Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 109: The Seven Stages of the Written Test – Sword Skill Assessment Completed, Please Inspect as Judges! (Bonus Chapter for 3K Chapters)

"Thank you, Mr. Guan Zhongyun. We will continue to bring you firsthand reports on the battle."

The quiet atmosphere within the team was broken as the reporters left.

The other contestants standing next to Guan Chongyun all curiously focused their attention on the box he was holding.

Some were even discussing what they knew about Guan Chongyun's deeds.

"I've heard that among the three heroes of the Guan family, Guan Chongyun is the youngest. He's just over 20 years old, yet he's already incredibly skilled with a broadsword!"

"Yes, I saw a program on Dajin District TV before. He appeared on camera wearing a chef's hat and wielding a large knife with incredible skill. He wasn't wearing a hat on set, so I didn't recognize him at first."

"It's normal not to recognize so many star contestants. Although he has the title of inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, he rarely participates in competitions, so he doesn't seem very strong."

"I agree. A noodle maker might have a slightly special knife, but what's there to brag about? If you really want to brag, let him compare himself to 'He He,' then he'd be a true master of the noodle industry."

"Look around, are there any star players left?"

As one of them brought this up, the people standing around started to look, and soon enough, they spotted a girl with braided pigtails in the corner at the very back of the group.

Seeing the girl's innocent and naive appearance, those who had done their research beforehand felt their breath catch in their throats.

"That couldn't be 'Qiao Ruoning,' could it?!"

Who is Qiao Ruoning?

"You may not have heard of her name, but you've probably seen her products, if not used them. Her family has been making vinegar for 200 years, and the 'Zhenjiang Hengshun Vinegar' sold on the market today is from her family."

"??? No, the daughter of Qiao Guiqing, a vinegar maker with intangible cultural heritage?"

"What daughter? Grandpa Qiao Guiqing's granddaughter! He's over 60 and has an 18-year-old daughter!"

"I must say, those little tiger teeth are really pretty, just my type!"

I like it too!

As the topic veered off course, Xia Ming brought his attention back.

"Vinegar? Hmm. I understand."

After glancing at the girl again, he noticed someone was looking at him. To be precise, it was his knife case.

Indeed, among all the contestants, his knife case was particularly eye-catching, and he was also quite good-looking.

But almost everyone looked away after seeing his face.
There's nothing I can do, I don't know them!

This is where the limitations of "One Meal to Fame" become apparent. From a variety show perspective, it is undoubtedly a top-tier cooking variety show, both in terms of the buzz it generated during broadcasts and the attention it received from netizens during live streams.

However, among chefs on platforms like Bilibili and Douyin, the discussions surrounding this cooking reality show are mostly negative.

The competition format was opaque, there were strange displays of skill, and some dishes looked impressive but didn't actually conform to basic culinary common sense. There were also chefs who were put through a lot of trouble.

For various reasons, it is basically considered worthless in the eyes of these self-proclaimed rising stars of professional chefs.

At most, I felt the production team was very generous; they actually gave out the prize money when they said they would.
More importantly, it has been two months since Xia Ming won the championship of "One Meal to Fame". During this period, many influential internet celebrities have visited the restaurants of the contestants.

The vast majority of them encountered problems.
For example, there were instances of incorrect weights and measures at Yu Xianren's stall, suggesting that the ingredients were being switched out.

The food at this home-style restaurant is fancy but impractical; those who have eaten there complain bitterly.

The most famous of them is "Xiao Hua". During the competition, she insisted on setting the price too high, which led to the elimination of the banquet graduate students. Some netizens already disliked her.

After the match, she posted on Little Red Riding Hood's account, subtly mocking Shuai Xiaojian's team for having a script, and saying that Luo Luo's whining was like royalty.

In the process, Shao Denong and Li Zhian were also belittled.

Some people went to her chef's restaurant to check in and found that the two of them spent more than 5000 yuan and ended up eating a meal that was extremely poor value for money.

At the time, she argued that there was no problem.
Later, due to overwhelming public pressure, she resigned from "Embroidered Red Flower French Cuisine" and has since disappeared from the public eye.
The chefs' side is doing very well; the fermented rice wine at Lai Chi On's restaurant and the pork chop rice at Shao De Nong's restaurant are already selling out!

In fact, many netizens wanted to find Xia Ming's store address, but unfortunately, he doesn't have a store at all right now.

Without a shop, there would be no customers; without customers, the building would not collapse. Some argumentative netizens jokingly called Xia Ming's actions "a voluntary disappearance."

Of course, Xia Ming doesn't care about these trolls. In fact, most netizens have discerning eyes and can see the deliciousness of Xia Ming's dishes through the judges' eyes.

But in places like the internet, the majority often remain silent.
The thought flashed through Xia Ming's mind, and he noticed that there was an extra staff member in front of the line.

Under his leadership, the entire team arrived at a corner of Section B of the venue, where many machines were scattered around.

"The first round of assessment for everyone is a written test, which consists of seven sessions. This is the first one."

"Ingredients will appear on the screen shortly. The 'Scentless Odor Stick' next to them will display the corresponding scents. Please make your judgment and select the correct option within 30 seconds."

"Total score is 100 points, passing score is 70 points. Those who fail, please stand in the red position at the back. Those who advance, please stand in the green position."

The rules are simple and easy to understand, just like the first subject of a driver's license test, which tests the chef's ability to accumulate ingredients.

The questions weren't difficult, and Xia Ming easily got full marks, becoming the first to stand in the green area.

After him, Qiao Ruoning also passed through and stood next to him. She glanced at his profile a few times, but the two did not exchange words.

As time ran out, five of Xia Ming's group of 50 failed the first round and were taken away by staff. The remaining members then headed to the location for the second written test.

The machine is still the same machine, but the test questions have become some basic culinary knowledge.

E.g
Which of the following ingredients requires the removal of the "sand tract" (digestive tract) during initial processing?

A. Crucian carp.

B. Shrimp.

C. Razor clams. D. Squid.

The questions in this round progressed from easy to difficult. They started with very basic questions, but later on, questions like...
After eating the stir-fried dish with soy sauce, the plate should contain ( )

A. No oil or sauce.

B. It contains soy sauce and oil.

C. Soy sauce but no oil.

D. It contains oil but no sauce.

Some slightly more difficult questions.

To be honest, Xia Ming only realized that many of the questions were problems that could be systematically categorized after reading the question stem.

After all, in the Nine Provinces Continent, who would make a set of "Five-Year College Entrance Examination, Three-Year Simulation" before cooking?

It's not about who tastes better, who can eat more, or who cooks to the diners' liking.
"These things have become standardized in the city? I really hope that this step won't be necessary when taking higher chef certification exams in the future."

For Xia Ming, some of these terms were indeed a bit unfamiliar, mainly because time was too tight and he couldn't match them with the Kyushu Continent or the actual cooking situation.

Even so, he still scored 89 points, far exceeding the others.

Later, after listening to conversations with other group members who had been taught by the system at home, Xia Ming realized that this was actually the national standard exam questions for "Hua 4" to "Hua 5", only a portion of which had been taken apart and used here.

Then there are questions on "matching," "food attribute incompatibility," and "determining whether a special food is raw or cooked."

Although most of them are not difficult, the knowledge tested is extremely broad, and more importantly, the questions are different for each person, so there is no way to copy.

Ultimately, 23 out of the 50 participants failed the written test, meaning that nearly 50% of the participants were eliminated in the first round.

Some of the remaining people barely made it through, and they were all marveling at how lucky they were!

"Luckily, the questions on my end were easy, otherwise I would have failed."

"I'm grateful to the teacher who set the seasoning question; it was noticeably easier than the others."

"Damn, that's easy? I got several questions wrong."

"Is it possible that you didn't master the seasoning technique? You didn't even pass the question; I seriously doubt how far you can go!"

After being assessed layer by layer by seven machines, the remaining 27 people were taken to a model room in Zone C.

Inside, there are 50 separate small stoves, and at this moment, a cutting board is placed on one of them.

"Congratulations on passing the written test. The next step is to test one of the most basic skills of a chef."

"Knife skills."

“Each table has an independent display screen. According to the requirements on the screen, you have to complete the knife skills assessment within the specified time. After you press confirm, a special judge will come over to review and score you.”

After that, the 27 people were assigned to their respective positions. Xia Ming happened to be next to Guan Chongyun on his left and to Qiao Ruoning on his right.

Guan Chongyun opened his knife box and took out a large knife.

Unlike ordinary reflective stainless steel kitchen knives, this knife has a grayish color and some small decorative textures. There is also a hole at the top of the blade, with an iron ring threaded through the hole.

The blade itself appears to have reached the maximum limit for the competition. According to Gao Yonghao, who watched the live stream comments, if it weren't for the restrictions, Guan Chongyun might very well have brought a "Guan Dao" (a type of halberd).
Of course, whether it was a joke or not is unknown.
After looking at Guan Chongyun, Xia Ming turned to look at Qiao Ruoning beside him.

In stark contrast to Guan Chongyun's heavy knife, Qiao Ruoning held a "fruit knife".

That's right, it's not a Western-style kitchen knife, just a regular fruit-peeling knife. It doesn't look special, except that it's a slightly larger size.

Seemingly sensing that Xia Ming was looking at her, Qiao Ruoning raised her head, glanced at Xia Ming, and then smiled slightly.

She smiled brightly, and her little tiger teeth looked adorable, giving her the look of a girl next door.

Seeing this, Xia Ming smiled and nodded, then took out the Bloodthirsty Claw (a large cleaver) from his box.

The light from above shone down, and the reflection of the Bloodthirsty Blade gave it a faint blood-red hue. This beautiful blade also attracted the attention of Guan Chongyun and Qiao Ruoning.

However, Qiao Ruoning saw it as admiration, while Guan Chongyun thought it was a bit too flashy.

Just as the two were looking at Xia Ming's knife, a countdown began to sound, and all the contestants quickly turned their attention to their own screens.

As the screen flickered, Xia Ming's test questions were revealed.

Please cut the "sliced ​​cucumber" within 10 minutes.

Xia Ming smiled slightly upon seeing the exam questions, not finding them difficult at all.

Xia Ming took a neatly shaped cucumber from under the stove and began to slice it.

At that moment, the three proctors in front were looking at the backstage area above and discussing in hushed tones.

"Look, this is Guan Chongyun. He drew the question of dicing carrots, which is considered one of the easier questions in this test. Of course, the corresponding score limit will be lower, and the test will be more difficult."

"This should be the girl from the Qiao family, right? The wheat ear and yellow throat technique... that will really test your skills."

"Oh dear, there's even a 'cucumber in a raincoat' question! Xia Ming is really unlucky to have drawn such a difficult question."

As he spoke, the examiner looked up and headed towards the audience. Just as he found Xia Ming's position, he heard a bell ring.

【XC1Z0291444—Contestant Xia Ming】

[The knife skills assessment is complete. Judges, please review and approve!]

(End of this chapter)