CHAPTER 790: CHAPTER 400: FINGER SKILL ADVANCED LEVEL 2

Of course, there were a very few guests who recognized that this roll seemed to be the Four Happiness Roll; they remembered the Four Happiness Roll that Zheng Da made at the very beginning. However, the recipe had changed, replacing diced fatty pork with ham, which tasted better. Since it was not the original flavor, these guests were unsure and could only subtly ask Gong Liang if Master Qin learned this Four Happiness Flower Roll from Zheng Da.

Zheng Da didn’t teach well; he taught it as his initial version and led Master Qin astray, so they renamed it the Four Happiness Flower Roll.

One can only say that Master Zheng took all the blame for Master Qin.

Huang Shengli was not surprised when Qin Huai suggested putting the Four Happiness Flower Roll on the shelves a day earlier. He could see that Qin Huai didn’t care at all about how much his Four Happiness Roll turned out to be a disaster. Among all the people, the one who cared the most was actually Zheng Da.

However, Huang Shengli was still curious about why Qin Huai wanted to put it on the shelves a day earlier. To Huang Shengli, there was no difference between today and tomorrow.

So, Huang Shengli asked directly.

"Maybe because I feel like my Four Happiness Roll improved today." Qin Huai spoke more tactfully in front of Huang Shengli, refraining from blatantly saying his Finger Skill had reached the Advanced level, "I think the batch of Four Happiness Rolls I just made, although still without the cloud pattern, looked much more normal overall and met the standard for selling on the shelf."

"Oh?" Huang Shengli became interested and chuckled, "It seems your Master Zheng really shouldn’t come to the kitchen every day. He hasn’t been this diligent for so long, coming early every morning. Although he doesn’t do much himself, at least he’s been guiding you all in making the Four Happiness Rolls, and sometimes he takes the time to give Guli some pointers on the cloud pattern."

"Just today, he made up an excuse to take the neighbor’s dog for a follow-up visit and took the day off, and Xiao Qin, your Four Happiness Roll just happened to improve. Looks like Zheng Da should take the neighbor’s dog to the hospital more often."

Qin Huai: ...

The neighbor’s dog doesn’t deserve this.

Huang Shengli expressed his desire to see where Qin Huai had improved. Qin Huai was actually curious himself, as he didn’t really feel anything when his Finger Skill leveled up.

Qin Huai had long noticed that when Basic skills leveled up to Intermediate, the feeling was very strong, because Basic skills were truly mediocre, and leveling up to Intermediate meant entry-level, so he could clearly feel it at the moment of upgrading.

Advanced level up to Master Level also had a strong feeling; Master Level was evidently a threshold, determining whether a chef was an ordinary chef or a master chef, a hurdle many ordinary chefs couldn’t overcome in their lifetime.

But from Intermediate to Advanced level, the feeling wasn’t so pronounced; the boundary between the two was relatively blurred.

Qin Huai initially had Intermediate dough fermentation, then it advanced to Advanced level. If Qin Huai were to ask people like Zheng Siyuan or Zheng Da, who had seen his progress firsthand, they’d surely say he improved, but not very obviously.

Qin Huai’s dough fermentation wasn’t bad before. This game’s system rates basic skills strangely; Intermediate dough fermentation among ordinary chefs is already considered competent, and Advanced dough fermentation is just a further step, not amazing.

Qin Huai thought that if one day he wanted to astonish everyone with his dough fermentation skills again, it might have to wait until his fermentation reached Master Level.

Huang Shengli followed Qin Huai to the culinary platform to watch Qin Huai make the Four Happiness Rolls.

Tan Wei’an hadn’t finished gnawing on his Four Happiness Roll. Seeing Qin Huai continue, he too wanted to take a lazy break from making snacks, so he stood by idly watching.

Zheng Siyuan saw Tan Wei’an and Huang Shengli gathered around Qin Huai and thought Qin Huai had come up with some new trick, so he put down his work and went over, only to find Qin Huai routinely stuffing the rolls, and directly asked Tan Wei’an:

"Did Qin Huai make the cloud pattern?"

Tan Wei’an replied without hesitation, "No, not yet. It’s still an ordinary flower roll, just a bit nicer than before."

"Then what are you watching for?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"I’m eating," Tan Wei’an answered with bold confidence. "I’ve been making snacks all morning, and with just over an hour until business hours and more work, I must seize the time to rest a bit."

Zheng Siyuan: ...

Zhiwei Restaurant has a Direct Disciple like you... consider yourself a super connection.

As the two chatted, Qin Huai’s process had already reached the stage of rolling.

Setting aside the difficulty of rolling correctly or incorrectly, making the Four Happiness Roll wasn’t complicated—it could even be said to be quite fast.

At the stuffing stage, as long as the amount is controlled well, whether the rolling is deft or not, it can be done quickly. Only chefs exploring and hesitating between the two might do it slowly.

Before, Qin Huai didn’t even have the qualification to explore and hesitate, but now he had a bit.

Qin Huai remembered clearly that every time Guli explained, he would mention that pressing the little finger against the Four Happiness Roll helps for a better roll.

To be honest, every time Qin Huai attempted it during correct rolling, he found this step seemed unnecessary.

Whether pressed or not, the result seemed the same; either way, it rolled out the same.

But this time, when Qin Huai pretended to use his little finger to press against the Four Happiness Roll as before, he suddenly realized why this step was necessary.

The resistance is also a kind of force, and the finesse of the Four Happiness Roll was actually a combination of various forces.

To describe it in detail, you could make it a middle school physics problem about force analysis, asking students to draw a force analysis diagram and analyze from which direction to exert force.

Qin Huai, for the first time, somewhat understood where the so-called skills of correct rolling for the Four Happiness Roll lay, and for the first time truly realized why Finger Skill can be a basic skill.

Finger Skill is indeed a technique; it truly can be a chef’s fundamental skill.

It’s like Knife Skills and Fire Control, all testing a chef’s technique and capability in exerting force, except Finger Skill involves a lighter, more delicate force, suitable for more advanced snacks, pursuing a more comprehensive aspect.

It’s not merely for visual and aesthetic appreciation but also for an overall enhancement of the snacks.

The high-difficulty snacks aren’t crafted with elaborate techniques just because there’s nothing left to innovate elsewhere; only high-difficulty snacks have the qualification for such intricate presentation.

Although Qin Huai’s correct rolling still had many issues, and if Guli were beside him to explain in real-time, he could still point out nine issues in Qin Huai’s eight pause points.

But at least Qin Huai was genuinely performing the correct rolling.

It was the correct rolling in the process of creating the cloud pattern.

Not pretending to roll without understanding.

Zheng Siyuan originally intended to leave, but seeing Qin Huai’s correct rolling, suddenly didn’t want to leave. It was as if his heels got nailed to the spot, his eyes fixated on Qin Huai’s hand movements. Zheng Siyuan’s obvious action immediately caught Tan Wei’an’s attention; Tan Wei’an also looked at Qin Huai’s hands following Zheng Siyuan’s gaze.

Then Tan Wei’an widened his eyes.

In terms of making cloud patterns, Tan Wei’an was more skilled than Zheng Siyuan, which was probably the only pastry prowess Tan Wei’an currently held over both Qin Huai and Zheng Siyuan.

For this reason, Tan Wei’an could see more.

He could see that while Qin Huai still wasn’t very adept at making the cloud pattern, he was already on the right path.

Tan Wei’an tried to recall how long it took him to embark on this true path—5 months or 7 months.

He couldn’t remember, and it didn’t matter.

How long did Qin Huai take?

Half a month?

Is he human?

Come on, dude.

Even if you’re a genius, you can’t be this much of a genius.

Do you know how difficult it is to grasp the cloud pattern? Do you know how challenging it is to get started with it? Do you know the level of difficulty and obscurity this skill has in pastry-making? Do you know how many renowned master chefs can’t make Four Happiness Rolls and Ruyi Rolls with this level of cloud pattern?

Do you know?

If you don’t know, it’s okay. I know!

Even though Tan Wei’an was already quite used to Qin Huai being a freak, he was always unwittingly stunned again by Qin Huai’s extent of freakishness.

At that moment, Tan Wei’an’s mind was filled with the same doubt Zheng Siyuan had encountered before.

Does imagining a game system driving oneself crazy provide such great help in culinary skills?

How is that attribute panel configured anyway? How does this thing work, and how do you determine what level you are, and how proficient?

Tan Wei’an murmured, "Wow, is leveling Finger Skill to Advanced really that useful?"

"So, what level is my Finger Skill at?"