The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 409 The Highest Praise

Qin Huai's first thought was to make Four Happiness Tangyuan, since it was currently his best dessert. But as he started preparing the ingredients, he suddenly realized he couldn't make it now. Four Happiness Tangyuan seemed quick and easy, but in reality, both the red bean paste filling and the sesame sugar filling needed to be prepared in advance.

These two fillings alone need to be prepared at least one day in advance.

The apprentices who went to the Cloud Canteen for this exchange had not yet arrived at Zhiweiju. Qin Huai was able to stroll to the entrance of Zhiweiju very quickly because Su Qian helped him put away his luggage.

Qin Huai, adhering to the principle that familiarity is key, selected two apprentices whose names he could no longer recall but whose faces he remembered from his previous exchange with Huang Ji, and asked them to assist him.

As soon as he finished chopping the meat filling, Qin Huai realized that this was neither Huang Ji nor Yunzhong Canteen. He had never thought of sending red bean paste and sesame candy filling before coming to Zhiweiju.

“Master Zhou… Master Zhou.” Qin Huai looked at Master Zhou, who was standing next to him and watching him chop meat, with some embarrassment. “I just subconsciously thought this was my shop and forgot that the sesame sugar filling and red bean paste filling need to be prepared in advance. The sweetness requirements of these two fillings for Four Happiness Tangyuan are quite special. Other ready-made fillings cannot be used. I may not be able to make the complete version of Four Happiness Tangyuan today.”

"How about I just make the meat filling and the mixed fruit filling? It might be a little less flavorful when you eat it, since there's only one sweet and one savory filling. I'll prepare those two fillings this afternoon or tomorrow, and then I'll make the full version of Four Happiness Tangyuan for you the day after tomorrow."

Master Zhou nodded slightly, showing no dissatisfaction on his face. Although Qin Huai had only known Master Zhou for a dozen minutes, he could tell that Master Zhou was not the kind of person who would hide his likes and dislikes or his expressions.

When he was intersex, he practically had the words "I am intersex" written all over his face.

Seeing that Master Zhou had no objections, Qin Huai felt relieved and continued making the dumplings. He then turned to the helper beside him and instructed, "The dried fruit and nuts need to be chopped into finer pieces. We're only making two kinds of dumplings today. The mixed fruit filling should be slightly sweeter than before, and it must not have any grainy texture."

The foreman didn't dare to lift it, nodding repeatedly, and wielding the knife with even more force, as if he wanted to crush the nuts directly with the knife.

Master Zhou glanced at it and frowned in disapproval, saying in a low voice, "It's finely shredded, not ground up. If you're going to grind it up, a mixer will suffice. Commercial electricity costs one yuan per kilowatt-hour, which is much more cost-effective than what you're offering."

Qin Huai: ...

Master Zhou probably doesn't have the habit of licking his lips, otherwise he would be really afraid that Master Zhou might accidentally lick his lips and poison himself one day.

Qin Huai continued chopping the meat.

Qin Huai believed that there must be apprentices or prospective disciples in Zhiweiju with better knife skills than him. Although his knife skills were already at the intermediate level, intermediate knife skills could only be considered as formal entry-level skills in the culinary circle at best.

In the red-case restaurant, there are countless apprentices and trainees of senior knife skills. Qin Huai's knife skills would be insufficient even in a pure white-case restaurant like Zhiweiju. Qin Huai had heard Su Qian say that a very small number of white-case chefs are extremely skilled with their knives, possessing a certain talent that is almost misplaced.

Qin Huai chose to chop the meat himself mainly because the filling for Four Happiness Tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) has rather specific requirements, something he discovered while watching Cao Guixiang chop meat. He didn't have Cao Guixiang's skills, nor could he learn the essence of Cao Guixiang's meat-chopping technique, but he could roughly copy the shape, getting whatever he could.

Qin Huai is a traditionalist who firmly believes that a good dim sum dish requires the chef to make it completely from start to finish. Whether it's an assistant or a collaboration with a more skilled chef, as long as other people are involved, the dim sum is less complete and doesn't possess the personal characteristics of the dim sum chef.

Of course, Qin Huai only firmly believed this; he himself truly loved the helpers. After all, without their assistance, he really couldn't manage everything on his own.

Master Qin tried his best to show off his clumsy knife skills in front of Master Zhou. An unknown apprentice stood next to Master Qin, showing that he was not originally that clumsy, but due to some reason, such as being too nervous, his knife skills became very clumsy.

In this situation, Master Zhou fully demonstrated his double standards.

An apprentice's poor skills are a waste of resources, even less cost-effective than a mixer.

Master Qin's clumsiness stems from his poor foundation in Qin Huai knife skills; achieving this level is already quite impressive.

"Your knife skills are much better than I imagined," Master Zhou said directly. "I heard from Xiao Tan that you helped out at your family's breakfast shop when you were young, and you hardly ever cut vegetables or held a knife. Before the Lunar New Year, you couldn't even cut a radish properly at Huang Ji's shop. It was only after you recently found a master that your skills improved by leaps and bounds."

"The master you've chosen is quite skilled."

Qin Huai: Tan Weian, you're still trying to argue on the high-speed train that you don't usually gossip!
As if on cue, Tan Wei'an appeared. No sooner had Master Zhou finished talking about Xiao Tan than Qin Huai had finished cursing Tan Wei'an in his mind, and Tan Wei'an made a dazzling entrance in his employee uniform.

Incidentally, Tan Weian probably got a bit too carried away and overeat at the Yunzhong Canteen and Huang Ji Restaurant, as his staff uniform looked a bit tight on him.

"Qin Huai, I didn't believe it when I heard you came to Zhiweiju in the dressing room. Su Qian told me 20 minutes ago that you were carsick and asked me to buy you motion sickness medicine, but he complained that I was too slow in getting ready and went to buy it himself. If you're carsick, why did you come to Zhiweiju? Why did you have to put in so much effort?"

"No way, buddy, you didn't catch this as soon as you arrived in Hangzhou, did you? Last time I got carsick, I was throwing up like crazy, I felt like I was vomiting bile. Don't end up like me, carsick one day and then overeating the next day and ending up in the hospital. Let me tell you, Zhiweiju has so many dim sum options. You can start eating at 10 am, and just a bite of each kind will be enough to fill you up. Don't you like shrimp dumplings? Chef Zhang's shrimp dumplings are especially delicious, and there's also..."

“Master Zhou…Master Zhou, you…you’re here too.” Tan Weian rushed up and chattered on and on before noticing Master Zhou standing to the side.

Master Zhou glanced at Tan Weian and said in a sarcastic tone, "So you can see me. I thought it was because my clothes were too white today and blended into the floor tiles like a chameleon that I couldn't see you."

Tan Wei'an was so frightened that she stammered, weakly raising her right hand to show the small bag she was carrying: "I...I...I was in a hurry to find Qin Huai. I...I was just thinking that although Su Qian went to buy motion sickness medicine, he doesn't get motion sickness and has no experience, so the medicine he bought wasn't very effective. So I went to buy another one that I had tried last time and felt was quite effective. I couldn't get through to Qin Huai on the phone, and I heard in the dressing room that Qin Huai was in the kitchen, so I ran over here to find him."

"I...I'm here to deliver medicine."

Master Zhou said casually, "Xiao Qin's motion sickness isn't severe, there's no need for medicine. Taking too much of this kind of medicine isn't good; just drink some hot water."

Upon hearing this, the apprentice who was chopping vegetables immediately sprang into action, flashing to a corner to pour a cup of hot water and bring it to Qin Huai.

Master Zhou was clearly pleased with this perceptive apprentice, giving him an appreciative look. Then, he glanced disdainfully at the apprentice who hadn't grasped Qin Huai's meaning and had used a lot of force when cutting, but hadn't chopped the dried fruit and nuts into very fine pieces.

"Xiao Tan, you've had more contact with Xiao Qin, so you'll understand what he means. Why don't you help him out for a bit?" Master Zhou gave Tan Wei'an a look, and Tan Wei'an instantly understood. He patted the apprentice cutting the dried fruit and waved his hand, signaling him to get out of there quickly, or Master Zhou might chop him up.

Tan Weian began helping Qin Huai prepare the materials.

With Tan Weian's arrival, Master Zhou became more talkative, asking as he looked around, "You're here, why hasn't Su Qian arrived yet?"

"No one else came either. I came directly after putting down my suitcase because I was going to buy and deliver medicine to Qin Huai. My junior brother hasn't come yet either. He's cleaning at home. No one has lived here for a long time, and the table is covered in dust."

"Su Qian still needs to go back to his home from where he lives in Qinhuai. He also stopped at a pharmacy to buy medicine on the way. It will probably take him another 20 minutes to get here."

"How was Guli's harvest this time?" Master Zhou asked.

Upon hearing this, Qin Huai looked up at Master Zhou in surprise. He hadn't expected Master Zhou to care so much about Gu Li. Since they first met, Master Zhou had only mentioned Su Qian's name once, and hadn't mentioned anyone else. When Tan Weian arrived, Master Zhou didn't first inquire about Tan Weian, but instead asked about Gu Li's progress.

Tan Weian was not surprised, and may even have prepared his words in advance. He readily replied, "I feel that my junior brother has changed a lot this time."

"Hmm?" Master Zhou raised his eyebrows slightly, listening attentively.

"To be honest, there's really no progress. Master Zhou, you know my junior brother only has this much talent. Expecting him to improve rapidly in a few months is like hoping he'll get a sudden epiphany after being hit on the back of the head."

"But I do feel that he is different from before. When my grandfather was alive, he often told my junior apprentice to think more before making pastries, and he would indeed think more. But I don't know what he was thinking. Maybe he was just reviewing what he was going to do in his mind or just spacing out."

"But during this time, especially when Master Zheng from Huangji was teaching us cloud patterns, I could clearly feel that my junior brother was really thinking. He was making pastries, especially the silence before making the Ruyi Roll. I could feel that he was really thinking about something, but I didn't know what he was thinking about."

Tan Wei'an thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps, my junior brother has finally started to understand."

Master Zhou didn't comment on Tan Weian's words, but just smiled slightly and said, "It seems Zheng Da is quite good at teaching people."

Qin Huai: !!!
Good heavens, he should have recorded that conversation and played it for Zheng Da, so Zheng Da would know what it means to be someone who hates you the most while also liking you the most.

Qin Huai never dreamed that such a milestone-level praise for Zheng Da would come from the mouth of the legendary Master Zhou.

After asking about Gu Li's situation, Master Zhou didn't ask anyone else. Perhaps to him, Su Qian was his undisputed disciple, and there was no need to ask about him from others. Master Zhou genuinely didn't care about the others.

Master Zhou stood to the side and watched Qin Huai make pastries for a while. Perhaps he was getting a little bored, or perhaps as the head of Zhiweiju, he was too busy to spend much time on Qin Huai. After watching for a while and getting a general understanding of Qin Huai's basic skills, he went to another place.

As soon as Master Zhou left, Tan Weian breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like a surviving student who had been watched by the head of the teaching department for more than ten minutes but hadn't been scolded.

"Wow, Qin Huai, did you do this on purpose today? You're carsick and you still came to Zhiweiju to make dim sum. Su Qian even told me you probably wouldn't come to Zhiweiju today and would be resting at home. How did you know that Chef Zhou likes this kind of dim sum chef the most? Did I mention it on the high-speed train? Or did Su Qian secretly tell you? You're so good at catering to people's preferences!"

"It was just an accident," Qin Huai said sincerely. "Would you believe me if I said that before I ate that egg tart, I never imagined I'd be making tangyuan (glutinous rice balls) at Zhiweiju?"

Tan Weian: ?

Qin Huai briefly explained the situation to Tan Weian, leaving Tan Weian speechless before finally revealing an expression of admiration.

"That's amazing," Tan Weian exclaimed softly. "I never imagined I could flatter Master Zhou like this in my entire life."

Qin Huai: "...I really didn't mean that."

"That's what makes it awesome!" Tan Wei'an raised his voice slightly, then lowered it again after realizing he was getting a little excited. "Do you know how gentle Master Zhou's eyes were when he looked at you just now, and how kind and gentle he was when he spoke to you, without being sarcastic at all?"

"If it were any other time, if Master Zhou had the leisure to watch someone else make pastries for so long but still end up chopping the meat like this, he would have recommended him to be an extra on a film set to chop meat."

"Huh? Why are they extras?"

"Because many film crews leave ingredients until they rot and become inedible, this kind of skill in chopping fresh meat is a waste, so they just chop some things that can be thrown directly into the trash can."

Before Qin Huai could show his shock at being able to speak so sarcastically, Tan Weian continued, "Master Zhou hates people who put on airs in front of him. Doesn't Zhiweiju recruit new apprentices every year? Some apprentices think they're very clever and like to do crooked things."

"It's like someone who's sick but still pretends to be so dedicated to their job, insisting on coming to work in the kitchen even when they have a fever of 38 or 39 degrees Celsius. Chef Zhou hates people like that the most."

"But while Master Zhou dislikes pretentious people, he also really likes you, who are clearly not feeling well and didn't come to work on purpose. You just came to Zhiweiju without thinking. You were attracted by it. You really like dim sum and just want to come. Even if you feel carsick and nauseous, you still want to walk to the entrance of Zhiweiju and queue up to try their dim sum."

As he spoke, Tan Weian became frustrated again: "Damn it, how come I didn't think of this kind of amazing skill?"

Qin Huai: ...It sounds like Tan Weian, you usually like to do some crooked things.

Tan Weian continued, "Master Zhou likes two kinds of people the most: those who are extremely talented and those who are extremely hardworking. Right now, in Master Zhou's eyes, you are both extremely talented and extremely hardworking. It's like you're being filtered through the highest level."

"Really, even if Su Qian were here, he would be shocked. I haven't seen Master Zhou so kind and gentle in many years."

"Moreover, Master Zhou is someone who values ​​first impressions a lot. Why does Master Zhou dislike Master Zheng? It's because Master Zhou had a very bad first impression of Master Zheng. Even though Master Zheng changed his opinion with his actions later, Master Zhou was inherently prejudiced against Master Zheng, so he still found fault with Master Zheng in every way."

“You’re different. You’re practically the opposite of Master Zheng!”

"If I had known that building a persona was so important, I should have started kneading dough immediately when I first met Master Zhou as a child, instead of asking my grandfather for 10 yuan to buy snacks."

Qin Huai nodded thoughtfully.

So... he accidentally maxed out Master Zhou's favorability?
"What kind of pastries is Master Zhou best at making now?" Qin Huai asked.

"It must be all kinds of puff pastries. Although Master Zhou is most famous for his boat-shaped pastries, they are too complicated and the price is incredibly high. Usually, only on important occasions will guests pay a high price to have Master Zhou make boat-shaped pastries. Master Zhou rarely makes them on ordinary days."

"Master Zhou is currently making the Lion Dance Pastry the most."

"what happened?"

"It's nothing. I just ate the egg tarts that Master Zhou made earlier, but I didn't really taste the craftsmanship. I'd like to try Master Zhou's real signature desserts."

Tan Weian: 6
Is this the genius at gaining favor? He thought that after all that rambling, Qin Huai's first thought was to quickly ask Master Zhou for tips on finger techniques, and hopefully trick him into revealing some secret skills.

Qin Huai's first thought was whether he could have some of Master Zhou's signature snacks.

Damn it, isn't this exactly the type of pastry chef that Master Zhou likes the most?
Even with all the scheming and tricks, I still can't beat you naturally gifted players.

(End of this chapter)