Chapter 451 The Dark Horse
"In this match, whether it's a human or a ghost, the character of many people will be tested." Guan Yingxia glanced at the two people fighting, then looked at the seventh group that had already started the competition on the stage, and whispered to Zhao Xiaojing.
The two new contestants, both of similar build, were beaming from the start, stating they'd already agreed on a plan after carefully examining the ingredients. But soon after the refrigerator was opened, the other contestant suddenly grabbed the three best-looking ingredients, putting them all into their basket before their opponent could react. Not to be outdone, the other contestant feigned remorse and grabbed something else. Then, taking advantage of their opponent's downtime, they grabbed another ingredient, literally taking two of the three from their basket, and then running off to the competition area.
"Yeah, the first group's grabbing was exaggerated, but it was still considered a strategy, and they could discuss it in the end. But the last group, even though everyone was laughing, was still a little disgraceful. But I have no right to criticize them. My group... my group was probably the ugliest, right?"
"Your group made the most noise. It wasn't too ugly, but you did a good job. But the second group was really ugly. You didn't see it backstage. The two men were fighting over a live fish. They didn't get it, so the one behind them pretended to throw the fish to the ground and almost killed it."
"So... a complete betrayal?" Zhao Xiaojing was very surprised and couldn't find an adjective to describe it.
"Well, the judges didn't say anything, but I saw that they each seemed to have a little notebook with something written in it."
Zhao Xiaojing nodded, thinking to herself that although her group looked ugly, it was all provoked by that wretched man. She was just passively defending and didn't do anything too excessive, so it shouldn't be blamed on her, right?
Zhao Xiaojing lowered her head and was thinking to herself, not noticing that the two judges on the stage were watching all the little movements of her group.
"It seems that we both guessed wrong. Not only is there a dark horse, but it's also a solid one. Fatty and the others should all know about it by now." Nan Rongquan glanced at Zhao Xiaojing.
"It doesn't hurt to know. With their abilities, they can advance in this match. But... do you think she is trying to be nice? After all, it's not easy for her to see through our tricks so quickly." Dang Yongge took a sip of tea and said meaningfully.
Nan Rongquan tapped the armrest of his chair lightly and glanced at Zhao Xiaojing again. "She was able to accurately take away one special ingredient and two high-grade ingredients, which means it wasn't a fluke; she truly identified them. And the fact that she was able to leave a useful high-grade ingredient for her opponent, especially one she'd openly feuded with, shows she's quite magnanimous. After all, her opponent had already made that move, clearly not intending to leave any ingredients for her. If she had just been pretending to leave the pork belly, no one would have noticed. After all, she had plenty of ingredients left, but she chose to leave the pork belly as well."
Dang Yongge pondered for a moment, "This behavior shows that she is upright and confident enough."
"She's confident enough, so I think she's trying to warn the little fat guy and the others to avoid taking a detour, rather than trying to be nice and try to break into the so-called circle."
"The teacher has a keen eye." Dang Yongge sighed with a smile. "But the fact that she could predict the questions is also a good thing. It allows for both open competition and sincerity. That's what we hope to see."
"Yes, at the beginning you said we had to wait until halfway through the competition, when these talented people came on stage and could examine the ingredients up close. Only then would someone smart enough to notice our trick. But it doesn't matter if they do find out. They're all very cunning and wary of each other, so they won't reveal the ingredients. I wouldn't necessarily say they won't reveal the ingredients, but it depends on who they are. If there's a benefit or some kind of cooperation, they might reveal the ingredients for some purpose. Haha."
"Haha, then let's see how far this dark horse that we all guessed wrong can run." Dang Yongge tapped the notebook in his hand with interest.
"The dark horse may still have a long way to go, but the lame horse's scallion-fried sea cucumber is ready." Nan Rongquan patted Dang Yongge and stood up first.
It turned out that the 100-minute countdown for the first group of contestants was about to end, and the contestant in the front row raised his hand to signal.
"It's indeed braised sea cucumber with scallions." Wen Xinyuan stretched his neck to look at the table of the contestant in the first group.
"Why does the old man have such a strange expression?" the fat man asked puzzledly.
"Maybe because braised sea cucumber with scallions is his signature dish?"
"No, even the signature dish doesn't have this expression."
“Is this still a communication?”
"Why is he so happy? He advanced? This isn't the right time to announce it."
Zhao Xiaojing and her four friends were completely confused.
Onstage, after each of the two judges tasted the braised sea cucumber with scallions, they didn't let the contestant go as usual. Instead, they began questioning him. Nan Rongquan's expression was something like a sigh and a rebuke, and it was unclear what he said to the contestant. The contestant went from surprise to disappointment, and then suddenly became ecstatic, nodding repeatedly as he left the stage.
After a while, the two judges returned to the stage and discussed for a while before putting on their glasses and writing something down in their notebooks. Then they sat idle again until the two groups of contestants handed in their papers at the same time, then stood up to check the second group's results.
"By the way, when will this episode of the variety show be aired? How is it fair that we can't hear a single word? I'm so anxious! It would be great if they had a microphone!" Wen Xinyuan was scratching his head in the audience.
"Maybe they are afraid of affecting the progress of the competition and the mentality of the contestants. After all, there are still competitions on the stage, and there are so many people below the stage who haven't competed yet." Zhao Xiaojing sighed.
Although the contestants can be seen cooking and fighting over food clearly from the audience, the judges cannot hear them even in the first row unless they speak loudly on purpose.
However, both judges brought their own recording equipment, and there were two professional photographers who were also following and filming. There would definitely be no problem editing the video when the time comes. It was just a hardship for these contestants who were tortured by curiosity.
"I'm going to get some information!" The fat man watched the ecstatic contestant run to the back row to sit down. His eyes rolled, and he left a word and ran to the back with his body bent.
"Hey, take me with you..." Although the fat man was running with his body hunched over, by the time Wen Xinyuan reacted, the fat man had already run far away, so Wen Xinyuan could only give up with a sigh.
"He was eliminated, but Grandpa Nan recommended his apprentice to him and asked him to go over and learn from him." Not long after, the fat man came back, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and started gossiping with the three of them.
"Eliminated? Is the result announced now?"
"What does it mean to recommend your own apprentice?"
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