Chapter 1

The speed of the express delivery was even faster than Jiang Qi had imagined. Just as Jiang Qi arrived at the store and was about to open the door, the courier guy arrived.

"Mr. Jiang Qi? Please sign for your same-city express." The courier took a courier box and a sack as big as two stacked encyclopedias from the delivery truck and handed them to Jiang Qi, then took a curious look at the store name.

Among the small restaurants whose signs are barely visible, the sign of Galaxy Script Society is undoubtedly the brightest star in the alley.

"You run a script-killing store, right?" the courier boy asked another question.

"right."

"Your store is really located in a remote alley, while other script-killing stores are located on the streets or in office buildings."

"The rent here is cheap." Jiang Qi said vaguely, weighing the box in his hand, estimating it to be three or four pounds.

As expected of a 6-30 player copy, its weight alone far exceeds that of other copies.

The courier muttered something to himself, saying that rich people are really weird these days, and rode away on his courier bike. Jiang Qi pushed the door open and entered the store, eager to start unpacking the package.

The contents of the courier box were naturally this box, but Jiang Qi was a little confused about what was in the sack.

A pot, an induction cooker and thirty sets of dishes and chopsticks.

The bowl was not a small bowl, but the kind of noodle bowl with a brown bottom and a wide mouth that you see in ancient costume dramas.

This box was relatively normal, with a fancy cover, but when you opened it, it was full of character books, each of which was very thin, only three or four pages. Jiang Qi counted them carefully, and there were 30 character books and a host manual that was thicker than all 30 character books combined.

There are 30 character books, 15 males and 15 females. The portraits are very delicate. There are young children who look only ** years old, and middle-aged men with big bellies. All of them are wearing ancient costumes. It is obvious that this is a book with an ancient background.

So what the hell is going on in a book with an ancient setting where there is an induction cooker among the props?

Jiang Qi told Old John not to touch the things in the sack, and he took the book box upstairs to find a quiet, well-lit room to read the book quietly.

He randomly took out a character book of a young girl named Wei Ruyue and opened it.

'Your name is Wei Ruyue, and you are the only heir to the Wei Family Restaurant in Quzhou.'

The next second, Jiang Qi only saw a flash of white light, and the surroundings became extremely lively.

"Wow, there are so many contestants in this cooking competition!"

"Of course not. Haven't you heard? The reason why Weixianlou suddenly held the God of Cooking Contest this time is because the old God of Cooking wants to select a successor. Otherwise, why would so many people participate? Look, even a **-year-old child has come. Can he hold the pot?"

"Look over there! Feng Tian, the apprentice of the chef of Huaijiang Tower in Linjiang Prefecture. I didn't expect that even he is here."

Jiang Qi turned his head and found that there were people standing behind him.

There were men, women, young and old, nobles in bright and beautiful clothes, coolies in short coats with bare hands and feet, ordinary poor people in coarse linen clothes, young girls and women wearing thin veils who came out to watch the fun, and even young children in arms, waving their hands excitedly at the air.

Jiang Qi already had experience when he entered the world of script-killing for the second time. Although he only read the beginning this time and didn't even know the background of the story, it didn't stop him from squeezing into the crowd to eat melons and get information.

Anyway, to these people, I am just air.

After listening to the big brother who was squeezed in the front row and was happy to share gossip for a long time, Jiang Qi roughly understood what was going on.

The place where everyone is is Taiping Town. Taiping Town was originally just an ordinary town with no reputation. Six years ago, a new restaurant opened in the town, named Weixianlou. Weixianlou only opened at noon, and the business hours were also very strange. It only opened before lunch, and gradually developed to only receive three guests a day.

It is just such a restaurant that every guest who has entered Weixianlou, whether they are dignitaries or poor people, speaks highly of it.

Gradually, the reputation of Weixianlou spread. Because no one had ever seen the true face of the owner of Weixianlou, some people began to say that he was the God of Cooking. The legend was so miraculous that many chefs came to him every year to become his disciples. The owner of Weixianlou could not bear it any more, so he held a God of Cooking Contest to select his successor.

Anyone who passed the first round of competition can participate in the final selection. The God of Cooking wants to recruit apprentices. All qualified chefs from all over Kyushu who got the news came to participate in the competition. In the end, 30 contestants present were selected to compete for the position of the God of Cooking's apprentice.

Jiang Qi shuttled through the entire competition venue. Although this was an ancient background, both the name of the competition and the venue were very modern.

The legendary chef god built a circle of open space behind Weixian Building and hired people to build 30 earthen stoves for the 30 contestants to compete outdoors. The competition venue was surrounded by a circle of low stones. The audience could only watch from outside the stones while the 30 contestants stood in front of their respective stoves, waiting for the chef god to appear and announce the start of the competition.

Ping'an Town is not big, with only tens of thousands of permanent residents. Not many people have time to come and watch. Those outside the circle who come to watch the excitement are basically people from other places who want to see what the legendary chef looks like, and they don't know much about the situation in the town. After a long walk, Jiang Qi finally chose to stay with a talkative local brother and watch the game while listening to the commentary.

At the outermost part, vendors were already selling candied haws, melon seeds, and herbal tea. Many rich children asked their servants to buy them, and the melon seed shells were spit all over the floor. Some nearby residents also brought small stools to rent out at 10 cents a piece, which was really a business genius.

Just as Jiang Qi was listening to his elder brother talking about which celebrities had come to Weixianlou over the years, the sound of gongs and drums rang out. The competition scene, which had been as lively as a temple fair, suddenly became quiet, and everyone looked towards the place where the gongs sounded.

A man who looked to be in his early forties, middle-aged and wealthy, dressed in luxurious silk and with a very friendly look, was standing next to the gongs and drums with a smile on his face, holding a stick for hitting the gongs in his hand.

"Mr. Huang!" Many people present recognized him.

The big brother who was watching immediately began to explain with saliva flying: "This Mr. Huang is a famous philanthropist in our Ping'an Town. The charity hall in the town is run by him. If there is a disaster, he will not only reduce the rent but also provide porridge and medicine. People in our town remember his kindness. I didn't expect that he would come to supervise the competition today. After all, the God of Cooking is a god in heaven, how could he let us mortals see him casually."

Jiang Qi: ...

It seems like you really believe the legend that the owner of Weixianlou is a god.

"Everyone." Mr. Huang said loudly.

He was strong and his voice was very penetrating. Even without the help of a loudspeaker, his voice could actually be heard clearly by everyone present while he was standing in the venue.

"Today is the day for the final round of the God of Cooking Competition. The 30 chefs present here have all come from far away and passed the God of Cooking's test to participate in the final round. I'm Huang Fugui, a country gentleman in Ping'an Town. I have some spare money at home and some reputation in the town, so I like to get involved in interesting things like this."

"Since the old Master of Cooking is unable to come out, I will be the one to host today's final selection. The old Master of Cooking has taken a liking to me, Huang, so I naturally cannot disappoint him. The final selection will begin in half an incense stick of time, and I will announce the topic of the final selection at that time. I hope you will wait patiently."

As soon as Huang Fugui finished speaking, a young man in his twenties among the contestants asked loudly, "Mr. Huang, you will host the competition, but what about the judges?"

"Of course it's Mr. Kitchen God." Huang Fugui said with a smile, "He knows everything about the situation on the field."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere on the field suddenly became tense.

Some were calm and composed, some took out kitchen knives and wiped them in the sun, some looked around quietly to find out where the God of Cooking was, and some stared at the stove and were distracted.

30 players, 30 states.

When half an incense stick of time was up, Huang Fugui struck the gong again and made a loud announcement.

"Everyone, the topic for this final round is untitled. You just need to make your specialty dishes based on the ingredients provided. The time limit is 4 incense sticks, and the ingredients are in the box at your feet."

slkslk

"Now I declare that the Chef Championship begins!"

Huang Fugui struck the gong again, and amid the deafening sound of the gong, the servant behind Huang Fugui silently lit a stick of incense.

The smoke from the burning incense quickly dissipated in the sunlight, and the 30 contestants all opened the boxes at their feet, revealing a box full of fresh ingredients.

3 pieces of tofu, 2 cucumbers, 3 tomatoes, 4 sweet potatoes, 6 small potatoes, 1 slice each of winter melon and pumpkin, 2 carrots, 1 Chinese cabbage, 1 bunch of bok choy, 1 bunch of bean sprouts, some wild vegetables, 1 bag of flour, 1 small bag of various spices, 6 eggs, 12 small dried fish, 1 can of chicken soup, 1 can of milk, 1 each of tied up live chicken, duck, or goose, 1 piece each of fresh pork, beef, or mutton. The parts for each person are different, they should be from the same pig, beef, or mutton, just like opening a blind box.

As for seasonings such as oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, they had already been placed next to the stove in advance.

Although he didn't understand what kind of parallel ancient times could produce so many varieties of vegetables at the same time without greenhouse technology, Jiang Qi saw that the players' reactions were normal and didn't find it strange.

Most of the contestants were thinking about what dish to cook, while a few had already started.

Jiang Qi also walked into the competition circle, ready to take a closer look at how the contestants competed.