The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 515 You Can't Eat
At 7:36, Zhao Cheng'an arrived at the Yunzhong Canteen one minute later than yesterday.

This is Zhao Cheng'an's strategy for going to work.

Arriving at work one minute late each day adds up to half an hour late in a month, and an hour late in two months.

Although Zhao Cheng'an could only stay at the Cloud Canteen for a month at most, it didn't matter. Every minute he could stay longer was a minute more. This was Zhao Cheng'an's persistence and integrity in his "slacking off" career, and a concrete manifestation of his "slacking off" spirit.

As Zhao Cheng'an walked briskly through the inner gate into the Cloud Cafeteria, he was inwardly pleased with himself, thinking that today was another successful day of slacking off. He greeted Xu Tuqiang, who was already sitting at table number 9 eating breakfast, but for some reason looked a little gloomy.

"Good morning, Grandpa Xu!" Zhao Cheng'an has a very good virtue of respecting the elderly and caring for the young. He respects the elderly in the morning and cares for the young in the afternoon.

"Good morning, Master Zhao." Xu Tuqiang forced a smile, continuing to stare at the window with wide, unwilling eyes.

Zhao Cheng'an followed Xu Tuqiang's gaze and saw that Xu Tuqiang was staring at Qin Huai, who was busy at the kitchen counter. Zhao Cheng'an then glanced at the breakfast in front of Xu Tuqiang; it was quite lavish.

Three-ingredient buns, crab roe and pork buns, pine nut shumai, and a serving of fresh pork wontons. Each dessert was beautiful and exquisite. The fresh pork wontons had thin wrappers and little filling, and each one was intact. The wonton soup had dried shrimp and seaweed floating on top, and chopped pickled vegetables at the bottom. You could tell at a glance that these were wontons from Qinhuai.

Chen An's wontons are all large wontons with thinner wrappers and more filling, mainly to fill you up. The taste is okay, but not as fresh as the small wontons made by Qin Huai.

Qin Huai's small wontons are mainly about drinking the soup and eating the wrapper. This essence was learned by Qin Huai from Zheng Siyuan. The meat filling is more of a garnish for flavor.

Zhao Cheng'an felt that Xu Tuqiang's breakfast today was fine, even more substantial than usual. Qin Huai was usually lucky to have three or four kinds of steamed buns at this time; he didn't have time to make wontons.

"Uncle Xu, are you in a bad mood today?" Zhao Cheng'an chose to ask directly.

"No," Xu Tuqiang replied perfunctorily, his eyes still fixed on Qin Huai, his mouth mechanically munching on his steamed bun. "I just felt that Master Qin was acting strange today."

"Huh?" Zhao Cheng'an looked at Qin Huai again, observing him carefully for more than ten seconds. "Is there?"

"Yes!" Xu Tuqiang said decisively, making sure his voice was firm and clear. "Master Qin has also made other pastries, which are all ready, but he just won't put them out for sale."

Zhao Cheng'an: ?

Zhao Cheng'an mentally recalled whether there had been any special orders from Luo Jun at the Cloud Canteen today, and figured it probably wasn't Luo Jun's private kitchen. Xu Tuqiang was considered a top-tier diner, aside from the group of strange and unusual people, and one of the few celebrity grandpas whose taste preferences Qin Huai remembered.

Qin Huai would even make glutinous rice cakes especially for Xu Tuqiang—when Qin Huai realized that Yunzhong Canteen hadn't been selling glutinous rice cakes for a while.

Glutinous rice cakes are not as difficult to make as other snacks, but they are a little troublesome. This is because the cakes need to be prepared a day in advance, and the process of making them by hand is quite labor-intensive, which Qin Huai really dislikes.

If Qin Huai hadn't remembered that Xu Tuqiang loved glutinous rice cakes, Yunzhong Canteen might not have been able to sell such troublesome, low-profit snacks even once a month.

"It can't be that bad," Zhao Cheng'an couldn't help but speak up for Qin Huai. "Uncle Xu, you and Qin Huai have such a good relationship. As long as it's not a specially ordered snack, even if the quantity is insufficient to be sold in bulk, Qin Huai will definitely give you a separate portion if you want to eat it."

Zhao Cheng'an's words warmed Xu Tuqiang's heart. Although Xu Tuqiang had not yet achieved the feat of eating in the kitchen, he felt that Zhao Cheng'an's words were enough. He stopped staring at Qin Huai and lowered his head to eat his wontons.

Seeing that he had no chance to stay outside and slack off any longer, Zhao Cheng'an could only go to the changing room to change clothes and go into the kitchen to work.

It was 7:47 when Zhao Cheng'an entered the kitchen.

Zhao Chengan: Hehe, I slacked off for another 11 minutes, what a steal!
The cheerful Zhao Cheng'an had no idea what he was about to face.

From the moment Zhao Cheng'an stepped into the cafeteria, Qin Huai noticed that Chef Zhao had come to work. Qin Huai had also seen Zhao Cheng'an's clumsy and deliberate slacking off, but he didn't stop him because Qin Huai was busy cooking dumplings.

Waking up early gave Qin Huai a burst of inspiration. Originally, Qin Huai only planned to make three kinds of potato dumplings, but in her excitement, she made a total of eight kinds.

Those who frequently make dumplings at home know that preparing dumpling filling is easy, but preparing too much or too little is difficult. It's easy to prepare a bowl of filling and make hundreds of dumplings, but preparing just one bowl of filling and making only a few dumplings is harder than controlling the number of buns.

Qin Huai didn't cook any of the dumplings she made; she saved them all for Zhao Cheng'an.

I dare not cook it, because if I do, I'll have to eat it.

Now, these eight kinds of dumplings are ready.

Qin Huai glanced at the dumplings placed on eight different plates.

[Potato Dumplings - Grade C]

[Potato Dumplings - Grade D+]

[Potato Dumplings - Grade B]

[Potato Dumplings - Grade C]

[Potato Dumplings - Grade C+]

There are three other types of potato dumplings whose levels are not visible. This is probably because the ingredients have been modified too much, and the game system does not recognize them as potato dumplings made according to Zhao Cheng'an's recipe.

Since his enlightenment at Zhiweiju, Qin Huai hadn't made such low-grade pastries in large quantities for a long time. Qin Huai insisted that he wasn't intentionally seeking revenge, since Zhao Cheng'an hadn't offended him. Aside from being a bit eccentric, blunt, and prone to slacking off, Zhao Cheng'an had no real flaws. Qin Huai chose to let Zhao Cheng'an eat the potato dumplings first because they were originally Zhao Cheng'an's recipe; Qin Huai believed Zhao Cheng'an should know at least a little bit about how to make proper potato dumplings.

Even if he didn't know before, after eating these eight kinds of potato dumplings, he should have known something based on his basic skills as a pastry chef.

Food tasting should be done by professionals. Right now, besides Qin Huai, Zhao Cheng'an is the most professional in the entire Yunzhong Cafeteria. Tan Weian and Zheng Siyuan aren't here, so if Zhao Cheng'an doesn't eat, who will?
Of course, Qin Huai did not show favoritism; he prepared equally wonderful things for himself.

[Rice Cake Soup - Grade D]

Qin Huai sensed something was wrong while making potato dumplings. He suspected it was because he had watched too many video tutorials and had become somewhat absorbed in them.

To test the impact of the video tutorials on him, Qin Huai chose the lowest-level recipe he had found so far and made a pot of rice cake soup using rice cakes he had bought from the cafeteria. He found that it was indeed as he had hoped.

Normally, Qin Huai wouldn't make rice cake soup taste this bad, but once you start thinking about whether to follow a video tutorial, the rice cake soup will involuntarily turn into a terrible version.

Having an excessive ability to imitate can sometimes be a disadvantage.

You can't imitate the good, but you can't forget the bad.

This pot of D-grade rice cake soup was Qin Huai's breakfast. He planned to use it to remind himself not to be bound by the recipes provided by the game, because some recipes just wouldn't work.

Zhao Cheng'an's skill level in his first life was just so-so; there was nothing to learn or emulate from his C-level recipes. Qin Huai couldn't directly judge the specific level of those three potato dumplings, which didn't have an indistinct grade, since he hadn't tasted them, but based on his experience while making them, he felt they should be better than C and D level.

Qin Huai, having no idea how to make other versions of potato dumplings, spent the entire previous night figuring out how to make them based on Zhao Cheng'an's recipe. Only after making eight different versions did Qin Huai realize that his approach might have been flawed.

Instead of trying to expand upon the C-grade dumplings, it's better to just make something up yourself.

But whether this idea is correct or not, we'll only know after Zhao Cheng'an finishes eating all eight kinds of dumplings.

Qin Huai smiled so warmly that Zhao Cheng'an involuntarily took a half step back upon seeing her smile.

"Qin Huai, I didn't mean to be late. I just chatted with Grandpa Xu outside for a bit," Zhao Cheng'an explained.

"I know, I saw it." Qin Huai pointed to the still steaming dumplings. "I made this breakfast especially for you, just waiting for you to come and eat."

"I didn't tell Grandpa Xu that I had any other snacks. You're the first to try these dumplings."

Zhao Cheng'an was moved. He picked up his chopsticks and, unfortunately, chose the lowest-grade D+ plate. He picked up a dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth without even asking if it contained vinegar.

While chewing, Zhao Cheng'an mumbled, "Aren't eight plates of dumplings, six in each, a bit too much? I can't finish them all."

"What... what the hell is this taste? How can it be so awful?" Zhao Cheng'an almost spat out the dumpling in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing with difficulty, he realized, "This is potato dumpling?"

"Why are your potato dumplings even worse than mine?"

Qin Huai looked at Zhao Cheng'an: "You know your potato dumplings are awful."

Zhao Cheng'an: "...Actually, it's not that bad. If you taste it carefully, it has a unique flavor. Let me tell you, this is what potato dumplings are like. A good potato dumpling isn't just a potato dumpling. You made it according to my recipe, right? My recipe is the most authentic one!"

Zhao Cheng'an has lived eight lifetimes. He may not have learned any other skills, but his ability to be stubborn must be top-notch. Even with seven plates of potato dumplings in front of him that he hasn't tasted yet, he can still lie through his teeth.

"These dumplings are so delicious, it's not good for me to eat them all by myself, is it? Why don't I share some with others? Doesn't Youyou want some?" Zhao Cheng'an wanted to use a trick to shift the blame to the three-legged toad that hadn't woken up yet, so that he could share the responsibility with it.

"You really have to try these dumplings. All eight of them were made according to your recipe. You have to taste them and tell me if there's any room for improvement in your recipe. I don't think there's any room for improvement."

"How could that be!" Zhao Cheng'an was furious. To prove that his prescription was correct, he popped another one into his mouth. "Absolutely! My prescription is definitely correct!"

Qin Huai couldn't stand it anymore: "This game is the lowest level, why don't you switch to another one with a higher level?"

Zhao Cheng'an put down the dumplings with lightning speed, saying, "You should have said so earlier."

"It's a good thing Grandpa Xu didn't eat them. They were so awful. If Grandpa Xu had eaten these dumplings this morning, he would have lost all his love for them."

Qin Huai thought about it seriously for two seconds and then denied it: "Probably not."

"You don't know Grandpa Xu. When he was trying the Four Happiness Tangyuan, he ate the most of them."

"It's been a while since I made glutinous rice cakes. I wonder if I can consistently make them to an A grade now. If I can, I'll have to make them every day. I really need the glutinous rice cake buff."

Meeting Zhao Cheng'an's expectant gaze, Qin Huai added, "You can't eat it."

You really can't eat this!

(End of this chapter)