Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 112 What does "if there were more time" even mean? This Versailles nonsense is outrageous! (Bonus chapter for 3K chapters)

"Congratulations to the eight of you who passed the 'Seasoning' assessment."

Congratulations to all six of you for passing the "temperature test" assessment.

Congratulations to the five of you for passing the "Comprehensive Assessment of Basic Cooking Techniques"!

As the staff announced the remaining number of participants time and time again, the preliminary selection process came to an end.

Finally, Xia Ming's group, after completing the "Comprehensive Basic Cooking Techniques" exam, left the examination room and headed to the preparatory room for the "Groups 1-50" preliminary selection.

Being able to enter the preliminary selection room means that the five surviving people have completed all the preliminary selection tests today and successfully obtained the spot to advance.

As the door, symbolizing hope, was pushed open, Ma Lei and "Wang Yanci," who were following Xia Ming, Guan Chongyun, and Qiao Ruoning, both breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they were doing the same action, their mindsets were slightly different.

Ma Lei performed consistently in all rounds of testing. Although he wasn't as exceptional as the top three, he was known for his steady approach. He had no major weaknesses in any of the tests, but he also didn't have any particularly outstanding strengths, making him quite well-rounded.

Wang Yanci is the complete opposite of Ma Lei. He is a representative of serious imbalance in his subjects. He scored high in seasoning, ingredient identification and temperature testing, but he barely passed with low scores in knife skills and wok tossing.

Rather than saying he came to participate in the "Chinese Chef Newcomer Competition," it would be more accurate to say that his approach is more inclined towards Western cuisine.

Indeed, as a "Tier 3" chef, his skills were actually learned from "Borneo". Compared to the basic skills of local Chinese cuisine, he is more proficient in "sauce making" and "ingredient pairing".

However, the preliminary selection does not record every score. Even if you pass with a score of 60, the final score sheet will show a green "pass".

As the five entered the room, the contestants who had passed the assessment and were still there all turned their attention to Xia Ming and his group.

They looked quite surprised when they saw five people come in at once.

It's important to understand that although it was a preliminary selection process, the questions weren't considered difficult by the middle-aged proctors, but the difficulty was relative.

For novice chefs, mastering all the basic skills to a fully qualified level within age limits is no easy task.

Moreover, the designers of the preliminary selection process set the difficulty curve to "easy first, difficult later," meaning that the required comprehensive abilities increase as you progress.

While it may not be entirely fair to some contestants, generally speaking, passing the preliminary rounds indicates that you haven't had any major weaknesses during your previous culinary training.

Before them, a total of 28 groups had been tested. The best result was that 4 people in one group passed, and the worst result was that none of them passed. Xia Ming's team was already considered to be the best at the moment, with 5 people surviving.

Just as everyone took a few steps inside, one of the contestants next to them recognized Guan Chongyun.

"Hey, isn't that Guan Chongyun?"

"Yes, that seems to be true. His suitcase is quite unique."

"An all-star team! That's not surprising!"

"Something's not right. Look at that handsome guy and the girl with the braids walking side by side with Guan Chongyun. Doesn't that mean they acknowledge each other and are evenly matched?"

“I think so too. Look at the two behind them, they clearly don’t have the same presence as the three in front.”

Ignoring the sounds around them, the staff led Xia Ming and the others to the registration desk.

Here, their results will be recorded, their armbands will be temporarily removed, but their name tags will be left for the athletes to keep themselves.

The number will not be changed due to the allocation of numbers during the competition.

In other words, the number "XC1Z0291444" will stay with Xia Ming until the end of the "New Chef Competition".

As the registration process was completed, the reporters who had been waiting nearby quickly came over.

Seeing her actions, the other contestants who advanced also cast envious glances at her.

Every shot during the audition is incredibly valuable. Getting a solo interview, or even just appearing on screen for half a minute, can definitely bring you a lot of fame nationwide.

What young person doesn't want to make a name for themselves?

Seeing the eager expressions of the reporters on site, the contestant next to him sighed.

"Guan Chongyun is too comprehensive. When my group passed the test, the reporters on site didn't even come over."

"There's nothing we can do. They get to eat during the pre-match warm-up; they're not in the same league as us. See that guy in the white shirt over there? That's Qian Youdao from the Qian family. He's a fighter on par with Guan Chongyun."

"Our country is still too vast. I originally thought I was a genius in my region, but now seeing this group of star players, I just feel like, 'Why did the heavens create both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang?'"

"Don't be ridiculous. You're neither Yu nor Liang. At best, you're a squad leader, and the kind without a name."

"That's really hurtful. I was just expressing my feelings and you took it so seriously. What kind of person are you!"

"Stop arguing. Guan Chongyun is about to run into reporters. If we sit up straight, we might be able to get some screen time."

Upon seeing the reporters arrive, Guan Chongyun, who was walking in front, casually pushed up his glasses and adjusted his posture.

Just as he was waiting for the reporter to ask him about his experience of clearing the level, the female reporter silently walked past him and came to stand in front of Xia Ming.

"Hello, this is 'XC1Z0291444,' Xia Ming, right?"

"We heard you got the first perfect score in the 'Knife Skills' category in this audition. We'd like to conduct a brief interview with you."

Xia Ming smiled and nodded at the reporter in front of him, who had perfect makeup and was dressed neatly.

"Of course, just ask me anything."

The reporter nodded, then quickly continued speaking.

"First, I heard that Xia Ming, your knife skills assessment topic was 'Cucumber in a Raincoat,' which is probably a beginner's exercise for most chefs." "But it's truly rare to see someone stretch a 'Cucumber in a Raincoat' to 5.45 times its normal length. Did you specifically practice this type of question before the competition?"

Xia Ming shook his head after hearing the question.

"Knife skills require long-term practice and accumulation; a few days or ten days of intensive practice will not have much effect."

"If I had to name any special practice, I would say it's the result of my daily knife skills practice."

Upon hearing Xia Ming's reply, the reporter nodded with a brightening expression.

"That means you weren't surprised when you saw the final score on site."

Xia Ming smiled slightly.

"Of course, this was just a normal performance. If we had more time, we could have done even better."

Upon hearing Xia Ming's Versailles-like remark, Guan Chongyun in front was completely dumbfounded.

It's one thing for the reporter to skip his interview, since Xia Ming did indeed perform better, but what do you mean by "if there were more time"?
You handed in your paper in just over a minute. Didn't you choose it yourself?
Even if you think about it with your toes, your test question wouldn't be asking you to slice "cucumbers in a straw raincoat" in 2 minutes!

Then this line comes out at this point, doesn't it make it impossible for the other players who have cleared the level to compete?

You should know that your simple phrase "performed normally" is equivalent to ten years of training for someone else.
Even though Guan Chongyun knew deep down that there was nothing wrong with the description, it just sounded awkward no matter how he listened to it!
Why am I a little angry?
Viewers in the live stream were also completely stunned by this "shocking" comment.
[This guy's got the skills, and he certainly has a lot of nerve!]

I don't think there's any problem with it. If I could slice cucumbers like that, I'd be even more awesome!

Knife skills are merely the foundation of a chef's abilities; humility is the key to longevity.

[To the person upstairs: If you don't have the ability to be wild, don't use humility as an excuse. Youth has its own wildness, and I have extremely high hopes for Xia Ming. He's energetic, I'm a fan!]

[I just checked, he is indeed the champion of "One Meal to Fame," the "Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef." This big shot is really capable to lead a novice to beat Chen Xiaodong.]

[I remember now, there was a meme back then, "Lolo's humming has the power of several winters," which even trended on social media.]

【No, I don't understand what you're saying. Are you watching the same live stream?】

The contestants were also dumbfounded by the actions of the resident reporter.

Five people advanced, yet the reporter ignored the important Guan Chongyun and interviewed Xia Ming instead. What does this prove?
This proves that Xia Ming is even more capable than Guan Chongyun.
That's not the scariest part. The scariest part is that the reporter said his knife skills were perfect.

Any contestant who advances knows how luxurious the word "perfect score" is in this competition. Let alone a perfect score, even a score of 95 is a height that many people can only look up to in their entire lives.

With all eyes focused on him, Xia Ming in the preparation room had transformed into a demon king-level being.

Xia Ming continued to answer the reporter's questions fluently, but his words sounded rather harsh to some.

"I don't think I've encountered any so-called bottlenecks in my basic skills practice."

"How to maintain patience? Well, I think the key is self-pressure. For example, if your basic skills are not up to par, you will be torn apart by five horses or thrown into the river to feed the fish one day."

"Xia Ming really loves to joke around. What kind of teacher would be so unreasonable?"

"Haha~ Of course it's a joke, just an analogy~"

Looking at Xia Ming, who was laughing heartily and cleanly, the reporter also smiled.

"Alright, congratulations again, Xia Ming, for getting a perfect score in the knife skills section! Is there anything else you'd like to say to our viewers in the live stream?"

Xia Ming blinked, then smiled and spoke.

"My name is Xia Ming, Xia as in summer, Ming as in making a name for myself. I'm from Sichuan and Chongqing. If you're interested in me, you can look up other competitions I participated in not long ago~"

"I learned a lot from discussing and exchanging ideas with the chefs there, and I hope everyone can go further on their culinary journey!"

Upon hearing Xia Ming's words, the resident reporter standing nearby was completely taken aback.

Her first reaction was that Xia Ming was incredibly audacious, actually running a private advertisement during a national live broadcast!
You should know that she had Xia Ming's information; what competition? It was clearly a variety show!

Aren't you afraid of being accused of "illegally occupying public media resources"?

But upon closer reflection, he neither mentioned it as a variety show nor his own code name, and he only mentioned communicating with the chef without revealing the chef's name.

According to regulations, this should not be considered "unauthorized insertion of non-program content to promote variety shows".

After all, if you look into it closely, he actually didn't say anything at all.
The control room was also baffled by Xia Ming's move. You'd think he would say something, but he didn't say anything except his own name.

You said he didn't say anything, but it seems like he did say something else.
Ultimately, the production manager decided to broadcast the speech.

"Don't make unfounded speculations without a specific reference; this is the most basic common sense in journalism and communication."

Of course, the leader immediately ordered the staff to temporarily block the variety show title "One Meal to Fame". It was a bit inappropriate for the variety show title to keep appearing in the official live broadcast.

Regardless, many netizens still got Xia Ming's point, and as external public opinion fermented, everyone finally began to officially connect Xia Ming with "Sichuan-Chongqing Ice and Fire Chef".

After the interview, with the departure of the resident reporter, Guan Chongyun finally found an opportunity.

He originally intended to go over and get to know Xia Ming again, but someone else beat him to it.

"Isn't this Brother Xia? What a coincidence! We meet again!"

"I haven't had a chance to thank you yet for the sword forging."

(End of this chapter)