Era: You're asked to cook a home-style dish, but you cook Wellington.

"Gao Yang, can't a dish with such perfect presentation even participate in the competition?"

The hope in Lin Ran's eyes shattered little by little, her face filled with resentment.

Zhou Guodong also looked deep in thought.

This improved version of steamed fish head with chopped chili peppers is perfect in every aspect – ingredients, flavor, and cooking time. Adding even a tiny bit of something else would completely ruin the flavor of the fish head, and all the effort he put into it would be wasted.

What should we do?

In Gao Yang's mind, one dish after another kept coming up with inspiration, but it was really too difficult to make a stunning dish out of fish.

Either the dishes are inadequate, or they cannot be prepared using existing methods, but in either case, there is no guarantee of winning the competition.

He struggled to his feet and went to the kitchen. The more he worked, the deeper his brows furrowed. He brought out a plate of fish belly.

"Wow, this looks great!"

Lin Ran's eyes sparkled as she picked up her chopsticks and took a bite.

"It's not as good as Chef Zhou's."

A moment later, she put down her chopsticks, her face full of worry.

The scene fell silent again, a suffocating atmosphere spreading through everyone's hearts.

"Maybe the Golden Dragon Hotel isn't doing a good job either?"

Wang Biao's eyes darted around, and he interrupted everyone's thoughts with a comment.

Everyone glanced at him speechlessly.

"Get lost, I can't be bothered with you."

Lin Ran rolled her eyes at him speechlessly.

Wang Biao reluctantly shut his mouth, shrank his neck, and stepped aside.

"Shall we quickly create a new dish now?"

Lin Ran suddenly realized this and looked at the two chefs.

"Both chefs are at the pinnacle of their respective fields; a powerful combination like this is definitely a good fit!"

Gao Yang shook his head.

"Five days is not enough."

Indeed, given the current pace, if we were to overturn everything and start over, there would be no cost to trial and error.

Right now, time is the most important thing for them.

"Master Zhou!"

The shout interrupted everyone's thoughts once again.

"What's wrong?"

When Zhou Guodong realized that the person who came was his purchasing partner, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the man stopped in front of Zhou Guodong, panting heavily, and said urgently, "Master Zhou, something terrible has happened! We can't buy a single fish of decent quality at the market!"

"What?!"

…………

Inside a private room at the Dragon Hotel.

"Third brother, you did a good job."

Brother Long looked at the chef that the third brother had found with satisfaction, then glanced out the window, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

The third brother bowed deeply, his face full of flattery, and looked up with a smile.

"Brother Long, you're so clever! We've spread the word, and now, not only can we not buy a decent fish at a fancy restaurant, but even ordinary small eateries can't find one! Now all the good stuff is in our hands!"

Brother Long nodded and looked at the unfamiliar chef standing in front of him.

The man was dressed in a white chef's uniform, looked to be about 50 years old, had his hands in his pockets, and had an arrogant expression with an indescribable air of arrogance in his eyes.

"Brother Long, this is a chef I hired from Lingnan at great expense and through connections. His surname is Ma. He's an expert in fish dishes. He even studied in Japan before. He's incredibly skilled."

The third brother introduced himself in a low voice.

Brother Long picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

"Master Ma, how confident are you of winning the competition in five days?"

"win?"

Master Ma sneered, his tone arrogant.

"Brother Long, just watch and see how I crush them, especially that Gao Yang. He's just a kid. I'll show him that Yicheng isn't his place to be in charge."

"good!"

Brother Long slammed his hand on the table and burst into laughter.

"Very good! As long as you help me beat the Grand Court Hotel and help me get rid of Gao Yang, I'll give you 30% of the shares in the Golden Dragon Hotel!"

Upon hearing this, Master Ma was overjoyed and immediately clasped his hands in greeting.

"Thank you, Brother Long! Don't worry, I guarantee I'll complete the mission. Not to mention a small restaurant like Haoting, even nationwide, when it comes to fish, there are very few who can beat me!"

Brother Long nodded again.

"Alright, you can go now. During this time, you have full control over all the resources of the Golden Dragon Hotel. If anyone doesn't listen to you, just tell me!"

After saying that, he stood up and walked to the window, his eyes filled with gloom.

He looked at the Grand Hotel and muttered, "Su Wanqing, Gao Yang, you can't even buy fish, how do you expect to win?"

…………

Grand Court Hotel.

"What did you say? You can't even buy a single fish!"

Zhou Guodong suddenly stood up, stumbled, and almost knocked over the table behind him.

His eyes were red-rimmed. At this critical juncture, if there was no fish, they couldn't even cook a dish, so what was the point of competing? They might as well just admit defeat.

He felt a throbbing sensation in his temples.

"Yicheng is so big, and there's more than one market. Why don't you go to the fish farms in the suburbs? It's a bit further, but as long as you can buy fish there, that's fine."

The purchasing agent was so anxious he was almost in tears, wiping his sweat and shaking his head.

"Master Zhou, I've gone! I've been to three big markets and even the fish farms in the suburbs. All the live, jumping bighead carp and grass carp, as long as they look decent, have been bought up! The rest are just small, miscellaneous fish and dead fish, completely unsuitable for cooking!"

He paused, then continued.

"Moreover, I've heard that they not only paid a high price to buy all the fish in these markets, but they also said that whoever supplies fish to Haoting will go out of business."

Zhou Guodong was so angry he almost ground his teeth to powder. He slammed his fist on the table, making the teacups on it vibrate.

Everyone around gritted their teeth when they heard this.

"Damn it, how can we tolerate them bullying us like this? If you ask me, we should just rush over and beat them up, and steal a few fish."

"That's right. Anyway, Brother Qian has a gun. I'd like to trouble Brother Qian to bring his bodyguards and come with us. I don't believe we can't steal a few fish."

Wang Biao grew increasingly angry as he listened, and stormed back into the kitchen, a cleaver in his hand.

"I don't care anymore, I'm going to charge out and kill them all today!"

"Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive!"

It took everyone's combined efforts to stop Wang Biao at the door.

Gao Yang frowned and looked at the Golden Dragon Hotel across the street.

At the entrance of the Jinlong Hotel, several trucks loaded with large fish were parked, and several strong men were carefully carrying the fish inside.

Sunlight shone on the fish, reflecting the water's shimmer. The fish leaped and splashed about in the water, creating sprays of water. Their appearance was even better than the fish Haoting usually used.

A cold glint flashed in Gao Yang's eyes.

Brother Long is going all out.

Without ingredients, even the best cooking skills are useless.

Five days is an incredibly difficult time. You have to buy fish, cook, and deal with any other tricks Brother Long might pull.

"Hey, look, aren't those people from the Grand Hotel?"

The thugs saw Gao Yang and his group standing at the door and looked at them with mockery.

"Hey, your Haoting Hotel is supposed to be the best hotel in Yicheng, but you can't even buy a single fish."

"Stop competing, pack your bags and go home!"

"Ha ha ha ha."

Wang Biao was so angry that he was trembling all over, his blood was boiling, and puffs of white smoke were rising from his head.

Zhou Guodong's face darkened, and he stood there, unable to utter a single word.

Gao Yang also said coldly, "Go back, there's a way."

Since they want to die, let them die a complete death.