AGN -Chapter 404 Exchange Space

Su Qian’s communication efficiency was extremely high. That very night, Qin Huai received a message from him saying that Zhiwei Residence could arrange the exchange as early as the day after tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow.

When he heard the exact timing, Qin Huai was completely stunned.

You have to understand, this kind of exchange wasn’t some ordinary training trip where you go somewhere else for two or three months.

Qin Huai wasn’t an ordinary apprentice—he was a master chef. If he went to Zhiwei Residence, he would definitely be treated like one. They would arrange a dedicated cooking station for him, contact suppliers for the pastries he specialized in, and handle all sorts of miscellaneous issues and small problems he couldn’t even imagine.

Most importantly, Zhiwei Residence had thoughtfully arranged accommodation. There was no need to rent a place—Boss Su had several vacant apartments near Zhiwei Residence for Qin Huai to choose from.

He could live wherever he wanted. Su Qian even sent him photos—unedited originals, completely unfiltered, not a trace of Photoshop.

This level of efficiency even made Huang Ji look incompetent by comparison.

It should be noted that Qin Huai received the message at night, meaning “the day after tomorrow” essentially gave him only one day to pack and leave. If he had received it in the morning, he suspected they might have told him to come the next day.

Qin Huai didn’t immediately give Su Qian a definite answer. Instead, he asked whether, if he couldn’t make it to Hangzhou the day after tomorrow and needed a few days’ delay, Zhiwei Residence could accept that. From Su Qian’s tone, Qin Huai could tell that their exchange schedule was very busy.

He even suspected that everything had been scheduled in advance, with the timetable packed full. Which dates were available, which weren’t—all already arranged. The day after tomorrow just happened to have a gap, so Su Qian used his connections to squeeze him in as an urgent case.

After about twenty minutes, Su Qian replied that it was fine, but the boss hoped Qin Huai could come as soon as possible. Next month’s exchange schedule would be extremely busy, and they also wanted to leave more time for him.

Qin Huai was deeply moved and told Su Qian he would discuss it with everyone the next day and give a final answer.

And so, the next morning, Qin Huai arrived early at the kitchen. He first made a batch of visually appealing but completely cloud-pattern-less Si Xi rolls, then shook up some lotus root starch balls, and prepared chicken soup noodles portioned per head. In between, he even managed to eat breakfast provided by the people from Zhiwei Residence and gave feedback.

Finally, while everyone—including Tan Weian—was slurping chicken soup noodles, he announced the bombshell news.

“Day after tomorrow?!” Tan Weian’s shocked voice nearly pierced the sky, and he almost spat out the noodles in his mouth. “You mean I’m going back the day after tomorrow?”

Qin Huai kindly corrected his wording: “To be precise, it’s tomorrow, since I received the message last night.”

Tan Weian hurriedly swallowed his noodles, afraid of spitting them out. He swallowed too fast, almost choking to death, and quickly gulped down several mouthfuls of soup. After a fit of coughing, he finally recovered.

He had performed a dramatic solo act.

“I’m going back to work this soon?!” Tan Weian’s face was full of despair. In his grief, he took another big bite of chicken soup noodles and drank more soup.

There was no joy of returning home—only despair about the intense workload ahead.

It was obvious he couldn’t slack off at Zhiwei Residence the way he did outside.

Qin Huai: “……”

Qin Huai even started to wonder if bringing Tan Weian and Gu Li here for exchange training had been a mistake. Although he now understood that people couldn’t always stay tense and endlessly grind their skills—sometimes relaxing was good—too much relaxation was also a problem.

It was supposed to be “relaxed,” not “completely idle.”

Tan Weian had become a bit too unrestrained lately.

Qin Huai seriously considered whether moving the exchange to tomorrow was feasible. One day earlier meant Tan Weian would return to normal life one day sooner.

But at that moment, Qin Huai’s real question wasn’t for Tan Weian—it was for Zheng Siyuan.

He looked at the calm, composed Zheng Siyuan eating noodles and asked: “Siyuan, what are your plans? Are you going with us to Zhiwei Residence, staying at Huang Ji, or going back to your pastry shop?”

Zheng Siyuan made a choice that wasn’t A, B, or C—but D.

“I want to go back to Yunzhong Canteen,” he said.

Qin Huai, Tan Weian, Zang Liang, and Dong Shi: “Huh?”

“Then what about me?” Zang Liang looked confused. “Qin Huai is going to Zhiwei Residence, Tan Weian is going back, Zheng Siyuan is going to Yunzhong Canteen, and my master hasn’t returned yet… Am I staying at Huang Ji?”

Even he sounded uncertain by the end.

Dong Shi, who had been listening in, was completely stunned. He wondered if he was dreaming—otherwise how could he be hearing something so absurd?

Qin Huai going to Zhiwei Residence, Zang Liang staying at Huang Ji, Zheng Siyuan going to Yunzhong Canteen—what kind of “exchange space” was this?

Oh, wait—one person was actually in the right place. Tan Weian was indeed returning to his beloved Zhiwei Residence, but ironically, he looked the most like he wanted to die.

Dong Shi’s brain briefly shut down.

In this calm chaos, only Qin Huai remained somewhat rational.

He first looked at Dong Shi and decided he wasn’t important. Then he looked at Tan Weian—also not important.

Finally, he turned to Zang Liang, who was clearly already confused out of his mind, and asked: “Why hasn’t Master Zang come back yet?”

When Zang Liang first came to Yunzhong Canteen, he said his master Zang Mu was going abroad for a one-month exchange, so he came to help out. But that month had long passed—Wang Gensheng had already returned to Shan City, yet Zang Liang was still at Huang Ji, fully immersed in hot dishes, living like a junior disciple of Huang Jia.

Qin Huai had assumed he simply hadn’t learned enough and didn’t want to leave.

And since Zang Liang was so absorbed in cooking that he ignored everything else, they had barely communicated recently. Qin Huai wasn’t fully aware of his situation.

“Huh? Didn’t I tell you?” Zang Liang looked confused, thinking for a moment before realizing he couldn’t remember clearly.

“It’s just that when my master went abroad for exchange, he met Master Sun Mao—do you know him, Qin Huai? He’s a Cantonese chef, a famous chef in Hong Kong. He invited my master to attend an exchange event in Hong Kong. My master won’t be back until next week.”

Qin Huai nodded in understanding. “So red-cuisine chefs have so many exchange events.”

“These events are mostly overseas or in Hong Kong. Many masters don’t want to travel back and forth. My master is relatively easygoing, so whenever no one else goes, he ends up going.”

Zang Liang pointed toward Huang Shengli. “Chef Huang is famously unwilling to attend exchanges unless they’re near Suzhou.”

Qin Huai expressed understanding. “In that case, you can stay at Huang Ji until your master returns. Your cuisines are compatible anyway.”

Then he turned his attention to Zheng Siyuan.

Zheng Siyuan had already finished his chicken soup noodles and moved on to lotus root starch balls. Qin Huai had been shaking them long enough that the portion sizes were no longer tiny like before.

But Zheng Siyuan seemed used to eating two balls at a time. He would open his mouth slightly wider and scoop two in one spoonful, chewing carefully with puffed cheeks—like a focused little chipmunk eating.

“Then Siyuan, why do you want to go back to Yunzhong Canteen?” Qin Huai asked Zheng Siyuan.

He truly couldn’t understand Zheng Siyuan’s thought process. Going back to Yunzhong Canteen—what kind of decision was that? Did Yunzhong Canteen belong to him or to Zheng Siyuan? As the boss, he himself hadn’t even thought about returning, yet this little Zheng chef was already planning to go back.

“To practice the Si Xi rolls,” Zheng Siyuan said calmly. “The customer flow at my pastry shop isn’t as large as Yunzhong Canteen’s, and the feedback from diners isn’t as good either.”

“If I stay at Huang Ji, I’ll have to rename my Si Xi rolls into Si Xi flower rolls. But my version looks different from yours, so customers will easily notice something’s off.”

“As for Zhiwei Residence, their quality control for sold pastries is extremely strict. Si Xi rolls definitely can’t be sold normally there. Besides, I went there for exchange a few years ago—only two or three days. As far as I know, there isn’t any chef there particularly skilled in cloud-pattern techniques. Chef Zhou only knows a few relatively simple cloud-pattern pastries by coincidence.”

“However, going to Zhiwei Residence for training would suit you very well. Chef Zhou has a very wide range of specialties—layered pastries, steamed items, imperial pastries, and both northern and southern styles. But his strongest skill is actually ship pastries. ‘Mian Guo’er’ is a type of ship pastry, and ship pastries are famous for their extremely high finger-technique difficulty. Chef Zhou himself is very skilled in finger techniques. If you want to improve your finger techniques and he’s willing to teach you, it would be a good opportunity.”

Qin Huai looked at Zheng Siyuan and felt he wasn’t saying everything. He stayed silent and just stared at him.

Zheng Siyuan slowly added his final sentence:

“The most important reason is that my dad and Boss Su haven’t been getting along well recently. If I go to Zhiwei Residence for exchange, my dad might… act unreasonably.”

Qin Huai: 6

Qin Huai now clearly understood everyone’s thoughts. Everyone had their own considerations, and all their reasons made sense. In that case, the Si Xi Roll Research Squad might as well split up temporarily, each working independently, and reunite when fate allowed—then compare how far everyone had progressed.

He believed that by then, he definitely wouldn’t be the last in the Si Xi Roll research rankings.

Definitely not!

Qin Huai was a decisive person. After quickly finalizing everyone’s arrangements, he went straight to Su Qian and informed him of the plan.

Leaving for Zhiwei Residence the next day was too rushed. The Si Xi flower rolls had only been on sale at Huang Ji for two days—taking them off the menu immediately would be irresponsible to both the restaurant and its customers.

However, since Zhiwei Residence had no available slots next month, they couldn’t delay for too long. So Qin Huai tentatively decided to go the day after tomorrow or the day after that, and would confirm the exact date with Su Qian by that evening at the latest.

He needed a couple more days to handle things at Huang Ji—and, incidentally, to convince his dear Chef Zheng to help him make Si Xi flower rolls.

But today, his dear Chef Zheng didn’t seem interested in coming to give guidance at all.

That morning, Qin Huai worked as usual, making pastries. Si Xi flower rolls were interspersed with San Ding buns, Wu Ding buns, mung bean cakes, hibiscus cakes, osmanthus cakes, and lotus root starch balls. The quantities weren’t large—even for Si Xi flower rolls, he only made a normal chef’s daily production amount.

After business hours ended, Qin Huai didn’t work overtime. Instead, he followed Tan Weian’s example and slacked off—scrolling his phone, gossiping, eating snacks, wandering around. Since it had been a long time since he last relaxed, he was a bit unfamiliar with how to do it and basically copied Tan Weian’s behavior.

This resulted in Gu Li looking at Tan Weian with a gaze that said: Senior brother, it’s fine if you slack off, but how did you even manage to corrupt Chef Qin?

Even though you’re my senior brother, I still want to say with my eyes—

You really deserve to die.

Tan Weian, of course, loudly shouted his innocence three times in his heart.

But his grievances went unheard, and Qin Huai’s forced “slacking off” session was soon interrupted.

At 1:54 PM, after still not seeing Zheng Da in the kitchen, Qin Huai basically confirmed that he had likely skipped work again today.

So Qin Huai directly called him.

The call was picked up instantly.

“Hello, Xiao Qin? Did something go wrong with the Si Xi flower rolls? Is it the twisting stage? The reverse twist? Or both? Did you lose the feeling, or does the technique feel strange, or are you unhappy with the shape?” Zheng Da’s cheerful voice came from the other end.

“Chef Zheng, the Si Xi flower rolls are going smoothly today. No major issues. I called to ask about your neighbor’s dog—how is its health? How was the follow-up visit? Has the gastroenteritis fully recovered?” Qin Huai asked respectfully, mimicking Su Qian’s professional tone.

“Ah? What dog? Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine, completely fine now. It’s eating and sleeping well, just running around in the yard.”

“I just… just brought it back from the vet. These days vet checkups are really troublesome—even a follow-up takes two days. So I didn’t come to Huang Ji this morning.”

“If… you need me this afternoon, I can go. Otherwise I might still have something to do and won’t come today. I’ll come tomorrow instead.”

From his tone, it wasn’t hard to tell—his laziness had flared up again.

Which was normal. This was the real Zheng Chef.

Qin Huai continued politely, “If you’re busy, you don’t need to come today. The main reason I called is to tell you something else. Yesterday Su Qian told me…”

Qin Huai briefly explained the situation about going to Zhiwei Residence and everyone’s plans, then asked if Zheng Da could help him make Si Xi flower rolls at Huang Ji for at least a week.

With Zheng Da’s skill, replicating Qin Huai’s Si Xi flower rolls into a lower-quality version wouldn’t be a problem.

The response he got was silence.

Qin Huai assumed Zheng Da was unwilling, which he could understand. Asking a lazy chef like him to work for a week at Huang Ji was probably more painful than death itself. So he started thinking about Plan B—maybe asking Zheng Siyuan to stay a week and imitate the rolls instead.

He just wasn’t sure how accurate Zheng Siyuan’s imitation would be.

Just as he was about to hang up, Zheng Da suddenly exploded on the other end of the line:

“WHAT?! That surname Su from Zhiwei Residence is so shameless—pressuring you to go the day after tomorrow?!”

“Do they even have anyone skilled in cloud patterns anymore? Their signature Ruyi rolls have basically been lost! If they had even one master chef skilled in cloud patterns, Gu Li wouldn’t be making his like that. Chef Zhou may be better than me in general skills, but in cloud patterns, he might not beat me!”

“For decades, I’ve been secretly practicing cloud patterns every New Year. Has he practiced longer than I have?”

“I thought that guy Su was a serious person with honest eyebrows and a righteous face—didn’t expect him to secretly poach talent like this!”

“Xiao Qin, don’t rush. I’m calling him right now to ask what he’s really planning!”

Beep beep beep beep…

Qin Huai: “……”

Chef Zheng, your focus really is something else.