Chapter 885: Chapter 884: Proxy War (Part 1)
“Eh!”
Xia Yu noticed a young woman adeptly slicing flowers into a fish. She seemed like a professional working woman, with a pretty face. Her delicate, fair hands grasped the small knife without any hint of hesitation, swiftly carving designs onto the fish. Her cooking style was as decisive and neat as her knife work, exuding a faint aura of a head chef.
“This one’s promising!” Remembering the woman’s number, 4, Xia Yu continued to survey the scene.
Soon, another new target emerged.
Contestant number 6, a housewife, had slaughtered and washed the carp, even using kitchen paper to thoroughly wipe away any moisture from the fish.
Moreover, not only was it the fish, the woman was frying black beans in a pan until the shells popped, then suddenly stopped the heat, and soaked and rinsed the black beans with water. After a while, she retrieved them and used kitchen paper to absorb the moisture clinging to the beans…
“Red dates, black beans…” Xia Yu’s eyes brightened slightly. “Red date black bean carp soup, is it? Indeed, every housewife has a cookbook. Carp meat itself has the function of nourishing and strengthening the stomach. Black beans and red dates are rich in nutrients, can nourish blood, enhance beauty, and replenish the kidneys.”
The pairing conveyed life’s simple wisdom.
On contestant number 6, Xia Yu saw meticulousness and attention to detail.
Personal style?
Here, Xia Yu vaguely understood why these 9 contestants stood on stage; it was inseparable from their emerging “style” of culinary art or rather, their personal culinary style.
Contestant 4, the professional working woman, strong knife skills.
Contestant 6, the housewife, adept at ingredient pairing.
Hmm…
There’s still one more!
Xia Yu checked the new task received yesterday evening —
“‘Three Kingdoms Chess Match’.”
“Request: Guide your contestant to obtain the highest total score in the ‘Kitchen Three Kingdoms’ show.”
“Reward: 10 Talent Points.”
“Failure penalty: Deduction of 1 million Fame Points.”
Looking at the reward, 10 Talent Points indicated this task was not light.
Furthermore, the failure penalty section clearly stated a deduction of a full million Fame Points for failure!
Xia Yu tossed and turned secretly calculating on the bed last night; if he unfortunately lost, the Fame Points swallowed by the system would be equivalent to more than three hundred bags of ‘Golden Kela’ fertilizer.
Each bag of ‘Golden Kela’ costs 3000 Fame Points, more than 300 bags could fill several trucks, right? Thinking about this every time made Xia Yu’s heart ache, dripping blood.
Screw you, system; don’t even think about swallowing anything of labor’s!!
With such fighting spirit, Xia Yu’s eyes shone even brighter as he observed the contestants following number 6.
Numbers 7, 8, 9.
Unconsciously, after watching the whole circle, he wasn’t as serious as when watching contestants 4 and 6.
‘Kitchen Three Kingdoms’ is a variety show; the routine is no different. Mentors choose students, and students have the right to independently choose in front of a true Lin Chef. This is why such programs are popular; grassroots also have a voice now!
If aiming for this season’s championship, selecting contestants was particularly important.
“Who will be this third choice?”
Xia Yu hesitated for a moment, deciding to first observe his biggest rival.
He noticed Wei Zhong was looking at contestant number 1.
In the kitchen, there was a high school student, wearing a school tracksuit, bowing his head over the cutting board, swinging his knife to cut up a heap of pumpkins and carrots into cubes, and using the blender to mash them into puree.
Tapioca, sugar powder, glutinous rice flour.
The high school student then mixed these powdery ingredients, sifted them, and Xia Yu watched him take milk and vegetable oil, raising his brow in surprise, “Is this preparation for pastry?”
Then he saw that the carp provided by the program group hadn’t been touched, and Xia Yu suddenly understood.
So that’s it!
He’s making rice cakes!
Xia Yu also became interested in this peer contestant.
Daring to almost “off-topic” on such a program stage, abandoning the main ingredient, was it finding a new path or a bold choice that would soon be revealed by the result.
An hour and a half later.
“Time’s up!”
The female host shouted, “Please all contestants stay by their respective kitchen stations!”
The camera returned to the mentor’s seat.
Next was the phase of mutual selection between mentors and contestants, a phase that greatly affected this season’s show’s scoring ranking.
After all, the contestants had varying cooking levels, uneven. Mentors needed to have sharp eyes to establish a great advantage.
“Three mentors, below is the free speech time—” the female host said expectantly, playfully blinking at the camera, “You can treat this stage as the contestant snatching stage.”
“Competition begins now!”
Clang!
As the female host had barely finished speaking, a mentor already hit the speech button attached to the chair.
“Oh—”
Exclamations, “It’s the second seat… Demon King Xia!”
Swish.
Suddenly, attention from both on and off the stage focused simultaneously.
Although Xia Yu in this life hadn’t appeared on any variety show, he was, after all, influenced by the entertainment-to-death environment in his past life and knew what to do in this segment. Isn’t it just “show effect”? Go on, have it!
Sitting on the seat, Xia Yu opened his arms wide in an embracing gesture towards the seen 4 and 6, “Contestants 4 and 6, come under my banner, I will lead the charge—”
Poof!
Zhu Qing sprayed out a mouthful of salty soda.
The camera immediately gave a view of number 4 and number 6, two women in their twenties and thirties, looking at the boy on the seat, and facing each other.
Laughter filled the venue.
The female director Lu Qinghong in the judging seat was taken aback, “Is this Demon King Xia really on a variety show for the first time? Considering his age and even under the pressure of his seniors, he logically should be restrained…”
On her left and right, there were two industry authorities, both from Sichuan’s local area.
These people held goodwill towards Demon King Xia. Anyway, the Xia Family and Demon King Xia bore the imprint of the Heavenly Country, as fellow countrymen, they wouldn’t stab him in the back.
Strike first!
Xia Yu, indifferent to the laughter and the shocked glances of Wei Zhong and Ye Feizhou, was determined for those 10 Talent Points.
“Come under my banner!”
He issued the invitation again.
“Contestant number 4, Chen Wenjie, contestant number 6, Zhang Fen, what is your response?” the female host controlled the field timely, “Don’t have any concerns. If you don’t want to, feel free to refuse!”
“I accept Master Xia’s invitation!”
Number 6, named Zhang Fen, a housewife, wasn’t shy on stage. She was well-maintained and gently laughed to the miniature microphone at the collar, “As for the reason, Master Xia and my son are of the same age, fate is all about eye contact. I decided to join your camp when I first stepped on stage.”
“Then what about contestant number 4, Chen Wenjie?”
The beautiful working woman’s gaze wandered between Xia Yu and Ye Feizhou, uncertain.
One was the demon king renowned far and wide.
One was the Heavenly King Disciple, the heir apparent-like rising star in the Chinese Realm.
Whom should she choose?
Many female audience members on-site felt the same perplexity, “The Crown Prince, the Demon King… Ah, so hard to choose!”
“I, I’ll join Master Xia!”
Eventually, the female working woman bit her lip, seeming to bid farewell to an idol as she glanced at Ye Feizhou and followed the number 4 housewife, stepping into the light circle under the banner hanging with the character “Xia.”
Zhu Qing, below the stage, chuckling, said, “Female contestants, double hit, GET!”