first half of his life and enjoyed the second half of his life, walking out of the feeling of life's path.

So, people shouldn't stay up late. Staying up late will make you oversleep, oversleeping will make your brain unclear, and an unclear brain will make you think wildly.

The moment Qin Huai stepped into Huang Ji, a familiar figure rushed towards him. Faster than the person was the chattering sound.

"Qin Huai, you finally came. Didn't you say there would be chicken soup noodles this morning? I waited for you so bitterly! That Mr. Shi who came with you this time has such a big appetite. Do you know how many bowls of wontons he ate at Huang Ji this morning? A full 20 bowls! It's the first time I've seen someone who can eat 20 bowls of wontons. How did he do it? Is he a professional big eater?"

Qin Huai:...

At this moment, all the emotions vanished.

Alright, he didn't miss them at all. To be honest, Dong Shi was indeed quite noisy when he chattered.

"Did you find out what I asked you to find out last night?" Qin Huai asked directly, walking towards the changing room to change clothes. Dong Shi followed Qin Huai into the changing room, talking as he walked.

"Of course I found out. After I got off work last night, I went directly to the residential area opposite to squat for a few regular customers. I asked casually and found out. Later, when I got home, I called my master to ask. This news is definitely authentic, no fake."

"The Four-Joy Roll you mentioned, when my grandmaster was still a head chef at the state-run restaurant, he would sell it every year during the New Year, selling it from New Year's Eve to the second day of the New Year, only selling it for 3 days, and the state-run restaurant only sold this one dim sum for those 3 days."

"Each person could only buy one per day, and the price was very cheap. Basically, you could buy dim sum made of white flour with meat filling at the price of coarse grain mantou. The price sold was not even enough for the cost price. My master said that grandmaster would lose money every year to sell it, saying it was for good luck during the New Year, so that families who were usually reluctant to eat white flour dim sum could also eat something good."

"And this Four-Joy Roll dim sum looks like it has no difficulty. It's just a flower roll with filling, a bit like a lazy dragon, but it actually has very high requirements for the chef's dough leavening, finger techniques, and filling seasoning."

"After grandmaster retired due to illness, Master Zheng took over the work of making dim sum. But because his skills were not very refined at that time, the Four-Joy Rolls made during the first year of the New Year were very... not good."

"It is said that it was not good in every aspect from shape to taste."

"However, because the Four-Joy Roll was originally sold at a loss, the neighbors knew it in their hearts, so no one would say that this dim sum was not good in front of Master Zheng, at most they would secretly mutter behind his back."

"Just like they secretly muttered that the Huaihua Mantou made by Master Zheng was not good, the baozi was not good, the shaobing was not good. Anyway, it is said that Master Zheng was often secretly muttered about by others in the years after he became a regular."

"How would ordinary customers understand the gap in skills between dim sum chefs? They only know that grandmaster's skills are good, but they don't know how good grandmaster's skills are. Master Zheng's level is obviously not as good as grandmaster's, so they think it's because Master Zheng, the apprentice, is not skilled enough."

"My master said that Master Zheng hates this dim sum not because he can't make it well, but because he didn't have time."

"My grandmaster would also eat Four-Joy Rolls every New Year. After grandmaster retired due to illness, his health was always not very good. In the first year, grandmaster's health was still okay, so the Four-Joy Rolls during the New Year were made by grandmaster. In the following years, they were all made by Master Zheng. At that time, Master Zheng told grandmaster that he would definitely make Four-Joy Rolls with the same skills as grandmaster one year, so that the neighbors would recognize him."

"But grandmaster didn't wait for that day."

"The difficulty of the Four-Joy Roll is too high. A few years after grandmaster retired due to illness, he passed away. Ever since grandmaster passed away, Master Zheng never sold Four-Joy Rolls at the state-run restaurant again."

"At this time, everyone thought Master Zheng was too sad, and no one mentioned it for fear of Master Zheng being touched by the scene. Later, Master Zheng went to do business and stopped being a dim sum chef, so many old customers forgot about it. If I hadn't asked last night, they might not have remembered this dim sum."

Qin Huai nodded, indicating understanding.

Hearing it this way, the Four-Joy Roll is also a dim sum with many stories. This dim sum has special significance for both Zheng Da and the former state-run restaurant. It is understandable that Zheng Da is so stressed about this dim sum.

It is truly a moving story.

"However, my master told me that Master Zheng is not afraid of being touched by the scene. If you can be touched by the scene just by making dim sum, then there are many dim sum that need to be avoided."

"Grandmaster made Four-Joy Rolls during the New Year, various zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival, various mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, tangyuan, tangtuan, and yuanxiao during the Lantern Festival, qingtuan during the Qingming Festival, and Chongyang cakes during the Double Ninth Festival. Master Zheng has also made many of those dim sum over the years."

"Master Zheng simply makes it poorly and feels ashamed."

"My master said that Master Zheng actually secretly makes Four-Joy Rolls at home every New Year, but this type of dim sum is the dim sum he is least good at, because Master Zheng always feels that the combination of pork and green onions is a bit strange. He feels in his heart that there is a problem with the recipe, so he has never been able to make it well for so many years."

"Master Zheng deliberately doesn't make it because he can't make it well, because if he doesn't make it, others won't know he can't make it well. After a long time, they will forget, and he can escape the fact that he can't make this dim sum well."

"My master said Master Zheng has liked to bury his head in the sand since he was a child."

Qin Huai:...

Truly worthy of being master and apprentice.

Give me back the emotion I just had!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 377 =====