AGN -Chapter 201 Reinforcements

The reinforcements from Zhiwei Ju had arrived!

Zheng Da’s phone call energized everyone in the Huang Ji kitchen.

Everyone basically knew that Zheng Da had gone to Zhiwei Ju to borrow some master chefs, but since he hadn’t said anything for several days and no one had shown up, neither Qin Huai nor Zheng Siyuan asked about it, and the rest didn’t dare to either.

Huang Ji and Zhiwei Ju weren’t really familiar with each other.

Huang Ji was a proper traditional hot-kitchen restaurant. Before Qin Huai arrived, it had almost no connection with the pastry (white case) side at all. Normally, the menu didn’t even include desserts—let alone sliced steamed buns.

Usually, Huang Anyao would attend exchange events. After attending, the only thing he could tell everyone was that the pastries at Zhiwei Ju’s hosted exchange events were good. He couldn’t provide any useful information at all—he was basically just a placeholder.

Up until now, Huang Anyao didn’t even have Zhiwei Ju’s boss on WeChat; he was only in the same group chat as him.

Because of this, after several days without any news about the reinforcements, everyone assumed the matter had fallen through and no one mentioned it again.

Unexpectedly, not only had it not fallen through—Zheng Da had actually negotiated something big and brought back six people directly!

Six legitimate professionals!

Given how competitive Zhiwei Ju was, the people at Huang Ji couldn’t even imagine how much easier things would become with these six arriving.

Over the past few days, Wang Jun had almost begun to suspect that he himself was actually a pastry chef.

Zheng Da called Huang Anyao to go pick them up together. As soon as the two left, the Huang Ji kitchen became lively again.

Dong Shi, relying on the fact that he was a closed-door disciple, young, sweet-talking, and fearless, ran straight up to Huang Shengli and asked: “Master, which six people did Uncle Zheng borrow from Zhiwei Ju?”

“How would I know? Have you finished your noodles? If you have, go back to work. There are more customers these couple of days—prepare more ingredients in the morning. Didn’t you see your senior brother is brewing an extra batch of broth today?”

Huang Shengli didn’t answer, smiling as he dismissed Dong Shi, then saw the second person coming straight toward him to ask—Qin Huai.

In a sense, the reason Qin Huai and Dong Shi got along so well wasn’t without reason.

“Chef Huang, do Chef Zheng and the masters from Zhiwei Ju have a good relationship?” Qin Huai asked curiously.

“Average,” Huang Shengli replied honestly.

The surrounding Huang Ji staff—who appeared to be eating wontons, noodles, or prepping ingredients—quietly perked up their ears, ready to listen to gossip.

“Your Chef Zheng’s skills are quite good, but in previous years his focus wasn’t on pastries. He was busy expanding his business and making money. That’s understandable, but many of the older masters at Zhiwei Ju are quite traditional and don’t approve of his approach.”

“Among Zhiwei Ju’s masters, the one who had a relatively good relationship with him was probably Master Tan Wenyan. He’s more accommodating and didn’t think Zheng Da’s actions were unconventional.”

“At least he’s still in the pastry business, and the products he sells taste good. He hasn’t wasted his craft.”

“Master Tan Wenyan?” Qin Huai searched his memory and was certain he had never seen that name in the Famous Chefs List.

A couple of days earlier, after finishing work, Qin Huai had carefully studied the Famous Chefs List at home. Even if he couldn’t remember every chef in Chinese cuisine, he at least had a good impression of those ranked within the top 70.

A master chef from Zhiwei Ju couldn’t possibly be ranked beyond 70.

“Master Tan was quite old and not in good health. He passed away from illness a couple of years ago,” Huang Shengli said softly.

Qin Huai immediately understood and didn’t ask further.

But Huang Shengli knew what Qin Huai wanted to ask, and continued: “Although your Chef Zheng’s relationship with Zhiwei Ju’s masters is average, he has a very good relationship with Zhiwei Ju’s owner.”

“Zhiwei Ju’s owner, Su Ming, is also a pastry chef. His skills are not as good as the masters in Zhiwei Ju, but he has trained many disciples and is quite good at teaching.”

“Running a restaurant is profitable, but no matter how profitable it is, it can’t compare to running a factory and distributing products nationwide. In terms of pastry craftsmanship, Zheng Da isn’t as good as Zhiwei Ju’s top masters.”

“But in terms of business, recipe optimization, and how to adapt traditional handcrafted pastries for industrial production—ensuring quality control, consistent supply, and maintaining taste—there’s no one in the entire southern region more professional than Zheng Da.”

“Su Ming wants to promote Zhiwei Ju-branded pastries nationwide, so it’s inevitable he would seek advice from Zheng Da.”

“I heard that Zhiwei Ju tried this last year, but sales were poor. The recipes probably weren’t adjusted properly, resulting in poor adaptation and quality control issues.”

“My guess is that Zhiwei Ju’s owner wants to collaborate with Zheng Da, which is why this personnel borrowing went so smoothly—and why they were able to lend six people at once on short notice.”

“It’s always been the case that external chefs go to Zhiwei Ju to learn and exchange. I’ve never heard of Zhiwei Ju’s chefs going elsewhere to study.”

Qin Huai suddenly understood.

Because Qin Huai had been able to make pastries since childhood, the Qin family rarely bought pastries outside and didn’t know much about what was sold on the market.

However, Qin Huai had also eaten several boxes of pastries that Zheng Da sent to Qin Luo a few months ago. The taste was indeed excellent—clearly with unique recipes.

To exaggerate a bit, the egg yolk pastries and layered cakes Zheng Da sent Qin Luo, along with several other items, tasted better than many supposedly freshly made pastries from bakeries.

Zheng Da might not become the most skilled pastry chef nationwide, but he was definitely one of the best in understanding pastry business operations and recipes.

“So these six people Zheng Uncle borrowed aren’t ordinary apprentices,” Dong Shi couldn’t help but interject.

“You talk too much,” Huang Shengli glared at his closed-door disciple. “Since when does Zhiwei Ju have ordinary apprentices?”

That was true. As the top white-case restaurant in the south and a cradle for pastry talent, Zhiwei Ju had extremely high standards—even for general staff.

Without talent or connections, it was nearly impossible to get in. Qin Huai’s uncle had once said he could find connections to get Qin Huai into Zhiwei Ju—but that was because he had great confidence in Qin Huai’s talent.

According to his logic back then, he only needed to get Qin Huai into the apprentice interview pool, and talent would naturally shine, leading to acceptance as a direct disciple and eventual success.

As for what connections he actually had…

He had an old classmate working in Hangzhou who was a regular customer of Zhiwei Ju and could help keep an eye on recruitment information.

The pleasant gossip session ended, and everyone in Huang Ji sped up their meals before returning to their busy work.

Customers were already lining up outside. Although most were coming for pastries, those who queued early usually chose to dine in, since they were already there. Huang Ji wasn’t an unknown restaurant—if they had traveled far, they would want to try both pastries and dishes.

Huang Ji was a standard hot-kitchen restaurant. Even though its pastry side had become more famous over the past month, the hot kitchen couldn’t fall behind.

The chefs in the back kitchen didn’t want to lose face.

Meanwhile, Huang Anyao and Zheng Da picked up the reinforcements from Zhiwei Ju at the subway station.

Zheng Da froze when he saw the leader.

“Tan Weian, Gu Li!” Zheng Da greeted them excitedly.

The two leading individuals were the disciples of Master Tan Wenyan—the master chef from Zhiwei Ju whom Huang Shengli had just mentioned as having the best relationship with Zheng Da.

Tan Weian was Master Tan’s grandson, and Gu Li was his closed-door disciple.

“Chef Zheng, long time no see,” Tan Weian said with a smile, dragging his suitcase forward. He glanced at Huang Anyao, who was holding his phone by the roadside trying to locate a ride, and continued, “We heard from Boss Su that you personally asked to borrow people from Zhiwei Ju, so we volunteered to come together.”

“Our skills are still lacking, so we hope you won’t mind us.”

“How could I mind? With the two of you here, I feel at ease. I can finally rest—these past few days have been exhausting,” Zheng Da blurted out sincerely.

Tan Weian: ?

Huang Anyao’s exclamation broke the awkwardness: “Ah! So it’s across the road—I entered the wrong location. Uncle Zheng, don’t worry, I’ll call a car. It shouldn’t be congested at this time, right? It shouldn’t… But business has been so good recently—what if there’s a traffic jam?”

Zheng Da looked at Huang Anyao and couldn’t help but sympathize with his senior brother for having such an unfortunate son.

Unlike him—his son was unwilling to go on blind dates, but otherwise perfect, especially in pastry talent, which he had inherited perfectly from him.

By the time Zheng Da and Huang Anyao led the six reinforcements back to Huang Ji, it was already 9:30 a.m. From afar, they could see the long queue outside the restaurant.

One unknown Zhiwei Ju chef whispered in surprise:

“Why are there so many people? Doesn’t Huang Ji only open at noon? Could a single Weibo post by Xu Cheng really have such an impact? Could the rumors be true—that Huang Ji will be on the cover of next year’s opening issue?”

“Gu Li, isn’t your father the head chef of Guanhe Tower? Since you’re both from Suzhou, have you heard anything?”

Gu Li, when addressed, remained silent.

“Still not talking—you’re always like this. No wonder others say you—” the unknown chef tried to continue, then glanced at Tan Weian and stopped himself.

Tan Weian walked at the front, talking with Zheng Da:

“With Huang Ji’s current popularity, by the time the next issue of Zhiwei is published, many people will be shocked. Lately, many in Zhiwei Ju have been discussing Chef Qin. Some even came to Suzhou on their days off to buy his pastries—everyone who’s tried them praises them highly.”

“A few days ago, I even heard Chef Zhou saying that such talent should have come to Zhiwei Ju instead of coming here for exchange. He would have personally trained him.”

Chef Zhou was ranked 41st on the Famous Chefs List and was the highest-ranked master chef at Zhiwei Ju.

Hearing this, Zheng Da almost jumped up.

“What do you mean ‘personally train him’? Xiao Tan, let me tell you—don’t get any ideas. I know why Su Ming was so generous this time, lending me six people at once and even sending you and Gu Li. Qin Huai is my closed-door disciple—no one is taking him away. Even if I agree, my senior brother won’t!”

Tan Weian smiled: “Of course not. Chef Zheng, you’re overthinking it. Chef Zhou and Boss Su are just enthusiastic and want to exchange with pastry chefs across the country.”

Zheng Da looked at Tan Weian like he was looking at a kidnapper.

After changing clothes, the group entered the kitchen.

Zheng Da coldly introduced the six reinforcements to Qin Huai, then pulled Wang Jun aside to quietly instruct him to manage things properly and not give rivals any opportunity.

Wang Jun listened in confusion, wondering when he had suddenly become a manager instead of a prep cook.

After that, Zheng Da pulled Huang Shengli aside to discuss countermeasures.

After hearing Zheng Da’s anxious concerns, Huang Shengli was speechless: “What are you afraid of? With Zhiwei Ju’s standards, even if Xiao Qin were tricked into going there, he’d return within three days at most.”

“And what exactly are you so nervous about? Did you forget that Xiao Qin is also here on an exchange? He’ll be going home before the New Year anyway. He won’t be coming back after the holidays—he has his own business. Why would he come here to work?”

Zheng Da realized the truth.

He returned to calmly kneading dough and glanced at Qin Huai’s side, noticing that the Zhiwei Ju chefs worked quickly and with clear division of labor.

Qin Huai’s workspace had long expanded beyond the small area initially allocated. The Huang Ji kitchen was large, and although Huang Anyao wasn’t great at marketing, he was capable of executing tasks when assigned.

Through gradual improvements, the kitchen was now clearly divided into hot-kitchen and pastry areas. Equipment had been upgraded as well—steaming cabinets and bamboo steamers were all replaced and expanded.

The pastry area was especially spacious, so even with extra personnel, it didn’t feel crowded.

In short, Huang Anyao had gone all out just to support the pastry business.

As soon as they started working, the Zhiwei Ju chefs immediately showed Qin Huai what a true master-level setup was like.

No verbal instructions were needed—just a glance and everyone knew what to do.

Sometimes, not even that was necessary. Each person was highly professional and could find their own tasks. One of them was so habitual that he almost went to make tea out of muscle memory.

Zhiwei Ju’s masters were generally older and still active in teaching. Due to declining physical ability, many tasks had to be handled by disciples and assistants.

Knowing how to work, what to do, and where to find work—this was the first lesson at Zhiwei Ju.

It could be said that Zhiwei Ju chefs were professional assistants, especially the direct disciples of master chefs—professionals among professionals.

So professional that Qin Huai almost wanted to say there had been a mistake—he wasn’t a master chef.

Wasn’t this level of treatment a bit too high?

And also…

While preparing fillings, Qin Huai glanced at Gu Li’s kneading technique.

This disciple of the late master chef… wasn’t very good.

With six reinforcements joining Huang Ji, Zheng Siyuan no longer needed to assist Qin Huai, and Qin Huai himself didn’t require that many helpers.

Thus, under Tan Weian’s arrangement, the six reinforcements were split into two groups: Tan Weian led three people to assist Qin Huai, while Gu Li led one person to assist Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan’s fresh pork mooncakes were also very popular at Huang Ji.

Especially now, with many out-of-town customers, as mooncakes are a famous Suzhou specialty, many visitors were very interested in them—and were often amazed after tasting.

Zheng Siyuan’s mooncakes couldn’t outperform Qin Huai’s fermented rice buns at Huang Ji, mainly because the buns had a strong reputation among regulars and carried extra “buffs” of nostalgia.

Not even the mooncakes could beat them—nor could even A-grade pastries.

Within Huang Ji, fermented rice buns were the undisputed flagship item.

“Your technique is too heavy,” Qin Huai said while watching Gu Li knead the dough. He couldn’t help but speak up. “You shouldn’t use so much force when making the crust for pork mooncakes.”

“You need to be lighter—use the palm, apply force skillfully.”