If Xu Tuqiang’s unchanging love for sticky rice cake made Qin Huai realize that he had become a bit obsessed with completing side quests and main quests during this period, forgetting his true role as a snack master and being controlled by game tasks, then the new batch of helpers at Zhiwei Restaurant provided Qin Huai a solid material foundation to return to his primary role as a snack master.
When Qin Huai was talking with Boss Su, Qin Huai didn’t actively say how many people he wanted; he only subtly hinted that the kitchen in Yunzhong Restaurant was very large and wouldn’t be afraid of having too many people.
Boss Su wasn’t like the incompetent Young Master Huang An Yao; he immediately understood Qin Huai’s hint and sent as many as nine people over.
Leading the team were Tan Wei’an and Su Qian, the named disciple of Zhiwei Restaurant’s top master, Master Zhou, with Guli forcibly added by Tan Wei’an due to being specifically mentioned by Qin Huai. These three were considered from the main lineage, while the remaining six were elite apprentices without masters, very ambitious and somewhat talented, hoping to be valued and taken in as disciples by the master chef.
The ordinary apprentices who went to Huang Ji for exchanges last time weren’t selected, showing that the job at Huang Ji wasn’t considered a good opportunity by people at Zhiwei Restaurant at the time; even the elites didn’t sign up.
Due to Su Qian having a surname and being the named disciple of Master Zhou, Tan Wei’an gave a very brief introduction of this deputy team leader after arriving at Yunzhong Restaurant.
Simply put, a somewhat talented person with connections.
From the surname, it’s easy to guess that Su Qian is a relative of Boss Su, the son of Boss Su’s second cousin, making their relationship quite close, closer than Pei Xing, who is a half-related person.
As a relative of Boss Su, Su Qian is almost certainly meant to be Master Zhou’s future direct disciple. The reason he is still a named disciple now is that Master Zhou’s requirements for accepting disciples are very high, not only requiring talent but also character.
As the nation’s recognized number one in pastry, Zhiwei Restaurant’s highest-ranked pastry chef, Master Zhou is considered fond of accepting disciples. He personally has five direct disciples and countless named disciples, becoming a named disciple is a threshold, representing that Master Zhou has affirmed your talent and current capability, granting you the qualification to enter the learning stage.
Whether you can further study to become a direct disciple depends on subsequent efforts and the ability to achieve under Master Zhou’s guidance.
Su Qian is currently the most promising among Master Zhou’s numerous named disciples to become the sixth direct disciple, and is also one of the top competitive people at Zhiwei Restaurant.
Master Zhou is a very traditional and old-fashioned pastry master, who, apart from talent, values diligence the most in accepting disciples. This is due to his own past experiences; to this day, Master Zhou firmly believes that hard work can compensate for shortcomings.
Perhaps in other industries, talent can play a decisive role, but Master Zhou believes that in the chef industry, at least as a pastry chef, effort, sweat, and harvest are directly proportional. Talent is the conversion rate of effort into sweat, but without prerequisites, no matter how high the conversion rate is, it’s useless.
He has praised Guli’s diligence many times at Zhiwei Restaurant, while also regretting Guli’s talent.
Previously at Huang Ji, Tan Wei’an mentioned to Qin Huai that his grandfather, Master Tan, had the closest relationship with Master Zhou during his lifetime. After Master Tan passed away, Master Zhou took care of him and Guli, which is why Tan Wei’an has Master Zhou’s mixed fruit filling recipe.
It’s usually Master Zhou who gives Guli guidance the most, but Master Zhou himself has many direct disciples, and numerous named disciples eager to learn and compete for positions, so he doesn’t have much time to guide Guli.
Under such a pretext, once Tan Wei’an introduced Su Qian, Qin Huai immediately knew he had to be the super competitive person in this group, second only to Guli.
Moreover, from the way they spoke and the way people acted, Qin Huai could tell that although Su Qian was the deputy leader, he clearly had more prestige and more authority than Tan Wei’an; likely his pastry skills were also higher than Tan Wei’an’s.
In the chef profession, cooking is the original sin.
"Master Qin, here’s the list of our nine members this time. Boss Su has arranged accommodation for us. Since there are no rental houses available in Yunzhong District, we are staying in the nearby district, which is about an eight-minute journey."
"Before we arrived, Tan Wei’an already told us that your Yunzhong Restaurant is different from ordinary taverns, with all three meals offered and breakfast being the focus."
"Here is the schedule I drafted; please take a look. At Zhiwei Restaurant, snacks generally aren’t sold until after 10:00 AM, and certain snacks are not sold until after 12:00 PM noon, so I’m not very familiar with breakfast preparation times." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⦿fire.net
"The draft schedule currently sets arrival at 3:40 AM; does this time work for you?"
Su Qian spoke up, fully displaying his competitive spirit.
Qin Huai briefly glanced at the schedule and found that Su Qian had morning shifts three times a week, while Guli had four, making it clear that these two were the leaders of the morning shifts and Tan Wei’an did not have any.
Qin Huai glanced at Tan Wei’an, internally lamenting that no wonder you, as the leader, didn’t win the crowd’s favor; it turns out your skills can’t surpass, nor can your competitiveness.
Only one morning shift less than Guli; a competitive person indeed.
"It’s not necessary to be so early." After roughly scanning the schedule, Qin Huai directly said, "You are all snack masters, no need to handle breakfast. Even our restaurant’s breakfast masters arrive at 4:00 AM for work, and those needing to prepare ingredients may arrive a bit earlier."