AGN -Chapter 330 I Really Deserve to Die

After finishing his critique of Su Qian’s three-diced buns, Qin Huai found it much harder to evaluate the other pastries with the same ease as before.

The familiar phrases came back—things like “this feels right,” “the texture has strength,” “this part is slightly off,” “do you understand the point you need to reach when kneading the dough,” and so on.

As he went on, Qin Huai spoke less and less. His comments became shorter, more perfunctory, and his attitude more absent-minded. He even felt a bit lost.

The “Huang Shengli experience card” had expired.

Qin Huai sighed deeply in his heart.

He thought he was being perfunctory, but the apprentices from Zhiweiju didn’t see it that way at all.

In their eyes, Master Qin was incredibly kind. Not only did he taste at least one of every pastry they made, but he also put effort into giving feedback starting from the most basic aspects.

With so many dishes, he still went through them one by one—tasting and commenting on each. How tolerant, how patient, how good at teaching—what a great person!

Thinking about how their previous batch of colleagues had spent months exchanging at Huang Ji, they felt nothing but jealousy—pure, intense jealousy.

Aside from Gu Li, none of those people had worked that hard. Did they even understand what they were learning? With such a great master in front of them, did they even know how to ask questions?

No—this opportunity had to fall to them!

“What? You’re saying Master Qin wasn’t as detailed when critiquing us as he was with Su Qian and Gu Li?”

How could that be the same?

What level were they at?

Su Qian was Master Zhou’s nominal disciple and Boss Su’s nephew—a connection among connections. Gu Li was Master Tan’s last disciple. Sure, his skills were a bit lacking, but he worked insanely hard—and he had a strong senior brother. Most importantly, he had met Master Qin earlier and had a good relationship with him.

The fact that Master Qin was willing to critique them at all was already a blessing. They couldn’t ask for more.

After all, times change. Being ahead now doesn’t mean staying ahead forever. Today was just their first meeting—being remembered by Master Qin was already a great start. As for the future, who could say?

In the eyes of everyone at Zhiweiju, the fire of competitiveness was already burning brightly.

“Alright, leave the remaining pastries here. Someone will finish them later,” Qin Huai said in summary after tasting everything. “I now have a general understanding of everyone’s level. I hope that in the upcoming exchange, we can work together and all gain something.”

“Let me point out a few things. From 7:00 to 7:30 in the morning, as long as I’m in the shop and have an appetite, I should have enough time to taste your pastries and give feedback.”

“I’ll also have some time around 11 a.m. Afternoons are busier—definitely no time before 5 p.m. After 5, it depends.”

“I personally prefer staple foods. I’m good at buns, shaomai, and chuibing—more common types of pastries. Of course, I know many kinds, but I’m relatively weaker in laminated pastries that require puffing. If you have questions in that area, you can ask Chef Xiao Zheng when he’s available.”

“I don’t like overly sweet food in the morning. If you’re making soup dumplings, it’s best if no more than three people make them. Coordinate your dishes—don’t make too much. Especially don’t have one person making beef noodles and another making lamb noodles. I really can’t eat that much.”

“I also make chicken soup noodles in the morning. If you’re interested, you can try them.”

“As for wontons, it’s best not to make them. Chef Xiao Zheng already makes gauze wontons and bubble wontons. But if you’re interested, you can exchange ideas with him.”

“At lunchtime, do whatever you like—sweet or savory is fine. I mainly eat regular meals at noon, with pastries as a supplement.”

“In the evening, it’s best to make more meat-filled pastries. My younger sister likes them.”

“In theory, Yunzhong Canteen doesn’t restrict what pastries you make. As long as the taste and quality are good, you can even create something new on the spot, name it, and price it. Our customers are quite tolerant, and they enjoy having different pastries every day.”

“Just be mindful of closing time. We shut early—usually before 8 p.m. If you stay late to practice, control your portions and only make what you can finish.”

As Qin Huai spoke, everyone nodded repeatedly. If they had pen and paper, they would have started taking notes immediately—listing key points one, two, three, four. Anyone watching might think he was sharing priceless secrets.

“Master Qin, what do you usually eat in the morning?” Su Qian asked thoughtfully.

“Anything typical for breakfast—buns, mantou, steamed dumplings, rice rolls, steamed snacks. I do like soup dumplings.”

Su Qian carefully noted it down.

“Master Qin,” an unnamed apprentice bravely asked, “what about lunch? What pastries do you prefer then?”

“At lunch, anything is fine—sweet or savory. I mainly eat regular meals, with pastries as a side.”

Everyone quickly noted that as well.

“And Master Qin,” Su Qian asked again, “what kind of pastries does your younger sister like? Besides meat-filled ones, are there any other preferences?”

Qin Huai gave Su Qian an approving look. “My sister isn’t picky. She likes all kinds, especially meat. Pork, lamb, fish, chicken, duck, beef—anything is fine. As long as it’s delicious, novel, visually appealing, or something she hasn’t seen before and can post on social media, she’ll like it.”

Su Qian nodded in realization and wrote it down again.

The Q&A session lasted over three minutes, and the first meeting finally came to a successful end. Seeing that everyone from Zhiweiju had left some kind of impression on Qin Huai, Su Qian took the initiative to say they wouldn’t disturb him further. They would return to rest, and later he would prepare a new schedule for Qin Huai to review.

Qin Huai watched them leave. When he turned around, he saw Zheng Siyuan still stir-frying crab roe sauce and was surprised.

“Didn’t you say we’d stop here for today’s crab roe noodles? There’s still so much sauce left—are you making more noodles later?”

Zheng Siyuan gestured toward Tan Weian with his eyes. “He still wants to eat.”

Qin Huai: …

Sometimes, Qin Huai had to admit—Tan Weian was truly an odd one out at Zhiweiju.

He was a rare case: genuinely talented, well-connected, part of the core inner circle—and incredibly lazy.

Qin Huai looked at him. “Why didn’t you go back?”

Tan Weian replied as if it were obvious: “What does their leaving have to do with me, the team leader? I still need to stay and study the crab roe… sauce with you. I’m different from them—I don’t work the morning shift.”

Then he asked very seriously, “Qin Huai, if I come to work at 7:30 every day, can I still get chicken soup noodles?”

Qin Huai: …

So you’re letting your junior brother do all the grinding for you while you don’t grind at all, huh?

“Yes,” Qin Huai said with a smile. “Find the crab roe sauce recipe tonight. Not only will you get chicken soup noodles, but you’ll have unlimited crab roe noodles and rice in the future.”

That night at 8 p.m., just before Qin Huai went to sleep, Tan Weian successfully dug out the crab roe sauce recipes from his phone.

Not just two.

A full six recipes.

Six!

When Qin Huai saw them, he was stunned. At first, he thought Tan Weian had a bad connection and sent the same recipe three times. But when he looked closely and saw that each one was slightly different, only one thought remained in his mind:

Sometimes, I really feel like going all out against you super-connected elites.

“Bro, are you cheating or something?”

“Did your Tan family ancestors run a crab roe sauce business or what? Otherwise, it’s really hard to explain how you have so many recipes.”

Qin Huai carefully studied the six recipes Tan Weian had sent. He realized they came in pairs—each pair consisting of one version suitable for long-term storage and another that had to be eaten quickly. They were divided into three uses: for buns, for noodles, and for rice.

The noodle and rice versions made sense—after all, Tan Weian loved crab roe mixed with rice. But where did this bun version come from? Did the Tan family also have a tradition of making crab roe buns?

After going through all the recipes, Qin Huai even felt that the bun version was somewhat similar to the crab roe sauce recipe Chef Jing had developed.

The overall approach was very similar, with only slight differences in seasoning choices.

Both of these recipes followed the same logic Qin Huai had been thinking about: if you want long-term storage, you must add a large amount of spices, which inevitably makes the flavor stronger and prevents the crab roe’s natural taste from being preserved as much as possible. In that case, you might as well go all the way—make it rich and intense, turning the double-crab bun into a bold, heavy-flavored creation.

But under normal expectations, double-crab buns shouldn’t be like that. So if, during the process of making crab roe sauce, you minimize the use of spices and preserve the original flavor as much as possible, then the style should be completely different—light, clean, and focused on the natural taste.

That would be much closer to the traditional version made with fresh crab roe.

Among the recipes Tan Weian provided, there was indeed one that matched this approach.

At that moment, Qin Huai couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—Tan Weian’s “treasure bag” really did contain everything. Whatever you needed, he could just pull it out.

Bro, you should’ve said earlier your family specialized in crab roe sauce. Why were Zheng Siyuan and I wasting time researching this? One phone call and you could just pull everything out of your treasure bag.

Qin Huai read that recipe over and over again. He felt he still lacked authority in this area—his control over heat wasn’t great, and recently all the crab roe sauce had been cooked by Zheng Siyuan. Quietly, Qin Huai forwarded the recipe to Zheng Siyuan and asked him to study it carefully.

A few minutes later, Zheng Siyuan replied:

“This recipe is from Tan Weian?”

“Ask him—did his grandfather or great-grandfather ever sell recipes before?”

Qin Huai: “Got it.”

Without hesitation, Qin Huai called Tan Weian.

Tan Weian picked up instantly.

“Hello, Qin Huai! Surprised? Aren’t the recipes I gave you super complete? Six recipes! Surprised? Didn’t expect that, right? I’m telling you, our family may not have much, but we’ve got tons of crab roe sauce recipes. My great-grandfather passed them to my grandfather, and my grandfather passed them to me.”

“My great-grandfather specialized in crab roe pastries—crab roe pastries, crab roe soup dumplings, crab roe siu mai—they were all top-notch. People even offered high prices to buy recipes from him!”

Qin Huai interrupted him and asked, “Did your great-grandfather sell them?”

Tan Weian thought for a moment. “Which recipe are you asking about?”

Qin Huai: …

Impressive.

“The double-crab bun recipe,” Qin Huai said directly. With Tan Weian, there was no need to beat around the bush. “Did your great-grandfather sell the double-crab bun recipe to the son of a state-owned factory director in Gusu?”

“What?! The double-crab bun is my great-grandfather’s recipe?” Tan Weian was shocked. “You mean the one you and Zheng Siyuan have been researching—the super difficult, supposedly lost double-crab bun?”

“That recipe was created by my great-grandfather?”

Qin Huai replied calmly, “It’s just a hypothesis. The concept behind this crab roe sauce is too similar to the double-crab bun. If your great-grandfather really was the creator, then everything makes sense.”

“After selling the original double-crab bun recipe to your master’s grandmaster’s client, he could no longer make the original version. But he could still make regular crab roe buns. His core approach didn’t change, so he developed a crab roe sauce specifically suited for buns, based on the same idea.”

“In a way, every chef has their own style. Your great-grandfather specialized in crab roe pastries—their methods, habits, and overall direction likely came from the same origin. Naturally, there would be similarities.”

“If my guess is correct… I might need to ask you for another favor.”

“What is it?” Tan Weian was still immersed in shock. Damn, such an amazing recipe was actually created by my great-grandfather—he’s incredible!

“Do you have any other crab roe pastry recipes? Could you send them to me for reference? Whatever you want to eat, Zheng Siyuan and I will make it for you,” Qin Huai said—feeling guilty even as he spoke.

Qin Huai, Qin Huai… you’re not some clueless amateur anymore. You know how valuable secret recipes are to chefs. How can you even ask this?

While Qin Huai was still criticizing himself internally, Tan Weian had already answered without hesitation:

“Sure!”

Qin Huai: I really deserve to die.

He felt like a scumbag tricking an innocent, naive rich girl.

“Wait a sec, let me check my phone. There are quite a few.”

Five or six minutes later, Tan Weian sent over seven more recipes in rapid succession:

Crab roe pastry, crab roe buns, crab roe soup dumplings, crab roe xiaolongbao, crab roe siu mai, crab roe flaky pastry, and crab roe squares.

Qin Huai forwarded all seven recipes to Zheng Siyuan.

Qin Huai: I really deserve to die.

Zheng Siyuan: “Yes.”
Zheng Siyuan: “How did you trick Tan Weian into giving you all his recipes? Is that okay?”
Zheng Siyuan: “Should we give him some recipes in return?”

Qin Huai: “I do have quite a few recipes… but can he even learn them?”
Qin Huai: “Tan Weian wants crab roe rice and crab roe soup dumplings tomorrow.”

Zheng Siyuan: “Got it.”