Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 105: Even if I were to open one, it would be a private kitchen. Heading towards the Guangzhou-Shenzhen area. (3K Second Update)
"The next day, a vegetable market in a small alley in Sichuan and Chongqing."

Xia Ming, who had caught the earliest bus back, was swaying back and forth on a recliner next to the freezer.

After being closed for a few days, some customers were already missing Xia Ming's pig's blood.

Fang Xiao, in particular, came all the way from the dessert shop after hearing that Xia Ming's shop had opened, just to ask him where he had been.

Smelling the somewhat familiar scent of green tangerines, Xia Ming replied casually.

"A few days ago, a friend invited me to cook a meal, and then I found a craftsman to order a few knives."

Upon hearing this, Fang Xiao blinked.

"Why are you ordering a knife? Brother Xia, are you opening a restaurant?"

"That's right. My dad told me you're a great cook, so it's normal for you to open a restaurant."

Xia Ming continued rocking in the recliner.

"Don't worry, I won't open one. Even if I do, it will be a private kitchen."

Fang Xiao was taken aback; she knew what a private chef was.

Simply put, it refers to "chefs or kitchens that provide catering services specifically for private individuals," generally divided into three types: "all-inclusive," "on-site," and "head chef."

"All-inclusive" means that the chef needs to prepare everything.

It includes ingredients, seasonings, tableware, and dining space, making it a complete one-stop service.

"Going to the customer's home" means exactly what it says: the chef takes money to go to the customer's home to cook, prepares the ingredients in advance according to the customer's requirements, and then brings them over.

The final chef service is an upgraded version of the home service; the chef only needs to bring their own tools.

The ingredients are provided by the customers themselves.
Private chefs sound very high-end and sophisticated, but according to Fang Xiao's own understanding, most private chefs don't actually get many clients because they don't have much fame.

After all, people who can afford to hire a private chef are usually not too bad off, and in that case, they care more about the chef's skill level.

But in Xia Ming's eyes, a private chef is the best place for him.

Compared to facing hundreds or thousands of ordinary diners, the biggest advantage of being a "private chef" is that you can access ingredients that you wouldn't normally have access to.

It's important to know that, generally speaking, blood is the discarded part of these ingredients.

It's like Xia Ming can collect money and cultivate at the same time; he's winning big!
Especially after he became famous, due to his high prices, most people probably couldn't afford to hire him.

At that time, a group of people would rush over to deliver fresh ingredients to Xia Ming.

As long as Xia Ming's skills remain intact, his fame will only grow bigger and bigger.

There are far more rich people in this world than you can imagine. You can use their money to cultivate yourself. This trend is all about getting something for nothing!

Of course, all of this is predicated on Xia Ming being famous.

Unlike other contestants in the previous competition, Xia Ming is now unable to contact his fans even if they want to find him because his shop has been shut down.

Xia Ming is busy drawing blood for cultivation every day and is too lazy to operate on social media platforms.

Furthermore, Xia Ming isn't worth much right now. Even if he were to open a private kitchen, that would have to wait until after the "New Chef Competition."

"Once I finish the competition and gain fame, I can take on variety shows whenever I want, and private chef jobs when I don't. If I'm not working, I can come back and practice my skills while selling pig's blood. Wouldn't that be great?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile slightly.

Although Fang Xiao felt that Xia Ming's decision to become a private chef was a bit risky, she and Xia Ming were just ordinary friends at the moment, so she couldn't say much.

Before taking the packaged pig's blood away, Fang Xiao added Xia Ming on WeChat, claiming it would allow her to know in advance whether Xia Ming's shop was open.

Although Xia Ming himself wouldn't advertise on social media platforms like WeChat Moments, he would still reply to messages from others.

After Fang Xiao left, Xia Ming tidied up the freezer, locked the roller shutter door, and strolled home unsteadily.

He needs to use this time to acquire as much Blood Soul as possible to see if he can break through another Blood Gate before the competition.
More than a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The online buzz surrounding the "New Chef Competition" is growing stronger.

Several well-known media outlets reported on the incident in advance, and many bloggers also posted videos to follow its progress.

According to data collected by these video bloggers, the "New Chef Competition" has attracted more attention than in previous years because it will be held in the form of a live broadcast.

According to the data we obtained, the total number of registered participants nationwide reached an astonishing 8.
This is despite the fact that the registration was not widely publicized, the age limit for participation was set, and the participants were responsible for all registration and travel expenses.

If it were implemented according to the standards of the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) from the beginning, and the registration fee were free, then this number could increase by 20 to 30 times.

In other words, the composition of these 8 preliminary contestants is as follows:
"Families of chefs of all sizes," "Students or graduates of outstanding culinary schools," "People who have apprenticed under renowned masters in the industry," and "Individuals who obtained information through other channels."

Perhaps the above-mentioned consideration is that things should not be rushed. If it were to be vigorously promoted from the beginning, many problems would arise in terms of venue management, examiner invitation, and other aspects.

Therefore, among the 8 new chefs who participated in the competition, only 1.8% were ungraded, 59.2% were at the Hua 1 level, and 39% were at the Hua 2 level.

This is easy to understand, because most chefs who are "unranked" but can obtain information come from "established families".

Most chefs with a "Hua Level 1" certification come from advanced culinary academies, which are typically established specifically for chefs who have already obtained their graduation certificate (Hua Level 1).

If we compare junior colleges to high schools, then advanced colleges are like universities.

Of course, above the advanced academy, there are ten specialized "culinary academies," which in the manga would be similar to places like XX Restaurant or Totsuki Culinary Academy. These can be understood as "graduate students."

Previously, in the show "One Meal to Fame", the "banquet graduate student" who collaborated with Xia Ming had studied at the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen Yueming Culinary Academy".

Of course, "culinary academies" are a relatively new concept, and most chefs are still following the old path.

This refers to the "master-apprentice system." Take Sui Wubai as an example. He apprenticed under Zheng Susheng, a "one-star dragon mark" chef from the Soviet area. He was arguably the most favored and beloved of all of Zheng's apprentices.

Even so, Zheng Susheng continued to take on disciples in the later stages, with a total of 42 core disciples. Including other disciples who audited the classes or came to learn temporarily, the total number reached 121.

This number was only achieved because Zheng Susheng had very strict standards for accepting apprentices.

Normally, it is generally accepted that "Level 4 Hua" is qualified to mentor apprentices, and "Level 5 Hua" is qualified to open classes and accept apprentices.

Like Li Sanpang, whom Xia Yitian found for Xia Ming before, whose real name is "Li Desan", is a genuine "Hua Level 7" chef.

His private tutoring classes receive about 100 students every year, and over the years, he has accumulated over a thousand disciples.

Although most of them had other teachers, Li Desan did not teach everyone his true skills.

After all, even if he only teaches some basics, it's enough for a new chef to study for a long time.

In this situation, teachers who know about the "New Chef Competition" will usually tell their students who are of suitable age and have strong abilities privately.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that a very small number of teachers might treat the New Chef Competition as a game, sending all their apprentices of suitable age to try it out.

Finally, there are the aristocratic families; there's not much to say about them.

Most of these businesses are passed down from father to son. The father or grandfather is usually very well-known in the industry, and the children are selected and trained from a young age.

Luo Jinran and Qian Youdao are both like that.

Although there aren't many of these people, they are extremely powerful, far stronger than ordinary cannon fodder.

Finally, there are freelancers like Xia Ming.

There are two types of such people: one type has some connection with aristocratic families and can hear this news during conversations.

Another type is like Xia Ming, who learned the news by chance.

This group represents the smallest proportion of all participants, with varying skill levels. They might cause an upset, or they might simply be there to make up the numbers.

Due to the change in the wind direction, the number of participants in the "New Chef Competition," which originally had around 1 participants each year, has surged by 700%.

Therefore, some food bloggers have called this competition the "Battle Royale" of the culinary world.

Because the number of participants far exceeds that of previous years, the format of this year's "New Chef Competition" has undergone significant changes.

All registered participants will be randomly assigned to one of eight groups, from "1" to "8", through a back-end machine.

Because it was completely random, Xia Ming, who originally registered later, ended up receiving a text message showing that...

【Group 1, No. 1444】

Yes, it's a very auspicious number.
This means that he was among the first batch of contestants to enter the competition venue for the preliminary rounds.

"Being at the front is actually a good thing, because it's a live broadcast, so everyone's attention will definitely be the highest at the beginning."

"If 1 people enter the same place, the camera will basically not know how to film it. The audience will probably get bored after watching it for a few hours."

"At that time, this group of viewers will be lost, and they will only come back to watch when the number of viewers decreases sharply in the later matches."

Xia Ming looked at Bilibili on his phone.

According to the blogger, 98% of the 8 applicants are expected to be eliminated in the preliminary round, leaving less than 2000 to participate in the second round.

The exam was very well-structured, covering everything from written tests to practical exercises.

Some viewers even jokingly called it the "college entrance exam for chefs".

For this very reason, all previous information about the "New Chef Competition" is basically no longer reliable.

Aside from a few powerful families who might obtain some vague information, the vast majority of contestants are on the same starting line.

Xia Ming's audition was in two days, but a graduate student from the banquet sent him a message saying he wanted to treat him to dinner, so he planned to go to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen area ahead of time.

As for the knife that Grandpa Deng had made, after getting used to it for a while, he sent it to the competition venue in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen area yesterday through the "New Chef Competition" kitchen knife express line exclusively provided by "Youzheng".

As for Master Fang, because the storage time of the special pig's blood would affect the taste, he only reserved 45 boxes for him.

As for what to do if Xia Ming hasn't returned by the time he's done using it, that's not something he should be concerned about.

Just as he was about to leave to hail a taxi to the high-speed rail station, Fang Xiao, riding a small electric scooter, appeared out of nowhere.

Ever since Xia Ming brought her here to get his special pig's blood, Fang Xiao has been frequently passing by this area without her noticing.
At that moment, seeing Xia Ming waiting for the bus with a large backpack on his back, Fang Xiao took off his helmet.

"Hey Xia, what a coincidence! Where are you going? Can I give you a ride?"

Xia Ming glanced at her thin little electric scooter and silently shook his head.

"It's okay, I've already taken a taxi, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Seeing this, Fang Xiao didn't say much, but simply took a small box wrapped in a plastic bag from the side.

"These are Italian-style peach blossom pastries I made this morning. Xia Ge, take them and eat them on the way!"

Just as Xia Ming was about to refuse, Fang Xiao shoved the box into his hand and sped away on her electric scooter.

Watching Fang Xiao's departing figure and smelling the odor emanating from the box, Xia Ming frowned and was about to find a trash can to dispose of it.

But after walking a few steps, the car arrived just in time. Xia Ming glanced at the car and then snorted.

"Alright, let's solve this problem once we get to the high-speed rail station."

With that, he opened the car door, got in, and began his journey through the Guangzhou-Shenzhen area.
(End of this chapter)