Those skills were honed back in the day.
But the times have changed now. Back then, information wasn’t readily available, and there were no smartphones. Many customers came from afar, unaware of how popular Huang Ji was until they arrived. They couldn’t bear to leave after making the trip, so they’d have to queue outside. In the cold winter, many would wrap blankets around themselves or hug quilts.
If the queues hadn’t been like that back then, Huang Shengli wouldn’t have insisted on extending business hours, almost working himself into the hospital.
Things are much better now. Customers can queue online, and we can inform them of their queue status at any time, greatly relieving the pressure of onsite queuing.
After the meeting ended, Qin Huai felt that his pressure as a snack maker wasn’t that great, but Team Leader Cao had a lot of management pressure.
Increasing business hours means rescheduling shifts and reassigning days off. Everyone is a worker; some, like Team Leader Cao, are very attached to Huang Ji, while others are ordinary workers who resist overtime.
How to set overtime pay, how to adjust bonus coefficients—these are all tasks for Team Leader Cao.
However, Team Leader Cao was very happy. After the meeting, he found a corner to enthusiastically work on spreadsheets, occasionally taking calls, exposing his true workaholic nature.
While Team Leader Cao went off to make tables, Qin Huai and Huang Shengli didn’t leave the private room; they continued their own little meeting.
"Master Huang, will I only be making snacks starting tomorrow?" Qin Huai asked.
He had no objections to his working hours being adjusted, nor any opposition to changes in his main job responsibilities.
Qin Huai was very clear about his role: he was here to help.
He was here to help Zheng Da, Zheng Siyuan, and Huang Shengli.
When Qin Huai first came to Huang Ji, Zheng Siyuan had asked him to stay longer at Huang Ji to help through the challenging period when Huang Shengli’s back hadn’t fully recovered.
Qin Huai agreed at the time and indeed did help, and now Huang Shengli’s back is better.
In theory, Qin Huai has fulfilled what he promised Zheng Siyuan. He could now fully retreat and return to being the happy boss at Yunzhong Restaurant.
But Qin Huai knows he cannot leave now.
This is when Huang Ji needs him the most.
There is a passage in Xu Cheng’s article that is very true: Qin Huai is the thousand-mile horse, and Zheng Da and Huang Shengli are the two Bo Le.
One Bo Le wants to be the master of a thousand-mile horse, so he taught wholeheartedly.
The other Bo Le purely admired talent, so he guided wholeheartedly.
No matter what their thoughts, their actions were selfless.
Looking at the people from Zhiwei Restaurant, you can see that Huang Shengli and Zheng Da’s approach is exceedingly rare among culinary masters. Normally, if someone wants to learn the craft, they should act like the people from Zhiwei Restaurant: respectful, diligent, helping out everywhere, learning assiduously, waiting to be recognized by the masters, and then perhaps becoming an apprentice or getting some guidance.
Masters typically only teach apprentices. Outside of apprentices, they mostly teach people like Tan Wei’an, who are from culinary families.
Even though Tan Wei’an is average in skill, he really knows a lot of recipes.
But even Tan Wei’an can’t just say he wants to learn something and have the masters at Zhiwei Restaurant teach him.
Qin Huai, like Team Leader Cao, truly wants to see Huang Ji grow and thrive, recreating glorious achievements.
Unknowingly, he’s already embodying the role of a long-time Huang Ji employee.
"Do you want to do something else?" Huang Shengli asked, "Actually, I didn’t mention one thing just now when Xiao Cao was here, but now that snacks are limited, shouldn’t we also limit Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns and Three Meat Buns?"
"We can let Zheng Da handle the Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns. I’m quite aware of his business, and there’s definitely not much to do recently. Otherwise, when you and Si Yuan were researching the Mixed Fruit Filling the other day and he couldn’t make it, he would have already found an excuse to say some factory somewhere had a problem or a contract somewhere needed to be renegotiated and slipped away. He wouldn’t have said he’s going back home to research the Mixed Fruit Filling behind closed doors."
"Though Master Zheng might be a bit lazy, his skills are not an issue. He’s been making Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns since he got his regular position at the State-owned Restaurant, and for decades now, his skills haven’t diminished. Even if he were to do it perfunctorily, it wouldn’t be a problem."
"I’m more concerned about the Three Meat Buns, which are much more trouble than the Steamed Buns, and your Master Zheng might not be willing to make them."
Qin Huai indicated he understood. Zheng Da has been lazy for so many years that when he makes snacks now, he’s very conflicted.
He looks down on making simple, everyday snacks because they are too easy and don’t showcase his abilities.
On the other hand, he doesn’t want to make high-difficulty, intricate snacks because they’re too troublesome. Unless there’s a big incentive, Zheng Da doesn’t want to burden himself in his financially free years.
This has caused Zheng Da to become very inconsistent, only working intensely for a few days before slacking off.
"I can take responsibility for the Three Meat Buns," Qin Huai said, "Even though I’m not very clear on how to calculate customer flow and output, I just listened and feel like if there’s a limit, the daily output of snacks isn’t that large."
"I should be able to manage both snacks and Three Meat Buns."
"Master Huang, to be honest, I don’t like making the same kind of snack every day like Zheng Siyuan, especially only making one kind every day."
"I want to do like before, except the regular snacks would become snacks and Three Meat Buns, interspersed with a few dishes I feel like making that day, selling out and then marking them as sold out."
Huang Shengli hesitated a little, but he knew Qin Huai’s habits well and nodded: "Okay, do your best."
Qin Huai returned to the kitchen.
The meeting delayed things quite a bit; by now, the steamer should have been going full blast. Qin Huai glanced at everyone’s work status and noticed that Master Zheng was having a hard time keeping up with the assistants’ efficiency.
The assistants were working too fast, and the master wasn’t keeping up with everyone’s pace.
Of course, Zheng Da didn’t see it that way; he felt that he was steaming buns until he was exhausted today.
Thinking back, when he was not even 10 years old, he started learning the craft from his master, and by his teens, he was an assistant at the State-owned Restaurant.
Lighting fires, cutting vegetables, cleaning, kneading dough, mixing fillings, taking out the trash—back then, every chef and waiter at the State-owned Restaurant would call him a capable young man.
He, Zheng Da, also started as an assistant, a professional jack-of-all-trades.
But how are the assistants so efficient nowadays? What’s up with Zhiwei Restaurant? Do they really have that many customers? Is it necessary to push the assistants so hard? Can’t they hire more people?
Surname Su, are you that poor? Doesn’t Zhiwei Restaurant rake in quite a bit every year?
Zheng Da was making buns until his back teeth were about to crack from clenching.
"Master Zheng, let me take over." Qin Huai approached Zheng Da, "You’ve been busy for quite a while; take a break."
Today, if he didn’t rest now, he wouldn’t get another chance.
Zheng Da was deeply touched but insisted on staying, stubbornly saying: "No need!"
"My back is fine; I’m in great shape! Back in my youth, when my master retired, I was responsible for all the pastries at the State-owned Restaurant. This is nothing."
"Master Huang said that starting from tomorrow, you might need to handle the Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns, and I only need to make the Three Meat Buns." Qin Huai softly reminded him.
Huang Shengli, what’s up with you? Didn’t you say just do a little work? You call this a little?
Do you have any idea how many Fermented Rice with Steamed Buns Huang Ji sells every day? Do you know how much money I, Zheng Da, make in a minute?
Will be stuck in this lousy kitchen making buns for you starting tomorrow?
Zheng Da wanted to say something, but then he thought of the article on "Taste".
Huang Ji hasn’t been featured in "Taste" for many years.
Though most other restaurants are in the same situation, being featured even once for the chef’s dishes in "Taste" is a huge honor, but there are those that manage to get featured multiple times.
If a renowned chef creates a new dish, Xu Cheng would certainly write a food review.
Like Pei Shenghua from Chengfang Inn, who has been featured twice.
Sun Mao Cai in Hong Kong has been featured several times, every new dish gets into "Taste", making everyone else gnash their teeth in envy.
Zheng Da also wishes for Huang Ji to shine again, so that next year, when he visits his master’s grave, he can nonchalantly mention:
Master, the business at Huang Ji now is even better than when you were at the State-owned Restaurant.
Thinking of this, Zheng Da could only secretly curse Huang Shengli for being unambitious, not having developed any new dishes all these years that could make it to "Taste" or serve as advertisements.
They still have to rely on him.
Zheng Da smoothly said: "Hey, I suddenly feel I should take a good rest. By the way, Xiao Qin, recommend a good practitioner from the Bone Setting Shop next door for me."
"All of a sudden, I feel like my back isn’t doing so well either, and I need some good kneading."