Chapter 53 Zheng Shifu Drops In Randomly (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

After the lunch service ended, Qin Huai confirmed the time for an afternoon video call with Zheng Da via WeChat. He first prepared the buckwheat steamed buns that Chen Huihui wanted to eat, and at 2:30 p.m. began making locust flower steamed buns.

To ensure the video exchange went smoothly, Qin Huai assigned Qin Luo—whose video shooting skills were the best in the family, whose photo-editing skills were top-notch, and who was best at zooming in for close-ups—as the camerawoman.

“Master Zheng, please take a look at this angle. Is it okay?” Qin Huai waved at the phone camera. “Is it clear? Can you see everything on the counter?”

“Yes, but the camera can be a bit closer,” Zheng Da said.

Qin Luo took two more steps forward.

“Good, good—this distance is perfect,” Zheng Da’s voice came again from the phone.

Qin Luo held up the phone and looked at Qin Huai for help: “Brother, this locust flower bun dough takes so long to rise… Am I going to have to hold this phone up for two or three hours?”

“Hang in there. Believe in yourself,” Qin Huai encouraged. “Tomorrow we’ll temporarily remove hand-squeezed lemonade from the cafeteria menu, and I’ll make you Four-Happiness Dumplings.”

Qin Luo instantly felt energized. She immediately declared that two or three hours was nothing to her—she had spent even longer squeezing lemons every day just a few days ago.

What had all that hard lemon-squeezing been for? To train her hand muscles and build strength—so she could better hold the phone today!

Qin Luo held the phone steadily, eyes shining.

“This is freshly produced locust flower honey from this year,” Qin Huai said to the camera, showing a jar of honey. He scooped several spoonfuls into warm water to dissolve it. “When using honey for dough fermentation, the amount must be small. After experimenting during this period, I’ve roughly determined this amount.”

Zheng Da on the other end of the call nodded involuntarily.

“This flour was ground from un-sifted coarse flour my grandfather had someone make in the countryside, mixed with a small amount of buckwheat flour.”

Qin Luo gave the coarse flour and buckwheat flour a close-up shot.

“Now I’m going to start kneading the dough.”

Qin Luo quickly turned the camera toward Qin Huai’s hands, adjusting the angle from time to time to ensure Zheng Da could see every detail of his technique.

Thus began a unique video consultation session.

Most of the time, Qin Huai did the talking. While explaining, he also raised questions such as:

“Right now, my biggest issue is that while honey fermentation works, the results aren’t ideal. I think the problem lies not only in the fermentation process but also in other aspects. For example, when mixing the dough, cold water is used—but I’m unsure how to control the water temperature. Should I use room-temperature cold water in summer, or should I add ice to lower it further? Do you have any insights on this?”

Zheng Da replied: “Water temperature generally depends on the room temperature that day. When it’s hot, the water should be cooler; when it’s cold, the water should be warmer. There’s no fixed range—mostly it depends on your own feel.”

Another example—

“Looking at my kneading process, are there any obvious issues?”

Zheng Da replied: “Your technique is excellent—fast, efficient, and the dough is smooth and elastic. You’ve achieved the ‘three smooths’ perfectly. However, since this is a coarse flour mixed with buckwheat dough, I feel you’ve made it slightly too balanced in firmness. Maybe it could be softer—don’t rely on brute force, use finesse.”

Qin Huai responded: “I’ve tried softer dough, but the fermentation results weren’t good.”

“Really? What about firmer dough?”

“Even worse.”

“Then this does need some research. In theory, softer should be better.”

Qin Luo, holding the phone, felt the two were talking in circles.

The same points were repeated over and over.

Zheng Da asked, “Will this work?” Qin Huai said no.

Zheng Da asked again, “How about this?” Qin Huai still said no.

Zheng Da sighed, “Oh, so none of these work. Then I don’t know either—I’ll have to think about how to make it work.” Qin Huai replied, “Alright, thank you for your effort. I’m also thinking about it.”

After three hours, no solution was found—but plenty of conversation was had. Zheng Da even learned where Yunzhong Cafeteria was located, what its signature dishes were, which pastries were most popular, and that the one holding the phone was Qin Huai’s younger sister, Qin Luo.

Likewise, Qin Huai also learned about Zheng Da’s family situation in detail. Zheng Da had a son and a daughter. His son, Zheng Siyuan, inherited his craft and opened a pastry shop. He also had a senior apprentice surnamed Huang who ran a restaurant in Suzhou.

While waiting for the locust flower buns to steam, the two chatted happily. Zheng Da even slapped his thigh and insisted that Qin Luo had worked hard holding the phone, and that he would arrange for his factory to send dozens of boxes of various pastries as snacks for her.

With dozens of boxes of snacks on the line, Qin Luo dutifully continued holding the phone to ensure their conversation flowed smoothly.

“Xiao Qin, your basic skills in white-case pastry are quite good. You started young, right?” After hours of conversation, Zheng Da’s tone had become much more familiar.

Qin Huai thought for a moment. “Second grade… around six years old. I started school early.”

Zheng Da nodded approvingly. “Not too late. Seems like your family valued this. My son started slightly earlier—around five years old. But your skills are better than his, both in kneading technique and time control.”

“I’ll send you my son’s WeChat later. You two can communicate more.”

Receiving another contact from a fellow practitioner, Qin Huai naturally agreed.

“Thank you, Master Zheng. Your son also—”

“He’s like you, running his own small pastry shop. Oh right, his shop is also near a residential area—what a coincidence.”

Zheng Da suddenly straightened up and asked with concern, “Xiao Qin, are you dating anyone?”

Qin Huai: ?

Qin Huai shook his head. “No.”

Zheng Da clicked his tongue. “Why are young people these days like this? My son is the same. But you’re still young—no rush. My son, though—he’s already 29, pushing thirty, and still has no interest in finding a partner. It really worries me.”

Qin Huai comforted him: “Master Zheng, don’t worry too much. Relationships should happen naturally. Finding the right person is what matters most—it can’t be rushed.”

Zheng Da felt relieved and said emotionally, “Don’t call me Master Zheng—it sounds too formal. Just call me Uncle Zheng!”

Just then, the locust flower buns in the steamer were ready.

Qin Huai had already seen it.

[Locust Flower Steamed Bun C-Grade]

Perhaps due to being distracted while talking, the result this time didn’t even reach C grade—it was C-.

Qin Huai lifted the steamer lid. Amid rising steam, Qin Luo hurriedly wiped the camera lens so Zheng Da could clearly see the buns.

“Looks like they’re not very good,” Zheng Da remarked. Then he added with some confusion, “That’s odd. Xiao Qin, your skills are good—these shouldn’t turn out like this.”

“This is also what puzzles me,” Qin Huai said. “Based on the recipe and its description, the ideal locust flower bun should be stunning.”

“The surface should be as smooth as a fine-grain bun, without pores, with a slightly sweet taste and a faint aroma of locust honey. The texture should be soft, and because of the buckwheat flour, it should also have a slight chewiness.”

“And the bun should also be elastic.”

“But the finished product I make falls far short of these standards.”

Zheng Da fell silent for a rare moment.

“Xiao Qin, to be honest, I’ve only heard of such locust flower buns—I’ve never actually seen one. But I believe they do exist. However, from your steps alone, I can’t really find any major issues.”

“Here’s what we’ll do. If you don’t mind, send me your exact location. I’ll come over tomorrow.”

“Watching via phone just isn’t the same. I’ll be there in person and see if I can find a solution.”

Hearing that Zheng Da wanted to come personally, Qin Huai was truly surprised. Although they had hit it off, it was only their first day knowing each other—and through a middleman at that.

Strictly speaking, Qin Huai’s relationship with Zheng Da wasn’t even as close as the regular office workers who came daily to grab buns at Yunzhong Cafeteria.

Just because a video call couldn’t solve the issue, Zheng Da was willing to travel all the way over—this level of enthusiasm wasn’t far behind Chen Huihong!

“Isn’t that too much trouble for you?” Qin Huai blurted out.

“It’s no trouble,” Zheng Da waved it off. “I don’t have much to do anyway. Unlike my son who runs a pastry shop and has to make and sell pastries every day, my factory basically runs on its own—I just check the accounts periodically.”

“It’s been a long time since I encountered something this interesting. Xiao Qin, send me your address. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Perfect timing—I’ll also taste this locust flower bun of yours and see what exactly went wrong.”

The video call ended.

Qin Luo put down the phone and shook her already sore and numb arm. “Brother, is Uncle Zheng really coming tomorrow?”

With dozens of boxes of snacks on the line, she had already started calling him Uncle Zheng.

“Probably,” Qin Huai wasn’t entirely sure either. As Zheng Da said, he had money, time, and leisure—making a special trip for something interesting wasn’t unusual.

There were plenty of wealthy, idle elderly people in Yunzhong Residential Complex. Just look at Luo Jun—his hobby was ordering takeout under his real name just to leave negative reviews. It made sense if you couldn’t understand them.

What Qin Huai didn’t expect was that Zheng Da not only came the next day—but came quite early.

At 10 a.m., one of the quietest periods of the day at Yunzhong Cafeteria…