Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 117 The first gap refreshed in the waiting room (3K, second update)
[This score is incredible; I feel like first place is practically guaranteed for this round.]

This guy just had an interview yesterday, and he's getting another one today. He's not a star player, but he's more like one.

The comment above is incorrect. So-called star players are artificially selected through the competition, but in a competition, naturally, whoever is the strongest becomes a star.

I need to know where Xia Ming's shop is right now!

[Don't waste your energy. It seems this guy never intended to reopen his shop after it got shut down, but looking back now, it was a good thing it was shut down!]

[Yes, someone investigated. Apparently, Xia Ming wouldn't participate in variety shows or competitions unless the store was shut down.]

[Hilarious! I've been trying to restrain myself, but someone wouldn't listen. Fine, I'm not pretending anymore, I'm laying my cards on the table!]

The atmosphere in the live chat was cheerful and joyful at that moment.

However, in the waiting room where the live stream was not available, most people were still unaware of what had happened.

Because it was a competition to narrow down the field from 4198 to 500, the organizers set up several stands in Zone D and installed a row of large screens.

The scores of each contestant will be displayed in real time on the screen here.

There are 50 people on each screen, and a total of 10 large screens.

The original screen showed the top 8 contestants as follows.
[He He: 92.2 points]

Sun Xingyao: 91.8 points

Zhou Jing: 90.7 points

[Bai Heng: 90.5 points]

Zheng Zeqian: 89.9 points

Qian Youdao: 88.9 points

[Chen Sui: 88.4 points]

[Shuai Qixing: 88 points]

At this moment, He He and Bai Heng were sitting on one side.

Bai Heng has participated in the New Chef Competition twice; this is his third time.

This is He He's first time participating, but that doesn't stop the two from having interacted in other competitions before.

Because the two were of similar age and had similar abilities, they got along very well.

At that moment, He He took off her hair clip and smoothed her hair.

"Bai Heng, do you know anything about that Miao Zeyang?"

Bai Heng nodded.

"I heard that he felt unwell the day before the competition and went to the hospital. Apparently, he was poisoned for some reason. He came to the competition the next day despite his illness, but he was eliminated before the preliminary rounds were even over."

He He sighed and put the hair clip into her bag.

"Yeah, that's really unlucky. I was hoping to have a chance to play against him, but I never expected something like this to happen."

"By the way, are there any interesting people in your division?"

Bai Heng shook his head.

"I didn't pay much attention. It's just a round of selections, why bother with all that?"

He He nodded, then pointed to a figure lying in the corner.

"You're right. By the way, what's the background of that Chen Sui?"

Just as Bai Heng was about to speak and say that she didn't know, she saw Qiao Ruoning walking towards her, so she raised her hand and pointed at Qiao Ruoning.

"Ask her, she's a professional at gathering information."

Qiao Ruoning smiled when she heard this, and then sat down next to He He.

"Hello, my name is Qiao Ruoning."

"Hello, I am He He."

"So, we've met now. By the way, you were asking about Chen Sui, right?"

At this point, Qiao Ruoning took out her phone and tapped on a self-made app.

"Chen Sui is the son of Chen Zhenyue, a master of Anhui cuisine. He is skilled in fusion cuisine of multiple schools. He participated in a competition before, but I don't know why he withdrew from it in the end."

"I heard that although his father is a master of Anhui cuisine, he has studied a wide variety of dishes, and his stir-frying skills are extremely good."

Seeing Qiao Ruoning's earnest introduction, He He couldn't help but chuckle.

"You seem to know him very well~"

Qiao Ruoning playfully stretched out her finger and shook it.

"No~ I know everyone here very well~ After all, collecting cards is a really fun thing~"

Seeing Qiao Ruoning's braids swinging back and forth, He He also became interested.

"Could you tell me about the other people?"

Qiao Ruoning nodded, and then began to inspect the players on the field.

"First of all, that guy over there, Guan Chongyun, is introverted and a bit dull."

"Sun Xingyao, son of Hunan cuisine master Sun Mo, is a competitive athlete with an extremely arrogant personality, nicknamed 'Mad Dog Sun.' His cuisine matches his nickname—extremely flamboyant. He excels at stir-frying and has an exceptional grasp of salty and spicy flavors."

"Let me tell you, whatever you do, don't go talk to him. He's like he has a manic disorder; he bites anyone he sees, and he's so annoying!"

"I don't know how someone with such a bad temper managed to learn to cook!!!"

Seeing Qiao Ruoning's angry expression, He He smiled faintly. She felt that this Sun Xingyao must have had some friction with Qiao Ruoning, otherwise Qiao Ruoning wouldn't be so angry.

"I won't say much about Zhou Jing. He's a veteran of the New Chef Competition. He won't leave without causing some trouble every year. But this year seems to be his last. He'll be too old next year, so he might go all out this year."

"Zheng Zeqian is a frequent competitor, so we're quite familiar with him. He and Qian Youdao are known as the 'Twin Dragons of Esports.' Sometimes I wonder if he treats some of these competitions as just a way to collect his allowance!"

"He has all-around skills, an excellent mentality, and he's always so nonchalant about winning or losing!"

Skipping over Qian Youdao, Qiao Ruoning continued pointing to the serious-looking boy over there.

"Shuai Qixing, the son of the famous food critic Shuai Xiaojian, is said to have learned most of his father's skills, but I privately verified with Chef Shuai that he has never won a single time."

“His father is skilled in many cuisines, and he is skilled in quite a few as well. But unlike Shuai Xiaojian, who is at the bottom of the skill rankings among level 6 chefs in China, he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. I wonder if Shuai Xiaojian made up for all the regrets he had back then by working on him.” As she said this, Qiao Ruoning stretched her body.

That's all for now. By the way, can we order milk tea here?

Seeing Qiao Ruoning's thoughts jumping around so much, Bai Heng couldn't help but laugh.

"I didn't see any milk tea, but there's a vending machine over there with water and bottled drinks."

Qiao Ruoning showed her little tiger teeth and thought for a moment, then decided to go and take a look later.

While the three girls were chatting, Zheng Zeqian and Qian Youdao were also chatting in a corner.

However, Qian Youdao sat very neatly, while Zheng Zeqian was extremely casual.

"Qian Youdao, to be honest, you're not good at this either. Fried rice should be your forte, so how come you're still outdone by me at this point?"

Qian Youdao chuckled.

"Alright, I'm just going to pass the level, I don't care about the score at all."

Zheng Zeqian changed his position and lay down directly on the platform.

"If you ask me, it's only because there's no one capable in your division, otherwise you would definitely have passed 90."

"That's just how you are, like a spring. You get stronger when faced with a strong opponent, but in normal situations, you're already doing pretty well if you perform normally."

Qian Youdao did not refute it; it was his nature to be like that, and the more he faced a crisis, the more focused his mental energy became.

That's why, after learning to cook, he participated in every competition, big or small, in the Taiwan region—simply to find pressure.

That's why I came to the "New Chef Competition" this time.

After a while, Qian Youdao spoke up as if he had remembered something.

"I feel that the competitions in mainland China are different from those in Taiwan. You will meet a lot of interesting people here. I met one recently."

Zheng Zeqian changed from lying flat to lying on his side, and then yawned.

"Then tell me, what's interesting about it?"

Qian Youdao thought of Xia Ming's face, and after a moment of thought, he slowly spoke.

"His name is Xia Ming. I think he used to be a barbecue restaurant owner. He's very capable, with a sharp mind and excellent skills."

Zheng Zeqian lay down and rubbed his wrists.

"If I hear you praising someone as incredibly capable, then that person must really be very capable. So, do you think this Xia Ming is capable of..."

"Wait a minute, why does this name sound so familiar?"

Zheng Zeqian turned over and got up, took out his phone and scrolled through it, then raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You're not talking about Xia Ming, the guy who went viral recently for cutting cucumbers into five times their original length and getting a perfect score for his knife skills, are you?!"

"Otherwise what? It's not easy to run into someone with the same name in this competition!"

Hearing Qian Youdao's words, Zheng Zeqian also became interested.

"I watched the video, he's definitely a ruthless guy. By the way, have you ever competed against him? Did you win or lose?"

Qian Youdao smiled as he looked at Zheng Zeqian, who seemed to have regained some energy. Just as he was about to answer, a small group of people below suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"Holy crap, the rankings have been updated! He He isn't number one anymore!"

"There's someone tough here? Come on, let me see how many points you got, holy crap, how many?!?? What the hell do you say it is?"

"Xia Ming? 98.3 points? The staff must have entered it wrong. It's just an egg and a bowl of rice, how could he get such a high score!"

"No way, it really is 98.3 points! Holy crap, it's another monster!?"

Amidst the commotion below, He He also noticed the changes to the rankings.

Upon seeing the score of 98.3, her pupils suddenly contracted.

"how is this possible?"

Qiao Ruoning, who was standing next to her, also looked at the big screen. When she saw the score, she was startled and thought it was a mistake by the staff.

But after looking ahead and confirming it was Xia Ming, she paused for a moment, and surprisingly felt somewhat relieved.

"Oh, it's him. Then it's not surprising."

Bai Heng, standing to the side, also wore a serious expression.

Actually, as long as she could pass the exam, Bai Heng didn't really care how many points she got, since she hadn't used her full strength.

Moreover, 90.5 points and 92.2 points are actually both in the 90s range, and Bai Heng is well aware of He He's abilities.

The two are equally skilled, but they focus on different aspects of cooking when they learn.

But Xia Ming, who suddenly appeared before them, was completely different. His score of 98 was almost two levels higher than Bai Heng's.

This caused Bai Heng, who was preparing to win the championship, to feel momentarily lost.

But the next second, she remembered Xia Ming's name.

"Could this be Xia Ming, the one with perfect knife skills?"

Qiao Ruoning, who was standing to the side, nodded after hearing Bai Heng's words.

“It should be him. A week ago, I was chatting with him and Qian Youdao. I noticed that Qian Youdao was very polite to him and kept calling him Brother Xia.”

“The two must have met before, but strangely enough, when I asked him about his situation, the response I received was very vague.”

"Judging from the information gathered so far, he and Xia Yitian don't seem to have any connection."

"By the way, isn't he from Division 7? You're in the same arena yourself, don't you know that?!"

Bai Heng was stunned, and instantly recalled the boy who pressed the light button behind her after she finished judging.

At the time, I only glanced at him as he seemed to be moving the plate very carefully.
Just as he was recalling Xia Ming's appearance, a figure carrying a black knife case walked out from the passageway beside him.

Qiao Ruoning saw the box and pointed at it.

"No need to recall, look over there at the entrance, he's already in."

(End of this chapter)