As Qiu Zhenhua coldly shouted, the chefs who were busy nearby immediately stopped their work and quietly watched the two uninvited guests at the kitchen door.
It gave Lin Xu quite a scare.
Are they about to start a fight?
Should I help them by holding down Senior Brother later? It might make the fight go smoother.
"Zhenhua, I haven’t seen you in a few days. Why are you so fired up?"
Xie Baomin walked over with a smile, not caring about the stares from the chefs. Instead, he even bumped shoulders with the scholarly-looking Qiu Zhenhua, who wore gold-rimmed glasses.
"How’s your consideration of the matter I discussed with you coming along?"
"Quit joking around with me. Don’t even think about it! Building Number Six might not match you in cooking competitions, but don’t you dare look down on us!"
Qiu Zhenhua impatiently pushed Xie Baomin away and waved his hand at the surrounding chefs. "Get back to your work."
The chefs then resumed their tasks.
Lin Xu looked around. Although the chefs preparing ingredients had all sorts of items ready, the staff working on pastry were noticeably more numerous.
Mixing dough, kneading dough, chopping fillings, and so on—everyone was incredibly busy.
As expected from chefs specializing in Suzhou-style cuisine; the variety of pastry is endless.
But what is Senior Brother really here for?
Just to see the look on Head Chef Qiu’s face?
"Zhenhua, let me introduce you. This is my junior brother, Lin Xu. He recently started working at Building Number Two." Read full story at NoveI[F]ire.net
Qiu Zhenhua glanced at Lin Xu and then said, "I know. During the competition, your master pretended to sell his personal information and tricked my eldest uncle out of one thousand yuan."
Lin Xu and Xie Baomin were momentarily stunned.
The two martial brothers exchanged glances.
There wasn’t much surprise on their faces.
Because that was indeed their master’s style.
Xie Baomin had originally intended to use his junior brother as a bargaining chip. However, since their master had already used Lin Xu to swindle Old Man Qiu out of a thousand yuan, it was best not to bring his junior brother up for now, lest it stir up unpleasant memories for Qiu Zhenhua.
He whispered, "Zhenhua, my proposal is excellent. Let’s have a talent exchange. You send a few Pastry Chefs to Building Number Two, and we’ll send a few chefs specializing in stir-fry to Building Number Six. If we team up , won’t we crush the competition?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Qiu Zhenhua coldly said, "Xie Baomin, don’t think that just because you beat me a few times in past cooking competitions, you can look down on Building Number Six’s chefs. When it comes to stir-fry, we are not weaker than any other building!"
"Alright, alright, you’re not weak. It’s just that we’re stronger, then, isn’t it?"
Lin Xu found it rather surprising that his Senior Brother hadn’t been beaten up at the Fishing Platform with that way of speaking.
During the previous competition, he thought Guo Weidong from Building Number Ten was very ostentatious and high-profile. He hadn’t expected his own Senior Brother to be no pushover either. His skill at provoking enmity definitely ranked in the top three at the Fishing Platform.
However, after listening for a while, Lin Xu somewhat understood the conflict between the two.
His Senior Brother, Xie Baomin, felt that although Building Number Two was unbeatable when it came to stir-fry, it was a bit weak in the pastry department. Conversely, Building Number Six was strong in pastry, but its stir-fry was lacking. Therefore, he wanted the two buildings to exchange a few chefs to compensate for each other’s weaknesses.
This way, guests at Building Number Two could enjoy delicious Crab Buns, and guests at Building Number Six could savor a richer variety of delicious dishes.
This should have been a good thing.
But Qiu Zhenhua felt that Xie Baomin was looking down on Building Number Six’s stir-fry skills.
So, the matter had always been deadlocked.
Of course, this was also partly his Senior Brother’s fault. During the middle-aged group competitions back then, he had knocked Qiu Zhenhua out in the semi-finals several times in a row.
It would be strange if Qiu Zhenhua showed him a pleasant face after that.
Seeing Qiu Zhenhua’s stiff attitude, Xie Baomin couldn’t help but sigh. "Then how about this: let’s just have an exchange between our two buildings."
"We have nothing worthwhile to exchange. Your pastry department’s Pastry Chefs can’t even compare to the old ladies from the alleys. What benefit would an exchange bring us?"
At the mention of Building Number Six’s strong suit, Qiu Zhenhua finally puffed up with some pride.
However, he didn’t realize he had fallen right into Xie Yinbi’s trap.
"Ha? So you look down on Building Number Two’s pastry, do you? Well, well, Qiuqiu, how about we have a little competition then?"
Qiu Zhenhua smiled faintly. "With your level of pastry skill, is there even a need to compete? Make a soup dumpling with thirty-two pleats first, then we’ll talk."
Now Lin Xu finally understood why his Senior Brother had brought him here.
They were here to show off and put Qiu Zhenhua in his place.
Xie Baomin pointed to a nearby rolled-out bun wrapper and said to Lin Xu, "Junior Brother, make him a soup dumpling so he can see. What’s so mysterious about pastry? If I hadn’t thought steaming buns was unpromising back then and skipped learning pastry, what significance would Building Number Six even hold today?"
A smile played on his face.
After such a long buildup, it was finally time to close the net.
Qiu Zhenhua looked at Lin Xu in astonishment.
He knew Lin Xu was an excellent cook; otherwise, he wouldn’t have won the cooking competition.
But savory cooking and pastry have always been two separate paths of culinary development.
There was no reason that being good at savory cooking meant one would also excel at pastry.
However, since Xie Baomin had said so, this Chef Lin must indeed have some skill.
He pointed to the rolled wrappers nearby and said, "Please enlighten us, Chef Lin."
Lin Xu smiled and said, "I am here to learn from Head Chef Qiu."
He first went to wash his hands, then approached the work surface. He picked up a rolled wrapper, cradling it in his hand, and then used a flat-headed spatula to scoop some crab filling into it.
Once the filling was in, he pinched the edges of the wrapper, skillfully and swiftly pleating it.
Each pleat he made was perfectly uniform, as if measured with a ruler.