Han Bing"s eyes had never once left Mai"s person as she had been cooking. He watched as she cutely asked the man beside her for wood and got a little bit jealous when the man smiled at her. Even more when he could actually offer a.s.sistance that Han Bing himself desperately wanted to give. Even if he had tried to help, it would have only inhibited Mai even more. With how much the Emperor enjoyed playing mind games, Han Bing was positive that the best course of action was to do nothing. He saw Mai standing tall and confident when her dish was done and couldn"t help but swell with pride for her.____
"I can"t wait to try the champion and runner up dishes" the Emperor thought to himself. "Last year they had been so close that it was a tough decision for me to determine who the winner would be".
He walked towards the champions dish first as was tradition. Upon arrival he was disappointed in what looked like he was being fed leaves but couldn"t help having some confidence in the man who had made his favorite dish last year. He picked up the packet of bamboo leaves to examine it closer with his eyes. Notices nothing special he was about to take a bite out of it.
"Wait you need to unwrap it first!" Hu Ge called out in alarm.
Hu Ge unwrapped the bamboo leaves and a delicate looking rice mixture was revealed. The Emperor breathed in deeply examining the scent of the rice and its texture. "Mm this is another new dish that looks quite interesting" the Emperor thought.
Bringing up his personal chopsticks he took a small amount of the rice mixture and took a bite out of it. His mouth was filled with the flavors as he slowly chewed on the rice. He found that the rice that had been infused with the flavor of the bamboo leaves had a delicate taste that was completely different from traditional rice.
"What is this dish called?" the Emperor asked.
"Sticky rice, your majesty" Hu Ge replied. "When I was out exploring trying to create the perfect food item for this contest. I made a grand discovery, this dish involves cooking rice a different way than the normal method. " Hu Ge said confidently.
"Good, good it is very good" the Emperor said. He eyed the rice as if to take another bite but remembered that this was a contest and that he had to try a lot of dishes. He couldn"t be too full for that girls dish from Han Bing"s manor. Even if he had slightly tormented her a little it was only so she would lose and become his chef.
It must be remembered that this Emperor would never lose his dignity enough to lie about who had the best dish.
Moving on to the next table and the runner up from last year the Emperor was once again met with dumplings. He could tell that this were slightly different from last years from the aroma that they were giving off.
"What are these dumpling called?" The Emperor asked Yang Yang.
"Chicken Soup Dumplings, your majesty" Yang Yang said just as confidently as Hu Ge. "This is my answer to your question last year, please try your majesty."
The Emperor once again used his chopsticks to pick up the whole dumpling and ate it in one bite. From the squishy outside texture of the dumpling wrapper to the broth that immediately hit his tongue when he bit downwards to the soft ground chicken in the center the Emperor had been amazed this time.
"This is indeed a dumpling that is very special" The Emperor said. He was so tempted to take another dumpling that he had to resist the urge to grab more. "Much better than last year" the Emperor said with a laugh.
Now that his to favorite chefs had already had there dishes sampled he didn"t waste too much time on the other chefs working his way towards the girl form Han Bings manner. He could wait for the begging look to come in her eyes as he was judging her left over food dish. He was delighted by anything that brought pain to that boy. Although he was sure that it was probably still going to be tasty how could it compete with the new dishes from Hu Ge, and Yang Yang? They continuously opened his eyes to new food options that were available.
The Emperor walked down the line of chefs and would offer his smile to those that he had thought weren"t too bad and didn"t say a word to any of the dishes that didn"t peak his interest.
In the end the actual goal of this contest was to create new dishes for the Emperor. He was a foodie then genuinely enjoyed trying new food. He constantly annoyed the palace chefs until they told him that they were out of ideas. This wasn"t enough for the Emperor though, as he desperately craved new food. Therefore, he opened a contest once a year that anyone with a talented cooking background could apply for.
The n.o.bles all had the chance to look at the dishes after the emperor was done judging and make any kind of offer to the chefs. The few high ranking n.o.bles even got to try the food that had been left on the offering plates to be judged. Generally this is where the chefs excluding the champion and runner up would get the most rewards for partic.i.p.ating.
When the Emperor arrived at the chef that was before Mai he couldn"t help but bellow in rage "What are you trying to serve me? Burnt meat?"
"No, your majesty, this is my family"s secret recipe" the young chef said with a bow "please try it."
"Do you think to fool me? How could I not see great food if it was in front of me? How could you possible expect me to eat something that isn"t even fit for pigs?" The Emperor exclaimed loudly for all to hear.
The young man looked scared as he saw that the Emperor really had no intentions of trying the dish that he made.
"It is delicious, just take a small bite" he was practically pleading the Emperor before him.
With only an "hmph" the Emperor turned away and walked towards Mai"s table.