Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 1187 - 568: Exchange (2)

Once they woke up and joined the [Loving Family] group chat, everyone became family. At that time, Qin Huai would ask Uncle Wang for help with accounting.

Qin Huai even considered directly hiring Uncle Wang as Huang Ji’s accountant. If Uncle Wang disagreed, Qin Huai could send Huang An Yao to kneel and beg him.

The greatest trait of the Young Master is his flexibility, especially in compromising.

Qin Huai cautiously observed the status of Zheng Da for 20 seconds, confirming that he seemed just hyper-energetic for no particular reason, but it was positive. Culinary skills can get rusty if not practiced, and Zheng Da’s occasional enthusiasm helps him maintain his pastry level.

"Master Zheng, you worked so hard to prepare all these ingredients," Qin Huai approached.

Zheng Da noticed Qin Huai had arrived and pointed to a row of almost-ready-to-steam buns on the left side of the culinary table. "Xiao Qin, what do you think of my locust flower buns?"

Only then did Qin Huai notice the row of locust flower buns on the left side of the culinary table. After scrutinizing them for a while, he felt they weren’t quite right.

It wasn’t Zheng Da’s fault; he really didn’t know how to make locust flower buns. When Zheng Da went to Yunzhong Restaurant to study locust flower buns with Qin Huai, Qin Huai couldn’t even comprehend the video tutorial. Zheng Da was essentially working with only the first half of the tutorial, relying on his own approach and understanding of locust flower buns.

Getting it to this level was impressive already.

Now Qin Huai had the complete guidebook.

He could even see the shortcomings in Zheng Da’s basic pastry-making skills.

"Master Zheng, locust flower buns aren’t like this," Qin Huai said. "It might be because the locust flower honey you used isn’t the best. Yet, I found out that locust flower honey is more of an enhancement. You can still make standard locust flower buns even with less-than-ideal honey."

"And your kneading technique has some issues."

Zheng Da: ?

"Take a look..."

"..."

"..."

So, right there beside the culinary table, Qin Huai started discussing with Zheng Da. They exchanged words, demonstrated actions, and began by kneading a batch of dough.

While the dough was fermenting, Qin Huai and Zheng Da made another batch of pastries. They weren’t even making the same kind of snacks; each did what they wanted.

They observed each other’s methods. Sometimes the conversation wasn’t even about snacks and drifted off-topic.

One second, Zheng Da was asserting there was nothing wrong with his kneading technique and that Qin Huai didn’t understand his approach. The next second, he complained about how Zheng Siyuan’s arranged marriage again failed. He wondered when his unlucky son would finally settle down and start a family.

Qin Huai comforted Zheng Da, saying it would happen. Zheng Siyuan was only too absorbed in making snacks; he had no psychological issues or emotional void, just missing a bit of fate.

Zheng Da ignored Qin Huai’s comfort and continued talking about his little kneading tricks, insisting Qin Huai just didn’t get it.

Qin Huai said it wasn’t a trick but a lack of solid basic skills, causing him to use stopgap measures due to uncorrected poor habits. It wasn’t a real technique, more like patching a leak. If corrected, there’d be no need for these workarounds.

Zheng Da retorted, "What do you know?"

Qin Huai insisted that Master Zheng shouldn’t argue, as it clearly showed his basic skill level wasn’t high enough; higher-level foundations would never face these issues.

Zheng Da changed the topic, stating that someone named Zhou wasn’t that great either. His foundations weren’t particularly solid; anyone could find faults if nit-picking. Anyway, Zhou wasn’t skilled in all areas, just happened to excel in pastries that were hard to criticize.

Qin Huai asked if Zheng Da admitted that it was due to inadequate foundational training.

Zheng Da asked Qin Huai how he could improve.

Qin Huai advised relentless practice; he needed to grind his skill level up.

Zheng Da replied he wasn’t a full-time chef.

Huang An Yao, eavesdropping at the door, was stunned. He initially intended to just hang around the doorway to grab some snacks when they finished. Instead, he was too afraid to ask if the snacks were edible.

He felt Qin Huai and Zheng Da had entered a peculiar relationship, different from before—where Zheng Da taught and Qin Huai purely learned.

Now, neither of them were teaching; they were both learning, like experts in a friendly competition. As if in a duel, neither yielded to the other. After a flurry of exchanges, they both acknowledged each other, stubbornly asking if they could improve and refusing to adopt the other’s approach.

Hey, brothers-in-arms.

Huang An Yao immediately retracted his disrespectful thought, silently praying forgiveness, apologizing in his heart to Junior Master Zheng.

"Dad, don’t you think Qin Huai and Uncle Zheng are acting strangely today?" Huang An Yao whispered to Huang Shengli.

Huang Shengli had also been standing at the door watching for quite a while, tea in hand.

"Strange?" Huang Shengli queried Huang An Yao. "I’ve had the same relationship with Junior Master Zheng for years."

"When we ate fermented rice with steamed buns yesterday, I felt Xiao Qin progressed rapidly, very different from before. Now, it seems... truly remarkable," Huang Shengli sighed. "I almost feel sorry for Junior Master Zheng. If he had acted swiftly and taken him on as a disciple, he could dominate now."

Huang An Yao: ?

Seeing his dense son still confused, Huang Shengli explained further: "Before, it was Zheng Da teaching, Qin Huai learning."