Food Wars, My Dishes Don't Just Shine

The screen displayed a message from Bai Yuan, essentially telling her to go to Alice's house to take a shower first, that the key was under the carpet, and that he would take her out on a date in the afternoon.

I don't recall ever actively inviting someone out.

Almost every time, she would miss Bai Yuan, send him messages, and ask him to come and keep her company.

Even when Bai Yuan is very busy, he will always make time to go there as quickly as possible, which is something she is very satisfied with, because she feels love from him.

"This girl..."

On the other side, looking at the slightly provocative message on the screen, Bai Yuan chuckled, already making plans for their afternoon date.

"Congratulations on advancing to the semifinals! I knew you could do it!"

Liu Yu and Wang Jing walked side by side. Thinking about the exciting match just now, Wang Jing praised the game with a smile.

As a sister, she was genuinely happy for her.

"It's just the semi-finals, nothing special. We need to get at least a top-two finish to attract the attention of the Dark Cuisine world and be nurtured by the leader."

Faced with Wang Jing's congratulations, Liu Yu's expression remained unchanged; she simply shook her head slightly, clearly dissatisfied with her ranking.

She needs to go further and stand at the true pinnacle so that the leader will notice her and nurture her with great effort.

As for why she so desperately wanted to be trained as a leader, it was partly due to the chef's pursuit of culinary skills, and partly due to her identity.

She was a member of the Liu family, a renowned Shanghai culinary family. To be precise, she used to be a member of the Liu family, but now she has long been expelled and has become a rootless person.

"One day I'll make you regret it."

Thinking of the Liu family, a fierce glint flashed in Liu Yu's eyes, and her fists clenched involuntarily.

Six years ago, on a rainy night, her mother was falsely accused of poisoning the newborn child of the matriarch of the household, resulting in the child's death.

That child was the only male heir of the Liu family, the heir whom the entire household had been eagerly awaiting. This made the head of the family at the time extremely angry, and he completely disregarded past feelings, directly driving her and her mother out in the pouring rain.

What's even more infuriating is that the maid and housekeeper, who were originally very kind to them and even called them "Miss," took away all the things belonging to the Liu family from them, not allowing them to leave with a single penny.

Her mother, being an orphan and a full-time housewife for several years, was used to spending money lavishly. Suddenly leaving the Liu family and losing her support, she lost all her ability to survive.

It was raining, and the two girls were hungry. In order to make sure they had enough to eat, the mother ran to a noodle shop, knelt down, and begged the owner to give them a bowl of noodles.

The kind-hearted shop owner quickly helped her up and served the mother and daughter two bowls of steaming noodles so they could have a full meal.

Later, my mother found a job as a waitress. She also helped out in the restaurant kitchen, serving tea and water and tidying up the stoves every day.

Although that period was tough, it was very fulfilling. She secretly learned a lot by watching the chefs cook.

But this good fortune didn't last long. Suddenly one day, the restaurant owner fired them. They tried several restaurants in a row, but none of the owners wanted them.

This puzzled them greatly. Later, a kind-hearted boss told them the reason, letting them know that it was the Liu family who were behind it.

The other party is one of the leading figures in Shanghai's culinary scene, and their word is law. Just by expressing this sentiment, no restaurant dared to hire them again.

After that, her mother took her away from Shanghai and died five years later from overwork. At that time, the fourteen-year-old girl had already begun to make a name for herself in the restaurant.

Her main purpose in honing her culinary skills was to seize the Liu family's business and become the head of Shanghai's premier restaurant, Qunyinglou.

According to the rules established by our ancestors.

Any living member of the Liu family whose culinary skills surpass those of the head chef can unconditionally inherit the Qunyinglou restaurant and take full ownership of it.

This was her plan for revenge. Once she reached the level of a top-tier three-star expert, she could surpass the father who had listened to slander and abandoned her and her mother.

At that time, he will use absolute strength to take away what he is most proud of in his life.

However, given her own abilities, reaching the Special Grade Three Star level would be extremely difficult, possibly taking ten or twenty years.

Moreover, the current head of the Liu family, her grandfather, is still alive.

To truly seize the [Heroes' Tower] without any worries, you need at least a Special Grade Five-Star level.

However, she could wait, after all these years, but she didn't want to wait too long, so she joined the world of dark cuisine.

As long as she can gain Bai Yuan's approval, even if it's just becoming his disciple, her cooking skills can improve by leaps and bounds, saving her a lot of time.

This is also the main reason why she volunteered to come to Totsuki.

Two hours of expert guidance is equivalent to 100 hours of self-study. If you become number one this time, you might stand next to Bai Yuan...

"I will support you from behind."

Seeing the hatred in Liu Yu's eyes, Wang Jing gently patted her back to comfort her and said some comforting words.

They knew each other's situations, and after chatting all night, they became best friends and learned about each other's past lives.

To be honest, Wang Jing really felt sorry for her because Liu Yu had such a hard childhood, and it was already quite an achievement that she had survived to this age.

"Before a new theme comes up, let's relax a bit. A proper balance between work and rest is the driving force for us to make steady progress on our culinary journey!"

Stretching lazily, Liu Yu suddenly suggested that one must relax after working hard, otherwise one will eventually break down.

"Hmm, speaking of which, it's been a long time since we went swimming. There seems to be a new water park that just opened nearby, with lots of handsome young men. Want to go?"

"Of course! Who doesn't like eight-pack abs! Let's go to the mall to buy a swimsuit first, and then we'll head over after lunch!!"

Upon hearing Wang Jing's half-joking remark, Liu Yu immediately perked up, revealing a "you know me so well" expression on her face, and then announced the afternoon's plans.

"Boss, these eels are pretty fresh! Weigh out two pounds for me, I want to make some braised eel with sizzling oil tonight!"

"Got it!"

In the bustling city, Alice Nakiri, carrying a shopping basket, stopped in front of a fish vendor and looked at the still-alive eels on the stall with a delighted expression.

Eels are warm in nature and sweet in taste. They have the effects of replenishing qi and blood, warming yang and strengthening the spleen, and nourishing the liver and kidneys.

Bai Yuan usually puts so much effort into her, and he also has to take care of other women. She needs to be properly nourished, otherwise it won't be good if she becomes weak one day.

She has to support her own man; those bad women outside won't take care of him at all, they only know how to take from him and don't care about him at all.

While indulging in self-pity, Alice Nakiri promptly paid for the eel offered by the stall owner and moved on to the next stall.

Last night, Bai Yuan told her that he was going to take Mujichi Yuanguo out on a date. She didn't refuse, but she kept asking him for it a few more times.

This resulted in her being so tired in the morning that she couldn't get up, but it also drained Bai Yuan's reserves.

Thinking of the madness of last night, Alice Nakiri stuck out her tongue and traced a circle around her lips, her mouth turning up involuntarily, as if she were savoring something.

Chapter 198 Shirabuchi's Date, Tadokoro Megumi vs. Kurokiba Ryo

"Alice Nakiri."

Just as Alice was lost in thought, a slightly deep male voice sounded in her ear. Turning her head, she saw that the person was Ryo Kurokiba.

"Kurokiba, what are you doing here?"

Upon seeing Kurokiba Ryo, Nakiri Alice was startled, feeling as if she had been caught doing something wrong and was somewhat guilty.

Then she looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when she found that he was the only one there. At least no one else had seen her embarrassing state.

"Of course I'm here to buy ingredients for tomorrow's competition. But what about you? Why are you here?"

Kurokiba Ryo looked at Nakiri Alice with an expression as if she were an idiot, and then asked.

"Buy dinner, I guess. It's my turn to cook tonight. I remember the theme for the third round was cold dishes, right? Are you planning to use fish to make a cold dish?"

Alice Nakiri was somewhat surprised.

"To be precise, it's shrimp and crab."

Kurokiba Ryo didn't hide his idea of ​​cooking, and after looking around at the stalls selling fish, shrimp and crab, he shook his head in disappointment.

"The goods here aren't very fresh, and even the live ones are sickly and the quality isn't very good. I need to find another place, so I'll take my leave now."

After saying this, Kurokiba Ryo ignored Nakiri Alice and hurriedly left.

He had actually pre-ordered seafood from a vendor, but he wasn't satisfied with the seafood they sent, so he came to the seafood market himself to see if there was anything better for tomorrow's game.

Although her opponent is just an unknown girl, she is, after all, a student taught by Teacher Bai Yuan, and is certainly not as simple as she seems.

His idea was to fight with all his might and win a culinary duel that would leave no regrets.

"So eager? But I guess you could say this guy is good at sticking to his craft, or he just doesn't know how to adapt. He's been doing seafood dishes for so many years and hasn't tried anything else."

Watching Kurokiba Ryo's departing figure, Nakiri Alice murmured to herself.

The other party is clearly the kind of person who "focuses on one point and reaches the pinnacle," but excessive focus can easily lead to stagnation.

Only by constantly innovating and learning other types of cuisine to develop one's own culinary core can one achieve continuous and stable progress.

Like her, although her specialty is molecular gastronomy, she also explores other types of cuisine and seeks inspiration from them to improve her molecular gastronomy.

Some, like Ryota Kurokiba, are stuck in their ways, clinging to one type of cuisine without ever trying anything else.

Although it may unleash amazing potential in that kind of cuisine, it will immediately reveal its true colors and become useless once the theme changes.

"Remind me next time we meet."

As someone who has been competing with her since childhood, she doesn't want to see her stagnate or even go down the wrong path, unable to turn back.

"The oysters here look pretty good too, big and meaty, they look juicy. Let's make some garlic oysters for Brother Baiyuan tonight to help him recover!"

Looking at the oysters displayed by the stall owner, each one was round and plump, and just looking at them made one feel very hungry and want to eat them.

"A little more chives, please..."

Private cinema.

Bai Yuan and Muji Chienka sat on a comfortable leather sofa, the girl nestled against the boy, somewhat unable to look directly at the terrifying scene playing in front of them.

Yes, the two were watching a horror movie.

The pitch-black environment, the tranquil atmosphere, and the startlingly terrifying scenes truly frightened Kikuchi Sonoka. Her heart was pounding wildly, and if Bai Yuan hadn't been by her side, she would have turned and run away immediately.

"what!"

Seeing the ghost face that suddenly appeared on the screen, Kikuchi Sonoka let out a scream and buried her face in Shiroyuki's chest, refusing to come out for a long time.

"Okay, okay, these are all fake things, and I'm here with you, so there's no need to be so scared."

As he spoke, he gently patted Kikuchi Sonoka's shoulder. Feeling the soft body in his arms, the boy couldn't help but feel a little distracted.

He had already guessed that she might be scared, which is why he brought Kikuchi Sonoka to see this newly released horror movie, hoping to get closer and strengthen their relationship!

A fragrant young girl, out of fear, desperately burrows into your arms, even using a sweet, seductive voice to seek refuge.

Who can bear this!

"Teacher Bai Yuan is really wicked. He knows perfectly well that I'm afraid of this, yet he still brought me here to see it."