The strongest anime shop owner

"What does finding a wife have to do with this?!" Su Luo rolled her eyes after hearing Dojima Gin's words, thinking to herself.

"However, no matter what, at least you're the first among the students, so let's put that aside for now!" When Dojima Gin said this, he closed his eyes, seemingly reminiscing about something or enjoying the comfort of the hot spring, and rubbed his shoulders, saying, "But you've trained quite a few excellent students last year and this year."

"Last year?" Su Luo asked instinctively, though she already knew.

“The training to prepare 50 meals is carried out simultaneously in several kitchens. I used to make sure I had showered before the students who were finished arrived.” After a pause, Dojima Gin continued, “But last year there was a man who had prepared 50 meals in advance and came here to shower. That man is now the seventh seat of the Elite Ten.”

The mere thought of Isshiki made Su Luo feel inexplicably unwell. To be honest, while she wouldn't say she hated that pervert, she didn't have much affection for him either. It wasn't about friendship, but rather his twisted sense of humor. Right now, they were probably just ordinary friends.

Okay! Actually, Su Luo said that because she really disliked Yi Se's behavior of harassing her every night, but when she thought about the scene between the two of them in the bathroom, she really couldn't bear to look at it.

Comrade Su Luo, your thoughts are so dirty.

"He's a very capable person too," Dojima Ginichi said with a sigh, recalling Isshiki's strength.

"Phew! The competition at Totsuki Academy is really fierce! Just one day of assessment is probably enough to eliminate a lot of people!" Su Luo was quite impressed by the competition at Totsuki Academy.

"That's for sure. Gathering talented people and letting them devour each other—that inhuman magic mirror is the Totsuki Academy, which is bottomless! You'd better hone your fangs, young man," Dojima Gin said after listening to Su Luo's words, giving him a reminder.

"That's for sure. Although I didn't really like learning to cook before, it has become a habit without me even realizing it. Now that I'm in this field, I believe that one day I will stand at the very top!" Listening to Dojima Gin's encouragement, Su Luo suddenly recalled her past experiences, from her initial reluctance to now making it a habit. Since she couldn't change it, she could only change herself. Since she was already in this field, she was determined to stand at the very top. Perhaps this was also a kind of destiny's arrangement!

"The pinnacle?" Hearing Su Luo's intense fighting spirit, Dojima Gin couldn't help but recall his past experiences and muttered to himself, "It seems I also need to keep moving forward! Staying still for too long will always make you rust!"

Looking at the burning belief in Su Luo's heart, Dojima Gin thought to himself, "Your goal is really ambitious, but I believe that one day you will achieve it."

For some reason, Dojima Gin suddenly felt this way, and his eyes were filled with relief. After all, there are very few people with such lofty ideals these days. No matter how good one's cooking skills are, if one's vision is limited, isn't that a kind of constraint on a culinary life? It's also a kind of tragedy!

"Then I'll take my leave first, Chef Dojima Gin." Su Luo was originally a homebody and a Chinese person. Although taking a bath was comfortable, he didn't really like it. After soaking, he went upstairs and took a shower with the showerhead, and said to Dojima Gin.

"Okay! You can go now! I might want to stay here a little longer." Watching Su Luo's departing figure, Dojima Gin suddenly felt that Su Luo's figure was somewhat familiar, but he quickly shook his head, thinking that he was just hallucinating or something.

After taking a shower, Su Luo put on her bathrobe and went to make something to eat. She quickly ate some dishes, which was her dinner, and that basically marked the end of the day.

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Chapter 106 The Secret of Tiramisu

In what appeared to be a very luxurious room, Yoshino Yuuki let out a "whoosh" and collapsed onto the soft bed.

"Alright, Megumi, come on over too!" Ryoko Sakaki said with a smile as she sat on the bed, looking at the somewhat tired Tadokoro.

Tadokoro touched the soft bed and said, "Waaah... It's so luxurious, I feel like I'll be punished by the heavens..."

"Hehehehehe..." Yoshino Yuuki lay on the bed, touching the soft mattress, and let out a strange laugh with a happy expression.

Seeing this, Ryoko Sakaki couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Yuuki... I know you're happy, but your laughter has no class at all!"

After saying that, Ryoko Sakaki saw Marui walking towards her. Noticing that Marui's cheeks were sunken in, she couldn't help but remark, "Oh dear... Marui-kun seems to have lost a little weight..."

"Is that so...? Then please listen to me..." Marui said, looking haggard and swaying as if a gust of wind could blow him to the ground: "Let's call it a day. Everyone, get some rest and look forward to tomorrow."

"Yay! We're here! Come play!" As soon as Marui finished speaking, Su Luo and the others rushed in from outside, full of excitement.

"Hoaaaaaah!" Seeing the crowd charging towards him with overwhelming force, Marui was completely stunned and didn't know what to say.

A few minutes later...

Seeing that several people playing cards had fallen asleep on the bed after only a few minutes, Ryoko Sakaki said, "I'm so tired."

"Never mind, let them sleep until lights out." Looking at how soundly everyone was sleeping, Ibuzaki Shun really couldn't bear to wake them, so he said.

"Isn't Xiaohui sleepy yet? That's strange. You usually go to bed very early." Sakaki Ryoko asked curiously when she saw that Tadokoro didn't seem to be going to bed yet. Since they all lived in the same dormitory, they knew each other's habits to some extent. She knew that Tadokoro usually went to bed very early, so it was quite strange that he hadn't gone to bed yet today.

"Hmm... How strange... My body is clearly very tired, but I'm not sleepy at all..." Tadokoro was also quite puzzled by his current state. His body was extremely tired, but his mind remained clear, and he didn't seem sleepy at all.

"But you know, I was on edge all day long -" Soma said, sitting cross-legged with one hand supporting his cheek. Although he said that, his relaxed demeanor during the assessment didn't look like he was on edge at all.

“Yes… but I think it’s more than that,” Tadokoro agreed.

"?" Ibuzaki Shun didn't quite understand what Tadokoro was saying, so he looked at Tadokoro with a puzzled expression.

Seeing Ibuzaki Shun's puzzled look, Tadokoro explained, "I'm always on edge during class, worrying about what I'll do if I fail. But today... I successfully completed my task of supporting Soma-kun, which seems to have given me... a little confidence in myself... so... I'm so excited that I can't sleep."

Thinking about everything he had done today, Tadokoro suddenly felt that he had grown a bit. Then, as if remembering something, he waved his hands and said quickly, "That...that...but it's all thanks to Soshin-kun. He told me what I should do...I'm nothing special."

Hearing Tadokoro's humble words, Soma immediately retorted, "...That's not true at all. If Tadokoro hadn't helped me find all the ingredients, I wouldn't have been able to finish that dish at all. Besides, you prepared the ingredients very well, didn't you?"

“That’s right! As long as Megumi is willing, she can do very well. You need to have more confidence in yourself, okay?” Ryoko Sakaki encouraged Tadokoro from the side.

Hearing everyone's encouragement, Tian secretly cheered herself on. She wanted to continue being with everyone and also wanted to further improve her cooking skills...

"Hey! By the way, little brother, I heard from Yuuki that you ran into her during the assessment today?" After encouraging Tadokoro, Sakaki Ryoko seemed to remember something and said to Su Luo, who had been silent all along.

"Well, because our instructor didn't specify the area for finding ingredients, I ran into Yuuki. But that's probably the luckiest thing about me! If I hadn't met Yuuki, I probably wouldn't have been able to find all the ingredients." Su Luo felt a little depressed when she thought about the process of finding eggs. There was nothing she could do. Although she knew a lot about cooking, as a homebody in her previous life, she rarely even went out of her house, let alone looked for ingredients in the wild. However, she was fortunate to meet Yuuki, her savior, otherwise, she probably would have been doomed.

"So, what kind of dishes did you make?" Ryoko Sakaki continued to ask.

“Chef Shuiyuan stipulated that we had to complete an Italian dish within two hours, so I chose to watch the tiramisu being made,” Su Luo explained.

"Tiramisu? Two hours? How is that possible?" Even the usually calm Ibuzaki Jun exclaimed in surprise after Su Luo said this.

Only Soma looked puzzled and asked, "Why are you all so surprised?"

"Don't you even know this? Tiramisu takes at least four hours to make, so two hours is simply impossible. Besides, I heard from Yuuki that when you met, half the time had already passed. That means you could only have finished making the tiramisu in at most an hour." Ibuzaki Jun obviously knew when Yuuki and Su Luo met during the assessment, so he explained.

"Really? How did you do that?" Soma's eyes lit up after hearing Ibuzaki Jun's words, and he asked Su Luo as if he had become interested.

"You idiot, this is someone else's secret, why would I tell you?" Ibuzaki Jun was speechless at Soma's interested look, not knowing what to say.

"Huh? Is that so? I'm so sorry, Su Luo." After hearing what Ibuzaki Jun said, Soma realized that he had asked a bit inappropriately, so he patted his head and said apologetically to Su Luo.

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Chapter 107 Guan Shouping's Assessment Content

Most people wouldn't talk about this unless the chef himself is willing, since it involves personal secrets.

"Actually, it's nothing! The principle is very simple, it's just density." Su Luo didn't seem to care much about this kind of thing, so she simply held up one finger and generously gave the answer.

"Density?" After hearing Su Luo's explanation, everyone looked puzzled.

Seeing everyone's puzzled looks, Su Luo felt it necessary to explain: "That's right, it's about density. The making of many foods is related to density. For example, cocktails use the principle of density to make different colored liquors have distinct layers. The principle I use is similar to that of popsicles. Now, all popsicles on the market are called popsicles, but the materials they use are different, so their textures vary. As long as you add some specific ingredients, you can keep the food frozen in a freezer instead of freezing. As for what to add, it depends on what dish you are making."

"Oh! I see!" Soma exclaimed with a look of sudden realization, clenching his fist and waving it, clearly having discovered something new.

The gathering didn't last long before everyone went home to sleep, as a good mental state was essential for facing the exams the next day.

Night quietly slipped away, and the second day finally arrived, which also meant that the second day of assessments was about to begin. In this new round of assessments, many students would inevitably be eliminated as stepping stones. This is the dog-eat-dog competition of Totsuki, a place where only the strong can survive. The weak can only be used as stepping stones for the strong. To become strong, one must constantly climb upwards, relentlessly climbing forward until standing at the very top.

Today's tasks have begun to be assigned. Due to the large number of people, the assessment will be conducted in groups, just like on the first day.

After the list was assigned, Su Luo checked the names and found that she was indeed separated from Chuangzhen and the others. This was within Su Luo's expectations, since they had already been separated at the beginning of training and there was probably no chance for them to continue. As for whether the list arrangement was random or arranged by the individuals, that was unknown.

In fact, Su Luo personally believes that this was intentionally arranged, at least this time. When Soma disagreed with Kojiro Shinomiya's food battle, Gin Dojima was able to appear so timely. Isn't that too much of a coincidence? If that's the case, then Gin Dojima is really terrifying. He actually calculated all of this. At the same time, through this competition, it seems that two people are growing, but in fact, it is all three people growing together.

However, none of this seemed to matter much to Su Luo. After all, she had already been kicked out of the storyline, so thinking about it was pointless. She should focus on preparing for the upcoming assessment.

From what we've seen so far, this is completely different from what Su Luo imagined. It's like what they say in "Infinite Terror"—that controlling the plot is our greatest asset. But damn it, if they don't put themselves in the plot, how can we control it?! So, that statement is far too absolute.

Moreover, Su Luo really wanted to see the plot of this story, since it was the most important turning point in Tian Suo's growth. Most importantly, he also wanted to see how his cooking skills were compared to theirs. Although he had been practicing very hard, without a comparison, he had no idea what level his skills had reached.

However, there was nothing that could be done about not being able to go. After shaking her head, Su Luo stopped thinking about it. After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and eating the breakfast she had made herself, it was almost time for the assessment. Because it was a group assessment, the assessment time for each group this morning would be arranged by the instructors. In other words, the assessment time for each group this morning would be different.

The group that Su Luo was assigned to had to start the assessment at eight o'clock in the morning, so getting up at seven o'clock and arriving at the assessment location was basically enough.

Su Luo could understand the timing arrangement, since Guan Shouping was one of the judges for Shinomiya Kojiro and Soma's competition!

The second day of training, 8:00 AM

In the classroom, Seki Morihei held several sheets of paper in his hand and said to the people below, "Hello everyone, I believe many of you recognize me! I am Seki Morihei, the captain of the Ginza Nichirin board. Today's topic is for everyone to make the dishes I have specified."

"Although I have never met Chef Guan Shou, I always felt that he was very sad."

"He was in charge of that hellish test last night. It required us to make 50 dishes in 60 minutes, and if anything was even slightly wrong, or even if the portion was a little off, we had to cook them all over again. That test eliminated nearly twenty people. It was terrifying."

"Yes, you're right. Don't be fooled by Chef Guan's gentle appearance; he's actually quite terrifying."

""

After seeing that the instructor for this assessment was Guan Shouping, the people below started whispering and discussing among themselves. Generally speaking, the discussion did not seem to go very well. Moreover, the most important thing was that it was a specific dish, and if it was difficult to make, then they were basically doomed.

"There are no steps to explain regarding the content of this assessment, but I will tell you the names of the dishes." Guan Shouping remained unaffected by the crowd's discussion and continued speaking to himself.

When Guan Shouping said those words, the crowd below immediately erupted in chaos. They had already specified the dish, but they weren't even told how to proceed. How were they supposed to play like this? This was practically a recipe for disaster.

"This assessment is very simple. See those things?" Guan Shouping ignored everyone and pointed to a certain place. Everyone looked in that direction and saw a lot of ingredients, including rice and water. After saying that, he continued, "This assessment is to make caviar sushi. Calling it an assessment dish is more like assessing the selection of ingredients. As for the cooking method, I don't care if you use your hands to roll it, make a futomaki, or any other method. As long as you can make it to my satisfaction, you can pass directly."

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Chapter 108 Test Question: Sushi

At this point, Guan Shouping paused for a moment, then added, "Also, please note that the assessment only lasts for one hour, so let's begin now!"

After Guan Shouping finished speaking, no one had the mind to discuss anything further. However, they were secretly pleased because the test was quite easy. As soon as Guan Shouping finished speaking, everyone rushed to get the ingredients. After all, the test only lasted an hour, which was a bit tight.

Moreover, the most important thing is choosing the ingredients. There are nearly ten kinds of rice alone, and the same goes for the other ingredients. Actually, making caviar sushi is quite simple. Although it is called making caviar sushi, there are so many ways to make caviar sushi, not to mention there are so many ingredients to choose from. So, the real difficulty in this step lies in the selection.

While the preparation steps are indeed important for a dish, a good dish cannot be made if the ingredients are not matched. Therefore, the selection of ingredients is crucial. There are several varieties of each ingredient, and it is not only necessary to choose the type but also to know its quality. Thus, selecting ingredients is an essential course for any chef.

So, this course can be considered quite basic! It gives you the feeling that you can just pass it by yourself. However, don't forget that the ingredients here are not labeled or anything. In the usual courses at the academy, the ingredients are basically prepared, and students don't have to do anything themselves. So, when faced with this situation, you can only rely on your own cooking experience to select and prepare the food.

While they rushed forward, Su Luo remained calm and stood quietly at the back watching. After all, this assessment was different from the one for Shinomiya Kojiro, where there wasn't enough food, so Su Luo wasn't in a hurry at all.

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention, each person only has one chance for me to taste it, so I hope everyone will think it over carefully." Guan Shouping's voice came again as he watched the crowd frantically grabbing for it.

As soon as Guan Shouping finished speaking, several people stopped and stood up. Since Guan Shouping had said so, then this assessment would not be so simple. This was what some people were thinking.

However, Su Luo knew that Guan Shouping might be trying to mislead everyone, but what did it have to do with him?

Seeing how crazy they were before, it was questionable whether Su Luo, with her small frame, could even squeeze through the gap. So she had to wait until most of them had made their choices and left before going up to select her ingredients. Luckily, there were plenty of ingredients available. If it had been like the test that Shinomiya Kojiro had been going through, it would have been hard to say. So she felt somewhat fortunate.

The ingredients for making caviar sushi are very simple: rice, sushi nori (seaweed), sushi vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and caviar. Of course, if you are making nigiri sushi, then you don't need the nori.

The sushi vinegar, seaweed, sugar, and salt are all the same here, so you don't need to choose them. The key is the choice of rice and water, since these are the main ingredients. As for the caviar, that's up to you to choose.

Japanese sushi is nothing like the kind sold at Chinese street stalls. Street stall sushi is basically made with glutinous rice and seaweed, and you can add whatever you like, such as ketchup or salad dressing. You just roll it up and eat it whole, whether you cut it or not. It's very casual.

Su Luo first walked to the rice. There were many kinds of rice here, and there were no labels or anything, so she didn't know what kind of rice it was, but that didn't stop Su Luo from making her choice.

Making sushi requires very high-quality rice. First, you need to choose the right variety. The best rice for making sushi is Koshihikari rice.

This type of rice has plump, white, and flawless grains. After steaming, it becomes crystal clear with a soft, glossy sheen. It has a sticky yet firm texture, making it the perfect choice for making high-end sushi.

Of course, it will be slightly more expensive than regular rice. If you're looking for a less expensive option, rice from Northeast China is also a good choice. The rice grown in the fertile black soil is smooth and shiny, with each grain having a pleasant aroma.

Although there was no label, you could judge the quality of the rice by its appearance. Su Luo quickly selected one type of rice. She didn't know what variety it was, but the grains were plump and flawless, and they had a very translucent look, like the texture of jade. It also had a light fragrance. This rice was perfect for making sushi, and it was the most suitable among all the rice varieties.

After selecting the rice, the next step is to choose the water. Don't say, "Is it really necessary to be so meticulous? Even the water needs to be selected?" If you think that way, you are very wrong. Every choice in every dish will affect the taste of the dish. The more high-end the dish, the more rigorous the selection must be, even for something as seemingly insignificant as the water.