Food: Randomly set up stalls, even the little guy is drooling.

"Vote!" Master Liu repeated. "Those who vote for Wang Shun, raise your hands."

The three masters' hands remained motionless.

"Those who voted for Ah Feng, raise your hands."

Lu Feng received a unanimous vote.

Wang Shun's face turned deathly pale as he stared at the pastries, muttering, "Impossible, this can't be..."

"Why is it impossible?" Master Liu sighed. He walked to the long table, picked up a meat bun from the steamer, and handed it to Wang Shun. "Try it, you'll know once you try it."

Wang Shun picked up the steamed bun, broke it open, and the seemingly familiar yet unfamiliar pale gold color directly tore through his inner defenses.

"How is this possible?!"

Wang Shun couldn't believe his eyes. This pale gold color was something only his master, Jie Lu, could produce with his exclusive secret technique—Golden Soup Dumplings!

These two dishes, Golden Soup Dumplings and Golden Open-Mouthed Buns, are what earned Jie Lu the title of Master Pastry Chef.

He couldn't wait to take a bite, wanting to prove that it was only similar in appearance but not in essence. But after taking one bite and biting into the meat filling, the rich broth inside complemented the filling in the bun, creating a superposition of three kinds of umami flavors!

Although he hasn't reached Jie Lu's level yet, he's already beyond the reach of someone who already possesses the skills of a junior pastry chef!

Master Liu asked Lu Feng with a serious expression, "When did you learn from Master Xie?"

Lu Feng was bewildered. "Who taught me that?" "I learned it from the system."

So, this so-called S-grade meat bun with only an ordinary name actually has an upgraded recipe?

"He didn't learn from me," Xie Badan sighed. "And it's even less likely that he learned from Xie Lu."

"So...self-taught?" Master Li also stood up. "No, this bun contains your philosophy, Master Xie."

Master Wang sighed, "To my shame, after making steamed buns for twenty years, I'm still no match for a kid who's only been in school for a month."

The other apprentices were even more astonished. They hadn't expected Lu Feng to win the competition, and they certainly hadn't expected their masters to give such high praise.

Master Liu looked at the apprentices and said, "You should try it too. You think you're in the best pastry shop in the world, but you don't know that there are always better places out there."

The apprentices immediately swarmed forward and devoured all the buns the two had made.

"Wang Shun's steamed buns, wow, they're really almost as good as the second-grade steamed buns in the shop."

"Yes, if I could achieve that in my lifetime, I'd be laughing in my sleep."

"Wait, wait, wait!"

"It really is a pale gold color! Although I've never eaten it before, it really does look like the color of Master Jie Lu's golden soup dumplings."

"This taste! It's so fresh! What's added? It has the freshness of meat, the freshness of soup, and finally, when you bite into the filling inside, it all blends together and creates a new freshness."

"It's so delicious! It's just as good as the top-quality buns made by the chefs."

Master Liu stood before Lu Feng with a complex expression. "Young man, with your skills, apart from Master Lu, I'm afraid no one else in this shop can teach you. You are truly a formidable young man."

He turned and patted Wang Shun on the shoulder. "Master Jie Lu isn't here, but he told me before he left that making steamed buns requires complete dedication. You can't have too many other thoughts on your mind. If you have other thoughts, it won't be pure. You lost, but it's actually a good thing for you."

Wang Shunmu nodded and slowly walked out the door.

Jie Badan led Lu Feng and Aman to his room.

Aman couldn't hide his excitement either, "Afeng, you're amazing! The masters have such high praise for you!"

"Master, my victory wasn't exactly honorable either; it wasn't something I figured out myself," Lu Feng said.

He suddenly realized that in order to win against Wang Shun, he had used the system's recipe without authorization. This S-level recipe, once fully mastered, was second only to the special-grade cuisine of this world!

This also cost him a chance to defeat his opponent fair and square.

"You don't need to be modest," Xie Badan sighed. "Your basic skills are only half a month old, yet they are far more solid than Wang Shun's. Especially in seasoning and heat control, you learned them much faster than you did in making pastries."

Lu Feng felt increasingly ashamed. "Master, you don't know, I'm a cheater."

"As expected, the culinary world still needs young people like you. Ah Man, you should learn more from Ah Feng."

Aman nodded emphatically, his eyes sparkling.

"Ah Feng, come with me." After instructing Ah Man, Xie Badan led Lu Feng to his own small courtyard.

"I don't have anything else to teach you." Xie Badan squatted down, pointed to a clump of green in the courtyard, and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Lu Feng shook his head; his selection of candidates was a solid zero.

"This is called shepherd's purse, one of the wild vegetables people often talk about," Xie Badan explained. "It's also one of the ingredients in the only dish I created myself."

Lu Feng's mind raced, and he blurted out, "Wild vegetable steamed buns?"

Jie Badan was taken aback, then continued, "That's right, you've probably heard others talk about it. This is the dish that I rated as a senior pastry chef."

"As long as you can make third-class buns and register with the government, you can become a junior pastry chef. Becoming an intermediate pastry chef is mostly just a matter of time. But to become a senior pastry chef, you must have an innovative dish that can rival first-class buns."

Jie Badan said with a self-satisfied air, "When I was young, I was just as spirited as Wang Shun. With this wild vegetable steamed bun, I quickly won over the judges' stomachs, but to go further was as difficult as climbing to the sky."

"Because this dish wasn't made with the same high-quality ingredients as others, I wasn't awarded the title of Master Pastry Chef, and that's a regret that will forever remain in my heart!"

Lu Feng listened attentively, when Xie Badan suddenly grabbed his hand. "I don't have much to teach you, except for this wild vegetable steamed bun. I hope you can inherit it and one day help me carry it forward."

Time flew by, and Lu Feng soon arrived at the last day of his dream.

I thought he came to learn how to make buns from Xie Lu.

When Jie Badan uttered the words "wild vegetable steamed buns," he realized that his real master was actually this unassuming old man in front of him.

She possesses skills comparable to a top-tier pastry chef, yet she was excluded because her wild vegetable steamed buns were considered unrefined.

"Master." Lu Feng called out "Master" with genuine emotion. The other party's unreserved teachings were entirely worthy of this title.

"I'm leaving."

Jie Badan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly seemed to realize something. "Let's go, let's go. You should have graduated long ago. I really have nothing more to teach you now."

"No, I don't mean leaving here," Lu Feng explained. "Actually, I'm not from this world."

"I knew that a long time ago." Xie Badan's old face rarely showed a smile. "But no matter where you go, you will always be my disciple."

As the countdown reached its final second, time was up. Lu Feng, his eyes reddening, finally couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "Master, I will definitely make your wild vegetable steamed buns famous in my world! I want everyone to know that there is a master pastry chef like Jie Badan!"

Lu Feng felt a tremor run through his soul once again.

In his last glance, he seemed to see the stern, old man crying.