The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 410 A Powerful Spectator
With Tan Weian, a skilled worker, on the job, the preparation of ingredients became very quick. The key to making fresh meat-filled glutinous rice balls is the filling, while the mixed fruit filling is a bit more complicated to make. However, the glutinous rice balls were ready in just over forty minutes.

Making desserts from scratch in this time, even if it's just a stripped-down version of Four Happiness Tangyuan, is still considered very fast.

Master Zhou was still instructing his disciples in other areas, while Qin Huai and Tan Weian chose to try the food first as a sign of respect.

"Hey Qin Huai, why didn't we think of making two flavors of Four Happiness Tangyuan before? One sweet and one savory would be a great combination, and I think they'd taste pretty good too." Tan Weian was eating with great relish, showing no signs of having just eaten Zheng Da's breakfast on the high-speed train until he was about to throw up.

It can only be said that not a single pound of Tan Weian's flesh was gained in vain.

Qin Huai glanced at Tan Weian and found him to be quite interesting. The guy was a bit more reserved when he was out, but once he got home, he completely let loose.

Tan Weian wouldn't have said such things a few days ago; he would have just quietly eaten while openly slacking off.

"Is it possible that glutinous rice balls with only two flavors wouldn't be called Four Happiness Glutinous Rice Balls?" Qin Huai said, taking a big bite of the fresh meat filling glutinous rice ball. He chewed it carefully and felt relieved when he found that there was no problem with it.

Just do your best. After all, Qin Huai is new here. If her first dessert turns out badly, it would be a disgrace to the Yunzhong Canteen.

As for what face Yunzhong Canteen has as a community canteen...

Qin Huai told him not to worry about it. As the owner of Yunzhong Restaurant, he would protect the reputation of Yunzhong Restaurant with his life when he was away from home, and prevent the reputation from spreading, so as not to make the already booming business of Yunzhong Restaurant even better.

"What are you planning to do later?" Tan Weian asked.

“Three-ingredient bun,” Qin Huai said with certainty.

He originally wanted to make his best Four Happiness Tangyuan, the one that consistently ranks at Grade A, to showcase his skills and let Chef Zhou see his craft. However, due to a lack of consideration, he made a substandard version. Naturally, he needed to be more careful with the second dessert, aiming to make one that would not go wrong while still demonstrating his skill.

Three-ingredient buns are a great choice.

While chewing on the Four Happiness Tangyuan, Qin Huai pondered the preparations needed for the Three Delicacies Buns, repeatedly checking to ensure that the awkward situation with the Four Happiness Tangyuan wouldn't repeat itself. Lost in thought, he didn't notice that someone had unknowingly appeared beside him.

"Is this the Four Happiness Tangyuan that Xiao Tan kept praising after he came back last time?" A chubby, bald middle-aged man appeared beside Qin Huai, smiling at him. He looked somewhat like Maitreya Buddha from an animated film, which was quite comical and gave people a very friendly feeling.

He said this seemingly to Tan Weian, but actually to Qin Huai.

Qin Huai was a little confused. He suddenly realized that Su Qian and Tan Weian had told him a lot of gossip about Zhiweiju on the high-speed train, using ABCD to refer to almost all the master chefs and most of the direct disciples in Zhiweiju. However, the two of them only talked about gossip and did not describe their appearances at all.

Qin Huai seemed to know a lot, but in reality he knew nothing. He didn't even know what the master chefs looked like!

Even the head chef, Master Zhou, was only recognized by Qin Huai when he was squatting outside Zhiweiju eating egg tarts.

Qin Huai gave Tan Weian a look that seemed to say, "Who is this master chef? Please introduce him to me."

Before Tan Weian could even open his mouth, the bald, chubby master said, "My surname is Hua, Hua Zhongxing. You can just call me Master Hua, Xiao Qin."

Qin Huai instantly understood. Oh, it was Master Hua who had a falling out with Master Liu over their children's blind dates.

"Hello, Master Hua. I've long admired your name and heard that your dim sum is excellent. I'm Qin Huai, and this is my first day at Zhiweiju for an exchange. I'm not familiar with everyone yet, so I didn't recognize you just now. I'm so sorry." Qin Huai quickly put down his bowl and shook hands with Master Hua as he spoke.

Master Hua said with a smile, "What did Xiao Tan say to you? He said that I got into a fight with Lao Liu because of my son. Lao Liu recommended a doctor to me in the break room, telling me to take my son to see a doctor as soon as possible so that he doesn't look 50 years old before he's even 30."

Qin Huai: ...Why didn't Tan Weian mention such a wonderful plot just now? Your Zhiweiju lounge is just too amazing, no wonder it's so big.

Sure enough, the real showdown only needed to take place in a simple lounge.

"No, I really didn't say that."

"So you were talking about something else." Master Hua glanced at Tan Weian, who looked at the ground somewhat guiltily, pretending to be very concerned about his shoes.

Qin Huai glanced down at Tan Weian's shoes and noticed that his shoelaces were loose, but Tan Weian stared at his shoes for a long time without noticing.

"I don't know if Xiao Tan told you, but given his personality, I doubt he would have talked about anything serious. I'm not from the Jiangnan region; I'm from the North, and my specialty is all kinds of noodles, especially pulled noodles."

"I don't know if you've ever eaten dragon beard noodles, Xiao Qin. The standard is 14 knots and 16384 strands. My record is 19 knots. 20 knots is barely acceptable, but there are too many broken pieces, so it's not considered a success."

"Xiao Tan said you're very good at making chicken noodle soup, but it's not stretched noodles, it's hand-kneaded noodles. We can exchange tips sometime. I'm also very good at hand-kneaded noodles, oil-splashed noodles, knife-cut noodles, braised noodles, etc. If I'm not the best at Zhiweiju, I'm definitely one of the best."

Upon hearing this, Qin Huai instantly felt that Master Hua was radiating golden light. The difficulty of each twist in stretching noodles increases exponentially. Stretching dragon beard noodles to 19 twists is already considered a very high level. Master Hua said that he could barely stretch it to 20 twists, but there would be many broken pieces, which means that his 19 twists could be done very well.

With such top-notch skill, a single bowl of noodles could easily cost several hundred or even a thousand yuan, and diners would all give a thumbs up to praise the chef for being truly conscientious.

The level of skill in making noodles has transcended mere noodle making; it has reached the point of pure skill display, akin to the art of boat-shaped dim sum. Although Qin Huai had always heard people say that Zhiweiju was the undisputed number one restaurant for pastry dishes, gathering top pastry chefs from all over the country, he had never really grasped the concept in his mind.

In Qin Huai's mind, Zhiweiju was all about the most awesome Master Zhou and a group of other amazing chefs who were completely out of touch with reality.

Master Hua's brief self-introduction gave Qin Huai an instant idea of ​​what was going on.

Zhiweiju is like a top-tier university, gathering the top scorers from each year's academic year. Some of these top scorers stay at Zhiweiju as professors to continue teaching and educating students, while others go elsewhere to make their mark. As a top-tier institution, Zhiweiju recruits countless outstanding students from all over the country every year. These students go through layers of selection to become top scorers, and then compete for the title of "top scorer," with the final winner staying.

With this in mind, Qin Huai instantly understood why the apprentices at Zhiweiju were so rolled up, while the direct disciples were relatively better off, and the master chefs all seemed so relaxed and carefree.

The master chefs have already rolled it up.

At this moment, Master Hua was no longer just Master Hua in front of Qin Huai; he was a master of hand-pulled noodles.

The dazzling light emanating from the noodle-pulling master made Qin Huai almost unable to open his eyes.

Qin Huai's inner thoughts were almost entirely written on his face, which made Master Hua's smile even wider. He asked, "May I try the Four Happiness Tangyuan you made, Qin Huai?"

"Of course!" Qin Huai hurriedly went to serve Master Hua. He had just made a large batch, and there were still some Four Happiness Dumplings left in the pot.

Qin Huai served Master Hua two dumplings, explaining that these were a watered-down version of Four Happiness Tangyuan, and watched Master Hua eat with some anticipation. Before Master Hua could even chew a couple of bites and swallow to comment, another lean chef squeezed in.

The lean chef introduced himself as soon as he appeared: "Old Hua, that's really not fair of you. Your apprentice sneaked in to eat halfway through teaching. Hello Xiao Qin, my surname is Zhang, Zhang Dongliang. I don't know if Xiao Tan has mentioned me to you. I usually take care of the morning and noon snacks. I get off work relatively early. I should be off work in two more hours."

“I heard from Xiao Tan that you love shrimp dumplings. If you want some, just let me know. I’m best at making Cantonese dim sum. Speaking of which, we’re from the same hometown. I’m also from Guangdong Province. You’re from Qiu County, which Xiao Tan mentioned before. I know about Qiu County.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Huai immediately recognized him and his eyes lit up: "Master Zhang, I've heard Tan Weian mention you before. He also told me that your shrimp dumplings are exceptionally good. I wonder if I'll have a chance to try them tomorrow?" "No need for tomorrow. I'll make another batch for you later, and you can enjoy them in an hour."

"Thank you, Master Zhang. Please have some tangyuan." Qin Huai quickly went to serve the tangyuan.

Before one bowl of glutinous rice balls was even finished, another chef squeezed in.

"Xiao Qin, right? My surname is Chen, Chen Xin. I don't know if Xiao Tan has ever mentioned me to you, I..."

again.

"You're Xiao Qin, right? My surname is Liang, Liang An. I usually make all kinds of pastries. I heard from Xiao Tan that you..."

"Hey, why did you all come over here? You're Xiao Qin, right? My surname is Liu, Liu Haiqiao. And you, surnamed Hua, don't push your way in. You've already started eating, why are you still pushing? I heard from Xiao Tan that you're very interested in imperial pastries. Coincidentally, I'm best at all kinds of imperial pastries. Let's exchange ideas sometime... And you, surnamed Hua, don't push your way in!"

"Xiao Qin, right? I..."

"I……"

Within minutes, the area around Qin Huai's cooking station was completely surrounded by the master chefs from Zhiweiju.

Yes, it's completely sealed off.

Not only could no one else squeeze in, but Tan Weian couldn't even squeeze out. The pot of Four Happiness Dumplings that Qin Huai had cooked was already not enough to share, and Qin Huai had originally planned to cook the second pot after Chef Zhou finished his work, but now it seemed too late.

The chefs shared their food, one piece at a time, and gathered around the kitchen counter, chewing away. Even after they finished eating, they didn't leave or put down their bowls; they just stood there and started discussing.

"Xiao Qin's skill in preparing the filling is quite good. The meat is chopped like this, which is obviously not handled well, but the taste is still so delicious. Xiao Tan is not exaggerating."

"Don't you think the mixed fruit filling is even more impressive? Although the taste is just average, the fact that so many different ingredients can be combined and harmonized in the end shows exceptional basic skills and a keen sense of taste. I guess only Lao Zhou, Lao Hua, Lao Liu, and Xiao Liu among us could do that, right?"

"Xiao Dong should be able to do it too."

"No wonder Old Zhou was so preoccupied with this. He was restless all morning and had nothing to do, so he baked a batch of egg tarts and just squatted at the door waiting. Old Zhou isn't waiting for a master to exchange ideas; he's waiting for his future precious apprentice."

"Shh, keep your voice down, Xiao Qin... Hey, where's Xiao Qin?"

“He squeezed out to get glutinous rice flour. Do you think I’m stupid? I only told you after I saw him leave. Let me tell you, Old Zhou is definitely thinking about taking on an apprentice. You didn’t see the expression on Old Zhou’s face when he led Xiao Qin in. He was so kind and gentle the whole way. My God, in the 20 years I’ve known Old Zhou, I’ve never seen him treat anyone so well.”

"As for it?"

"Why don't you try another bite of the glutinous rice ball before you say that?"

"I just got one. I didn't get the fresh meat filling you mentioned, so I ate the mixed fruit filling instead. What kind of pastries are you making for the next batch, Xiao Qin?"

"I just asked Xiao Tan, and it seems to be a three-ingredient bun."

"The three-ingredient bun is good; it really shows your basic skills."

"..."

When Qin Huai squeezed his way back from outside, he noticed that there seemed to be even more chefs gathered around the cooking station.

If his intuition was correct, he felt that it seemed like all the chefs who were working today had gathered around.

For some reason, Qin Huai suddenly felt like he was the only student left in the exam hall at the very end, and all the proctors in the entire teaching building were just standing around watching him write the exam paper.

He felt that these master chefs were just there to join in the fun, but he didn't know what they were actually watching. Were they just observing the newlyweds?
But theoretically, Zhiweiju shouldn't lack newcomers to come and exchange ideas.

Qin Huai didn't understand, so he silently made the three-ingredient buns.

Compared to the simplified version of Four Happiness Tangyuan, Three Delicacies Buns take much longer to make. Kneading the dough, preparing the ingredients, cooking the filling, and seasoning the filling all take time. Because there are so few spots available at the kitchen counter, the apprentice who was previously unknown has been squeezed out, leaving only Tan Weian to help Qin Huai.

Even when Tan Weian was halfway through assisting Qin Huai, the enthusiastic chefs Master Hua and Master Liu felt that Tan Weian's skills were not good enough and would drag Qin Huai down, so they directly stepped in to help with chopping vegetables and preparing ingredients.

Then, these two chefs, who had been avoiding each other due to conflicts with their children, appeared on the same cooking table in a very rare occurrence. Standing on the banks of the Qinhuai River, they chopped vegetables one on each side, creating a sense of confrontation, open and covert struggle, smoke and fire, the glint of knives, and deceit.

In the final stages of preparation, Tan Weian was also squeezed out.

That's terrible. This place is now a gathering place for master chefs. Even a direct disciple like Tan Weian isn't qualified to squeeze in.

Tan Weian: ...

Qin Huai finished making the three-ingredient buns under great pressure. He watched as an unknown apprentice delivered the buns to the steaming area. Then, he excused himself to go to the restroom and pulled Tan Weian away from this troublesome place.

Master Zhou did not return during this period, supposedly to test Su Qian's progress and condition.

Qin Huai pulled Tan Weian into the corridor and looked at him, saying, "Speak."

Tan Wei'an: "? What did you say?"

"When I wasn't at Zhiweiju, how did you promote me to the master chefs?"

"Why does everyone know me, know my situation, know where I'm from, and the first thing they say to me is, as Xiao Tan once said?"

Tan Weian: ...

What a blunder! When I first came back from exchanging ideas with Huang Ji, I was spreading the gossip everywhere. I never imagined that one day Qin Huai would come to Zhiweiju!

Qin Huai looked at Tan Weian with a smile.

Tan Weian: "Brother, Brother Qin, Master Qin, is it too late for me to kneel down before you now?"

"It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's just that I've talked so much that I've forgotten what I said before."

(End of this chapter)