The strongest anime shop owner

Upon hearing Dojima Gin's words, Shinomiya Kojiro, who had originally intended to leave, stopped and turned back, looking as if victory was assured and that Su Luo would definitely vote for him. However, given his impatient nature and nasty personality, he wouldn't give Su Luo time to consider, and said somewhat impatiently, "Hey! You over there, hurry up and vote."

Alright! If Su Luo still couldn't see through this by now, she'd be a fool. She'd originally just been there casually, but unexpectedly, Dojima Gin's single sentence had thrust her into the eye of the storm. It turned out this was all part of Dojima Gin's scheme. However, this left Su Luo quite puzzled. How could he be so sure she would vote for Tadokoro and the others? If all of this was part of Dojima Gin's plan, just how terrifying was he?

So Su Luo decided to stay away from Tangdao Island and cherish her life. If she continued to be treated like this, she would be badly injured, if not killed.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on her, Su Luo suddenly felt immense pressure. She considered whether she should vote for Tadokoro and his team. What would the outcome be if she did? However, Su Luo quickly made a decision.

After making her choice, Su Luo took the coin in her hand and walked towards Shinomiya Kojiro's plate. Upon seeing this, Tadokoro and the others, who had been looking forward, showed expressions of disappointment. Dojima Gin, who also saw this, was obviously stunned. Su Luo knew that he must be thinking, "How could this be?" As for Shinomiya Kojiro, he remained calm, as if everything had been predetermined.

Just when everyone thought Su Luo would vote for Shinomiya Kojiro, before anyone could react, she suddenly turned around and quickly and directly put the coin into Tadokoro's empty plate.

The crowd didn't quite understand Su Luo's choice, as it completely overturned their original decision. Meanwhile, Inui Hinako, who had been standing nearby, suddenly appeared next to Shinomiya and buzzed around him like a fly, yelling, "Haha! So not everyone likes Shinomiya-senpai's cooking, and you were even humiliated by a student. Aren't you feeling really down and depressed right now? Aren't you? Aren't you?"

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Chapter 118 Four Palaces

"Hinako! Go to hell!" He was already somewhat taken aback by Su Luo's choice, but Hinako's words made him seem like a coward, which caused Kojiro Shinomiya's forehead to bulge with a big "well" shape, giving Hinako a severe beating.

"Ouch! That hurts! It's clearly because Shinomiya-senpai's food was so bad that I didn't get voted for, but they won't even let me say anything." Hinako Inui complained pitifully, rubbing her head where she had been hit.

"Kid, what do you mean by this?" Shinomiya Kojiro looked terrified as he spoke to Su Luo after being made such a choice by a student.

Seeing Su Luo standing on his side, "Su Su Luo Jun" assumed it was because of their friendship and was touched, but he didn't want Su Luo to offend Shinomiya Kojiro, so he wanted to speak up and dissuade her.

"It doesn't mean anything. I just felt that the food here was better, so I cast my vote." However, Su Luo didn't give Tadokoro a chance to speak. At the same time, Su Luo wasn't the kind of person who would be intimidated by his expression. Instead, she shrugged casually and said.

"Su Luo, you're amazing, I support you." Seeing that Su Luo was not afraid of Shinomiya Kojiro, Inui Hinako immediately spoke up again.

"What's going on? How could this transfer student talk to Shinomiya-senpai like that? Doesn't he know he still has a few days of research to do? If we offend him now, what if we run into him?"

"What exactly is this?"

""

Watching this scene unfold, the other graduates were all discussing it, wondering what was going on. As the examiners, they knew that although Tian's dishes were good, they couldn't compare to Shinomiya Kojiro's dishes. No, to be more precise, Tian's dishes were simply no match for his.

Under such circumstances, Su Luo's choice was truly baffling to them. As a chef with integrity, it was impossible for her to do something like this, something that was taught in junior high school textbooks.

Seeing this, Su Luo originally wanted to bring down Dojima Gin, the strategist, but after thinking about it, she decided against it. If she did it in place of Dojima Gin, wouldn't it mean that even if Shinomiya Kojiro didn't owe her a favor, his attitude would definitely be much better? At least it would be like gaining another connection!

"You think their food is better? What do you mean by that?" Since Shinomiya Kojiro became famous, no one had ever treated him like this before, which annoyed him. He looked at Su Luo with a very sharp gaze.

"Hehe! Since I've said something like that, the answer is naturally in this dish. If you think it's unfair of me to do this after you've eaten it, then you can just expel me from school! I won't complain." Su Luo didn't back down at all, directly meeting Shinomiya Kojiro's sharp gaze, and pointed to Tadokoro's dishes as she spoke.

Seeing that Su Luo had made such a decision, Tadokoro was unsure whether to be moved or worried. If Su Luo were really expelled from school, then he would be the one who caused all of this. This left Tadokoro at a loss.

The others thought Su Luo had gone mad, making such a shocking move. Although they admitted that Tadokoro's food was good, that was all there was to it. Even for the sake of their companions, there was no need to act so impulsively! In their eyes, Su Luo's actions were far too reckless.

"?" Looking at Su Luo's confident appearance, Shinomiya Kojiro was a little taken aback for a moment.

"Don't you really understand Su Luo's actions?" Just then, Dojima Gin shot a coin at Shinomiya Kojiro and said to the somewhat puzzled Shinomiya Kojiro, "Shinomiya, stop now, okay?"

Dojima Gin's words made Shinomiya Kojiro's eyes widen instantly; it was clear that he had been right.

This sentence immediately reminded Kojiro Shinomiya of his own graduation. At that time, he was a student of the 79th class, only 18 years old. After graduation, he set his life goal: to open a shop in Paris and win the Order of Proust.

"Back then, chefs who made significant contributions to the development of French cuisine were awarded the Order of Proust by the government. If I could receive it, it would be a monumental achievement for the first chef in Japan!" With this belief, Kojiro Shinomiya went to the birthplace of French gastronomy to hone his skills.

For a Japanese person to open a shop in such a place is undoubtedly a difficult task, but Kojiro Shinomiya still went there alone with his prize money from over the years. After six years of hard work, he finally opened [SHINO'S] in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, a highly competitive area with top-notch food.

After opening, Shinomiya Kojiro's dishes were very popular, which made him a little too complacent. Eventually, other chefs couldn't stand it, and because he was Japanese, he changed the menu without permission, which caused the customers' evaluation of the dishes to plummet.

Because of his youth and his Japanese heritage, Shinomiya Kojiro faced various forms of jealousy and exclusion, and the rift between them seemed to grow wider and wider, leading to increasing difficulties for the shop. It was during this period of deep reflection that Shinomiya Kojiro finally made his own choice: dismissing those who altered his recipes and insisting on cooking everything according to his own recipes without any changes or objections. He treated all the staff as enemies, and from that moment on, Shinomiya Kojiro only trusted himself.

It was from then on that Shinomiya Kojiro's dishes became more and more popular. Because of his constant tension and the dishes he created, he was called the "Legume Magician" and received the "Order of Prussia," realizing his original ambition.

"You've already realized it, haven't you? After receiving the medal, you don't know where to go next, do you?" Looking at Shinomiya Kojiro's expression, Dojima Gin knew that he had hit the nail on the head.

Kojiro Shinomiya is already at the top, but he can't move forward even a step. For a chef, stagnation is equivalent to regression.

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Chapter 119 [Care]

"Is it because you don't want us to know that your cooking skills have stagnated?" Dojima Gin said again, seeing that Shinomiya Kojiro had no reaction.

"Shut up!!" Upon hearing Dojima Gin's words, Shinomiya Kojiro immediately bristled, shouting sternly, "What do you know?! You, hired by the Totsuki Culinary Group as the head chef... what do you possibly know about me...!"

"Try it..." Seeing Shinomiya Kojiro's reaction, Dojima Gin didn't say anything, but directly handed over Tadokoro's dishes, saying, "Tadokoro's dishes, please."

"Hmph... Why should I..." He originally wanted to refuse, but because of Zi'an in his heart, Shinomiya Kojiro picked up the fork.

Shinomiya Kojiro cut off a piece of food, put it in his mouth, and swished it around. While eating, he commented on the dish: "Ha... it's not cooked enough. The plating and the way the minced meat is handled are all terrible. Even Dojima-senpai is confused..."

"...Hmm, but...but why...is it so...penetrating? The technique is clumsy...but every step...is filled with the heart of the person tasting it, and my tense heart seems to gradually relax...This taste is like..." Originally, the dish was just that, but that penetrating feeling made Shinomiya Kojiro freeze for a moment. This dish was so warm, it reminded him of the days he spent with his mother when he was a child, that was maternal love, that kind of dish filled with the heart of the person tasting it, perhaps this is a new world.

After seeing this, Su Luo really didn't want to complain anymore. Damn it, wasn't it agreed that it was left to me? But Dojima Gin, you just started showing off, which turned Su Luo, who originally wanted to show off, into just being a bystander. This was so frustrating!

Drumroll~

Then, Shinomiya Kojiro dropped the coin in his hand into Tadokoro's plate, wiped the tears streaming down his face, and said to Tadokoro, "Hey, idiot!"

"Yes...yes..." Tadokoro became nervous upon hearing Kojiro Shinomiya speak to him and quickly replied.

"The spice added to the minced meat... is it allspice...?" Shinomiya Kojiro asked.

Allspice: The tropical plant of the spice family, the leaves and unripe fruit, can be dried and used to add aroma. It is named allspice because it has the flavors of spices such as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

"It can eliminate the fishy smell of ingredients and is a very useful spice..." Mizuhara Fuyumi interjected from the side.

"It's probably used to remove the fishy smell of chicken liver," Donato Wutongtian chimed in.

"Ah... um... yes." Tadokoro seemed a little nervous when asked, stammering before calming down and explaining, "Ah... of course, that's one of the reasons... but the upperclassmen have been doing non-stop audits since yesterday, eating a lot of dishes, right? So... um... besides eliminating the fishy smell, allspice can also aid digestion... I... I wanted to say... um... it would be great if we could make dishes that are gentler on the stomach..."

"As expected... Megumi is the best..." Upon hearing Megumi's loving words, Hinako Inui burst into tears, wiping away her tears with a handkerchief as she said this.

“Yes…it seems our judgment was correct…” Donato Wutongtian wiped away his tears and nodded in agreement.

However, Fuyumi Mizuhara hit the nail on the head with a single sentence: "You guys just like her type, don't you..."

"That's not true at all! Mizuhara-senpai!" After being told the truth, Inui Hinako immediately bristled and retorted.

"Clumsy yet touching, that's the kind of dish you'd find so appealing. Even at the competition, Tadokoro meticulously observed the person about to taste the dish." Dojima Gin said, arms crossed, "I think this is indispensable for your leap forward from the top, isn't it?"

"Tsk..." After listening to Dojima Gin's words, Shinomiya Kojiro realized that everything was under his control. However, recalling that since he reached the top, it had been a long time since he had considered the expressions of the customers and the voices of the staff. He had just been burying himself in his own cooking. So he thought it was time to make a change.

"Drink up!" At that moment, Hinako Inui suddenly rushed over and slammed the coin in her hand into Tadokoro's plate. This sudden action really startled Kojiro Shinomiya.

"Alright... that makes it a tie, a draw!" Hinako Inui then grinned, patted her chest, and said, "I'll keep the result of this match safe!"

"Hmm... since it's a draw, that means... Tadokoro's treatment has returned to the state before the Food War started...?" Dojima Gin said, one hand on his hip and the other stroking his chin.

"Hmph - it's been abnormal from beginning to end... what a farce." After saying this, Shinomiya Kojiro couldn't help but look at Tadokoro.

"Awoo..." Tadokoro was immediately startled by the sudden gaze, and his body and mind trembled involuntarily.

"Fine... Just do your best and stay as long as you can." After seeing this, it seemed to be almost over. Shinomiya Kojiro didn't care about the result and walked directly towards the classroom door, saying, "Idiots should live like idiots... right?"

"Yukihira Soma, huh?" After Shinomiya Kojiro turned around, he suddenly remembered Soma, a meaningful expression appearing on his lips, his thoughts unknown.

"Really... Senpai is so dishonest..." Hinako Inui immediately remarked upon seeing this, only to be met with a hard slap across the face from Kojiro Shinomiya. However, Hinako Inui quickly surrendered: "I'm sorry..."

"...? Uh... excuse me..." Upon seeing this, Tadokoro was completely confused about what had happened.

"Tadokoro...the spirit of warmly welcoming diners, [care]...your dishes embody that spirit!" Dojima Gin smiled at Tadokoro and explained, "From now on, you will continue to stay in Totsuki...carefully hone this powerful weapon! The three coins on your plate are an investment in your future—"

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End of Chapter 120

"It seems like we're saved." Looking at the current situation, Soma knew that they were saved, so he gave Tadokoro a bright smile and said, "That's great, Tadokoro."

At this moment, Tadokoro seemed to be caught in a dilemma by this sudden situation, but now that he had finally achieved such a happy ending, he couldn't help but shed tears.

After all this was over, when Su Luo and the other two reached the door, Su Luo paused and said to Soma and the other, "I still have something to do. You two go ahead! I think the others must be getting impatient, after all, we've been gone for so long without saying goodbye to them."

"Alright then!" Tadokoro and the others didn't pay attention to Su Luo's words or ask any questions. After saying "see you later," they all left in a hurry.

In the classroom

"You knew from the beginning that this would be the outcome, didn't you?" Guan Shouping said, arms crossed, after everything was over.

"Well, of course, if Tadokoro Megumi serves up a failed dish, I would certainly want her to leave the academy." Dojima Gin neither admitted nor denied it, he simply said this.

“Yes, Shinomiya looks upwards, eliminating anything he deems unnecessary. A chef who only pursues their own dishes cannot continuously advance. What's indispensable isn't abandonment, but rather the greed to absorb strengths from all sides.” At this moment, Sekimori Hirai understood that Shinomiya Kojiro had now found his greed. Thinking this, he said to Dojima Gin, “Using this food battle, you've simultaneously saved two chefs!”

"Oh, you flatter me," Dojima Gin said modestly.

Not long after, everyone left. Soma and Tadokoro parted ways on the way. Soma stopped there, and thinking about what happened today, he could no longer keep his previous smile on his face. Instead, he punched the wall hard to show his resentment at losing the game. He had taken the game very seriously, even though there was a big gap between the two sides and he was not the head chef but just a kitchen helper. However, he was still very unwilling.

Unbeknownst to him, all of this seemed to be under Dojima Gin's control. Dojima Gin stood by the window beside him, watching Soma's frustration and venting. To be serious about victory and to take things seriously—that's an essential quality of a chef! Just like Shinomiya back then, when he was serious about earning a medal and embarking on a journey.

"Hehe, so you really are here!" Just then, Su Luo's voice rang out in the dimly lit classroom.

"Oh? It's you. You haven't gone back yet?" Dojima Gin was clearly a little surprised that Su Luo would appear here.

"Of course I'm here to settle scores with you, you bald old man!" Seeing Dojima Gin's slightly surprised expression, Su Luo pretended not to notice and casually shrugged, saying.

"Bald uncle?" Hearing Su Luo's address, Dojima Gin felt a pang of annoyance. Was he really that old? But thinking about Su Luo's words, he asked curiously, "What score do you want to settle with me?"

"What do you think! I just came to take a look, and this is the job I got. And when I was about to do it, you were the one who insisted on showing off. It makes me feel awkward and unsure of myself. It's like I've already taken my pants off and you pull this trick on me. It's just too much." Su Luo looked like she was ready to fight until she got an explanation.

"This kind of work!?" Well! Dojima Gin had no idea what Su Luo was talking about, but after thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized and said, "I..."

"Don't give me explanations. Explanations are just cover-ups, and cover-ups are the truth. I really don't want to hear these words." Before Dojima Gin could even speak, Su Luo said directly.

After Su Luo finished speaking, seeing that Dojima Gin seemed about to say something, Su Luo preemptively said, "Don't tell me it's about rescuing me or improving my culinary skills. I'm not Shinomiya, nor am I Tadokoro or Soma. I am who I am. I found my own goal when I entered the culinary profession. Although I appreciate your offer to help me, I don't like the feeling of being used as a pawn." Her words were no longer as lighthearted as before, but carried a hint of emotion.

Su Luo was very unhappy with Dojima Gin's actions. Although it was a small matter, Su Luo just couldn't stand it. "Since you asked me to come and see, fine, I can go, but I didn't say I would get involved. You just took it upon yourself to decide my affairs. What right do you have to make such a decision?" Su Luo was actually quite simple-minded, but he hated the feeling of being controlled and decided by others. It wasn't that he was petty or anything, because it was a matter of principle. Everyone has their own principles. Perhaps some people think these are nothing, or even insignificant, but in his heart, these are his principles.

Therefore, although Su Luo is relatively simple-minded, she has a high IQ. After analyzing the situation, she saw through it. So, sometimes, fools may be happier than smart people. If you are too smart, you will know too much. Knowing a lot is not a problem, but if you can't stand all of this, then it is not a kind of happiness, but a kind of tragedy.

Without waiting for Dojima Gin's reply, Su Luo left directly, saying, "Alright, I've said what I should say, and I've also said what I shouldn't say. It's late, I should go back, otherwise the others will worry."

Su Luo's purpose was simple: to tell him that he had his own goals, and that if he didn't understand her, he shouldn't do such things, as it would only make her dislike him more.

Su Luo didn't know if doing this would make him seem petty, but what did it matter to him? After all, this was the real him! As long as he was doing well, that was enough. He didn't want to be treated like a pawn, following someone else's instructions, nor did he want to be a bystander. Instead, he wanted to be the one truly playing the game.

After Su Luo left, Dojima Gin snapped out of his daze. He didn't pay attention to Su Luo's words, but just sighed, stroked his chin and laughed, "What a characterful little guy! Sigh! It's like me, the head chef, is being disliked!"

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Chapter 121 80 copies!? What the heck!

After Su Luo walked out, he let out a slow sigh, his expression somewhat complicated. He didn't even know why he had done such a thing. Gazing at the twinkling stars in the night sky, his eyes were momentarily lost. He murmured to himself, "Perhaps this is the person I used to be!"

After letting out a deep sigh, Su Luo went out. On her way back, she unexpectedly ran into Soma. But thinking about it, it made sense; Soma must not be feeling well right now, which was why he was walking a little slowly.