Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 862 - 429: Craftsman’s Spirit (Part 2)

"Master Zhou, I think this one's the best." Qin Huai pointed to the most artificial-looking piece on the plate, which was obviously made by Zhao Cheng'an.

In Master Zhou's words, Zhao Cheng'an's snacks were heavy on craftsmanship, following instructions to the letter, doing exactly what was taught without any personal touch. But this kind of craftsmanship was a major plus when it came to purely aesthetic snacks, like adding wings to a tiger.

At least that's how Qin Huai saw it.

For something like aesthetics, if you can copy it, of course, you should.

It was clear that Master Zhou wasn't very pleased with Qin Huai's taste.

"You think Lao San's is better, but can you tell which of the remaining two was made by Zhou Yan and which by Wang Jiayi?" Master Zhou asked.

Upon hearing Master Zhou's question, Qin Huai paused his actions and stared at the other two top-quality jade bok choy pieces for a long time. Finally, he pointed to one with a very verdant color, particularly well-done gradient parts, looking indistinguishable from a mini bok choy. If there's an issue, it's probably that the leaf details weren't handled well; each leaf looked somewhat similar, not quite like a real jade bok choy.

"This jade bok choy should've been made by Sister Yan," Qin Huai said. "Sister Yan's color handling is much better than Brother Jia Yi's, but her finger skill is not as good as his, nor is she as bold. When it comes to these finer details, Sister Yan prefers the safest approach, making them exactly the same, avoiding trying something she hasn't done before."

"As for Brother Jia Yi's, its details are impeccable, but the color doesn't match up to Sister Yan's. His bok choy is a little too green, and he deliberately made a short leaf that looks like it was broken and even added yellow-black spots on the leaf, which is clearly Brother Jia Yi's style."

"As for Su Qian's, I won't even mention it; making a jade bok choy at Su Qian's level is a bit too much for him."

Hearing Qin Huai's precise critique, Master Zhou felt both gratified and helpless and asked in a slightly puzzled tone, "You articulate these critiques so well and know their styles clearly, but why do you like Lao San's jade bok choy?"

Master Zhou almost seemed to have the words: 'Is this your taste? Do you just like these soulless but expertly crafted snacks?' written all over his face.

"Brother Cheng'an's snacks look very standard," Qin Huai said. "I know Brother Chen An's snacks are heavy on craftsmanship and lack personal touch, but for this type of snack, I find Brother Cheng'an's snacks more visually appealing. You can't find any obvious flaws or mistakes, so isn't that a good-looking snack?"

"It's a good-looking snack, but it shouldn't be what a snack master with aspirations should be making," Master Zhou said earnestly, pointing at the hedgehog buns Qin Huai had made earlier. "Like the hedgehog bun you just made. Does it look good? These hedgehog buns are absolutely good-looking; from the eyes to the overall shape and every spike pricked out, there are no shortcomings, but don't you think these hedgehog buns are as good-looking as snacks made on an assembly line?" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Saying this, Master Zhou directly took the hedgehog bun Qin Huai was working on from his hands. "Even when I ask you to watch and make at the same time, paying attention to two things at once, you make hedgehog buns that look exactly the same as before."

"The first batch of hedgehog buns you made looked very standard in size and appearance. I told you to make some with different characteristics, maybe smaller or bigger, but your 'smaller' and 'bigger' came out looking the same. I asked you to make something different, not to change the mold and press a batch of uniformly different models for me."

Seeing Qin Huai somewhat dazed, Master Zhou sighed helplessly, "I should have known you would make the same mistake as Lao San. I shouldn't have let Lao San take you under his wing from the start. After a few days, he even spoiled you."

Qin Huai weakly said, "This shouldn't have anything to do with Brother Cheng'an. I've always been like this with making snacks. My imitation skills are particularly strong."

"As Tan Wei'an would say, he suspects I drank too little Mengpo Soup and haven't completely forgotten things from my past life."

"Strong mimicry skills are a good thing but also a very fatal flaw," Master Zhou said. "Do you know why Lao San, who was famous as a genius when he first started learning from me, is now just average among the crowd?"

"Because he wants to learn everything but is skilled at nothing?" Qin Huai guessed.

"Not entirely. His biggest flaw was that at the beginning of his craft, he relied on his talent to blindly imitate, which cultivated a bad habit. During the apprenticeship phase, everyone mimics; trying to perfect a snack starts with imitation, and no one can avoid this."

"But to make a snack truly your own, you must discard imitation and not rely on it excessively. When I taught Zhou Yan and Wang Jiayi, I never encountered this issue, and now I think it might be because their talents were far less than yours and Lao San's. They never tasted the rapid progress brought by talent and thus didn't develop a reliance on it."

"But it's different for you. Both of you have too much talent and rely on it too much."

"You told me that when your Master Cao taught you Knife Skills, the first thing he taught you was to forget. I found it a bit strange at first; while it's a good method, it's too risky and complicated, and normal people wouldn't use this method. Your Master Cao doesn't seem like such an impulsive person to start with such a method."