Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 160 - 138: The Canteen is Yours for the Next Few Months!

Chapter 160: Chapter 138: The Canteen is Yours for the Next Few Months!

Zheng Siyuan’s suggestion made Qin Huai very tempted.

He had followed Huang Shengli for online lessons for so long without even meeting Teacher Huang in person, which was a bit indefensible. Now, Teacher Huang had taken the initiative to invite him, and all conditions were indeed met, with timing being just right. If he didn’t go to Gusu now, it would seem a bit disrespectful to Teacher Huang.

Faced with Zheng Siyuan’s suggestion, Qin Huai had only one last question to ask: "The two pastry chefs introduced by Uncle Zheng... are they reliable?"

If they weren’t reliable, Xu Tuqiang and the others would cry.

The acting skills of the seniors were no joke; even without emotion, their pure skill performance was enough to overwhelm Zheng Siyuan. If this time both he and Zheng Siyuan ran away, leaving behind two inexperienced pastry chefs, the seniors’ acting would be full of emotion, without any skill.

"Should be reliable," Zheng Siyuan didn’t dare to fully assure, "They’ll arrive tomorrow, and we’ll find out after the interview."

Qin Huai nodded, feeling it was reasonable: "Then let’s talk after the interview tomorrow."

October 30, a day that many years later, loyal customers of Yunzhong Restaurant would grit their teeth whenever they thought of it.

Zheng Da was reliable in his work; on the night of the 29th, he pushed the WeChat contacts of the two pastry chefs to Qin Huai. It was clear that both of them were sincerely looking for a job. As soon as he added them on WeChat, they greeted him and sent over their impressive resumes.

Li Hua, male, 37 years old, started learning culinary arts at 16, which was relatively late. He spent 7 years at Zhiwei Restaurant, but didn’t successfully become an apprentice. After graduating from Zhiwei Restaurant at 24, he worked in restaurants in Hangzhou, Gusu, and Shanghai, accumulating very rich work experience. At 32, by chance, he became an apprentice to the famous pastry chef Master Chen in Gusu, making him technically professionally trained, an inspiring example with a very impressive resume.

The main reason Li Hua left Gusu to return to his hometown was that his child was about to start middle school, and the child’s residency was in his hometown.

The educational resources in Shan City were also good. Li Hua felt there was no need for his child to study away from home like in primary school. Additionally, he considered that his own talent and skills were limited and couldn’t make a name for himself in Gusu. The pressure of buying a house in a different city was great, so it was better to find a good job back home and live steadily.

In short, Li Hua was a practical person. For him, as long as the salary was okay, it didn’t matter where he worked, be it in a restaurant or canteen, he wasn’t picky.

Moreover, since Zheng Da was a friend of his master, Li Hua felt that an introduction by a familiar person was more reliable, so his intention to join was high.

The other pastry chef was relatively younger. His surname was Pei, Pei Xing, 29 years old, with a solid foundation in culinary arts from the age of 6, trained under a Master He from Zhiwei Restaurant, a standard professional training background.

He was rumored to come from a family of culinary masters, with a famous Huaiyang cuisine chef, Pei Shenghua, who was the current head chef of Chengfang Inn, as his uncle. However, according to Zheng Da, their relationship wasn’t that close, it was just coincidentally the same surname, and the uncle term was a bit exaggerated.

This was evident since Pei Shenghua was from Jiangnan, while Pei Xing was from Shan City.

However, Pei Xing indeed had notable culinary talent, and leveraging his uncle’s connection, he apprenticed under Master He at Zhiwei Restaurant at an early age. However, as the leading pastry restaurant in Jiangnan, Zhiwei Restaurant had many famous chefs, many famous masters, and even more apprentices.

Master He at Zhiwei Restaurant was just an ordinary pastry chef. Naturally, Pei Xing, as his apprentice, was even more ordinary, just a backdrop figure next to the main character, slightly better than a passerby NPC, occasionally getting a scene or a couple of lines.

Pei Xing felt he couldn’t make a breakthrough in the competitive environment of Zhiwei Restaurant, so he decided to change paths, returning home and relying on his impressive resume to find a good job to get through life.

It was rumored that Pei Xing initially looked down on the offer from Yunzhong Restaurant. After all, compared to Zhiwei Restaurant, the community canteen’s level was indeed much lower. But always being a backdrop figure next to the main character, Pei Xing heard that going to Yunzhong Restaurant allowed him to be directly in charge, the salary and benefits were also good, and most importantly, it was close to home.

Pei Xing lived in the same neighborhood as Uncle Wang!

For the sake of being close to home, Pei Xing was immediately moved and submitted his resume.

Faced with these two pastry chefs with rich resumes, Qin Huai expressed great satisfaction.

Of course, he wasn’t satisfied because they were formally trained, but because they had substantial work experience, were hardworking and dependable, and had come out of the highly competitive Zhiwei Restaurant. They knew a wide variety of pastries, not only specializing in Suzhou style but also familiar with northern and southern pastries, making them very suitable for Yunzhong Restaurant.

As for the masters mentioned in their resumes, Qin Huai didn’t know any of them.

Truth be told, even Pei Xing’s distant uncle, the famous Huaiyang cuisine chef Pei Shenghua, Qin Huai didn’t know who he was. Qin Huai had to look him up on an encyclopedia to realize that Pei Shenghua might actually be quite impressive.

The interview process went very smoothly.

Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan each interviewed one, standing by watching Li Hua and Pei Xing prepare pastries.

The techniques were skilled, with no obvious shortcomings. Qin Huai specifically inquired, and confirmed that both Pei Xing’s and Li Hua’s knife skills and fire control were considered qualified among pastry chefs; formal training was truly comprehensive.

Both had different specialties.

Li Hua’s specialty was Furong Cake and Dingsheng Cake. He excelled in steamed cakes, such as Cloud Cake, Eight Treasure Cake, Lotus Root Cake, Osmanthus Cake, Plum Blossom Cake, and Haitang Cake, which were daily recipes. It was said that his previous workplace primarily sold such steamed cakes, made daily, to the point of making them with eyes closed.

Pei Xing, on the other hand, specialized more in puff pastries and oily pastries, such as flaky pastry, crab cake, fresh meat mooncake, crab shell cake, longan cake, chrysanthemum cake, peach cake, and matcha egg yolk cake, which he was in charge of regularly, and he had good finger skills, adept at crafting shapes with the pastries.

During the interview, Pei Xing was handled by Zheng Siyuan. Considering Pei Xing knew Zheng Siyuan, he showcased a big one during the interview, making a batch of lotus cakes with excellent craftsmanship.

It was Qin Huai’s first time realizing that lotus cakes could actually be crafted to resemble real lotuses.

Qin Huai heard from Zheng Siyuan that because he had always run a pastry shop at the community entrance, he didn’t interact much with pastry circle chefs, but his father, Zheng Da, was very renowned. Since Zheng Da sometimes boasted to peers about his genius son, it resulted in Zheng Siyuan’s long-standing mysterious reputation, known in the circle but never seen.

Qin Huai was very satisfied with the culinary skills of the two future new employees.

Pei Xing and Li Hua were also very satisfied with Qin Huai, mainly with the salary Qin Huai offered.

In the afternoon, during the joint food tasting, the seniors in Yunzhong District were very satisfied with the two new pastry chefs.

Delicious, very delicious, beautiful and delicious, everything they made was delicious, much better than the cakes made by Xiao Chen!

"If there are no issues, we can sign the contract today. When are you available to start work?" Qin Huai asked.

Veteran worker Li Hua adopted a standard worker posture: "I can start tomorrow."

"Me too." Adhering to the principle of ’close to home is good’, Pei Xing was not to be outdone, finally confirming the working hours, "Master Xiao Qin, our working hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a two-hour lunch break, correct?"

Qin Huai nodded.

Pei Xing nodded with satisfaction, returning home was indeed good; such working hours were unheard of at Zhiwei Restaurant.

There, they were all proactive in starting early and voluntarily finishing late, those competitive kings.

"If you two don’t have any problem, then you can start tomorrow. There’s one more thing I need to notify you about in advance."

"Before joining, Master Zheng should have told you, I am also a pastry chef at the canteen."

They both nodded together.

"But recently, that may not be the case."

Both: ?

"Master Zheng Siyuan isn’t either."

Both: ??

"Since you’ve joined, tomorrow Master Zheng Siyuan and I are heading to Gusu for a 1~3 month, indefinite time frame, learning exchange."

"During this period, the pastries of Yunzhong Restaurant will be entrusted to you. I have high hopes for you!"

"If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask the store manager, Huang Xi. If it’s really unclear, have Huang Xi contact me on WeChat. If the customers have emotions, Huang Xi will calm them down, and if my sister has emotions, just don’t mind it."

"Oh, one thing to note, remember to save some small portions daily, Huang Xi will tell you whom to save it for."

"Master Xiao Zheng and I just booked tomorrow’s flight and high-speed train, and the pastries for the next few months at the canteen will be handed over to you, good luck!"

Both: ???

Pei Xing and Li Hua exchanged glances, staring at each other, both reading the same thoughts from each other’s expressions.

The boss ran away?

What kind of new runaway method is this?

This was too trusting of us, wasn’t it?

Li Hua: Does this canteen really have a future? Is there security? Is there hope?

Pei Xing: Is this the feeling of being the main character? Taking on such a heavy responsibility on the first day of joining, excellent, being close to home really is the priority criterion for job hunting!