Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 64 Xia Ming never forgot that this was a variety show, and a bowl of ordinary noodles.
"Inside the competition venue"

More than an hour into the match, Xia Ming was still stirring the kaolin soil in front of him, even though there seemed to be nothing in the soil.

Just like this damn "life" test, once you peel back the layers, it seems to be hollow inside.

The excellent competition format blinded this dark horse fool, but Xia Ming remained perfectly clear-headed.

It was all an illusion. He never forgot that this was a variety show, just as he never had any real desire for the so-called championship.

As mentioned before, the Blood Blade Sect of the Nine Provinces Continent often holds "Disciple Competitions," where many big shots lead their disciples to broaden their horizons. When the top 16 are reached, most sects are evenly matched, making it a vibrant and diverse field.

However, looking back at all these competitions, the first place winners are mostly inner disciples of the Blood Blade Sect.

Is it because the Blood Blade Sect is powerful? Of course, that's a factor, but even immortals can't guarantee that every generation of inner disciples will have invincible geniuses.

But in reality, the Blood Blade Sect disciples always manage to be among the last few standing. Isn't that a coincidence?
The situation is just like in the Nine Provinces Continent. In Xia Ming's eyes, variety shows are just a show for ordinary people. No matter how exquisite the outer shell is, the inside is all about winning the attention of the audience, not to mention the scheming such as "pre-made dishes".

Xia Ming continued stirring the soil, a cold smile on his face.

"What 'culinary life is defined'? That sounds nice, but a chef's life is full of ups and downs over decades. How could a single dish possibly define him?"

"The idea of ​​returning to one's roots and finding the origin of cooking in comics is just something to look at and forget. Even the Five Flavors Scorpion can have different effects on different people."

"The same movie presents different scenes to different people; that's what they mean by a thousand faces for a thousand people."

"But a fabricated story is different. A touching story, whether true or false, can stir people's emotions and evoke their resonance."

"So, this round of testing isn't about cooking at all, it's about talking."

Xia Ming knew that true chefs were not obsessed with stories, because their lives were already full of ups and downs, and what they needed stories to highlight were mostly ordinary things.

There used to be a fellow disciple in the kitchen who would always bring over a lot of strange things, such as "the calligraphy left behind by the Dao Ancestor", "the map of the hidden treasure of the Heavenly Demon", and "the map of the gathering of Blood Spiders".
Whether these things are real or fake, he will always attach a magnificent story to them, even if the black lines on the picture are made from soot from the kitchen.

Most of the people who came to pick up things from him were there because of his story, just like listening to a storyteller.

However, there are always some newbies who believe it and try to exchange real contributions for it. He always laughs and says that this is the charm of the story.

Of course, the fact that he unintentionally tricked the inner disciples and was ultimately deceived into going to the back mountain to be torn to pieces is not worth mentioning here.

Xia Ming felt that there must be a mole among the seven judges in this round, but there couldn't be too many, otherwise they could have influenced the evaluation of the dishes. There was no need to bring up the "life" theme at all; they wouldn't have won even in a normal competition.

Therefore, it's highly likely that only 1 to 2 people are problematic, and their main role is to fuel the fire at the right time.

"Of the original three star judges, there is a high probability that one of them will be Tan Zhifeng, and it is hard to say about the remaining three."

Xia Ming's memories include Sui Wubai and Li Shanghu, both of whom held high positions and had no reason to do something that would damage their reputation.

I'm not familiar with Luo Yumin, so I can't be sure which side this youngest female Level 2 Special Chef and variety show chef queen is on.

However, he knew.
If Xia Yuxingye is resurrected, he will definitely seize the opportunity to break through his own limitations.

If the bald cook were to be resurrected, he might go to great lengths, unleashing his wildest ideas to disrupt the situation.

If it were Xiao Hua who were resurrected, she would definitely start telling stories, since it's said to be her specialty.

If the one resurrected is the graduate student from Banquet, she will likely see through everything and make the right choice.

As for reviving the chefs, that's absolutely impossible. There were 6 chefs and 2 contestants in the quarterfinals. Isn't that blatantly a cheating scheme?

"That's why a dark horse was eventually revived, because his persistence was obvious compared to others."

"He is proud to be from a family of chefs and wants to carry on his father's culinary traditions. When he sees this kind of topic, he will choose the dish he is most familiar with without hesitation."

"Leaving aside how well the crispy chicken is made, just from the starting point, it is inferior."

Xia Ming opened the pot of soup that was simmering nearby, smelled it, scooped some soil out of the pot and threw it in, then continued to simmer.

"Given his personality, his eagerness to be recognized by the judges, he definitely wouldn't be willing to tell stories to boost his score, because in his view, it would be disrespectful to his years of dedication. But this is exactly what the show's producers wanted."

"If I'm not mistaken, Lolo's whining story is sure to be very interesting!"

Thinking of this, Xia Ming looked up again at the stove across from him, where Luo Luo was humming and groaning. Judging from the ingredients and the aroma, she was probably making some kind of pastry.

But compared to ordinary pastries, this filling is clearly much more unique.

"Judging from the smell, she used an overripe durian, and durian, once overripe, turns from sweet to bitter."

Xia Ming spent a long time shoveling dirt, but most of the time he was actually secretly observing Luo Luo's whimpering.

As for the ingredients he wanted, they had already been prepared from the ground. As for the pile of miscellaneous blood on the table, they were just a smokescreen.

Now, he was completely certain of Lolo's cooking idea: what she was making was a dessert that looked sweet on the outside but was bitter on the inside.

The accompanying story is most likely one where, wrapped in a sweet dream, one feels no happiness, or it's some kind of suffocating "love from home."
He didn't care whether the story was made up or based on true events; after mentally perfecting his narrative, he...
After rummaging around in the dirt for ages, getting himself covered in dust and grime, Xia Ming finally put down his shovel.

Then, he opened the winnowing basket next to him, which contained several small clumps of slightly yellow noodles.

After checking the temperature of the noodles and confirming that they were completely cooled, Xia Ming took a large bowl from the side, poured the boiling water from the pot into the bowl, and then put the noodles in.

After absorbing water at high temperatures, the noodles gradually unfurled. After about a minute, Xia Ming began pouring ice water into the bowl.

The ice water quickly filled most of the bowl, and then Xia Ming sprinkled some small yellow beans around the edges before carefully pouring a thin layer of oil on top.

After preparing everything, Xia Ming revealed a sly smile, then raised his hand and directly slapped down the bell in front of the stove.

"Judges' Room"

Since entering the room, Lai Chi-on has only said one sentence, aside from greeting people.

"Guess if I put alcohol in this sesame paste?"

Because of this statement, Nicholas Tse tasted the already meager amount of sesame paste in the bowl several times, even tasting the bottom of the bowl, but still couldn't make an accurate judgment.

After thinking for a long time, Zheng Yongqi said yes, but Sui Wubai shook his head and said no.

Seeing that the others were still pondering, Lai Chi-on smiled nonchalantly.

"Whether you have it or not isn't that important. Life is about knowing when to be a little oblivious!"

After hearing his words, everyone laughed. That's right, the name of the dish is "Rarely Confused," so why insist on whether it exists or not?

Thus, with a seemingly ordinary bowl of sesame paste, Lai Chi-On received a final score of 601 points from the judges.

Until the very end, none of the judges described the taste of the sesame paste in detail, but Sui Wubai knew that no alcohol was added and that overripe bananas were used.

However, overripe bananas are essentially made up of trace amounts of ethanol produced by the slight breakdown of sugars in the pulp by natural yeast, which gives them their alcoholic taste.

Essentially, this is natural fermentation, so if you really want to categorize it, you could also call it wine.
Sui Wubai understood that Li Zhian's intention in preparing this dish was not about the alcohol at all; he was simply using this bowl of sesame paste to subtly express his dissatisfaction with the production team.

Can't he see that this round of competition is a bit far-fetched? Of course he can see it, which is why he said that whether it exists or not isn't that important.

One refers to the theme, and the other refers to the champion.

The chefs don't care about the title at all. They only came because of Tan Zhifeng. They're mostly just doing it for fun, to appear on camera and have some fun in a different environment.

But a perfectly good competition, now that it's reached the quarterfinals, suddenly has a story-telling topic, which feels a bit out of place.

Lai Chi-on has been a judge on many food shows, so he knows all the little tricks the production team has up their sleeves, but he can't say anything. He also doesn't like telling stories in front of the camera, so he can only be like this bowl of sesame paste.

Pretending to be ignorant when you know the truth
Those who understand the flavor won't make things difficult for Lai Chi On, while those who don't, analyzing only the surface, will find that this sesame paste perfectly fits the theme.

Therefore, it's only natural that they got high scores.
Just as everyone watched Li Zhian leave, the bell rang again in the judges' room.

"The contestant, 'Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef,' has finished cooking and now requests the judges to taste her dishes."

"Cooking name."

"noodle"

(End of this chapter)