Who gave this heretical practitioner permission to cook?

Chapter 262 When Gifting Becomes Card Drawing. Could it be that he predicted this from the beginning? (First Update)
Banquet Hall

"Can fish jelly be made to this extent?"

A look of joy appeared on Yang Shu's face, and Mu Shang beside him nodded repeatedly.

"I told you to follow the recommendation list! It's a bit pricey, but when I think about the buy-two-get-one-free deal, I'm immediately happy!"

"By the way, where's the 'hidden dish' we sent? I can't find it."

Hearing Mu Shang's words, Yang Shu stood up and pointed to Old Wang, who was already gesturing wildly behind him.

"I think I just saw that theirs has already been served; it was a very small scoop of ice cream."

"But judging from Old Wang's expression, it must taste really good!"

Mu Shang nodded.

"Although his descriptions are sometimes strange, Lao Wang has a very keen sense of smell. Apart from not being able to handle spicy food very well, the small shops he chooses are of very good quality."

As they were talking, Mu Shang felt himself being secretly kicked by Yang Shu from below.

"Just eat, stop talking nonsense!"

"Mmm! Delicious!!!"

Mu Shang realized that his public comments about bloggers in the same circle were slightly inappropriate, so he immediately used a blood-based remedy to shut himself up.

They were actually quite curious. Looking around, they realized that Xia Ming must have had quite a few orders, but his main dishes were served faster than others.

This is partly due to the fact that the "two-color yellow croaker jelly" was prepared in advance, but tofu was added to the stir-fried blood tofu.

According to Mu Shang's observation, the dish perfectly embodies the concept of "square," with all the small squares remaining intact, which means that Xia Ming pays great attention to the details of the dish.

"In this situation, it's difficult to cook several portions in one pot, right? Otherwise, if it breaks into pieces, it'll be hard to pick it out with chopsticks!"

Upon hearing Mu Shang's words, Yang Shu shook his head.

The food reviews and restaurant reviews were good, but in terms of cooking skills, the two of them were at most at the level of home-style cooking.
He's even a level below Jia Bing.
They're fine with judging the taste, but when it comes to culinary skills and unique techniques, they're completely clueless.

Unlike their confusion, Jiu Yue beside them was both shocked and regretful.
Unlike other bloggers, she mainly focused on tasting desserts this time, especially Chinese desserts.

Aside from ordering Xia Ming's "Stir-fried Blood Soup" to fill her stomach, she spent the rest of her time looking for snacks.

After going around in circles, I only managed to order 3 dishes, and I had 8 yuan left, which was just enough to buy a cup of lemonade.

After the dishes were served, she started with the desserts.
Describe the taste and texture while eating, and study the structure of the dish to use as material for the next video.

She quietly ate her way through the dishes and found that only the "lotus seed cake" impressed her; the rest were just average.

Therefore, she went back to check the menu and found that the "lotus seed cake" was made by a female chef named "Hu Xing".

"The lotus seeds in this dish must have undergone a special cooking process. I think it has more medicinal components than culinary ingredients."

"It's clear that she paid great attention to every detail, especially the complimentary cup of bitter lotus seed tea, which brought out the flavor of the lotus seed cake even more."

Jiuyue really liked this combination full of humanistic spirit and had already decided to give it a good review.

After finishing the snacks, Jiu Yue put the plate aside for the time being, rinsed her mouth with lemon water and water, and then began to taste Xia Ming's "Stir-fried Blood Soup".

Unlike the two members of Daoyue Society, Jiuyue did put some effort into her cooking skills.

"Did you choose firm tofu, and after cutting it, place it in a well-ventilated environment for about 20 minutes for air treatment?"

"Yes, that should be the case. If you blanch the tofu, the water content will increase, and when the sauce is made, it might spill out from the bottom, making it look oily and not very appealing."

"But air drying can only solve the problem of sticking to a large extent. To make it completely unbreakable, the chef's own skill with the spoon is still essential."

It's perfectly normal for the dishes that are ranked number one on the "Best Reviews" list to be delicious, in Jiu Yue's eyes.

After all, there's no such thing as manipulating rankings here. She was just a little disappointed that she didn't get to try the "hidden dish" this time because of the ordering issue.

Just as she sighed softly, a figure suddenly appeared behind her.

"Can you really eat all these pastries? Can you give me two pieces?"

Hearing a somewhat familiar voice, Jiu Yue turned around and found that the person who came was "Nan Xiang".

“Great! I can’t finish it all, so you can take some of the rest with you.”

Nanxiang was equally unceremonious, reaching out to grab a "lotus seed cake".

"This one looks the best, otherwise there wouldn't be only one left. By the way, last time I saw you, you were still selling fried rice at the entrance of the Zhejiang District. I heard you got an order for wedding dresses?"

Jiu Yue smiled too.

"Ten miles of red bridal procession, I posted that video a while ago. It seems you've been very busy lately, otherwise you wouldn't have missed it."

Nanxiang also seemed to have no temper.

"Yeah, I've been researching a really pungent ingredient lately, I feel like I'm practically pickling myself in it. Oh, by the way, this is for you!"

As he spoke, he handed Jiu Yue a small box.

Seeing the ice cream inside, Jiu Yue raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Where did it come from?"

"It's from the hidden menu on the first page, Xia Ming gave me two servings. I told him to bring them over for you to try, there's a surprise!"

"Oh, you didn't trick me, did you?"

"Don't worry, I'd never cheat you, no matter who else I'm cheating!"

Hearing Nanxiang's words, Jiuyue smiled and accepted the ice cream.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Let me try it and see what's so special about this so-called secret menu."

As she spoke, Jiu Yue held the ice cream up to the camera and took a picture. Visually, it was just a very simple scoop of ice cream, without any decorations at all.

It's a little different from what Jiu Yue saw before; it seems to be a size bigger than the one on Tang Renjie's table.

After smelling it, Jiu Yue realized that the ice cream didn't have any special flavor other than milk.

So she scooped up a little with a small spoon and put it in her mouth.

As the smooth and creamy texture of the ice cream spread in her mouth, Jiu Yue suddenly paused for a moment.

"Oh, this."

She stopped halfway through her sentence and then carefully used her tongue to feel the sensation. After a long while, her eyes lit up.

"I can taste it now, it's potato? It's potato ice cream!"

Nanxiang smiled after hearing Jiuyue's assessment.

"Yes, I also think this is potato ice cream!"

"However, this doesn't seem to have been processed in a food processor; I suspect it's handmade."

Just as the two were talking, the "Daoyue Society" sitting next to Jiuyue also received their "hidden dish".

Seeing the ice cream cones rising in front of them, they instantly realized what it was.
"Isn't this the rice ice cream that was super popular over there with the 'wild man'?"

"They look so alike! I'm pretty sure it's one of them!"

The commotion between the two was noticed by Nanxiang and Jiuyue, who were standing nearby. Turning their heads to look at the snow-white spire in front of them, and then looking back at the round ball in their hands, Jiuyue blinked.

"What's going on? Why are their deliveries different from ours? Aren't they all from Xia Ming's company?"

Nanxiang, who was standing nearby, was also a little confused, so he went directly to "Daoyue Society" to ask which one they were from. After communicating with each other, they realized that they had both ordered Xia Ming's dishes, but the complimentary items were different.

Seeing that Jiu Yue had only scooped up a small amount of mashed potato ice cream, Yang Shu's eyes gleamed with curiosity.
Looking at the rice ice cream at Daoyue Society's place, Jiu Yue and Nan Xiang's eyes also revealed a bit of curiosity.

Ever since.
The bloggers who were originally sitting on one side eventually came together because of the ice cream. After tasting each other's ice cream, Jiu Yue put forward a conjecture.

"The 'Hidden Menu A' on Xia Ming's menu may not simply refer to a specific ice cream dish, and it might not even be ice cream at all."

After hearing this, Nanxiang immediately realized what was going on.

"You mean this hidden menu is like a blind box, like Oumakase? What you get is purely based on luck?"

Jiu Yue shook her head.

"I'm not sure if it was luck, since the contestants should have been able to see the venue, but I have a thought now: is it just that we happened to have different gifts, or is it that everyone's gifts are different?"

Kishino was taken aback when he heard this.

"Everyone's different? That would take forever. And it's not just this one time; there are 200 of us in this group. Let's say one-third of them ordered dishes from his menu and met the 'gift quota.'"

"Does he intend to make over 60 different kinds of ice cream??? We're not in the last round, can he even manage that?"

Nanxiang narrowed his eyes.

Whether or not Xia Ming can handle the workload is a decision he needs to make. As diners, we are now facing a completely unknown surprise, which is quite intriguing.

Yang Shu nodded as well.

"This is similar to gacha games. Instead of clicking on the pre-defined menu, people are more interested in 'what kind of hidden menu items I can get.'"

Jiu Yue also realized what was happening.

"I understand why they gave us two copies of the secret menu. Xia Ming was deliberately encouraging us to exchange them."

Kinoshita was taken aback.

"Good grief, are they using us as a living advertisement?!"

Nanxiang nodded, then shook his head.

"It's not exactly a live advertisement; it's essentially a benefit to solo diners, giving them an opportunity to interact with other diners."

"It's more like a mutually beneficial arrangement than exploitation."

"Of course, this is just our conjecture, and it wouldn't be difficult to verify."

As she spoke, Nanxiang got up and walked towards Tang Renjie, who was not far away.

He wanted to confirm whether the ice cream Tang Renjie received was, as they suspected, another new category.

Just as Tang Renjie was approaching South Alley, he had just tasted the ice cream that Xia Ming had given him.

Old Wang urged from the side.

"Brother Tang, did you figure out what was in there?"

Tang Renjie was a little confused. He had been a Western chef for so many years and had eaten all kinds of ice cream, but now there was an ice cream that he couldn't even tell the flavor from.

"Sea salt, umami, yes, why can I taste a hint of umami in this ice cream? This thing isn't made from fruit, is it?!"

Looking at the frozen treat inside the ice cream, Tang Renjie's facial features contorted in a grimace. After a long while, he took out the frozen treat separately and ate a bite.

After that one bite, he figured out the secret!
"This thing isn't turtle jelly, is it? Turtle jelly ice cream... wait, I feel like I've seen this somewhere before!"

Tang Renjie blinked, quickly pulled out his spare phone from his pocket, and checked. He then discovered that Xia Ming had previously made turtle jelly.

With these correspondences, the answer becomes obvious!

"Old Wang, you were absolutely right! This ice cream contains turtle jelly!"

Upon hearing the word "turtle," Old Wang fell silent for a moment.

"You mean this ice cream is made with sand turtles?"

"It's either a sand turtle, a soft-shelled turtle, or a bastard!"

"A turtle? Wow! I ate turtle ice cream???"

Old Wang was a little confused. He had been very happy just now because the ice cream suited his taste perfectly.

After looking around, I realized that turtle is the food I like to eat?
Just as Lao Wang was having some doubts about life, Nanxiang also came to Tang Renjie's side.

Just now, as soon as he approached, he heard what Tang Renjie said, and now he understood the situation perfectly well.

However, he was genuinely curious about turtle-frozen ice cream!
After a while, two more members joined the team.
Just as the six people gathered together to share their ice cream, the other diners present gradually realized what was happening.

"This looks like 'yam ice cream'."

"This is ice cream, it tastes like dragon fruit, and it's two big portions!"

"I'll trade with you. Mine looks like an 'eight-fold' ice cream, but after eating it, I found it to be surprisingly silky smooth, like air ice cream!"

"Hahaha! I'm fried ice cream, and this crispy outer layer is amazing!"

"Wait, are you all ice creams? Does that mean I got the hidden one?"

"what do you?"

"I'm tofu that looks just like ice cream, with the texture of silken tofu—cool and refreshing, a truly wonderful experience!"

"I feel like I'm made of creamy ice cream! Oh no, am I just incredibly unlucky?"

"I marked no ice cream, and the secret menu sent me a new drink that tasted a bit like red wine, but I couldn't quite make out what it was!"

As people started visiting each other more frequently, the news that ordering Xia Ming's dishes would come with a "bonus blind box" gradually spread.

Some people who ordered Xia Ming's dishes are now kicking themselves.

After all, based on other people's descriptions, the value of the "two-color yellow croaker jelly" alone is already far more than 300 yuan.

The other two dishes were basically the same as the complimentary ones.
Although some bloggers still hope to expand the range of dishes they offer, so that they don't end up posting only Xia Ming's set meals.

But some bloggers don't care about this at all, since the random freebies are enough to be used as material!

Compared to what you see on the menu, the random items are more unique and perfect for making videos to ride the wave of popularity.

The choices of the previous group of diners cannot be changed, but their behavior will affect the second group of people waiting nearby.

This person-to-person transmission effect is the essential reason why Xia Ming went to such great lengths to turn the dishes into blind boxes.

At this moment, his plan had already taken shape.

Because the threshold for the free gifts was set very rigidly, Xia Ming began to severely squeeze the survival environment of other contestants. Even Bai Heng, whose prices were more affordable, found that his orders were gradually decreasing.

Looking at the revenue rankings, Xia Ming is currently ranked number one, and the numbers behind him continue to soar.

Bai Heng felt a sudden headache.
"No way, Xia Ming... he's not planning to end the game in the middle, is he?!"

"The blind box giveaways, with virtually no repeating dishes, definitely couldn't have been prepared during the intervals between batches."

"That is to say, from the time the competition rules were released."

"Has Xia Ming already been planning for the current situation?"

(End of this chapter)