Chapter 55

Zheng Siyuan is a man of action.

He arrived at 6:00 PM.

Looking at the full Dior outfit Zheng Siyuan was wearing, Qin Huai silently swallowed the tomato fried rice in his mouth, sighing inwardly that this father and son duo really didn't share the same style.

Zheng Da was eating in the canteen with Qin Huai. Although Zheng Da felt that the level of the savory dish chefs at the Yunzhong Canteen was truly subpar, he couldn't say it out loud; after all, this was the business of his future apprentice, and he couldn't disparage it.

Zheng Da took the initiative to stand up and get a plate of food for Zheng Siyuan, who then sat down opposite Qin Huai with the tray.

"Zheng Siyuan, we added each other on WeChat yesterday." Zheng Siyuan looked Qin Huai up and down.

"Qin Huai." Qin Huai introduced himself as well.

"When will you make the locust flower steamed buns?" On the way over, Zheng Siyuan had already gained a rough understanding of the problems Qin Huai was facing. "Like my father, I need to watch you make them once."

"I'll have to wait until tomorrow." Qin Huai said, yawning. "It's almost time; I should go back to sleep."

Because of Zheng Da's surprise raid on the canteen today, Qin Huai hadn't gone back to sleep at noon, and now he was exhausted.

However, Zheng Da's surprise raid wasn't without results. Although he hadn't been able to solve the series of problems Qin Huai encountered with the locust flower steamed buns, he had proven himself.

Throughout the entire afternoon, in order to prove he was qualified to be Qin Huai's master, Zheng Da showed off his skills. As long as there were ingredients and it could be made on the spot, Zheng Da made everything he could think of.

Crispy cakes, Ding Sheng Gao, fresh meat mooncakes, plum blossom cakes, rose square cakes, crab shell yellow, begonia cakes, fermented rice cakes...

The main theme was large portions and filling.

The elderly folks who were long used to fighting for steamed buns in the afternoon had never seen such a scene and went crazy grabbing them.

Originally, they would estimate the time and squat in the canteen, leaving once they bought their food. Today, they didn't leave even after buying; they just squatted there. How would they know if there would be new snacks later if they didn't squat?

Because Ouyang couldn't keep skipping work to grab snacks, he even spent a huge sum of money to hire two errand runners to grab them for him.

While the elderly folks were grabbing them outside, Qin Luo was eating them inside, trying them one by one. Not only did this dispel the notion that Zheng Da might be a fraud, but she even urged Qin Huai to consider becoming his apprentice.

There was no room for criticism here; this was truly delicious.

"What time do you usually start making snacks?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"I arrive at the shop around 4:00. I'm responsible for breakfast, and there are fixed items to make in the morning. Our shop's breakfast peak is from 8:00 to 9:00. If we're going to make locust flower steamed buns, we'll have to wait until around 10:00 at the earliest." Qin Huai explained.

Zheng Siyuan nodded. "Are there any restrictions on your morning menu?"

"Huh?" Qin Huai didn't understand what Zheng Siyuan meant. "Basically, it's all things like baozi and steamed buns; there are very few dine-in customers in the morning."

Zheng Siyuan continued to nod, indicating he understood, and said, "I usually don't get up that early in the morning; I might not be able to get here until after 6:00."

"Huh?" Qin Huai was truly bewildered.

"I have a habit of making snacks every day." Zheng Siyuan said. "I also know how to make some specialty baozi and steamed buns, though I don't make them often on weekdays."

"I'll send you my snack list. You can take a look after you go back or tomorrow morning and pick a few items suitable for your canteen that I can make tomorrow."

As he spoke, Zheng Siyuan took out his phone and started editing a message. After typing a few words, he asked, "Do you eat both sweet and savory flavors here?"

Qin Huai: "... Yes, we eat both."

No, wait, why does he feel like he's currently interviewing a new snack chef?

After finishing his meal quickly, the exhausted Qin Huai wasn't in the mood for small talk and went to sleep before Zheng Siyuan had even finished eating.

Seeing Qin Huai leave, Zheng Da couldn't wait to say, "Siyuan, bring out your best skills tomorrow and make... make fresh meat mooncakes! Let Xiao Qin see the strength of our family."

Zheng Siyuan looked at his own father, speechless. He had thought of many things on his way here.

He had thought his father was tricking him into a blind date again, and he had thought his father had been scammed by someone, but he had never thought his father might be the one trying to scam someone else.

When he first entered the canteen and saw Qin Huai, he was still wondering if Qin Huai was a fraud; now, he just wanted to say "sorry" to Qin Huai.

"Dad, didn't you say you weren't taking apprentices?" Zheng Siyuan complained mercilessly. "Didn't you say that taking apprentices is troublesome, that if they don't have talent, you can't teach them, and others will suspect the master has no ability? As long as the craft isn't lost, it's fine; you just have to be sorry to your master."

"This is different!" Zheng Da said with a solemn expression. "I have a premonition that whether or not your father can go down in history depends on whether Xiao Qin can become my apprentice!"

Zheng Siyuan suddenly wanted to apologize to Qin Huai even more.

Sorry, my dad isn't quite normal.

The next day, the elderly men on their morning jog were surprised to find that Xu Tuqiang didn't seem to be talking nonsense, and the Yunzhong Canteen really did have a new snack chef.

However, this new snack chef wasn't the middle-aged man in a mix of brands that Xu Tuqiang had described, but a young man who looked very steady and was a few years older than Qin Huai.

"Wife, what's going on?" Not only were the elderly men on their morning jog confused, but Qin Congwen was also a bit confused.

Qin Congwen hadn't expected that just because he went back to rest and took a nap yesterday morning, the canteen would be different.

First, there was the inexplicable Master Zheng who came yesterday and spent the whole afternoon making a pile of snacks in the canteen, and this morning, an inexplicable young Master Zheng arrived and started making wontons as soon as he got here.

Young, but with superb skills.

The handmade wonton wrappers were as thin as rice paper, delicate enough to break at a touch, and could even let light through when held up to the sun.

It would be one thing if the wonton wrappers were impressive, but his knife skills were also excellent; he could even cut green onions with the flair of a master chef.

Not to mention his wrapping technique; with a flick of his finger after placing the filling, it was like magic, and a round little wonton that looked like a bubble blown by a fish was born.

Is the breakfast business this competitive now?

Qin Congwen began to feel lucky that he entered the industry early; otherwise, the Qin family breakfast shop wouldn't have been able to stay open for so many years.

"I don't know." Zhao Rong was staring at the wontons in Zheng Siyuan's hands, her hands gradually going astray while wrapping steamed buns, a bit tempted to wrap them into the shape of wontons. "Didn't Huaihuai say that Master Zheng is here to help?"

"Young Master Zheng is Master Zheng's son, and he's also here to help."

Qin Congwen wanted to say he couldn't tell if they were helping or not, but he felt that young Master Zheng was here to join the staff.

"How does he wrap them like that?" Zhao Rong stretched her neck to look. "Why can't I wrap them that round?"

Unlike Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen, who could only stretch their necks to look from afar, Qin Huai's cooking station was right next to Zheng Siyuan's, so he could turn his head to look and even ask.

"Your wonton wrappers are very thin." Qin Huai remarked.

Thin wonton wrappers mean they are easy to break when boiled, so it tests not only the technique when wrapping but also the technique when boiling.

"Crepe wontons require thin wrappers." Zheng Siyuan explained.

Last night, Zheng Da had already introduced Qin Huai's situation to Zheng Siyuan in detail. While Zheng Siyuan understood why his father wanted to take an apprentice, he still felt a bit like he wanted to apologize to Qin Huai, so he was involuntarily more patient and detailed when explaining things.

"Because these wontons have thin wrappers, the skin of the little wontons becomes wrinkled after being boiled; the homophone for 'wrinkled' is 'crepe', which is why they are called crepe wontons."

"When I was a child, my father often made these wontons at home for me and my sister to eat. In recent years, the crepe wonton wrappers sold on the market are basically made by machines. Handmade thin wonton wrappers are hard to make, and many old masters who know how don't want to put in the effort, so it's very hard to eat authentic ones now."

"The filling can be pure meat, or fresh shrimp, and mustard greens are also good when in season. These little wontons have thin wrappers and little filling; the main thing is to eat them for their freshness, and the soup base is very important. There wasn't enough time today; I'll have my father make a rich broth this afternoon, and tomorrow's wontons will taste even better."

Hearing Zheng Siyuan say this, Qin Huai felt like asking him: Young Master Zheng, would you like to join the staff?

Our canteen really needs talent like you.

(End of chapter)