The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 402 Four Happiness Flower Roll
Advanced finger techniques brought Qin Huai many insights. Although these insights did not improve his skills significantly, they made him realize the techniques and difficulty of finger techniques for the first time.

Finger technique, as one of the basic skills judged by the game system, is highly skill-based. This skill is not only reflected in high-difficulty techniques like cloud patterns, but also in all aspects of gameplay.

Qin Huai even realized that the reason why his progress in cloud pattern research was so slow, and why he had been ranked last in the Four Joys Scroll research team for so long, was because his foundation in finger techniques was too poor.

Although he seemed to have intermediate finger technique skills, he only had the awareness of beginner finger technique.

Furthermore, "beginner" is the lower limit of the game's level rating, not the lower limit of Qin Huai's rating.

Qin Huai had previously underestimated finger techniques, or perhaps he had looked down on them. This might be related to the fact that Master Qin had been a breakfast shop chef for many years, and the deeply ingrained concept he developed as a breakfast shop chef made Qin Huai think that finger techniques were only for pleating steamed buns and shaping high-difficulty pastries like flower-shaped steamed buns and dough balls, which required a lot of finger skills.

There are only beginner and master levels; there are no intermediate or advanced levels.

Qin Huai didn't aspire to the master level, so he felt that the basic level of awareness was sufficient.

But that's not the case.

After advancing to an advanced level in finger techniques, Qin Huai clearly felt how delicate it was during the main performance. It requires skillful hands, but it's more than just skillful hands.

Finger techniques require skill, strength, technique, and awareness all at once. The reason Qin Huai previously mistakenly thought that all pastries requiring high-difficulty finger techniques were very high-end was because finger techniques require too many skills. Even if only a little bit of each skill is put together, it will still seem like a very difficult technique.

It's not as simple as just learning to pleat buns, shape shumai, make steamed buns the same size, know how to use tools properly to make pretty hedgehog buns, or how to make cute-looking snacks like pig buns.

It requires aesthetics, technique, certain basic skills, dexterity of the fingers, and most importantly, awareness of these aspects.

It demands a high level of awareness.

After Qin Huai's filling preparation skills were elevated to the master level, he understood many deeper aspects of the conditions. After tasting the pastry, his first reaction was not to marvel at its deliciousness, but to think about and seek the combination between the filling and the dough, the use of ingredients, and how the ingredients needed for the pastry were processed.

Qin Huai couldn't taste these things before, not because his tongue was insensitive, but because he lacked awareness of them.

Just like in martial arts novels, no matter how well you practice external martial arts moves, it's all for naught if you don't have the corresponding internal martial arts techniques. Only by cultivating both internal and external skills can you become a grandmaster.

The same applies to making desserts. No matter how good your skills, how good your equipment, or how sensitive your palate, without the corresponding awareness, your achievements will only reach that level.

At this point, many readers may wonder whether Qin Huai's improvement and understanding of finger techniques can be directly reflected in the production process of Four Happiness Rolls.
Qin Huai: A capable brother.

Qin Huai finished making a batch of Four Happiness Rolls at a relatively slow pace.

Huang Shengli, Tan Weian, and Zheng Siyuan watched from the sidelines the whole time.

Although Huang Shengli is a chef specializing in hot dishes but not in cold dishes, it doesn't mean he can't see Qin Huai's progress or the subtleties behind it. As a master of hot dishes, Huang Shengli understands better than anyone how important comprehension is, even more so than technical skill.

In Huang Shengli's view, the most difficult thing is to make progress in consciousness.

Technical skills can be acquired through hard work, but awareness can only be acquired through sudden enlightenment. In fact, saying that it can be acquired through sudden enlightenment is not quite accurate. Huang Shengli thinks that it is not even a sudden enlightenment, but more like a mathematician who suddenly grasps a fleeting white dove symbolizing inspiration while pondering a difficult problem.

First, you're not sure if the dove will fly past you, and second, you can't be sure if you can capture that moment.

This thing is more like a stroke of luck.

As a result, Qin Huai suddenly realized the opportunity.

Huang Shengli was even considering calling Zheng Da to tell him that he didn't need to come tomorrow, and it would be best if he didn't come the day after tomorrow either. He should stay home and play for a couple more days, so as not to hinder Xiao Qin's progress.

As for Zheng Siyuan, he didn't have Huang Shengli's keen eye and didn't see Qin Huai's huge progress in his understanding. He simply noticed that Qin Huai's Four Happiness Rolls looked somewhat decent and could be considered as having barely entered the basics.

The last member of the Four Happiness Roll research team finally mastered the basics, and Zheng Siyuan naturally had to witness this celebratory moment.

Tan Weian...

He had indeed formally studied cloud patterns, so he could see a little more than Zheng Siyuan. However, he wasn't particularly interested in watching or cared much. He had been watching for so long simply to slack off.

Tan Weian first had a wild idea: could he imagine a game system that would rate his skills and assign proficiency levels, thus enabling him to make tremendous progress and amaze everyone?

After only two minutes of thought, Tan Weian decided it wouldn't work.

He's not crazy, he can't do it.

Then Tan Weian started searching for something to eat and found some lotus root starch balls that Qin Huai had made but hadn't cooked yet on the cooking table. He cooked two bowls of them.

Huang Shengli didn't eat, but Tan Weian and Zheng Siyuan each had a bowl.

When Qin Huai's batch of Four Happiness Rolls came out of the oven, Tan Weian was able to eat the fresh meat mooncakes made by Zheng Siyuan in the previous batch.

As for why Zheng Siyuan would bake a batch of fresh meat mooncakes before the business hours even started—it was because Tan Weian secretly baked them for himself. He counted the number of people in Huangji's kitchen who wanted to eat fresh meat mooncakes and baked them according to the number of people.

Tan Weian felt that exchanging ideas at Huang Ji was quite nice, as you could eat whatever you wanted by yourself.

Just as Tan Weian was happily munching on a fresh meat mooncake, the Four Happiness Rolls were ready.

You can't tell if a Four Happiness Roll is successful right out of the pan; you have to cut it open to know.

Of course, there's no need to look at this batch of Four Happiness Rolls. Everyone knows it's impossible for them to succeed. Qin Huai's process of making Four Happiness Rolls was still full of mistakes. If they could make successful cloud patterns with these, then many professional pastry chefs would have to question their life choices.

Qin Huai deftly picked out the four-happiness rolls one by one and cut them open.

Failure; the cloud pattern is not visible.

But there has been progress.

This batch of Four Happiness Rolls are beautiful flower-shaped rolls.

It conforms to the public's aesthetic, and can make people feel that it is worth buying such a flower roll for 18 yuan. The chef has also specially made creative flower rolls.

This is the true value of consciousness.

Even if your finger technique isn't good enough, even if you haven't practiced your skills enough, even if you crash, you shouldn't crash in a very ugly way.

Chefs need to be aware of this, have a keen eye for aesthetics, and know how to make a dessert at least presentable to guests when their skills are insufficient.

The presentation of the desserts is also very important.

When making steamed buns, it's important to pinch the pleats well.

Looking at the Four Happiness Rolls that Qin Huai had cut open, Tan Weian exclaimed, "Now you can't tell they're Four Happiness Rolls at all; they look just like the new-style flower rolls."

"How did Qin Huai do it?" This was Tan Weian's muttering to himself.

Did you just discover something?

This was Zheng Siyuan's direct question to Qin Huai.

Qin Huai didn't answer first. Instead, he picked up a Four Happiness Roll, and regardless of whether it was hot or not, he took a bite to taste it.

delicious.

The Four Happiness Roll didn't taste any better, but perhaps because it looked more appealing, it tasted a bit better than before.

"I just suddenly realized that decorating desserts is not as simple as I thought," Qin Huai said slowly. "I always thought that decorating was either a success or a failure, just like when I made four-happiness glutinous rice balls. Successful ones are delicious, and failures are destined to be unpalatable. No matter how unpalatable they are, it is an inevitable result of a failure."

"But I just realized that this only applies to filling preparation, not finger technique. Our original intention in shaping the pastry was to make it look better. Even if it fails, it shouldn't look bad. It should still be a beautiful failure. It's just that it didn't achieve our expected effect."

Zheng Siyuan fell into deep thought.

Tan Wei'an was dumbfounded.

Tan Weian: Dude, can you really learn this kind of thing by leveling up your finger technique?
Please tell me, how is that advanced fingering technique defined? I want to have advanced fingering too!
Because Qin Huai has achieved a huge breakthrough in aesthetics, Huang Shengli felt that it was the perfect time to put the Four Happiness Flower Rolls on the shelves today, otherwise it would greatly dampen the enthusiasm of his beloved Master Qin.

After a brief discussion with the supervisor, Huang Ji launched its Four Happiness Flower Rolls at noon.

This was all agreed upon in advance; the menu and everything else were already prepared, so it won't affect anything.

At lunchtime, Shi Dadan, as usual, came to Huang Ji for lunch.

Incidentally, Wang Gensheng's accounts had been settled a few days earlier. As an honest man, even though he really wanted to stay in Suzhou to continue freeloading, he felt that the matter was settled and his work was done. Staying would make him seem shameless, so he offered to return to Shanshi first.

Qin Huai wanted Wang Gensheng to stay in Suzhou for a while longer, since Wang Gensheng's subsequent storyline would most likely need to be triggered through Suzhou, and his memory loss was also related to Xu Nuo.

However, Qin Huai knew very well that the practice period for the Four Joys Scroll would be much longer than he had anticipated, and he might stay in Suzhou for a long time. It would indeed be a bit unfair to Wang Gensheng to stay in Suzhou alone.

Perhaps we should let him return to Shanshi first, and then come together when the elderly folks from Yunzhong Canteen get hungry or can't resist coming to Suzhou in groups. If by then the Four Happiness Rolls from Qinhuai have become quite popular, we can give them a pleasant surprise.

After Wang Gensheng returned to Shanshi, Shi Dadan could only eat at Huang Ji's restaurant alone every day. Before, when he needed to finish off the Four Happiness Rolls, Shi Dadan would sit in the kitchen and diligently eat them. Later, the Four Happiness Rolls were renamed Four Happiness Flower Rolls and sold to Huang Ji's members. Shi Dadan no longer needed to eat so many Four Happiness Rolls every day, and he could eat normally for all three meals. He simply became a member of Huang Ji's restaurant and ate there every noon and evening.

Of course, Shi Dadan can receive special treatment.

Whether it's stir-fried vegetables or pan-fried tofu, the dishes he ordered were all cooked by Huang Shengli himself. The probability of getting an SSR card from blind boxes is 100%, an incredibly high drop rate that is the envy of many.

Shi Dadan was unaware that the Four Happiness Flower Rolls had been put on the shelves ahead of schedule. Just like the previous two days, he came to Huang Ji's restaurant happily, sat down at the six-person table by the window that had been reserved for him, and ordered his food.

As usual, he first ordered his favorite staple foods, such as fermented rice buns, three-ingredient buns, fresh meat mooncakes, four-happiness flower rolls, and a large pot of rice, before ordering the dishes.

Because he arrived a little late, the desserts for the table behind him had already been served when he ordered; they were Four Happiness Flower Rolls.

Before sitting down at the table, Boss Shi glanced at the tables behind him and vaguely remembered that there were quite a few people there, including adults, children, and the elderly.

The people at the table behind him were actually acquaintances of Qin Huai, as well as Wang Gensheng.

The Qian Zhongheng family.

As soon as the Four Happiness Flower Rolls were served, Qian Zhongheng's son exclaimed, "Dad, your information was wrong! Didn't you say that these Four Happiness Flower Rolls didn't look very good but tasted great? I think they look really nice, much better than those so-called cartoon flower rolls and steamed buns sold in breakfast shops."

Qian Zhongheng hadn't expected his information to be wrong. His face flushed red, but he stubbornly replied, "What do you know? With Master Qin's skills, the steamed buns might not look very good."

When Shi Dadan heard the guests at the table behind him mention Master Qin, he couldn't help but turn around and glance at the Four Happiness Flower Rolls on the table, which surprised him.

Shi Dadan tilted his head in confusion, wondering if this was still the Four Happiness Roll.

How did you become so beautiful?

Qian Zhongheng was still stubbornly insisting: "If you can say this shape is ugly, then it must taste really good. Hurry up and eat it, it's 18 yuan a piece."

Everyone at the table reached for their chopsticks, and even the 6-year-old granddaughter grabbed half a steamed bun, while her dear father secretly pocketed the other half and put it in his own bowl.

Qian Zhongheng took the first bite and made a satisfied sound.

"Well."

After wolfing down one, Qian Zhongheng took a sip of tea and cursed, "Old Xiao really had the wrong information. He's a member and has eaten for two more days than me. He said that this Four Happiness Flower Roll is just a low-end version of the Four Happiness Roll. Zheng Da didn't teach it well, which resulted in Chef Qin making it look ugly and unsightly. It can only be called a Flower Roll."

"It looks pretty. You can tell at a glance that it's a flower roll. What does it have to do with a four-happiness roll? And it tastes better than Zheng Da's four-happiness roll. The four-happiness roll that Zheng Da made in the first year was really ugly and didn't taste very good. The ones in the later years were slightly better."

It's clear that Qian Zhongheng has a good memory.

Bai Xiujuan (Qian Zhongheng's wife) was still slowly munching on her four-happiness steamed buns when she heard Qian Zhongheng still criticizing Zheng Da. She couldn't help but speak up for Zheng Da: "It was normal for Xiao Zheng not to do well back then. Master Jing retired suddenly due to illness, and Xiao Zheng wasn't prepared either. How old was he back then?"

"To be fair, when Xiao Zheng took over, could you find a chef in the entire Suzhou area who made better pastries than him?"

"If you could find it, you wouldn't be muttering that Xiao Zheng wasn't skilled enough and hadn't mastered the essence of his master's sweet rice wine buns, while at the same time you'd be practically pedaling your bicycle to the point of sparks to grab the buns every day after work."

Qian Zhongheng: ...

"But Master Qin isn't that old yet."

Bai Xiujuan raised her voice: "Can Zheng Da compare to Master Qin?"

Shi Dadan, who was eavesdropping: ...6
Shi Dadan glanced at the menu and cancelled the six Four Happiness Rolls he had just ordered.

Place your order.

Less than two minutes after the order was placed, the waiter came over with the receipt and placed it on Shi Dadan's table, not forgetting to ask, "Mr. Shi, aren't you going to have Four Happiness Flower Rolls today? Did we forget to order them? Would you like me to add them for you?"

That's very thoughtful.

Shi Dadan shook his head: "The Four Happiness Flower Rolls are officially on the menu today, right? I saw them on the regular menu. I have a big appetite, so I won't fight with everyone else. Qin Huai can't make too many each day, so I don't want him to get tired."

"These are bananas I brought for Qin Huai. Could you please take them to the kitchen later?"

"Okay, Mr. Shi."

(End of this chapter)