In the following days, Qin Huai spent his time working normally and chopping vegetables.
Since Qin Huai usually chopped radishes in the afternoon, An Youyou also adjusted her working hours with Qin Huai to start mid-morning and finish after dinner.
Correspondingly, the luxurious breakfast by Master Qin has been withdrawn from the breakfast menu.
Don’t ask why; just know that Master Qin has enjoyed being a snack master and finds it hard to go back to waking up at 4 AM every day to be the breakfast master.
The customers of Yunzhong Restaurant accepted this change well. Except for some elderly joggers who felt like the sky had fallen, as they lost motivation for their daily morning runs, many office workers were even a bit pleased.
After all, as good as breakfast is, getting up early is really tough. Besides, the breakfast made by Master Qin is expensive, and regular employees can’t afford to eat it every day. Rewarding themselves with three of Qin Huai’s breakfasts a week is considered a luxury for well-off individuals.
Many office workers used to choose to eat Qin Huai’s buns on either Monday or Friday; Monday being the first day of work for the week makes it hard to face the grim reality of life, while Friday is the typical meeting day, which is equally depressing.
Life is already tough enough; they needed a good meal to relax a bit.
For many who were prepared to wake up half an hour earlier on the days they craved a good meal and rush to Yunzhong Restaurant to grab Four Happiness glutinous rice, this change was like rain after a long drought.
Great! They don’t have to wake up early and can still eat well.
What? You say there’s more competition for seating during lunch and dinner?
What a joke, you think grabbing a seat for Four Happiness glutinous rice in the morning was any easier?
Go ask around the nearby office buildings, who hasn’t crouched at the door of Yunzhong Restaurant enjoying Four Happiness glutinous rice?
Do you even understand the worth of Four Happiness glutinous rice?
Not to mention, Yunzhong Restaurant also launched fresh fried radish cakes, available based on situation at noon and fully available from afternoon to evening.
In recent days, the children in the nearby community have developed a good habit of buying three delicious and inexpensive radish cakes at Yunzhong Restaurant as soon as they get home from school—one for the child, one for dad, and one for mom.
Family harmony starts with everyone getting a radish cake.
Because of this, An Youyou got a new nickname, Lady Radish Cake.
This nickname came from Grandma Ding’s granddaughter.
One ordinary Saturday afternoon, when Grandma Ding was bringing her granddaughter to Yunzhong Restaurant for some radish cakes, An Youyou came out of the kitchen to the storage room and was seen by Grandma’s granddaughter, who pointed at her and shouted Lady Radish Cake.
Since then, the nickname spread among the kids, and now the kids in the nearby community prefer the snack master Lady Radish Cake over Qin Huai (who’s been busy chopping radishes in the afternoons and hasn’t made snacks recently).
After all, what kid could resist a delicious, pan-fried radish cake for just 5 bucks?
Qin Huai was nearing the end of his radish chopping task.
Although Cao Guixiang enjoyed using tactical maneuvers, she was not a strict mentor in the traditional sense and did not encourage excessive blind practice for apprentices.
Knowing that Qin Huai has a primary job, and is already a mature and excellent pastry chef, Cao Guixiang preferred to incorporate knife skill practice into Qin Huai’s daily routine rather than having him spend too much time on knife skills to the detriment of his pastry duties.
The way Qin Huai sliced radishes hadn’t changed much.
The radish slices looked okay at first glance, but upon closer inspection, you’d find them unevenly thick, and dreaming of translucent slices was a far fetch.
If there existed a world where an apprentice, with no foundation, could slice radish into consistently thin, beautiful, and translucent slices in just half a month, other chefs would likely feel they’d been dealt an unjust hand by fate.
While there hasn’t been much progress with slicing radishes, Qin Huai has significantly improved in listening to gossip.
He can now listen to Cao Guixiang speak, answer her questions, focus on the radish, and still avoid mistakes while slicing.
On a good day, he can even handle unexpected situations.
"Master Qin, Grandma Ding just called Sister Xi. She wants to order 700 pieces of radish cake for a parent-child event at the kindergarten where she used to be the principal. Should we take this order?" An Youyou, who was already smelling like a large, walking radish cake due to her daily frying, came running over to ask Qin Huai.
"Take it," Qin Huai replied without hesitation, "What time is it needed?"
"It needs to be delivered by 2 PM."
"Then I’ll start chopping radishes earlier tomorrow, and you need to get a few people to help you fry the radish cakes; you can’t handle them all by yourself," Qin Huai said without looking up, continuing to slice radishes calmly.
An Youyou was stunned, feeling somewhat incredulous, flattered, and thrilled.
After a full ten seconds of pause, An Youyou excitedly asked, "Me?! I get to choose?"
Qin Huai stopped chopping radishes and looked up at her with some helplessness, "Of course, you’re currently in charge of frying radish cakes. You’re the project leader. If you don’t choose, who will?"
"I’m the leader!" An Youyou exclaimed with delight, "Thank you, Master Qin. I will complete the task diligently and won’t screw it up."
Qin Huai fully believed in An Youyou’s ability to complete the task. She was Lady Radish Cake, the most authoritative fryer of radish cakes at Yunzhong Restaurant.