In order to give the new and old diners of Yunzhong Restaurant a surprise, Qin Huai got up very early on March 9th, arriving at Yunzhong Restaurant by 3 AM.
Qin Huai thought he would surely be the first one there.
This is because Yunzhong Restaurant’s breakfast staff usually start their shift at 3:40 AM. Previously, Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen would come early, but later, the restaurant recruited quite a few new helpers and with more hands, the work efficiency improved, so they stopped coming that early.
Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen had grown accustomed to rising early after years of selling breakfast; it’s not that they don’t like sleeping, but if they can have a normal schedule of waking up at five or six, they certainly wouldn’t want to get up at two AM.
Yet when Qin Huai arrived at Yunzhong Restaurant at 3 AM on the dot, there were already people inside the restaurant.
The outer gate of the restaurant was ajar, there was light in the warehouse, and the kitchen lights were also on. When Qin Huai entered from the inner door, he was a bit surprised to find people already there, and followed the sound to find An Youyou in the warehouse.
It had been a long time since Qin Huai last saw this excellent employee whose name he remembered. In his memory, An Youyou was a thin, petite girl with slightly chubby cheeks, who particularly loved making money, often wearing loose and easily fading clothes. She was a waitress before and switched to the kitchen later to earn more.
An Youyou was carrying a bag of flour.
"An Youyou?" Qin Huai checked the time to confirm it was only 3 AM, "Why are you here so early? Didn’t I say we’re not encouraging everyone to start work early?"
An Youyou flashed a cheerful smile and explained: "Well, Master Qin, since you’re back, Sister Xi told us you’d be coming quite early today. She wanted us to pick one person from the helpers to open the shop early and give you a hand, and there’s a 50 yuan bonus. I live close by, so I came."
"You moved?" Qin Huai asked, remembering that An Youyou didn’t live nearby.
"Yes, the landlord’s daughter of the house I was renting got married, and they sold the house. The new landlord didn’t want to rent the place out. They refunded me my deposit and even gave me an extra 500 yuan. And just in time, I received a year-end bonus, and I won 1000 yuan cash from the annual party raffle, allowing me to rent a nearby studio apartment."
"It is a bit expensive, but the environment is great with an elevator on the 17th floor!" An Youyou said, beaming with happiness.
Qin Huai could see that An Youyou really liked good houses, especially ones with great decor, location, and facilities.
"We have an annual party at the restaurant?" Qin Huai was bewildered. As the boss, he didn’t know about the annual party.
"It was held two days after the minor New Year. Actually, it was nothing special, just everyone having dinner at the restaurant after work and drawing a raffle," An Youyou explained.
Qin Huai nodded. Around that time after the minor New Year, he was tirelessly preparing guo’er and Four Happiness glutinous rice at Huang’s Kitchen, so unless someone called him on purpose, he barely checked his messages. He thought Sister Xi might have mentioned it, but he definitely didn’t pay much attention.
As a boss, he really didn’t manage the affairs of Yunzhong Restaurant. Normally, it was Zhao Rong and Qin Congwen overseeing things at Yunzhong Restaurant.
"What were the prizes?" Qin Huai asked offhandedly.
"Cash red envelopes ranging from 200 to 5000 yuan. Master Pei was so lucky; the only 5000 yuan cash envelope was drawn by him!" An Youyou said with an envious tone.
Qin Huai understood now; it was likely Zhao Rong who determined the prizes. Zhao Rong used to complain during supermarket raffles, community raffles, and similar events that the prizes always seemed to be fancy but impractical; cash would be much more practical.
Now that Zhao Rong was deciding the prizes, she directly fulfilled her own wish.
Seeing An Youyou was not struggling with the flour, Qin Huai didn’t step forward to help. He was preoccupied with the variety of snacks he planned to make, which was why he came early, forgetting that Yunzhong Restaurant and Huang’s Kitchen were not the same.
Huang’s Kitchen had Guli leading the energetic workers; no matter how early Qin Huai arrived, he couldn’t beat Guli. Whenever he arrived at Huang’s Kitchen, lots of things were already prepared, even during the New Year’s period. The local helpers arrived super early, not having breakfast at home, but came eagerly anticipating the staff meal.
Indeed, An Youyou arriving this early was a great help to Qin Huai.
"Have you been practicing your knife skills lately?" Qin Huai asked.
An Youyou’s eyes lit up: "I have! I’ve been chopping meat filling every morning, and both Master Chen An and Master Li Hua have given me lots of pointers!"
"Then help me chop meat filling in the kitchen later," Qin Huai said as he headed to the changing room to change clothes.
An Youyou chased after him: "Mas...Master Qin, what snacks are you making today? What do I need to prepare?"
"Snacks...I’m making a lot of snacks, just follow my instructions later. I’ll be checking your basic skills as well."
Qin Huai indicated that he wasn’t the same Master Qin as before; he was a graduate of the first session of Cao Guixiang’s Knife Skills Training Camp.
Although the level of knife skills was arguable, he could at least identify correct posture when holding a knife.
The helper getting the chance to assist Master Qin today was indeed fortunate, for they would get a limited-time 1v1 guidance from Master Qin.
Qin Huai finished changing clothes and entered the kitchen to knead the dough.
According to the usual sequence, Qin Huai should be kneading the dough for fermented rice with steamed buns first. The yeast fermentation takes a long time, and the first batch of morning exercise elders would arrive at 6 AM at the restaurant, so the buns should be done first to ensure the elders can enjoy both baozi (bread buns) and mantou (steamed buns).
But today Qin Huai doesn’t plan to do that.
The only purpose today is to complete the main task.