Chapter 94: Lin Zhi is angry. (First update)...
As the carriage carrying Lin Zhi and her family stopped outside the restaurant, two servants approached. Lin Zhi took a deep breath, lightly tightened her grip on the suitcase, and then nodded goodbye to Lin Sen and his wife before disembarking.
She can only play the remaining games alone.
Song Jiaoniang clung to the carriage curtain, looking at her daughter's back. As she was about to step into the restaurant, she couldn't help but shout, "Come on, Sister Zhi!"
Lin Zhi paused, raised his hand and waved behind him, then followed the officer inside at a leisurely pace.
Unlike last time when she was only taken to the outer hall to listen to the competition questions, this time after entering the main hall, the officer handed her over to a young official in light green official uniform.
The official led her left and right, through several corridors, until they stopped in a spacious hall. He extended his hand and gestured "please come in," "Chef Lin, please come in."
Lin Zhi stepped over the threshold and was instantly attracted by the scene inside the hall: this hall was three or four times the size of an ordinary shop, with more than a dozen stoves neatly arranged in the middle, clean pottery basins and copper pots piled next to the stoves, and people were already standing in many positions.
She looked around and saw some familiar faces, such as the owner of the fish ball shop, who had his head hung down, his hands on his waist, and looked listless.
After Linzhi stood in front of the empty stove, half a cup of tea passed and everyone in the hall was present.
At this moment, a slightly portly supervisor in dark official uniform walked in with several officers and cleared his throat. "Before the competition begins, I will explain the rules to the contestants."
When Lin Zhi heard this, her heart moved slightly. She looked around and found that there were only twenty people present, including herself. Chef Xia, who had attracted much attention before, and Chef Wei, who she had talked to last time, were not present.
Could it be that the meeting was divided into two venues? Lin Zhi suppressed her doubts and listened quietly to the supervisor's explanation.
"First: Aside from the knives you bring with you, you can only use the ones provided by the restaurant. If you need any, tell the attendant next to you. The ingredients you requested in advance will be delivered to you later."
As soon as the supervisor finished speaking, the officers behind him formed groups of two and stood beside each contestant, holding paper and pen in their hands, as if to record the requirements.
"Second: All operations must be performed by yourself. No help from others or whispering is allowed."
Although Linzhi felt that a chef who could get to this point would not do such a thing, but as the saying goes, weird rules usually lead to weird people, it seems that such a thing has happened before?
Lin Zhiguang thought about it and found it very strange.
The supervisor went on to give a few more points of caution before finally saying, "This match is limited to three hours. No waiting for those who exceed the time limit."
After a pause, he said, "Does anyone have any questions?"
Lin Zhi raised her hand and spoke clearly, "Excuse me, what occasion are we going to serve this fruit for? Can it be served hot or cold? Will the judges be ordinary diners or vice-chiefs? How many people will be selected to advance? Where are the other contestants?"
A series of questions were thrown out, and everyone in the hall turned to look at her. The fish ball shop owner even curled his lips and muttered, "Women are always troublesome."
The supervisor didn't mind and smiled instead: "I was negligent in not telling you that this event is divided into two groups, A and B. The remaining contestants are in venue A."
"The fruits you make will first be presented to the deputy head for tasting. Groups A and B will select five people to advance to the next round. The winner will be able to participate in the preparations for the Lantern Festival banquet."
"Lantern Festival Banquet!?" The hall was silent for a moment, then erupted in excitement. Some clenched their fists, others looked up. If it weren't for the guards watching over them, and the rule prohibiting whispering, everyone present would have been tempted to pull over and talk.
Linzhi wasn't familiar with the Lantern Festival banquet, but she could tell from the reactions of the others that something was unusual. She scanned the area, and as the familiar faces grew, her heart sank. She noticed something: besides the fish ball shop owner, the chefs present also included a vendor selling sesame pumpkin cakes and a man making Tibetan meat cakes. They all had one thing in common, herself included: they all came from small, street vendors.
Ha, I see.
Lin Zhi sneered inwardly; it had been a long time since she'd been looked down upon like this. She suppressed her anger and calmed down. She lowered her eyes, calculated the ingredients needed, and quickly made adjustments.
Before anyone could digest the news of the "Lantern Festival Banquet," the supervisor raised his hand to interrupt: "The competition begins."
As soon as the words fell, an officer pounded the gongs and drums. Lin Zhi turned and took the pen and paper from the officer, leaning over the desk and quickly writing down the ingredients she needed. There were dozens of them.
After writing, she handed the note to the officer.
At the same time, in a warm room in the backyard of the restaurant, a dozen people in brocade clothes were sitting around a table, flipping through the list of contestants and chatting from time to time.
"Chef Xia is Old Master Xia's eldest grandson? I wonder how much of his skills he has inherited. It's really exciting." A chef with a long beard said, stroking the roster in his hand.
Upon hearing this, Cui the chef shook her head and said, "I'm afraid you're too young to just follow the recipe. I'm more looking forward to Chef Bao's skills. That ice cream dish from Xia Tian won praise from many officials."
"Actually, Chef Wei's cooking skills are pretty good too, it's a pity that he is Chef Tang's apprentice." The bald chef glanced at Chef Cui and shook his head secretly.
"Chef Tang's apprentice? Not necessarily." The cook sitting across from him smiled and lowered his voice, "If he really was a like-minded apprentice, he would have been implicated long ago after Chef Tang got into trouble. But look at him, nothing happened to him at all, and he's still participating in the competition as usual. His methods are extraordinary."
Some time ago, Chef Tang was arrested for a murder, and the Dali Temple followed the clues and uncovered a lot of old cases. His subordinates were either arrested or packed up by Chef Cui and sent to human traffickers for disposal.
It is obvious that Chef Wei used to be close to Chef Tang. It is said that Chef Tang originally wanted to recommend him to participate in the competition. However, in the end, he got away with it and continued to participate in the competition.
There is something strange about this matter, which makes people very curious.
Several chefs exchanged glances and whispered to each other. After a while, a chef who had been enjoying the all-you-can-eat meal asked, "By the way, the contestants for Juyoulou this time were also recommended by Chef Tang, right? Who was finally chosen? Who didn't withdraw?"
"No, here, this." The cook took out Linzhi's file and handed it to the bald cook.
"Only been in Bianjing for three months? And you're running a foot shop?" The bald chef took it, glanced at the first line, and frowned. "Such qualifications... could it be that he's the new apprentice that Chef Tang originally had his eye on, and wants to gild his reputation?"
"Hey, look again."
"...What's the mystery?" The bald chef flipped through the pages, his expression gradually becoming odd. "Is Shopkeeper Xie targeting her shop? Is the soup chef's roast duck recipe being suppressed? Is this true?"
"I don't know, but let's try anyway."
"...Then why is it at Venue B?"
"After all, she's too inexperienced, not a fruit specialist, and runs a foot shop, so it's only natural to have her in Venue B," someone nearby said. "If Chef Wang is interested, we can call her up to share a few words during our review."
As he was speaking, a servant came over and handed over the list of ingredients chosen by the contestants.
Someone looked around and couldn't help but frown: "Why would anyone want bamboo sticks?"
"It's probably for decoration again, right?"
"I remember someone asked for ice two years ago and made fish sashimi that was almost transparent, which was really delicious."
"The chef at venue B is pretty honest this time. The most outstanding dishes are the Yunnan ham, abalone and other items." Someone else looked at the list and said with satisfaction.
"The one who asked for cherries last year was outrageous!"
"The problem is that the cherry Biro was so sour and astringent. It was so unpalatable that I felt like if I were that cherry, I'd want to come back to life and beat him to death!"
Everyone present has been a judge for at least four or five years, and some for more than ten to twenty years. They have seen all kinds of strange requests, such as the one this time, which included a rattan or bamboo stick. Oh, they are all honest kids who are easy to deal with.
In Linzhi at the B conference venue, she skillfully mixed flour and ghee, added pepper and salt, then kneaded it into a ball, pressed out small holes, and placed it on the table.
Then she looked at the servant beside her and said, "Please take me to the kiln."
The officer was stunned: "You... are done?"
Less than a cup of tea has passed?
Hearing the sound, almost everyone looked up, their eyes filled with disbelief. When they saw the simple snacks on Linzhi's table, they burst into exclamations of disbelief.
"That's it—"
"Are you crazy?"
"If you don't know how to make fruit, don't come and participate."
Even the inspector was a little surprised, but he quickly suppressed the noise in the venue and signaled the officers to take Lin Zhi away.
Lin Zhi arrived at the kiln room and happened to run into a few people. Chef Wei, whom she had met last time, was also there. Unlike the other chefs who were indifferent, he was very enthusiastic when he saw Lin Zhi: "Madam Lin, do you also make baked fruits?"
Lin Zhi raised her eyebrows and glanced at the officials and servants around her. They had just said that whispering was not allowed, so why did they ignore this kind of conversation?
After a pause, she replied, "Mr. Wei too?"
Chef Wei's smile froze for a moment, but he quickly and calmly replied, "Yes, I just put it in."
Lin Zhi nodded and walked past Chef Wei to the kiln. She deftly added charcoal, adjusted the heat, and estimated the temperature of the peach pastry dough, judging its changes.
She tried it twice and got the answer.
Linzhi picked up the prepared peach cake and walked out. The official in blue clothes who was coming towards her subconsciously stepped forward and wanted to take the peach cake from Linzhi's hand.
Lin Zhi dodged away, looking puzzled.
The official in blue looked suspicious: "You won't hand in your work?"
"What are you turning in? I'm just testing the temperature."
"..." As soon as the words fell, the other cooks in the kiln room turned their heads to look, as if they were seeing Lin Zhi's appearance for the first time.
The official in blue stepped aside calmly and said, "Sorry." Then the officer who led Lin Zhi over sent her back to meeting room B.
Lin Zhi returned to the venue with a gloomy face.
The other people in the venue were surprised to see her return. They wanted to ask her a few questions, but they didn't know how to do it because of the rules.
From the fact that everyone in Venue A was testing the kiln temperature, to how Chef Wei addressed himself, to the series of regulations, Lin Zhi quickly came up with a guess.
If venue A is for professional players and venue B is for amateur players, wouldn’t it be simple to think about it this way?
The top twenty people are the real competitors.
Therefore, from the moment she entered, Chef Wei called her Madam Lin instead of Chef Lin, and the others ignored her arrival.
After a long moment, Lin Zhi chuckled.
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