The idea that suddenly popped into Xi Qiuyue’s head startled him so much his back broke out in cold sweat. As he watched Tang Doudou move about onstage, he felt extremely nervous. She couldn’t be here t-to…
Then he looked at Baili Yu who usually never attended this sort of gathering and Xi Qiulin whose facial color wasn’t good at all.
Xi Qiuyue immediately became restless as if he figured something out. What should he do?
Based on his intuition, he felt that Li Xueyi wouldn’t do such a rude and impetuous thing, but Baili Yu was a different matter.
Being daring was Baili Yu’s strong point. Based on their order of seniority, Baili Yu should be calling him Elder Brother, yet that person never thought of him as an equal. Last time, he even told someone to throw him directly into the water and sent a letter to Xi Qiulin telling him to bestow him the title of Common Person Wang…
The tone of the letter didn’t have the slightest trace of politeness. At that time, after Xi Qiulin had read it, he smashed everything that could be smashed within Luminous Blossom Palace and was so angry he couldn’t eat for several days.
Later, when he took the initiative to face this matter, Xi Qiulin had said helplessly, “The Imperial Household owes him. I can only ask Imperial Uncle to bear with it.”
Indeed, the Imperial Household owes him. Otherwise, why would they allow him to become increasingly unbridled?
The good thing was that he had never gotten involved in the Imperial Household’s movements and also didn’t bother with the trifling matters of the Jianghu. All these past years, he put all his attention towards the Heng Xuan Chamber of Commerce. Other than working on earning money, he only ate, drank, and played.
But this time, Xi Qiulin was unhappy again due to the fact that Baili Yu wanted to get married with Li Xueyi. It would be fine if he wanted to casually marry some wealthy family’s daughter or a princess of some imperial household, yet he wasn’t taking a bride but becoming a bride. Currently leaving aside the fact that he’s becoming a bride to a guy, the groom actually had to be the Alliance Head da ren of the martial arts alliance…
That wasn’t some pushover existence either, especially with Cloud City added on.
Lately, rumors in the palace said that Xi Qiulin was starting to have trouble eating and peacefully sleeping again. He didn’t usually leave the palace, yet he actually came to participate in this boring culinary competition.
Xi Qiulin had already noticed since earlier that Xi Qiuyue and Bai Lianhua were chatting. He was currently thinking that his family’s Imperial Uncle was already no longer very young so it was about time to find a suitable match for him. The Bai family was of good breeding and the Prime Minister was also a son-in-law of the Bai family. Based on Bai Lianhua’s status, she wouldn’t be a bad fit for Imperial Uncle…
He still felt guilty about the Common Person Wang incident and nowadays, since Imperial Uncle wasn’t as close with him anymore, he couldn’t even find anyone to talk to in the Imperial Palace.
If he could borrow this marriage matter to get Imperial Uncle to return to the Imperial Court, not only would this not be a loss, it’d also double as a compensation.
He was just wondering how to bring up this matter to Xi Qiuyue when he saw that Xi Qiuyue seemed very restless. Thus, he asked, “Sangfroid Imperial Uncle, what are you thinking about that’s got you so dazed out?”
“No-nothing much.” How could Xi Qiuyue, whose heart was currently heavily weighed down by a grave matter, know that Xi Qiulin was preparing to attend to his marriage affairs? When he heard what Xi Quilin said, he was still so anxious that he wasn’t himself. After casually replying, he went back to spacing out.
When Xi Qiulin saw him like this, he just shook his head. Looks like he’ll have to find some other time to bring it up.
The thoughts of everyone below the stage had nothing in common. On the stage, Tang Doudou finally encountered the first difficulty of the competition. When she saw the chaotic mess of ingredients in front of her, she shot a glare towards Qiu Ling who was cutting ingredients at the side. F*ck! She was being so well-behaved that Tang Doudou thought she had thought things through.
Yet Qiu Ling had purposefully caused her trouble now. Qiu Ling had purposefully made all the ingredients into a mess so that Tang Doudou wouldn’t be able to hand Meng Yu the things she needed when she required them. That way, Qiu Ling could step in and immediately find them for Meng Yu.
Mah gawd ah. Good thing her eyesight was viciously sharp and she was able to immediately find the items to hand to Meng Yu. Only with this did they manage not to mess up the crucial heat control of the stir-frying.
However, this pile of ingredients in front was a huge problem.
Qiu Ling only dared to do this because these were all ingredients that were left over after Meng Yu had already used them. However, within this pile were a lot of things that Tang Doudou needed. She had been planning to switch a couple of the main course items out with these ingredients. Now they were all damaged. If she used them to replace those ingredients, the dish would only taste worse than before…
Tang Doudou looked towards San Yu’s side and saw that her dishes were almost done and ready to be plated. Their side’s pace was also about the same, but the color and fragrance of their dishes were a whole level below San Yu’s.
Perhaps Meng Yu also noticed because she nervously glanced at Tang Doudou and the spatula in her hand almost fell into the stove.
Tang Doudou checked the hourglass in the manager’s hand. The time was almost up as well.
If nothing unexpected occurred, then they were going to lose the competition!
Tang Doudou lifted her eyes to look at Baili Yu again and found that he had already opened his eyes at some unknown time. Their gazes met head on. It seemed like he knew of her current situation. Upon seeing the anxiety in her eyes, he sent encouragement and consolement as he indicated for her to just go ahead and do it, and that there was no need to worry.
Tang Doudou felt warmth rise in her heart seeing this and her hands that had been chilled by the cold water also warmed. He could actually understand the meaning in her eyes!
At the same time, her fighting spirit also ignited. For the sake of repaying this fox’s multiple life-saving graces, she’ll throw caution to the wind!
Rolling up her sleeves, she grabbed the frying spatula that Meng Yu almost dropped into the stove. “Leave it, let me!”
Her words were filled with self-confidence, causing Meng Yu who had been panic-stricken to calm down instantly. She hastily allowed Tang Doudou to take the place of main chef.
“Doudou.”
“Don’t say anything. Help me carry all the dishes I’ve prepared over!”
As Tang Doudou spoke, she picked up the dish inside the pan that still hadn’t fully finished cooking.
The movement immediately provoked countless gasps from the audience. Did this girl go crazy?
Or was it that she has given up after seeing imminent defeat?
Meng Yu who was watching at the side also stared dumbstruck at her. Her brain buzzed, confused on whether she should listen to Tang Doudou or not.
“What are you still dazing out for?! Hurry and carry them over ah!” Tang Doudou impatiently urged when Meng Yu didn’t move, then she started working on her own tasks.
Since the menu can’t be changed, the dish style can’t be changed, and the important substitute items were ruined by Qiu Ling, she could only take a different approach and bring these ancient people a huge innovation!
Meng Yu instantly came back to her senses after Tang Doudou shouted at her. What else could she do now but trust Tang Doudou?
As she thought so, she hastily ran to the long table to bring those dishes over. However, before she even reached the long table, Qiu Ling stepped out to stop her. Qiu Ling cried anxiously, “Meng Yu ah, my great auntie, you can’t believe her! You’re the main chef!”
“Move!” She had noticed Tang Doudou’s change in expression earlier and naturally knew why Tang Doudou would suddenly come over to snatch the spatula. When Meng Yu saw those pile of disorderly ingredients, although she was not very bright, she was known for being well versed in culinary arts. How was it possible for her not to realize what sort of change the things Tang Doudou wanted to swap out would create?
Yet everything was ruined by Qiu Ling, this stupid woman.
Meng Yu was so angry she wanted to fling a slap over. However, this was a competition. The time was so tight there was simply no time to deal with her.
Meng Yu pushed Qiu Ling aside, grabbed those dishes and ran towards Tang Doudou. “Doudou, I’ve carried them all over. What are you planning…”
Who would have expected that before she even finished speaking, Tang Doudou who had a calm expression suddenly took all the dishes and poured all of them together into the pan.
The exquisite dishes instantly became a mess inside the pan!
When Meng Yu saw the food inside the pan, her eyes rolled back and she almost fainted. Mah dear ma yah!
What exactly was Tang Doudou trying to do?
At this time, Tang Doudou was currently breathing deeply in concentration. As she stared at the food thrown inside the pot, her gaze was so passionate it seemed as if she was looking at her lover.
She was so passionate she was practically about to pounce up lovingly. For a moment, the audience were completely baffled with her actions. Even San Yu sent a curious gaze over. She really wondered how Tang Doudou would have the confidence to compete with her after doing this.
Tang Doudou didn’t pay attention to those eyes. Currently, there was only this pan of food in her eyes. After exhaling deeply, she heaved up the pan.
Following that was a breathtaking scene.
Everyone gasped in surprise. Xi Qiulin even went ‘wow’ and stood up, his eyes wide as he stared at the scene on the stage.
A trace of astonishment also flashed through Baili Yu’s eyes before it instantly changed into pride. As expected, his eyes didn’t judge wrong. His woman should precisely be this capable!
As for that young girl, San Yu, she also looked disbelievingly towards this seemingly divine work.
It would not be too extreme to call it the work of the Gods!
The circular stage seemed to have become Tang Doudou’s one-person performance stage. There was only that one person and pan in everyone’s eyes.
All that could be seen was Tang Doudou’s hands gently and smoothly mixing the dishes inside the pan. It seemed like an ordinary movement, yet all the dishes in the pan were separated. Each dish was separately given an area. It seemed as if there was an invisible force locking all the ingredients into their respective dishes.
This skillful way of stir-frying has truly never been seen or heard of before!
It must be known that the dishes they were preparing not only had stir-fried dishes, but also steamed and boiled dishes!
Normal people wouldn’t even imagine putting so many things in the same pan, yet not only did Tang Doudou think of it, she actually did it!
However, a question simultaneously emerged in everyone’s hearts. Would the taste really be good with everything mixed together like this?
Ahem, towards this, everyone all felt quite cliff-hung.
Time passed by very quickly. When the last bit of sand trickled down into the cup below, the manager was also completely engrossed in watching. It was only until Bai Lianhua called out, “Manager Zhao, isn’t the time up?” that he snapped back to his senses and immediately raised the wooden stick in his hand to strike the hanging gong.
Tang Doudou was still moving slowly and unhurriedly. Seeing this, Meng Yu became overwhelmed with anxiety.
Just as she was about to rush up to help Tang Doudou, she saw that Tang Doudou had heaved the pan up again. It was once again that movement, relaxed yet filled with strength. Everyone only felt that something flashed in front of their eyes. Then those dishes, in succession, fell into their respective plates.
The last radish fell at the same time the gong ran out, not a second earlier or later!
Upon noticing that those dishes actually fell into their respective plates without mixing with any other dishes, everyone felt that just watching it was very captivating, truly very captivating…
Clap, clap, clap!
Thunder rolls of applause came from the audience and even Baili Yu’s features were lifted in a smile. Not bad, not bad. Was this the strange martial arts Qing Yin reported about last time?
Unexpectedly, it actually combined with cooking this seamlessly.
“Kitchen maids, please present your respective dishes and wait for the judging panel to conduct tasting!”
Meng Yu palms were sweaty as she walked to Tang Doudou. “Doudou, this…”
“Don’t worry, we’ll win for sure!” Tang Doudou dusted off her hands. This method of using tai chi to cook was actually something her grandpa had taught her when she was little. However, she had never succeeded before so she was just staking it all in a gamble earlier!
Unexpectedly, the gamble succeeded. Tang Doudou felt that this was definitely related to the fact that she had inner strength now. After thanking the dead ghost, Li Xueyi, once more, she patted her cheeks and looked towards Baili Yu.
Yet she discovered that his gaze had already turned towards some other direction. She shrugged, feeling there was no helping it. From the looks of it, the gaze Baili Yu gave her earlier was only due to being worried about the competition!
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