The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 450 [The Brightest Star]

Q: What should I do if I trigger a hidden quest?
A: Just open the game panel to check the tasks. Anyway, Zhao Cheng'an knows Qin Huai has a game system. As a well-known lunatic in the industry, it's normal for Qin Huai to click on anything on the street.

Qin Huai thought this way, and he did it.

He simply pointed into the void and immediately checked the hidden quest.

Zhao Cheng'an: ? Dude, you've been having a lot of episodes lately. You're not just pointing things out in the kitchen, now you're doing it outside too.

Hidden Quest:

1. [The Shining Star]: As the protagonist with a game system, how could you not be excited upon arriving at Taifeng Restaurant, once the premier restaurant in Beiping, and hearing about the glorious achievements of Jiang Chengde, the former top chef of Beiping? How could you not create your own legend in the place where Jiang Chengde once made his name? This exchange meeting is an opportunity. Culinary skills have no boundaries. How can you be a qualified protagonist if you only make a name for yourself in the world of pastry? Please shine brightly at this exchange meeting and become the most dazzling star remembered by the organizers.

Task Reward: [A Dream of Zhao Cheng'an]

Qin Huai: ?
To shine at the exchange meeting and be remembered by the organizers? Isn't the organizer Ling Guangzhao, the new owner of Babaozhai? To put it bluntly, it's about being remembered by Ling Guangzhao.

But how can the chefs of the white-paste dishes shine at the exchange meeting held by the Red-Paste Restaurant? It's unrealistic to expect Qin Huai to spend a whole day making pastries in the kitchen of Babaozhai and be remembered by Ling Guangzhao.

Qin Huai is now good at making most of the pastries, which are graded A or A-. These pastries are considered very competitive in the white pastry industry, definitely at the level of a master chef, but they are not good enough in the red pastry industry.

Currently in China, the overall level of pasta dishes is not as good as that of red dishes, even at the top level. Chef Zhou, as the undisputed number one pasta dish chef, didn't even make it into the top 30 of the list of famous chefs.

There aren't many top chefs in the red-cooked dishes category who made it into the top 30, but at least we have Mr. Xia, ranked 9th, to hold our own. Mr. Peng, who is ranked number one in the Famous Chefs List, has retired, but he is still number one, which is quite prestigious.

As the owner of Babaozhai, Ling Guangzhao must have seen many top-notch chefs specializing in hot dishes. Take Tong Deyan as an example; Tong Deyan's dishes can also be rated A-level. It would be difficult for him to make a splash with A-level desserts at Ling Guangzhao's place.

Qin Huai understood a little why this task was a hidden task; it seemed to be a hidden task, but it was actually a time-limited task.

The exchange meeting starts tomorrow and ends the day after, leaving Qin Huai with very little time to complete his task; it's the kind of meeting where there's no thank you later.

The mission rewards were very tempting for Qin Huai.

A dream of Zhao Cheng'an.

Zhao Cheng'an only has three dreams in total; missing even one would be a huge loss.

Qin Huai's gaze towards Zhao Cheng'an instantly changed, becoming, "Dude, why is your dream so hard to unlock? Other people's tasks, no matter how difficult or abstract, can be left alone. Why is it a time-limited task for you?"

Zhao Cheng'an: ?

"Brother Cheng'an." Qin Huai gave him a kind smile.

Zhao Cheng'an's alarm bells went off immediately. His intuition told him that as soon as Qin Huai called him Brother Cheng'an, nothing good was about to happen.

How much do you know about Boss Ling Guangzhao?

Zhao Cheng'an answered very honestly: "I don't know him at all. I've never even seen his picture. I've only heard that he studied management abroad and then made sweeping reforms to Babaozhai after returning to China. He's quite good at marketing and his business is doing well, but it has damaged his reputation a bit. He's not a spendthrift, but he's quite a businessman."

"Boss Su's assessment of him is that he is capable but lacks foresight, likes to take shortcuts and engage in unorthodox methods. If he continues like this, Babaozhai may be ruined in his hands. Of course, if he is willing to change, that's another story."

Qin Huai nodded, offering a very harsh assessment.

"Do you understand his personality?"

Zhao Cheng'an shook his head.

Can you understand?

Zhao Cheng'an: ? ?
Zhao Cheng'an hesitated for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Do I need to...find out?"

Qin Huai's smile became even more amiable: "If Brother Cheng'an has time today, could you please help me find out more? I'm quite interested in Boss Ling. After all, we've come all this way to attend his exchange meeting, so we should at least learn about him first."

Zhao Cheng'an: ...?
Do I need to know the organizer's personality to attend an exchange meeting? Wouldn't it be enough to just know the menu for tomorrow's lunch?
Zhao Cheng'an didn't understand, but he didn't think it was a difficult task. Anyway, Qin Huai wasn't quite mentally stable and would occasionally ask strange questions. Zhao Cheng'an considered himself two years older than Qin Huai, so it was only right that he take care of him in areas other than making pastries. After thinking for a moment, he nodded in agreement.

Now that they'd seen Taifenglou, Qin Huai had triggered a hidden quest and reaped a great harvest, while Zhao Cheng'an, having eaten so much on the plane that he was burping, had no interest in dinner. After discussing it with Yifan, the two returned directly to the hotel. Qin Huai searched online for Ling Guangzhao's basic information and the reputation of Babaozhai over the past two years, while Zhao Cheng'an used the most laborious method: going through the list of attendees at this exchange meeting and inquiring about each person individually.

As a direct disciple of Master Zhou, Zhao Cheng'an is not unknown in the culinary world. Especially in the south, Zhao Cheng'an knows many chefs, and he has a good relationship with Pei Shenghua, a master of Huaiyang cuisine.

Zhao Cheng'an loved to gossip, and Pei Shenghua was an even bigger gossipmonger, nicknamed "King of Gossips Pei." After getting Pei Shenghua's room number, Zhao Cheng'an went straight to his door.

While browsing through the list of participants, Zhao Cheng'an stumbled upon an unexpected surprise—

Huang Ji's representative is Huang Anyao.

Qin Huai did a quick online search and found little information about Ling Guangzhao. He was the owner, and people's attention to Babaozhai was mostly focused on the chefs; the owner was the kind of person who automatically disappeared from the public eye.

After hearing about Babaozhai's gossip, Qin Huai was quite certain of Boss Su's opinion of Ling Guangzhao.

He is capable, but rather opportunistic.

Ling Guangzhao's return to China was less about taking over the family business and more about cleaning up a mess. Unlike Boss Su, who was a chef by trade and inherited the restaurant, Babaozhai was a famous old brand in Beiping. Ling Guangzhao had completely given up learning to cook and focused on running the restaurant since his father's generation, so in a sense, the family's skills had been lost.

The price of losing out is that it makes one vulnerable to poaching. When Ling Guangzhao returned to China to take over Babaozhai, the old masters of Babaozhai had either retired or changed jobs. The restaurant seemed to still have a reputation as an old brand, but in reality, it was just an empty shell.

Babaozhai was once one of the very few restaurants that offered both traditional Chinese and Western-style dim sum, with the first floor specializing in Western-style dim sum and the second floor for dine-in. However, with the retirement and job changes of the master chefs, the dim sum section on the first floor was discontinued.

The first thing Ling Guangzhao did after taking over was to poach talent, bringing in Tong Deyan, a skilled chef with a terrible reputation, to serve as head chef at Babaozhai with a high salary. He then went on a marketing spree, advertising on various platforms to transform Babaozhai into a trendy restaurant, launching new dishes to encourage customers to take photos and check in, and incidentally raising prices, achieving huge revenue in a short period. The cost was a severe backlash from the increased popularity; reputational issues that should have taken longer to surface erupted in a very short time. Because of Tong Deyan's excellent culinary skills, the reputation issue isn't currently a major problem.

After reviewing the development of Babaozhai over the past two years, and recalling Ling Guangzhao's extravagant spending on this special exchange meeting, even reimbursing the chefs' first-class round-trip airfares, an absurd idea arose in Qin Huai's mind.

Ling Guangzhao is an opportunist, and Tong Deyan was, in a sense, poached by him with a high salary.

Could it be that he's tasted the sweetness of poaching talent with high salaries, so he's holding a large exchange meeting to showcase his financial resources, and at the same time, to select future employees from the chefs attending the exchange meeting who might be poached for high salaries?
If that's the case, then this Boss Ling is indeed quite skilled and daring; he's truly not afraid of being criticized.

Just as Qin Huai was shocked by his own conjecture, Huang Anyao called him.

"Hello." Qin Huai answered the phone.

"Qin Huai, I saw your name on the list of attendees at the exchange meeting. Are you in Beiping right now?" Huang Anyao's weak voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, I'm in Beiping now. What's wrong?"

"I'm airsick," Huang Anyao groaned. "I don't usually fly. The last time I flew was three years ago. I was a little airsick then, but it was okay. I don't know why it's so bad this time."

"I'm the only one from Huang Ji this time. My dad doesn't like to travel far, so Huang Jia should have come instead. Huang Ji's business has been pretty good lately, and they have a wedding banquet the day after tomorrow, so all the chefs in the restaurant couldn't leave and sent me instead."

"I don't know if I can go to the meeting tomorrow in this condition. If I'm still dizzy tomorrow, I might have to go to the hospital. You have two chefs from Zhiweiju this time. If I go to the hospital tomorrow, could you temporarily cover for me and represent Huangji?"

“I think you are more convincing as a representative of Huangji than I am. Your daughter even represented Huangji on the show ‘Taste of China’.”

Huang Anyao's voice grew weaker and weaker as he spoke, and Qin Huai was afraid that he would faint if he talked too much.

"Okay." Qin Huai readily agreed. Anyway, he was neither from Zhiweiju nor Huangji, so what difference did it make who he represented? "You should rest well. If you can't hold on, don't delay. Go to the hospital tonight."

"Last time, Tan Weian rode several roller coasters and got carsick. He thought he could handle it, but he ended up with gastroenteritis and had to stay in the hospital for several days."

After hanging up the phone, Qin Huai was still worried and went directly to Huang Anyao's room to check on him. He found that Huang Anyao was indeed suffering from severe airsickness. Not only was he pale, but even though he had been airsick for more than two hours, he was still dry heaving after vomiting his stomach empty.

Qin Huai was all too familiar with this situation. Without saying a word, he took Huang Anyao to the hospital. Sure enough, he suffered from motion sickness, acclimatization problems, and gastroenteritis, and the young master ended up in the hospital.

There was no need to wait until tomorrow. Huang Anyao directly sent a message to Ling Guangzhao saying that his situation was not good and that Huang's team would temporarily replace the representative attending the meeting.

When Qin Huai returned to the hotel, Zhao Cheng'an had already finished gathering the gossip and was waiting anxiously in his room.

Seeing Qin Huai finally return, Zhao Cheng'an didn't even ask where Qin Huai had gone, and couldn't wait to say, "Qin Huai, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing, you can't even imagine what I just heard!"

"Do you know Weixianlou in Jinling? You don't? It's okay, it doesn't matter. The owner and head chef of Weixianlou have fallen out. The two former apprentices have become enemies, and the next step is to go to court. It is said that they even took out their wills. Last week, they even got into a fight in the kitchen and overturned the pots!"

"I have a video here, do you want to watch it? It's absolutely amazing. People in Nanjing are really tight-lipped; this kind of thing hasn't even reached Hangzhou."

Qin Huai: "...Weren't you going to inquire about Boss Ling?"

"...I couldn't find out, and Master Pei and Boss Ling aren't familiar with each other. I'll send you the video now!"

Then Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng'an sat on the sofa and watched a precious 20-minute video of a kitchen brawl. Pots, pans, radishes, and cabbages flew everywhere in a physical sense. It was a martial arts film that every chef should watch.

"The chefs in Jinling are really tight-lipped," Qin Huai remarked. "By the way, were the seating arrangements for tomorrow morning's meeting pre-arranged by restaurant?"

"Yeah, I didn't tell you how you knew. Just sit with me. The seating arrangement is very particular. Many chefs from different restaurants don't get along. If they really start arguing, we can just watch the show. Remember to take out your phone and record it."

"I probably won't be able to sit with you anymore. Huang Anyao is hospitalized due to acclimatization issues, and I have to attend a meeting on behalf of Huang's company tomorrow."

Zhao Cheng'an: ?

His colleague, who was even sharing a room with him tonight, has suddenly become a colleague in the same industry?

What's going on with Huang Ji? Sending only Huang Anyao to such an unimportant meeting shows a complete lack of respect.

"Then... do you know about Huang Ji's interpersonal relationships? Their Red Case Restaurant might have some intricacies that we White Case Restaurant people are unaware of."

"I don't know, but I feel Huang Anyao probably doesn't know either. He just asked me to go to the meeting for him, and didn't say anything else. I suspect that when I say I'm Huang Anyao at the meeting tomorrow, no one will doubt me."

Zhao Cheng'an didn't know what to say, so he could only say "6".

After two minutes of digesting the fact that his colleague had drastically changed the industry standard, Zhao Cheng'an quickly perked up and excitedly said, "Actually, it's quite good that you, Qin Huai, represented Huang Ji at the meeting."

"Huang Ji is a long-established restaurant specializing in red-and-white dishes, so it will definitely be grouped with other established restaurants. You can go deep into the heart of the gossip, and if things really get heated or even a fight breaks out, your filming position will definitely be better than mine."

Qin Huai: ...Why is Zhao Cheng'an so obsessed with arguing and fighting? Do the Red Case meetings often involve offline real-life fighting?

Seeing that Qin Huai remained silent, Zhao Cheng'an asked again, "Or do you have some other ideas?"

"I don't have any other ideas. I just wanted to take this opportunity to make some snacks and get everyone's feedback and discussion," Qin Huai said casually.

Zhao Cheng'an: ? ? ?

Dude, this is such a great opportunity to slack off and have fun at the exchange meeting, and all you're thinking about is actually exchanging ideas and making desserts?
Stop trying to scare us, brother. We're not at Zhiweiju anymore. You don't scare people like this in Beijing. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, okay?

Normal exchange meetings are just meetings, eating and drinking, and strolling around. Only at our Zhiweiju exchange meetings do we drag the pastry chefs into the kitchen to make pastries.

(End of this chapter)