AGN -Chapter 393 Cloud Patterns

The arrival of the chefs from Zhiwei Ju greatly enriched the variety of breakfast dishes at Huang Ji.

Early the next morning, when Qin Huai stepped into the Huang Ji kitchen, he was already greeted by the rich aroma of all kinds of breakfast foods.

He didn’t even need to look—just by smelling, he could tell there were lamb stewed noodles, pan-fried buns, and golden silk shao mai.

Well, the golden silk shao mai wasn’t exactly “smelled out.” It was mainly because whenever Gu Li showed up, he would definitely make them—this was his guaranteed signature item.

As soon as Qin Huai arrived, all the Zhiwei Ju chefs gathered around him.

“Good morning, Chef Qin. This tea might be a bit cold, I’ll pour you a fresh cup. What would you like to eat first this morning? Soup dumplings, lamb stewed noodles, beef rice rolls, sesame balls, or…?”

“Chef Qin, last time you said my red bean filling was too sweet. I made these red bean buns today—would you like to try them?”

“Chef Qin, this is what I made…”

“Chef Qin…”

Surrounded by breakfast offerings, Qin Huai followed his usual principle of fair sampling—he tasted a little of everything and gave comments one by one. Finally, he walked over to Gu Li and started eating the golden silk shao mai.

Everyone was already used to this, because Qin Huai had always had a soft spot for Gu Li’s pastries. Whether it was golden silk shao mai or ruyi rolls, he would often take the initiative to taste them.

Moreover, although Gu Li had been known for lacking talent, he was still a direct disciple of a famous master. His cooking skills were far above ordinary apprentices, and his pastries were indeed more worth tasting than others’. It was natural that Qin Huai favored him.

Even Su Qian didn’t pay much attention to it.

When Qin Huai stood beside Gu Li eating the golden silk shao mai, Gu Li was still working. He had always been like this—even when there was gossip flying around, he would just be the quiet one in the back, listening while continuing his work.

“Good morning, Chef Qin,” Gu Li greeted him respectfully, which was the highest form of respect he usually showed.

Qin Huai was still chewing.

From a teacher’s perspective, he actually liked Gu Li very much.

No teacher dislikes a hardworking student—even if his talent is lacking. Qin Huai could tell from Gu Li’s dishes that he was genuinely trying in the right direction and making progress. It was just that his progress was painfully slow, far behind his more “lazy” senior brother.

Gu Li was making ruyi rolls.

Qin Huai watched how he handled the cloud pattern.

To be honest, Gu Li’s cloud patterns were really not good.

The most important feature of a ruyi roll is the beautiful cloud pattern revealed when sliced open. Only with proper cloud patterns can the dish be considered successful. The pattern is not just decoration—it reflects heat control and shaping skill, the clearest indicator of a chef’s ability.

Gu Li’s level wasn’t high enough.

His cloud patterns couldn’t be said to be completely absent, but they also couldn’t be said to truly exist. They were in a strange state—like they were there, but also not really there.

Just like his cooking skills overall: he knew the concept, and he understood the method and technique, but his fundamentals and “internal strength” weren’t sufficient, making the result awkward.

“You’ve been practicing cloud patterns for how long?” Qin Huai asked.

Gu Li hadn’t expected Qin Huai to skip commenting on the golden silk shao mai and instead ask about ruyi roll patterns. He paused briefly, then answered honestly, “Almost three years.”

Three years of practice and still at this level—his talent really wasn’t great.

“Ruyi rolls are my master’s signature dish,” Gu Li continued. “When my master was alive, my skill wasn’t even close to making them properly, so he didn’t teach me systematically. He only gave me a rough method and didn’t require me to train cloud patterns seriously.”

“The same was true for my senior brothers.”

“This led to the fact that after my master passed away due to illness, none of us could make authentic ruyi rolls anymore.”

“I know my daily attempts might seem unrealistic. My senior brother also advised me not to obsess over ruyi rolls and golden silk shao mai. With my current skill level, it’s impossible to perfect them.”

“But I believe not being able to do it now doesn’t mean I won’t be able to do it in the future. Slow birds start flying early. I lack talent, so I need to spend more time building fundamentals. If I lay a solid foundation for these two dishes now, then one day when my skills are sufficient…”

Gu Li didn’t finish the sentence.

It was the first time Qin Huai had heard him speak so much. Gu Li was usually very quiet and reserved. Even when Dong Shi shared the most explosive gossip in Huang Ji, Gu Li never interrupted.

Qin Huai realized Gu Li had misunderstood him, so he quickly clarified his real intention:

“Is the cloud pattern of ruyi rolls considered very difficult?”

Gu Li paused again, hands still moving, and nodded firmly.

“Yes. It’s quite high in difficulty.”

“Then for ordinary pastries with cloud patterns, how long do you think it takes to get started?” Qin Huai asked again.

That question stumped Gu Li. He stopped his hands completely and thought for a full two minutes.

“Chef Qin, I’m not sure what you mean by ‘ordinary pastries,’ but anything involving cloud patterns is usually quite difficult.”

“When my master taught me, he said that ruyi-style cloud patterns are essentially showmanship. These kinds of pastries mostly come from imperial cuisine, which tends to include a lot of ornate but impractical elements.”

“They make dishes complicated, but don’t necessarily improve taste. Yet these elements often become the key feature. That’s one of the main reasons many ancient recipes were lost.”

“It’s also why many chefs don’t want to restore old recipes—because even if the result isn’t more delicious or impressive, it is definitely more troublesome.”

“So if you want to learn it, an average apprentice… would need at least two years of basics first.”

“And someone like me?” Qin Huai asked directly.

Gu Li looked at him, clearly conflicted. The words were stuck in his throat for a long time. Finally, he stammered:

“One… ten… eighteen months?”

Seeing that Qin Huai didn’t respond, he shortened it again.

“Six months?”

Qin Huai could imagine that the cloud patterns in the four-season roll might be complicated, but he hadn’t expected the difficulty to be this high.

Six months—if he stayed at Huang Ji for six months, wouldn’t the regular customers of Yunzhong Canteen go crazy?

“Do you know the four-season roll?” Qin Huai asked.

Gu Li shook his head very honestly.

It seemed the four-season roll was a niche specialty dish from a state-run restaurant.

Qin Huai hadn’t expected Xu Nuo’s cooking skill to be this high. The guy really hid his abilities well—something that difficult, and he could just casually make it at home without showing off.

Qin Huai briefly described the appearance and preparation process of the four-season roll (Shi Dadan had seen Xu Nuo make it before), and asked Gu Li how its cloud pattern difficulty compared to that of ruyi rolls.

Gu Li’s answer was that it was much simpler than ruyi rolls.

“So… the Four Happiness Roll is a palace-style pastry from some ancient recipe? Chef Qin, are you researching that recipe recently?” Gu Li asked tentatively.

“Ancient recipe? Palace pastry? Why would you think that?” Qin Huai was curious.

Gu Li replied honestly, “Because this is a very standard palace-style method. Like I just said, it takes something that could be simple and makes it extremely complicated. But those complicated parts don’t really improve the taste much—yet they’re the most crucial parts.”

“The Four Happiness Roll you described is actually just a huajuan (flower roll), but the method is very ‘palace-style’. I’ve never even heard of it before, so I thought you saw it in some ancient recipe and were trying to restore it.”

“My master liked studying old recipes, so I’ve been exposed to this kind of thinking a lot.”

Qin Huai trusted Gu Li’s judgment. Tan Weian had once told him that Gu Li was extremely interested in this field, and on this matter, Gu Li was far more professional than him.

Gu Li’s comment also gave the Four Happiness Roll a completely new direction Qin Huai had never considered before.

Qin Huai had come to ask Gu Li about cloud patterns because yesterday Huang Shengli had analyzed that Zheng Da would need at least six days of downtime.

During those six days, Qin Huai wasn’t idle. Originally he planned to make double crab buns and practice lotus starch balls, but plans never keep up with changes—Zhiwei Ju’s chefs had arrived overnight.

Qin Huai figured that since Gu Li made ruyi rolls every day, he must understand cloud patterns better than him. In a group of three, there is always someone worth learning from. Normally Chef Qin guided Gu Li’s cooking—now it was Gu Chef’s turn to guide Qin Huai’s cloud patterns.

Unexpectedly, before even getting to the main topic, they stumbled upon something new—an unexpected gain.

Qin Huai looked at Gu Li with expectation and asked, “I have an unreasonable request.”

“Could you… if you have time recently, guide me—no, teach me how to make cloud patterns for the Four Happiness Roll?”

Gu Li had just resumed making pastries when Qin Huai’s words startled him so much that his chopsticks slipped and stabbed straight into the filling.

Gu Li froze. After a long pause, he finally uttered in a faint, almost unreal voice:

“Me… me?”

“Yes!” Qin Huai nodded firmly. “You!”

—

As an action-oriented person, once Qin Huai said he would learn cloud patterns from Gu Li, he started that very day.

During the lunch break, Qin Huai attempted making the Four Happiness Roll for the first time.

Of course, he didn’t have a recipe, nor any video tutorials. Zheng Da wasn’t there to teach him, and Zheng Siyuan didn’t know how to make it at all.

But that didn’t stop him.

Because Shi Dadan’s description was actually quite clear.

As Xu Nuo’s friend, Shi Dadan had personally seen Xu Nuo make the Four Happiness Roll many times. What he described could fully convey what he saw and understood.

So Qin Huai knew the general process and shape. In a way, this was similar to restoring an ancient recipe—you know the outline but not the precise techniques, so you have to figure them out yourself.

He followed Shi Dadan’s description and tried to replicate it.

Making a flower roll was easy.
Making a filled flower roll was easy.
Making a flower roll with two layers of filling was also easy.
But making a flower roll with two layered fillings that could reveal cloud patterns when sliced—that was difficult.

The cloud pattern requirement made every step—spreading filling, pressing, rolling, and reverse rolling—significantly harder.

Qin Huai had Gu Li stand right beside him so he could point out any issues immediately.

Gu Li felt immense pressure, but since he was usually quiet and expressionless, it was hard for others to notice.

But Tan Weian noticed.

Not only did he notice, he became extremely excited—and stood right next to Gu Li, equally thrilled.

“Wow! This is exactly the scene I dream of! I almost never even dream of standing next to Qin Huai and guiding him. In my dreams, it’s usually Qin Huai respectfully calling me Chef Tan and asking me questions, praising my pastries, saying how amazing they are, and how much he admires me.”

“Junior brother, you’re going to have a lot to brag about when you go back. If it were me, I’d brag about this for at least ten years.”

“If Qin Huai hadn’t forbidden it, I’d absolutely be filming this with a camera. This is a historic moment!”

Gu Li rarely stammered, but now he did: “S-senior brother, stop talking.”

As he spoke, he even tugged at Tan Weian’s sleeve, trying to calm him down.

But Tan Weian ignored his junior brother completely and continued excitedly:

“If I had known Qin Huai would one day learn cloud-pattern pastries, I would’ve trained harder years ago. No, wait—I didn’t even know him back then. Never mind, that’s not important. Junior brother, quickly check whether Qin Huai’s Four Happiness Roll is correct. Point out any issues fast—opportunities like this don’t come twice!”

Gu Li felt like digging a hole and burying himself. He could only stare at Qin Huai’s work while saying:

“Senior brother, Chef Qin is still adjusting the filling—I can’t even tell yet. I don’t even know how to make this Four Happiness Roll myself.”

Tan Weian, completely lost in his imagination, grinned wildly:

“If it were me, I’d at least call him ‘Little Qin’ a few times just for fun.”

Gu Li looked at him in despair, convinced his senior brother had lost his mind.

Trying to “guide Qin Huai” and act like a teaching master had clearly driven him crazy.

Gu Li could only focus on Qin Huai’s work. Although he didn’t understand the Four Happiness Roll, he had studied ruyi rolls for years and understood cloud patterns well.

When Qin Huai layered the filling, Gu Li spoke up for the first time:

“Chef Qin, the filling might be a bit too thick. Your method is to roll forward first, then reverse roll. If the filling is this thick, the cloud pattern definitely won’t come out properly.”

Qin Huai quickly corrected it.

When it came to the rolling step, Gu Li spoke again:

“Chef Qin, your curvature is too rigid. It needs to be slightly exaggerated, otherwise the reverse roll will be difficult.”

Qin Huai quickly corrected it again.

Soon, Gu Li spoke once more:

“Chef Qin, your…”

Qin Huai immediately corrected.

…

From a distance, Huang Shengli silently took a photo and sent it to Zheng Da.

Huang Shengli: “Has the neighbor’s dog’s gastroenteritis recovered? If so, come back when you have time. If you don’t teach Qin Huai the Four Happiness Roll, someone else will—Gu Li is already teaching him.”

Zheng Da, who was at home contemplating life and avoiding reality, replied: “???”

Who?

Gu Li???

He’s teaching Qin Huai the Four Happiness Roll???