AGN -Chapter 406 Home Court Advantage

With Zheng Da’s strong support, Qin Huai successfully completed the handover of his work at Huang Ji. On May 19th, he boarded a high-speed train to Hangzhou.

When booking the tickets, Boss Su was very considerate. He specifically bought seats for Qin Huai and Tan Weian in the same row, while Gu Li and Su Qian were seated two rows behind them. The other apprentices from Zhiwei Restaurant were even in different carriages entirely.

The high-speed train from Suzhou to Hangzhou took only one hour. If Qin Huai wanted, he could even get off, quickly settle in, and head straight into the kitchen at Zhiwei Restaurant to start working like a packhorse, experiencing its intensely “competitive” culture firsthand.

However, Boss Su had also said that Zhiwei Restaurant’s competitive atmosphere only applied to apprentices, not master chefs. Qin Huai was already a master chef, so there was no need for him to compete. He just needed to sit back with his hands behind his back and watch others scramble.

On the train, Qin Huai silently took out five takeaway boxes from Huang Ji from his backpack. Each box was filled with pastries, and thanks to the gradually rising temperatures, they were still warm.

There were no flashy, complicated pastries that looked expensive and out of place in a simple lunchbox. All five boxes contained plain, unpretentious breakfast pastries that Qin Huai liked.

These were given to him by Zheng Da right before boarding.

Since this wasn’t Qin Huai’s first time at Huang Ji or his first time leaving it, he had already told Huang Shengli beforehand not to send anyone off. He wasn’t traveling alone anyway—there were so many people from Zhiwei Restaurant that even splitting them into groups required multiple taxis. A farewell send-off would have been unnecessary.

Huang Shengli understood. Young people these days didn’t like overly emotional goodbyes. Although he was no longer young, he had a youthful mindset and would not make things awkward or stage surprise send-offs at the station.

And indeed, he didn’t.

But Zheng Da did.

Boss Su had booked a 9:16 a.m. train for Qin Huai. Because Qin Huai suffered from severe travel anxiety, he usually arrived at the station an hour early—he would rather wait too long than risk being late.

So Qin Huai arrived at 8:00 a.m.

And there, at the station entrance, he saw Zheng Da who had clearly been waiting for a long time.

Zheng Da was wearing a plaid striped shirt that looked loose and cheap enough to be mistaken for a 39-yuan street stall purchase—but in reality, it was a new Balenciaga “ugly shirt.”

Paired with it were Versace jeans that didn’t quite match and seemed slightly too small, and Yves Saint Laurent leather shoes that clashed so badly with the rest of the outfit that it looked like he might step onto a runway at any moment.

The result was a very expensive-looking outfit that, instead of exuding luxury, made him look like a middle-aged man wearing counterfeit knockoffs from a street market.

But what really caused that impression was the white plastic bag in his hand, containing five lunch boxes that clearly held xiaolongbao, siu mai, buns, and other breakfast items.

Combined with Zheng Da’s exhausted and sorrowful expression, he looked like a struggling middle-aged man trying to sell unsold breakfast at the train station.

After seeing Qin Huai, Zheng Da didn’t say much. He simply handed over the lunch boxes with a somber expression and told him briefly to study well at Zhiwei Restaurant.

If he was bullied, he shouldn’t endure it—just fight back verbally. Aside from Chef Zhou, none of the master chefs there were worth respecting. And if he couldn’t win arguments, it didn’t matter—Zheng Da would go help him argue personally.

Finally, Zheng Da reminded him to eat breakfast. The five boxes were made early that morning specifically by him, all containing Qin Huai’s favorite foods.

Paper-wrapped siu mai, soup-filled xiaolongbao, three-delicacy buns, three-fresh steamed dumplings, and shrimp dumplings.

It was extremely thoughtful.

The only slight problem was that he had completely underestimated Qin Huai’s appetite. Qin Huai wasn’t Shi Dadan—there was no way he could finish all that heavy food for breakfast.

As for Shi Dadan, he was indeed interested in going to Hangzhou to eat pastries for a while—but not now.

He still couldn’t bear to leave the good food in Suzhou. Although Hangzhou had top-tier pastry restaurants like Zhiwei Restaurant, it lacked high-end savory kitchens like Huang Ji. In that regard, it was slightly inferior.

Besides, the short-term rental he had in Suzhou hadn’t expired. By his logic—save where you can, spend where you must—even though a few days of meals cost about the same as rent, he couldn’t waste the rent. He would go after it expired.

At this point, one might wonder: was Shi Dadan not planning to return to Guangdong at all?

Yes, that was correct.

According to Shi Dadan, things back in Guangdong didn’t require his constant attention. On the surface, he ran a seafood business, but the real profit came from aquaculture, which was effortless for him whether he was present or not.

On top of that, his two troublesome children weren’t doing well in school, which raised his wife’s blood pressure. Since both he and his wife believed their children’s “allergy to studying” was probably inherited from him, Shi Dadan was essentially using this trip as an excuse to escape.

He planned to stay away until summer vacation.

As for his excuse, it was well prepared: the seafood business was unstable, so he needed to inspect opportunities in other cities. Whether he actually inspected anything was unknown.

In his words, if he didn’t run now, once his wife got tired of scolding the kids, he’d be next.

Their marital relationship could be described as very harmonious and friendly.

Without Shi Dadan, the breakfast naturally fell to Qin Huai, Tan Weian, Gu Li, and Su Qian.

Since Zheng Da’s surprise came completely unexpected, everyone had already eaten breakfast before coming to the station.

Qin Huai placed the lunch boxes on the small table and opened them one by one.

A truly beautiful breakfast.

The soup dumplings were delicate and exquisite, each with perfect folds and thin translucent skin. Even before tasting them, one could already imagine the burst of rich soup inside.

The paper-wrapped siu mai needed no explanation either—the skin was as thin as paper, just as the name suggested. The filling was glutinous rice mixed with diced meat and bamboo shoots. It was savory and fragrant, with each grain of rice soaked in meat juices. It was absolutely top-tier.

These two items were currently Qin Huai’s favorite breakfast foods.

Without hesitation, he moved these two boxes closer to himself and pointed at the remaining four.

“Which one do you want?” he asked Tan Weian.

“I’ll take the shrimp dumplings,” Tan Weian replied after thinking.

The apprentices from Zhiwei Restaurant knew Qin Huai loved shrimp dumplings, but none of them were particularly good at making them. Even when a new apprentice who knew how to make them was sent over later, the quality was still mediocre—nothing compared to Zheng Da.

Qin Huai handed the remaining two boxes to Su Qian and Gu Li in front, even giving them disposable chopsticks.

Zheng Da had prepared five boxes and, somehow, also included five sets of chopsticks—clearly taken from Huang Ji.

Qin Huai picked up a piece of paper-wrapped siu mai and took a bite.

Mmm. Satisfied.

Though it was a glutinous rice siu mai, it tasted more like a fresh meat siu mai, while still retaining the sticky texture of glutinous rice. The meat juices had fully soaked into the rice, making every bite rich with flavor. The diced bamboo shoots added the finishing touch, elevating it perfectly.

The outer layer of the siu mai wrapper didn’t just serve to wrap and shape it—the slightly firm texture paired perfectly with the filling of glutinous rice that was rich, sticky, and full of juice. It was so moist that when picked up with chopsticks, it would even drip down in clumps like a paste.

There were a full six paper-wrapped siu mai in the box, packed tightly. After eating two, Qin Huai was already a bit full and had to switch to the soup dumplings to clear the palate.

As expected, the soup-filled xiaolongbao had thin skins and abundant broth. But while the skin was thin, it wasn’t so fragile that it would break the moment it was picked up, spilling all the soup and leaving only regret.

One bite in, the slightly warm broth—lightly sweet but still predominantly savory—exploded in his mouth, giving an extremely satisfying sensation.

Qin Huai ate two more xiaolongbao to settle his stomach, then was completely full. He put down his chopsticks and watched Tan Weian eat.

Tan Weian’s appetite was even worse than Qin Huai’s. After three shrimp dumplings, he couldn’t continue and could only stare longingly at the pastries.

“Qin Huai, what do you think is going on with Chef Zheng today? Why did he suddenly make so many pastries in the morning and personally bring them to the train station? I’ve never seen Chef Zheng make breakfast like this before. I’ve always heard from Zheng Siyuan that Chef Zheng looks down on making such simple pastries,” Tan Weian sighed.

“He normally doesn’t make these kinds of pastries. Today…” Qin Huai paused. “Maybe he just wanted to see me off.”

“See you off?” Tan Weian didn’t understand. “It’s only a one-hour train from Suzhou to Hangzhou. I remember Chef Zheng even has a factory in Hangzhou, and he goes there often. What’s there to see off?”

“The meaning is different,” Qin Huai could only say that much.

In fact, he had a rough understanding of Zheng Da’s mindset.

The last time Qin Huai left Huang Ji, he was going home. This time, he was leaving to study. Although he had never formally taken Zheng Da as his master, it was obvious to anyone how much Zheng Da wanted to take him as a disciple. In every sense, Qin Huai could be considered Zheng Da’s junior.

Now this junior, whom Zheng Da favored the most, was going to study under the place he disliked the most—and likely under Chef Zhou, whom he disliked even more. Even though Zheng Da was deeply unhappy, he had to admit that in terms of technique, Chef Zhou was far superior.

So Zheng Da was in a conflicted state: dissatisfied, yet also feeling Qin Huai should go to Zhiwei Restaurant; wanting to show off his strength and make a statement; and in the end, he chose to make something he normally disdained—but that Qin Huai loved—and also something that would make Qin Huai realize how strong his “Chef Zheng” truly was.

Qin Huai began thinking about how to message him.

A proper thank-you was definitely necessary. Zheng Da had gone out of his way to prepare breakfast, and that alone deserved a long message of gratitude. The question was how to write it—and from what angle.

While he was drafting the message, Qin Huai suddenly remembered a piece of gossip he had been curious about for a long time. He glanced at Tan Weian and saw that even though he was already full from shrimp dumplings, he was still struggling to eat paper-wrapped siu mai.

“Tan Weian, I want to ask you something,” Qin Huai said seriously.

Tan Weian looked up.

“I heard Chef Zhou really likes sarcastically mocking people. Is that true?”

Tan Weian almost choked on his siu mai.

“Cough cough cough…”

After coughing several times and drinking half a bottle of water, he finally asked in horror, “Who said that? Chef Zheng? Or someone else?”

Qin Huai answered honestly: “Su Qian.”

Tan Weian almost choked again. He looked like he wanted to jump up and confront Su Qian—weren’t you supposedly Chef Zhou’s direct disciple? Does Chef Zhou know you’re slandering him like this out here?

As if he could read minds, Su Qian calmly turned around, half standing up while still holding a box of three-delicacy buns.

“It was me,” he said. “Chef Zhou does have the habit of sarcastic remarks.”

Tan Weian: “……”

“I was just telling Little Qin Chef that sometimes Chef Zhou’s sarcasm isn’t targeted at him. It’s just his habit. Of course, most of the time when he mocks Chef Zheng, he really means it.”

Qin Huai looked at Tan Weian. “Is that so?”

Tan Weian, clearly unsure what could be said, replied cautiously, “I guess… so.”

“Chef Zhou does… have that habit.”

“He comes to work right on time every day. Sometimes he’s late because he doesn’t really care about salary deductions. Whenever he sees me being late, he’ll casually say something like: ‘Oh? Living across the street and still hit traffic? Looks like the roads near Zhiwei Restaurant are really bad.’”

Qin Huai looked at him suspiciously. “Did you ever use traffic as an excuse for being late?”

Tan Weian: “……Only once. I really couldn’t think of anything that day, so I just said it.”

Qin Huai nodded, now understanding a bit more about Chef Zhou. Not only did he like sarcastic remarks, but he also had a good memory.

“I have another question,” Qin Huai continued.

“I heard Chef Liu and Chef Hua don’t get along because their children once dated, then broke up badly, and since then the two chefs have been at odds in the kitchen. Is that true?”

Hearing this, Tan Weian immediately became energetic. He slapped his thigh and raised his voice.

“Of course it’s true!”

“Not just fighting in the kitchen—you don’t know this part. When Chef Liu’s daughter and Chef Hua’s son broke up, they once ran into each other on the road. Guess what happened? They kept blocking each other’s cars, refusing to let the other pass. Then Chef Liu’s daughter got angry and tried to cut in, but Chef Hua’s son didn’t brake at all and stepped on the gas, crashing her car into a roadside greenbelt and knocking down two municipal trees. It cost a lot in compensation!”

“It even happened near a bun shop at that intersection, and someone recorded a video. I’ll find it and send it to you.”

Su Qian was shocked. “That actually happened?”

Tan Weian said proudly, “Of course. I was an eyewitness. Su Qian, you remember that Chef Liu and Chef Hua weren’t originally hostile, right? It all started after that incident. From then on, it became total war in the kitchen—no one would even acknowledge the other.”

“The result of that crash? Chef Liu’s daughter was fully at fault for unsafe overtaking. She had to compensate for the municipal landscaping, the trees, and also Chef Hua’s son’s car repairs. I specifically looked into it.”

Watching Tan Weian’s animated expression, Qin Huai suddenly found himself even more excited for his trip to Zhiwei Restaurant.

So before, Tan Weian had just been an ordinary gossip lover—limited by being in someone else’s territory.

Now that he was back in his own home ground…

It was going to be very interesting indeed.