The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 427 Carbohydrate Feast
Qin Huai couldn't believe that what was originally just a casual holiday dinner about eating dumplings would turn into this.

Master Zhou sat in the living room waiting for the last of the pastries to be cooked.

Zhao Cheng'an, like a middle-aged man who, after get off work, doesn't want to go home but just wants to hide in the garage and smoke a cigarette, was dawdling in the kitchen, seemingly doing nothing.

An Youyou was trying her best to use her workplace skills to unpack, wash, and cut all the fruit from the fruit basket she and Shi Dadan had brought into a fruit platter.

Incidentally, because An Youyou's knife skills were really not good, the fruit platter she cut was a bit ugly, and a lot of scraps were wasted. An Youyou didn't want to waste it, so she ate as she cut, and Qin Huai was watching from the side, worried that she would eat her fill of fruit first.

Shi Dadan was the most relaxed of all. He sat at the table chatting with Chef Zhou, praising Chef Zhou's egg tarts like crazy. He said that he would go to Zhiweiju every afternoon to queue up and buy them, trying his best to express to Chef Zhou his simple heart as an ordinary diner who wanted to eat more snacks.

Although Master Zhou usually has a somewhat sarcastic and quirky personality, he is very kind and warm to his customers, especially those who like his pastries. Shi Dadan's simple and honest words, coupled with his simple and honest smile, made Master Zhou feel like he was basking in a spring breeze. When chatting with Shi Dadan, his smile was almost as warm and friendly as when he talked to Qin Huai.

As for Qin Huai, he and Zhao Cheng'an huddled together in the kitchen to escape reality and find out what was going on.

Isn't this just a regular get-together? How did you manage to gather the top executives of Zhiweiju here?

Qin Huai had reason to suspect that Zhao Cheng'an had set him up.

"I'm innocent! I'm more wronged than Dou E!" Faced with Qin Huai's accusations, Zhao Cheng'an could only cry out in a soft but loud voice, "I didn't know things would be like this until my master called me last night."

Qin Huai raised an eyebrow and casually glanced at the pastries in the kitchen that he could see with his own eyes.

The following pastries are ready to be made and ready to eat at any time: peach shortbread, lotus shortbread, jujube paste shortbread, peach blossom shortbread, auspicious cloud pattern shortbread, and egg yolk shortbread. Among these puff pastry pastries, the lotus shortbread and peach blossom shortbread are the most difficult to make, mainly because of their complex shapes.

Master Zhou's pastries are all exquisitely crafted, whether it's lotus flower pastries or peach blossom pastries. At first glance, they are layered and extremely lifelike, vivid and three-dimensional. They are the kind of pastries that can be sold for as high as 188 or even 288 yuan just by casually arranging them on a plate.

In this kitchen, there were so many peach blossom pastries and lotus blossom pastries that they could only be crammed together on a plain white porcelain plate in Zhao Cheng'an's house.

Because the pastries in the kitchen are not limited to puff pastry.

Qin Huai also saw five plates of crab shell pastries, two plates of small sesame seed cakes sprinkled with white sesame seeds and baked until golden brown and fragrant, two plates of steamed buns with unidentifiable fillings, and a plate of mixed fruit pastries, which should be more accurately described as assorted fruit pastries. This is one of Chef Zhou's signature snacks at Zhiweiju.

A small plate contains six different shaped dough figurines, each one small and exquisite, so lifelike that they are not the basic apple-shaped ones.

For example, the plate currently displayed in the kitchen has two bunches of grapes in the middle, one bunch of green grapes and one bunch of purple grapes. Not only are the grapes lifelike, but even the stems and grape leaves are very detailed, with the veins on the leaves clearly visible.

A ring of individual fruits was placed around the grapes, including sliced ​​watermelon, loquat, orange, strawberry, and persimmon. From a distance, it really looked like a fruit platter, except for the watermelon which was a bit small.

This is the most expensive and high-end dim sum that an ordinary but wealthy lucky diner can buy at Zhiweiju when Chef Zhou is in a great mood and has exceptionally good luck.

It is also an appetizer that Chef Zhou will serve when he is making the boat-shaped snacks.

In this kitchen, this dessert could barely maintain its shape and be placed in a relatively stable corner of the counter, unlike other desserts that couldn't be stacked together because the plates were too small.

Qin Huai scanned the kitchen again and saw the dumplings Zhao Cheng'an had made and the frozen pumpkin cakes he had fried in the corner. On the shelf where the vegetables should have been, he saw sugar triangles and layered oil cakes. After opening the refrigerator, he saw mung bean cakes and butterfly-shaped cold rolls being refrigerated.

Qin Huai remembered what Master Zhou had said earlier, so he did a little practice.

Practice

Redefining practice.

Qin Huai looked away from the dazzling array of pastries, resisting the urge to sneak a bite, and asked in a low voice, "So what's going on? There's no way so many pastries could have been made in just one day."

"I really don't know! I'm truly innocent!" Zhao Cheng'an kept protesting his innocence. "My master stayed at my house last night. Of course, these pastries can't be made in just one day. I started helping my master last night."

“I got off work at 7 pm and worked until 1 am. I got up again at 6 am this morning and have been working ever since. Do you know how difficult these pastries are? Do you know how long it normally takes to make that mixed fruit platter? Do you know why I didn’t answer your call just now? Because I’ve been working the whole time, and I didn’t dare to turn my phone on. If my supervisor hadn’t asked me what time you would arrive, I would have almost forgotten that I was supposed to treat you to dinner today. I thought we were having intensive training at home.” Zhao Cheng’an’s eyes welled up with tears as he spoke. “Isn’t today a day off? I feel even more tired than when I’m working.”

Hearing Zhao Cheng'an's sorrowful voice, Qin Huai suddenly found himself unable to continue questioning him. In that sense, Zhao Cheng'an was indeed quite pitiful.

"So you really don't know the reason?" Qin Huai asked.

Hearing Qin Huai ask this, Zhao Cheng'an became a little uncertain again. He glanced at the dumplings in the pot, thinking about how much longer he could delay, and hesitated before saying, "I can probably guess a little."

"It's probably because the two of us and An Youyou are all off today, and Tan Weian also wants to rest, so my master guessed that we were probably going to do something."

"I'll tell you this quietly now, but when we get out, you must pretend you know nothing about it."

"My master has always wanted to show you his true skills."

Qin Huai: ?
“Really, you have to believe me.” Zhao Cheng’an glanced cautiously at the kitchen door. “I don’t need to tell you how much my master likes you, anyone with eyes in Zhiweiju can see that. To put it bluntly, my master likes people who are talented, hardworking, and preferably have some emotional intelligence, can read people’s expressions, and are good at speaking.”

"Haven't you found it strange these past few days? Why does my master like you so much, specifically asking you to follow him and learn from him, but it seems like he hasn't taught you anything and has just been having me take care of you?"

Qin Huai nodded slightly: "I do find it a little strange, but I can understand. Master Zhou has been very busy lately and hasn't had time to teach me, but you are more than capable of teaching me, and I have learned a lot. The only thing I don't quite understand is... I really don't understand why Master Zhou has never let me try making pastries. I think it wouldn't be a problem to try making them a little bit, would it?"

Seeing that Qin Huai had hit the nail on the head, Zhao Cheng'an covered his mouth, lowered his eyebrows, and even bent over, adopting the posture of a secret agent making a rendezvous. His voice was so soft that Qin Huai had to lean close to hear him.

"Because this will increase your anticipation."

Qin Huai: ?
"Anticipation?"

"This is Master's old trick. Think about it. My Master is the number one in the Bai family. Wouldn't a normal person be very excited and looking forward to being guided by my Master? When my Master told you that you would follow him from now on, weren't you very excited? You were already imagining what you could learn from him, how he would guide you, whether you would be scolded, and whether it would be very hard."

Qin Huai nodded in agreement.

"Then, at this time, my master did not personally instruct you, but randomly selected someone to follow him. He didn't even let you make the pastries yourself, but just let you watch from the side, making you anxious. Wouldn't you feel a little apprehensive and anxious, and start to wonder if there was something wrong with you that made my master not take a liking to you, so he was unwilling to instruct you personally and sent me to instruct you instead?"

Qin Huai shook his head: "No, I just think that Master Zhou has been quite busy lately." "Besides, Master Zhou has always told me not to make pastries, there must be a reason for that."

Zhao Cheng'an: ...

Even though he himself was already a one-in-a-million genius, he still wanted to compete with a true genius like Qin Huai. Damn it, how could he be so confident? He was terrified back then, but Qin Huai wasn't afraid at all.

hateful.

Zhao Cheng'an was momentarily speechless, but pretending not to have heard what Qin Huai had just said, he continued, "At a time like this, my master would carefully select a suitable day and prepare a table of his signature pastries to fully demonstrate his skills. When you finish this meal with trepidation, wondering what my master is really thinking, and then he tells you kindly that he thinks highly of you and has decided to formally teach you how to make pastries starting tomorrow, wouldn't you be incredibly moved?"

"Wouldn't you want to kneel down and worship on the spot?"

Qin Huai: ...?
Has Zhao Cheng'an been reading too many wish-fulfillment novels? What kind of analysis is this?

"No," Qin Huai said firmly.

Zhao Cheng'an: ...

“I understand now.” Qin Huai straightened up and stared straight at Zhao Cheng’an. “This should be your mental journey when you became an apprentice. Let alone you, my situation is different from yours. Just tell me what you know.”

Zhao Cheng'an: "...As far as I know, my master loves to show off."

“From the moment you came to Zhiweiju, my master has always wanted to show off his skills to you. As a result, the first dessert you ate was an egg tart, and since you have always loved egg tarts, my master didn’t make any other desserts. My master has always wanted to find an opportunity to show off his skills.”

"Today he finally got a chance to show off in front of you."

Qin Huai: (*￣(エ)￣)

Zhao Cheng'an, you really are your master's disciple, saying right in front of others that your master loves to show off.

Qin Huai didn't know what to say. He glanced at the dumplings in the pot and said, "The dumplings are cooked. Let's serve the dishes."

Zhao Cheng'an hurriedly scooped out the dumplings, muttering silently as he did so. Qin Huai didn't read Zhao Cheng'an's lips or pay attention to what he was saying; he simply walked to the kitchen door, opened it, and began taking out the snacks one by one.

At the dining table, Shi Dadan was still chatting with Chef Zhou, while An Youyou sat in the corner eating fruit scraps. There were two rather unattractive fruit platters on the table.

Seeing the kitchen door open, the two looked at Qin Huai at the same time. Qin Huai smiled at Chef Zhou and asked, "Chef Zhou, have all the pastries in the kitchen been brought out?"

Master Zhou nodded slightly, and An Youyou quickly got up and went into the kitchen to help prepare the snacks. She was surprised to find that there were so many snacks in the kitchen.

"Wow, there's so much food! I thought there would only be dumplings, steamed buns, and rolls. I should have known better than to eat so much fruit!" An Youyou exclaimed regretfully.

This is where the importance of professionalism becomes apparent. To An Youyou, the "Qianhua Palace Lantern Bun" and "Sixi Roll" were just buns and rolls.

"What were Lao Shi and Master Zhou talking about just now?" Qin Huai asked casually.

"Mr. Shi inquired about your recent situation at Zhiweiju. Chef Zhou thought Mr. Shi was a relative of yours and gave him a detailed introduction to the welfare benefits at Zhiweiju."

"Master Qin, are you planning to switch jobs and join Zhiweiju?"

Qin Huai: ?
He's the owner of Yunzhong Canteen, so why did he switch jobs to Zhiweiju?
An Youyou, did you even read the workplace handbook I sent you that day? Oh right, this part shouldn't be in the handbook. Even Shi Dadan wouldn't ask such an outrageous question.

"Let's serve the food," Qin Huai could only say.

Two minutes later, the eight-person dining table in Zhao Cheng'an's home was filled with snacks.

The most exquisite assorted fruits were placed in the center of the table, with lotus and peach blossom pastries placed next to them. Other pastries were interspersed among mung bean cakes, steamed buns, and sugar triangles. Crab shell pastries were stacked on top of the pastries. The dumplings made by Zhao Cheng'an were placed on the side of the table, and the pumpkin cakes didn't even qualify for the table and were placed on the shoe cabinet.

Anyone who sees such a table of snacks would exclaim that it's a true carbohydrate feast.

Shi Dadan's favorite.

An Youyou, who had never seen the world before, was completely dumbfounded.

An Youyou had completely forgotten that she had actually come to Zhao Cheng'an's house to eat dumplings today. She was unfamiliar with all kinds of dumplings, including pork, sauerkraut, pork and celery, and beef and scallion dumplings. What she was really familiar with today were the lotus flowers, peach blossoms, pancakes, steamed buns, and the pretty plate of fruit buns on the table.

Qin Huai looked at Master Zhou.

Master Zhou sat upright at the table with a calm and relaxed smile on his face, looking very relaxed, like a hermit master.

"I happen to have some free time today, so I'll just make a little bit of pastry. I've been quite busy these past few days and haven't had time to chat with you, Xiao Qin. I don't know what your tastes are like. Xiao Qin, take a look and see which ones you like to eat. Starting tomorrow, you won't have to watch Lao San make pastries anymore; you can start making them with me."

"You don't need to come so early in the morning. 9 a.m. is too early for work. Arriving before 10 a.m. is fine."

"I've been very busy before, so I could only make you simple snacks like xiaolongbao. Try these snacks today and see if there's anything you particularly like. If so, I can make them for you every morning from now on."

"Don't just sit there, everyone, let's start eating."

For some reason, at this moment, Qin Huai's mind was filled with only the words Zhao Cheng'an had just said.

My master usually likes to show off.

Looking at Master Zhou, Qin Huai had only two thoughts in his mind:
Holy crap, Master Zhou has really put on a show.

What a show-off! Is this the confidence of the number one person in Bai's case? He'll have to act like this when he reaches the top.

(End of this chapter)