The crab roe noodles were sold until 8:42 a.m.
The last bowl was bought by a company leader with the surname Wang in the nearby office building. As for why Qin Huai knew this in such detail, it’s because one of this leader’s employees was in line behind him buying buns, and Qin Huai heard more than one office worker call this leader "President Wang."
It has to be said, working until you reach President Wang’s level is different; he’s not afraid of being late for work at all.
President Wang took a full 18 minutes to eat his bowl of noodles, from when the Yunzhong Restaurant had the highest foot traffic to when it was extremely quiet. After eating, he even went to buy fruit tea at Xiao Ou Handmade Lemon Tea Store across the street, as recommended by the staff. He didn’t forget to ask if the crab roe noodles were available every morning.
Clearly, President Wang decided to be late for work every morning in the future just to eat the crab roe noodles.
"It seems our customers really liked today’s crab roe noodles. Although we didn’t make a crab yellow sauce that we’re satisfied with, we did satisfy most of the customers," Qin Huai concluded with a smile.
Zheng Siyuan listened to Qin Huai’s words nonchalantly and curiously asked: "Did you recently learn some new motivational teaching methods?"
Qin Huai nodded happily: "I’ve recently gleaned some insights by guiding the staff in the store. How was my phrasing just now?"
"Uncle is even better at this than you," Zheng Siyuan said. "If Uncle wants to praise someone, you absolutely wouldn’t be able to tell he was deliberately praising."
Qin Huai understood—there’s more practice needed.
"What snacks are we making today?" Zheng Siyuan asked. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novelFirｅ.net
Zheng Siyuan is a very disciplined snack master who distinguishes between routine work and extra practice, never letting additional snack research interfere with daily duties.
"The same as before: I’ll make the Four Happiness glutinous rice and green bean cake, and you make the Three Meat Buns and fermented rice with steamed buns. The rest, feel free to improvise," Qin Huai said. "But I might slack a bit these days, so I might need you to make more of some snacks."
"I want to familiarize myself with sea cucumber while we’re researching crab yellow sauce."
Zheng Siyuan appreciated Qin Huai’s foresighted learning approach; though crab yellow sauce was to be researched, Qin Huai could offer little help in this aspect (he wasn’t adept at Fire Control), more serving as a taster and noodle-maker to ensure the crab yellow sauce wasn’t wasted.
Once the crab yellow sauce is figured out, Qin Huai might end up with no improvement in seasoning, Knife Skills, or Fire Control, but his noodle kneading skills would have skyrocketed.
Don’t ask, the answer is that he’s made plenty of crab roe noodles.
"Do you need help? How do you plan to familiarize yourself?" Zheng Siyuan asked.
"I plan to make cold sea cucumber," Qin Huai said.
"Isn’t sea cucumber usually quite fishy? I want to attempt the easiest yet most mistake-prone method. Although my Knife Skills aren’t that great, cold sea cucumber shouldn’t require much Knife Skills. The most important part of cold dishes is seasoning, and I believe once I perfect cold sea cucumber, I’ll know enough about sea cucumber. By then, your crab yellow sauce should also be ready, and we can formally research the Double Crab Bun."
Facing Qin Huai’s plan, Zheng Siyuan simply remarked, "Knife Skills are also quite important."
"All cold dishes require good Knife Skills."
"Then I’ll find someone to help me with the slicing. Li Hua’s Knife Skills are quite decent; I’ll let him know later."
After speaking, Qin Huai showed a slightly troubled expression: "Sigh, at first I thought two snack masters in Yunzhong Restaurant would suffice, later realizing that only having snack masters wasn’t enough and more assistants needed to be recruited. But it wasn’t until recruiting assistants that I discovered, these days, not every place has assistants like Huang Ji and Zhiwei Restaurant."
"If it weren’t for your help, I wouldn’t have time to practice cold sea cucumber at all."
Zheng Siyuan agreed: "It’s indeed challenging for typical restaurants to find assistants with decent culinary skills, not to mention that your requirements for assistants are higher than usual."
"Whether at Huang Ji or Zhiwei Restaurant, their typical assistant’s skills are more than sufficient to work as regular chefs at ordinary restaurants. Not to mention, Wang Jun at Huang Ji is barely considered half a prep chef there, but in terms of cooking skills, he’s way better than your two main course chefs at Yunzhong Restaurant."
Alright, I get it; you’re not satisfied with the employee meals at our Yunzhong Restaurant.
"What did you eat yesterday?"
"I had braised pork with preserved vegetables, sautéed spinach with minced garlic, and pork rib soup for lunch."
"Definitely avoid the braised pork with preserved vegetables. I’ve always thought our restaurant’s version is particularly salty, but since some customers like it, we’ve never taken it off the menu."
"I recommend just having some tomato and scrambled eggs; it goes well with rice."
Tired, let it all end.
The dissatisfied Master Xiao Zheng could only heave a deep sigh before starting to knead dough for buns.
Just another ordinary morning.
Diligent Master Xiao Zheng was constantly focused on making snacks, while the unfocused Master Qin only made a small batch of Four Happiness glutinous rice and green bean cake before delving into his cold sea cucumber research.
Master Qin’s research outcomes weren’t tasted by anyone.
Every time, he would mix a portion, taste it himself, then put on a pained expression, questioning life, stay silent for a few seconds, then discard it.
The same scenario repeatedly unfolded in the back kitchen. As Master Qin’s expressions grew more serious, Pei Xing intended to join with his dough for today’s guidance but wisely chose to continue kneading his own dough quietly.