Chapter 453: Living (Part 6)

Qin Huai watched Zhao Chengan make dim sum in the Li family's kitchen for over an hour and had basically figured out the current situation.

This point in time was a full 6 years after the last one. Xia Sheng, not counting his nominal age, was already 13 years old, so it was no wonder he had grown into the appearance of a youth. As for the fact that Zhao Chengan's appearance hadn't changed at all in 6 years, everyone accepted it well. Zhao Chengan was originally a youth of about 12 or 13, and still the kind with an extremely robust body; many adults in this era could only be as robust as this for their entire lives.

Plus, everyone tacitly assumed that Zhao Chengan had a brain problem and was a fool, so it was normal for a fool to have some differences in appearance from a normal person.

Don't say it, being a fool from the perspective of a spirit undergoing tribulation was quite good. As long as you were a fool, all strange behaviors were reasonable.

In these 6 years, Zhao Chengan and Xia Sheng had been staying at Taifeng Restaurant to learn their craft. Zhao Chengan specialized in pastry, while Xia Sheng learned whatever there was to learn. When they were at Taifeng Restaurant, they were both apprentices with wages. The only difference was that Xia Sheng was taken in as a personal disciple by Chen Qiusheng at the beginning of this year.

Of course, the wages were the same.

This Li family they worked for could only be considered an unremarkable wealthy family in Beiping. Naturally, they couldn't compare with princes and nobles. Their ancestors had produced a Hanlin scholar, which was still considered noble, but the current Master Li had abandoned literature for business after the imperial examination was abolished, so they were very wealthy economically.

The Young Master Li that Xia Sheng mentioned just now was Master Li's only legitimate son, still studying, and had just gotten married at the end of last year. The marriage partner was Jiang Chengde's younger sister, Jiang Huiqin.

Because of this relationship, Chen Qiusheng came to the Li family to be a chef recommended by Jiang Chengde, and incidentally brought Zhao Chengan and Xia Sheng along.

The work in the Li family's kitchen was obviously not as busy as at Taifeng Restaurant. Taifeng Restaurant was a restaurant, with guests coming and going endlessly every day. From the errand boys to the master chefs, everyone wished they could grow 8 hands and feet, busy without touching the ground.

The Li family's kitchen had more than a dozen people from kitchen helpers to assistant chefs, serving only this big family of the Li family. There were many masters, but the masters were also divided into different ranks.

The most noble were naturally the old lady, Master Li and his wife, as well as Young Master Li and his wife, the direct line. Next were Master Li's illegitimate sons and the brothers who lived in the mansion without separating the family. Then came the illegitimate daughters and concubines, and the lowest rank were the poor relatives who came to beg for favors.

The kitchen was always the place with the most gossip, and the sound of the stove fire could well cover up everyone's gossip. Qin Huai shuttled around the kitchen, listening to the kitchen helpers tell gossip about the masters of the mansion, listening with great relish, feeling like he had returned to the time when he watched palace dramas and house-fighting dramas with Qin Luo in college.

Master Li was doing business while reading the Four Books and Five Classics, Young Master Li was falling in love and getting married while attending university preparing to study abroad in the future, and the eldest daughter had just sensationally published a divorce in the newspaper and wanted to take her daughter home. Madam Li had already been crying at home for four or five days, lamenting the misfortune of the family, as there was actually a daughter who had been divorced.

The concubines were addicted to house-fighting in the mansion, the old lady was addicted to sweets because of her old age, and Young Master Li's several illegitimate younger brothers were studying in the new-style school, living in misery and having no intention of fighting for the family property.

What a wonderful Li family.

If it were the current version of Zhao Chengan working in such a place with endless gossip every day, he would probably have been so busy eating melons that he wouldn't know what the world was.

But the first-life Zhao Chengan was obviously not like this; he still had a high spirit of professionalism. As long as it was work, he would definitely do it seriously, and even if his level wasn't very good, he could win by being serious.

Yes, Qin Huai felt that Zhao Chengan's current culinary level was not very good.

Whether it was kneading dough or adjusting the filling, the level was very average, and it could even be said to be a bit poor. The bean paste filling Zhao Chengan made for the bean paste buns had almost a lethal amount of sugar. If such bean paste buns were sold at Does Zhi Wei Ju, one bite would make any child who loved sweets not want to eat any sweet things within six hours.

Qin Huai visually estimated that the dim sum Zhao Chengan made now was between C+ and B grade. It wasn't bad, considering that Zhao Chengan had actually only learned dim sum for 7 years, and for a long time in the early stage, he must have been an apprentice doing odd jobs, unable to learn any skills, so this level was still acceptable.

It was just that it was a bit worse compared to Xia Sheng next door.

It was also 6 years, and Xia Sheng was a bit like he had opened up.

Not only was his work efficiency extremely fast, being able to complete all the cutting and preparation Chen Qiusheng needed in the shortest time, but his skill coverage was also wide. He could handle all ingredients, could knead shoulders and knock legs, could chop wood, could burn fire, and could go to the stove to stir-fry two dishes when necessary.

Because there was a banquet in the evening, the kitchen was relatively busy this afternoon, and everyone couldn't be idle. If one had to pick the most idle one, it must be Zhao Chengan—

He was only responsible for making buns, with nothing else to do.

With such an easy job with good money, no wonder Zhao Chengan cried and shouted to come to the Li family to work.

Of course, Zhao Chengan soon wouldn't be relaxed.

Someone came to the kitchen.

It was a master wearing new light green clothes, hair coiled up, two gold hairpins inserted in her head, wearing gemstone earrings in both ears, and a jade bracelet on her wrist, followed by a maid.

Qin Huai guessed that this master should be Jiang Chengde's younger sister, Jiang Huiqin.

Jiang Huiqin ran into the kitchen with a smile, took a very exaggerated deep breath, and said to Chen Qiusheng in a very exaggerated tone: "Wow, the dishes today are so fragrant, Master Chen. I smelled the fragrance of pork knuckle and fish soup from far away."

"Master Chen, you are really showing favoritism. I said for half a month that I wanted to drink fish soup, but I didn't see you stew it for me. Mingyi said today was a family banquet, and you stewed fish soup as soon as you were asked to make a few good dishes."

Facing Jiang Huiqin's teasing, Chen Qiusheng very calmly served a bowl of fish soup: "Yes, yes, yes, it's my fault. This first bowl of fish soup today will be secretly served to the young mistress as a special treat, just as my apology to the young mistress."

Jiang Huiqin took the fish soup with a giggle, took a small sip, and her eyes lit up: "So fresh! Master Chen, what did you add? You actually have a secret recipe for stewing fish soup that I didn't know about before. Tell me quickly, I want to use this recipe to stew a pot of fish soup for Mingyi in two days, so he knows my skills."

"Cough, cough, young mistress, the mistress told you to go to the kitchen less." The maid reminded her tactfully from the side.

"Mother told me to cook less, saying the oily smoke would stain my clothes. I am stewing soup now, there is no oily smoke."

Chen Qiusheng couldn't help but tease: "Yes, yes, yes, stewing soup, the kind that is stewed in a big pot."

The maid reminded her in a low voice again: "Young mistress, the eldest lady and the others will be here soon."

"Oh, right." Jiang Huiqin reacted, and hurriedly said the main business, "Master Chen, do you have time now? Eldest sister is bringing Fen girl back today, and just sent a message saying Fen girl caught a cold last night and has been vomiting and having diarrhea since she got up this morning, unable to eat anything. Mother asked if you could make some dim sum suitable for children to digest, it must be made by you, not by him."

"His dim sum is too sweet, grandma likes to eat it, but Fen girl can't eat too much, it's not good for her teeth if she eats too much."

Hearing Jiang Huiqin say this, Zhao Chengan, who had been eavesdropping on the side, was immediately dissatisfied and complained for himself: "Huiqin, how can you say that? You have known me for so many years, don't you know my skills? I make dim sum sweet because the old lady likes to eat sweet, I can also make it not sweet!"

Hearing Zhao Chengan call Jiang Huiqin Huiqin, the maid was suddenly angry, glared at Zhao Chengan fiercely, and her voice became severe: "Bold, how dare you call the young mistress by her name..."

Then the maid was interrupted by Jiang Huiqin: "Alright, Xiao Qin, you should also watch fewer of those plays. He doesn't have a clear brain and calls everyone by their name. He called mother Xiuzhen last time, and mother didn't care about him. Just get used to it."

Jiang Huiqin looked at Chen Qiusheng: "Master Chen, do you have suitable dim sum here?"

Chen Qiusheng thought for a while: "How about yam cake? It's easy to digest and not sweet, most suitable for eating when the spleen is weak and causing diarrhea. I will start making it now, it should be ready by dinner time."

"That's really great." Jiang Huiqin said with a smile, standing there without any intention of leaving.

It was obvious that she wanted to stay in the kitchen to watch Chen Qiusheng make yam cake, but in order to make her stay not so abrupt, Jiang Huiqin also found a topic to chat while watching. ===== CHAPTER 454 =====