The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 158 Intense Schedule
"Name."

"Qin Lang".

"age."

"16 is old."

"Huh?!" Zhao Qian, who had already registered, looked at Qin Lang in surprise. "You're actually a year younger than me?"

"Do I look really old?" Qin Lang asked, both amused and exasperated.

“No, that’s not it…” Zhao Qian shook her head, “but I always feel that you look very mature.”

Qin Lang: “…”

Having lived two lifetimes, how could I not be mature?
"Let's chat somewhere else!" the staff member said with a dark expression. "Show me your identification."

"Okay." Qin Lang handed the Spirit Chef badge to the other party.

After confirming his identity information, the staff handed Qin Lang a form and a pen, saying, "This is the registration form. Just fill it out."

Qin Lang cooperated by filling out all the forms and then returned them to the other party.

After carefully collecting the registration form, the staff handed Qin Lang a booklet.

"This is an introduction to the competition format and process of this Tianhua Prefecture Youth Cooking Competition. After the registration deadline tomorrow, the preliminary round venues will be assigned. Please pay attention to the information updated on the official website. If you miss it, there will be no make-up competition."

"Understood." Qin Lang nodded, took the booklet, and followed Zhao Qian out of the registration point.

Cao Dongdong, who was the first to register, had been waiting on a chair outside for quite a while, having already finished flipping through the booklet in his hand.

"You guys are finally done." Cao Dongdong chuckled. "I just took a look at the competition rules and procedures, and guess what?"

"Don't speak, I'll look at it myself." Qin Lang reached out to stop Cao Dongdong from speaking, sat down next to him, and began to examine his booklet.

A moment later, Qin Lang turned to the last page of the booklet and sighed, "The competition is even fiercer than I expected."

"I think it's fine," Cao Dongdong chuckled.

"I originally thought I would only be going through the motions and wouldn't even make it past the preliminary rounds, but now that I've seen the rules, I'm at least guaranteed to make it to the preliminary rounds!"

Hearing this, Qin Lang couldn't help but smile.

The first round of the cooking competition is the preliminary round.

The preliminary rounds were divided into ten venues, with five food judges selected by the Royal Chef Association for each venue.

They are not food recommenders, but they also have considerable food appreciation skills. One of them is the chief judge, with the same weight as the other judges, but he has three spots to advance to the next round.

All registered contestants were randomly assigned to various competition venues to cook under closed conditions. There were no restrictions on the subject matter, and they could choose the dish they were best at.

You can advance as long as you can impress more than three food judges or get a guaranteed spot from the main judge.

This is also why Cao Dongdong felt he was capable again.

He can only make desserts; if the subject matter is restricted, he'll be at a loss.

"You're getting too excited," Zhao Qian couldn't help but tease. "The second round after the preliminary rounds will involve drawing the theme."

"Stop discouraging me." Cao Dongdong couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I'm already very satisfied with just getting through the preliminary rounds."

"It's all about participation, you know?"

"Alright then." Zhao Qian nodded, then her expression turned distressed. "I feel like I'm doomed in the second qualifying round."

Unlike the preliminary rounds, the second round will not be held in different venues; all contestants who advanced from the preliminary rounds will compete on the same stage. It will still be a closed cooking competition, but this time a cooking theme will be randomly selected. All contestants will cook according to this theme, and then 10 main judges will taste and score the dishes, taking the average score after removing the high and low scores.

The 16 players with the highest average scores will advance to the round of 16.

This is also why Zhao Qian felt it would be difficult for her to pass the second qualifying round.

Randomly selecting cooking topics already implies a great deal of uncertainty, and such an astonishing elimination rate only adds to the pressure.

"Keep it up." Qin Lang patted Zhao Qian on the shoulder and smiled. "Look on the bright side, maybe you'll just happen to come across a topic you're best at?"

"You're being way too optimistic!" Zhao Qian said, both amused and exasperated. "But then again, I've never seen a subject you're not good at."

"With your strength, you're definitely guaranteed to make it into the top 16."

"The only question is how many rounds we can last."

After the round of 7, the competition format changed to an elimination round, and the judges were no longer ordinary food critics, but seven food recommenders from Danju City. They would decide the fate of each contestant by voting.

At the same time, the cooking format of the competition has also changed.

The previous preliminary and secondary rounds were all conducted in closed conditions, and the audience could not see the cooking process.

However, in the elimination rounds, contestants will not only need to randomly draw their themes, but the cooking will also become an open cooking process, with the audience able to see the entire cooking process. At the same time, the cooking process will also become one of the factors for the food critics to judge the winner of the round.

Furthermore, cooking under the watchful eyes of the public is a significant test of a chef's mental fortitude, and it also raises questions about the confidentiality of recipes.

"Now that I've signed up, I'll definitely try my best to get one of the top three premium ingredients," Qin Lang said with a smile.

As for winning the championship, he himself was not confident.

In his previous life, he obtained the title of Special Grade Chef at the age of only twenty-something. If someone in this world has similar talent to him and has been learning cooking since childhood, it is not entirely impossible for them to catch up with him.

In reality, all he could rely on was the countless delicacies passed down from his previous life, but this place also had its own unique food culture.

"What top three? Open up your mind!" Cao Dongdong patted Qin Lang with dissatisfaction, looking at him with a disappointed expression, as if he wasn't the one who had just said "participation is more important than anything else." "Win the championship!"

Qin Lang: “…”

Is this the legendary tact towards oneself and strictness towards others?

He shook his head, both amused and exasperated, but a sneer came from behind him, "A major competition champion? Excessive confidence is just narcissism."

Qin Lang and the other two turned to look at a tall, thin man who looked at them with disdain. “Perhaps you think your cooking skills are quite good, and you’ve never met a more skilled peer.”

"So, you all think you're the most talented among your peers."

"But that's just your illusion." As he spoke, the man touched the thick calluses on his hands. "If you have the chance to meet me in the competition, I will show you what it means to be outmatched."

After saying that, he turned and left before Qin Lang and the other two could speak.

"Hey you!" Cao Dongdong looked at the departing man with a hint of displeasure on his face. "What an arrogant guy."

"Qin Lang, if you run into him, you must give him a good slap in the face!"

"It might be a bit difficult." Qin Lang looked at the departing figure with a solemn expression. "That's a very formidable guy."

"How did you figure that out?" Zhao Qian couldn't help but ask.

"because…"

"He has no hair!"

(End of this chapter)