Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 124 - 105 Imagination

Chapter 124: Chapter 105 Imagination

Although Chen Huihong didn’t understand, she still did as she was told.

When she picked up Chen Huixi from school at noon, she asked if she wanted to cooperate with Qin Huai for a side quest, and although Chen Huixi didn’t understand either, she repeated it.

Nothing happened.

Truly an earth-shattering pair of mother and daughter.

Qin Huai was both regretful that he had to forcefully accept a side quest and frustrated that he couldn’t find a tutorial for dumplings.

Too advanced, no tutorial available.

Qin Huai went back to carefully flip through the Snack Encyclopedia, but still nothing.

With no other option, Qin Huai could only seek help from Zheng Da.

As for why he didn’t ask Zheng Siyuan for help, it was because Zheng Da had come to him. The afternoon was Qin Huai’s fixed online class time, and ever since his Fire Control reached the Intermediate level, his enthusiasm for making soup skyrocketed.

Moreover, he acknowledged the fact that his Knife Skills were truly lacking, and he had no plans to intensively practice them in the near future, handing over all ingredient preparation tasks to the other two meat chefs in the store.

Although the two chefs at the store were mediocre in their skills, their Knife Skills were definitely better than Qin Huai’s, and with their help processing the ingredients, Qin Huai could focus on practicing Fire Control, finally getting the soup process on track, preventing any mishaps like squatting in the duck circle to drink soup.

Ouyang recently enjoyed drinking soup very much, visibly gaining a little weight.

And Zheng Da appeared when Qin Huai was skimming the foam off the broth, both working and chatting with Huang Shengli about recent soup-making insights.

Zheng Da came to Huang Ji Restaurant to chat with his senior brother.

It was obvious that he was really idle.

When his senior brother ignored him, he started chatting with Qin Huai in the video.

"Xiao Qin, your soup-making skills have improved greatly!" Zheng Da praised with just a glance at the color of the soup in the video.

"It’s all thanks to Master Huang’s good teaching." Qin Huai smiled modestly, seeing that Zheng Da seemed really idle, he asked, "Master Zheng, I have a question I’d like to ask you."

Zheng Da perked up immediately.

He was ready again.

"Do you know how to make guo’er? It’s where the pastry is shaped like and tastes like fruit, something indistinguishable from the real thing at first glance."

Zheng Da felt he couldn’t quite manage it.

Huang Shengli was sitting in a chair eating raisins, and seeing Zheng Da go silent all of a sudden, he laughed and said, "Why aren’t you talking? Didn’t you say you could make it? I remember the master taught you."

Qin Huai’s eyes lit up immediately.

He really can!

Master Jing is so versatile; they teach everything in their school.

Zheng Da gave a wry smile: "It was taught, but that was... I already have... this thing... I used to know."

Qin Huai: ?

"Xiao Qin, why suddenly want to learn to make guo’er? Did Luoluo watch some TV drama again?" Zheng Da thought today’s TV dramas were quite unreasonable, why not focus on acting instead of researching dishes, what’s with this high-level pastry.

"Yes, Luoluo heard from classmates at school a couple of days ago and came back saying she wanted to eat it. I promised her I’d make it if she did well in her midterm exams, but when I searched online at noon today, I didn’t find any reliable tutorials, so I thought to ask if you knew how to make it." Qin Huai said calmly, his heart not skipping a beat.

Anyway, when the guo’er is made, Qin Luo would definitely have some to eat, just say it’s specially made for her.

Zheng Da became even more troubled.

Qin Huai found it a bit hard to understand Zheng Da’s troubles.

Qin Huai could see that Zheng Da knew how to make it, but probably wasn’t too great at it.

Not doing well was understandable, after all, Zheng Da had been in business for many years, and was no longer a proper white case pastry chef kneading dough and making snacks every day.

The guo’er isn’t like flaky pastries or fresh meat mooncakes that are relatively basic and easy snacks to make. If a fresh meat mooncake at grade C is a passing product, Zheng Da could effortlessly make a B-grade to astonish everyone and show that his skills were still sharp, but for guo’er, an A-grade would be the bare minimum for a pass.

Effortlessly making a B-grade would be a failure.

If Luo Jun hadn’t personally said that the guo’er Liu Tao bought wasn’t a proper guo’er and most likely just a failed attempt, Qin Huai might have considered temporarily abandoning this task.

His Finger Skill was only Basic.

And he didn’t give any shape to his snacks at all.

Qin Huai figured as long as Zheng Da knew, even a failed attempt would be enough.

First, get him acquainted.

The rest he could improvise.

Raising Finger Skill from Basic to Advanced level in a short period was absolutely fantastical. However, practicing diligently for one or two months, going from Basic to Intermediate, Qin Huai believed was still possible.

After all, Finger Skill isn’t like making soup; it can be practiced anytime.

As long as Qin Huai wanted, shaping buns wasn’t off the table.

"Is there a problem?" Qin Huai directly asked.

Seeing Zheng Da stammer, hesitant to speak, Huang Shengli simply helped him say it.

Just as Huang Shengli pushed Zheng Da out of the frame, adjusting the phone’s position, he looked at Qin Huai and explained, "It’s not that he can’t, nor does he not want to teach you, he’s afraid that after finally making a breakthrough in meat cooking, you’d feel discouraged in pastry making."

"He’s worried you’re a genius who’s never faced setbacks all your life, and if you suddenly suffered a significant blow, you might lose heart and give up on learning." Huang Shengli laughed.

"When did I say such a thing? Senior brother, don’t slander me. Xiao Qin, don’t listen to Master Huang’s nonsense, that’s not what I meant, that’s entirely his idea!" Zheng Da’s off-screen voice was particularly noticeable.

Qin Huai felt that Zheng Da was overthinking it.

Setback? Have you ever watched the S-level locust flower bun video tutorial?

Haha, couldn’t understand it at all.

Have you ever seen a Knife Skills Basic, Fire Control Intermediate, Finger Skill Basic genius?

Kidding, the system mocks me for not shaping snacks at all.

The system evaluation until now has been that I’m a total beginner.

"Master Zheng is overthinking it." Qin Huai gave a bittersweet smile, "I don’t think I’m a genius either, just a bit more talented than the average person."

Qin Huai’s words left Huang Shengli and Zheng Da in silence.

Zheng Da squeezed back into the frame: "Xiao Qin, although you haven’t found reliable video tutorials, you probably have a general idea of how guo’er is made, right?"

Qin Huai nodded.

"It’s normal that you couldn’t find a video tutorial, because this snack... it just can’t have a tutorial."

Qin Huai: ?

"The guo’er is truly about the master leading the way and personal cultivation, it requires a very high level of various skills from the chef, something outsiders and ordinary chefs have no reason to attempt."

"And snacks like these are generally taught hand-in-hand by the master. It’s necessary for years of learning and accumulation, trying hands-on step by step to have a chance of succeeding."

"Of course, I’m not saying you can’t achieve these things, from what I see, you can absolutely manage that. But making guo’er has a very crucial factor, it requires the chef’s imagination."

"When my master taught me how to make guo’er, I could only make the designs he taught; I couldn’t come up with my own."

"My master said that I wasn’t suited for this snack, which I didn’t understand at the time. Later, by chance, I saw Master Tan from Zhiwei Restaurant make guo’er, which was really exquisite and full of imagination and creativity, and that’s when I understood why my master said I wasn’t suited for it."

"I don’t know how to describe you, although you’re purely self-taught without a master, I always feel your snack making has been in imitation."

"Imitation?" Qin Huai was a bit surprised.

What is he imitating?

Snack Encyclopedia?

"In general, chefs from non-traditional backgrounds are the most imaginative and creative. Because no one has taught them, they follow their own ideas."

"But you’re the complete opposite; you’re very good at imitation, learning whatever you’re taught, as long as it’s problem-free, you wouldn’t modify it."

"Frankly, you’re not suited for making guo’er."

For some reason, Qin Huai felt like he had just been scolded.

However, habitually imitating?

Qin Huai blinked as if it was true.

While Qin Huai was in a daze, he heard the off-screen voices of Huang Shengli and Zheng Da in the video.

"You say I’m slandering you, but your words are even harsher." Huang Shengli said helplessly, "No wonder you don’t have apprentices, how did Si Yuan tolerate you when he was little?"

"Wasn’t it you, senior brother, who said Xiao Qin was too much by the book, making food without his soul, and asked me to give a tough lesson? Today just happened to be an opportunity, you said all the good things, and I become the villain?"

Qin Huai: ...

"Master Huang, Master Zheng, you haven’t hung up the video call, I can hear you."

The next second, the video call ended.

Zheng Da sent a message via WeChat.

Zheng Da: Xiao Qin, it was all your Master Huang’s idea, don’t mind it. I’ll tell Si Yuan to go over and exchange culinary skills with you in a couple of days, teach you some basic Finger Skills, he can make guo’er.

Zheng Da: Just right, I bought an apartment in the neighboring complex, the housing market in your complex is too tight, couldn’t buy anything.