Chapter 403

After a heated conversation whose specific content Qin Huai did not know, Zheng Da stormed into the Huang Ji kitchen at 4:18 PM to make dim sum.

Yes, family, you read that right, it was to make dim sum.

Since it was too late to knead dough, Zheng Da directly requisitioned the dough that Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan had already kneaded, not caring what the two of them had originally intended to make, and just went about making a mess of things.

The dim sum that Qin Huai could recognize included: Pincer-Flower Palace Lantern Bao, Crab Roe Pastry, Dragon Beard Pastry, Uncle Uncle He Hua Pastry, Lychee Face Fruit, Apple Face Fruit, Red Date Face Fruit, Four-Joy Rolls, Goldfish Dumplings, several types of flower buns of medium difficulty, and some dim sum that Qin Huai didn't quite recognize but had very beautiful styling.

All of these dim sum had high requirements for finger techniques.

Zheng Da made them from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM, a full 5+ hours without stopping, not talking to anyone or paying attention to anyone. Even when Huang Shengli asked him what was going on, Zheng Da acted as if he hadn't heard.

He didn't make many of these dim sum, just one or two of each, making everyone unable to figure out what he was thinking.

Even if you took the wrong medicine, you have to figure out which medicine you took wrong.

Everyone, including Qin Huai, just kept watching Zheng Da make all kinds of beautiful dim sum in the Huang Ji kitchen until 9:00 PM. During this period, Qin Huai even briefly left the kitchen to consult Su Gan about the situation at Zhi Wei Ju.

Qin Huai had already set his itinerary to go to Zhi Wei Ju the day after tomorrow and had picked out the house to live in.

A two-bedroom house under Boss Su's name. Qin Huai suspected that he had become accustomed to living in a two-bedroom house during this period—whether it was in the Yunzhong residential area or the house he lived in at Huang Ji, they were all two-bedroom houses—which led him to feel that two-bedroom houses were particularly good now.

A one-bedroom is a bit small, and a three-bedroom has too much space; a two-bedroom is just right. If a friend or younger sister comes, they can even live together directly, which is very convenient.

Boss Su's efficiency was very high, quickly helping Qin Huai place an order to book the high-speed rail ticket, and attaching a Hangcheng travel guide.

As a famous tourist destination, Hangcheng has many attractions worth visiting. Boss Su indicated that Qin Huai didn't have to just exchange when he came to Zhi Wei Ju; Zhi Wei Ju rolls the apprentices, but the Master Chefs never roll.

Taking Master Zhou as an example, Master Zhou likes to go to the lakeside to walk and blow the breeze at noon and in the afternoon. Maintaining a good mood and a leisurely lifestyle can help Master Chefs make better dim sum.

Qin Huai decisively bookmarked the travel guide.

When he was exchanging at Huang Ji before, he would also wander around Gusu during his rest time, visiting gardens with Dong Shi and the like. Although Dong Shi basically deliberately arranged his rest time with Qin Huai so he could take Qin Huai to visit several famous attractions in Gusu, lest Qin Huai be cheated or not understand how to play.

Qin Huai was very moved by Dong Shi's thoughtfulness, while also expressing that it would be even better if Dong Shi didn't talk so much when accompanying him out to play.

Compared to Dong Shi's thoughtfulness, Boss Su's thoughtfulness had a better sense of proportion; he only sent a travel guide and didn't say he would arrange for someone to take Qin Huai to play.

Just from this travel guide, Qin Huai felt the difference between Zhi Wei Ju and Huang Ji.

Although Huang Ji is a high-end restaurant, it is essentially a family workshop. No matter how poor the young master's working ability is, he is still the young master, and the restaurant is destined to be inherited by the young master in the future.

All the Master Chefs in the kitchen and the future Master Chefs are Huang Shengli's apprentices, which can be said to be basically no outsiders. Even the helpers are helpers who have worked for many years and are equivalent to half-apprentices.

This model makes Huang Ji very humane, but it also encounters many problems—such as when the head chef Huang Shengli has some unexpected situations, such as poor health and being unable to serve as head chef. The young master's management level is extremely substandard, and Huang Ji doesn't have many professional management talents, not even a professional accountant. In this case, Huang Ji's business will suffer a devastating blow.

Zhi Wei Ju is the exact opposite model of Huang Ji.

Although Zhi Wei Ju is a very traditional master-apprentice model, it has enough Master Chefs, and if subdivided, Master Chefs can be divided into many.

Many people and many factions will bring struggles and complex interpersonal relationships. Many times, struggles don't need the flattened villains that appear in novels and TV dramas; they just need to look at each other unpleasantly, or look at each other's craftsmanship unpleasantly.

For example, Master Zhou looks at Zheng Da unpleasantly.

Is Master Zhou a villain? Obviously not. It would be too extravagant to let the number one person in pastry be a villain.

Did Zheng Da do anything to offend Master Zhou? Of course not. Master Zhou stays in Zhi Wei Ju every day to make dim sum and teach apprentices, and Zheng Da stays in Gusu all year round, occasionally running around the country to do business. The two haven't even met a few times, but it doesn't prevent Master Zhou from looking at Zheng Da unpleasantly.

Sometimes when they meet at an exchange meeting, Master Zhou holds his nostrils to the sky and quietly rolls his eyes at Zheng Da, guest-starring as a flattened villain.

Such a complex kitchen is theoretically very unsuitable for the long-term development of high-end restaurants. Restaurant management is complex, but cooking and making dim sum are pure.

Zhi Wei Ju has been able to stand tall for so many years mainly because Boss Su manages it well.

Boss Su and Huang Anyan are simply two extremes. Before taking over Zhi Wei Ju, Boss Su was also a young master. Zhi Wei Ju is a famous old brand in Hangcheng, founded by Boss Su's great-grandfather.

Passed down from generation to generation, by the time it reached Boss Su, the craftsmanship was basically broken. Boss Su's pastry craftsmanship is average, but his management ability is particularly strong. He turned Zhi Wei Ju, which was once a family workshop model like Huang Ji, passed down from generation to generation, where all the chefs in the kitchen were basically fellow disciples, into the large restaurant with many factions that it is today.

As Boss Su's nephew, Su Gan knows the history of Zhi Wei Ju's transformation very well and told Qin Huai all these things one by one.

When Boss Su was still the young master, he realized deeply that his own craftsmanship could not support Zhi Wei Ju at all. But if he let fellow apprentices with better craftsmanship inherit or support Zhi Wei Ju, there would inevitably be conflicts of interest over time, which was not a long-term solution either.

History will tell later generations many lessons from predecessors. Many old-brand restaurants collapsed overnight and disappeared into the long river of time not because there were no successors, but because of some unspeakable reasons.

In this case, Boss Su made a decision that violated his ancestors. He poached many Master Chefs through high-price poaching, share dividends, and using the feelings of the older generation to play the emotional card.

Then he recruited a large number of apprentices, promoted exchanges between Zhi Wei Ju and other restaurants with good pastry levels, and made Zhi Wei Ju's reputation and strength soar.

When Boss Su was still the young master, Zhi Wei Ju was just the well-deserved number one pastry restaurant in Hangcheng, and when Boss Su truly became Boss Su, through decades of management, he made Zhi Wei Ju sit firmly on the title of the number one pastry restaurant in the country.

So much so that many people only know the first and not the second. When mentioning pastry, the first thing that comes to mind is Zhi Wei Ju, and the remaining one cannot be remembered.

These are Boss Su's general operations, and of course, there are many micro-operations in the details that cannot be said.

For example, how to deal with the contradictions between Master Chefs after there are many people, how to deal with the relationships between different factions, how to solve it if several Master Chefs take a fancy to an apprentice at the same time, and how to keep the kitchen atmosphere stable—these are Boss Su's real skills.

As Boss Su's nephew, Su Gan is Master Zhou's future personal disciple. Not only did he learn the technology of making dim sum from Master Zhou, but he also learned the transparency of management from Boss Su.

Su Gan knows the several Master Chefs of Zhi Wei Ju very well and introduced them to Qin Huai one by one, including the dim sum they are good at, their factions, temperaments, and interpersonal relationships.

He detailed who looks at whom unpleasantly among these Master Chefs, which ones seem to have a harmonious relationship but actually often scold each other in private, secretly competing, comparing levels, the reputation of dim sum, and the level of apprentices they brought out.

This is the first time Su Gan has told Qin Huai gossip, gossip in the true sense.

The words were fluent and the logic was clear.

It made Qin Huai not even want to return to the kitchen to see what beautiful dim sum Zheng Da had made, just wanting to grab Su Gan in the corner and ask a few more gossips about Zhi Wei Ju.

Su Gan is still too comprehensive, even telling gossip so well!

At the end, Su Gan indicated to Qin Huai that these gossips were just his personal opinions, and the actual situation might not be so. Master Qin is the truly sophisticated one who is good at judging people. As for what the specific situation is, Qin Huai will surely be able to see it after staying at Zhi Wei Ju for a few days.

The summary is that although Zhi Wei Ju has complex relationships and Master Chefs who look at each other unpleasantly, under Boss Su's excellent working ability and adjustment ability, there are no irreconcilable contradictions between them, and the overall working atmosphere is still very harmonious, harmonious, and rolling.

Qin Huai was so eager to go to Zhi Wei Ju tomorrow to see if the situation was really as Su Gan said—this master looks at that master unpleasantly, this master and that master have been secretly competing in private, this master's son chased that master's daughter and it didn't work out, and the two masters fell out.

Anyway, he packed his luggage very quickly.

When Qin Huai watched Zheng Da make dim sum in the kitchen, he couldn't help but want to ask Tan Weian if the gossip Su Gan just said was true, but he finally held back. Based on Qin Huai's understanding of Tan Weian, if there was such wonderful gossip in the kitchen, Tan Weian would definitely find an opportunity to tell himself. Tan Weian didn't tell himself, which meant that this gossip might not be true, or he didn't see it at all, and the latter possibility is greater.

Tan Weian is an employee and shareholder of Zhi Wei Ju. Before Qin Huai truly goes to Zhi Wei Ju for an exchange and figures out what the situation is there, he feels that some things are better not to be rashly said to shareholders.

The price of not being able to say it is that Qin Huai can only silently savor these gossips in his heart, so much so that he was a bit distracted, and didn't even notice at the first time that Zheng Da stopped making dim sum at 9:26 PM.

By the time Qin Huai noticed Zheng Da stopped, Huang Shengli had already gone to ask Zheng Da what was going on.

Zheng Da didn't care about any of the dim sum he made earlier. He didn't say how to handle these dim sum, and others didn't dare to move or eat them. After all, they were all quite beautiful and exquisite; what if Zheng Da made these dim sum just to line them up for comparison, or to show off on Moments?

No one can guess Master Zheng's mind.

"What's the situation with you today? What kind of madness did you have again?" As a senior brother, Huang Shengli's words were quite impolite, and he didn't forget to glance at Qin Huai while speaking, because he was asking Zheng Da with his eyes if it was because Qin Huai was going to Zhi Wei Ju the day after tomorrow that you, Master Zheng, were stimulated again.

Zheng Da didn't look at Huang Shengli at all, nor did he listen much. After the dim sum was made, he was still immersed in his own world.

Zheng Da picked up a crane-shaped flower bun, which was relatively difficult, and asked Huang Shengli: "Senior Brother, is there any problem with my crane-sending-longevity?"

Once the words "Senior Brother" came out, Huang Shengli realized that today's situation was not simple.

Huang Shengli frowned slightly, looked at the flower bun, and affirmed: "Very good."

Zheng Da pointed to the lotus flower pastry, which could almost be described as ingenious: "Is there any problem with my lotus flower pastry?"

Huang Shengli said in a very affirmative tone: "Of course not."

"What about the Crab Roe Pastry?"

"Very beautiful."

"Goldfish Dumplings?"

"Impeccable in styling."

"Lychee Face Fruit."

"..."

Zheng Da asked about almost every dim sum he made, and finally pointed to the Four-Joy Roll and asked: "Then my Four-Joy Roll's reverse roll wasn't rolled well. Is there a problem with the basics of my finger techniques?"

Huang Shengli didn't answer this question.

Zheng Da was still muttering in self-doubt: "I admit that his dim sum is better than mine. He is the highest-ranked pastry chef in the famous chef list, and I can't compare to him."

"I also admit that his finger techniques are excellent, and his boat dim sum is so superb that it almost reaches the level of showing off skills."

"But doesn't he also not know how to make Ruyi Rolls?"

"His cloud patterns are not as good as Master Tan's, and he hasn't even seen me make Four-Joy Rolls. Why does he say that my reverse roll isn't rolled well because there is a problem with the basics of my finger techniques?"

"Me? A problem with the basics?" Zheng Da's last few words were almost cracking. "Even if he, surnamed Zhou, is the number one person in pastry, he can't be so arrogant, right?"

"Also, what do you mean by a problem with my finger technique basics? If Xiao Qin's finger techniques were guided by me, it would lead to similar problems in his basics, because a master with unsteady basics cannot bring out an apprentice with steady basics. What? Are his apprentice's basics very good? Are Su Gan's basics very good? I see that Su Gan's... that... steamed dim sum is also very average, not as good as Siyuan's at all. His ability to bring apprentices is just like that, not as good as my son's at all."

Zheng Da had already started indiscriminate AOE attacks.

After a long silence, Huang Shengli silently spat out a sentence: "Do you still remember that Master actually said that the basics of your finger techniques were not very solid back then?"

Zheng Da:...

Once these words came out, Zheng Da suddenly became like a deflated ball, no longer angry, no longer roaring, no longer screaming and cracking, and even stopped struggling.

Zheng Da looked up, saw who was on the side, and found that no one was missing. Qin Huai was standing not far from him, watching him silently.

Zheng Da:...

Tired, let this world be destroyed.

What did he just do and say?

Is it too late for him to knock his head on the cooking table and pass out, and then say he has amnesia?

Qin Huai saw Zheng Da's thoughts and deliberated: "Master Zheng, I don't think your finger technique level is not high enough, nor do I think you can't teach me well."

"It's my finger technique foundation that is too poor. I thought that I definitely wouldn't be able to practice the Four-Joy Roll in a short time, so I might as well go to Zhi Wei Ju for an exchange to see the world, exchange with more Master Chefs to broaden my horizons, and learn more new things."

"When I practice to a certain level and can start practicing the Four-Joy Roll, I will come back to ask you for advice, please guide me, and let me go further."

"I didn't mean that your level is not good. If it was my afternoon words that made you misunderstand, I apologize to you."

"Later, I will tell Boss Su of Zhi Wei Ju that I want to learn finger techniques from you during this time and may not have time to go to Zhi Wei Ju for an exchange. After all, I originally scheduled with Boss Su to go in July or August."

Zheng Da was so moved that tears were about to flow.

Listen, what thoughtful words! Qin Huai said that going to Zhi Wei Ju is to broaden his horizons and lay a foundation, and wait until the foundation is laid before coming to him for further studies.

What does this mean? It means that the group of people at Zhi Wei Ju can only teach some basics, and the really high-difficulty ones have to be him, Zheng Da!

Zheng Da was fine at once.

"What are you talking about? You, Master Zheng, I was just angered by that surnamed Su and Zhou... just angered by that surnamed Su. What I just said was all nonsense, Xiao Qin, don't mind it. I came here today actually just to tell you."

"I especially like the styling of the Four-Joy Flower Roll you made. Isn't it just helping you make Four-Joy Flower Rolls for a month? No problem."

"It was originally to talk about this matter. I haven't made dim sum for a day, and when I saw the dough, my hands felt itchy, so I made some by the way."

"You know me, I feel uncomfortable if I don't make dim sum for a day."

Qin Huai:...

Zheng Da is really in a hurry, he can say any lie.

Qin Huai smiled and nodded: "I know, Master Zheng."

(End of chapter)