I've been possessed by a culinary genius, and I've turned Shaxian snacks into a rip-off!

Upon hearing the host's announcement, the audience erupted in lively discussion once again.

"Holy crap! It's a complete reversal!"

"He really advanced? I thought he was definitely going to be eliminated."

"Didn't this guy say he preserved the original flavor of the large intestine? How did he still advance? Did the judges actually think the original flavor was pretty good after they ate it?"

"Number 33 is amazing! She preserved the original flavor and still won over the judges. Impressive! Impressive!"

"..."

Yu Shen and a few others were preparing to post the news of Li Zhibai's elimination in the group chat to make everyone laugh.

The reversal happened so quickly; Li Heizi actually came back to life.

"The password? How did they manage to turn this around?"

"That's normal. How could Li Heizi be eliminated in the first round? With his cooking skills, even if his intestines have poop in them, they'd probably still taste good."

"Have you eaten it?"

"No, I won't eat it!"

"+1!"

"......."

After the elimination rounds, 18 out of 36 contestants were eliminated. Li Zhibai made it into the second round with a daring performance of "Nine Turns Intestines," while Su Su and Fang Guoping also advanced smoothly.

During a break, Su Su walked up to Li Zhibai and gave him a thumbs up: "Master, you're amazing!"

Li Zhibai waved his hand: "Basic stuff, don't be silly!"

First of all, congratulations to all the masters who have advanced!

The host walked to the center with the microphone and announced the rules for the second round: "Next, I will announce the content of the second round—a food-themed poetry contest!"

"Each contestant will come up to the stage in order of their advancement number and randomly draw a keyword from the question bank. They will then have 60 seconds to name a dish containing that keyword and prepare it on the spot. Note! The dish name must be a recognized name; you cannot make it up yourself. The three judges will score the dishes based on their completion, and the top three will advance to the final."

Those present were once again stunned when they heard the rules for the second round.

"A food-themed poetry contest? What kind of bizarre format is this year? It's so outlandish!"

"I've seen chefs compete in culinary skills, and I've seen them compete in knife skills, but this is the first time I've seen them compete in memorizing recipes. What if they draw an obscure character?"

"Yeah! What if someone draws the character '翔' (xiang, meaning 'excrement')? What are they supposed to do then? Perform a pooping act right there and then?"

"Then I'll reluctantly make another dish that truly preserves the original flavor of Nine-Turned Intestines."

"Hahaha……"

After the rules were announced, the competition officially began.

"Please welcome our first contestant, Fang Guoping!"

Chef Fang strode onto the stage, reached into the transparent lottery box, pulled out a slip of paper, opened it, and displayed it in front of the camera.

A large character for "snow".

Upon seeing the words, Fang Guoping blurted out: "Snowflake Crab Bean."

The host's eyes lit up, and he led the applause twice: "Great! Snowflake Crab Shell, a classic Jiangsu dish. Chef Fang, please select the ingredients and begin preparation."

Fang Guoping nodded and went to get the ingredients to start cooking.

The main ingredients of Snowflake Crab Shell are crab meat and egg whites. The "snowflake" layer made by whipping the egg whites should be fluffy and dense, as light as real snow. If the cooking time is slightly wrong, it will collapse into a lump of mud. It is actually quite difficult to make.

Just as he began making the drawing, the second, the third... all eighteen contestants came up on stage one after another to draw words.

Su Su drew the character "Dragon" and immediately announced the name of the dish.

"Longjing Shrimp".

She had made this famous Hangzhou dish before, so it wasn't difficult for her; in fact, she could say it was something she could easily do.

Soon it was Li Zhibai's turn. He walked onto the stage, reached into the lottery box, randomly pulled out a slip of paper, opened it, and glanced at it. His originally confident face instantly froze.

Seeing him staring blankly at the slip of paper, the host prompted, "Contestant number 33, please show the keyword you drew."

Li Zhibai slowly turned the note over and aimed it at the camera.

A huge character for "ghost" suddenly appeared.

"Holy crap! The character for 'ghost'? Are you serious?"

"I drew the character 'ghost' in the 'Flying Flowers Order' game. Who designed this question bank? Isn't this a scam?"

"What kind of dishes do ghosts have? Ghostly creatures? Ghost chicken? No... those aren't dish names."

"I can't think of any dish with the word 'ghost' in it."

"It looks like number 33 is really going to be eliminated this time. His luck is just too bad."

"..."

The three judges were also taken aback; they couldn't immediately recall which dish contained the word "ghost."

"It's really hard to think of dishes with the word 'ghost' in them."

"Yeah! That's a tricky word. Could that kid have come up with it?"

"..."

The host, watching the countdown, reminded contestant number 33, "You have 40 seconds left. If you fail to name the dish within the time limit, you will be eliminated."

Time ticked by, and just as the countdown was about to end and everyone thought Li Zhibai was going to be eliminated, he finally came up with a dish.

"Got it!"

"I want to be—a fried dough stick!"

???

Everyone, from the judges to the audience, was completely baffled when they heard this name.

"A fried dough stick? What's that?"

"Does this dish even exist? I've never heard of it before! Is he just making this up because he can't think of anything else?"

"Possibly."

"..."

Just as everyone was discussing this, a boy in the audience who particularly loved reading history books suddenly stood up and excitedly shouted:

"I know! It's fried dough sticks! In some parts of southern China, fried dough sticks are called 'fried ghosts'."

"Is fried dough stick called 'fried ghost'? Is there any reason for that?"

The man immediately began to explain to everyone: "There is indeed a story behind this name. Legend has it that during the Southern Song Dynasty, the people hated Qin Hui for killing Yue Fei, so someone shaped dough into the likeness of Qin Hui and his wife, put them back to back, and threw them into a pot of oil to fry. This was called 'Fried Qin Hui.' Later, as the story spread, it became 'Fried Ghost.' So, 'Fried Ghost' is the same as 'Youtiao' (fried dough stick), and 'Youtiao' is the same as 'Fried Ghost.' This is a genuine folk tradition that has been passed down for hundreds of years."

"Holy crap! I've learned something new! I've been eating fried dough sticks for over twenty years, and this is the first time I've known they had such an origin."

"..."

The three judges then showed expressions of sudden realization.

"Youzhagui (炸鬼), that's definitely what they call 'fried dough sticks' in the old Cantonese area, no problem at all."

"I remember now, it is indeed a story from the Southern Song Dynasty. The fact that contestant number 33 could think of this shows that he has a certain depth of understanding of food culture, which is very good."

"......"

After confirming that the name was correct, the host officially announced: "The dish name is valid. Contestant number 33, please begin preparation."