Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 255 Fished the Wrong Fish? A Cooking Machine? The Golden Light Shining on the Arena (Second Update)

Upon seeing the purple sweet potato and purple cabbage in Xia Ming's hand, Cao Fujun's expression instantly changed.

He was so engrossed in imagining the butterfly pea flower changing color that he never imagined Xia Ming would consume three different ingredients just to get two different colors.

This is completely contrary to the exam question.
After all, the number of fixed points won't increase, and if we really have to compete for ingredients later on, the lack of fixed points will be a big problem.

But for Xia Ming, this was not a problem at all. If it weren't for the limitations of the camera and the replication rate, he could make dishes using only blood.
Just as Cao Fujun's expression changed drastically, Yin Shengjiang, who was standing next to him, also received a notification from the staff.

The label clearly states that the "purple" ingredient in Xiaming Jelly is purple sweet potato, and the "blue" ingredient is algae.

The intermediate color transition area should be the appearance of purple sweet potato after being mixed with baking soda.

We started sampling from the very first cup, and our conclusions are absolutely true and valid.

Upon seeing this message, Yin Shengjiang's face lit up with joy.

"The investigation here has been completed. There's nothing wrong with Xia Ming's cooking. Cao Fujun, you, come with me, someone wants to see you!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Fujun suddenly woke up.

See him
Whoever comes looking for you at this critical juncture is definitely not looking for anything good.

But he couldn't refuse, because everyone in the live stream had seen that he had basically pressured Yin Shengjiang to put up the announcement in the banquet hall.

If a real problem arises now, and Yin Shengjiang can't be blamed, then he'll have to swallow the blame entirely.

Thinking back to Xia Ming's dejected demeanor as he walked in as a judge and finally sat down in his chair, I can only imagine.

Looking at Xia Ming's unusually calm expression, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

"You did this on purpose!"

A hint of innocent confusion appeared in Xia Ming's eyes.

"Intentionally? What a joke, Judge Cao. From the time you knocked on the door until you finished your investigation, it took you a total of 13 minutes and 55 seconds."

"My orders are piling up, will you make up for the lost time?"

"No, you won't, and it's written in the rules that you won't. I just want you to get the right result and give me a fair chance."

"As Judge Cao just said..."

"Being a judge means being fair!"

Upon hearing Xia Ming's words, Cao Fujun broke out in a cold sweat.

Not long ago, he had just complained about Xia Ming's act of delivering hot water, only to be proven wrong.

Given his current state, if you say he's not taking revenge, then netizens would have to believe it!

He could already imagine how public opinion was describing him right now.

It's quite a coincidence that netizens had the same idea as him.

[Brother Xia is right! It's just a speculative report. Yin Shengjiang and everyone else are very polite, but you, Cao Fujun, seem to want to kick Brother Xia out!]

Fairness, fairness, fucking fairness!

I saw not a shred of fairness; all I saw was a despicable middle-aged man taking advantage of the situation to seek revenge.

[He misjudged the situation and blamed it on someone else. Wow, if I went to his restaurant and gave him a bad review, would he spit in my food?!]

[Hey, brother, it's all about the bag!]

At first, I thought Bai Susu didn't look human, but now, compared to Cao Fujun, she's much more handsome.

Don't try to defend Bai Susu either. Her scoring was too arbitrary. I seriously suspect that the competition organizers saw this and removed her overnight.

[Brother Xia is really not afraid of causing trouble; this alone costs more than 3 yuan, it's a blatant attempt to attract traffic!]

[Xia Ming is definitely getting a good deal. If he gets the top rating twice in a row, no one else will have a chance to compete.]

[It's gone now. I even suspect that he orchestrated this himself just to get good reviews!]

Looking at Cao Fujun, who was already drenched in sweat, Xia Ming took the opportunity to turn around and put the vegetables back, and a sly smile appeared on his lips.

This is the same thought as a small number of netizens.
It's true that Xia Ming planned things all along that they've come to this point.

"At first, I was just thinking about how to get more positive reviews from diners."

"After all, these college students have a lot more disposable income than the previous workers, which makes it difficult for someone to order only one dish."

"Compared to the food itself, water has a lower value and is therefore less likely to resonate with these college students."

"Therefore, taking water beyond its edible value and enhancing its emotional value has become a good breakthrough."

"Thus, 'Starry Sky Lemonade' was born."

The recipe is not difficult, the cost is not high, and there's even a profit to be made.
Xia Ming went to the food inventory and selected "butterfly pea flower" without hesitation, since in his memory, this was the most convenient and quickest thing to eat.

"To test whether heat or cold would affect the final color, I first brewed some and then took a sip myself."

"It was this one bite that made me discover some minor issues."

With the opening of the Blood Gate, Xia Ming's absorption speed has become faster than that of ordinary people.

After drinking butterfly pea flower tea, he keenly noticed that his blood circulation seemed to have increased slightly.

It was this test that reminded him of the potential side effects of butterfly pea flowers.

So, in order to verify whether his memory was completely true, he took advantage of the time while picking up the order to manually look up information about "butterfly pea flower" on "Xiaodou" and unexpectedly discovered that the product itself had a bug.

Fortunately, butterfly pea flowers are cheap and there's basically no consumption of them; if one doesn't work, you can always switch to another.

But just as he was searching for a substitute for "butterfly pea flower", a plan derived from a bug suddenly flashed into Xia Ming's mind.

"Not many ordinary people probably know the properties of the 'Butterfly Pea Flower,' but there are likely a few among the contestants."

“Shops that make desserts and serve drinks should pay more attention to this issue than ordinary chefs.”

"Some of the judges should know this as well."

This is a competition where contestants are all competitors. If someone finds out that another person used ingredients with unclear positioning, whether out of fairness or personal motives, the possibility of reporting them is not low.

"Among the judges, Bai Susu and I had a conflict before the competition. Once there is a report against her, she will definitely use it to push things forward."

"Given her self-centered personality, she could very well escalate the situation."

Xia Ming wanted to make a big fuss about it.

Because of the rules, Xia Ming couldn't even write on the forms he gave out. He could only remind the skinny girl to drink more hot water by printing out a new form.

"The competition organizers did this to ensure that chefs do not solicit positive reviews from diners through written requests."

"But this also limits diners' understanding of the ingredients themselves." "If I spend a lot of money using other raw materials, but can't let customers know, then it really becomes a losing proposition."

Xia Ming knew that because college students were more simple-minded, they were actually more prone to falling into a "compensation mentality" than workers.

"They believe that good people should be rewarded and bad people should be punished, after all, many teachers teach this way."

“In this situation, once they find out, the price of my raw materials and the price they receive will be affected to varying degrees.”

"If I can resonate with more than 40% of people, then my efforts will not have been in vain."

"But all of this is predicated on being able to escalate the situation to the point of a banquet hall."

Xia Ming only started preparing the "Starry Sky Lemonade" after meeting the college students, so he could deliberately create a blind spot to make the incident unclear.

As for the half-cup of "butterfly pea flower tea" on the table, he had obviously placed it there on purpose.

After all the logical workflows were completed, Xia Ming quietly went to work on his orders in the kitchen.

If ultimately no one reports it, Bai Susu doesn't push the matter forward.

Xia Ming simply considered it a loss of points. Anyway, his dishes didn't have high requirements for ingredients, so he could just adjust the menu one less time and all the losses would be offset.

In fact, he knew his plan had succeeded the moment the kitchen door was knocked on.

But what I didn't expect was...
The plan succeeded, but the fish that took the bait was not the one expected.

To be honest, he wasn't familiar with Cao Fujun at all, and when he was looking at the information, he didn't find any conflict between them.

His aggressive manner just now almost made Xia Ming think that Cao Fujun was standing up for Bai Susu.

"Although the fish that took the bait was not the right one, the plan was still accomplished."

"It's this Bai Susu."

Xia Ming felt a little numb because he noticed that when Cao Fujun was at the height of his momentum, there was a hint of reluctance and hesitation in Bai Susu's eyes as she looked at him.

"This is not the state that Bai Susu should be in. So there must be something I don't know about this."

Xia Ming had no idea about Bai Susu's reaction after she turned around that day, and naturally couldn't understand her state of mind.

The only explanation is that Bai Susu believes he is Xia Yitian's son and wants to get information from him, so she sides with him.

"I don't really need to worry about the specifics."

“She has no right to score now, so even if she wanted to tamper with the scores, she would find it difficult to do so without a pretext.”

With nearly a million viewers in the live stream as his backing, it would be difficult for any means to reach Xia Ming unless they openly broke off relations.
As the dust settled, Cao Fujun was directly called aside by Yin Shengjiang to meet Qiao Jie.

Tan Zhifeng knew that Cao Fujun was probably finished.
“When the master was alive, he had someone to protect him. Now that the master is gone, he can’t support his own business and even tries to cause trouble for the Chefs Association.”

"I can forget about being a judge in this lifetime, and the reputation of the Chefs Association will plummet in the future."

"It's probably going to be difficult to take on apprentices and earn money for retirement."

"His disciples weren't particularly outstanding to begin with, and judging from their current state, I wonder how many will survive."

Tan Zhifeng knew that Cao Fujun was not Bai Susu. Although Bai Susu was so willful that it was nauseating, she needed someone behind her to solve her problems.

But Hua 8 level was won one game at a time by himself.

"A 'cooking machine,' a 'master of technique,' and the female chef who is both closest to and furthest from becoming a culinary god."

"These titles are all Bai Susu's protective charms. Compared to them, what do you, Cao Fujun, have to offer?"

Tan Zhifeng couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Cao Fujun's own words, "Of course, being a judge means being fair!"

However, now is not the time to laugh.

When Cao Fujun was taken away, Tan Zhifeng had already figured out what Xia Ming was doing.

However, this is an open conspiracy; without someone deliberately pushing it, it wouldn't have gotten this far.

It was impossible to hold Xia Ming accountable afterwards, since he had been denying that he had put "butterfly pea flower" in the room ever since the judges entered.

"Furthermore, he has a habit of eating work meals, so he could easily say that he takes butterfly pea flower before eating to prepare his stomach."

From any perspective, the judges' subjective entry into "Xia Ming's kitchen" shows that he is fully capable of making non-stick pans.

Just as he came to his senses, Yin Shengjiang returned first.

Based on his performance in this competition, Cao Fujun is likely to face accusations such as "smearing the image of the Chefs Association" and "malicious judgment".
Based on the usual handling methods of the Chefs Association, there is a high probability that they will impose a "soft ban".

At Cao Fujun's age, there's little difference between a "soft ban" and a "real ban."
Even if he's released in a few years, his reputation will be ruined.
Of course, that was Qiao Jie's job. What Yin Shengjiang needed to do now was to finish up the banquet hall.

Tan Zhifeng had already figured it out, and Yin Shengjiang was naturally well aware of it as well.

After a brief exchange with Xia Ming, the announcement was simultaneously broadcast on the banquet hall's screens and over the loudspeaker.

[After a thorough investigation by the judging panel, the allegation that "contestant number 44, Xia Ming," used non-standard raw materials has been found to be false.]

[Contestant Xia Ming did not use cheap, substandard butterfly pea flower extract, but instead used natural algae extract that meets national standards, and whose value exceeds the price of the lemonade itself.]

If you notice a slight fishy smell, it's naturally present in the "phycocyanin" component and poses no safety risk. Everyone can drink it with peace of mind.

[Commentary judge Cao Fujun has been removed from the commentary team due to inappropriate remarks and biased judging. The remaining six judges will continue providing commentary.]

Upon hearing the broadcast, the university students present were immediately in an uproar.

"The report is fake? A misunderstanding?"

"I knew this chef wouldn't do something like that! After all, so many positive reviews couldn't have been bought!"

"Phycocyanin? Are you kidding me? That stuff costs over ten yuan a gram, wouldn't you go bankrupt using it?"

“Is it so expensive?”

"It's that expensive. I've taken this before. It's considered a health supplement. Although I didn't feel any effects, the taste is quite unique."

"He's losing money to gain publicity! This Xia Ming guy is too honest. He's losing money on every cup he sells. No wonder his revenue ranking is so low!"

"This contestant is meticulous and willing to use good materials. It would be a shame not to give them a good review!"

Most college students had never been exposed to "phycocyanin," but that didn't stop them from calculating the price.

So, the moment Xia Ming was "vindicated," his positive reviews gained dozens more hearts. Some people didn't want to give positive reviews, but they hadn't received their lemonade yet because of the judges' sudden visit.

After Gu Xiaorui and Deng Yu finished making hearts, they took the "two-color yellow croaker jelly" that had been sitting for a while.

"I feel that there should be ice underneath; hopefully it hasn't melted."

After saying that, Deng Yu opened the lid, and the last wisp of smoke drifted away.
A golden light shone before Gu Xiaorui and Deng Yu's eyes.
(End of this chapter)