Chapter 899: Chapter 898: Liu Clan Selection (Part 1)
The setting sun descended in the west.
The Xia Mansion, whose kitchen door had been closed all day, finally opened with a creak, just as the wooden planks were stained with the orange-red sunset.
Ye Feizhou was long gone, but Lei Aoxue chose to stay.
In the courtyard, Zhu Qing stood with her hands on her hips, watching as Lei Aoxue whispered stage advice to Liu Ying. Suddenly hearing a sound, her gaze immediately shifted to the young man stretching as he stepped out of the door.
"Mr. Xia!"
Liu Ying leapt off the stone stool with a thud, exclaiming with joy, "Let’s go!"
Xia Yu sniffed his clothes; having immersed himself in research for the past day or two, coupled with intensive and tireless cooking practice, he smelled of sweat mixed with the scent of oil — a true man’s odor. He disdainfully waved his hand to fan the smell away, "Aunt Qing, do we have enough time? I’d like to take a bath before going."
"Do you plan to bathe and change clothes at the venue?"
Zhu Qing rolled her eyes at him, "Clean towels and clothes are prepared for you on the rack outside the bathroom!"
"Make sure to wash yourself nice and clean — " Zhu Qing teased with a wink, "After all, it’s your first culinary battle back in the country. It might even go down in history. Imagine being remembered as the slovenly Demon King if you go unkempt!"
"Absolutely not!"
Xia Yu raised his hands in surrender.
Slovenliness paired with Demon King was fine, but when matched with chef and gourmet, it was far from flattering.
As Xia Yu walked away, Zhu Qing’s smile instantly disappeared.
"Phew—"
Even Liu Ying suddenly had a tense expression.
"Worried?" Lei Aoxue quietly stepped closer. Zhu Qing gave her a sideways glance and nodded, "The opponent is unprecedentedly strong. I asked him how confident he was in this duel, and he couldn’t even say. How could I not be worried?"
Zhu Qing waved her hand at the two, "You wait here!"
She went to a secluded corner of the mansion, took out her phone, her expression shifting, and ultimately opened her contacts to dial a number.
"Beep!"
The call connected.
"Do you even know there’s going to be a culinary battle tonight?!" Zhu Qing’s voice was accusing from the start.
Her demeanor was like a rebellious child venting at their parents.
"..."
Silence on the other end.
"Ha, it seems like you’re admitting it!" Zhu Qing said coldly, "If it’s a deathmatch food battle, and Yu unfortunately loses, and that old scoundrel Huang pushes for Yu’s life, what are you going to do?"
"Impossible!"
A steady voice said, "Deathmatch food battles only exist in the shadows. Since they plan to put this battle on display, they definitely won’t sign a death contract!"
"You’re so calm. I used ’deathmatch’ as a metaphor. Fine, deathmatches on display are not allowed, but what if the condition is that the loser is stripped of their chef status, never allowed to cook, or step into a professional kitchen again?"
Never allowed to cook!
Prohibition from the profession!
For some, being stripped of their profession is more painful than death.
"Why aren’t you saying anything?"
Zhu Qing scolded mercilessly, "You, as the leader, are really a failure! Ten years ago, you couldn’t protect your own daughter. The tragedy of my sister’s family was due to your weakness and hesitation!"
"Ten years later, you’re still the same. If anything happens to Yu, I’ll never acknowledge you as the stubborn old fool again!"
The words echoed in the quiet pavilion.
At the White Jade Tower, Zhu Ji watched as a black stone fell from his hand, rolling onto the chessboard, a trace of viciousness suddenly appearing on his calm face.
Weakness?
...
Night fell.
In this space-time plane, due to the perpetuation of traditional customs and the attention from officials, when night descended, the entire Jingguan City lit up with lanterns, with rows of exquisite colorful lanterns visible everywhere on the streets.
Admiring the moon, setting off fireworks, eating sweet dumplings, and solving lantern riddles.
Restaurants opening for the festival night all offered unique sweet dumpling sets, incomparable to any supermarket frozen products. Each dumpling was handmade by the restaurant’s chef. Customers queued up to get a bowl, eating as they walked along the street, occasionally exclaiming with delight at the deliciousness.
Feitian Pavilion.
By nightfall, this venue was already packed.
The venue was surrounded by crowds both inside and out.
Outside the venue was a large outdoor lantern carnival, and inside, a vigorous lion dance was ongoing. Amidst the rhythmic sound of drums and gongs, a male and female lion were danced with extreme grace.
The audience erupted in cheers and applause.
"Sister Qi, it’s about to start, please hurry up—"
A female assistant was knocking on the backstage door.
Qi Qingyan came out of the rest area, lightly touching her freshly outlined lips, "How’s it outside?"
"It’s packed, over ten thousand people!"
The female assistant pointed towards the passage, "Listen, they’re performing the lion dance now, it’s quite a spectacle!"
"Hmm."
Qi Qingyan responded calmly, checking the small microphone on her collar and flipping open the cue cards in her hand.
No doubt, this familiar female host and female chef was the MC of this year’s Liu Clan selection, also serving as the presenter.
The female assistant squeezed over, knowing that Qi Qingyan was reviewing the participants’ profiles, and couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Sister Qi, is there anyone noteworthy in this year’s Liu Clan selection?"
"Yes!"
Qi Qingyan pulled out a card, her expression complex as she read the introduction on it.
"Liu Ying, 13 years old, culinary rating: none."
"Specialty: none."
"Signature dish: none."
Ah!
The overly brief information left the female assistant stunned, "How could a 13-year-old girl be in the Liu Clan selection?"
The selection tonight was equivalent to the finals, while the preliminaries and eliminations were held privately within the Liu Clan. Qi Qingyan couldn’t imagine the profound intentions of the elders in placing a 13-year-old girl in the finals.
In fact, the list was finalized just today.
Back to the main venue.
In the first row of the guest seats sat all the important figures of the Liu Clan.
Liu Lan, turning to the right towards the Old Grand Duke Liu, whispered with a wry smile, "Grand Duke, putting Little Ying on the participant list as the seventh contestant, isn’t that too frivolous?"
Old Grand Duke Liu leaned on his cane, listening as he turned to look back at the second row of guest seats behind him.
Just in time.
Xia Yu, Zhu Qing, Liu Ying, and Lei Aoxue had just arrived and were finding their seats.
Noticing the Grand Duke’s gaze, Zhu Qing nodded slightly at him.
Old Grand Duke Liu responded with a smile. His gaze passed over Zhu Qing and onto the Demon King Xia sitting beside her, showing a thoughtful expression as he slowly said, "I have thought this through; there’s no need to say more!"
Liu Lan had no choice but to remain silent.
But in Liu Lan’s heart, there was a strong suspicion regarding the sudden inclusion of Liu Ying in the selection.
The main reason...
was because Liu Ying had been taken as a disciple by that Demon King Xia!
"In just ten or fifteen days, no matter how talented Demon King Xia is, could he train a kid who’s not even at a special level to win the selection finals?" Liu Lan glanced back, eyeing the calm and collected youth, "I must win this selection again and continue managing the Juxia Building for the next three years!"
"Give me another three years; if I can manage Juxia Building for another three years, it will surely prosper!" Liu Lan thought to himself.