The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 514 The Basic Qualities of Outstanding Employees at the Cloud Canteen

Qin Huai spent an entire evening studying video tutorials on making potato dumplings, and finally came to the conclusion that—

This recipe is terrible.

The ingredients are too simple and the combination is unreasonable. There are a lot of potatoes and a few diced cured meats, and there is not much seasoning. It is just a carb-on-carb meal. The taste and texture are rather unpleasant.

If the prescription needs to be changed, Qin Huai doesn't know how.

Potato dumplings are unlike Four Happiness dumplings. The reason Qin Huai was able to develop a Four Happiness dumpling recipe that was very different from Four Happiness dumplings was because Four Happiness dumplings only limited Qin Huai to the shape and four kinds of fillings. It seemed like there were restrictions, but in reality there were no restrictions at all, allowing Qin Huai to invent and create freely.

And potato dumplings...

First of all, before retrieving the recipe from Zhao Cheng'an's memory, Qin Huai had no idea that potatoes could be used as filling for dumplings.

Secondly, potato dumplings restrict the use of raw materials too much.

Wang Gensheng's recollection of potato dumplings may seem to contain no specific details, but it contains a crucial element—the potato filling.

It has to be potato filling, and a very high proportion of potato filling. Back then, whenever Wang Gensheng ate potato dumplings, whether it was potato and pork dumplings or potato and cabbage dumplings, he could always name the other ingredients.

If Grandpa Wang is so honest, if he can't say, it means he doesn't have it.

Authentic potato dumplings...

Qin Huai spent the entire night studying video tutorials, but couldn't figure out a way to upgrade the potato dumplings, which were originally only grade C-, to grade B, B+, or even A. After thinking about it all night, all he could think about was stuffing the potato dumplings into Zhao Cheng'an's mouth the next day.

While stuffing food into my mouth, they kept saying, "Look at your lousy recipe! How am I supposed to change it? I'm just asking you, how am I supposed to change this recipe?"
That night, Qin Huai had a nightmare. In the dream, he failed to stuff the potato dumplings into Zhao Cheng'an's mouth. Instead, Zhao Cheng'an, who was still Chen Sheng in his first life, teamed up with a younger version of Xia Murui to grab him and stuff the potato dumplings into his mouth, while a group of onlookers laughed.

While stuffing dumplings into Qin Huai's mouth, Zhao Cheng'an exclaimed, "Qin Huai, the potato dumplings I made are really delicious, eat up!"

At 3:37 a.m., Qin Huai was woken up by a nightmare.

Adhering to the principle of being fully awake, Qin Huai got up and went straight to the Yunzhong Cafeteria, successfully arriving at his workstation before 4 o'clock. The early start time made the model worker An Youyou quite alarmed.

An Youyou thought she had been daydreaming yesterday and hadn't heard Qin Huai say he would come to the cafeteria early today. Upon seeing Qin Huai enter the kitchen, she immediately apologized: "Chef Qin, I'm so sorry, I forgot you would be coming so early today. I only arrived at the cafeteria at 3 pm, and the ingredients aren't all prepared yet..."

An Youyou's previous working hours were from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m., but after the tea party at Luo Jun's house, Qin Huai felt that An Youyou's working hours were too long, so he changed them to 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a two-hour lunch break in between.

An Youyou was quite satisfied with this kind of working time, which would be considered extremely unpleasant by normal people.

In An Youyou's words, the sunlight after 3 pm is the best. It's not like the morning sun, which is still a bit cold, nor is it like the midday sun, which is too strong and intense, making you sweat and get sunburned if you stay in the sun for too long.

The afternoon sun is the warmest; both its color and temperature make you feel cozy and cozy.

An Youyou now gets off work at 3 pm every day. After get off work, Gong Liang will hand An Youyou a cup of tea and say a few words of encouragement that seem polite but are actually quite polite, telling An Youyou that she worked hard today.

An Youyou doesn't know how to appreciate tea, and she can't tell the difference between good and bad Gong Liang's tea. She can't taste the aftertaste or the fragrance; she only feels a slight bitterness but it's very thirst-quenching, and she really enjoys this cup of tea every day after get off work.

An Youyou told Qu Jing on WeChat that she felt that the cup of tea she drank after get off work was like the warmth and care that belonged to the main character in the family sitcom she loved to watch when she was a child.

No matter how many chaotic things happen in the protagonist's life, even the biggest problems can be solved within a 40-minute episode. No matter how unsatisfactory the protagonist's life is, he can live in a warm and cozy house with a great environment and friendly neighbors. There are neighbors or even strangers who care about and help him. He can bask in the best sunshine at the best time, and every morning when he wakes up and opens the curtains, he can see the bright sunshine outside.

An Youyou's work hours mean she won't see the bright sunshine when she wakes up, but she will when she leaves work.

Although she was still not well-off and had no money in her bank account, spending all her monthly salary as soon as she received it, and even if she saved money, it was only for better spending in the future, she did live in a warm, beautiful house with a great environment and friendly neighbors.

It's an apartment building with an elevator.

There's also a big sofa where you can lie down and sunbathe every day.

An Youyou said that the cup of tea that Gong Liang handed her every day was like a protagonist's pass. After drinking that cup of tea, she could go home and become the protagonist, no longer a nameless NPC in the protagonist's story.

Qu Jing truthfully shared all the chat logs in the group. After reading them, Gong Liang, like an NPC delivering perks, would brew, pour, and cool tea at fixed times every day, ensuring An Youyou could drink the perfectly warm "protagonist's tea" as soon as she got off work. Gong Liang didn't care whether he was the protagonist or not. As a self-made entrepreneur who had succeeded, he had been the protagonist for too long and didn't mind playing an NPC in someone else's story.

Sorry for digressing, let's get back to the kitchen.

Qin Huai interrupted An Youyou with a gentle smile: "Youyou, you do a great job. I'm just too early today."

"What materials have you prepared?" Qin Huai asked.

An Youyou pointed to the vegetables and a few pieces of chicken that she had already chopped: "I usually prepare the vegetables first, and I haven't started processing the pork yet."

Pork is the most used ingredient at the Yunzhong Canteen breakfast stall. Qin Huai's stuffed breakfasts almost always use pork, such as San Ding Bao, Wu Ding Bao, Si Xi Tang Tuan, and Da Rou Bao. Even vegetable buns, like the Shiitake Mushroom and Vegetable Bun, have some minced meat added.

Vegetarian buns don't taste good; they only taste good when mixed with some meat.

Even the most basic glutinous rice shumai needs to be seasoned with a little diced meat.

"That's perfect, then we don't need to prepare so much pork this morning. Do you have any potatoes? Make some mashed potatoes, the finer the better."

"Yes, yes!" An Youyou hurriedly went to find the potatoes, not forgetting to ask, "Chef Qin, what kind of dessert are you making with the mashed potatoes?"

Now, besides helping Qin Huai prepare ingredients and assisting him with his daily tasks, An Youyou spends her time standing beside him watching him make pastries. She has developed a habit of asking questions whenever she doesn't understand something, and she dares to ask about anything.

"Potato dumplings," Qin Huai said calmly, but his words carried a hint of murderous intent. "Your Master Zhao especially loves potato dumplings, so make him a little extra for breakfast."

An Youyou didn't understand, but since Qin Huai had said so, she decided to prepare the ingredients properly and make the mashed potatoes smoother.

Qin Huai went to cut the cured pork into small cubes.

Last time in Beiping, Qin Huai made a bowl of potato dumplings, but he didn't eat them himself, so he didn't know what they tasted like.

That's definitely not good.

Qin Huai didn't want to cook C-grade potato dumplings at the Cloud Cafeteria, as it would damage Chef Qin's reputation. Even if Qin Huai really wanted to stuff dumplings into Zhao Cheng'an's mouth, he'd have to use B-grade ones.

Master Qin is both ambitious and considerate.

The prescription definitely needs to be changed, but Qin Huai has no idea how exactly to change it. Therefore, there are both conservative and radical approaches to the changes.

The conservative approach involves retaining potatoes as the main ingredient while slightly enriching the other ingredients and focusing more on seasoning.

The radical approach is to add anything that's good for dumplings. Pineapple pizza, durian pizza—don't care what foreigners think, as long as it tastes good, it's a good pizza.

Of course, chocolate xiaolongbao and strawberry xiaolongbao are absolutely not allowed.

As Qin Huai mentally outlined the general direction of the various potato dumplings he would make, he muttered to himself, "I just don't know how much Zhao Cheng'an eats."

"I've known him for so long, but I've never tested his appetite. I only saw it twice when we ate at Fenyuan, but both times he ate vegetables. I don't know how much he can eat dumplings."

"Hopefully he can eat a few more plates."

"If he can't eat anymore, I'll let Lao Shi eat more. These potato dumplings are too awful, and I feel bad letting Lao Shi eat more."

An Youyou:?

Why make something that tastes bad?

An Youyou didn't understand, but she still prepared the ingredients carefully, because Master Qin must have his reasons for doing so.

These are the basic qualities of outstanding employees at Yunzhong Canteen.

(End of this chapter)