After the al at Zhao Cheng'an's house, Qin Huai entered into an apprenticeship mode.
A truly authentic apprenticeship mode.
Master Zhou didn't restrict Qin Huai's working hours, as long as he arrived before ten in the morning. Nor did he restrict Qin Huai's leaving ti, as long as Qin Huai was willing, working until ten at night was not a problem. Master Zhou was always willing to accompany, and there were direct disciples at Zhiwei Restaurant who have worked until ten at night.
At this mont, Qin Huai truly understood the flexibility and freedom of Zhiwei Restaurant.
Flexible work hours, free to leave, and how many hours one worked each day depended entirely on one's desire, which the Master observed closely.
Qin Huai was the kind of apprentice who could be very diligent.
As an apprentice, Xiao Qin clocked in between 9:15 and 9:45 every morning and clocked out between 9:35 and 10:15 every night. Besides taking a 1-2 hour break in the afternoon to chat with Zhao Cheng'an about gossip, he spent the rest of the ti following Master Zhou to practice Finger Skill.
Even the ti for morning etings was not wasted, though the 45-minute eting was intended for als and not for making snacks, it was the ti to cultivate an aesthetic for snacks, to observe more good-looking snacks, and to articulate what made them visually appealing.
Master Zhou's education on Finger Skills was comprehensive, from consciousness to technical aspects.
Teaching technical skills was essential, as Finger Skill greatly relied on basic skills, with the key being stability of the hand, speed, as well as an understanding of color matching and blending.
One could see from the assorted fruits made by Master Zhou that day; to make the snacks lifelike, indistinguishable from real, the intricacies needed to be perfected. Grape leaves needed not just to resemble but to embody the spirit; besides appropriate thickness and curves, the pattern and color of the leaves, even small black dots and spots need attention.
For snacks that push Finger Skills to the extre, detail determines success or failure.
To craft such detailed snacks, besides learning to use various tools appropriately, including but not limited to small clips, tweezers, needles, handles, spoons, and custom tools that snack masters might use, a steady hand was also crucial.
Fast hands were equally important.
Spending three hours to make one dumpling, no matter how nice it looked, wouldn't qualify one as an outstanding snack master.
Too slow, no custor could wait that long.
Fortunately, Qin Huai didn't need to practice these basics. Even though Qin Huai hadn't specifically practiced Finger Skill, his advanced Finger Skill was evident, and whether it was the steadiness of the hand or the use of tools, Qin Huai's foundation wasn't bad.
That's why Zhao Cheng'an previously said to Qin Huai that his Finger Skill couldn't be mastered in a short ti; it needed ti for gradual practice.
Qin Huai wasn't starting from scratch; he had a foundation that looked quite good at first glance. To further challenge high difficulty, it indeed required ti for gradual practice.
For a student like Qin Huai, Master Zhou had another teaching thod.
"Co, look at these Jade Cabbages, keep your hands moving and continue making your Hedgehog Bun, just use your eyes to look. Among these four Jade Cabbages, which do you think is the best? Why? What problems do the others have?" Master Zhou placed a plate of freshly stead Jade Cabbages in front of Qin Huai.
The so-called Jade Cabbages, are delicate snacks shaped like mini cabbages made of ground rice and rice flours, part of the powdered rice cake category of snacks, similar to the assorted fruit platter.
Compared to the assorted fruit platter, Jade Cabbage had a much smaller difficulty coefficient because the latter obviously looked fake, not requiring such a high level of realism. They just needed to look beautiful and exquisite, like little toys for children to play with.
This type of snack had similar Finger Skill requirents to dumplings but no taste requirents, with raw materials usually being simple ground rice and rice flour. Unlike dumplings, there's no need to use fruit or vegetable juice for coloring; these snacks are typically very brightly colored, with a plain taste, just stead flour.
The primary function was for an exquisite appearance, looking good on the table.
Qin Huai used small tweezers to place spines on the hedgehog in his hand, looking in the direction Master Zhou pointed at the plate of Jade Cabbages. The four Jade Cabbages had different sizes and shapes; so were slightly greener, resembling tender cabbage, others very deep green, like Jade Cabbage.
Yet one had an imperfect color gradient; the transition from green leaves to white stems wasn't brushed well, looking as if the brush ran out of ink halfway. The leaf folds were stiff, not opening or closing where they should, looking at a glance like a buy-three-get-one-free promotional gift.
Qin Huai only needed a glance to know that the ugliest one was definitely made by Su Qian.
It could only be said that Su Qian got scolded every day and was not wronged. Among the apprentices, he was considered excellent, but wanting to be Master Zhou's direct disciple, he still had a long way to go.
Qin Huai glanced with the corner of his eye at the fat hedgehog in his hand, slowing his hand movents slightly, continuing to place spines one by one, assessing the other three Jade Cabbages.
Jade Cabbage was a snack without a standard answer.
You could make it more like real-life cabbage, with slightly richer color layers, irregular leaves, not necessarily beautiful but certainly unique.
You could also make it very fake, so fake that it looked like a Jade Cabbage made of jade exhibited in a museum. The leaf part appeared shockingly green, and although the gradient wasn't handled well, the stark contrast between green and white was very eye-catching, giving a sense of being tiny and exquisite.
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