On the morning of the second day, Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan boarded a plane to Shanghai, then transferred to a high-speed train to Gusu. After a bit of a hassle, they finally arrived in Gusu by noon.
"I really admire how you received Uncle Zheng’s call in the afternoon and managed to make it to our cafeteria by early the next day." Normally not one for long journeys, the furthest Qin Huai traveled was between home and school during the four years of college, deeply admiring Zheng Siyuan’s exceptional agility.
"It’s alright, you get used to it." Zheng Siyuan glanced at his phone, "My dad says someone is coming to pick us up."
"Huh? Do we really need a pickup?" Qin Huai was puzzled.
"You’re new here, need a ceremonial pickup."
An hour later, Qin Huai understood what a ceremonial pickup meant.
The person who came to pick them up at the high-speed rail station was Dong Shi, an old acquaintance of Qin Huai, a genuine online friend, who had talked with Qin Huai over video calls about a lot of restaurant gossip.
The gossip Dong Shi shared with Qin Huai included but was not limited to:
How incompetent Huang Shengli’s son was at running the restaurant, making a complete mess of marketing plans.
Huang Shengli’s sixth disciple was dumped again by his girlfriend because of hair loss, making him look old. Dong Shi casually remarked that the kitchen’s oil fumes were indeed heavy, and it couldn’t all be blamed on Sixth Brother.
A certain unnamed but well-known regular customer had all his four weddings in the restaurant, with the same person each time. It led people to suspect they just wanted an excuse to have more weddings and enjoy the wedding dishes at Huang Ji Restaurant again.
Huang Shengli’s back wasn’t just bad in recent years; since the second wedding of that customer, the restaurant has offered some special dishes only available for weddings or large banquets like birthday parties, and only regulars could get them.
These precious pieces of gossip made the online friendship between Qin Huai and Dong Shi unusually strong.
It also propelled Dong Shi to be chosen as the representative to pick them up at the station.
Dong Shi’s main purpose in picking them up was to take Qin Huai to the house rented for him by Zheng Da.
The house is right across from Huang Ji Restaurant, taking just 6 minutes to walk from the community to the restaurant’s back kitchen, making the commute very convenient. So convenient that Qin Huai wondered if Huang Ji Restaurant also sold breakfast? Would he need to come over every morning at 4 a.m. to make Five Fillings Bun?
"This house was handpicked by Junior Master Zheng for you, Qin Huai. Junior Master Zheng initially wanted to rent you a place in his community, but it’s too far from Huang Ji. We have a long prep time at the restaurant, and the shift starts early at around 9 a.m. If you come from Junior Master Zheng’s place, you’ll have to get up by 8 a.m. daily, which is too early." Dong Shi, with a mouth that can’t stay idle, had to say everything, not hiding a word.
Qin Huai, who wakes up at 4 a.m. daily: ...
Zheng Siyuan, who switched from waking up at 6 a.m. to working at 6 a.m.: ...
"But there are some perks at our restaurant. The lunch break is particularly long. The kitchen generally rests at 1 p.m., starts again at 4 p.m., and wraps up by 8 p.m., with absolutely no overtime. I remember, Qin Huai, you finished work at 4 p.m. daily, right? Our restaurant doesn’t have a pastry chef, so if you need to go to bed early, you can end at 4 p.m. with us. We have meals ready by 4 p.m."
Is this the treatment for randomly assigned chefs?
Zheng Siyuan, I’m sorry for making you work like a horse.
The house Zheng Da rented for Qin Huai was a move-in-ready one-bedroom, cleaned thoroughly without extra preparations needed. It even had brand new, unopened toothbrushes and towels, leading Qin Huai to suspect it might have been a guest house before.
With nothing much to organize, Qin Huai put his luggage down and went with Dong Shi to see Huang Shengli, while Zheng Siyuan dragged his luggage home to settle in first.
Meeting the online course instructor for the first time, Qin Huai brought a small gift he prepared —
The apple dough balls made the previous night.
Proper apple dough balls, with filling mixed by Zheng Siyuan, were genuine apple dough balls, light and legitimate.
Not the heretical meat-filled kind.
Qin Huai followed Dong Shi to Huang Ji Restaurant.
Huang Ji Restaurant is considered a long-established brand locally, starting from a small eatery founded by Huang Shengli in his youth, to the current grand restaurant. It had been many years since a renovation, so from a distance, it seemed a bit old, but one could also think of it as having historical depth.
Although the history was short, only over 20 years.
Qin Huai entered the place past 1 p.m., barely meal time, and the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. The main hall was half-seated. At this time of day, such an occupancy rate isn’t bad for a weekday, but it did seem a bit unworthy of Huang Ji Restaurant’s long-standing reputation.
Dong Shi’s criticism appeared to be right; Huang Shengli’s son indeed wasn’t good at managing the business.
Dong Shi led Qin Huai to the back kitchen door, opened it, and happily shouted, "Master, Master, Qin Huai is here, I brought him back! He even brought you a gift, come see it!"
"What’s all this noise, there are still dining guests outside." Huang Shengli slowly emerged from the back kitchen.
This was the first time Qin Huai saw him in person.
Compared to his video appearance, in person he seemed a bit darker and slimmer.
Huang Shengli looked at Qin Huai with a smile, "Xiao Qin is here! Why so formal bringing a gift? Let me see what you’ve brought."
Qin Huai handed over the gift box.
The gift box was obtained from Chen Yingjun, a leftover box for packaging dough balls.
Huang Shengli opened the box, gazed at the four apple dough balls, pinched one to feel its texture, examined it closely, and asked:
"Did you make this yourself?"
Qin Huai nodded, "Mostly, the filling was mixed by Zheng Siyuan for me, I’m still not quite at the point of mastering it myself."
"Oh my," Huang Shengli muttered under his breath, "Some do seem born with the skill to make dough balls, haven’t forgotten Mengpo Soup thoroughly."
"Master, what did you say?" Dong Shi didn’t catch it.
"It’s got nothing to do with you." Huang Shengli ignored his closed-door disciple, focusing all his attention on Qin Huai, smiling even more.
"Xiao Qin, you and Si Yuan arrived early in the morning, right? You must be tired."
"Not really, not very tired," Qin Huai honestly replied.
"Have you seen the house? Feeling comfortable there?"
"Initially, since you traveled from afar, there should be a welcome meal for you. But my back has been acting up, this morning I woke up with it hurting terribly. Forget cooking, even sitting is painful."
"Master Huang, you don’t need to be so formal. You’ve taught me so much on WeChat, you’re practically like half a master to me, how could I trouble you for a welcome banquet," Qin Huai hurriedly said.
"As long as you don’t mind, I’m relieved. Dong Shi, what are you standing there for? Give Xiao Qin his work uniform!"
Dong Shi immediately performed a magic trick, retrieving a set of kitchen staff uniforms from a nearby cupboard and handing it to Qin Huai. "The master had it custom-made according to your size, not sure if it fits."
Upon looking at the uniform, Qin Huai found embroidery on the chest of the uniform’s top, with his name stitched.
Alright, it’s time to start working.
Without hesitation, Qin Huai held the uniform and asked, "Where’s the changing room?"
"Being new and unfamiliar with tasks, why not make a few steamer baskets of the steamed buns with fermented rice that I’m best at for everyone!"