Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 324 - 200 External Aid_2

Chapter 324: Chapter 200 External Aid_2

"You talk too much." Huang Shengli glared at the closed-door disciple, feeling that this disciple was good in every way except for being too talkative, "Where would there be ordinary apprentices in Zhiwei Restaurant?"

That’s true. As the number one pastry restaurant in the south, Zhiwei Restaurant, a famous cradle for pastry students, has ridiculously high standards even for hiring odd-job workers.

If you don’t have some talent and connections, you can’t get in. When Qin Huai’s uncle said he could find people to pull strings to get Qin Huai into Zhiwei Restaurant, it was because he was very confident in Qin Huai’s talent.

According to Qin Huai’s uncle’s theory, he just needed to find someone to get Qin Huai into the interview line for apprentices, the gold would shine on its own, then be spotted and brought in as a direct disciple, shining brightly all the way to success in life.

As for what specific connections Qin Huai’s uncle had...

He had an old classmate working in Hangzhou who was a regular at Zhiwei Restaurant and often went there to buy snacks, who could help Qin Huai’s uncle keep an eye on Zhiwei Restaurant’s recruitment information.

After an enjoyable gossip session, everyone at Huang’s Ji accelerated their meal and started their intense work.

The customers were already lined up outside. Although most of them came for the snacks, the early queuing customers generally chose to dine in. After all, they were already there; Huang’s Ji wasn’t a no-name restaurant. Coming all this way, they wanted to try both snacks and dishes.

Huang’s Ji is a standard meat-cooking restaurant. Even if the pastries have been more famous for the last month or so, at least the meat-cooking should not drag down the pastries.

The people in Huang’s Ji’s kitchen didn’t want to lose face.

On the other side, Huang An Yao and Zheng Da picked up external reinforcements from Zhiwei Restaurant at the subway entrance.

Zheng Da was stunned when he saw the leading people.

"Tan Wei’an, Guli!" Zheng Da greeted them with surprise.

The two leading people were indeed the ones Huang Shengli had just introduced — the two apprentices of Master Tan Wenyan from Zhiwei Restaurant, with whom Zheng Da had the best relationship.

Tan Wei’an was Master Tan’s grandson, and Guli was Master Tan’s closed-door disciple.

"Master Zheng, long time no see." Tan Wei’an pulled a suitcase and stepped forward with a smile, glancing at Huang An Yao at the roadside trying to locate a ride with his phone, and continued, "I heard from Boss Su that you personally requested Zhiwei Restaurant for manpower, so I brought my junior brother and volunteered for the task."

"The two of us are not very skilled, so we hope you won’t mind."

"How could I mind? With you two here, I’m relieved. I can finally rest. These past two days have been exhausting," Zheng Da couldn’t help but reveal his true feelings.

Tan Wei’an:?

Huang An Yao’s exclamation broke the awkwardness: "Oh, it’s actually on the other side, I got the location wrong. Uncle Zheng, don’t worry, let me make the call. At this time, it shouldn’t be a traffic jam, right? It won’t, it won’t... But with business doing so well recently, what if there’s a traffic jam?"

Zheng Da looked at Huang An Yao, feeling sympathy for his senior brother sometimes, having such an unlucky son.

Unlike him, his son was good in every way except unwilling to date, especially with innate pastry talent, he perfectly inherited it from Zheng Da, his father.

By the time Zheng Da and Huang An Yao led the six reinforcements from Zhiwei Restaurant to Huang’s Ji, it was already half past nine. From a distance, they saw the long queue waiting for a meal outside Huang’s Ji.

A nameless Zhiwei Restaurant chef gasped quietly: "So many people, isn’t Huang’s Ji only open at noon? Xu Cheng’s one Weibo post has such an impact, could the rumors be true, that next year’s first issue of the major magazine cover will feature Huang’s Ji?"

"Guli, isn’t your dad the chef at Guanhe Building? You both are from Gusu, did you receive any news?"

Cued, Guli remained silent, not speaking.

"Again with the silence, you’re always like this, no wonder others say you’re..." The nameless chef wanted to say more but glanced at Tan Wei’an and dared not continue.

Walking ahead, Tan Wei’an spoke with Zheng Da: "Huang’s Ji’s business, when the next issue of ’Taste’ is out, will probably amaze many people. Recently, many at Zhiwei Restaurant have been talking about Master Qin, and some even sneaked to Gusu during their vacation to buy snacks made by Master Qin, earning rave reviews."

"A few days ago I heard Master Zhou claim, why would such a good prospect choose to exchange at Huang’s Ji, he should come exchange at our Zhiwei Restaurant, he would certainly mentor him well."

Master Zhou was ranked 41st in the Chef Record, the highest-ranked master at Zhiwei Restaurant.

Hearing Tan Wei’an say this, Zheng Da almost jumped: "What’s this about mentoring well, Xiao Tan, let me tell you, no funny ideas this time. I was wondering why Boss Su was so generous, sending six people including you and Guli in one go, Qin Huai is my guaranteed closed-door disciple, you want to snatch him, not only would I object, but my senior brother wouldn’t agree either!"

Tan Wei’an laughed and said: "How could that be? Master Zheng, you’re overthinking. Master Zhou and Master Su are just very enthusiastic, wanting to exchange with white chefs from all over the country."

Zheng Da looked at Tan Wei’an like he was watching a robber.

The group changed clothes and walked into the kitchen.

Zheng Da introduced to Qin Huai his six capable aides for the next month with a cold face. After the introduction, he pulled Wang Jun aside, whispering to Wang Jun to manage them well, not letting the other family take the opportunity.

Wang Jun was puzzled upon hearing it, scratching his already sparse hair, wondering when he went from a cutting board hand to a management role.

After advising Wang Jun, Zheng Da pulled Huang Shengli to the storeroom door to discuss strategy.

After hearing Zheng Da’s nervous speech, Huang Shengli was a bit speechless: "What are you afraid of? With Zhiwei Restaurant’s intensity, even if Xiao Qin gets lured away for an exchange, he’ll be back in three days at most."

"And exactly what are you nervous about? You forget Xiao Qin came to us for an exchange, after the year-end, Xiao Qin will be returning home, not coming back after New Year, he has his own business, why would he work here."

Zheng Da realized.

Zheng Da went back and leisurely kneaded dough, glancing over at Qin Huai, noticing that those from Zhiwei Restaurant were indeed efficient and had clear divisions of labor.

Qin Huai had been with Huang’s Ji long enough for his work area to expand beyond the initial small temporary section allocated to him.

Huang’s Ji’s kitchen is big enough; though Huang An Yao’s marketing isn’t great and his capability isn’t high, if you actually give him the task, he can complete it.

After Huang An Yao’s ant-moving style transformation, now Huang’s Ji’s kitchen has an explicit division between the meat-cooking and pastry areas. With many equipment upgrades, new steam boxes, and steamed baskets fully replaced, with extra amounts.

To accommodate Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan making snacks, the pastry area is particularly large, even temporary additions won’t feel cramped, and the culinary stations are more than enough.

You could say that for snacks, Huang An Yao went all out.

Zhiwei Restaurant’s chefs, right after starting work, gave Qin Huai a sense of what real master treatment should be.

There was no need for verbal instructions; one glance was enough for everyone to know what to do.

Sometimes, eye contact wasn’t even necessary; they were all professional helpers, finding work on their own, with one almost making tea out of muscle memory.

The masters at Zhiwei Restaurant are all very old but insisted on working on the front line teaching students. Their physical capabilities can’t keep up, so many tasks had to be shared with disciples and helpers.

How to work, what work to do, where to find work, is lesson one for every Zhiwei Restaurant chef.

In short, those from Zhiwei Restaurant are professional helpers, especially the direct disciples of the masters, who are the crème de la crème.

So professional that Qin Huai wanted to say they’ve got it wrong, he wasn’t a master.

Was this treatment a bit too high?

Moreover...

Qin Huai glanced at Guli’s kneading technique while preparing the filling.

This skill of the closed-door disciple of the late master from Zhiwei Restaurant... wasn’t quite up to par.

With the arrival of six reinforcements, Zheng Siyuan naturally didn’t need to help Qin Huai anymore, nor did Qin Huai need so many helpers since he originally had a few.

Thus, under Tan Wei’an’s arrangement, the six reinforcements from Zhiwei Restaurant were split into two groups — Tan Wei’an led three to assist Qin Huai, while Guli led one to assist Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan’s fresh meat mooncake was also a hit at Huang’s Ji.

Especially now, with many out-of-town guests, fresh meat mooncakes are famous snacks in the Gusu region. Many out-of-town visitors were highly interested in fresh meat mooncakes and were amazed after tasting them.

Zheng Siyuan’s fresh meat mooncake couldn’t compete with Qin Huai’s fermented rice with steamed buns at Huang’s Ji, simply because the latter had memory and nostalgia among locals, adding a filter and buff.

Not only couldn’t the fresh meat mooncakes compete with fermented rice with steamed buns, even the A-level guo’er wouldn’t necessarily beat fermented rice with steamed buns.

Fermented rice with steamed buns at Huang’s Ji was undoubtedly the signature snack.

"Your technique is too heavy." Qin Huai observed Guli kneading the dough and couldn’t help but comment, "You can’t knead the fresh meat mooncake’s dough so forcefully."

"Be gentle, use the palm of your hand, and employ deft strength."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.