The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 147: Can't Lose Your Reputation
After finishing the welcoming banquet, Qin Huai felt that the food had reached his throat. He just wanted to go back and lie down, not even wanting to say a word, because as soon as he opened his mouth, he could smell the flavors of three-piece duck, crab meat tofu, fried eel paste, squirrel mandarin fish, and stewed silver carp head.

The taste is pretty good, but it's a bit disgusting when mixed together.

This feeling is commonly known as being overfed.

Qin Huai felt that he had never eaten so much in the first 20 years of his life.

Dong Shi was afraid that Qin Huai would not be able to find the house rented for him by Zheng Da on the first day he arrived, so he volunteered to take Qin Huai back.

Qin Huai thought he was worrying too much. The community opposite Huang Ji Restaurant was a standard old community with only 6 floors and no elevator. The community had a large green area. Although the facilities in the community were very old and the number plates in front of many unit doors had fallen off, the layout was still normal.

The house that Zheng Da rented for Qin Huai was Building 1, Room 102, which was very easy to find.

"Qin Huai, are you really going to be responsible for the snacks for the staff meals? Let me tell you, we have a lot of staff in our store. You have seen the people in the kitchen today, and there are even more waiters in the front. We eat together. If you want to steam buns, you will probably have to triple the amount for this afternoon." Dong Shi's mouth is never idle. He can find a topic to talk about no matter what the situation.

"By the way, the fermented glutinous rice steamed buns you made this afternoon were really delicious. I felt like they were the same kind that Uncle Zheng made. But Uncle Zheng doesn't usually cook. It's good enough if he can make snacks once or twice a year. Fermented glutinous rice steamed buns... I feel like I only ate them once two years ago."

Qin Huai was a little shocked to hear Dong Shi say this. He knew that Zheng Da's main career now was business and he was not very interested in making snacks and was not very willing to do it, but he didn't expect that he was not interested to this extent.

No wonder when Zheng Da was in the Yunzhong Canteen a few months ago, after working diligently for two weeks, he started to make all kinds of excuses, not coming in the morning and slacking off in the afternoon. It turned out that he had finished making 10 years' worth of dim sum in two weeks.

Qin Huai was even a little touched, but Zheng Da had worked hard.

Hey, wait, why didn’t Zheng Da come to the welcoming party tonight? Didn’t anyone notify him?

"Is Master Zheng not in Gusu? I didn't see him today." Qin Huai asked.

"Uncle Zheng went to Hangzhou." Dong Shi said, "It seems that there was a problem with a production line in Hangzhou. He left last night and it will probably take a few days for him to come back."

Qin Huai nodded without asking any more questions.

The residential complex was just opposite Huang's Restaurant. Qin Huai asked Dong Shi if he would go to work at 9 o'clock tomorrow. After getting a positive answer, the two walked to the gate of the residential complex.

One of the street lights at the entrance of the community is broken. You can see clearly what is nearby, but in the distance, there are only dark silhouettes.

"Xiao Dong? You're getting off work at this time?" An old man who was returning from shopping bumped into Dong Shi at the gate of the community and greeted him with a smile.

"We just finished eating." Dong Shi replied in a familiar tone, "Uncle Qian, this is our new chef Qin, who specializes in white dim sum. He is expected to leave after a month or two of exchange. You must come and show your support tomorrow if you are free."

The old man squinted his eyes and looked at Qin Huai, then nodded with a smile: "Master Huang is finally willing to hire a new white-casserole dim sum chef. It should have been done a long time ago. When Master Jing was still around, that state-owned restaurant sold both dim sum and stir-fried dishes."

"Xiao Zheng is very ambitious and wants to make money, so he quit being a chef and went out to work. Your master believes that it is better to have nothing than to have someone who is not good enough, so he is not satisfied with the dim sum chef he hires unless he has Xiao Zheng's skills, fearing that his reputation will be tarnished."

"It's been so many years now, who besides us old folks still remembers Master Jing? You haven't even met your master. It's not shameful to hire another dim sum chef to sell some ordinary dim sum. Your master is just too stubborn."

Dong Shi didn't respond: "Master just thinks that our store doesn't have any great dim sum chefs, and it's a waste for promising dim sum chefs to come to our store."

The old man smiled and left.

Qin Huai was listening at the side and was a little confused. He knew who Master Jing was, but wasn't Huang's Restaurant opened by Huang Shengli? What was the relationship between him and Master Jing?
"Why doesn't Master Huang hire a new pastry chef in order to protect Master Jing's reputation?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

Dong Shi hesitated for a rare moment, thinking for two minutes before explaining: "Qin Huai, have you noticed that there are only old residential areas near our restaurant, and there are no shopping malls."

Qin Huai nodded, he had discovered it a long time ago.

Although the community that Zheng Da rented for him was an old one, its facilities were very good and new compared to other really old communities in the surrounding area.

"Because this is the old city area, Huang Ji Restaurant was the former state-owned restaurant. After the state-owned restaurant closed down, my master didn't want the restaurant to close, so he bought it with his own money and opened the current Huang Ji Restaurant on the original site. Later, when the business was good, he bought all the surrounding shops and expanded it to its current size."

"Two years ago, Huang Ji Restaurant was called Huang Ji Restaurant. Later, Brother An Yao thought that the name of the restaurant sounded like a place that sells alcohol, so he changed the name, and Master agreed. But many people still habitually call our restaurant Huang Ji Restaurant, but it doesn't matter, because everyone usually calls us Huang Ji."

"There used to be a lot of state-owned factories around here. Turning two streets ahead is the former cotton mill, but it closed down a long time ago."

"Many residents living here are old customers of our restaurant. They don't eat here very often, maybe only once a month, but they have been eating here for many years. Some customers, such as Mr. Qian just now, used to be an accountant at a cotton mill. My master said that he lived nearby when Huang's was still a state-owned restaurant forty years ago. These people have tasted my master's cooking."

"My master thinks that he has only learned 60% of the master's skills, which is embarrassing for the master. My uncle may have only learned 50% or 60% as well."

"Master said that he opened Huang's Restaurant on the site of the former state-owned restaurant. The customers who came to support him at the beginning were all there for Master's sake. He couldn't lose Master's face."

"So the requirements for chefs are quite strict. Our restaurant focuses on red-casserole dishes. There is really no future for white-casserole chefs in our restaurant. They can neither gain fame nor make a lot of money. It is difficult to recruit particularly good chefs."

"Three years ago, our restaurant's pastry chef, Master Zhang, retired and returned to his hometown. Since then, he has not been able to find a chef that satisfies him, so he simply closed the pastry business. If you need help, please ask Brother Siyuan to help."

After hearing what Dong Shi said, Qin Huai became inexplicably nervous and almost walked into the wrong building.

"Then isn't it a bit too hasty for Master Huang to ask me to come over and give me work clothes to communicate directly?"

Although he didn't know Master Jing, Zheng Da, Huang Shengli and Zheng Siyuan were all very nice people. They were willing to teach him everything they knew even though they met him by chance. If he performed poorly and lost face for Huang Ji, wouldn't he also indirectly lose face for Master Jing?

Dong Shi didn't understand at all: "Careless? No way, Qin Huai, your cooking skills are so good. If you didn't have your own community canteen in Shancheng, I would have asked you to come to our restaurant to work directly."

"I feel your cooking skills are comparable to Brother Siyuan's. Some of your dim sum are even tastier than Brother Siyuan's." Dong Shi smacked his lips and said, "Can you still make fermented glutinous rice steamed buns for the staff meal tomorrow? Tell me secretly, are there any other dim sum that you are particularly good at?"

"...How about sesame seed cakes and crab shell yellow? These two snacks of mine have always been very popular in my cafeteria. I have a friend who can eat a pound or two of it every time." Qin Huai was confused by Dong Shi's change of subject. He took out the key to open the door, and stood at the door to change the subject back.

"Is Siyuan's craftsmanship... good?"

Qin Huai knew that Zheng Siyuan's cooking skills were definitely good among the younger generation, and Zheng Siyuan had told him so. But in Qin Huai's imagination, the older the chef is, the better his cooking skills will be. The best of the younger generation would be nothing more than ordinary people among the real top masters in the industry.

After all, Qin Huai has his own judgment on Zheng Siyuan's craftsmanship. In terms of overall strength, Zheng Siyuan is stronger than himself.

However, Zheng Siyuan is a bit biased and is only good at Suzhou-style dim sum. The dim sum he is particularly good at is close to A-level, and his normal performance is between B and C. If he is not skilled at it, he can easily fall to D-level.

However, Zheng Siyuan doesn't do things that he is not proficient in. He just likes to do the things that he is good at.

What level are the recipes that Qin Huai obtained through memory?

The locust flower buns that Jiang Chengde used to comfort his sister are S-grade.

The longevity noodles that got ruined because the helper was distracted while checking the heat, grade A.

Qin Wan’s fermented glutinous rice steamed buns, Grade B.

Jiang Weiming's red cake is too simple to be a white cake. He can't wrap the bun stuffing into the apple dough. It is grade B.

On average, the average grade of Qin Huai's white-casserole dim sum recipes is A.

Qin Wan, an ordinary woman who was not a chef at all, could make B-grade fermented glutinous rice steamed buns, which led to Qin Huai's impression that B-grade dim sum should be the average level of large restaurants. You would be embarrassed to go out without B-grade ones.

As for Zhiweiju, which is said to have the most top-notch pastry chefs in the country, any chef should be able to make A-level or even S-level pastries. Pei Xing and Li Hua were just simple dishes, so they were eliminated from Zhiweiju and sent back to their hometown.

There are gangsters everywhere. Doesn’t Qin Luo also study in Shuanghai High School?

Qin Huai felt that there was nothing wrong with his understanding and judgment.

Dong Shi felt that Qin Huai might be a little crazy.

Dong Shi's expression was dull, and he looked at Qin Huai as if he were a god: "Of course."

"If Master could recruit a pastry chef of Brother Siyuan's caliber, our restaurant wouldn't have been without a pastry chef for three years."

"Brother Siyuan is recognized by us as the best pastry chef among the younger generation. Although he spends every day making pastries in the pastry shop at the entrance of the community, my brother and the eldest, third, and sixth senior brothers all think that Brother Siyuan is much better than the group of direct disciples at Zhiweiju."

"Not to mention that Brother Siyuan is still on the rise. I think within a few years, the number of people in the country who are better at white-case cases than Brother Siyuan can be counted on one hand."

"If he's willing to come to Huang's, Uncle Zheng will give him some money to buy articles to improve his reputation. He will definitely be on the list of the next celebrity chef selection!"

Qin Huai was also confused. What? Zheng Siyuan is so powerful.

No wonder Chen Huihong used Zheng Siyuan and Zheng Da as the standard and couldn’t recruit dim sum chefs, not even one she liked. It turned out that it wasn’t a problem with the HR of Chen Yingjun’s company.

Then isn't it a bit unfair to Zheng Siyuan to let him work like a slave in the cafeteria?
While Qin Huai was in a daze, Dong Shi had already quickly jumped to the next topic and said happily: "Master's waist has not been very good recently, and he has not been cooking much. The business of the store has declined. Senior brother has been worried about this."

"That's good. You and Brother Siyuan should come to the store to help. Brother Siyuan's pastry shop needs to be renovated and it will take more than two months to ventilate. Qin Huai, if you can stay in our store for two months, until Master's back is healed, our business will definitely be able to reach a new level."

"When the Chinese New Year comes, I will definitely get a super thick red envelope!"

Qin Huai felt that if he were to stay at Huang's for two months, he should have the opportunity to see the residents of Yunzhong Community in the Huang's Restaurant.

After Dong Shi finished expressing his desire for a New Year's red envelope, he went back happily. Qin Huai sat on the sofa and thought for a while, then sent a WeChat message to Huang Jia, telling him the snack order he had ordered for tomorrow.

Huang Shengli knew Qin Huai's cooking habits very well, and knew that Qin Huai was a dim sum chef who never made dim sum according to the menu. He told Qin Huai to come to Huang's as if he was in the cloud canteen, to be free to play, without planning in advance, and to do whatever he wanted in the store the next day.

Anyway, Huang Ji's kitchen has everything from ingredients to snacks. If Qin Huai feels short of manpower, there are helpers. It can be said that everything they need is available.

Qin Huai originally planned to do so, but after Dong Shi's popularization today, he suddenly felt a lot of pressure. Qin Huai thought about it carefully and even felt that Dong Shi might be lying to him, praising Zheng Siyuan's craftsmanship, indirectly praising his craftsmanship, so that he would not have such great psychological pressure.

It’s better to fight a battle that you are sure of victory.

When preparing employee meals, be creative and serve new customers some of your specialties on their first day at work.

After Qin Huai sent the WeChat message, he washed up and went to sleep.

On the other end of the phone, Huang Jia looked at the WeChat message sent by Qin Huai with a face full of question marks.

This recipe…

Is it a bit too comprehensive?
Beijing-style mung bean cakes, dream-fulfilling sesame cakes, fermented glutinous rice steamed buns, four-happiness dumplings, tangerine peel tea, two flavors of crab shell yellow, five-star buns, glutinous rice rice cakes, jujube and yam cakes, and locust flower steamed buns.

The locust flower steamed buns are specifically marked to require unprocessed locust flower honey.

Huang Jia thought about it and gave the list to Huang's supervisor without the locust flower steamed buns, asking her to modify the electronic menu and prepare a new batch of white-casserole menus before opening at noon.

Then I fell asleep with the question of what kind of steamed buns locust flower buns are.

At 2 o'clock the next morning, Qin Huai couldn't sleep, so he had to get up, wander around and play with his phone until 7 o'clock. He felt too bored and went to work across the street.

Huang Ji is already open.

There were even people in the kitchen.

Qin Huai was a little surprised. Didn't Dong Shi tell them that Huang's office didn't start work until 9 o'clock in the morning? He didn't expect that Huang's also had a roll king who came to work at 8 o'clock.

After changing clothes and going into the kitchen, I saw it was Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan was seasoning the meat filling. Qin Huai was very familiar with this filling, as it was the filling for the crepe wontons and bubble wontons that Zheng Siyuan made every morning.

The two looked at each other and spoke in unison.

"Can't sleep."

"got used to."

"Why don't you come early to make snacks and rest for lunch."

Seeing that Zheng Siyuan had already reached the stage of seasoning the meat filling, Qin Huai felt that he could not lose, so he rolled up his sleeves and began to knead the dough.

Make the four-happiness dumplings first.

Don't ask, the only thing to ask is that Qin Huai hasn't had breakfast yet and wants to eat.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, everyone in the kitchen of Huang's Restaurant arrived for work one after another.

Every worker in the kitchen of Huang's Restaurant who came to work on time was stunned.

The kitchen was filled with the rich aroma of breakfast.

What is breakfast fragrance? Because there are so many types, I can't smell it all at once.

"Would you like to eat dumplings?" Qin Huai asked while making dumplings. "Four-happiness dumplings. If you want to eat dumplings, you have to wait another 10 minutes. Zheng Siyuan has wontons, but he doesn't have time to cook them now, so you have to cook them yourself."

Zheng Siyuan was eating four-happiness dumplings and pressed the soaked white fungus with chopsticks to check whether it was soaked or not. He said without looking up, "The ones on the left are crepe wontons, and the ones on the right are bubble wontons."

Everyone was confused.

Huang Anyao, who rarely appeared in Huang's in the morning and came over to say hello to Zheng Siyuan and Qin Huai, was also confused.

Huang Anyao asked in surprise: "Our restaurant... includes breakfast?!"

I overslept during my nap, and when I woke up it was already dark...

I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough time to write two chapters, so I wrote one chapter 2 in 1

(End of this chapter)