The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 181 A Legitimate Way to Steal Food
"Noodles..."

Looking at the selected theme, Cao Dongdong couldn't help but stroke his chin. "Pastries are made with flour, so they should be considered a type of pasta."

"It's not that complicated," Zhao Qian couldn't help but laugh. "Have you forgotten the plain noodles Qin Lang prepared when he set up his stall?"

“That’s true.” Cao Dongdong nodded in agreement, then turned to Qin Lang, “Looking at it this way, Qin Lang, you’ve got this match in the bag.”

"I'll do my best." Qin Lang shrugged helplessly. "I don't even know much about our opponents, so how can I say we've got it in the bag?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but look at a short-haired girl on the other side of the stands. That was his opponent in the next match, Pang Xin.

In the second round, Pang Xin presented a decent but unremarkable dish, ultimately scoring 93.25 points. However, this doesn't necessarily mean her cooking skills were worse; after all, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses.

"I just inquired about Pang Xin's situation!" Yu Zaozao raised her hand at the opportune moment.

By consistently streaming, she is able to obtain information from hundreds of thousands of online fans, making her a well-informed person.

"How is the situation?" Cao Dongdong couldn't help but ask.

"This isn't good." Yu Zaozao's expression turned slightly serious. "One of my fans recognized her. I don't know how good her cooking is, but..."

"Pang Xin's family owns a noodle shop."

"...Huh?" Zhao Qian couldn't help but exclaim softly, "Then this time we've run right into the line of fire?"

A contestant whose family owns a noodle shop must have a deep understanding of noodles from a young age, having been exposed to it all along.

It's even possible that noodles are her forte!
Thinking of this, Zhao Qian, who had originally been full of confidence in Qin Lang, couldn't help but start to worry again.

It seems unlikely that she will advance. If she is also eliminated, then Qin Lang will be the only survivor in the trio!

Qin Lang absolutely cannot be eliminated so early!
"How about we go and gather some intelligence on our opponents?" Cao Dongdong suddenly had a brilliant idea. "Where's their noodle shop? Let's go try it out."

"This..." Zhao Qian's expression suddenly became interesting. "Isn't it a bit inappropriate to gather intelligence on the enemy like this?"

"We can go take a look." Qin Lang, who had been silent until now, suddenly smiled. "It's also lunchtime."
-

"Boss, four bowls of noodles, please!"

Cao Dongdong sat down and called out to the busy middle-aged man in the noodle shop, "One bowl of vegetarian noodles, one bowl of beef noodles, one bowl of mutton noodles, and one bowl of mixed noodles!"

"Okay, just a moment!" the middle-aged man replied with a smile and quickly went to the kitchen to prepare.

After ordering, Cao Dongdong winked at Qin Lang and the other two, and lowered his voice, "Order four different flavors, so we can try more flavors."

"Know thyself, ever-victorious."

“Very good.” Zhao Qian gave Cao Dongdong a thumbs up, while pressing down hard on the baseball cap she was wearing. “Qin Lang, do you really not need one? It would be so embarrassing if you were recognized.”

"It's alright." Qin Lang shook his head and smiled. "Besides, it seems we've already been recognized."

"Huh?" Zhao Qian looked up abruptly and saw Pang Xin helping her father pick vegetables on the other side of the small noodle shop.

The other person stared at the four of them expressionlessly, constantly picking vegetables with their hands, giving the impression that they were about to strike.

"Oh no, oh no, when we're running away later, you'd better let me go first!" Yu Zaozao couldn't help but shrink her head.

She had already finished her live stream, but she told Qin Lang and the other two the location of the noodle shop based on information from her fans.

"You guys are a little too tense," Qin Lang said, somewhat amused.

It's perfectly reasonable for someone to come and try something when they're running a business with their doors open.

This couldn't even be considered intelligence gathering, since the person cooking in the noodle shop wasn't Pang Xin herself, but her father. Soon, the noodles for the four of them were served. Upon seeing who brought the noodles, Zhao Qian and Yu Zaozao, who were already feeling guilty, lowered their heads even further, wishing they could disappear into the ground.

Qin Lang, on the other hand, greeted her quite naturally, "Hello, Pang Xin."

"Your noodles are ready." Pang Xin placed the four bowls of noodles on the tray in front of the four people and suddenly spoke as she put the tray away.

"I will definitely give it my all in tomorrow's round of 16 match."

"Me too," Qin Lang replied.

Pang Xin nodded slightly, said nothing more, and turned to leave, as if Qin Lang and the other three were just ordinary guests.

"Phew! That scared me to death." Yu Zaozao patted her chest exaggeratedly. "I almost thought she was going to pour the noodles right on my head."

“Me too!” Zhao Qian nodded in agreement.

"You guys are too much..." Qin Lang's lips twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but shake his head.

To be fair, Pang Xin seems a bit expressionless, which does give people a feeling of being unapproachable and difficult to get along with.

"Oh no!" Cao Dongdong looked at the noodles in front of him, suddenly realized something, and couldn't help but say, "They recognized us, could they have deliberately made the noodles taste terrible to hide their incompetence?"

"They're just running a business, what are you thinking?" Qin Lang couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Eat up, the noodles won't taste good if they get cold."

As he spoke, he casually picked up a bowl of vegetarian noodles, used his chopsticks to pick up some noodles and put them in his mouth, then couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly.

Although it was a vegetarian noodle dish, Qin Lang could taste the umami flavor of chicken soup in the broth, which clearly indicated that the soup was made with chicken broth in advance.

They are very particular about the ingredients, no wonder this noodle shop is so popular.

Qin Lang nodded slightly, chewing the noodles in his mouth.

The noodles were very chewy, unlike the noodles you buy in the market. They must have been handmade, with a faint alkaline taste.

"Huchihuchi~"

Cao Dongdong, holding a bowl of beef noodles, was already showing off non-stop, completely disregarding his previous concerns about Pang's noodle shop deliberately hiding its true capabilities.

Qin Lang silently reached out with his chopsticks and took the largest piece of beef from Cao Dongdong's bowl. Facing Cao Dongdong's incredulous expression, he calmly spoke.

"Assess the opponent's situation."

Upon hearing this, Cao Dongdong silently shut his mouth.

After taking a bite of the beef, Qin Lang couldn't help but smile.

The beef was pre-braised, and it was made from high-quality beef shank, where the meat and tendons are perfectly combined, making it ideal for braising.

The beef melts in your mouth, the flavors of various spices blend perfectly with the beef, and the fresh spiciness instantly whets your appetite, making it irresistible.

A bowl of handmade alkaline noodles with chicken broth as the base, topped with braised beef broth and large chunks of beef, is simply the ultimate enjoyment.

No wonder Cao Dongdong ate so heartily.

Then, after tasting two other noodle toppings from Zhao Qian and Yu Zaozao, Qin Lang nodded in satisfaction.

Using "investigating the opponent's situation" as an excuse, it feels so good to sneak in a bite of the pie.

(End of this chapter)