Of course, actually, there are even closer communities. All around Huang Ji are old communities, and those familiar with them know that these old communities are very densely located, and some without property management are quite lax, with gates that are essentially open year-round.
But that’s no reason for people in line to spill into someone’s community!
Isn’t it just 9:30 now?
The business hasn’t even started yet. Yesterday, they at least lined up in the community after business hours.
Qin Huai cautiously headed towards Huang Ji and found that there actually was a barrier for queuing at the entrance, but there were just too many people, and the first ones Qin Huai saw were already outside the barrier.
The ones at the front of the line were a group of seven or eight obviously traveling together college students, both males and females, experienced and full of energy.
Dragging suitcases, they were clearly coming straight from the train to queue up. The ones with small suitcases sat right on them, while those with larger ones brought their own small folding stools. They were fully equipped with gloves, hats, hand warmers, and even brought their own water and fruit, which they eagerly shared with the less-experienced young couples who hadn’t brought enough gear behind them.
Qin Huai quietly slipped in through the back door, changed clothes, and entered the kitchen.
In the back kitchen, everyone was bustling about with work, even Zheng Da was uncharacteristically wearing Huang Ji’s work uniform, kneading dough vigorously.
"Master Qin!" The chef from Zhiwei Restaurant who was the first to spot Qin Huai quickly greeted, "Have you had breakfast?"
"Yes, I did. Made some Four Happiness Dumplings at home this morning." Qin Huai nodded and glanced at the Ruyi Roll, Four Happiness Dumplings, and radish cake in the warmer.
It looked like these snacks were specially made for him by the chefs at Zhiwei Restaurant.
Qin Huai shifted the topic: "But I’m not completely full. I could eat a little more to fill my stomach."
The chef closest to the warmer quickly went to get the snacks.
The chefs at Zhiwei Restaurant, just like Zheng Siyuan, would only practice one or two kinds of snacks for some time. Qin Huai didn’t need to taste to know who made what, just by looking.
First, he took a bite of a genuine Four Happiness Dumpling.
Hmm, not as good as my own.
"The combination isn’t right, the most important thing about Four Happiness Dumplings is the combination of ingredients. These four ingredients should be fine, but the proportions are wrong. Try more, practice more, find the right proportions, and also, spring onions shouldn’t be added."
Then he took a bite of the radish cake.
"It’s mushy, oily, the frying is not right, the basic skills aren’t practiced well, practice seriously."
Then it was the turn for the Ruyi Roll.
Qin Huai took a bite and instinctively glanced at Guli, who was assigned to assist Zheng Da today, working on dough.
Qin Huai didn’t comment because no comment was needed.
Guli’s basic skills had no issues, all his problems lay in technique, just needed to find the right direction and practice hard.
Among the three kinds of snacks, the Ruyi Roll was undoubtedly the best, and the portion wasn’t large. Qin Huai held the plate, eating and wandering to Dong Shi, he asked:
"So many people lining up outside, isn’t Team Leader Cao doing something about it? It’s still early now, if this continues, by eleven or twelve it’s going to extend across the street."
Dong Shi was chopping carrots, careful not to get distracted, laid down the knife promptly after hearing this: "By 9:40, Team Leader Cao will release the numbers."
After speaking, Dong Shi glanced at Huang Shengli, seeing the master watching him too, but without showing any displeasure, which is considered tacit approval for him to slack off for 5 minutes, spoke boldly:
"Yesterday afternoon, Master and Team Leader Cao discussed for a long time. If the online reservation opens too early, it’s unfair to those who come early to queue. But if the online reservation isn’t open, guests standing at the door will be more fatigued after lining up for more than ten hours."
"Master and Team Leader Cao couldn’t think of a particularly good solution, so every day at 9:40, they’ll issue numbers to those who line up offline first, and open online reservations at 10:10."
"To ensure that those who reserve online still get to eat, five tables in the hall will be reserved solely for them."
"If their number passes, they’ll have to reschedule."
"Also, aren’t there many large round tables on the first floor? They’re for weddings, banquets, with 12 seats. Team Leader Cao’s idea is, if there are whole groups with similar numbers, they can seat together. If not, then individual diners will be grouped."
"This doesn’t really affect us in the kitchen much, but their workload in the hall will increase significantly."
"By the way, did you reserve a medium table with Team Leader Cao yesterday? You should tell your friends to come early, the sixth one is secretly left for them."
Hearing what Dong Shi said, Qin Huai suddenly had a bit of understanding for Qu Jing.
In this situation, eating at a small table indeed brings great pressure.
As expected, eating at a small table in the kitchen, or taking it packed to the Bone Setting Shop, is much stress-free.
After listening to Dong Shi’s info leak, Qin Huai returned to the culinary station to get to work.
Making guo’er, Qin Huai was very familiar.
Although he hadn’t practiced it for as long as Crab Dumplings, the essence of guo’er is actually the apple dough ball, at least in terms of shape.
And Qin Huai had an inexplicable, instinctive familiarity and fluency with apple dough balls.
The first time he directly replicated Zheng Siyuan’s apple dough ball, such an unbelievable move, not only Zheng Siyuan found it unbelievable, even Qin Huai himself felt it was unbelievable.
At that time, Qin Huai even wondered if he had become one with Ctrl+c, and with a Ctrl+c, Ctrl+v move, he had copied Zheng Siyuan’s apple dough ball into his hands.
But this talent was limited to apple dough balls; it didn’t extend to other dumplings.