After Prince Ning left, Grand Tutor Hua grabbed Li Huan's hand!
"Li Huan! You absolutely have to win tonight!"
Li Huan smiled and said, "Grand Tutor, rest assured, I will do my best to defeat Prince Ning's cook."
Madam Hua suddenly frowned and said to Grand Tutor Hua, "My lord, a cooking competition must have a fair and impartial judge. We cannot have you and Prince Ning judge it, otherwise there will inevitably be disputes!"
Grand Tutor Hua said, "That's easy. I'll quickly invite a few imperial chefs to the Hua residence to act as judges!"
Madam Hua reminded, "In addition to inviting the imperial chef, we should also invite several top chefs from Suzhou to act as judges, so as to prevent the imperial chef from being bribed by Prince Ning."
Grand Tutor Hua nodded and immediately took action.
Madam Hua looked at Li Huan and said kindly, "Li Huan, tonight we're counting on you. If you need anything, I'll get it ready for you!"
Li Huan said, "No need for you to trouble yourself, Madam. You and Grand Tutor, just enjoy the delicious food tonight."
Mrs. Hua said, "I have complete faith in you, but I have concerns..."
"What are you worried about?" Li Huan asked.
Madam Hua said, "If you win, Prince Ning might renege on his promise and refuse to hand over one million taels of silver, thus turning on you and throwing a tantrum!"
Li Huan said, "It's all in black and white, signed and sealed. How dare Prince Ning renege on his promise? Isn't he afraid the Grand Tutor will complain to the Emperor?"
Lady Hua said, "The reason why Prince Ning is so arrogant is because he is a member of the imperial family and relies on the Emperor to back him up!"
Li Huan laughed and said, "Since the Emperor is biased towards Prince Ning, then I have no choice but to use my ultimate move to deal with Prince Ning and make him obediently hand over one million taels of silver."
Madam Hua said, "To be honest, this one million taels of silver is a bit of a hot potato! After Prince Ning hands over the silver, he will definitely hate my master even more and will retaliate against him even more severely!"
Li Huan said, "Madam, don't worry. The cooking competition was my idea. I have my own way of dealing with Prince Ning and ensuring the safety of the Hua family."
Madam Hua sighed, "Ah... I hope so!"
...
evening.
Prince Ning led his troops and arrived at Huafu once again.
The entourage included a deadly scholar, a fat advisor, and several cooks.
Master Hua has invited three imperial chefs and two top chefs from Suzhou.
Prince Ning got straight to the point, introducing the chef: "This cook is the head chef of my household. His culinary skills are superb and he has received praise from the Emperor!"
Grand Tutor Hua said, "Your Highness is so fortunate to have the Emperor's favorite imperial chef in your residence, where you can enjoy all kinds of delicacies every day. No wonder Your Highness is so radiant and full of energy!"
The cook was short and stout, with a fat head and big ears, and a face that looked like he was about to be blessed.
"This humble one, Zhang Fugui, pays his respects to the Grand Tutor!"
The cook bowed to Grand Tutor Hua with a respectful expression, but his eyes were full of arrogance.
Grand Tutor Hua stroked his beard and said, "Zhang Fugui, tonight you must use all your skills to compete with Li Huan in cooking and bring honor to the Prince!"
Zhang Fugui laughed and said, "This humble servant will never let Your Highness down!"
The crowd gathered in the hall.
Prince Ning said, "These three chefs are imperial chefs whom I hired at great expense; they will be the judges!"
Grand Tutor Hua said, "What a coincidence! I also spent a fortune to hire three imperial chefs, as well as two of the most renowned chefs in Suzhou!"
Prince Ning sneered: "Grand Tutor, you're cunning and shrewd; you were prepared all along!"
Grand Tutor Hua said, "A cooking competition definitely needs judges. Didn't the Prince invite the imperial chefs?"
Prince Ning said, "I invited three people, but you invited five!"
Grand Tutor Hua said, "Your Highness, please rest assured that these five people are absolutely fair and impartial, and will not favor any side!"
Prince Ning said, "Do you five understand the importance of tonight's cooking competition?"
The three imperial chefs and two top chefs invited by Grand Tutor Hua all nodded in agreement.
"Please rest assured, Your Highness and Grand Tutor, we will carefully taste the food and make the most impartial evaluation, without any favoritism or corruption!"
"If there was any covert bias, Your Highness, please punish me!"
"I swear to God that I will absolutely be fair and just!"
The imperial chef and top chefs offered their opinions one after another, but their words seemed insincere.
Grand Tutor Hua said, "Your Highness, you can rest assured about the referee I invited. I wonder if the imperial chef you invited is up to the task?"
Prince Ning's facial muscles twitched, and he said with a forced smile, "Of course they are capable, Grand Tutor, you can rest assured!"
The fat advisor said, "Currently, there are eight chefs serving as judges. We should add the Prince and the Grand Tutor to make a total of ten judges!"
Prince Ning said, "That makes sense. There are ten judges in total. Let them vote on Zhang Fugui and Li Huan's dishes!"
Immediately afterwards, Madam Hua instructed the servants to move the two stoves and cooking utensils into the courtyard for Li Huan and Zhang Fugui to use.
The fat advisor said, "Tonight we'll have a cooking competition. The prince, the grand tutor, and the judges will each give three questions, and Zhang Fugui and Li Huan will each cook three dishes."
"Each dish will be judged by ten judges, and the dish with the most votes will win! Best two out of three rounds will determine the final winner!"
"Your Highness, Grand Tutor, do you have any opinions?"
Prince Ning waved his hand: "I have no objection. Let's have the competition in this manner!"
Grand Tutor Hua said, "I have no objection either."
Prince Ning said, "Very well! I'll give you the first test! Braised beef head!"
Braised beef head!
During the Ming Dynasty, it was strictly forbidden for ordinary people to slaughter oxen for farming without permission; otherwise, they would be punished and exiled to the army.
Therefore, ordinary people could not eat beef on a regular basis; only high-ranking officials and nobles could enjoy delicious beef.
Prince Ning actually set "braised beef head" as a test question, attempting to make things difficult for Li Huan.
The fat clerk ordered his men to bring in two ox heads.
It was covered in blood, clearly having been slaughtered recently and was very fresh.
Grand Tutor Hua said, "Your Highness, ox head is difficult to stew until tender. It will take a lot of effort for Li Huan and Zhang Guifu to braise it!"
Prince Ning said, "This braised beef head must be finished within one hour!"
"One hour?" Grand Tutor Hua said, "Impossible! It will take at least two hours to thoroughly stew the ox's head until it's completely tender!"
Prince Ning said, "Zhang Fugui has his own clever method to stew ox head until it's tender and flavorful! As for Li Huan, whether he can stew ox head until it's tender is another matter, hahaha..."
Prince Ning laughed triumphantly.
Holy crap, this bastard came prepared!
He thought he had set an extremely difficult test!
Li Huan's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
He wasn't worried about how to stew the ox head properly, but rather curious about what method Zhang Fugui used to stew the ox head.
The portly clerk lit an incense stick, started the timer, and announced it loudly.
"The competition begins!!"
Zhang Fugui then instructed his assistant to pick up a porcelain bowl, pour oil onto the cow's head, and quickly smear it.
Then, Zhang Fugui lit a piece of straw paper and placed it on the cow's head!
Instantly, the bull's head burst into flames, billowing thick smoke and emitting a pungent odor.
This is the pungent smell of burning cow hair.
Zhang Fugui was very clever; he used fire to burn off the cow hair.
How can Li Huan remove the cow hair from the cow's head without any preparation?
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