The original god of the Jyota Jinchūriki

Chapter 390 Competition Judges
"Ajin, does your ear still hurt?"

As Xiangling brought the last dish of symbolic peace to the table, all the sixteen dishes for tonight were served. After the meal was served, Hu Tao, Xiangling's assistant, came out of the kitchen and saw Ruo Jin rubbing his ears and gasping for breath. Hu Tao also sat down next to Ruo Jin and rubbed Ruo Jin's ears.

"Hmph, Kurumi, you don't have to worry about him. I didn't even have to use much strength."

Keqing glared at Ruojin and acted a little angry. She wanted to be Ruojin's wife, but you wanted to be an immortal who was a generation higher than her, right? If it weren't for the fact that there were so many people in Wanmin Hall and Keqing wanted to save some face for Ruojin, Keqing would have to let Ruojin know what the dignity of a sister is today.

"Alright, alright, let's eat."

As Xiangling brought out a jar of good wine and a large bucket of juice from the house, the welcoming banquet officially began. Since everyone had not seen each other for a long time, everyone had a lot to talk about what had happened during this period, and the atmosphere of the whole banquet was very lively.

Somehow, when everyone was chatting, the topic inadvertently turned to the cooking competition in a few days. Speaking of the cooking competition, Hu Tao suddenly seemed to think of something and looked at Keqing who was listening to Ying talk about Xumi's current situation.

"Keqing, do you know the rules of this cooking competition? Tell me~"

Because she just came back from Xumi today, Hu Tao didn't know the rules of this cooking competition at all. Xiangling was so busy these days that she didn't even bother to learn about the rules of the cooking competition after signing up. So Hu Tao took this opportunity to ask Keqing about the rules of the cooking competition with a grin.

"The rules and procedures of this year's cooking competition are actually no different from usual. It's just that after we decide the winner in Liyue, the winner will have an exchange match with the contestants from Mondstadt, Inazuma, and Xumi."

Keqing thought about the plan that Ningguang had shown her. At that time, the staff of the General Affairs Department had some disagreements on how to deal with the players sent by the three countries for exchanges, which led to the General Affairs Department being unable to come up with a plan.

The Seven Stars even held a meeting to discuss this, and finally came up with this idea which would both bring the countries closer together and avoid the embarrassing situation of these three players being eliminated in the competition.

Mo Qing had no objection to this. After all, she could see that exchanging cooking skills was just an excuse. What was more important was the intention behind it was to bring Liyue and the Three Kingdoms closer under the guise of exchanging cooking skills.

"Oh, so this is the process. Xiangling must be the one who communicated with Nilu about cooking skills."

After understanding what Keqing said, Hu Tao confidently gave Xiang Ling a thumbs up, because she had also been to these three countries. To be honest, Hu Tao didn't think the food from these three countries was as delicious as the food Xiang Ling had carefully prepared tonight.
Seeing that Hu Tao had so much confidence in her, Xiang Ling was also full of confidence. Although there were many people who signed up this time, Xiang Ling still had confidence in herself. After all, Ruo Jin would also come to watch her competition this time. When Xiang Ling thought that Ruo Jin would cheer her on from the sidelines, she felt full of fighting spirit.

"It's good that you have confidence, but as far as I know, the girl sent by Inazuma to participate in the competition is a girl with many certificates, and her assistant is the eldest daughter of the Kamisato family. Xiangling, you still have to take it seriously."

Thinking of the green-haired girl who followed Yan Fei a few days ago, Keqing couldn't believe that the girl had actually passed the Inazuma senior chef qualification certificate. If she didn't know that the certificate could only be issued by the Inazuma shogunate, Keqing would have wanted to talk to the Yae priest who led the team to Liyue to find out whether the priest had been deceived.

"By the way, sister, have you found all the judges for this competition?"

Listening to people at the table talking about the cooking competition, Ruojin suddenly remembered that he had promised Mona to ask the judges. He also asked Keqing whether she had found all the judges. If not, Ruojin would recommend Mona to Keqing.

Hearing Ruo Jin ask this question, Keqing paused with her chopsticks that were reaching for the golden shrimp ball, then shook her head with an embarrassed look on her face. Ever since the news spread in Liyue Harbor that a contestant in the Fatui cooking competition held at Wangshu Inn forced the judges to eat the intestines that had not been cleaned properly.

Some of the chefs with some reputation in Liyue Port did not want to be judges for this cooking competition. Even though Keqing promised to strictly select the ingredients, these chefs did not agree.
"Haven't you found one yet? Sister Keqing, what do you think of Mona? I think Mona is pretty good."

Seeing Keqing shaking her head, Ruo Jin immediately recommended Mona to Keqing. Although Mona was not a professional chef, Ruo Jin believed that Mona, as an astrologer, could easily do the job as a mere judge.

"Mona? That's fine, but are you willing to be a judge? Because there are many participants this time and the competition will last for many days, the reward for being a judge this time is 200,000 Mora. If you think it's too little, I can apply for a higher reward."

Keqing glanced at Mona beside her and thought that Mona was a good choice. However, in order to prevent Mona from having any opinions about the job of judge in the future and thus affecting the relationship between her and Mona, Keqing also told Mona about the shortcomings of this competition.

After hearing Keqing's words, Mona was almost lost in this sudden big opportunity. Without waiting for Keqing to finish explaining the judge's job content, Mona, who was sitting next to Keqing, directly held Keqing's hand, and said with an unusually firm look in her eyes that revealed her poverty.

"I'm willing to be a judge." Keqing, who didn't know much about Mona's situation, was startled by Mona's excited behavior. However, after hearing that Mona was willing to be a judge, Keqing nodded and agreed. Sensing Mona's joy, Keqing asked another question.

"Does anyone here want to be a judge? There are still many vacancies for the cooking competition. If you want to be a judge, you can tell me. I believe that everyone here has excellent taste for food."

When Paimon heard Keqing say that she still needed to recruit judges, he was immediately tempted. After swallowing the meat in his mouth, he said to Ying who was struggling with a piece of Jueyun pepper beside her.

"Ying, why don't we go too? Being a judge not only allows us to eat delicious food, but we can also get Mora. This is much easier than working so hard as a commission."

Ying thought about it and felt that what Paimon said made sense. Instead of working on commissions outside in the wind and sun, she might as well be a judge in a cooking competition. Not only would she get free food, but she would also get Mora, and most importantly, she wouldn't be tired. This was exactly the job she had in mind, so after Paimon finished speaking, Ying immediately said.

"Keqing, I, I want to be a judge too."

"Traveler? Sure."

Seeing that Ying was also going to be a judge, Keqing nodded and agreed. Since there were not enough judges, Keqing no longer expected to find professional cooking masters to be judges. So, in Keqing's opinion, there would be no problem for Ying to be a judge. She just needed to show the list to Ningguang, who was in charge of the cooking competition.

Thinking that there were still a few people short of the judges, Keqing turned her gaze to Ruojin, who was feeding Hutao wine on the left and Xiangling picking up food on the right. Noticing her elder sister's gaze, Ruojin, who still remembered the various dishes made by the contestants in the previous cooking competition for the judges to taste, shook his head firmly. He would rather eat the slime dishes made by Xiangling than taste those weird dishes in the cooking competition.

After all, Ruo Jin really couldn't stand various dishes such as dumplings stuffed with cream and eaten with salt and glutinous rice balls stuffed with meat and eaten with sugar. In his opinion, such weird dishes were simply heresy in cuisine. In ancient times in other countries, chefs who made such heretical dishes would probably be tied to a rack and burned to death.

In order to dispel the idea of ​​forcing him to be a judge, Ruo Jin, whose brain was working fast, waved the book that Shen He had just sent him in his hand to indicate that he had to study hard these days and had no time to be a judge.

After seeing the book in Ruojin's hand, Keqing understood what Ruojin wanted to express. She had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​forcing Ruojin to be a judge. After all, the books given to Ruojin by the immortals were not worth reading, and it would be bad if the immortals blamed her.

In order to prevent Ruojin from being punished by the immortal, Keqing no longer looked at Ruojin. Realizing that his sister was no longer looking at him, Ruojin breathed a sigh of relief and secretly rejoiced in his heart, it seemed that he had escaped.

Although Ruojin escaped the disaster, there were other people present. After Keqing turned her gaze away from Ruojin, she looked at Hutao, Xiangling, and Zhongli who did not express their opinions. Since Xiangling was going to participate in the cooking competition and Hutao was going to be Xiangling's assistant, Keqing finally shifted her target to Zhongli who was drinking tea.

Zhongli is not only knowledgeable, but also has some research on food. She had heard Zhongli giving suggestions to Xiangling's new dishes when she was having dinner at Wanmin Hall before, so it was most appropriate for Zhongli to be the judge. Recalling the scene she saw before, Keqing also hoped that Zhongli could be a judge.

"From a general rational point of view, I don't have much interest in the job of a judge."

As a god who has lived for thousands of years, Zhongli noticed Keqing the moment she cast her eyes on her. Zhongli, who was not interested in such things, directly refused before Keqing could invite him.

"Ahem, Zhongli, I'm not saying anything bad about you. You're either listening to music or drinking tea in Liyue Harbor. Now Keqing has asked you for help. Why don't you support Keqing's work? It's more meaningful than just wandering around Liyue Harbor all day. Besides, we don't have many Moras on the books of Wangsheng Hall. Do you understand what I mean?"

Due to the recent opening of many branches of Wangsheng Hall, the working capital on the books of Wangsheng Hall is not very sufficient. In order to prevent Zhongli from buying and buying and bankrupting the main hall of Wangsheng Hall during the period when she is Xiangling's assistant, Hu Tao feels it is necessary to find something for Zhongli to do. So after Zhongli expressed his refusal, Hu Tao glared at Zhongli with her plum blossom pupils.

After hearing what the hall master Hu Tao said, Zhongli had no choice but to nod and agree. After all, ever since the young master left Liyue Harbor, all his bills had been posted to the account of the Wangsheng Hall. If the Wangsheng Hall went bankrupt at this time, he would be afraid that he would not even have a place to post his bills in the future.

Well, it just so happens that he is quite interested in the development of Liyue cuisine over the years, so he might as well take this opportunity to see if there are any dishes that will impress his eyes. After thinking about it for a while, Zhongli nodded to Keqing, indicating that he could be a judge.

Keqing breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Zhongli nod. She had already found three judges, so she shouldn't have to be a judge herself. Thinking of this, Keqing was secretly delighted.

Of course, it’s not that Keqing doesn’t want to be a judge, but if she does, she’ll have to sit in the arena for a whole morning or afternoon. Keqing doesn’t want to waste her time here. She needs to devote her limited life to the infinite construction of Liyue Harbor.

(End of this chapter)