The emperor was greatly surprised by Lin Dan's bold and outspoken remarks. He originally looked down on this plain-looking young woman, but now, a hint of interest appeared in his eyes, "I can naturally guarantee the fairness of this competition. I will only watch and not comment. The final say of your cooking skills will be left to these gourmets and chefs."
Lin Dan bowed to the judges one by one and said, "That being said, this competition is still unfair to me. Your Majesty highly values Yan Yuchu. Now you have lent her the Xiang Garden for the competition and come to watch the competition in person. Your behavior has already shown your attitude - you are in favor of her. And you are the master of the world, how dare your people go against your will. Today, as soon as I stepped into the Xiang Garden, I actually lost. I understand this truth, and the emperor is wise and powerful, so he should also understand it."
The more they listened, the more shocked they became. They had never expected Lin Dan to be so outspoken.
The emperor laughed loudly, his eyes showing more interest: "So, what do you think? Do you want to continue this competition?"
Yan Langqing had a complicated expression. If possible, she would naturally like to compete with Lin Dan again in an open and dignified manner, but since the emperor protected her so much, she could not help but be grateful. Yan Shouye, however, felt that there was no need to continue this competition, as Lin Dan was just asking for humiliation today. When his daughter becomes a queen, he will definitely kill Lin Dan!
Unexpectedly, Lin Dan nodded without hesitation: "Of course we have to compete, but for the sake of fairness, the rules must be set by me. May I ask Your Majesty if this is okay? When I first competed with Yan Yuchu, because I was the chef of the Marquis's mansion and my father was loved by the Marquis of Yongding, for the sake of fairness, the schedule was also set by Yan Yuchu. What to compete, how to compete, and who will be the referee were all decided by her. Now that our situations are reversed, I also made the same request. Is this not too much?"
The emperor glanced at Yan Langqing and nodded, "It's indeed not excessive. Tell me, how do you want to compare?"
Although Lin Dan seemed to be in control, the deterrent power of the imperial power still existed. Even if she made the most delicious dish, the referee could throw her into the abyss with just one word. So-called fairness never exists in the face of power. Lin Dan is very bold, but not very smart. Thinking of this, the emperor shook his head secretly, feeling depressed.
Lin Dan said calmly: "For this competition, we will use the same ingredients to make the same dish. It won't be too much, just one dish will do."
Yan Langqing asked: "What dish do you want to cook?"
"The Dragon Boat Festival is coming, shall we make rice dumplings?" Lin Dan tilted his head to look at her and smiled slightly.
Yan Langqing was stunned. It took him a long time to come back to his senses and nod slowly. Through those four signature dishes, she had a rough idea of Lin Dan's level. She thought she would compete in cooking extremely difficult dishes, but she didn't expect that she would actually suggest making rice dumplings. However, Yan Langqing was not afraid at all. The empress in the palace also loved to eat rice dumplings. She had made all kinds of rice dumplings and they were all very well received, so she was not afraid. The ladies in the palace are more picky than each other. If she can serve them well, she can naturally serve several referees.
"Can you and I each make 50 kilograms of rice dumplings, and only meat dumplings?" Lin Dan continued.
"Fifty kilograms?" Yan Langqing finally showed a surprised expression.
"Can I?" Lin Dan looked at her straight.
"Can."
"Very good. Then please provide us with 100 kilograms of glutinous rice and 50 kilograms of pork belly. The glutinous rice and pork belly do not need to be separated. Put them in one bucket and we will distribute them ourselves in the kitchen. If additional seasonings are needed, we can ask the palace servants separately and we will not interfere with each other. Is this ok?" Lin Dan bowed, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant.
The emperor nodded and said, "I agree. Let's go and prepare." Each of them should pack 50 kilograms of rice dumplings. Who will they be for? Does Lin Dan want to starve everyone here to death?
Not only the emperor felt strange, but the other guests also looked puzzled. However, Lin Dan and Yan Langqing had already gone to the kitchen and had no time to find out what was going on. Even if you ask, I'm afraid she won't be able to give you an answer. Let's wait and see after we finish wrapping the rice dumplings. I thought this was a competition that would be decided before it even started, but I didn't expect Lin Dan to create a suspense. This Shopkeeper Lin is quite interesting.
No matter what the nobles speculated, Lin Dan was calm when he entered the kitchen. One hundred kilograms of glutinous rice was packed in a huge wooden barrel and was carried in by the palace servants breathlessly. Behind it was another barrel containing fifty kilograms of pork belly.
Lin Dan pinched the glutinous rice with his hands and nodded with satisfaction.
Yan Langqing said gently, "Your concerns are unnecessary. I won't be so mean as to let them prepare inferior ingredients for you instead of the ones they prepared for me. You can pick the glutinous rice and pork first, and I'll use the rest."
Lin Dan turned to look at the other person with a faint smile on his face, "Thank you, Chef Yan."
Yan Langqing slowly rolled up his sleeves and said, "Shall we start now?"
"Okay, but before that, I have to decide on the shape and size of the zongzi. Do you have any objections?" Lin Dan took out three pieces of zongzi leaves, rolled them into a cone shape, put some glutinous rice on them, tied them up with a rope, and gestured, "Can you make the same shape and size?"
This request was indeed a bit strange, but Yan Langqing didn't think much about it and nodded, "Okay." She immediately wrapped an identical triangular rice dumpling and handed it to Lin Dan for inspection.
Lin Dan unwrapped the two dumplings, put the glutinous rice back in, and said with a faint smile: "Then we can start."
The two of them each occupied a stove and started working. Yan Langqing first soaked the glutinous rice, then cut the pork belly into thin slices and marinated it with soy sauce, fine salt, sugar, peanut oil and other seasonings. When he looked up, he found Lin Dan was cooking on the stove, and the glutinous rice and pork belly were untouched.
The rice dumplings haven’t even been wrapped yet, why light the stove at this time? She felt curious and took a closer look. She then discovered that Lin Dan did not use firewood to cook, but sesame stalks that he had specially asked the palace servants for. There were many ripe sesame seeds on the sesame stalks, which made a popping sound when licked by the flames, and a unique burnt aroma emanated, which was extremely strong.
Yan Langqing couldn't help but take a deep breath and felt even more curious.
Lin Dan didn't even look at her. She just gathered the sesame stalks that had been burnt into ashes, wrapped them with fine silk cloth, and rubbed them in cold boiled water until the clear water turned into turbid gray water. She then filtered it several times with fine silk cloth to make sure there was no residue before soaking the glutinous rice in it.
The snow-white glutinous rice was stained with a dirty color after entering the water. Four big words instantly popped up in Yan Langqing's mind - waste of resources! These dumplings are wrapped to be eaten by the referees. Isn't it dirty to handle them like this? She was confused, but she didn't want to ask. This competition concerns her reputation, so she naturally won't stop Lin Dan from committing suicide.
After Lin Dan soaked the glutinous rice, he began to process the pork belly. The seasonings she chose were similar to those used by Yan Langqing, with only a slight difference in the amounts. After everything was ready, she began to make the rice dumplings. It can be seen that her technique of wrapping zongzi is very experienced. With a flip of her wrist, the zong leaf is rolled up, and then some glutinous rice is put underneath, a piece of meat is stuffed in the middle, and some more glutinous rice is put on top. She gently presses it with her hands, then closes the zong leaf, ties it with a rope, and finally ties a small knot at the end of the rope.
Yan Langqing also started making rice dumplings. The size and shape were exactly the same as Lin Dan’s. After wrapping one, she threw it into the basin next to her and waited for it to be cooked.
The two of them worked from morning to afternoon, and finally each made 50 kilograms of rice dumplings, which they placed in two buckets of the same size and shape. They were now cooked and were bubbling with steam. Before everyone judged, Lin Danqing counted the number of zongzi, then walked to Yan Langqing's wooden barrel and said slowly: "You and I will exchange positions."
Although Yan Langqing was full of doubts, she felt that it was nothing, so she walked to her wooden barrel and stood still. Even if they exchanged positions, she still recognized her own wooden barrel. Could it be that Lin Dan could have taken it away?
Lin Dan then invited all the guests and said with a bow, "Could you please bring two guards into the kitchen and swap the positions of the two buckets on the left and right? You can swap as many times as you like, or not. After one adult has finished swapping, another adult can go in and continue swapping. Do this five times. After you come out, no one is allowed to tell how many times they have swapped."
"What exactly do you want to do?" The emperor was a little confused about Lin Dan's intentions. Normally, since the rice dumplings have been wrapped, they should be peeled open and a few should be tasted by the judges to determine the winner. But now, Lin Dan seemed to be playing a game, and seemed to be teasing everyone. Who did she borrow the courage from?
"Your Majesty has already promised that I will have the final say in this competition. Does that still count?" Lin Dan asked instead of answering.
The emperor frowned and waved his hand, saying, "Five people, come out and swap the positions of the two barrels."
Tang Jiu, Prince of Dianqian, Prince Cheng, Prince Gong, and Marquis Weiyuan immediately stood up.
Yan Langqing hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not raise any objection. Although these people are all loyal fans of Lin Dan, they are not referees and are not qualified to judge the rice dumplings, so they do not hinder the competition at all. Did Lin Dan want to mix up the two barrels of rice dumplings so that the referee couldn’t tell which one was made by whom? This method was indeed very clever, but she forgot that the senior imperial chefs present all came from the imperial kitchen and were very familiar with Yan Langqing's cooking skills. Some of them had been specially invited by the emperor to teach her cooking, so they were considered half-masters of hers.
They would not be unable to tell who made the two kinds of zongzi, not to mention that Lin Dan had processed the glutinous rice in such a dirty way, so how could the zongzi made from it be edible? Yan Langqing was very skeptical about this and had already determined that he could win. Lin Dan was not as good as her ten years ago, and it is still the same ten years later.
The emperor also guessed Lin Dan's intention and shook his head. Shopkeeper Lin likes to be clever, but he always fails to hit the mark.
After Tang Jiu and the others exchanged the wooden barrels, they walked out with gloomy faces. In their view, everything Lin Dan did was a last-ditch struggle. She had already lost the competition the moment she received the challenge letter. There is no justice under power, and she should understand that.
Lin Dan's expression was very relaxed. He cupped his hands and said, "The competition is over. Next, I will set the competition rules. Everyone here has their own preferences, which is inevitably unfair. In my opinion, none of them are good referees. I want to carry these two barrels of zongzi to the city gate, peel and chop them separately, let the people entering the city taste them, and then let them pick a zongzi to take away according to their preferences. Whoever's zongzi is taken away by the people first will win. Is this fair? Don't worry, I have marked the zongzi so that we can tell which barrel belongs to whom. I have counted them in advance. There are 400 zongzi in each barrel. The extra ones will be put aside to avoid the result being difficult to judge."
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