Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 848 - 422: Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake

"Huh? I’m not cooking, I’m watching Zhao Cheng’an cook?" Qin Huai said with slight surprise.

"That’s right, you should watch Lao San first. Although he is quite rigid when he makes snacks and lacks his own style, he can barely be used as a textbook."

"I thought carefully yesterday. If I’m going to teach, I can’t just teach what I want to teach. Xiao Qin, you came to Zhiwei Restaurant this time mainly to practice Finger Skill and Cloud Pattern, so it’s important to follow your preferences."

"We’ll start by learning Cloud Pattern for a while, which will also help solidify your Finger Skill level. You have the skills, but your awareness is not quite there. This Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake is the simplest Cloud Pattern snack. Practicing this will not only improve your Cloud Pattern but also your pastry skills. When you follow me for pastry-making snacks, it will be easier for you to pick up."

Qin Huai: ?

His thought of learning Cloud Pattern and Finger Skill at Zhiwei Restaurant now included practicing pastry-making as well. At this pace, when would he be able to finish learning and return to Yunzhong Restaurant? It’s possible Luo Jun wouldn’t even wait for him to return.

Of course, this scary thought only stayed in Qin Huai’s mind for two seconds before he quickly dismissed it, replaced by a resolute Master Qin.

"Okay, Master Zhou, I’ll make sure to watch Zhao Cheng’an make snacks and learn as much as I can from him."

Master Zhou compassionately smiled, turned around, quickly switching to a stern expression as he headed toward the cold storage area.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Su Qian is in for it today. Unluckily for him, there is no comparison without hurt. His state was simply off today — everyone has off days — a couple of days to adjust and it’s no big deal."

"But you made such beautiful egg tarts yesterday that he’s probably going to have nightmares about making egg tarts these days."

As soon as Master Zhou left, Zhao Cheng’an scooted up to Qin Huai to share the latest gossip. Qin Huai glanced at Zhao Cheng’an, noticing his hands were empty and clean.

Seeing Qin Huai inspecting his hands, Zhao Cheng’an explained directly, "Today when I arrived, Master instructed me to let you practice the Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake with me. It’s so simple, I haven’t made it since I was seventeen. Master was afraid I’d mess it up, so he demonstrated it once in front of me while I was assisting without even kneading the dough."

"So where do we practice now?" Qin Huai asked.

"Let’s go next door to Guli’s; there’s a free culinary station there, and the temperature is relatively low. Master specially instructed me to go there."

"Why?" Qin Huai asked knowingly.

"To let Guli take a look too. His snack-making style is quite like mine, very textbook, but his talent is so poor he can’t even copy by rote. He’s been practicing Cloud Pattern for years and hasn’t improved much. He’s rich in theory but fails in practice. Master likes Guli a lot and asked me to quietly give him some pointers without drawing too much attention."

"By the way, Qin Huai, what are you planning to eat for breakfast? The bone broth is really good. If you ask Master Hua to make you some fine noodles cooked in bone broth, with a poached egg, a few pieces of green vegetables, and a handful of bean sprouts, that taste..."

Qin Huai immediately agreed, "I also think having some bone noodles for breakfast is perfect. Brother Cheng’an, you head to Guli’s side first, and I’ll go ask if Master Hua is free."

Zhao Cheng’an left, satisfied and content.

Of course, Master Hua was available, even if he wasn’t, he’d make himself available. Upon hearing that Qin Huai was recommended by Master Zhou, Master Hua even flashed a look that seemed to say: "Even if you’re the top pastry chef, when it comes to noodle-pulling, you’re no match for me."

While pulling noodles, Master Hua paid close attention to the well-known in Zhiwei Restaurant progress of Qin Huai’s exchange, using euphemistic but actually very straightforward words to express his disagreement and dissatisfaction with Master Zhou’s teaching methods, asserting that he is a practical man and would never let a trainer just stand and watch without hands-on practice.

As long as Qin Huai was willing, he would go to the cold storage and argue with Master Zhou right then, so that Qin Huai could start pulling noodles hands-on that very day.

When Qin Huai left with three bowls of bone noodles, he thought that if nothing else, Master Hua would indeed argue with Master Zhou before the lunch break.

The two of them had already argued several times, and according to the insider Zhao Cheng’an, Master Hua even tried to arrange a real knife fight with Master Zhou by the lakeside, which was refused by Master Zhou.

As for why Qin Huai left with three bowls of bone noodles...

Master Hua, while cursing and dissing Master Zhou, didn’t control the portion size and pulled noodles for ten servings at once. Qin Huai, considering that Tan Wei’an’s culinary station was next to Guli’s, thought Tan Wei’an might also want a bowl, so he left with three bowls.

When Qin Huai arrived at the culinary station, Tan Wei’an was already chatting with Zhao Cheng’an.

Zhao Cheng’an was kneading dough, and Tan Wei’an was slacking off, with their conversation devoid of any academic exchange, filled only with a thirst for gossip.

When the noodles arrived, the gossip halted, and they started eating the noodles.

Regrettably, the noodles couldn’t stop Tan Wei’an’s mouth. As he ate, he remarked, "Master Zhou’s teaching style is really consistent. I remember when Zhao Cheng’an first started learning from him, it was the same: not allowed to practice, only to watch. I was so envious back then."

"Oh? Why so?" Qin Huai asked.

"I always thought I would be taught the same way. My grandpa taught me hands-on, but I wasn’t happy. I wished my grandpa would teach like Master Zhou did for Zhao Cheng’an, just letting me watch without practice. But while watching, Zhao Cheng’an picked it up, and I forgot everything, wasting two months and wearing myself out later trying to catch up."

Zhao Cheng’an, rather speechlessly holding his bowl, cast a look down at Tan Wei’an due to his half head taller height: "How could that be the same? As Master said, every apprentice needs a different teaching method. Since I could learn by watching, I didn’t need to practice; while you, on the other hand, needed someone to beat you on the backside as you ran."

Tan Wei’an: (༎ຶ-༎ຶ)

"But Brother Cheng’an, this Lucky Cloud Pattern Cake involves both Cloud Pattern and pastry-making. Is just watching really okay?" Qin Huai asked with some concern.

"You’re not supposed to only watch and not practice forever. Just watch for now. You know my technique in snack-making, it’s textbook-level, so watching is the way to go."

"Boss Su even wanted to use my recordings of making snacks as a template for exchange meetings. But Master, thinking I hadn’t perfected yet and fearing losing face, didn’t agree. Isn’t that right, Guli? You should know about this."

Always acting as the background figure making snacks, Guli nodded without lifting his head, continuing to focus on his task without casting an extra glance at Zhao Cheng’an, seemingly oblivious to Master Zhou’s earnest intention of placing Zhao Cheng’an there to demonstrate snack-making.

Inwardly, Qin Huai sighed silently, thinking how rare it is for a person to be so stubborn like Guli.

After finishing the bone noodles, Zhao Cheng’an began his lesson. Because it was a teaching session, Zhao deliberately slowed down, performing each step with robotic precision and with slower speed.

Qin Huai simply stood by and watched.

The two maintained this quiet rhythm, with one doing and the other watching, for over 40 minutes until Zhao Cheng’an momentarily couldn’t hold back any longer. Previously, while making snacks, Zhou Yan would usually initiate a topic, whether about her husband or children, starting with some small talk. Wang Jiayi would then chime in while Zhao scattered input, and the conversation would drift to other things.

Among Master Zhou’s three apprentices, Zhao Cheng’an appeared the most gossipy, but Zhou Yan was always the first to start a topic.

With Zhou Yan absent, and no one initiating small talk, Zhao felt uncomfortable making snacks.

"Qin Huai, why don’t you just talk about something random? It’s just too quiet. If it weren’t for fearing Tan Wei’an would use the chat as an opportunity to slack off and be lazy, I’d have called him over for a chat by now."

Qin Huai had been waiting for this moment.

As long as Zhao Cheng’an spoke first, it was reasonable for Qin Huai to bring up any outlandish topic.

"Brother Cheng’an, do you have dreams?"

"Have you ever dreamed of things that felt so real they seemed from a past life, or felt moments where you weren’t yourself, having another life or flashback memories?"

Zhao Cheng’an: ?

Do Qin Huai’s topics usually carry such philosophical depth in everyday chat? Is he about to quote Freud, saying humans have Id, Ego, and Superego?

After a moment of surprise, the urgency to speak about gossip led Zhao Cheng’an to seriously ponder over this slightly bizarre topic and confidently nod.

"I think I have. Sometimes, I dream of traveling the world, cooking along the way."

"But considering I actually want to travel the world, maybe it’s because I really want a vacation. Sigh, I even mentioned to Master if I could go on two vacations a year, and he nearly roared at me."