Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1263 606: The Road

Braised shark fin rice is certainly luxurious, but truly delicious.

Since Zhang Zhiyun's performance in last term's final exams wasn't ideal (failing to make it to the top three in the class), he painfully lost the qualification to have braised shark fin rice, and could only ladle two spoonfuls over his rice to eat with other dishes.

Though Chang Qingqing made it to the top three of her grade, she doesn't like eating this way. This kid loves soup-soaked rice, and she's already had two bowls of old duck soup-soaked rice.

Thanks to Shi Dadan's generosity, Qin Huai had three big bowls of braised shark fin rice. After finishing the meal, he felt stuffed to his throat, and whenever he opened his mouth, it was all the taste of braised shark fin; he basically turned himself into a giant bowl of braised shark fin rice.

After the meal, no matter how reluctant Shi Dadan was, he had to go home. Previously, he didn't go home when he wasn't in Guangdong Province, but now that he's back, if he still didn't go home, Shi Dadan wouldn't be daring but rather cowardly.

Of course, Shi Dadan was headed home with two bags of raw dough.

This raw dough wasn't for him to eat but to bring home for his wife and kid. Qin Huai planned to make chicken soup noodles tomorrow morning, and Shi Dadan would be having breakfast at Cao Guixiang's house. With Cao Guixiang personally cooking the chicken soup, Qin Huai wanted to see if his chicken soup noodles could reach Level S.

Cao Guixiang expressed understanding toward Qin Huai's extravagant inclination to use the carefully simmered chicken soup he spent hours making to cook noodles. Her grandson enjoys braised shark fin rice, so it's no big deal for her apprentice to use top-quality broth for noodles.

The family can afford it.

After finishing the meal and washing the dishes, everyone went back to their homes, leaving only Cao Guixiang, Zhang Chu, and Qin Huai in the house.

During the evening, it's usually time for Cao Guixiang and Zhang Chu to watch TV. They watch whatever's on, whether it's a good drama series, or if not, the news or variety shows; the goal isn't to watch something specific, but to have some noise in the house.

Cao Guixiang likes to knit while watching TV, and Zhang Chu likes to play on his phone while watching TV, and sometimes, he listens to the TV in the living room while doing woodworking in his room.

"Xiao Qin, how many of those cutting boards I made for you have you worn down already?" As an excellent carpenter, Zhang Chu was very concerned about the condition of the cutting boards he crafted with care.

"The first one... is almost worn out," Qin Huai said, a bit embarrassed.

He really hadn't practiced his knife skills much; normally, An Youyou does the chopping for fillings. Speaking of which, An Youyou ruined two cutting boards just by chopping meat fillings this year.

Zhang Chu felt a bit disappointed, but didn't say much, only expressing a bit of regret: "I got some good materials last month, perfectly suited for making cutting boards. If your previous ones are almost worn out, I can make new ones. If that's the case..."

"How about those molds I made before, how are they doing?" Zhang Chu asked again.

When it came to the molds, Qin Huai felt even more embarrassed: "I haven't used them much. It's mostly the other employees at the restaurant using them, and they work great. Our restaurant's animal red bean paste buns are especially popular with kids, and kindergartens in the area often place large orders for animal buns from us when they have events."

Qin Huai wasn't lying about the kindergarten orders, but these buns were usually handled by Chen An or An Youyou, with Qin Huai never being involved. In fact, he often didn't even know Yunzhong Restaurant had kindergarten catering orders until he saw it on the monthly reports.

Zhang Chu nodded in satisfaction. As an excellent carpenter, he didn't care who used his molds, he just wanted to know they worked well. Hearing that they were good and frequently used, he felt reassured.

"Move over a bit, you're sitting between me and Xiao Qin, blocking our chat," Cao Guixiang said somewhat disdainfully, giving Zhang Chu a gentle pat with her hand. "Go brew some tea, I want to talk to Xiao Qin about something serious."

Zhang Chu quickly got up to brew tea, and Qin Huai also looked at Cao Guixiang, who was knitting, sitting upright and attentive.

Cao Guixiang smiled at Qin Huai: "Don't be nervous, it's not an assessment, just a chat."

"You're making me more nervous saying that. You love setting traps for me to fall into," Qin Huai replied.

Cao Guixiang smiled without saying a word, glanced down at her knitting, and realized she'd made a mistake in the stitching. She hurriedly unraveled it to start over, asking casually: "You mentioned before that you've decided what type of pastry chef you want to become? Do you still feel the same way?"

"I do," Qin Huai replied firmly.

"Why are you so certain? Many people work their whole lives as chefs without ever figuring out what kind of chef they should be. Some aren't fit to be chefs but followed in their family's footsteps without much thought. Others have a natural talent for it but never had the opportunity to pursue it, only realizing in their thirties or forties. Some have incredible talent but no love for the profession, wasting their talent without knowing what else to do. Some lack talent but have immense passion, persisting throughout their lives without much success."

"Which one do you think you are, Xiao Qin?"

Qin Huai thought carefully for a moment.

"I think I'm the kind with extraordinary talent and passion, who happened to start in this industry from a young age and will keep at it, achieving great success," Qin Huai said.

Cao Guixiang couldn't help but laugh aloud: "You do dare to say it."

Zhang Chu brought over the brewed tea, along with a bowl of sugar tangerines and a plate of sunflower seeds, and sat down to start eating the tangerines.

"Don't eat too many tangerines; this morning I noticed your voice was a bit hoarse, and eating too many can make it worse," Cao Guixiang advised. "There's some rock sugar pear stew I made for you in the kitchen, it should be ready around nine. Have a bowl then, and Xiao Qin, you too, to soothe your lungs."