Unable to match his son's skills, Qin Congwen's dumpling-making technique remained unchanged for decades.
This year is different; this year he truly gained new skills.
Initially, he secretly learned from Chen An, whose dumplings were slightly better than Qin Congwen's, being a professional breakfast chef.
People are like this: if someone is much better than you, you can't see where exactly they excel because you simply don't understand. But if they are only slightly better, you can observe a thing or two.
Qin Congwen gradually improved by learning these one or two things.
After Pei Xing and Li Hua came to Yunzhong Restaurant, his progress accelerated. Both are professional pastry chefs trained at Zhiwei Restaurant, the regular army, formally educated. Unlike Chen An, the breakfast chef, they had theoretical knowledge, understood the pastry system, and most critically, their teachings were substantial, teaching Qin Congwen without a hitch.
