When Qin Huai returned to the kitchen, Zang Liang was crouching at the kitchen door waiting for Qin Huai.
Seeing Qin Huai return, Zang Liang pounced like a tiger hunting prey, his eyes showing three parts jealousy, three parts extreme jealousy, and four parts intense jealousy, to the point where even his tone turned sour: "Xu Cheng is looking for you."
"He’s waiting for you in the kitchen, chatting with my master and Master Tong right now."
"He said he wants to do another exclusive interview with you and write a special review on the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice."
By the end of it, Zang Liang couldn’t hide the ugly face of his jealousy, although he never hid it from start to finish.
Qin Huai was first taken aback when he heard that Xu Cheng actually wanted to write a special review for the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice, but then he understood.
The guo’er’s skill level is A-grade, but during the time Xu Cheng ate, it performed exceptionally to an A+ grade, coupled with a buff that gave Xu Cheng a huge surprise. Although the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice is A-grade today, it has a buff today.
And the buff of the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice is very stable, as long as it’s eaten at a birthday banquet, it will have a buff. Even Cheng Gong was awakened by this buff, and Xu Cheng being amazed and deciding to conduct a special interview immediately is quite reasonable.
But Qin Huai is not prepared to accept this interview.
Firstly, the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice eaten outside the birthday banquet does not have a buff.
If Xu Cheng exaggerates in the food review, and the diners are eager after reading it, going through great lengths across mountains and even flying over half the globe only to find the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice does not live up to its name, they will surely be very disappointed, affecting its reputation.
Secondly, Qin Huai really doesn’t want to be featured in "Taste" again.
To say something that would make Zang Liang want to punch Qin Huai, normal people work for money, but Qin Huai really works for passion.
Qin Huai truly is not short of money.
There’s a substantial inheritance with many zeros waiting for Qin Huai to inherit from Luo Jun, and Luo Jun’s car keys with the double R logo are still in Qin Huai’s hands. Even if Master Qin does not work, Qu Jing, Chen Huihong, and Luo Jun would not watch him starve.
And most of Yunzhong Restaurant’s snacks are incredibly profitable, Qin Huai is both the gold-plated signboard and the sole boss, so all the profits go into his pocket, and earning a bit more or less doesn’t make much difference to him.
It’s not worth tiring oneself out to earn slightly more.
During the last period at Huang Ji, making guo’er every day without being able to give all snacks equal treatment, Qin Huai truly had enough of those days.
The Four Happiness Glutinous Rice had already been exclusively favored for a long time and should not be spoiled too much. The most crucial point is that the share of the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice in the main storyline task has already met the criteria. Qin Huai needs to focus more energy on other snacks to advance the main storyline task.
To sum up these reasons in one sentence: Master Qin finds the workload too large after being featured in "Taste" and doesn’t want to work.
"Oh, an exclusive interview." Qin Huai nodded in a flash of realization, "I understand."
After saying that, under Zang Liang’s envious gaze, Qin Huai walked into the kitchen and headed straight for Zang Mu and Tong De Yan. Zang Liang hesitated at the door for two seconds but decided not to hesitate any longer and quickly caught up with Qin Huai.
Xu Cheng was happily chatting with Zang Mu and Tong De Yan.
"Today’s oil-fried double crispy is even better than when I previously had it at Babaozhai, Master Tong you’re not being fair, hiding a trick when I go there to eat. Are you all into hiding tricks now? To give us food critics a surprise at some point?" It was clear Xu Cheng was in a good mood, even making jokes.
Tong De Yan was also in a good mood and asked, "Who hid a trick?"
Xu Cheng: "...this oil-fried double crispy..."
Before he finished speaking, Qin Huai arrived.
Seeing Qin Huai finally return from the restroom, Xu Cheng was quite pleased. As one of the top and most influential food critics in the industry, Xu Cheng was always happy to see new rising stars in the culinary world, especially when this rising star was rising fast and shining brightly, and was also pleasant to talk to, making him hard not to like.
"Master Qin, I wonder if you have some time now, and if it’s convenient to find a place for me to conduct a simple interview with you," Xu Cheng said.
Qin Huai didn’t directly answer the question but instead asked, "Mr. Xu, would you like another bowl of Four Happiness Glutinous Rice?"
Taking advantage of the current birthday banquet buff, quickly enjoy it, for who knows when the next birthday banquet will be.
Xu Cheng didn’t expect Qin Huai’s first reaction to be this, and internally marveled that Qin Huai really is an extremely straightforward pastry chef. After hesitating between overeating and eating himself to death, he shook his head.
"Getting older, can’t eat as much as when I was younger."
This was a polite refusal.
"Then shall I wrap some fresh ones for you to take home?" Qin Huai suggested, "There’s some freshly made filling over there, would you like to take a look?"
During interviews with chefs, Xu Cheng loved to first explore the kitchen to observe the working environment, and he was also fond of watching the process of making the dishes.
Although he’s not a chef and doesn’t understand the making process well, after so many years as a food critic, Xu Cheng could always notice things others might miss with his unique perspective.
Usually, Xu Cheng wouldn’t make such a request with chefs he’s not familiar with because he knew that many chefs keep their recipe secrets. Even though he’s purely a food critic, chefs are reluctant to reveal their secrets.
Seeing Qin Huai’s invitation, Xu Cheng was naturally pleased to follow him to Qin Huai’s culinary workspace.
Zang Mu and Tong De Yan sensibly did not follow, and Zang Liang also wisely stayed behind, for which Zang Mu looked at his apprentice with a bit more comfort in his eyes.
Though his apprentice seemed a bit off track by Qin Huai the past couple of days, the fundamental etiquette and manners were still present.