AGN -Chapter 450 The Brightest One

Question: What should you do if a hidden quest is triggered?
Answer: Just open the game panel and check the quest. Anyway, Zhao Cheng’an already knows Qin Huai has a game system. As a well-known “crazy person” in the industry, whatever Qin Huai does on the street is considered normal.

That’s what Qin Huai thought—and that’s exactly what he did.

He casually “tapped into empty space” and checked the hidden quest on the spot.

Zhao Cheng’an: ? Bro’s condition seems to be acting up more frequently lately. Not only is he pointing around in the kitchen, now he’s doing it outside too.

Hidden Quest:

【The Brightest One】: As the protagonist who possesses a game system, upon arriving at the former No.1 restaurant in old Beijing, Taifeng Tower, and after hearing about the glorious achievements of the legendary head chef Jiang Chengde, how could you not feel your blood boiling? How could you not create your own legend in the very place where Jiang Chengde once achieved greatness? This exchange conference is exactly such an opportunity. Culinary arts have no boundaries—how can someone who has only made a name in the pastry (white-case) field be a qualified protagonist? Please shine brightly at this exchange event and become the most unforgettable “brightest star” in the organizers’ memory.

Quest Reward: 【A fragment of Zhao Cheng’an’s dream】

Qin Huai: ?

“Become the most outstanding at the exchange conference and be remembered by the organizer?” Isn’t the organizer the new boss of Baobao Zhai, Ling Guangzhao? In other words, it means being remembered by Ling Guangzhao.

But how is a pastry chef supposed to stand out at a banquet-style (hot kitchen) exchange event? Is he supposed to spend the whole day making pastries in Baobao Zhai’s kitchen until Ling Guangzhao remembers him deeply? That doesn’t seem realistic.

Right now, Qin Huai’s strongest pastries are basically A-grade or A- grade. In the pastry world, that already counts as quite strong—master chef level. But in the hot kitchen world, it’s not enough.

Currently in the country, overall pastry standards are lower than hot kitchen cooking, and even top-tier pastry chefs are not as strong. Zhou Chef, the undisputed number one pastry chef, doesn’t even make it into the top 30 of the Famous Chef Ranking.

In contrast, although there are not many top hot kitchen chefs in the top 30, there is at least Elder Xia at rank 9 holding the fort. The number one on the list, Master Peng, is already retired, but still holds the top position and prestige.

As for Ling Guangzhao, the owner of Baobao Zhai, he must have seen many top-tier hot kitchen chefs. Take Tong Deyan as an example—his dishes can also reach A-grade. Using A-grade pastries to impress Ling Guangzhao… that’s quite difficult.

Qin Huai finally understood why this was a hidden quest. Although it looked like one, it was actually a timed quest.

The exchange conference starts tomorrow and ends the day after. The time left to complete the quest is extremely short—basically “miss it and it’s gone.”

The reward, however, was very tempting.

【A fragment of Zhao Cheng’an’s dream】

Zhao Cheng’an only has three dream fragments in total—missing one would be a huge loss.

Qin Huai’s gaze toward Zhao Cheng’an instantly changed. It became: “Bro, why is your dream so hard to unlock?”

Other people’s quests, no matter how difficult or absurd, can at least be left aside. But yours has turned into a time-limited quest?

Zhao Cheng’an: ?

“Brother Cheng’an,” Qin Huai said with a friendly smile.

Zhao Cheng’an immediately felt alarm bells ringing. His instinct told him that whenever Qin Huai called him “Brother Cheng’an,” something bad was about to happen.

“What do you know about Ling Guangzhao, Boss Ling?”

Zhao Cheng’an answered honestly, “Not familiar at all. I’ve never even seen his photo. I only heard he studied management overseas and came back to carry out major reforms at Baobao Zhai. He’s pretty good at marketing. The business performance improved, but the reputation got a bit damaged. Not exactly a reckless spender, but very business-minded.”

“Boss Su’s evaluation of him is: capable, but lacks foresight. He likes opportunistic tricks and unconventional methods. If this continues, Baobao Zhai might be ruined in his hands. Of course, that’s assuming he doesn’t change.”

Qin Huai nodded. A rather harsh evaluation.

“What about his personality? Do you know it?”

Zhao Cheng’an shook his head.

“Can you find out?”

Zhao Cheng’an: ??

After a pause, Zhao Cheng’an asked uncertainly, “Do you need me… to find out?”

Qin Huai’s smile became even more “kind.”

“If Brother Cheng’an has time today, could you help me look into it? I’m quite interested in Boss Ling. Since we came all the way here to attend his exchange conference, we should at least understand what kind of person he is.”

Zhao Cheng’an: …?

Do you really need to understand the organizer’s personality just to attend a conference? Isn’t knowing the menu for tomorrow enough?

Zhao Cheng’an didn’t understand, but he didn’t think it was a difficult task. Qin Huai’s thinking was sometimes strange anyway. As someone two years older, it was only right for him to take care of him a bit in matters outside of pastry-making.

So he agreed.

They had already finished visiting Taifeng Tower, and Qin Huai had triggered a hidden quest. Neither of them were interested in dinner. After discussing briefly, they returned to the hotel.

Qin Huai went online to research basic information about Ling Guangzhao and Baobao Zhai’s recent reputation, while Zhao Cheng’an used the most old-fashioned method—going through the list of attendees one by one and asking around.

As Zhou Chef’s direct disciple, Zhao Cheng’an was not unknown in the culinary world. Especially in the south, many chefs knew him. He also had a good relationship with Huaiyang cuisine master Pei Shenghua.

Zhao Cheng’an loved gossip, and Pei Shenghua was even better at it—nicknamed the “King of Gossip Pei.”

After getting Pei Shenghua’s room number, Zhao Cheng’an went directly to visit him.

While going through the attendee list, Zhao Cheng’an unexpectedly found a pleasant surprise—

The representative from Huang Ji was Huang Anyao.

Meanwhile, Qin Huai’s online search yielded little information about Ling Guangzhao himself. As the boss, public attention was mostly focused on chefs rather than owners, who tended to remain in the background.

After digging through Baobao Zhai’s gossip, Qin Huai largely agreed with Boss Su’s evaluation of Ling Guangzhao.

Capable, but overly opportunistic.

Rather than someone returning to take over a family business, Ling Guangzhao was more like someone coming back to clean up a mess. Unlike Boss Su, who inherited restaurants as a chef, Baobao Zhai was a century-old establishment. Ling Guangzhao had already abandoned culinary training since his father’s generation and focused entirely on business operations. In a sense, the traditional craftsmanship had been neglected.

The consequence of neglect was vulnerability to talent loss. By the time he took over, Baobao Zhai’s veteran chefs had either retired or been poached.

The restaurant still had its name, but in reality it was almost an empty shell.

Baobao Zhai used to be one of the rare restaurants combining both hot and cold kitchen departments: the first floor sold pastries, and the second floor was for dining. But after the chefs left, the pastry floor was completely shut down.

After taking over, Ling Guangzhao’s first move was to aggressively recruit talent. He paid a high salary to hire Tong Deyan, a skilled but controversial chef, as head chef. Then he ramped up marketing, turned Baobao Zhai into a trending internet-famous restaurant, pushed new dishes, encouraged customers to take photos, slightly raised prices—and achieved a massive revenue surge in a short period of time.

The downside was that the backlash from traffic growth hit quite hard. Reputation issues that should have taken a longer time to surface suddenly exploded in a very short period. Fortunately, because Tong Deyan’s skills were solid, the current reputation wasn’t a major problem.

After reviewing Baobao Zhai’s development over the past two years, and thinking about how Ling Guangzhao was willing to spend heavily to host this exchange conference—going as far as reimbursing first-class round-trip flights for attending chefs—an absurd thought rose in Qin Huai’s mind.

Ling Guangzhao was someone who liked taking shortcuts. Tong Deyan, in a sense, was a chef he had poached with a high salary.

Could it be that he had tasted the benefits of poaching top talent and now deliberately held this large-scale exchange conference to show off his financial strength—while also using it as a platform to pick out chefs among the attendees who might be willing to leave for a higher salary?

Future employees who could potentially be poached?

If that was the case, then Boss Ling really was bold in a reckless way—he truly didn’t seem afraid of being criticized.

Just as Qin Huai was shocked by his own speculation, Huang Anyao called.

“Hello.” Qin Huai answered.

“Qin Huai, I saw your name on the exchange conference list. Are you in Beiping right now?” Huang Anyao’s weak voice came through the phone.

“Yes, I’m in Beiping. What’s wrong?”

“I’m airsick,” Huang Anyao wailed. “I don’t usually take planes. The last time I flew was three years ago. I did feel a bit airsick then, but it was fine. I don’t know why this time it’s so bad.”

“This time, I’m the only one from Huang Ji. My dad doesn’t like traveling far, and originally it was supposed to be Huang Jia coming. Business has been pretty good lately, and there’s a wedding banquet the day after tomorrow, so all the chefs at the shop are tied up, which is why I was sent instead.”

“I don’t know if I can make it to the meeting tomorrow in this condition. If I’m still like this tomorrow, I might have to go to the hospital. You guys from Zhiwei Ju have two chefs coming this time. If I end up going to the hospital, can you temporarily take my place? You’ll represent Huang Ji.”

“I think you’d be more convincing than me representing them. Your ‘Guo’er’ pastry even appeared in Zhiwei magazine under Huang Ji’s name.”

Huang Anyao’s voice grew weaker and weaker. Qin Huai was almost worried he might pass out mid-call.

“Alright,” Qin Huai agreed immediately. “Just rest well. If you can’t hold on, don’t force it—go to the hospital tonight.”

“Last time, Tan Weian got motion sickness after going on several roller coasters. He thought he was fine and could handle it, but ended up hospitalized with gastroenteritis for several days.”

After hanging up, Qin Huai still wasn’t reassured, so he went to Huang Anyao’s room to check on him. As expected, his condition was quite serious. His face was pale, and even though he had landed more than two hours ago and had already emptied his stomach, he was still dry-heaving.

Qin Huai was all too familiar with this situation. Without hesitation, he dragged Huang Anyao to the hospital. As expected—airsickness, acclimatization issues, and gastroenteritis. The young boss ended up hospitalized.

There was no need to wait until tomorrow. Huang Anyao sent a message to Ling Guangzhao explaining his condition and that Huang Ji would be changing its representative for the conference at the last minute.

By the time Qin Huai returned to the hotel, Zhao Cheng’an had already come back from gathering gossip and was anxiously waiting in the room.

Seeing Qin Huai return, Zhao Cheng’an didn’t even ask where he had gone. Instead, he excitedly blurted out: “Qin Huai, you won’t believe what I just heard—it’s insane!”

“Do you know Jinling’s Wuxian Lou? No? Doesn’t matter. The owner and head chef fell out—senior brothers turned enemies. Next step is court. I heard they even dug out a will. Last week they fought right in the kitchen—they flipped the pots and everything!”

“I even got a video. Do you want to see it? It’s absolutely wild. People in Jinling really know how to keep secrets—this didn’t even spread to Hangcheng.”

Qin Huai: “…Weren’t you supposed to be asking about Boss Ling?”

“…I didn’t get anything on that. Master Pei doesn’t know Ling Guangzhao well either. I’ll send you the video!”

Then Qin Huai and Zhao Cheng’an sat on the sofa for 20 minutes watching a priceless kitchen brawl video—pots, bowls, ladles, and vegetables flying everywhere. A literal martial arts film set in a kitchen.

“People in Jinling really do keep secrets well,” Qin Huai sighed. “By the way, tomorrow morning’s meeting seating—is it arranged in advance by restaurant groups?”

“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you? You’ll just sit with me. The seating is very particular. Many restaurants don’t get along. If they start arguing, we just watch the show. Remember to record it on your phone.”

“I probably can’t sit with you tomorrow. Huang Anyao is hospitalized due to acclimatization, so I’ll be representing Huang Ji at the meeting.”

Zhao Cheng’an: ?

In just a blink, his coworker—who had even shared a room with him tonight—had suddenly become a competitor?

What’s wrong with Huang Ji? Sending only one person to such an unimportant meeting? That’s way too careless.

“Then… do you understand Huang Ji’s internal relationships? Hot kitchen restaurants can have a lot of hidden dynamics that we pastry chefs don’t know about.”

“I don’t. But I feel like Huang Anyao doesn’t either. He just asked me to attend the meeting. Nothing else. I suspect I could just show up and say I’m Huang Anyao and no one would even question it.”

Zhao Cheng’an was speechless. All he could manage was a “six” (respect).

After digesting the fact that his coworker had suddenly become a competitor, Zhao Cheng’an quickly regained energy and said excitedly: “Actually, Qin Huai, it’s not bad that you’re representing Huang Ji.”

“Huang Ji is an old-established hot kitchen restaurant, so they’ll definitely be seated with other old establishments. You’ll be right in the gossip center. If things really escalate into arguments or fights, your filming position will be way better than mine.”

Qin Huai: …

Why is Zhao Cheng’an so obsessed with people arguing and fighting? Do hot kitchen meetings often turn into live-action brawls?

Seeing Qin Huai stay silent, Zhao Cheng’an added: “Or do you have any other plans?”

“Not really. I just want to use this exchange conference as a chance to make some pastries and let everyone taste and give feedback,” Qin Huai said casually.

Zhao Cheng’an: ???

Bro—this is such a good chance to slack off and enjoy yourself, and all you’re thinking about is actually exchanging skills and making pastries?

Stop overachieving, man. We’re not even in Zhiwei Ju anymore. Beiping isn’t that intense—adapt to the local vibe, okay?

A normal exchange conference is just meetings, eating, drinking, and sightseeing. Only Zhiwei Ju’s exchange conferences would drag pastry chefs into kitchens to actually cook.