Chapter 53: Randomly Dropping Master Zheng (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

After the lunch business hours ended, Qin Huai finalized the video call time with Zheng Da on WeChat, finished making the buckwheat buns Chen Huihui wanted to eat first, and started making locust flower buns at 2:30.

In order to make this video exchange smoother, Qin Huai dispatched Qin Luo, who had the best video shooting technology in the family, the best photo editing technology, and was best at zooming in for close-ups, to serve as the photographer.

"Master Zheng, do you think this angle is okay?" Qin Huai waved at the phone lens. "Is it clear? Can you see everything on the station?"

"Yes, the lens can be closer." Zheng Da said.

Qin Luo walked forward two more steps.

"Good, good, good, this distance is particularly good." Zheng Da's voice came from the phone again.

Qin Luo held the phone and looked at Qin Huai for help: "Brother, your locust flower bun dough fermentation is so slow. I won't have to hold this phone for two or three hours, right?"

"Come on, believe in yourself. Tomorrow our cafeteria will temporarily take hand-shaken lemon tea off the shelves for a day, and I'll make Four-Joy Dumplings for you." Qin Huai encouraged.

Qin Luo was instantly energized and immediately indicated that a mere two or three hours was nothing; she hadn't even spent that much time hand-shaking lemon tea every day these past few days.

Why had Qin Luo worked so hard hand-shaking lemon tea these past few days? It was to exercise her hand muscles, enhance her hand strength, and hold the phone better today!

Qin Luo's eyes were shining as she held the phone.

"This is fresh locust honey produced this year." Qin Huai showed the honey jar to the lens, scooped out a few spoonfuls, and dissolved them in warm water. "The amount of honey used for dough fermentation must be small. After trying for this period, I judge it to be roughly this amount."

Zheng Da on the other end of the phone nodded involuntarily.

"This flour is gray flour ground by my grandpa in the countryside and entrusted to someone, mixed with a small amount of buckwheat flour."

Qin Luo gave a close-up of the gray flour and buckwheat flour.

"Now I'm going to start kneading the dough."

Qin Luo hurriedly turned the lens to Qin Huai's hands, adjusting the angle from time to time to ensure that Zheng Da on the other end of the phone could see the hand movements from all angles.

A unique video consultation began like this.

Most of the time, Qin Huai was talking, while asking his own questions, for example—

"The biggest problem I'm facing now is that honey fermentation can succeed, but I can't get very ideal results. I think the problem lies not only in the fermentation process but also in many other aspects. For example, using cold water to mix the dough, but I don't know how to control the temperature of the cold water. Should I use cold water at summer room temperature or add extra ice cubes to lower the water temperature? Master Zheng, do you have any research on this?"

Zheng Da replied: "The water temperature generally depends on the room temperature of the day. If the weather is hot, the water is cool; if the weather is cool, the water is warm. There is no specified range; it mainly depends on your own feeling."

Or for example—

"Look at my kneading process, are there any obvious problems?"

Zheng Da replied: "The technique is excellent, fast speed, high efficiency, the dough is smooth and elastic, and the 'three cleans' are done perfectly. However, this is a dough mixed with gray flour and buckwheat flour. I feel you kneaded it a bit too moderately soft and hard. Wouldn't it be better to make it softer? Don't use brute force; use clever force."

Qin Huai replied: "I've tried softer ones, but the fermentation effect isn't very good."

Zheng Da: "Is that so? What about harder ones?"

"Even worse."

"This really needs to be studied. Theoretically, it should be better if it's softer."

Qin Luo, who was holding the phone, felt that these two people's nonsense was a bit much.

They were talking in circles.

Zheng Da asked if this would work; Qin Huai said no.

Zheng Da asked if that would work; Qin Huai said no either.

Zheng Da sighed and said: "Oh, so neither works. Then I don't know what to do; let me think about what would work." Qin Huai said: "Okay, thank you for your hard work; I'm also thinking about this problem."

After three hours, no solution was given, but they chatted a lot. Zheng Da even knew where Cloud Cafeteria was, what the signature dishes were, which dim sum were most popular, and that Qin Luo, who was holding the phone to take pictures, was Qin Huai's sister.

Qin Huai's side wasn't bad either; he knew Zheng Da's family situation clearly. Zheng Da had a son and a daughter; his son Zheng Siyuan inherited his craftsmanship and opened a pastry shop, and there was a senior brother surnamed Huang who opened a restaurant in Suzhou.

While waiting for the locust flower buns to steam, the two chatted very happily. Zheng Da even slapped his thigh and immediately indicated that Qin Luo's holding the phone was hard work, and Uncle Zheng would call the factory in the evening to ship dozens of boxes of different kinds of dim sum to Qin Luo as snacks.

Seeing the dozens of boxes of snacks, Qin Luo held the phone diligently to ensure the conversation between the two could proceed smoothly.

"Xiao Qin, your basic pastry skills are quite good. Childhood skills, right? How old did you start learning?" After a few hours, Zheng Da's tone when talking to Qin Huai became much more intimate.

Qin Huai thought for a while: "Second grade of elementary school... about 6 years old; I started school early."

Zheng Da nodded with satisfaction: "Not too late. It seems your family attaches great importance to it. My son is a few years older than you; he started practicing when he was 5, but your craftsmanship is stronger than his. Whether it's the kneading action or the control of time, it's stronger than his."

"I'll push my son's WeChat to you later; you two can communicate more on WeChat."

Getting another peer's WeChat, Qin Huai was naturally willing, nodding: "Thank you, Master Zheng. Your son is also......"

"Like you, he also opened a small shop and is a dim sum chef. Oh right, Siyuan's shop is also opened at the entrance of the residential complex; it's quite a coincidence."

Zheng Da said, feeling it was really fate, and sat up straight to care about Qin Huai's other situations: "Xiao Qin, are you in a relationship?"

Qin Huai:?

Qin Huai shook his head: "No."

Zheng Da clicked his tongue: "Why are you young people like this nowadays? My son is the same. But you're still young, no rush. That son of mine, he's already 29, officially running towards 30, and still has no interest in finding a partner. It's really worrying."

Qin Huai comforted: "Master Zheng, you don't have to worry too much. Finding a partner is a natural thing; finding the right one is the most important thing, can't rush."

Zheng Da felt relieved and said movingly: "Why still call me Master Zheng? Too distant, just call me Uncle Zheng!"

Just then, the locust flower buns in the steamer were ready to come out of the oven.

Qin Huai had already seen it.

【Locust Flower Bun C-minus grade】

Perhaps because he was distracted while talking, this batch of locust flower buns didn't even reach C-grade and was directly C-minus.

Qin Huai lifted the steamer lid. In a cloud of steam, Qin Luo wiped the lens frantically to ensure Zheng Da could see the locust flower buns clearly.

"It really doesn't look very good." Zheng Da sighed, also a bit confused. "Shouldn't be. Xiao Qin, your craftsmanship is quite good; the buns you make shouldn't be like this."

"This is also the reason I've always been confused." Qin Huai said. "According to the recipe I saw and the description in the recipe, the successful version of locust flower buns should be very amazing."

"The surface is as smooth as a pure fine-grain bun, without air holes, the taste is slightly sweet with a faint fragrance of locust honey, the texture is soft, and because of the buckwheat flour, you can taste a bit of buckwheat's toughness."

"At the same time, the bun must be elastic."

"But these are far from the finished product I made."

Zheng Da was silent for a rare moment. "Xiao Qin, to tell you the truth, Uncle Zheng, I've only heard of the locust flower buns you mentioned, never seen them. But I believe they do exist. However, just looking at the steps you just took, to be honest, I can't find any major problems."

"How about this? If you don't mind, send me the specific location, and I'll come over tomorrow."

"Looking at the phone is still a bit off. I'll see it on the spot to see if I can find a solution."

Hearing Zheng Da say he wanted to come over in person, Qin Huai was really surprised. Although the two had just chatted happily, they had only met for the first day and were introduced by a middleman.

Really speaking, the relationship between Qin Huai and Zheng Da wasn't as close as the office workers who came to grab buns every day.

Just because he couldn't find a solution by watching the video, he wanted to make a special trip—Zheng Da's enthusiasm wasn't lower than Chen Huihong's!

"Isn't it too much trouble for you?" Qin Huai blurted out.

"Not trouble." Zheng Da waved his hand. "Anyway, I have nothing to do, and unlike my Siyuan who opened a pastry shop and has to make dim sum and sell dim sum every day, my factory basically doesn't need me to manage it; I just check the accounts regularly."

"It's been a long time since I've encountered such an interesting thing. Xiao Qin, send me the address, and I'll be there tomorrow."

"It just so happens that I'll also taste what kind of taste your locust flower buns, which don't know what went wrong, have."

The video call ended.

Qin Luo put down the phone, shook her arms that had been sore and numb for a long time, and asked: "Brother, is Uncle Zheng really coming tomorrow?"

With dozens of boxes of snacks coming, Qin Luo called him Uncle Zheng.

"Should be." Qin Huai wasn't very sure either. Perhaps as Zheng Da said, he had money, leisure, and time, and it wasn't strange for him to make a special trip on a whim when he encountered something interesting.

There were quite a few grandpas and grandmas with money and leisure in Cloud Residential Complex. Looking at Luo Jun, you would know that his hobby was ordering takeout with his real name and giving negative reviews. It was just right if you couldn't understand it.

What Qin Huai didn't expect was that Zheng Da not only really came the next day but also came quite early.

10 o'clock in the morning was one of the quietest times of the day for Cloud Cafeteria.

At this time, Three-Treasure Buns, Five-Treasure Buns, and fermented rice buns were sold out, Qin Congwen and Zhao Rong had finished work and gone back for a lunch break, Qin Huai's dim sum was still in production, the red-case chefs had just arrived to start preparing dishes, and the waiters could still slack off and chat for a while.

In the cafeteria, except for a few grandpas and grandmas who were bored and sitting in the first-floor lobby chatting and waiting for dim sum to come out of the oven, there were the convenience store owners who had to wear masks and look suspicious to take a look at what dim sum was randomly dropped today.

Today Qin Huai made honey three-knives, victory cakes, jujube paste yam cakes, donkey-rolling-in-soy-flour, and purple rice cakes.

Regular customers who often came to buy dim sum knew that donkey-rolling-in-soy-flour was a classic filler dim sum.

No way, today Qin Huai had to make Four-Joy Dumplings for Qin Luo, so he could only slack off and make donkey-rolling-in-soy-flour to fill the number.

Among all the dim sum Qin Huai knew how to make, Four-Joy Dumplings were the most complicated.

The customers squatting for dim sum on the first floor didn't know that their dear Assistant Xiao Qin was secretly opening a small stove for his sister in the back kitchen.

The Four-Joy Dumplings had already started steaming.

Qin Luo gnawed on donkey-rolling-in-soy-flour, squatted by the steamer and waited, thinking that today not only did she not have to make hand-shaken lemon tea, but she also had a separate small stove to eat, almost laughing out loud.

Just then, a middle-aged man who was slightly plump and looked expensive, with the breath of money rushing towards him, pushed the door and walked in.

"Excuse me, is Master Qin Huai here?" the man asked.

Xu Tuqiang, who was chatting and bragging at the door, looked at the middle-aged man.

Versace jacket, Valentino inner wear, Givenchy pants, Lang Danze shoes, LV socks, Balenciaga sunglasses—there wasn't a single thing on his whole body that matched.

Xu Tuqiang looked at the Givenchy suit on himself and felt he had lost.

"Assistant Xiao Qin is in the kitchen. Do you have something to find him for?" Xu Tuqiang asked. As soon as the words fell, Qin Huai walked out of the kitchen quickly.

"Uncle Zheng, you actually came so early, why didn't you say anything on WeChat." Qin Huai said with a smile.

Zheng Da said loudly and heartily: "Dim sum chefs are busiest in the morning; letting you come to pick me up would delay things. But your shop is quite big. When I saw the video yesterday, I thought it was just a big kitchen; it's much stronger than my son's pastry shop."

"This is a cafeteria; Brother Zheng opened a specialized pastry shop, it's different."

"Did you add Siyuan's WeChat after I pushed it to you yesterday?"

"Added." Qin Huai said.

"Go, enter the kitchen... does your shop need to change clothes to enter the kitchen? Give me a set, let me see what's going on with this locust flower bun." Zheng Da finished speaking and started looking for a changing room.

Qin Huai went to find clothes for Zheng Da, saying while looking: "Uncle Zheng, it might not be possible to do it now; the dim sum in my hand hasn't been finished yet."

"How big a deal, I'll help you make it!" Zheng Da said confidently. "What dim sum today?"

"Honey three-knives, victory cakes, jujube paste yam cakes, donkey-rolling-in-soy-flour, and purple rice cakes. Donkey-rolling-in-soy-flour is already done."

Zheng Da:......

Xiao Qin learned quite a lot.

He hadn't made honey three-knives for many years. If this flipped over, wouldn't it ruin his reputation for a lifetime?

"All kinds of ingredients are in the kitchen, right?" Zheng Da asked.

"Yes." Qin Huai nodded.

"If there are, Uncle Zheng will make you a few batches of his specialties, let you taste Uncle Zheng's craftsmanship!"

"It's not that I'm bragging to you, but my fresh meat mooncakes, shortbread, victory cakes, cloud cakes, flower cakes, eight-treasure cakes, clever fruits, lard hibiscus cakes—those are all unique in Suzhou! When I was in the state-run hotel, they were all hard to find, bought in long lines!" Zheng Da blew his cow with full breath.

"Go, show you a hand!"

Zheng Da took the clothes Qin Huai handed over and went to the changing room to change.

The grandpa next to Xu Tuqiang stared at Zheng Da's figure entering the changing room, a bit confused about the situation, tilted his head and asked Xu Tuqiang: "Old Xu, what's the situation? Who is this person? From Suzhou... Wang Laogen's friend?"

Xu Tuqiang wasn't very sure either, thought for a while, and said: "Wang Laogen was indeed mysterious some time ago, saying he wanted to find some old master from Suzhou. It's estimated that it was found by Wang Laogen."

"Could it be the new dim sum chef recruited by the cafeteria? Isn't Assistant Xiao Qin recruiting people? Is he here to apply?"

Someone exclaimed: "So rich and still coming to apply."

"Who knows, Wang Laogen is so rich and still stingy."

This chapter is a two-in-one~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 54 =====