Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 58 - 52 Zheng Da

Chapter 58: Chapter 52 Zheng Da

In the afternoon, Qin Huai practiced making locust flower buns and buckwheat buns as usual, and as usual, he messed up.

Messing up is one of those things where, after doing it enough, you just get used to it.

Watching Ouyang leave happily with a bag of C-level locust flower buns, Qin Huai even found comfort in thinking that C-level wasn’t so bad—C-level had its fans. Who knows, maybe S-level locust flower buns aren’t as uniquely flavorful as these C-level ones.

After comforting himself, Qin Huai bit into a locust flower bun and came back to reality.

They aren’t as tasty as B-level fermented rice with steamed buns.

Maybe C-level does have a unique flavor, but taste buds don’t lie, and neither do grades.

Except for Ouyang’s taste buds—he really does have unique tastes and loves all sorts of weird flavors.

Ouyang still reminisces about the buns with tree bark flavor. If he hasn’t had them for over a week, he’ll mention it to Qin Huai a couple of times, trying to get him to make some to satisfy his cravings.

After the afternoon bun selling time ended, Qin Huai didn’t leave the kitchen. Instead, he grabbed a stool and sat at the door to start researching high schools.

Yes, researching high schools.

Halfway through the summer, Qin Luo’s high school placement still hadn’t been settled.

With her abysmal entrance exam scores, there was no hope for high schools in the city, but county high schools made Zhao Rong uneasy.

Everyone can see the declining teaching standards in county high schools, getting worse year after year. When Qin Huai went to high school, the county high school could occasionally get a couple of 985 offers and dozens of passes for the first tier. After each year’s college entrance exam, they’d boast about their undergraduate admission rate.

Nowadays, never mind the undergraduate rate, even getting a 211 acceptance warrants a banner.

With Qin Luo’s grades and her level of diligence, getting into a passable specialty college after being sent to a county high school would be considered hard work.

Zhao Rong has been worried about Qin Luo’s high school for a while now; she couldn’t find connections to get her into a city high school, and the private high schools were either too far, too expensive, or unreliable.

Qin Huai heard that they seemed to have found a reliable one a few days ago, which made Zhao Rong feel a bit better. But yesterday, Zhao Rong drank three bowls of Seven Spice Dampness Removing Tea and a bowl of Five Flower Tea, making Qin Huai suspect that the reliable one had become unreliable again.

Since he couldn’t solve his own worries, Qin Huai thought maybe he could help his dear mom with the trouble brought by his sister.

Qin Huai started his serious research.

Qin Huai gradually became confused.

Qin Huai began to doubt if he ever really studied.

Qin Huai found out that enrolling kids in school these days is really tough.

Qin Huai started feeling lucky that he was born a few years earlier.

Qin Huai concluded that there is a specialization in every industry, and professional matters should be left to professionals. He decided to continue researching how to overcome the challenge of making locust flower buns.

Qin Huai placed the printouts of the information about various high schools into a file pouch on the shelf and went home to rest.

Having had too much iced lemon tea in the afternoon, he skipped dinner and went straight home to snack and play on his phone.

At 5 PM, the two chefs of Yunzhong Restaurant stepped into the back kitchen on time to start work. One meticulous chef, while fetching spices from the shelf, noticed the documents on the file pouch and thoughtfully tucked them inside.

At 6 PM, having been searching for the file pouch all afternoon, Ouyang finally saw it on the shelf in Yunzhong Restaurant’s back kitchen, excitedly taking it to Chen Huihong.

Upon opening the file pouch, Chen Huihong found a stack of brochures for private high school admissions in Guangdong Province: ?

Is Xiao Ou and Xiao Qin indied">rectly asking me to help pick a school for Qin Luo?

Young people these days are so reserved; why not just directly say it instead of giving so many hints?

Chen Huihong thought she understood and then contacted her brother, asking him to research which private high school had a good reputation.

The next morning, completely unaware that the admissions brochures he printed the day before had vanished, Qin Huai went to work as usual.

Today’s snacks were Eight Treasure Cake, Furong Cake, Green Bean Cake, and red bean cake—none of which the morning jogging grandpas liked.

Disappointed Mr. Cao and a sorrowful Xu Tuqiang sat at table number 9 eating buns, with two empty seats obviously saved for Uncle Wang and Chen Juan.

"What’s with Wang Laogen? Unenthusiastic about eating, there must be something wrong with his thinking. Skipping morning jogs is one thing, but being late for meals too—saving such a good spot at table number 9 for him is a waste. Next time, let’s save it for Old Luo instead," Xu Tuqiang said indignantly, "Master Qin gives him special treatment and he’s still late, playing hard to get."

Mr. Cao thought Xu Tuqiang was being a bit biased. Sure, Wang Genqiang got special buns from Master Qin, which was annoying, but he wasn’t entirely to blame.

Also, isn’t Old Luo equally annoying? His name is Luo Junhui, and aside from his donated iced herbal tea being hard to drink, didn’t he take two free herbal teas and boast about it twice on social media? Isn’t that infuriating?

Just as they were talking, Uncle Wang and Chen Juan arrived.

"Wang Laogen, why are you late again?" Xu Tuqiang shouted, emphasizing the word ’late’.

Uncle Wang wasn’t focused on Xu Tuqiang at all, heading straight to the window and excitedly announcing, "Master Qin, I’ve got good news for you!"

Qin Huai, who was checking the fermentation of the fermented rice bun dough, slightly raised his head.

"Didn’t you tell me you wanted to find a master to consult with? I’ve found one for you!" Uncle Wang proudly boasted, "The apprentice of Master Jing, Master Zheng Da."

Hearing this, Qin Huai quickly walked to the window.

This was indeed good news. Over the years, Qin Huai had taught himself pastry making and didn’t have a master or even knew any craftsman.

This self-learning method had worked well all along, and Qin Huai saw no problem with it. But now that he’d hit a bottleneck and couldn’t find anyone to ask for advice, he started to feel troubled.

Unexpectedly, Uncle Wang was so reliable, finding Master Jing’s apprentice after Master Jing had passed away.

"Is Master Zheng willing?" Qin Huai asked.

"Little Zheng is really kind and enthusiastic. Last night, I asked an old coworker for Little Zheng’s WeChat, added him as a friend this morning, and chatted with him all the way here. Little Zheng said that although he hasn’t made pastries much in recent years, he hasn’t lost his skills. You can ask him directly if you have any questions."

"Master Qin, let’s add each other on WeChat first, and I’ll share Little Zheng’s contact with you," Uncle Wang said, taking out his phone.

Qin Huai went to wash his hands and grabbed his phone to add a friend.

Under the envious gazes of many, Uncle Wang gained Qin Huai’s WeChat and sat down with his buns at table number 9.

Mr. Cao, who was close to grinding his teeth to dust: ...

Now, he thought Xu Tuqiang wasn’t wrong after all, and Wang Laogen did deserve this.

Qin Huai added Zheng Da’s WeChat, whose username was ’Caring for the World’.

Zheng Da accepted immediately.

Qin Huai: Hello Master Zheng, I was recommended by Grandpa Wang, and I have a question about fermentation for buns. Do you have time now?

Caring for the World: Hello Xiao Qin, I have time. Don’t be shy; feel free to ask.

Qin Huai: Here’s the situation. My family has a lost craft of using locust flower honey for dough fermentation. Recently, after many attempts, the fermentation’s outcome has been very unsatisfactory. Do you have any research on honey fermentation?

Zheng Da hesitated for quite a while, about five or six minutes, before sending a message.

Caring for the World: Your family uses locust flower honey for dough fermentation?

Qin Huai: Yes.

[Caring for the World sent you a video call invitation]

Connecting...

On the other side of the phone was a slightly chubby middle-aged man.

"Are you sure your family’s craft is viable?" Zheng Da frowned slightly.

Qin Huai nodded, "Yes, but it’s been lost for many years. I know the general process, but I haven’t grasped the skills, so I asked Grandpa Wang to help find an experienced master for guidance."

Zheng Da murmured, "Master did say it was true, that there really is a technique for honey fermentation."

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Da said, "When are you free?"

"In the afternoon."

"Then in the afternoon, let’s have another video call. Adjust your phone for me to watch the full fermentation process—are you okay with that?"

"Of course, I’m fine with it."