The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 411 Others' Shadows

By the time Master Zhou finished inspecting Su Qian's progress and came back to check on how Qin Huai's new dim sum was doing, Qin Huai had basically gotten to know all the master chefs at Zhiweiju.

When Master Zhou saw so many familiar faces gathered by the Qinhuai River, he was stunned for a moment. His expression quickly changed from that of a gentle elder to that of a stern leader. He squeezed his way to the very back.

It successfully made the already crowded area around the kitchen counter even more congested.

Although Chef Zhou hadn't come before, he did get to eat the Four Happiness Tangyuan. When Qin Huai was cooking the second batch of Four Happiness Tangyuan, she specially served a bowl and asked Tan Weian to deliver it to him, so that Chef Zhou wouldn't miss out on some, or that the tangyuan wouldn't be at their best when he did.

Master Zhou was very satisfied with the Four Happiness Tangyuan from Qinhuai, especially the one with the mixed fruit filling.

Those with good memories may recall that when Qin Huai first started researching mixed fruit filling, Tan Weian provided him with the mixed fruit filling recipe taught by Master Zhou.

This recipe belongs to Chef Zhou, which means he is actually very skilled at making mixed fruit filling pastries, but he specializes in mixed fruit filling mooncakes, not glutinous rice balls. Chef Zhou doesn't understand or respect the version of mixed fruit filling that Qin Huai is making now, but he can't really do anything about it.

In Master Zhou's opinion, Qin Huai's skill level is sufficient to make a better, more reasonable and more concise mixed fruit filling. There is no need to make the raw materials so complicated and add a bunch of useless things, making the filling more difficult to make but the taste is worse instead of better.

However, Master Zhou could barely express his understanding, because he remembered Tan Weian saying that Qin Huai had some mental issues and liked to fantasize about having a game system that would give him tasks.

When faced with geniuses, especially diligent geniuses, Chef Zhou can tolerate and accept their numerous quirks, as long as the quirk doesn't mean giving up culinary skills to go into business. Everything is negotiable.

Master Zhou had already prepared his words in his mind. He originally planned to casually come over and take a look, and casually praise Qin Huai's excellent filling skills for the Four Happiness Tangyuan. Then he saw this huge crowd.

Master Zhou: ?

Is it a holiday today? Everyone's off work. Xiao Tan caught it as soon as he got back and started slacking off at work.

Master Zhou, with a stern face, squeezed next to Qin Huai and found that Qin Huai was making noodles. Even closer to Qin Huai was Bald Master Hua. Master Hua was looking at Qin Huai with eyes that were more loving than Master Zhou's, perhaps even five times more loving.

Those who know the situation see it as a pastry chef exchanging pleasantries, while those who don't might mistake it for a consultation with a renowned doctor who can cure his son's hair loss.

Master Hua had no regard for Master Zhou.

"Xiao Qin, have you really never learned how to make noodles from anyone? What was the idea behind your hand-kneading technique? Did you figure it out on your own, or is there someone in your family who particularly loves noodles, or an elder in your family who is very good at making hand-kneaded noodles?" Master Hua asked.

Qin Huai saw Master Zhou arrive, smiled and nodded to him in greeting, and without stopping his work, carefully chose his words and said, "My sister really likes this kind of noodles, but she also likes egg noodles. My sister isn't a picky eater."

"I learned how to make noodles by following a video tutorial I found online. I had thought about learning how to make pulled noodles before. There is a noodle shop in our county that makes really good noodles, but the noodle master there is too busy to teach me. I tried to learn from him a few times but didn't quite understand it, so I gave up."

"The ramen at that ramen shop is quite cheap. A bowl of beef ramen is only 6 yuan, even though there are only two slices of beef. You can just go there to eat ramen whenever you want."

Master Hua's eyes lit up as he listened, his thoughts practically etched onto his face. His expression was filled with the thought, "Isn't this the perfect disciple I, Hua Zhongxing, have been longing for, dreaming of day and night, destined for me, the one with the innate noodle-shaped divine body?"

Master Zhou: ? ? ?

"Xiao Qin, you're very suited to develop your skills in the field of noodles!" Master Hua said earnestly. "You may not know much about the different types of noodles. There are just as many different kinds of noodles as there are pastries and steamed dishes. Wide noodles, thin noodles, hand-pulled noodles, and hand-kneaded noodles each have their own intricacies. In the past, many pastry masters' specialty was noodles. A bowl of golden or silver thread noodles could attract countless diners. As long as you are willing to spend time studying this carefully, your achievements in noodles will be no less than those masters."

"Hua Zhongxing." Master Zhou finally spoke up, unable to contain himself any longer. The other chefs around him immediately started exchanging knowing glances: Look, they're fighting! They're fighting!

"Your apprentices' dough is all kneaded like that. If you didn't know they were making dragon beard noodles, you'd think they were catfish whiskers. The dough is all broken like that. After learning from you for so many years, they can still make 14-fold dough like that. And you still have the leisure to chat with Xiao Qin here."

Master Hua: ?

Master Hua looked up in shock and said, "What grudge do I have against you, Zhou? You're being sarcastic and sarcastic, but I haven't done anything wrong... Fine."

Master Hua said somewhat unconvinced, "Making 14-count dragon beard noodles is not easy. Let me tell you, it's like this: it would be impossible for an ordinary pastry chef to make dragon beard noodles without ten years of experience."

“But I think you don’t need that much time; you can do it in half the time at most. You are really talented in this area. Although you can’t stretch the dough yet, I believe that once you start, you will find that your talent in this area far surpasses that of others. I can already feel it from how you knead the dough by hand!”

"you……"

Master Zhou gave Master Liu a look, and Master Liu pretended to lose his balance and pushed forward, pushing Master Hua to the side.

Master Hua: !!!

"You, surnamed Liu, are you...?"

Taking advantage of the situation, Chef Zhou said, "If you want to argue, go to the break room. This is the kitchen, not a place for you to fight. What are you all doing here? Aren't you going to mentor your apprentices? Have you finished making your pastries? Is it time to leave work? If Xiao Su sees this, he'll have to nag for another ten minutes at the next meeting. Xiao Su said that he'll set aside time to introduce Xiao Qin to everyone at the meeting tomorrow morning so that everyone can get to know each other. There's no need to rush."

"Go and get busy with your own things. Xiao Qin, there are a few things I want to say to you about the Four Happiness Tangyuan you just made."

Master Zhou had already said so much, and the other master chefs who were just watching knew they couldn't force their way in. Besides, what Master Zhou said made sense. Among these master chefs, apart from a few who were about to finish their shifts and could take a break, the rest were just there to slack off because they hadn't finished their own work or trained their apprentices.

Master Hua wanted to stay and continue exchanging noodle-making tips with Qin Huai, but Master Liu acted too quickly, grabbing Master Hua and saying he wanted to go to the break room for a good argument.

Master Hua originally didn't intend to argue with Master Liu, but now he really does want to; he's itching to fight him.

Master Hua and Master Liu went to the break room for a 1v1 real-person showdown, and the other masters scattered like birds and beasts, muttering to themselves as they left:
"Hua Zhongxing is really bold, daring to compete with Lao Zhou for an apprentice."

"He's just eager to attract talent. Didn't you see Hua Zhongxing's expression just now? His eyes were practically glued to the dough in Xiao Qin's hands. It's understandable, you know what his apprentices are like. Some have good talent, but none of them are really exceptionally talented."

"Old Hua basically specializes in hand-pulled noodles. Very few apprentices at Zhiweiju only develop in this area. Those who are particularly talented in this area usually have other talents as well. Old Hua simply can't compete with others for disciples."

"But didn't Xiao Tan tell you that Qin Huai recently took on a master? If Qin Huai already has a master, how are Lao Zhou and Lao Hua going to take him as a disciple? Are they going to snatch him from someone else? By force?"

"What do you mean he took on a master? Your information isn't very reliable. Did you hear it from Xiao Tan himself? At most, he's a nominal disciple, just called 'Master,' but they didn't even have a formal apprenticeship ceremony. Besides, Qin Huai's apprentice is a hot-dish chef, so it doesn't conflict with our situation. But I think Lao Hua will most likely lose to Lao Zhou. I only got one Four Happiness Tangyuan, which I didn't quite appreciate, but I really enjoyed the Three Delicacies Buns. Their basic skills and craftsmanship are impeccable."

"At our Zhiweiju restaurant, he'd definitely be at the level of a master chef. It's just that Xiao Qin is too young; he doesn't really look like a master chef. That's why Lao Hua and Lao Zhou are thinking of taking him on as a disciple. If Xiao Qin were 30 or 40 years old now, Lao Hua and Lao Zhou wouldn't even consider it; they'd just treat him as an equal." "The San Ding Bao (three-ingredient bun) is indeed excellent. Xiao Qin's filling, cooked to that extent, still tastes this good. He really has a discerning palate. Before, I always thought Xiao Tan was exaggerating. I thought he went out and met a new chef who was younger, more skilled, and much more talented than him, and he lost so badly that he came back exaggerating and boasting about his talent."

"I didn't expect that what they said was actually true."

"Do you remember that Xiao Tan also told you a piece of gossip?"

"What gossip?"

“When Xiao Qin was a teenager, a relative wanted to ask a friend to send him to our Zhiweiju to be an apprentice. But his parents felt that studying was more important and that being an apprentice was too hard, so it was delayed for many years until he came to our Zhiweiju today. Otherwise, he would have come 10 years earlier.”

"Oh dear." Several master chefs who were chatting in a group sighed in regret at the same time.

"Why didn't you come sooner? You should have come much earlier!"

"That's it!"

"How could we bear to let such a promising talent like Xiao Qin get overworked!"

"That's it!"

"If I had come 10 years earlier, I would have shamelessly taken him on as my apprentice!"

"That's it!"

Upon hearing this, the master chefs who were chatting in the group looked at each other, and they all saw the word "competitor" in each other's eyes.

After a moment of silence, they looked at each other without saying a word, and then dispersed.

Tan Wei'an, who was silently watching all this drama unfold in the corner, thought: ...Holy crap, why does he feel like their Zhiweiju restaurant is about to be thrown into a bloodbath because of Qinhuai?

On the other side, Qin Huai was making hand-kneaded noodles while listening to Master Zhou's comments on his Four Happiness Tangyuan.

Before Master Zhou gave his critique, an apprentice, who had no name but was very perceptive, brought over a freshly steamed three-ingredient bun. Master Zhou took it and took a bite.

"Your basic skills are very good." Chef Zhou said slowly and deliberately while chewing, making Qin Huai unable to tell whether Chef Zhou was commenting on the Four Happiness Tangyuan or the Three Delicacies Bao.

“Xiao Tan used very exaggerated language to tell us many times how talented you are, and your talent certainly lives up to Xiao Tan’s praise. I’ve eaten your fruit at Huang Ji’s and also the three-ingredient buns you made back then. Your progress is indeed amazing.”

"You actually ate the fruit I made at Huang's Restaurant!" Qin Huai was somewhat surprised.

"There's nothing to be surprised about. Most of the master chefs at Zhiweiju wore masks when they went there. The cover of the first issue of Zhiwei magazine was actually a pastry. I believe that no pastry chef in China who has the time can resist trying it to see what it tastes like."

"To be honest, I don't think your fruit is good enough for the cover of a major magazine at the beginning of the year. But you are young, and Xu Cheng is a food critic who likes to mentor young chefs, so that must be one of the reasons that your fruit made it onto the cover."

"Zheng Da has been teaching you for so long, has he ever told you what your biggest problem is?" Master Zhou looked at Qin Huai.

Seeing that Master Zhou was discussing such in-depth issues, Qin Huai stopped working and paused to think carefully: "I come from a self-taught background and have developed many bad habits that I can't change in a short time?"

Master Zhou shook his head: "What's wrong with that? It's normal to have a lot of minor flaws and bad habits since you haven't formally apprenticed before. Actually, I still don't understand what Xiao Tan meant by 'you learned about pastries from the Complete Book of Pastries'."

"But you're not the kind of person who can't change. Xiao Tan told us how you trained your swordsmanship. What's there to change? You found a good master who taught you step by step and corrected your mistakes, so you changed them right away, didn't you?"

Qin Huai: ...What exactly is Tan Weian keeping from saying?
“Your biggest problem is that you’re always imitating,” Master Zhou said. “You’re not making your own pastries; you’re making other people’s.”

Qin Huai paused slightly. He vaguely remembered someone saying this to him, but he couldn't recall who it was. However, he hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. He was particularly good at imitating others when it came to making pastries, whether it was a complete guide to pastries, online video tutorials, bizarre techniques seen in TV dramas, or even techniques he genuinely learned from others. For Qin Huai, imitation was the fastest way to improve.

"I do have this problem, but it might just be a habit of mine, I..."

Master Zhou interrupted Qin Huai: "I'm not talking about that kind of imitation. I'm talking about the apprentice imitating the master."

Qin Huai: ?
“Your dim sum always seems to have the influence of other people. I felt this way when I ate fruit and three-ingredient buns at Huang Ji before, and this feeling was even stronger when I ate four-happiness glutinous rice balls and the three-ingredient buns just now.”

"But I also find it strange that Xiao Tan clearly stated that you don't have a master. How can a disciple without a master imitate a master, resulting in every pastry having the master's shadow on it?"

"This problem is common among formally trained disciples, but you are not one of them. So I'm curious to know if the recipes in that dessert encyclopedia you mentioned were something someone taught you to make when you were a child."

"Or perhaps your talent is extraordinary. You can discern the recipe writer's techniques and habits simply by looking at the recipe. You've been learning from a single recipe since childhood, which is why you've become that recipe writer's personal disciple." Even Chef Zhou himself found it absurd after saying this.

Qin Huai was completely bewildered. Unconsciously, he followed Master Zhou's words and began to think about whether he was really that awesome.

“But none of that matters,” Master Zhou said. “Since you’ve come to Zhiweiju for an exchange, we at Zhiweiju are responsible for you and make sure you learn something before you go back.”

"Finger techniques, pastry making, steaming, and puff pastry are all superficial. Starting tomorrow, you will learn from me. You must correct your habit of copying other people's pastries."

"Using other people's recipes and making other people's desserts will never make you a top master chef in your entire life."

"If you want to be the best, you have to create something of your own."

“I heard from Xiao Tan that you have trouble getting up in the morning, which is understandable, I have trouble getting up too. Let’s tentatively meet at Zhiweiju at 9 am every morning. Starting tomorrow, you will come with me. I want to take a good look at your basic skills and see what your dim sum is all about.”

In just a few words, Master Zhou, though not explicitly stating that he would take Qin Huai as his apprentice, directly designated Qin Huai as his disciple, to follow him starting tomorrow, thus distinguishing him from the other master chefs.

"Yes, Master Zhou," Qin Huai said respectfully.

(End of this chapter)