The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 443 Other People's Children
After determining his recent direction and goals, Qin Huai officially began grinding for proficiency.

Improving your proficiency is actually very simple; you only need to do one thing—

roll.

There's no need to consider whether a pastry is cost-effective, difficult to make, has a market, or is worth mass-producing. These are things you only consider when grinding specific skill levels or wanting to make money. People like Qin Huai grind all skill levels regardless of their level because none of them are maxed out. Since everything can be grinded, he can make any pastry.

As long as Qin Huai likes it, he can do whatever he wants. He can even stir-fry a couple of plates of vegetables by the stove. Skill in controlling the heat is also a skill.

Master Zhou greatly admired and supported Qin Huai's attitude and methods in improving his skill level.

Every master chef started as an apprentice. Every master chef has experienced periods of arduous practice and confusion. It is because of these experiences that master chefs understand how difficult it is to practice hard.

When a person really goes all out and gets into it, what they're rolling around with becomes unimportant, as are the cost-effectiveness and returns. What matters is the ability to persevere and the interest and motivation to keep going.

At times like these, every master chef becomes like a doting parent, letting their children do whatever they want as long as they're happy.

Of course, Master Zhou's mindset only applies to Qin Huai, not to Zhao Cheng'an.

Qin Huai took the initiative to start the book-writing session, while Zhao Cheng'an was completely passive, even to the point of questioning his own existence after being swayed by Qin Huai. His gaze towards Qin Huai even changed to: "Dude, are you really that good at this?"

I know you can roll, Tan Weian has mentioned it to some extent, but Tan Weian never said you could roll this much.

Are you Guli?
No, bro, you're even more outrageous than Gu Li. Gu Li only comes to make pastries around 7 a.m. every day. Although he gets off work late and works a long time, he can still be considered human if he starts work at 7 a.m.

You start work at 7, then it gets to 6, then it gets to 5. Is that even human?

Do you know that because of you, the waiters at the small window have been specially assigned an early shift, opening at 6 a.m. every day? For so many years, Zhiweiju has adhered to the tradition of starting to sell dim sum at 9:30 a.m., but you have completely broken that tradition. You have turned Zhiweiju from a dim sum restaurant into a breakfast shop.

Do you know that the last time Zhiweiju sold breakfast was more than 30 years ago, before it transformed and reformed?
Dude, stop trying to work so hard. Starting at 7 am is already exhausting enough; starting at 5 am is just too much for me. Haven't you noticed my mentor is always pretending to be dead? Even he can only manage to come around 6 am every day.

Qin Huai was unaware of Zhao Cheng'an's outcry; she simply enjoyed making pastries every day.

As a breakfast shop chef who doesn't like getting up early, Qin Huai simply didn't like having to get up at 1 or 2 a.m. every day to make breakfast when he was still selling breakfast at Qin Family Breakfast Shop. However, getting up at 4 or 5 a.m. to make breakfast was acceptable.

The breakfast shop chef gets up early differently than the pastry chef.

Even though Qin Huai had become a pastry chef, when he actually started rolling and practicing his basic skills, he discovered that deep down he was still a breakfast chef.

They're all about to become the king of breakfast, mass-producing basic pastries to hone their skills, offering unlimited quantities of white steamed buns, fermented rice steamed buns, meat and vegetable buns, rice cakes, steamed cakes, red date cakes, vegetarian noodles, hand-pulled noodles, shumai, wontons, and steamed dumplings, making breakfast dominate Zhiweiju. Even donkey rolls and pea flour cakes mixed in will make customers exclaim: "Wow, some incredibly high-end items have been mixed into the breakfast menu! These two are pastries!" Of course, Qinhuai has to stay within its comfort zone.

What is his comfort zone?

Make breakfast!
After more than a year of working away from home, Master Qin returned to work at a breakfast shop, which in a sense means he hasn't forgotten his original aspirations.

As for the regular customers of Zhiweiju, especially those who live near Zhiweiju and can stop by every morning to buy breakfast...

It's so blissful that I wake up laughing every night in my dreams.

On the first day Qin Huai made fermented rice buns and plain white steamed buns, everyone was just marveling that Zhiweiju had a master chef who loved making these basic pastries. At that time, the guests didn't realize what was about to happen; they still considered Qin Huai's steamed buns as just another type of pastry.

Some regular customers who are very familiar with Zhiweiju's operations even think that the new master chef may have been teaching his apprentices on his first day at work, and made so many simple and quick-to-deliver steamed buns as a demonstration.

The dim sum dropped by the master chefs at Zhiweiju is quite random. The master chefs don't have fixed KPIs and mainly focus on teaching apprentices. They usually live a leisurely life, taking it easy, but they show off their skills at big occasions, such as large-scale business receptions or official events.

As the premier dim sum restaurant, Zhiweiju, like many high-end restaurants, requires advance reservations for many of its master chefs' signature dim sum dishes, and the prices are quite high. Moreover, only the dim sum dishes of ordinary master chefs can be reserved in advance. For someone like Chef Zhou, the number one dim sum chef, you can't even get a reservation without connections, because Chef Zhou is usually too lazy to cook.

Compared to a regular job, Master Zhou prefers the random daily drops.

This sales model has fostered a habit among Zhiweiju customers of opening blind boxes. Whenever they have money in their pockets, they want to buy some when they pass by, just in case they win something.
Getting one is a win!

Therefore, when Qin Huai made a large quantity of steamed buns on the first day, although some customers exclaimed that they would be motivated to go to work if they could eat such steamed buns every day, no customer really thought that they would live such a good life in the future.

What are you thinking? The head chef at Zhiweiju would rather give up a leisurely life and make expensive, exquisite pastries than make steamed buns for you every day. There's no such thing as a free lunch. You've gone crazy from working too much.

Stop dreaming, such a good thing doesn't even exist in dreams.

And then everyone's dream came true.

Although buying steamed buns is still the same as opening blind boxes, the drop rate of gold in these blind boxes is a bit too high.

And as long as you arrive early enough to catch the first batch of blind boxes each morning, the success rate is almost 1%.

This new head chef likes to get up early and also likes to make breakfast!
After figuring out the characteristics of Qinhuai, a peculiar sight appeared at Zhiweiju—

The long queues at the window are no longer in the afternoon, but at five or six in the morning. The once laid-back customers who leisurely opened blind boxes every day, happy if they won and not happy if they didn't, have become motivated and started queuing up early. While queuing, everyone's face was full of determination to win today.

In response, Mr. Su stated: ...

Well, as long as Master Qin and the guests are happy.

As a very business-minded boss, Mr. Su knew that the profit margin for dim sum was limited. Even if he became the top dim sum restaurant, he could not make as much money as a red dim sum restaurant of the same level.

Therefore, Boss Su is very tolerant of the chefs at Zhiweiju. They can do whatever they want, and any special hobbies or preferences are acceptable. Whether they earn more or less money is not very important to Boss Su.

The master chefs stay at Zhiweiju to build its reputation; making money is what the owner, Zhiweiju, needs to worry about.

Boss Su had long been eyeing Zheng Da's business model and wanted to collaborate with Zheng Da to launch dim sum under the Zhiweiju brand, modifying these dim sum recipes for industrial production, and making dim sum for low-end and even mid-to-high-end markets.

Zheng Da is the most successful and professional businessman in this field. Boss Su is very confident in Zheng Da's ability and vision. Otherwise, she would not have introduced her daughter to Zheng Siyuan for a blind date.

The reason Mr. Su made this connection was that he thought it would make the two families even closer and make future cooperation smoother.

then……

Boss Su has a lot of swear words he can't say just by thinking about it.

%＆@★#*！ Zheng Siyuan, what are you so arrogant about? Do you think you're so great? Are you the number one young person in the pastry-making industry? And you're even looking down on my daughter! So what if my daughter's skills aren't good? Even if they aren't, it's because I taught her. Just because she's not good now doesn't mean she won't be in the future. How can you speak so rudely? What do you mean my daughter has problems with her basic skills?
What's wrong with my daughter's basic skills? You're the one with a problem understanding desserts, not my daughter!
Boss Su was so angry that he wanted to terminate the cooperation or hire two masked men to beat Zheng Siyuan up.

Of course, that was just a thought. For the better development of Zhiweiju, Boss Su could only rant about Zheng Da on his WeChat Moments and then privately discuss the specifics of the cooperation with him.

In the office, Boss Su was looking at next week's work schedule.

"What time did Chef Qin arrive at the kitchen this morning?" Su Qi asked.

"I saw on the surveillance footage that it was 5:5," said the manager of Zhiweiju.

"If that's the case, one server at the window in the morning won't be enough. We'll have to have two next week, and their start time needs to be earlier. 5:50 is a bit late; it would be best if they could arrive at 5:30. We'll also give these two servers an extra bonus."

"Also, find a few apprentices in the kitchen who are observant, quick, and skilled at brewing tea, and have them arrive earlier each day to match Chef Qin's work schedule. Chef Qin is currently focusing on improving his basic skills and doesn't need much help making pastries, but we still need to keep some on hand, just in case we suddenly need them some day."

“Boss Su, Master Qin actually has an assistant. An Youyou, whom Master Qin brought, arrives even earlier than Master Qin every morning. I saw on the surveillance footage that she arrived at 4 a.m. this morning to help prepare the ingredients.”

Su Qi: ?
Are there any experts?

What time do the employees at Qin Huai's community canteen start work every morning? How did Qin Huai convince them to come to work so early? No wonder he specifically brought this employee with him after he came to Zhiweiju; he's a real asset!

"We should also arrange a few for Xiao An, so she doesn't get too tired," Su Qi said. "We should focus on choosing someone who is good at brewing tea. Is Chef Qin still making pastries?"

"Yes, sir." The manager nodded. "They're making steamed buns right now, and the kitchen hasn't stopped producing them. I've been observing them lately, and Chef Qin makes steamed buns every afternoon from 3 to 4 pm; it must be his habit."

Su Qi nodded and continued looking at the schedule.

Actually, making white flour steamed buns at 3 or 4 pm every day wasn't Qin Huai's habit, but Shi Dadan's. Every afternoon from 3 to 4 pm, Shi Dadan would queue up at Zhiweiju to buy his staple food for the day. After Qin Huai's observation, Shi Dadan was indeed not lying to him; he really preferred white flour steamed buns to fermented rice buns.

Dang Kang is just that honest and loves staple foods.

In the kitchen, Qin Huai was happily kneading dough.

As Qin Huai's morning commute time gradually moves forward, his afternoon commute time is also shifting forward.

Qin Huai isn't like Gu Li; he can't guarantee a 14-hour workday. For Qin Huai, 10-12 hours a day is already the limit. He arrives early in the morning, takes a 1-2 hour break at noon, does some light work in the afternoon to refresh himself, and that's the end of a pleasant day.

Of course, this pleasant day only applies to Qinhuai.

Zhao Cheng'an is almost driven to his death by Qin Huai.

Zhao Cheng'an felt that his current resentment could feed 10 evil sword immortals. If he couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse to go out and play for a week within two months, he might make a decision that would go against his ancestors' wishes—to betray his sect, stop being a chef, play for a week, and then come back.

Then he was beaten to death by his master.

But Zhao Cheng'an now feels that being beaten to death is a matter for the future; it's better to play first and then get beaten to death.

Zhao Cheng'an stared blankly at Qin Huai, who was still intently kneading the dough, as he made the pastries, and asked the question that struck him as profound: "Qin Huai, aren't you tired?"

"I'm fine," Qin Huai said. "Are your hands sore?"

“I’m not talking about physical exhaustion.” Zhao Cheng’an’s face was numb. “We’ve been doing this for so many years, it shouldn’t be that we feel tired just from making snacks every day. I mean, aren’t you mentally exhausted?”

"Tired?" Qin Huai looked up at Zhao Cheng'an and saw fatigue on his face. "How could I be tired? I'm grinding my proficiency right now, and seeing my proficiency increase every day is incredibly motivating."

Zhao Cheng'an: ...

There's really nothing to say to a lunatic like you.

Damn it, why am I not a lunatic? If I could imagine a game system and see the specific stats, maybe I wouldn't be so suicidal right now.

Zhao Cheng'an suddenly understood why Qin Huai had mental problems. It was hard not to have mental issues under such a workload. Zhao Cheng'an even envied Qin Huai for having mental problems.

"Haven't you thought about taking a break? We at Zhiweiju actually have a four-day holiday per month," Zhao Cheng'an whispered devilishly.

“I don’t need to rest right now,” Qin Huai said. “To be precise, I’m in a bit of a rush. There are people in Shanshi waiting for me to get back. And the longer I stay away, the more likely the older folks in our neighborhood will come to buy a house. Plus, my sister’s summer vacation is coming up soon, so I’d better stay with her and keep an eye on her while she’s getting tutoring, otherwise she’ll definitely get distracted and start playing around…”

"I want to achieve a significant overall improvement by mid-July, or at the latest by August. I don't expect to reach master level in any one skill."

"Have you noticed that my steamed buns have become more standard lately?" Qin Huai asked.

"Have you noticed that my master seems to dislike me more lately?" Zhao Cheng'an asked rhetorically.

Qin Huai: ?
Zhao Cheng'an just wanted to look up to the sky and roar, then shed two lines of clear tears: "For so many years, I have always been someone else's child, and I have never suffered the hardship of having someone else's child next door."

"I was so damn stupid back then!"

Qin Huai: ...

Qin Huai didn't know what to say, so he could only forcefully change the subject: "I heard something. All the paintings at the art exhibition we went to last time were sold. Apparently, they were all bought by two buyers."

"I don't know if it's because I don't understand, but are student art exhibitions really that successful these days? Are they really that valuable investments? Did I buy too little back then?"

Zhao Cheng'an: ...

Zhao Cheng'an remained silent, focusing solely on making the pastries.

He would never tell Qin Huai that the two buyers were his and Boss Su's daughters.

Zhao Cheng'an said that although he bought so many paintings, they were ultimately useless and he didn't achieve enlightenment at all. However, seeing that Boss Su's daughter also didn't achieve enlightenment made him feel much better.

Thinking about it this way, Zhao Cheng'an felt much better.

It's true what they say, comparisons are the thief of joy! Hahaha, Mr. Su's daughter bought eight more paintings than him!

(End of this chapter)