Lin Dan was a little confused now. He subconsciously called out "system" in his mind, and then was stunned - what is the system? She was holding a soup spoon in her hand, with a light layer of milky white soup oozing out of the spoon. It smelled fresh and fragrant, and there was a faint aftertaste in her mouth. It was obvious that she had just taken a sip. But the problem was that Lin Dan had no idea who he was, what he was doing, or why he appeared here out of nowhere.
She stared at her thin, calloused hands, feeling that they were her own, yet not quite. She stood here, yet clearly did not belong here, like a sudden visitor from another world, out of tune with everything around her. She couldn't even figure out what was going on.
But the people around did not realize that Lin Dan at this moment was no longer the same Lin Dan as before. One of them pointed at a dish in front of her and said, "It's still a little lacking in flavor." But he couldn't tell what the flavor was. After all, he was not a professional chef, but his sense of taste was more sensitive than that of ordinary people.
Lin Dan was awakened by these words. When he looked up, he found that the other person was a young man in gorgeous clothes. He has a slim figure, fair skin, handsome eyebrows and eyes. If he doesn't speak, he looks like a little girl. Like Lin Dan, he was holding a soup spoon in his hand and tasting the dish, his brows slightly furrowed and his expression very serious.
"It's indeed lacking some heat." Another person said slowly.
Lin Dan turned around and saw that the person who was speaking this time was an old man with a white beard. At this moment, he was smacking his lips, as if trying to taste the aftertaste of the soup.
Lin Dan quickly shifted his gaze and looked around. Even though he didn't understand anything, he didn't show any panic on his face. She seemed to be accustomed to dealing with such emergencies.
“What do you mean by lacking some heat? I think they are all the same, there is no difference.” The person who spoke this time was a middle-aged man with a dignified look. He was wearing a robe embroidered with auspicious clouds and blue unicorns. He seemed to have a high status, because as soon as he finished speaking, the people standing around him began to nod in agreement, with a slightly flattering smile on their faces.
But Lin Dan did not focus his attention on him, but turned his head to look to the side. About seven or eight meters away from her stood a little girl, only about thirteen or fourteen years old. In front of her was also a square table with a dish on it. The color, aroma and taste were almost the same as the one under Lin Dan's nose.
Taking into account the environment, characters, dialogue information and other factors, Lin Dan quickly came to the conclusion that he seemed to be competing with someone in cooking skills.
The little girl smiled after hearing what the young man and the white-bearded old man said, but when she saw that the middle-aged man did not support her, her eyebrows knitted up immediately, and she looked a little stubborn: "Please taste it carefully again, my lord."
Lord Marquis? Lin Dan, who was trying hard to collect information, quickly glanced at the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was about to speak when the handsome young man said impatiently, "If you can't even tell whether the dishes are good or bad, then why are you a cook?" These words were obviously directed at Lin Dan, because his black and white eyes were staring straight at Lin Dan. The little girl was happy then. She lowered her head, pursed her lips and smiled shyly.
Lin Dan had tasted the dish she had cooked before, but she refused to admit defeat. It was not quite right to say that she “refused to admit defeat”. It should be said that she could not taste what was wrong with her dish or what was lacking in flavor. The boy, who thought she had already lost, was very dissatisfied with this.
Now that she had figured out the situation, Lin Dan no longer had to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances. She wanted to finish the play according to the normal reaction of a normal person. So she took the soup in the spoon into her mouth and tasted it silently, then walked over to the indignant little girl and scooped the soup from her plate.
Both dishes are Chinese cabbage with crab roe and chicken paste. They look like just a few cooked cabbage leaves, but it takes quite a bit of skill to make them well. This is exactly the case with cooking. The simpler the dish, the harder it is to make.
Lin Dan originally just wanted to eat a few bites and then admit defeat, so that he could get out of this situation as quickly as possible and then find a place to quietly digest this sudden situation. But when she actually tasted the two dishes, her taste buds and brain automatically made a judgment. She was surprised to find that her sense of taste seemed to be much more sensitive than that of ordinary people. The slightest difference could be magnified several times by the tip of her tongue, and this was exactly what Lin Dan lacked before.
"I lost." After putting down the soup spoon, she said sincerely, "My cabbage tastes a little bitter." This kind of bitterness is something that most people cannot taste at all, and only gourmets with extremely sensitive taste buds can distinguish it.
The old man with a white beard looked at her deeply and pointed out, "That's right. You didn't wait until the choy sum was fully cooked when you thickened it, which prolonged the heating time of the starch too much, making it burnt and bitter, and not smooth in taste. The essence of choy sum with crab roe and chicken paste lies in two words: sweetness and smoothness. Your dish looks presentable, but it lacks some flavor."
Lin Dan nodded and said again: "I lost."
Seeing that she looked calm and magnanimous, without any resentment after the defeat, the white-bearded old man nodded slightly. The middle-aged man sighed deeply, his face showing reluctance, while a woman hiding behind the crowd fell down holding her chest, scaring everyone.
"Oh no, Qi has fainted! Lin Dan, come and see your mother!" Two women immediately helped the woman up and waved to Lin Dan repeatedly.
Lin Dan quickly gathered information from the words to supplement her identity and ran over without hesitation, saying loudly: "Please help me find a doctor. I will send my mother back first." After he finished speaking, he naturally took over from one of the women to support the woman. The woman with her hands free didn't notice anything unusual. She hurriedly led the way and soon brought Lin Dan back to her own home.
After a lot of busyness, the doctor finally came and said that the woman didn't have any serious illness, but she fainted due to excessive worry, and she would be fine after drinking some calming medicine.
After Lin Dan received the prescription, she took off a silver hairpin from her head as payment for the consultation. She didn't know where the woman kept her money, and even if she knew, the cash box must be locked. Now the woman was unconscious, so she couldn't ask her for the key, so she had to do this.
The doctor looked at her with pity and said in a gentle voice: "The Marquis has already paid for the consultation. You can keep the hairpin yourself. Give me the prescription and I will ask the servants in the Marquis' Mansion to get it for you. Your mother is in a coma and cannot be left alone. Alas..."
Looking at the doctor who was slowly walking away while shaking his head and sighing, Lin Dan realized that the previous cooking competition seemed to be very important to her, otherwise everyone would not have such great sympathy for her, and her mother would not have fainted after she admitted defeat. But defeat is defeat, and this is an undeniable fact, so Lin Dan has no regrets about what he has done.
Seeing the woman's face covered in cold sweat, she picked up the copper basin and went outside to fetch water, but saw a boy of about sixteen or seventeen years old come in and whispered, "Lin Dan, I have already got the medicine for you. One packet of medicine and three bowls of water, boil it over high heat and then simmer it over low heat until it becomes one bowl. Don't throw away the remaining medicine residue, you can make two more doses. Three doses a day, drink it for seven days and it will be almost enough."
Lin Dan hurriedly thanked him and went to the kitchen to boil medicine after sending him away. Whether it was chopping wood to light the stove or fetching water with a bucket, this body could do it subconsciously. The medicine soup had already boiled and was bubbling. Lin Dan removed some dry firewood and simmered it over low heat. Then he moved a small stool and sat by the stove to sort out his memories.
She seemed to be used to doing this, and soon understood her situation. Her father is Lin Baotian, the chef of the Yongding Marquis's Mansion. Since the Marquis of Yongding was a gourmet and was particularly particular about food, Lin Baotian, who had extraordinary cooking skills, was highly valued by him. He was even taken with him on marches and battles, which shows his status. Therefore, Lin Dan and Qi had a very good life in the Marquis' Mansion. Not only did they have a private courtyard to live in, but they also had maids and servants to serve them.
But two months ago, Lin Baotian suddenly died of a sudden illness. On his deathbed, he passed on all the cooking skills and kitchen knives he had accumulated throughout his life to his only daughter, Lin Dan. Lin Dan has admired the young marquis since she was a child. Like the old marquis, he also loves to eat, so she practices cooking skills every day just to make the young marquis look at her more.
After her father died, she took over the mansion and continued to work as the chef. Although she was only twelve or thirteen years old, her skills were already very proficient. One day, she made her signature dish, Braised Black Sea Cucumber with Scallions, which she had practiced for a long time, but she heard the young marquis say that the dish was far worse than that made by the maid in his courtyard.
Lin Dan has always been proud and arrogant, so he immediately went to compete with the little maid, but he didn't expect that the little maid would reveal a shocking secret. It turns out that Lin Baotian's cooking skills and kitchen knives were stolen from her grandfather. Lin Baotian is not the descendant of the Golden Knife Royal Chef at all, but a person who betrays his teacher and ancestors.
The little maid's name was Yan Langqing. Her grandfather was Yan Bo, the golden sword royal chef of the previous dynasty. He was quite famous in the industry. After leaving the palace, he took in several apprentices, one of whom was Lin Dan's father, Lin Baotian. Later, Yan Bo became seriously ill and was about to die. Yan Langqing's father happened to be out of town and was unable to return in time to see his father off. Lin Baotian buried Yan Bo and took the opportunity to steal the imperial golden knife and Yan family recipes, and disappeared without a trace.
Yan Langqing's father was very upset about this, so he took his wife and children to search for him everywhere. Finally, he found Lin Baotian in the Yongding Marquis Mansion, but he didn't expect that the other party was dead. So he asked his daughter to sneak into the mansion to find out about the descendants of his enemy, and find a chance to challenge Lin Dan. The bet was the imperial golden knife and the Yan family recipes.
Lin Dan was very competitive and would never lose face in front of the young marquis. In order to defend her father's reputation, she immediately accepted the challenge... Later she lost, and then she became the current "Lin Dan". The handsome young man who served as the judge before was the young marquis, and the middle-aged man who knew that Lin Dan was no match for Yan Langqing but still spoke up to defend her was the old marquis.
Although the name is the same, Lin Dan can clearly sense that his previous self and his current self are not the same person at all. Before, Lin Dan's heart and eyes were filled with the young marquis. She would be ecstatic because of his smile, and would be at a loss because of his frown. But now, Lin Dan had no feelings at all. Thinking of the other person was like thinking of a stranger.
What she urgently needs to solve now is no longer the issue of identity and memory, but where to go. Having lost the game and having to take care of her sick mother, what should she do in the future?
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