No luxurious ingredients, no skillful broth, just simple vegetables tossed into the pan for a quick stir-fry, even ordinary greens can taste absolutely delicious.
Every mealtime, Zhang Chiyuan’s family and Zhang Siyu’s family would take turns coming to eat. It’s as if the siblings had an agreement: 135 you come, 246 I come, Sundays everyone gathers.
As long as Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing did well on exams, the first thing they would shout upon rushing into Cao Guixiang’s home was: Grandma, I scored xx on my test!
The scores were so high that Qin Huai felt moved to tears, wishing he could record the sound to play for Luoluo, and ask when she would score so high.
March 6, 6:17 PM, it’s dinner time.
Today, Zhang Chiyuan’s family came for dinner. The dishes were quite a variety: celery stir-fry with beef, sautéed spinach, YunjiYun chicken, steamed grouper, and yam rib soup.
Zhang Zhiyun sat next to Qin Huai, eagerly recommending YunjiYun chicken, telling Qin Huai it’s a rare dish his grandma specifically created for him. The dish’s name is even named after him, unique and unavailable outside.
Qin Huai, having spent the day chopping radishes, was hungry enough to eat a horse, nodded silently, focused on eating.
Cao Guixiang smilingly slid the YunjiYun chicken closer to Qin Huai and Zhang Zhiyun as it was too far away from them.
"Xiao Qin, how has business been at the community canteen in Shan City recently?" Cao Guixiang suddenly asked.
Qin Huai had just stuffed a mouthful of food flavored with the sweet and sour YunjiYun chicken. The dish’s name might sound peculiar, but it was a super combination of sweet and sour pork and sweet and sour ribs. The meat was coated with a tangy sweet sauce which, though could get a bit greasy if eaten too much, was certainly loved by children.
Qin Huai chewed diligently, swallowed, and said clearly: "It’s been quite good. Our canteen has a professional breakfast chef and two professional snack masters, plus two meat cooking masters—plenty of staff."
"My mom even messaged me yesterday, telling me not to rush back and to learn the craft well here. There’s no need to worry since business at the canteen is also doing well."
Qin Huai smiled sincerely.
He wasn’t lying; Zhao Rong indeed sent a message yesterday encouraging him to learn well. However, she sent only one, while Ouyang sent 999+ in recent days.
Chen Huihong sent 99+, asking if he planned to return to Huishan City soon; if not, she might plan to buy property in Guangdong Province.
Uncle Wang subtly sent 8 messages.
Grandpa Qian, 17 messages.
Grandma Ding, who preferred inquiring about weather and wellbeing, had much more—76 messages.
Xu Tuqiang, 69 messages.
Even Qu Jing sent 6 messages—she had returned to Huishan City after her exchange.
Luo Jun remained calm, not sending a single message, but he posted on social media.
Complaining in his social media about Zhang Shumei’s dried tangerine peel, white fungus, and lotus seed soup being poorly made one day.
As for Qin Luo... the child started school, and dared not message Qin Huai much, afraid he might realize she might be sneaking smart watch use.
She also didn’t dare call to check on her brother’s recent life because Qin Huai had no time for calls.
Qin Huai guessed part of Ouyang’s 999+ messages might be from Qin Luo, particularly many sent on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, all filled with meaningless banter that he didn’t even bother to discern, skimming them at a glance.
Qin Huai felt he should continue learning the craft for some time; having only just started slicing, in a week all he did was fix issues.
But Zhang Chu already prepared the chopping board for him and made three sets of molds. Zhang Chu, a professional carpenter, was quite skilled; at times he even displayed the wooden furnishings in his home to Qin Huai—
All made with mortise and tenon joints, not a single nail, the rocking chair Zhang Zhiyun and Chang Qingqing sat in as children even had carvings.
This couple, skill-wise, was indeed a strong match.
"Then you can start looking for tickets to go back," Cao Guixiang said.
Qin Huai was taken aback.
Didn’t it mean his progress was too slow, so Master Cao didn’t want to teach him anymore?
Cao Guixiang realized his misunderstanding seeing his reaction, and explained: "You’ve basically completed stage one. I remember you said you had an outside catering event scheduled for mid-March."
"You shouldn’t let learning interfere with proper work. For more than a week now, it’s been nothing but cutting veggies, barely practicing pastry skills; don’t let them get rusty and upset the employer."
"But Master Cao, have I really learned the skills now?" Qin Huai uncertainly asked.
He felt like he hadn’t learned anything, just kept forgetting.
After a week, he merely learned to hold the knife correctly and exert force, constantly revising mistakes without truly refreshing new concepts.
"Of course," Cao Guixiang nodded, "You’re progressing faster than I imagined. Originally, I thought it would take you at least 10 days to correct all those bad habits, but today afternoon you must have noticed too. I only intervened twice, but you made 5 errors, and 3 times you corrected yourself without my intervention."
"If you’d like to reinforce this, you can get tickets for the day after tomorrow, practice another day tomorrow."
"For now, just keep cutting radishes; after returning to Huishan City, continue with radishes. No need for 300 pounds per day like now, since your main job is actually pastry chef, 100, 150 pounds will do; just maintain training."
"Then... how should I cut them?" Qin Huai ate dazedly, asking a silly question.
Cao Guixiang nearly burst into laughter: "Just cut like you are now, Xiao Qin, you’re quite good. You can slice radish thin, shred it, cube it, even learned rolling cut, haven’t you?"