After the lunchtime hours ended, Qin Huai finalized the time for the afternoon video call with Zheng Da via WeChat. First, they would make the Buckwheat Bun that Chen Huixi wanted, and start making the locust flower buns at 2:30.
To ensure the video interaction went smoothly, Qin Huai assigned Qin Luo, the best in the family at videography, photo-editing, and capturing close-up details, to be the camerawoman.
"Master Zheng, can you check if this angle is good?" Qin Huai waved at the phone camera, "Is it clear, can you see everything on the table?"
"Yes, but the camera can be a bit closer," Zheng Da replied.
Qin Luo took two steps forward.
"Good, good, this distance is perfect," Zheng Da’s voice came through the phone again.
Holding up the phone, Qin Luo looked at Qin Huai for help, "Bro, this locust flower bun dough is rising so slowly, am I going to have to hold this phone up for two or three hours?"
"Hang in there, I believe you can do it. Tomorrow our restaurant will temporarily take the handcrafted lemon tea off the menu for a day, and I’ll make you Four Happiness Dumplings," Qin Huai encouraged.
Qin Luo felt energized immediately, saying that a mere two or three hours was nothing. She hadn’t been spending less time manually making lemon tea these past few days.
Why had Qin Luo been working so hard at hand-squeezing lemons these days? It was precisely to train her hand muscles and increase hand strength, to better hold up the phone today!
Qin Luo held up the phone with a determined look.
"This is freshly produced locust flower honey from this year." Qin Huai displayed a jar of honey to the camera, scooping out a few spoonfuls to dissolve in warm water, "When using honey for yeast, the quantity must be small. After trying this for some time, I judge that this is about the right amount."
On the other end of the phone, Zheng Da involuntarily nodded.
"This flour is unfiltered gray flour my grandfather arranged to be milled in the countryside, mixed with a small amount of buckwheat flour."
Qin Luo gave a close-up of the gray and buckwheat flour.
"Now I’m going to start kneading the dough."
Qin Luo quickly shifted the camera to Qin Huai’s hands, occasionally adjusting the angle to ensure Zheng Da could see the hand movements from all angles.
This unique video consultation thus began.
Most of the time, it was Qin Huai talking, asking questions while demonstrating, like—
"The biggest problem I’m facing now is that while honey fermentation can succeed, the results are not very satisfactory. I think the issue lies not only in the fermentation process but also in many other aspects. For instance, using cold water to mix the dough, but I’m unsure how to control the temperature of the cold water. Should I use room temperature cold water, or add ice to lower the temperature? Do you have experience in this area, Master Zheng?"
Zheng Da answered: "The water temperature generally depends on the room temperature of the day, cold water for hot weather, warm water for cool weather. There’s no fixed range, it’s mostly about your own feeling."
"During my dough kneading process, is there any obvious issue?"
Zheng Da replied: "Your technique is excellent, fast and efficient, and the dough is smooth and elastic, with a perfect three-light finish. However, this is gray flour mixed with buckwheat flour dough. I feel you’re kneading it a bit too moderately; maybe softer would be better, using finesse rather than brute force."
Qin Huai replied: "I’ve tried softer, but the yeast effect wasn’t good."
Zheng Da: "Is that so? What about harder?"
"It indeed needs further study; theoretically, softer should be better."
The phone-holding Qin Luo felt these two talked a bit too much nonsense.
They kept going in circles.
Zheng Da asked if this would work, Qin Huai said no.
Zheng Da asked if that would work, Qin Huai said no as well.
Then Zheng Da sighed, saying: oh, so neither works, I don’t know what would work either, let me think it over. Qin Huai said: okay, thank you for your trouble, I’m also thinking about this problem.
Three hours later, without a single solution, they certainly talked enough. Qin Huai even learned about where Yunzhong Restaurant was, its signature dishes, the most popular snacks, and that Qin Huai’s sister, Qin Luo, was the one holding the phone for filming.
Qin Huai also got to know Zheng Da’s family situation very well. Zheng Da had a son and a daughter, his son Zheng Siyuan inherited his skills and opened a pastry shop, and he had a senior fellow apprentice surnamed Huang who opened a restaurant in Gusu.
While waiting for the locust flower buns to steam, the two chatted happily. Zheng Da even slapped his thigh and immediately said Qin Luo deserved some snacks for holding up the phone so long, and that Uncle Zheng would have the factory dispatch dozens of boxes of various snacks to Qin Luo as snacks.
Looking forward to dozens of boxes of snacks, Qin Luo conscientiously held up the phone to ensure the conversation proceeded smoothly.
"Xiao Qin, your basic pastry skills are quite good. Childhood training, right? How old were you when you started?" After a few hours, Zheng Da and Qin Huai’s way of speaking became much more friendly.
Qin Huai thought for a moment: "Second grade in primary school... around 6 years old, I started school early."
Zheng Da nodded with satisfaction: "Not too late, it seems your family places quite a lot of importance on it. My son is a few years older than you, he started practicing at over 5 years old, but your skills are better than his, both in kneading action and time control."
"I’ll refer my son’s WeChat to you later, so you two can communicate more on WeChat."
Getting another contact in the trade, Qin Huai naturally agreed, nodding: "Thank you, Master Zheng, your son is..."
"Just like you, he also opened a small shop as a pastry chef. Coincidentally, Siyuan’s shop is also at the entrance of a community."