The story begins in Food Wars, when Alice took him home.

"Appeared!"

"The [Clothing-Rending Technique], a skill only available to the Nakiri clan!"

"This is truly astonishing! I never expected the school's headmaster's [Clothes-Rending Technique] to appear so early this year!"

"It seems the outcome is already decided!"

The sudden clothing rip caused an uproar at the scene. Everyone stared in astonishment at Senzaemon Nakiri's muscular upper body, seemingly not expecting him to rip his clothes in the first round of the competition.

"So... what Teacher Baiyuan wanted to remind me of was the dipping sauce."

Looking at the dipping sauce in front of each judge, Ueno Sugi had a wry smile on his face. He had considered every detail, but he had overlooked this one.

"The dipping sauce is the soul of dumplings. The same dumplings will taste different depending on the dipping sauce."

Seeing that Ueno Sugi was somewhat lost in thought, Bai Yuan offered an explanation.

If this kid had even a thought to make a dipping sauce, and had just given the judges the simplest dipping sauce, he wouldn't have lost this competition so badly.

Yeah, we won't lose that badly.

"Eggs, dried bamboo shoots, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried tofu, and dried purslane—your recipe must be from some cookbook, Soma Yukihira."

Turning his gaze to Yukihira Soma, who was waiting to the side, Bai Yuan slowly spoke.

As he finished speaking, many people in the audience turned their attention to him, curious about what he was going to say next.

"That's right. This is a special vegetarian fried egg dish that I saw in an ancient book. It is said to have been invented by Li Yan, a top-level two-star chef."

Upon hearing Bai Yuan's words, Yukihira Soma was taken aback at first, and then answered.

"Invented by him? You're really flattering yourself. Although you made the right choice by accident, as your teacher, I still have to tell you the true origin of this dish."

To everyone's surprise, Bai Yuan scoffed at his words, pondered for a few seconds, and finally decided to tell him the true origin of the dish.

"The true origin?!"

Soma Yukihira was surprised, as were the audience members. It was as if they had stumbled upon a shocking piece of gossip, and they all pricked up their ears to listen.

The room fell silent; everyone waited for Bai Yuan to speak.

"There are two types of dumpling making. One type emphasizes the flavor of a particular ingredient, like the pork and water chestnut dumplings in Ueno. The other type integrates the flavors systematically, so that the sum of its parts is roughly equal to the sum of its parts."

Instead of explaining directly, Bai Yuan talked about the two types of dumpling flavors, then picked up a dumpling from Yukihira Soma's bowl and broke it apart with chopsticks.

"Eggs, dried bamboo shoots, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried tofu, and dried purslane are actually all part of the filling for another famous dumpling."

Those dumplings were a special imperial dumpling made for the royal family in ancient times. They required a filling of nine different vegetarian ingredients to create a perfect flavor.

Looking at the expectant expressions of the audience, Bai Yuan remained silent for a while before speaking. He said that he had made these dumplings more than once, because they were originally a product of the era he came from.

"Nine kinds of vegetarian dishes? Which nine kinds are they...?"

Yukihira Soma was puzzled, his eyes filled with longing. The dumplings made with five kinds of vegetables were already so delicious, it was hard to imagine what dumplings made with nine kinds of vegetables would taste like. They were truly royal dumplings!

"The more traditional ones are dried purslane, dried bamboo shoots, dried shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, dried gluten, daylily, dried tofu, eggs and carrots."

A skilled chef can alter the overall flavor by adjusting the vegetarian ingredients.

For the specific proportions, you can experiment at home if you're interested. But before that, you can continue to refine your Wangdao dumplings. Although they're already quite good, the filling ratio isn't quite perfect.

The best way to improve the quality of a dish is to refine the details.

However, for many people, even if they want to refine the details and increase the level of completion, they simply don't know where to start. This is the most fundamental difference between a master chef and an ordinary chef.

However, as far as student cuisine is concerned, Soma Yukihira's cooking is undoubtedly top-notch!

"Bring me a pen!"

They exchanged a glance and saw the same thought in each other's eyes.

Senzaemon Nakiri shouted loudly to those around him, and immediately the staff member serving him ran over with a pen.

A huge sheet of white paper was spread out under the judges' seats.

"The winner of the first round is—Soma Yukihira!"

Bare-chested, with powerful strokes, he wrote the four characters "Yukihira Soma" on the huge white paper, and then announced the final winner of the match!

This is an indisputable conclusion.

"Poor hospitality!"

Upon hearing Senzaemon Nakiri's words, Soma Yukihira removed the bandage from his head, held it in his hand and let it sway in the wind, and shouted to the crowd.

"Won!"

"It's amazing!"

"Xingping..."

In the audience, as Senzaemon Nakiri announced the final result, cheers erupted as everyone chanted Soma Yukihira's name.

"Yukihira, you're quite interesting."

Looking up, he met Hayama Akira's eyes in the audience. Yukihira Soma read the meaning from the other's lip movements.

"Whoosh... Bang!"

A large bubble of chewing gum was blown out, then suddenly burst open, smearing a mouthful of gum, which Huang Mei skillfully collected with her tongue, and the cycle repeated itself.

"The first match is over, and next up is Huang Mei."

Looking at the large screen in front of her, Liu Yu suddenly spoke, and everyone in the lounge turned their gazes toward Huang Mei with burning eyes.

"Go, Xiaomei!"

Let's give those guys a taste of their own medicine!

Ning Feng tried to pat Huang Mei on the shoulder encouragingly, but she skillfully dodged it and said, "I can't possibly lose this match."

After saying this, Huang Mei left the lounge without looking back and strode towards Xia Zhi Selection Agency with an indomitable spirit.

After all, the judges are the leader of Baiyuan.

She has a reason why she absolutely cannot lose!

Another lounge.

"Brother, it's your turn to go on stage."

Covering his mouth and chuckling softly, Isami Aldini looked at Takumi Aldini, whose face was full of tension, and couldn't help but pat him on the shoulder and laugh wildly.

"I understand! Don't hit me so hard, Isami!"

Looking at Isami Aldini playing around beside him, a hint of helplessness flashed across Takumi Aldini's face.

However, it was also because of his interruption that his nervousness subsided considerably.

"Thank you, Isami. Wait for my good news!"

After figuring it out, Takumi Aldini waved to his younger brother behind him and then strode towards the Summer Selection Agency.

He absolutely has to win this match!

"That's the general explanation. And one last thing: the chicken will be prepared by us. We can use any kind of chicken from around the world. I have some recommendations."

Looking at the two people in front of him, Isshiki Satoshi pushed out the menu in his hand, which listed various breeds of chicken for them to choose from.

"I'll take this one."

In a split second, Huang Mei made her decision, pointed to the apricot blossom chicken on the list in Isshiki's hand, and then said, "By the way, I want chicks that are about 40 days old, as their meat is the most tender and delicious."

"Okay, won't you reconsider?"

Isshiki Satoshi nodded, then looked at Huang Mei, worried that she had made a hasty decision, so she asked considerately.

"No need, I already knew what dish I was going to make in that instant."

Huang Mei shook her head. The moment she learned the theme, she had already thought about the dish she wanted to make, so there was no need for her to hesitate.

"Takumi, what about you?"

"I've also thought of what to do. Please help me prepare the chicken for the trip."

Isami Aldini nodded to Isshiki Satoshi and then stated his request.

Laihang chicken, originally from Italy, has a delicate and tender texture, making it a superb choice for a wide variety of Italian chicken dishes.

"Okay, I've submitted your requirements. If you want to make any changes, come to the Polaris Dormitory at midnight."

Seeing that the two had made their decision so quickly, Isshiki Satoshi nodded and said nothing more, telling them to come find him that evening if they wanted to change their minds.

After finishing this task, Huang Mei and Takumi Aldini left the office one after the other, preparing to go home and work on their cooking in preparation for tomorrow's match.

"The theme for the second round is chicken dishes! What are you planning to make, brother...?"

Upon seeing Takumi Aldini return home, Isami Aldini, after learning the theme of the second round of the competition, asked curiously.

"To bring out the deliciousness of chicken, the main factors are the cooking method and the choice of seasonings, as well as the pairing of side dishes."

The flavors must be combined in an orderly manner to work together on the chicken; otherwise, the taste will become a mess…

Ignoring Isami Aldini, who was standing in front of the counter, he stroked his chin and began to ponder the precautions for making chicken dishes.

Seeing that his brother ignored him, Isami Aldini knew that the other was thinking, so he silently left without disturbing him.

"Thinking too much is pointless; let's just start by putting it into practice!"

A multitude of thoughts flashed through his mind. Takumi Aldini shook his head and decided to take action first, for only through practice could true knowledge be gained.

"Isami, we're coming..."

She looked to the side, wanting to call out to her younger brother, but found that he had already left. She could only smile helplessly.

"Forget it, I'll do it myself."

"You asked me to buy chicks, so is chicken the theme of this round of competition?"

"That's right, I'm going into seclusion!"

Li Wanwan placed the chicks she had just bought from the market on the cooking station. Huang Mei skillfully took them and began to butcher them, then started to cook them.

Although I've made this dish countless times, to truly perfect it, I must refine every single detail to the extreme!

The next day, early morning.

"Let's go, the competition is about to start."