CHAPTER 791: CHAPTER 401: FOUR HAPPINESS FLOWER ROLLS

Advanced Finger Skill has brought Qin Huai a lot of insights. Although these insights didn’t lead to significant improvement, they made him realize the techniques and difficulties of Finger Skill for the first time.

As one of the foundational skills determined by the game system, Finger Skill is highly technical. This technique is not only reflected in high-difficulty skills like the Cloud Pattern but also in various aspects.

Qin Huai even felt a bit of realization that the reason why his progress with the Cloud Pattern was so slow, and why he had long been the last in the Four Happiness Rolls research team, was because his foundation in Finger Skill was too weak.

Although he previously appeared to have the level of Intermediate Finger Skill, he only had the awareness of Basic Finger Skill.

And Basic is the lower limit of the game’s level rating, not Qin Huai’s lower limit.

Qin Huai previously did not place much importance on Finger Skill; or rather, he underestimated it a bit. This might be related to Master Qin having been a breakfast shop chef for many years, and the deeply ingrained belief by the breakfast shop chef that made Qin Huai think Finger Skill was just for pinching pleats in buns and shaping high-difficulty snacks like flower-shaped steamed buns and dumplings, which require high Finger Skills.

There are only Basic and Master Level, with no Intermediate and Advanced levels in between.

Qin Huai had no pursuit for Master Level, so he thought the awareness of Basic was sufficient.

But the fact was not like that.

After Finger Skill reached the Advanced level, during the process of making the rolls, Qin Huai clearly felt how delicate a skill it was. It required skillful hands, but not just skillful hands.

What Finger Skill requires is techniques, strength, technology, and awareness parallel to each other. The reason why Qin Huai previously believed that all snacks requiring high-difficulty Finger Skill are very high-end was because of the numerous demands Finger Skill had on various skills. Even if each was just a little, altogether, it seemed like a very high-difficulty skill.

It’s not as simple as learning one or two things, like pinching pleats for buns, shaping shumai, making buns of uniform size, knowing how to properly use tools to create pretty hedgehog buns, or making cute-looking piggy buns that are considered learned.

It requires aesthetics, technology, a certain level of basic skills, dexterity in the fingers, and most crucially, awareness in this domain.

It has very high demands for awareness.

After Qin Huai advanced to Master Level in the skill of filling, he understood many deeper things about conditions. His first reaction after tasting snacks was not to marvel at their deliciousness but to contemplate and explore the pairing between filling and dough, the use of ingredients, and how the necessary ingredients for the snack were processed.

These things Qin Huai couldn’t discern before; it wasn’t because his palate wasn’t sensitive, but because he lacked this kind of awareness.

Just as it’s described in martial arts novels, no matter how well external techniques are practiced, without matching internal cultivation methods, it’s all in vain. Only through mastering both external and internal can one become a Master.

Making snacks is the same, no matter how good the technique, hardware conditions, or the sensitivity of the tongue, without the corresponding awareness, the achievement can only reach that level.

Now, many readers might be curious whether Qin Huai’s improvement and realization in Finger Skill awareness can directly reflect in the process of making Four Happiness Rolls?

Qin Huai: Yes, my friend.

Qin Huai slowly completed a batch of Four Happiness Rolls.

Huang Shengli, Tan Wei’an, and Zheng Siyuan were all watching from the side, from start to finish.

Although Huang Shengli is a meat Chef and not proficient in pastry, it doesn’t mean he couldn’t see Qin Huai’s progress or the principles therein. As a master of hot dishes, Huang Shengli knew better than anyone how important insight on awareness is, even more than the progress in technique.

In Huang Shengli’s view, progress in awareness is the most challenging.

Technique can be honed through practice, but awareness can only be achieved through a flash of insight. Saying it’s through a flash of insight isn’t even entirely accurate; Huang Shengli felt it’s not even a flash of insight, but more like a mathematician suddenly grasping an elusive inspiration symbolized by a white dove while pondering a tough problem.

First, you can’t be sure if a white dove will fly past you; second, you can’t be sure if you can capture that moment.

It’s more like fate.

And as a result, Qin Huai achieved just such a fateful insight.

Huang Shengli even thought of calling Zheng Da, telling him you don’t need to come tomorrow, and preferably not the day after either, stay home for a couple more days, don’t hinder Xiao Qin’s progress.

As for Zheng Siyuan, he wasn’t as perceptive as Huang Shengli and didn’t notice the significant progress Qin Huai made in his awareness; he just simply noticed that Qin Huai’s Four Happiness Rolls seemed somewhat presentable, seemingly barely initiating.

The last place in the Four Happiness Rolls research team finally initiated, so of course, Zheng Siyuan had to witness this moment worth celebrating.

As for Tan Wei’an...

He had indeed properly learned Cloud Pattern and could see slightly more than Zheng Siyuan, but he wasn’t very interested in watching, nor did he place much importance on it. He watched from the sidelines for so long simply because he wanted to slack off.

At first, Tan Wei’an whimsically thought about whether he could imagine a game system, give himself skill ratings, and allocate skill level to make astonishing progress that would amaze everyone.

After just two minutes of thinking, Tan Wei’an realized it was impossible.

He hadn’t lost his mind; he couldn’t achieve it.

Then Tan Wei’an started looking for something edible, and on the culinary table, he found the lotus root powder balls made by Qin Huai that hadn’t been cooked yet and cooked two bowls.

Huang Shengli didn’t eat, Tan Wei’an had a bowl, and Zheng Siyuan had a bowl.