The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 298 Enthusiastic Citizen Master Tong

While Qin Huai was talking to Chen Gong about the brilliant results of the second internal gathering of Good Taste, and Chen Gong was taking out his cell phone to ask Qin Huai for the record of his gathering report that was praised by President Han as being well-written, several of Zang Mu's dishes were coming out of the pot one after another.

They are all fragrant vegetarian dishes cooked in broth.

Han Guishan stood up and gave Qin Huai a look. Qin Huai immediately understood what was going on and walked over with the bowl in hand, followed closely by Chen Gong.

Three people stood in a row and began to taste.

While eating, Han Guishan said with some regret that these vegetarian dishes did not go well with the steamed buns, otherwise he could have steamed two more steamed buns with glutinous rice wine to eat with them.

Qin Huai immediately said that fermented rice steamed buns might not be suitable, but longevity noodles would definitely be a good match. Zang Mu is a master of Huaiyang cuisine, and his skill in making broth is comparable to Huang Shengli. Some of the dishes on the table are made with chicken broth.

When the banquet starts tomorrow, Qin Huai will discuss with Zang Mu and ask Zang Mu to give him some chicken soup, which he will use to cook longevity noodles and serve a separate pot to Han Guishan's table. These dishes will definitely taste good with the longevity noodles.

Han Guishan was overjoyed, thinking that Qin Huai really knew how to eat. He didn't even need to taste it. Just by hearing Qin Huai say that, he knew it must be delicious.

However, there is no need to cook a separate pot for yourself, as it will have a bad impact. There will be many banquets tomorrow, and many of them are business partners. As a successful and domineering president, Mr. Han does have some emotional intelligence and workplace qualities.

Of course, President Han also knew that Qin Huai would be responsible for all the snacks at the banquet tomorrow, so it would be unrealistic to ask him to add a dish of longevity noodles, as it would be too tiring.

So Mr. Han said there was no need to serve the food, and he would take his wife to the kitchen to have a secret meal after the banquet tomorrow.

Qin Huai felt that Mr. Han also knew how to cook in his own kitchen. The food in the kitchen was always more delicious than that eaten outside. He didn't know why, maybe it was because he was closer to the pot.

With the last dish being finished by Han Guishan, the food tasting event of the day came to a perfect end.

Looking at Han Guishan's appetite, Qin Huai decided to make more snacks and raw dough tomorrow and leave them for President Han to eat slowly.

If you are not very particular about the taste and flavor, the raw dough can be frozen in the refrigerator for about 10 days. Qin Huai believes that with Mr. Han's appetite, it will definitely not last more than 10 days.

After the tasting, Qin Huai and his friends returned to the hotel. Qin Huai tried to add Tong Deyan's WeChat in the group chat, and the other party accepted it almost immediately. After Qin Huai sent a greeting emoji, Tong Deyan also replied with a very normal "hello". He was very polite, which was completely different from the bad temper that was widely rumored in the underworld.

Just when Qin Huai was thinking about what message to send to Tong Deyan in order to leave a good impression on him so that he could have a good meal in Beiping, Zang Liang came to visit Qin Huai's room.

To be precise, it's not a visit, but a discussion about helping out tomorrow.

Although Zang Liang has an eccentric personality, he is as steady and cautious as his master Zang Mu in doing things. He has excellent skills and his sword skills can barely be called the little prince of sword skills as he said.

Tomorrow Qin Huai will have only Zang Liang as his helper. Although he only needs to make three snacks, his workload is no less than that of Zang Mu and Tong Deyan. Zang Liang helped Qin Huai today, but he is not sure whether tomorrow's work content will be exactly the same as today's, and whether the time control for large-scale shipments and small-scale trial production will be the same, so he went to ask for clarification.

Qin Huai didn't expect Zang Liang to be so professional as an assistant, and he couldn't answer for a while. Because Qin Huai was also taking on a banquet for the first time, there were times when he had to ship a large amount of goods, and there were times when he had to strictly control the time, but he really didn't cooperate with others.

After being stumped for two seconds by Zang Liang's question, Qin Huai decided to ask Tong Deyan for help.

It’s obvious that Tong Deyan knows a lot about banquets. He knows the timings for serving dishes, so professional.

Moreover, humbly asking for advice from new friends is also a good way to bring two people closer together.

Qin Huai took out his mobile phone without any hesitation and started editing the message.

Qin Huai: Master Tong, I would like to ask you about the serving time for tomorrow's banquet. My three dim sum dishes are served last, first the fermented rice steamed buns, then the three-piece buns, and finally the four-happiness dumplings. What is the best interval between these three dishes?
Tong Deyan: Which room are you in?

Qinhuai: 513
Two minutes later, there was a knock on Qin Huai's door. When he opened the door, Tong Deyan, who was wearing the same clothes as in the afternoon except that he had changed into a coat, was standing at the door.

Qin Huai quickly invited Tong Deyan in, poured him some water, and said as Zang Liang stared in shock and even horror: "Master Tong, why did you come all the way here? You could have just told him on WeChat."

“Chat records are kept on WeChat and can easily be screenshotted,” said Tong Deyan.

Qin Huai: How many screenshots did you take to have such an experience?

Without waiting for Qin Huai to speak, Tong Deyan continued, "You have never prepared a banquet."

The tone was unquestionable and decisive.

Qin Huai nodded: "I really have no experience in this area before. The reason why Mr. Han found me this time was mainly because of Mr. Xu Cheng's recommendation."

Tong Deyan nodded and glanced at Zang Liang, who was already shivering in the corner. "I heard that you only ordered this one helper for tomorrow."

Qin Huai nodded again: "Zang Liang is very good at knife skills, he is enough. The dim sum I will make tomorrow is not particularly complicated, and the quantity is not large. I have asked Assistant Chen, the plain pastry at Yushanfang is just a bonus, there is no good plain pastry chef, Zang Liang will be enough tomorrow."

"Indeed, with the level of those half-baked white-cooked chefs in the Imperial Kitchen, they are not even qualified to help you. If you ask them to knead the dough, you will worry about ruining it. It is better not to have them."

"The level of Hong'an is not that good. If I had known the level here was so low, I would have brought a few people from Babaozhai."

"Zang Liang's level is okay. Although he can only worship Zang Mu as his teacher because he is Zang Mu's nephew, he has good talent and works hard. He doesn't bring shame to Zang Mu. He is much better than other relatives."

Relationship holder Zang Liang: …

Qin Huai:......

Qin Huai finally understood why Tong Deyan had such a bad reputation in the underworld. Master Tong really didn't leave any room for others' opinions. His words were as unpleasant as they could be. In a sense, his words were even more unpleasant than Luo Jun's.

Most of the time, Luo Jun is simply in a bad mood so he indiscriminately criticizes people. He likes to be sarcastic and his words are a little harsh, but not so offensive that people would remember them.

Tong Deyan's words were all full of poisonous truth.

Lies don't hurt, truth is the knife.

"Then may I ask Master Tong, what will be the procedure for tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow's banquet will include four cold dishes, ten hot dishes, one sweet soup, one salty soup, three desserts, and a fruit plate, a total of 20 dishes."

"I have discussed the time and order of serving the dishes with Zang Mu in advance. I didn't discuss it with you because you are a plain chef. Your last three dim sum dishes are served consecutively and it will not affect the overall order. As for the interval you asked, you can serve one dish every two minutes, or all three dishes can be served consecutively without any impact." "The main reason I came here this time is that I just saw you and Mr. Han in the kitchen saying that you would serve him an extra serving of longevity noodles tomorrow. I think your idea is good, but it doesn't need to be served extra. You can change the portion of sweet soup on each table to longevity noodles. It will not affect the total number of dishes or the serving process."

"I also saw you and Mr. Han saying that longevity noodles require chicken broth. If you trust Zang Mu and me, you can give the broth to us. It doesn't matter if you don't trust me, just trust Zang Mu. He came here a few days in advance just to get the broth."

"Of course, this is just my suggestion."

"I received the most money for this banquet, and I am also the main person in charge. I have to do the work after receiving the money. Tomorrow is the birthday banquet of Han Youxin, the son of President Han. There is no dish more suitable for a birthday banquet than longevity noodles. If it is just ordinary noodles, there is naturally no need to change the dish. But you have recommended yourself to President Han, I believe that with your level, this longevity noodles must be very special."

"If you don't want to do more, just ignore what I said. It's not written in your contract that you have to make longevity noodles anyway."

Qin Huai:?!

Should the contract specify which dishes will be prepared?
Master Tong, is your contract signed in such detail?
Qin Huai said without any hesitation, "Of course I am willing. As long as it can make tomorrow's birthday banquet better, making one more longevity noodle is nothing. I still have to trouble you and Master Zang. It is quite a lot of work to make so much chicken soup. I guess you will have to work overtime starting today."

"I'm not in trouble, it's you two who are in trouble."

"I'm not a problem either. The one who's a problem is Zang Mu. He's in the kitchen making soup right now."

Qin Huai thought for a moment and asked, "Should I tell Assistant Chen now? For something as big as changing the menu, at least Assistant Chen and President Han should be informed, right?"

Although Han Guishan probably wouldn't care about these little things, Mr. Han just wanted the banquet to be delicious overall.

"I'll tell you later, don't say anything." After saying that, Tong Deyan stood up and was about to leave, without touching the water that Qin Huai had specially poured for him.

"Also, I suggest you talk less," Tong Deyan said, "Catering out is a pretty good way to make extra money. We're being paid, so it's best to be careful about what you say and do."

"There are very few customers like Mr. Han, so we should cherish them."

This time Tong Deyan really said he was leaving. When he turned around, he saw the water cup on the table. He hesitated for two seconds, picked up the cup, drank all the water in it, and left.

He came and went in a hurry, leaving only a graceful back view for Qin Huai and Zang Liang, and then closed the door without hesitation.

It was not until Tong Deyan closed the door and left that Zang Liang dared to take a deep breath.

Qin Huai took the cup to the sink to wash, and as he washed he sighed: "Master Tong is quite enthusiastic and a nice person, not at all like the legend."

Zang Liang:?
Is that the same Tong Deyan we just met?

"enthusiastic"

"A Nice Person"

Can these two words be applied to Tong Deyan?

Zang Liang, who was always outgoing, considered his words for a rare moment and asked, "Specifically, what's good about it?"

"Master Tong didn't have to come to my house at all. He came to my house specifically to remind me that I shouldn't have dinner with President Han this afternoon." Qin Huai said.

Zang Liang was shocked: "You know you shouldn't have dinner with President Han this afternoon?!"

Qin Huai looked up at Zang Liang and turned the cup upside down to drain the water: "Of course I know, I just haven't been a catering agent before, I'm not a fool."

"Then you still..."

"Mr. Han doesn't mind these. Besides, don't you think the dishes that Master Tong cooked this afternoon smell really good? Especially the fried double crispy dish. When it was just out of the pot, the appearance, taste and aroma were simply amazing. It was really hard to resist trying a bite."

Zang Liang nodded heavily in agreement.

Even a professional helper like him wanted to rush over and have a taste.

"Then how do you know that Mr. Han doesn't mind?" Zang Liang asked.

"Assistant Chen told me." Qin Huai said, "When Assistant Chen came to pick me up at the airport today, we talked about it on the way here. He said that Mr. Han is easy to get along with and has no airs. He doesn't like it if you respect him too much. He will feel more comfortable if he treats him as a friend."

"And I didn't go up there to eat directly. I also asked Mr. Han and Master Tong."

Zang Liang was shocked again. He had always thought that Qin Huai did that in the afternoon because he was not knowledgeable and was fearless. He did not expect that it was because Qin Huai understood the financial sponsor too well and was one step ahead of everyone else.

Zang Liang could only shout in frustration: "Fuck, I didn't get any, what a loss."

On the other side, Chen Gong drove Han Guishan home. As the car entered the community, Han Guishan, who had just finished messaging his wife in the back seat and confirmed that his wife wanted to lose weight and not eat carbohydrates tonight so he could enjoy all the snacks by himself, suddenly spoke:
"Chen Gong, why did you talk so much with Master Qin today? I didn't see you talking with Master Zang or Master Tong."

"Did you hit it off with Chef Qin? That's great. The age difference between you two is not that big. It's time for you to make some new friends. Then ask Chef Qin to introduce you to a few suitable female chefs. What if you find one you like? The chef is pretty good. The food is delicious. You'll be in luck."

"The four-happiness dumplings made by Master Qin today are really good. I gave them to you in two bags. You can take one bag home later. It's good to cook and eat in the morning or at night."

Chen Gong said: "Thank you, President Han."

"I didn't hit it off with Master Qin right away, but he is indeed a very nice person. He is kind, not aloof or weird, and he doesn't put on airs."

"I talked so much with Chef Qin today because I know that he loves gossiping and listening to gossip. Chef Qin finished his food tasting so early this afternoon. If I didn't chat with him, he would be embarrassed to leave early by himself. I don't know what he is doing in the kitchen."

"And I felt that Master Qin seemed quite interested in me, so I took it as an introduction and told Master Qin about myself as gossip."

"Is that so?" Han Guishan was a little disappointed. "Master Qin is a nice guy. You can get to know him more often. It's time for you to make some new friends. All these years, you've been working all the time. You care more about your work than I do as your boss. Sometimes I even think about not being the boss anymore and letting you be the boss."

"Thank you, Mr. Han, for your appreciation and promotion." Chen Gong said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)