CHAPTER 538: CHAPTER 291: ENTRAPMENT OPERATION 2

Maybe it’s because I got up too early in the morning and the work pressure is high, I’m talking nonsense.

Ouyang considerately picked up another steamed dumpling for Qin Huai and buried his head in eating the rice dumplings.

The rice dumplings are still delicious!

Much better than the ones I ate in Gusu!

Now that I have money, two bowls aren’t enough, I’ll eat another bowl later!

"By the way, Qin Huai, are you going to test dishes this afternoon? If so, let me know, I’ll turn off the takeout orders."

"You don’t know how many cups of drink... fruit tea I made this morning. The takeout orders kept going ding ding ding non-stop. The delivery guy even asked if it was a new store opening promotion because there were so many orders."

Qin Huai said, "This afternoon I’m not testing dishes until I come back from A City after finishing the outside catering."

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find you to test the dishes."

Qin Huai can foresee that making Double Crab Buns will definitely be a long overturning process, who else can he rely on but Ouyang?

There are those with bigger appetites than Ouyang, but none more tolerant than Ouyang.

.

In the afternoon, Qin Huai and Cao Guixiang were video calling while taking notes, online teaching.

Once really starting to practice knife skills, Qin Huai then realized that knife skills are indeed foundational.

A major feature of basic skills is that they must be practiced continuously. Before mastering them, even stopping for a day can cause a significant setback.

This is something that requires a substantial amount of sweat and time, with no shortcuts.

Qin Huai only skipped practicing knife skills for one day, and when he was cutting radishes in the afternoon, he felt much less adept, spending the first 20 minutes feeling everything was off.

While Qin Huai was cutting radish, An Youyou was still frying radish cakes. Chen An had already finished work, now An Youyou was eating radish cakes by the side, while instructing her on controlling the flipping time.

"Is it my illusion? Why do I feel the boss’s radish cuts aren’t as good as mine?" An Youyou murmured.

Chen An, silently eating radish cake: It’s not your illusion, they’re really not as good as yours.

But Chen An didn’t speak, just looked at the pot: "Flip it, and you used too much oil, use a bit less next time."

An Youyou quickly retracted her onlooking gaze and flipped the food.

On Qin Huai’s side, the phone stand was placed on the kitchen counter, made of wood by Zhang Chu’s own hands, very steady, and didn’t shake.

On the other side of the video, Cao Guixiang was sunbathing in the park, with a background of green shrubs, the flowers hadn’t bloomed yet, only the green looked rather monotonous.

"Xiao Qin, isn’t it that after stopping for a day, you feel like you’ve lost a lot of touch?" Cao Guixiang said with a smile, "Knife skills are like that, they need to be practiced every day, even if it’s just 30 minutes, you’ve practiced. A day off means ten steps back, you can’t slack."

Qin Huai helplessly said, "So Master Cao, you deliberately told me to have a good rest at home, no need to practice knife skills, to let me experience the cost of slacking off, right?"

Cao Guixiang covered her mouth, laughing embarrassingly: "I used this method early on to remind you to learn, it’s better than you learning from a big loss later due to laziness."

"What’s that saying? People teaching people, don’t teach, things teaching people, learn immediately."

Qin Huai: ...

Master Cao, you’ve changed, you weren’t like this before.

You’ve learned to dig a pit for me to fall into.

"Focus a bit, while I’m talking to you, don’t let your eyes stray onto the phone, don’t get distracted by my words. Your ears can listen, your mouth can answer, but your eyes, all your attention should be on the chopping board, on the knife, on the radish you’re cutting." Cao Guixiang raised her voice to remind.

"The kitchen is a very noisy environment. As the boss, as a chef, there will definitely be many things to distract you, people suddenly coming to find you. But no matter what, don’t let it affect what you’re currently doing."

"Why do many apprentices cut their hands while practicing knife skills? It’s because their concentration isn’t there, they’re distracted. Experienced chefs have muscle memory, they might not cut themselves even with their eyes closed, but apprentices don’t have that level."

"And with how sharp knives are, cutting your hand isn’t a small matter. Although my master used to say when I was learning cooking, get the lesson after cutting a few times, who would really want their apprentice to learn that bloody lesson?"

Listening to all this, Qin Huai involuntarily glanced up at the phone again.

"Distracted again." Cao Guixiang warned, "Use your ears to listen to me, but focus your attention on the knife."

"Master Cao, your method is simply entrapment." Qin Huai, used to Huang Shengli’s online classes, had never experienced one like this from Cao Guixiang.

Cao Guixiang’s offline teaching and online teaching are practically two different models.

"I am engaging in entrapment." Cao Guixiang glanced at the sky, felt the sun was a bit too strong, moved to a shadier place to continue sunbathing, "Caught you so easily, I didn’t expect the fish to take the bait so quickly."

Qin·Fish·Huai: ...

Qin Huai said nothing, just continued cutting the radish.

"Yes, that’s it. This is what I want, you’re listening to me, but only your ears are listening, your mind is not on cutting."

Qin Huai: ...

"Yes, even better, this is the state I’m looking for now."

"Maintain this for two more days, after a few days you’ll be able to chat with me while cutting radishes. Xiao Qin, you wouldn’t know, but once you left, Yunyun and Qingqing really missed you."

"They originally would only come to my place to eat on weekends, but when you’re here, they can come during the week. Yesterday Qingqing was asking her mom when you’d be back to practice cutting radishes."

"Mr. Li, who sells radishes, also asked Old Zhang yesterday why they weren’t buying radishes anymore, said if they were too expensive, he could lower the price by 8 cents. I knew Old Zhang got ripped off, but he wouldn’t admit it, how expensive is radish wholesale."

"Actually it was after Xiao Qin you left that I realized, not all of those radishes needed to be taken to the pig farm, we could keep some at home for pickling. My pickling skills aren’t bad either, back when I was a youth sent to the countryside, our production team had a female youth from Sichuan, and I learned pickling from her."

"But Yunyun doesn’t like spicy food, and neither Old Zhang nor I really love pickles. It’s been years since we’ve pickled anything, I don’t even know if my skills have gone rusty."

"Back in the production team days, Old Zhang and I lived off pickles, relying on them for our wild vegetable porridge every day."

"Ah, right Xiao Qin, when is your outside catering again?"

Qin Huai was trying hard to focus on the radishes, but when suddenly addressed by Cao Guixiang, he helplessly paused his cutting to look at the phone: "Master Cao, you’re too obvious."

"Progress!" Cao Guixiang squinted as if looking at Qin Huai’s cut radishes, "The phone is a bit far, can’t see clearly, bring it closer for me."

Qin Huai brought the phone closer.

"Nice, you weren’t affected by what I just said, the radishes look the same as before." Cao Guixiang approvingly nodded, "Keep cutting, just like before, I’ll speak my words, you keep cutting."

"If you wish to respond to my questions you can answer."

Qin Huai was starting to get used to this unique video teaching style of Cao Guixiang, while cutting vegetables, slowly organizing his words: "The birthday banquet on the 19th, I expect to arrive at A City by the 18th."

"President Han hasn’t been in touch with me, but the air tickets and accommodation have already been arranged in advance, and a 50% deposit has been paid."

"I haven’t handled outside catering before so I’m not sure of the specific process, still wondering if I should proactively contact them. After all, for the birthday banquet, it’s not just me as the pastry chef, but also two senior red-cooking chefs."

"Compared to those two senior red-cooking chefs, I feel like I’m just a sidekick. And there aren’t many snacks I need to make, I’m thinking perhaps there isn’t much that requires prior communication with me."

Qin Huai, getting distracted, produced a failed radish slice.

"Got distracted again."

"In a regular banquet, the pastry chef is indeed a sidekick, but since President Han has spent so much, your sincerity and attitude should be right, it’s best to contact them in advance."

"Nothing else to worry over, with the Four Happiness glutinous rice alone, I believe few pastry chefs nowadays can do better than you."