Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Taoxi Road was as boisterous as usual. Yuan Zhou was sculpting and practicing his knife skills earnestly at the door. The onlookers were also watching while holding themselves back. Of course, there were also some who were shooting the scene.
However, they all turned off the flash. Since Yuan Zhou was already used to that, he just held the kitchen knife steadily and continued sculpting.
On the other side, Zhou Shijie had brought the people back to the conference hall to prepare for this activity.
They got seated one by one. The one seated at the center position was naturally Zhou Shijie. On the right of him was the chairman of Sichuan Cuisine Alliance, Zhang Yan. Seated next to him was Hu Yue. On the right of Zhou Shijie was Lee Yanyi. The remaining two advisers were seated at both sides of them.
“Please make your comments now.” Zhou Shijie said first.
In front of them, the video camera was recording the scene dutifully.
After Zhou Shijie said that, several people looked at each other and said nothing. For an instant, the conference hall fell silent.
About one minute later, Hu Yue gave a cough and began to say.
“Let me start first to point out the better ones. I personally feel the dishes served in Chengdu Cuisine, on the whole, are really not bad, especially with that novel plate presentation,” Hu Yue said.
Hu Yue referred to the plate presentation of the Kung Pao Chicken served today. The chef creatively used a tree root and dug six holes on it to put the dish inside.
The dark brown tree root contrasted with the yellowish chicken slices and glossy peanuts as well as pieces of green onions. This novel plate presentation indeed looked tasteful.
“That was just flashy without substance. It doesn’t make the cuisine itself taste better and besides, also destroys the sense of wholeness. I think it is an aspect that deserves a deduction,” Lee Yanyi said immodestly.
“What do you think, Chairman Zhang?” Zhou Shijie didn’t jump to conclusions, but turned to ask Zhou Shijie who kept silent at the side.
“In my opinion, since it’s the new faction of Sichuan Cuisine, there’s no ground for blame. Though it doesn’t make it taste better, it does look new and original. Among the color, fragrance, and taste, the color is very nice.” Zhang Yan obviously agreed with Hu Yue.
“Okay. Then what do you two advisers want to say about it?” Zhou Shijie didn’t omit anybody. He looked at the two advisers at the end and asked them.
The two advisers were both sous-chefs. One was the sous-chef of Shu Restaurant, Cao Le. He was dressed in Tang attire and in his forties. He was as broad-shouldered and solidly-built as Cao Zhishu and used the frying pan very well.
The other was the sous-chef of Palace Cuisine. He looked ordinary with a big stomach and was dressed in casual clothing. His name, Bai Qi, was a little rare.
Hearing Zhou Shijie asking them, they looked at each other. Then, Cao Le from Shu Restaurant first said, “Leaving others aside, I think the taste is good. But Chinese food tastes best when it’s hot and this cuisine is a little cold when it was served. I think it deserves a deduction.”
“That’s right. The Yuxiang Shredded Pork is dried in the air on the bamboo shelf. Though the gravy is thick, it’s no longer hot when served up. On this point, it isn’t so perfect,” Bai Qi nodded his head and said.
“Okay. Now that everybody gave their opinion, let’s start to give scores,” without saying anymore, Zhou Shijie looked around and said.
“Let me start with scoring,” Zhang Yan said first.
“I’ll also start now.” Hu Yue said right after Zhang Yan.
“The cuisine is cold and gaudy. This score is good enough. I can’t give more.” Lee Yanyi wrote the score and directly handed it to the production team at the side.
“Am I the only one left now?” Zhou Shijie said with a smile.
“Yes, chairman. You can write now,” Hu Yue said smilingly.
“Um.” Zhou Shijie lowered his head and wrote it quickly. Then, he also handed it to the production team.
That’s right. The several judges wrote the score respectively and then packed them in an envelope, which would then be sealed with sealing wax and handed to the production team to preserve it. When the appraisal was completed, they would open the envelope again to check the scores in order to decide who was the ultimate winner.
“Good. So now, the appraisal of Chengdu Cuisine is finished. And so is the work today,” Zhou Shijie declared.
After that, the production team also made a gesture, declaring the completion of the filming.
As soon as the video camera was turned off, Zhang Yan immediately stood up and went out. He didn’t want to face Zhou Shijie all along.
Nevertheless, Zhou Shijie didn’t feel any discomfort. Only after everybody left, one after another, did he begin to leave.
The last video today appeared on the official website after dinnertime ended in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. And at that time, Yuan Zhou was quite idle.
He was seated in the restaurant leisurely and watched the video to the end.
“How surprising this rule is! System, can you see the scores given by them?” Humans were always curious about the unknown. Yuan Zhou was no exception.
The system displayed, “This system is the Master Chef System. It doesn’t have the function of perspectivity and other ridiculous functions.”
“What’s the use of having you?” Yuan Zhou was speechless.
“I didn’t gain any extra advantage.” Yuan Zhou stroked his chin and felt this advantageous system was sometimes a little useless.
Time passed quickly in the evening. Early next morning, Yuan Zhou had barely finished cooking breakfast when he received the notification from the system.
The system displayed, “The appraisal is coming very soon. Come on, host.”
“Are you cheering me up and encouraging me?” It was the first reaction of Yuan Zhou.
The system displayed, “Yes, little comrade. Work hard for the bright future.”
“I’ll make preparations at once. Please don’t call me little comrade.” Yuan Zhou was instantly made speechless by the system. He always believed it was the system’s revenge for being commented on being useless.
After all, the system clearly knew that Yuan Zhou disliked the strange appellation of little comrade.
Just like the system said, the four people had discussed and agreed to go to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant after they gathered together on the other side.
And that was proposed by Zhang Yan.
“Mr. Lee said yesterday that chefs of Chengdu Cuisine are not young. Then why don’t we go to a young chef’s restaurant to have a look,” Zhang Yan looked at Zhou Shijie and said meaningfully.
“No problem. I agree.” Lee Yanyi nodded his head, even faster than Zhou Shijie.
“Everyone, we just tasted the new faction of Sichuan Cuisine yesterday. I think we ought to taste traditional cuisine today.” Hu Yue had a different opinion.
In his eyes, Yuan Zhou was so young that he could only gain a victory through unusual means. Therefore, he must be considered a new faction of Sichuan Cuisine again. Since they had just tasted something similar on the previous day, it wasn’t easy to make comparisons. Comparisons were only available when one ate different cuisines alternately.
“I think it’s good to taste a young chef’s dishes. This is considered to be acting in a contrasting way,” Zhou Shijie said unhurriedly.
On hearing Zhou Shijie say so, Hu Yue shrugged and said nothing more.
“But if we are going to Master Chef Restaurant to eat, we must determine the judges right away and set out then,” Zhou Shijie said again when he found nobody opposed him.
“That’s right.” Lee Yanyi nodded his head thoughtfully.
“Oh?” Hu Yue uttered with puzzlement.
“Now that we must go there during mealtime, we can’t give him time to make preparations according to our rule of launching a surprise attack. And we also have to stand in line. As there are too many customers there, we naturally must move quickly,” Zhou Shijie explained patiently.
No one opposed to Zhou Shijie’s words. After all, it wouldn’t conform to the rule of the activity if they notified the candidate in advance and he reserved seats for them.
Therefore, they discussed the candidate of the advisers and came to an agreement quickly. After that, they set out immediately to pick him up…
