The compet.i.tion started, and after the host finished firing up everyone"s excitement, he announced the topic of today"s compet.i.tion—Flying Dragon Plays Phoenix.
Qian Xiang was sitting in the audience, he had a lot of confidence in Zheng Junming winning the compet.i.tion. Even though he couldn"t control the judges or the compet.i.tion results, but he still had methods to control the topic writers, and under his threats and promises, the dishes that the compet.i.tors had to make in the two rounds were all the ones that Zheng Junming was the best at.
And he had also thought of ways to let the program organizers arrange Zheng Junming and Lu Jingyu in adjacent positions, this way the camera could film both of them at the same time. The purpose was to let Zheng Junming to show his appearance of cooking skillfully and easily, and contrast it with Lu Jingyu"s rushed and fl.u.s.tered appearance.
The ingredients area had a large variety of ingredients, there were good and bad ones, the compet.i.tors needed to go over themselves to choose their own.
The chicken was already killed and only needed the compet.i.tors to clean out the internal organs themselves after picking out their chicken. The fresh squid and shrimp were still alive and also needed the compet.i.tors to handle them themselves.
The way the chicken was raised and the food that they ate directly affects the chicken meat"s taste. In these ten or so chickens, the ones with especially good quality really weren’t many, Jing Yang even saw that there was some chicken meat that had already been sitting for too long and were almost becoming bad.
After picking out all of the ingredients that he wanted, Jing Yang started to handle the chicken, Zheng Junming couldn"t resist looking over at him many times. In his heart he was very doubtful, Lu Jingyu actually dared to partic.i.p.ate in this kind of compet.i.tion. Those judges not only had high standards, their mouths were also very malicious, even if he had gotten the youth group champion twice, the amount of praise he had gotten was very spa.r.s.e. Lu Jingyu actually wasn"t afraid of being scolded in a torrent of abuse.
Jing Yang raised his hand and then lowered the knife, he kept on switching between the large knife and small knife to handle the ingredients, his movements were like moving clouds and flowing water. Looking at his movements it didn"t appear like he was cooking, but that he was performing a kind of motion that people were unable to see clearly, and only felt that it was a brilliant form of martial arts.
Zhao Bocheng looked at this kind of Jing Yang, his eyes had a smiling expression and an appreciation. Ever since the first time he saw this person, he had been attracted by his each and every move.
Because of being young and handsome and having graceful cooking movements, as well as because he went on many cooking TV programs, Zheng Junming had attracted many many young female fans.
After all these two people had the same father, if you look closely, you could see that the two people had three points of resemblance. But right now when they were standing together like this in comparison, obviously it was Lu Jingyu"s facial features that were more exquisite, it seemed that he was also more handsome and elegant, his cooking movements were also more imposing and proficient, it let people feel a sort of visual enjoyment.
In the audience there came waves of admiring exclamations, the gazes were basically all attracted over to Jing Yang.
And Zheng Junming"s movements that had seemed pretty graceful before, upon comparison with Jing Yang, obviously became sluggish and petty. Everyone says that with no comparison comes no harm, these two people no matter whether it was temperament or their technique in handling their ingredients, formed a distinct contrast.
Qian Xiang sitting below looked at the stage with a complicated gaze. His original purpose was to let Zheng Junming show his superiority to Lu Jingyu, but right now he actually let Junming be defeated by Lu Jingyu. Even though he intended to favor Zheng Junming, in his heart he was also unwilling to admit, just from looking at the skill and technique exhibited, Zheng Junming was actually not able to compare to Lu Jingyu.
But there was no need to worry, Qian Xiang comforted himself, and also used his gaze to comfort the Zheng Junming on stage, no matter how fancy his technique was it was still useless, that part of the score was very small, the taste was still the most important part. He had eaten this dish of Zheng Junming"s before, the taste definitely had no deficiencies, and it was exactly because of this dish that they had become friends. So he believed that Zheng Junming would definitely not let him be disappointed.
The audience below the stage began chatting by whispering into each other"s ears, even though they did their best to lower their voice, but Qian Xiang could still hear clearly some conversation content from those sitting relatively close to him.
"So handsome! I never knew before that originally Lu Jingyu"s appearance while cooking was actually this handsome!”
"Quickly take a picture, remember to turn off the flash, don"t be discovered, just take a picture of Lu Jingyu by himself.”
A person on his other side said, "Hey hey, let’s also take some pictures of Lu Jingyu ba.”
"Didn"t you exhaust all methods to crowd in to see Zheng Junming? Didn"t you say that Zheng Junming was your husband? Changing your mind so quickly, where"s your integrity?”
"I am just a face dog, whoever is handsome then I"ll like whoever, integrity this kind of thing is only worth a few dollars.”
"Before didn"t everyone online say that Lu Jingyu actually didn"t know at all how to cook? They even said that with confidence and evidence, I even thought that he really didn"t know how to cook. But seeing his att.i.tude now, obviously he is very proficient.”
"What use does his movements being practiced to be handsome have? If the taste isn"t good then it"s done in vain, we should still wait until the judges" reviews and then talk about it, otherwise if you now think that he seems like he will do well, at that time your face will be hit.”
Flying Dragon Plays Phoenix is a soup dish, whether the soup flavor is delicious is especially important, the squid and chicken"s taste needs to be mutually flavorful. Not only could you not destroy their original flavor, but you also needed to get an effect of complementing each other, it was very demanding.
Even plating the dish required the compet.i.tors to choose their own tableware. Jing Yang selected a relatively flat round soup bowl, and set the bowl on top of an oval plate. He used his extra time to carve vegetables into a yellow dragon and a multicolored phoenix and plated it on the edge of the plate. Instantly this added a somewhat imposing atmosphere to the plate, precisely the same grandeur as in the dish"s name.
Jing Yang pressed the bell to indicate to the host that he had already finished, the camera gave his dish a close up. Obviously they wouldn"t be able to see out how it would taste, but this one dragon and phoenix were carved vividly and lifelike, it seemed like they were coming alive. Even the most amateur could see that his carving skills were very powerful.
The host declared that time was up, and all of the partic.i.p.ants all had to immediately stop moving their hands. Because Jing Yang was the first done, he was also the first to carry his dish over to give the judges to taste.
After the several judges finished tasting the dish, they repeatedly nodded, discussed with each other their own thoughts for a bit, and then each individually gave a score and evaluation.
Zhao Bocheng also tasted it, and then admiringly glanced at Jing Yang, Jing Yang also coincidentally looked at him face to face, the two people quickly communicated for a while with their gazes. Jing Yang could sense his praise, Zhao Bocheng also could sense his pride.
Zheng Junming heard the judges" evaluations and scores and couldn"t resist becoming fl.u.s.tered. This was his first time hearing such high evaluations and scores in the youth group, even he who had been the youth champion twice had never gotten this high of a score. This kind of score had already reached the elderly group"s standard.
When the final result came out, even though Zheng Junming had entered the youth finals, but his score had already been shaken off a big length by Lu Jingyu, and his evaluations when compared to Lu Jingyu, also had too big of a difference.
When Zheng Junming was leaving the compet.i.tion site, his complexion was extremely unpleasant. The reporters waiting outside surrounded him wanting to interview him, but he pursed his lips not saying a word, and under the protection of his bodyguards he got on the car and left.
The people who watched the live broadcast once again started a new round of fervent discussion online, there were people who took out those remarks that had claimed Lu Jingyu simply didn"t know how to cook, and questioned the people who had issued those remarks, weren"t you guys extremely sure in saying that Lu Jingyu didn"t know how to cook? Now other people"s score on the compet.i.tion had shaken off Zheng Junming by that much, now how are you going to explain that?
The majority of the people who had earlier said that Lu Jingyu didn"t know how to cook now had no sound, but there were still a small portion of people who persisted. They felt that Zheng Junming definitely was just in a bad state today, didn"t you see that today his complexion was not good? Could the performance from one compet.i.tion represent someone"s entire ability? The final result was still not definite yet.
There were people who sarcastically commented, Zheng Junming"s complexion wasn"t good, don"t tell me that it wasn"t because his score had lost to Lu Jingyu by too much?
"Congratulations, today your performance was really great." Zhao Bocheng looked at Jing Yang.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhao." Jing Yang smiled.
"I feel like we can already be considered as quite familiar with each other, you can directly call my name.”
"Name?" Jing Yang slightly froze. "You"re letting me call you Zhao Bocheng?”
"Just my first name is fine, you don"t have to call my full name.”
Jing Yang looked at his eyes, he always felt that there was some feeling of seeming to have even his soul being sucked into them. This person shouldn"t know some sort of sorcery ba.
Zhao Bocheng raised his hand to help him fix his hair. "I am really looking forward to your performance tomorrow.”
~
The topic of the youth finals was Dongpo pork.
The finals has a portion for the public to evaluate the dishes, 50 names were randomly chosen to be the public judges, they would stay by themselves in a big dining hall waiting for the dishes. Before entering the dining hall, all of the people had to hand up their phones. These 50 people were kept not knowing about the compet.i.tion situation and not being able to keep in contact with the outside. After they were served the dishes, then they would start tasting, and then bring the bowl for the dish that they had been most satisfied with to the staff members. The bottom of those bowls would all have a white sticker with a number on it.
Dongpo pork this dish could be said to be the dish that made Zheng Junming famous. When he was 17, he made this dish at Zheng Jianlin"s birthday feast and reaped favorable reviews from the guests, this let Zheng Jianlin feel like he had a lot of face. In his happiness, he also didn"t forget to announce publicly how good his son"s Dongpo pork was. At that time, the customers who went to Zheng De Ji to eat would all order a serving of Dongpo pork that Zheng Junming made personally.
Because of the addition of the audience judges, the chefs partic.i.p.ating in the compet.i.tion not only had to pay attention to quality but also had to pay attention to quant.i.ty and speed. Every person had to make 56 small servings of Dongpo pork in a set amount of time.
There were a lot of methods to make Dongpo pork, but the main ingredients and side ingredients, as well as the final product, were all roughly the same. Usually the dish is made with half fat half lean pork, the final product should be approximately around 2 inches thick, and the color and l.u.s.ter should be similar to the shining red of cornelian or agate. And the most crucial was that it had to be tender but not mushy, fatty but not greasy.
After the partic.i.p.ants finished their dishes, the staff members carried them to the back to plate and then served them to the audience judges. The tasting and voting were all recorded and live broadcasted from beginning to end.
The judges on the compet.i.tion site here did the same thing as in the semifinals, after they finished tasting, they directly gave evaluations and scores.
Zheng Junming was anxious to the point of having sweaty palms, this round he definitely couldn"t lose, if he lost to Lu Jingyu again, that wouldn"t only be his own dignity receiving a blow, but Zheng De Ji would also be influenced.
When the judges on site finished all of the scoring, Zheng Junming"s mind was already blank, he lost again? How could that be possible, this was definitely not possible. Calm, he had to stay calm, there was still the final public vote, even if he lost on the overall score, as long as his public votes were relatively higher, then he would not have completely lost to him.
Besides the highest scoring Jing Yang who had the most close up shots, the person who received the second most close ups was the Zheng Junming whose complexion kept changing erratically.
The public judges finished eating and then started voting, the program host interviewed some of the public judges.
"I just picked this one, it was too delicious, I"m currently trying to diet, there were so many servings that I didn"t dare to completely eat all of them. For every serving I only tasted a small mouthful, but only for this bowl did I finish eating the entire thing.”
"Because I don"t know who made each of these dishes, I could only go with my truest feelings, I really truly felt that this one was the best.”
"There were some that were a little greasy, and there were some that couldn"t show out all the flavor, there was only this bowl that really achieved being fatty but not greasy. The fatty meat part truly melted in my mouth, yet after it melted it wasn"t the taste of meat oil, but the delicious flavor of the broth.”
"This plate was truly especially especially delicious, I am an insane fan of Dongpo pork, right now I really want to know which chef made this serving of Dongpo pork. In the future I will definitely go to his restaurant to eat every day, and I will only order Dongpo pork.”
"My standards aren"t high for food, I thought that all of them were quite good, but there was only this dish that was especially especially delicious.”
The staff members tore off all of the white stickers from the collected bowls, and then covered them with a cloth and sent it over to the live broadcast site.
The host first pulled open the red flannel cloth to take a look, then opened his mouth in astonishment and turned around. "I am truly too shocked, this is actually the first time in the compet.i.tion that this situation appeared.”
The spectators" curiosity were all inspired, they wanted to know what kind of situation it was in the end that let the host become this shocked.
"I think that the spectators who are currently watching the live broadcast definitely really want to know the results, I believe that after you all find out, you will also be as shocked as I am. So everyone please first support your chin well, now I will announce, 3, 2, 1, …" The host rapidly opened the red flannel cloth, using an excited voice to say, "All of the people chose bowl number 1, this is the first time that someone pa.s.sed by unanimous vote! Congratulations number 1 Lu Jingyu, you have received the youth group finals first place.”
The scene sounded with enthusiastic applause, it was actually an unanimous vote, Lu Jingyu"s this first place was completely deserved.
[1] flying dragon plays phoenix – 游龙戏凤, this is the literal translation. In terms of food, it seems to be chicken, shrimp, and squid with vegetables.
[2] skillfully and easily – 游刃有余, idiom, literally handling a butcher"s cleaver with ease
[3] torrent of abuse – 狗血淋头, idiom, literally to pour dog"s blood on
[4] moving clouds and flowing water – 行云流水, idiom, means natural and unforced, flowing
[5] waves – 此起彼伏, literally up here, down there, meaning waves in succession
[6] face dog – 颜狗, slang, fans who only care about appearance (usually self-deprecating)
[7] complementing each other – 相辅相成, idiom
[8] vivid and lifelike – 栩栩如生, idiom, means realistic
[9] not saying a word – 一言不发, idiom, pretty literal
[10] completely deserved – 实至名归, idiom, literally fame follows merit
We are back. Here’s my long awaited compet.i.tion chapter, mostly bc whenever I think back to this arc I usually just remember about the cooking compet.i.tion. This is probably bc I used to watch a bunch of Chopped and other cooking compet.i.tions. Oh also and I read G.o.d of Cooking (also a great LN, but Korean unfortunately, so I was unable to obtain the raws and MTL it, and also bc I do not understand Korean at all) which also has a big cooking compet.i.tion. Spoiler? Oh, and I also love food.
Alright so this was from 3.9k-ish characters to 3k words, and took me 3 hours, from 9 am – 10:30 am, 3 pm – 4:30 pm. I’ve been on a roll for the past couple of days bc school has just started and none of my hw has been posted yet. Instead the profs are probably all going to give me all the hw at once so I can be really busy. That’s great time management. Anyways~ the compet.i.tion part is done, so the plot will be moving on to focus more on romance ? and on revenge. We’ve already pa.s.sed the halfway point of this arc!