Shocking! The entire court was drooling with envy because of me.

"Sure, share some with me," Shen Qing replied without looking up.

Her hands didn't stop moving; the dough was repeatedly squeezed and folded under her palms, gradually becoming smooth.

Gao Hongyuan was taken aback; he certainly didn't want to share the chili peppers with Shen Qing.

That slap was just meant to mock Shen Qing, but Shen Qing wasn't angry at all. Instead, he asked him for chili peppers.

"I...I...Why should I give it to you?" he stammered.

This time, Shen Qing laughed out loud: "Didn't you offer to share the chili peppers with me?"

"I..." Gao Hongyuan was completely speechless, and his face also looked pale.

All I could do was lower my head and deal with the chili peppers in my hands.

After obtaining the exam questions with money yesterday, he started thinking about how to focus on the word "spicy".

After thinking about it all night, he decided to make chili peppers the main dish.

Lantern peppers, Erjingtiao peppers, millet peppers, wild chili peppers, wrinkled peppers, and screw peppers—these are the six main types of chili peppers he will be using today.

He devised different methods for processing each type of chili pepper.

Deep-fry the Erjingtiao peppers in hot oil until the skin is slightly charred; sauté the lantern peppers in a pan over low heat until they develop a blistered, tiger-skin pattern; blanch the millet peppers in boiling water and then immediately plunge them into cold water to crisp them; slice the wild chili peppers into rings and retain their sour juice...

After processing the six types of chili peppers, Gao Hongyuan heated a pot of oil, added scallions and ginger, and then added the six processed chili peppers in turn.

Then he took a small dish and mixed a bowl of sauce.

"Gao Hongyuan, is this... chili dipping sauce??"

"Six kinds of chili peppers, that's so spot on the topic!"

"The fried chili smells so good, oh my god!"

"Madam Shen is still rolling out the dough right now. I think she's definitely going to lose this time."

"Yeah, how can we win without chili peppers!"

"..."

The crowd was buzzing with discussion, but Shen Qing remained unaffected.

She took the rolling pin and rolled it out again and again until she had rolled the dough into a sheet.

The dough is of uniform thickness and laid out as a whole sheet on the cutting board.

Then, she used a knife to cut the dough into strips about the width of a finger.

Just then, the water in the pot boiled, and everyone thought Shen Qing was going to cook noodles, but instead she put on a steamer.

The noodles were placed directly into the steamer.

"??? What's this? Steamed noodles?"

"Outrageous! How could this be so outrageous? Has Madam Shen gone mad?"

"Good heavens, why would you steam perfectly good noodles? They're not steamed buns."

"..."

All eyes were on Shen Qing.

Li Zhesheng frowned, watching Shen Qing's actions, completely baffled.

Shen Qing remained calm and waited by the steamer.

After a short while, Shen Qing lifted the pot lid and used chopsticks to spread the steamed noodles one by one onto the bamboo sieve.

After the water on the noodles evaporated naturally, she poured oil into the pan.

Under the shocked gazes of everyone, Shen Qing put the cooled noodles into the oil pan.

In an instant, dense bubbles surged up in the oil, and the noodles rapidly expanded and changed color in the hot oil. The white gluten surface bulged with countless tiny bubbles, the edges curled up, and the color turned golden yellow.

"Fried noodles??" Li Zhesheng frowned, his face full of doubt.

Born into a family of imperial chefs, he had seen countless cooking methods, but Shen Qing's method of preparing noodles was something he had never heard of or seen before.

How can noodles be steamed first and then fried?

What exactly is Madam Shen trying to do...?

The fried noodles have been taken out of the pot and are now on a bamboo sieve to drain excess oil.

Just then, Shen Qing took out two small jars from his pocket and a large bowl, and poured the contents of the small jars into the large bowl one by one.

"Look, that red stuff...it looks like chili powder!!!" someone exclaimed in surprise.

Gao Hongyuan's face turned black; he never expected Shen Qing to actually produce chili powder.

"So what if there's chili powder? I have several kinds of chili peppers here," he couldn't help but mutter, as if secretly encouraging himself.

Shen Qing remained calm; this chili powder was, of course, provided by the system.

This is far superior to Gao Hongyuan's few chilies. The chili powder provided by the system contains at least twenty different kinds of chilies, which are both fragrant and spicy.

Then she poured in a second can of powder.

This is a compound spice powder containing cumin, Sichuan peppercorns, and a range of other spices.

She then added basic seasonings such as salt provided by the competition.

Heat oil in a wok until it turns red, then use a large spoon to scoop a spoonful of oil and pour it directly into a bowl.

Shila-

A strong, pungent aroma of caramel instantly filled the entire arena, causing everyone to involuntarily sniff.

It was fragrant, extremely fragrant, a fragrance they had never smelled before.

"My god, this tastes even better than the fried chili peppers Gao Hongyuan just fried!"

"Did Madam Shen really get her position through connections? I suddenly don't believe it anymore."

"I don't know what fried noodles are, but the chili oil smells so good!!"

"..."

As everyone was discussing this, they saw Shen Qing put the fried noodles into a large basin, and at the same time pour the chili peppers that had been splashed earlier directly into the basin.

The chili oil seeped into the noodles little by little along their texture, and as Shen Qing stirred them quickly, each noodle was coated with a layer of bright red oil.

Some fine chili powder and cumin seeds were scattered in the crevices.

Shen Qing didn't rush to plate the noodles, but let them sit in the bowl for a while.

The residual heat will further bring out the aroma of the spices, and the chili oil will gradually penetrate into the noodles.

After a cup of tea, Shen Qing stirred it again.

She then placed the chili peppers into a white porcelain plate.

"My God, I have a feeling that what Madam Shen made today must smell amazing!" Situ Liang kept moving forward. If it weren't for the competition, he would have wanted to take a bite right now.

"Don't even mention it, I'm craving it too!"

"My mouth is watering, I can't resist the smell..."

Madam Yan and Guo Tiancheng were equally eager, and they were even praying that the judges on stage wouldn't eat it all.

clang--

A gong sounds.

"Cooking time is up, all contestants please stop cooking."

"Now, the judges will score the dishes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Shanren stood up abruptly: "Let's start by scoring based on spiciness!"

"Yes, I agree. Spicy was the last one to be drawn, so it should be the first one to be scored!" Mr. Qingci added.

The two of them had bright eyes and drool at the corners of their mouths, looking extremely impatient.