[Genshin Impact]: I can become stronger by cooking.

"Okay, but you'll have to wait for me. By the time I finish writing today's draft, it will probably be late at night."

"It's alright, it's late at night, not many people will bother us."

"That's true."

The head chef of the De Bo Grand Hotel smiled and handed the fried food platter he had prepared to the editor-in-chief of the "Chef" newspaper.

The two are actually longtime friends, and their shared love of food is what binds them together.

The editor-in-chief took the platter of fried food and began to savor it.

Generally speaking, a platter is simply a simple arrangement of food.

But the head chef's fried food platter was not like that.

Foods of different textures and colors are arranged in a planned manner.

Not only are they visually appealing, but they also offer a delightful surprise on the taste buds.

The head chef had a clever idea when frying these ingredients.

The editor-in-chief of the "Chef" newspaper glanced into the kitchen through the window.

Sure enough, this guy coated the fried food with a layer of sauce before adding the batter.

This platter of fried foods may look golden brown, but it contains a variety of flavors.

Each bite reveals different ingredients, textures, and sauces, yet all combine to create the same delicious flavor.

Like a symphony played by multiple musical instruments on the taste buds.

The newspaper's editor-in-chief gave his old friend a thumbs-up, "Impressive."

The head chef smiled and didn't say anything more.

......

The mini-restaurant where Ruger works.

Outside the restaurant, a large number of food judges were gathered, making it much more lively than the other restaurants.

In the kitchen, Ruger and his newly developed "Fried Dough Burger" were receiving rave reviews from the judges, as if Ruger had created a completely new cuisine...

Even Luger, who was being fawned over, frowned, but he didn't say anything.

After all, this unjust path to victory was also his own choice.

Ruger wasn't about to go that far; he wasn't prepared to suffer any setbacks on this shortcut.

--------------

Outside the mini restaurant of 【Jia Zi Wei Restaurant (Grey River District Branch)】.

As the judges gradually gathered around the restaurant, Chao Ke began preparing the food.

Place the squirrel fish that have already been fried once into the oil and fry them again.

Next, stir-fry the prepared tomato sauce until it's ready. Once the double-fried squirrel fish is taken out, pour a spoonful of hot sauce over it.

"Head tilted back, tail held high, squeaking as it pours milk."

"Its appearance resembles a squirrel, and its taste is as sweet as nectar."

The squirrel fish, which perfectly met all these requirements, was served to the judges.

Looking at this dish, some judges were surprised, some were full of praise, and several others had a sudden change in expression and looked troubled.

By observing the expressions of the customers, Chao Ke could roughly tell who were genuine diners and who had come with a mission.

I couldn't help but smile. It would be quite difficult for them to find fault with this "Squirrel Fish" dish.

Because Chao Ke removed the "thorns" very cleanly.

The judges were in a difficult position with Chao Ke, but at another booth, judging was extremely easy.

In front of Louis's mini restaurant.

The judges' eyes lit up when they saw Louis take the fish and chips out of the oil.

"Stable!"

Although the selection for first place was exceptionally difficult, the choice for last place...

It doesn't take much effort.

----------

After all, this time the judging panel consisted of only 100 people, which is much smaller than the total number of people in the first round.

So, an hour and a half later, the judges had all completed their evaluations and submitted their reports to the organizers.

On the stage, several representatives of the Fontaine Catering Industry Alliance looked at the evaluation forms they had collected with troubled expressions.

One of the representatives muttered under his breath, "Didn't that official have a lot of people planted in his name? How could this have happened?"

According to the feedback from the evaluation form, the actual ranking of this evaluation should be as follows: [Jia Zi Wei Restaurant] ranked first and third respectively, [De Bo Hotel] ranked second, while [Lu Ge Restaurant] only ranked fourth.

The other representatives remained silent for a long time before someone spoke the truth.

"It's probably because the food at that restaurant is so good that it can overcome prejudice and discrimination, making them afraid and unwilling to give it a low score."

After the truth was told, the atmosphere fell into a deathly silence again.

Ultimately, however, this competition will produce an evaluation result.

The oldest representative in the Fontaine Catering Industry Alliance sighed, "Just give me the evaluation forms, you all can leave it to me."

"..."

A dozen minutes later, amidst the eager anticipation of the onlookers, the organizers of the competition finally announced the results of the second round of judging.

But this ranking...

This is probably not what most people expected, except for the last place.

[Results of the Second Round of Evaluation]

First Place: [Luger Restaurant], Dishes: [Fried Dough Burger]

Second Place: [Jia Zi Wei Restaurant (Grey River District Branch)], Dishes: [Squirrel Fish]

Third Place: [Debo Hotel], [Fried Food Platter]

Fourth place: [Jia Zi Wei Restaurant (Main Branch)], dish: [Meat King Burger]

...

Sixteenth Place: [Vasari Corridor Food Stall], [Fish and Chips (with two dipping sauces)]

Looking at these ranking results, even Chao Ke, let alone others, couldn't hold back his emotions.

However, Chao Ke's reason for losing his composure differed from others' doubts about the outcome.

Chao Ke already knew that he would be targeted in this competition, so he was not surprised by the result.

What truly surprised Chao Ke was the title and ingenuity of Lu Ge's work.

[Fried Dough Burger]...

Chao Ke even went to Lu Ge's place to take a look, and it was indeed as he had imagined.

"Hand-made dough, baked on-site..."

They are so similar.

Even Chao Ke couldn't help but sigh, this chopping board has never lacked geniuses.

In his previous life, this concept, combined with the name "fried dough burger," might have actually made this kid a success.

Unlike Chao Ke's unique perspective, the crowd watching the scene had an unusually high level of discussion about this result.

Because in this second round, not many residents of Fontainebleau actually participated in the evaluation.

As to whether the evaluation results are objective and fair, one can only ask those who experienced it firsthand.

Fortunately, most of the judges were willing to share their insights.

Apart from the specially invited newspaper guests, almost all the professional judges praised the [Ruger Restaurant]'s [Fried Dough Burger].

When it came to [Jia Zi Wei Restaurant], these professional judges either stammered or hastily summarized it in just a few sentences.

The public judges generally gave Jia Zi Wei Restaurant high marks, especially for their Squirrel Fish, which left a deep impression on them.

However, the audience also gave high marks to the "Fried Dough Burger" at [Luger Restaurant], praising its creativity and decent taste.

For a time, even professional newspaper reporters were stumped, unable to determine whether the ranking was inflated.

Only Ove, the editor-in-chief of Steambird News, and the editor-in-chief of Chef's newspaper, noticed a clue.

But these kinds of things require evidence, especially large-scale events held in the heart of Fontainebleau.

Without concrete evidence, no one dares to publicly question the accuracy of the ranking results in the newspaper.

At most, they might point out that the judging process for the competition lacks transparency, thus hinting at something.

...

Louise walked to Chao Ke's side, looking somewhat downcast.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chao Ke, even with your help, I still couldn't get into the top three."

Chao Ke patted Louise on the shoulder and comforted her gently.

"It's okay, this list won't be around for much longer anyway."

"Eh? Mr. Chao Ke, what do you mean?"

Chao Ke smiled, but instead of explaining in detail, he said...

“Louise, you guys have been working for quite a while without a break, haven’t you? Go back and tell Ashley and the others that the restaurant will be closed for a few days so you can all have a few days off.”

"what?"

Chao Ke looked in the direction of Mo Mang Palace, thinking that by now, that person should have received his invitation.

.....

On the rooftop of the Momang Palace, in a room that belonged exclusively to Funina.