In Qin Huai’s mind, all the pig feed he had chopped up these days flashed by.
Can those things even be called chopping?
Can uneven radish slices be called chopping?
Can those buckets of stuff that get dumped in without a look be called chopping?
Is the requirement for chopping meat so low?
"Of course you can, if you couldn’t chop, then what have you been chopping all these days?" Cao Guixiang noticed that Zhang Zhiyun had quietly eaten almost a whole plate of YunjiYun chicken while Qin Huai was in a daze. She then pushed the stir-fried celery beef toward them and took a chopstick of spinach to Zhang Zhiyun.
"Yunyun, don’t just eat meat, have some vegetables."
Qin Huai glanced at the plate, silently and quickly took the last piece of YunjiYun chicken into his bowl.
"Eat first, after you finish I’ll talk to you." Following the principle that nothing is more important than eating, Cao Guixiang let Qin Huai eat first.
If he doesn’t eat the dishes soon, they’ll be eaten up by Zhang Zhiyun.
Being in middle school, Zhang Zhiyun is at the age of eating heartily, gulping down food with great appetite, standing as a worthy opponent to Qin Luo.
After eating, taking advantage of others washing dishes, Cao Guixiang stood by the window and explained to Qin Huai: "Xiao Qin, do you think you haven’t chopped the radishes well these days?"
Qin Huai nodded honestly.
"Alright, indeed not very well," Cao Guixiang agreed honestly, "but you can’t be entirely blamed, this is your current level. Even better radishes you couldn’t chop yet, otherwise, you wouldn’t be chopping radishes."
"Do you think you’ve made any progress these days?"
Qin Huai thought for a moment: "I’ve changed a lot of habits."
"In the first two days, I felt like I couldn’t hold a knife or chop vegetables. Now, I can do it again, and quite correctly."
"That’s right." Cao Guixiang nodded, "That’s enough."
"I just wanted to help you break your bad habits. Knife skills are a very important basic skill; when I was apprenticing, a meat cooking apprentice had to practice knife skills for three to five years before the master would let them touch the pots. Even the most talented chef has to patiently chop for years."
"You can’t rush knife skills, but I believe you’ll learn faster than many chefs because you have a foundation, you can relate things, master one thing and you’ll understand hundreds."
"But even with a foundation, you still have to honestly start practicing by chopping radishes in the beginning."
"I’ve now helped you eliminate all your bad habits, and you know the correct path to take. You’re already on your way. What you need to do next is to practice diligently every day like you did when learning snacks."
"I now have nothing more to teach you. Fancy techniques, meat processing—these are not what you can learn at this stage."
"What you need to do now is chop radishes well. When you feel you’ve made significant progress, or when you think the radishes you chop look great, we can start the second phase of on-site teaching."
Cao Guixiang’s meaning was clear. Qin Huai had completed the first stage of learning.
The crash course was over, and the remaining work for apprentice Xiao Qin was to go home and take online classes.
"I remember you mentioned six cutting boards, whenever I ruin one..."
"Don’t worry about that." Cao Guixiang waved her hand, glancing helplessly at Zhang Chu who was washing dishes in the kitchen, "I initially thought with six boards, at your current practice rate, they’d wear out in three or four months at most."
"But for some reason, Old Zhang used such good wood to make the boards. The wood is fine, but still..."
"Just send me photos of your chopped radishes after you return to Shan City, a video when you have time too."
"Don’t worry too much about the cutting board."
"And don’t worry about the uncompleted molds. When finished, I’ll have Old Zhang send them to you."
"Didn’t your friend want to open a handcrafted lemon tea shop? I have some fruit tea recipes here, I’ll write them for you later, though I don’t like to drink such things. Qingqing loves them; I pondered over them for a while before, but the cost based on these recipes is a bit high, not sure if a shop could profit."