Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 93: Differences in Ideologies. Here, it should be called "Bean Dan" (3K Second Update).
"By the Qinghuai River"

The sky had darkened, and the lanterns along the riverbank emitted a soft yellow light.

Xia Ming followed Xie Tingfeng and glanced at the illuminated strips of light around the river, feeling inexplicably sentimental.

In the Nine Provinces continent, unless it is a key capital city under the protection of a holy land, it is almost impossible to see such a grand and peaceful scene.

Just as he stopped, Nicholas Tse reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"Xia Ming, do you see that ship? Bing Qing and Yu Jie are over there."

"You must be hungry by now, let's go, let me take you to try some local specialties from Ning District."

After saying that, Xie Tingfeng strode forward, and Xia Ming glanced at his back before following him.

After descending the stairs and walking to the side of the boat, the four women waved to the two men, and Xie Tingfeng responded naturally. Xia Ming also reached out and waved back.

The two then quickly boarded the ship. Before they even reached the deck, Xia Ming could smell a variety of fragrances.

As he mentally assessed the situation, he stepped into the cabin. The cabin was incredibly spacious, with two girls seated on either side of a large table, and the dishes were laid out on the table.

Xie Tingfeng sat down naturally, and Xia Ming followed suit and sat down next to him.

Then, in front of the camera, Nicholas Tse naturally introduced everyone again.

After everyone had gotten to know each other, Zhu Yibing began to introduce the dishes on the table to Xie Tingfeng.

"These are all local specialties of Ning District. This one in the middle is soy milk porridge."

Zhu Yijie added another sentence.

"Hmm, this is plum blossom cake~"

As they spoke, Xia Ming also got a general idea of ​​what was on the table.

Salted duck, roast duck, shrimp tails, vegetarian assortment, and plum blossom cake are indeed local specialties, and just as the outside world says.

Not a single duck can leave Ningqu.
Seeing that the introduction was almost finished, Xie Tingfeng took a plum blossom cake and spoke.

"It's already this late, let's eat first and chat while we eat."

Hearing this, Xia Ming took a plum blossom cake and took a bite.

Plum blossom cake is sweet and delicious, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The many garnishes on top add to its appeal, making it a pretty good pastry.

Just as he was about to taste it and see how many small ingredients were inside, Zhu Yijie pointed to a small bowl.

"Brother Feng, do you know what this is?"

Nicholas Tse glanced at it; on the surface, there were just six ordinary eggs in the bowl, nothing special about it.

So he turned his head and glanced at Xia Ming.

Xia Ming sniffed the air, pondered for a moment, and finally spoke slowly.

"They must be live pearls and balut."

Zhu Yijie nodded repeatedly. You see, before they are cracked open, balut, live pearls, and chicken eggs look basically the same, and it is difficult to distinguish them by sight alone.

Xia Ming's ability to pinpoint the problem in a single sentence is enough to prove that his familiarity with the ingredients is exceptionally high.

Zhu Yibing, who was standing to the side, also became curious upon seeing this.

"Brother Xia, can you tell which ones are live pearls and which ones are balut?"

Xia Ming nodded, then touched all the eggs before finally speaking.

"These three are baluts, and these three are live eggs."

Hearing Xia Ming's words, the four women were all stunned.

They are all locals from Ning District and they all like to eat live eggs and balut, but they have never seen anyone who can completely distinguish between the two by touch in such a short time after they are cooked.

To verify whether Xia Ming was joking, Zhu Yijie reached out, took one, and cracked it open. Sure enough, just as he said, it was a balut (a type of edible egg).

Zhu Yijie blinked, still a little skeptical, and reached out to knock on another one, but was stopped by Zhu Yiqing with chopsticks.

"Stop fooling around, one for each of us~"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yijie nodded repeatedly, then took the egg and handed it to Zhu Yiqing.

Zhu Yiqing glanced at her helplessly, then slowly cracked open the eggshell.

The camera zoomed in for a close-up, and just as Xia Ming had said, it was indeed a live bead.

Now the viewers in the live stream were also a little curious.

Who is this Xia Ming? He's quite formidable.

[Those who eat it regularly can tell by weight, but to be able to accurately judge it after only one weighing is truly amazing.]

[He looks vaguely familiar. Does anyone know his background?]

[I know him. He's the Sichuan-Chongqing "Ice and Fire Chef" who won the championship two weeks ago.]

[Oh, it's him. So his name is Xia Ming. That makes sense. He's a ruthless guy who can combine soy milk and balut (fertilized duck egg).]

[What are these? Soy milk and balut? Isn't that pure nonsense? Didn't they get roasted to death back then?]

No, and all the judges were completely blown away. You can search it up yourself if you don't believe me.

In the live stream, some people are loyal fans of Nicholas Tse, and they watch all of his performances and variety shows.

It's only been half a month since "One Meal Makes You Famous" ended, but viewers who watched it can still easily recognize Xia Ming.

It was at this moment that a small number of netizens finally equated "Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef" with "Xia Ming".

The little incident with the bald egg quickly passed, and everyone gathered together to eat and drink naturally in front of the camera.

Nicholas Tse would ask them about their recent situation and also mention some issues related to the rehearsal of the performance. The four women would take turns answering.

Xia Ming remained silent for the time being. During "One Meal to Fame," he could treat it as a more competitive competition.

But this environment of many people chatting unconsciously is actually making him a little uncomfortable.
Having no experience on this type of variety show, he was currently analyzing what the other people were doing based on their actions. After observing for a while, he realized that they seemed to be genuinely eating.
We ate and chatted, that's all.
"What kind of mentality do the viewers in front of the camera have when they watch this group of people eating and drinking?"

"Could it be that they can find happiness only through such ordinary and peaceful means?"

After thinking for a moment, Xia Ming tried to join their conversation. Because they were about the same age, he was able to chat quite happily, aided by their shared memories.

However, he also noticed that the camera didn't focus on him very often; it mostly just flashed by.

As they chatted, the four women and Nicholas Tse shifted their conversation to music.

The four of them received a lot of attention from Ning District from the moment they were born. They were even featured in the newspapers and were known as the "Four Phoenixes of Ning City".

Later, they were admitted to the same music academy, hoping to change everyone's opinion with their strength, but many people still called them "Ningcheng Four Phoenixes".

The younger sister, Zhu Yijie, couldn't quite understand this.
Hearing her helplessness, Xia Ming snorted inwardly.

In his view, it should be a good thing that cities, where the risk of death is largely avoided, receive more attention from the outset.

Having a name is far better than being unknown. In the Nine Provinces Continent, these things can only be obtained through blood, tears, and cultivation.

However, he could also figure out why; after all, different living environments lead to different ways of thinking.

The four sisters have been in the spotlight since childhood, and over time they naturally feel that this attention is a burden.

Just like Luo Luo's whining, she also turned long-term pressure into a psychological burden, which ultimately led her to do such a thing.

Faced with this situation of "whining without cause," Xia Ming mostly just smiled.

It was Nicholas Tse who was genuinely advising and comforting them.
This also clearly shows the difference between Xia Ming and Xie Tingfeng.

As time passed, the food on the table was completely devoured. Xie Tingfeng glanced at the time and signaled the boatman to take them back to where they had first boarded the boat.

After saying goodbye to the four women, Xia Ming followed Xie Tingfeng toward their next destination.

On the way, Xie Tingfeng asked Xia Ming.

How did you feel on the boat just now?

Xia Ming remained silent for a moment.

"good."

Xie Tingfeng smiled. He could tell that Xia Ming wasn't quite used to that kind of environment, but he didn't think it would be a big problem.

When he first started acting as a child, he was not much different from Xia Ming. But after he got to know more about acting, he got much better.

"Alright, we've eaten our fill. Now we need to get some work done."

As Xie Tingfeng finished speaking, Xia Ming saw a small cart that he recognized quite well; it was probably the same model he had used in the food street competition.

Xie Tingfeng asked Xia Ming with a smile.

Have you ever seen what a real film crew looks like?

Xia Ming shook his head. He had never seen the film crew, but he had seen the behind-the-scenes work of ordinary people performing on stage a few times.

Seeing this, Nicholas Tse smiled.

"I've taken on a job from a film crew. They're shooting a long night scene tonight, so I need to prepare an extra meal for the staff."

"I've already prepared the ingredients, let's cook these lunchboxes together in a bit~"

Hearing that he was going to cook, Xia Ming perked up.

He prefers to spend his time on things that are more meaningful than engaging in pointless conversations.

So he and Nicholas Tse teamed up to cook more than ten home-style dishes.

As the bell signaling "extra meal at night" rang in the film crew's office, many staff members rushed to the food truck.

They were so enticed by the aroma Xia Ming made that they even made more mistakes while filming.

At this moment, as they enjoy their delicious meal, even though they are just sitting on the ground, their faces are filled with happy smiles.

Nicholas Tse looked at everyone and sighed.

"Xia Ming, do you know? I went through the same thing when I was filming."

"There was a whole TV series, and the company gave me 40 days to film it. I also had to go on promotional trips in between, so in the end, I only had 31 days left."

"The director came to me and said that we were going to miss the deadline. I told the director not to worry about me, I don't care if I don't sleep!"

At this point, Tse Ting-fung became somewhat emotional.

"I didn't sleep for dozens of hours after that, and I was completely exhausted. It was at that time that a simple boxed meal brought me comfort."

"Because I had to be suspended by wires, I couldn't eat too much, but the taste kept me going and I finished filming the scene."

"At that time, I thought that when I had time in the future, I would definitely become a chef, because I think chefs can really bring happiness to people!"

Xia Ming looked at Xie Tingfeng, who was sighing beside him, without saying anything.

In his view, food can give people strength, or it can become the power to destroy others; these two are not contradictory.

He respects Nicholas Tse's sacred attitude towards food, but has no intention of changing his own opinion.

Seeing this, Xie Tingfeng knew that there was a difference between the two, but it didn't matter. He felt that as long as there were more opportunities, Xia Ming would gradually change.

He straightened his clothes, then finally took out his phone, opened a picture, and handed it to Xia Ming.

"Tomorrow morning we will meet with a Huaiyang cuisine chef, and then we will leave here and go to Lianyungang, where we will come into contact with a local specialty ingredient."

"At that time, we will play a guessing game with Bing Qing Yu Jie and special guests. What you need to do is try your best to imitate its taste in the dishes."

"Just tell the production team what you need so they can prepare in advance. Dinner is around 7 p.m."

Xia Ming nodded, took the phone and looked at it, and found that there was something in the picture that he recognized.

"Isn't this a 'bean worm'? No, here it should be called a 'bean weevil'."

(End of this chapter)