Stand on the dough. It is too stiff to knead hard by hand, and body weight through a plastic bag does in a minute what your arms would take ten to do. The two hour rest after it is not optional either: skip it and the dough fights the rolling pin and springs back as you cut.
Oil the noodles if they are going to wait. Boiled, rinsed and tossed in a spoonful of oil they sit overnight in the fridge; without it they set into one block.
Fry the whole spices for under a minute. You want the moment the kitchen changes smell. Past that the cloves and star anise turn bitter and there is no way back.
For the street version, add a sesame sauce. Four tablespoons of Chinese sesame paste or tahini, two of sesame oil, two of light soy and a teaspoon of dark, loosened with the water the noodles boiled in until it pours like double cream. It will stiffen when the first liquid goes in - keep adding and stirring and it comes back. In Wuhan the stock goes over the sesame sauce, not instead of it.
Toss it hard before eating, from the bottom up. The dish is defined by every strand being coated, and it will not do that on its own.