Chef Hua-Chapter 668: Episode 354: To the Mountains and the Seas

Hua Xiaomai first glanced at the scroll, then turned to look at Wang Zhanrui, only to see him with a puzzled expression, murmuring lowly, "Yellow Lip Jelly, flying dragon."

"Hm?"

She immediately raised her eyebrows involuntarily, "Just these two items?"

Wang Zhanrui looked at her deeply, "That’s right, just these two items—but it seems the focus isn’t really on them, is it?"

The people from the other five eateries had already started murmuring softly among themselves, glancing now and then towards Old Xue, their looks a mix of surprise and bafflement.

Old Xue stood quietly in the open space, waiting for everyone to discuss enough, then couldn’t help but laugh, "I guess, you all are cursing me in your hearts, aren’t you? Such a theme clearly means to trouble people, right?"

Everyone suddenly fell silent, looking at each other, eventually it was Han Fengzhi, laughing heartily, "Ha, we are actually just curious, is there real, genuine Yellow Lip Jelly at this year’s Eight Treasures Conference?"

The Yellow Lip Jelly was indeed the swim bladder of a Yellow Lip Fish, a large fish with an orange-yellow body that lives where fresh and salt water mix; the produced Yellow Lip Jelly is golden and transparent, truly a rare delicacy. It is said that some families even treat it as a family heirloom, passed down through generations.

Such an item, let alone ordinary people, even seasoned chefs rarely see it. To be able to cook with it today was indeed rare.

Speaking of which, that "flying dragon" was also a rare ingredient, famously difficult to capture. Yet today, meeting the Yellow Lip Jelly, it suddenly seemed less significant by comparison.

The reason why it is called the "Eight Treasures Conference" is because every year it features rare ingredients in the dishes, and this year, its true nature was only revealed now.

Old Xue was quite smug, incessantly stroking his beard, calmly saying, "All of you are leaders in the culinary industry of Tong’an City, how could I dare to deceive you with inferior goods? I must confess, this Yellow Lip Jelly is my own private stock, of which there isn’t much. Since my own chef doesn’t dare to handle it, it has been shelved until today. This year’s Eight Treasures Conference is unprecedentedly grand, and all of you are skilled chefs, so giving you the Yellow Lip Jelly, it won’t be wasted. I must apologize in advance, the amount of Yellow Lip Jelly is limited, each eatery only gets five pieces, please make good use of them, and treat them respectfully."

Though these words intended to puff up the six eateries, they also invisibly added significant pressure, like Hua Xiaomai, who now felt as if she was carrying a mountain on her shoulders, suddenly turned her head, only to see Song Jingxi seemingly glancing casually in her direction, then she unapologetically offered a fake smile before immediately turning her back.

"I also know that both the flying dragon and Yellow Lip Jelly are difficult to handle."

Old Xue watched the expressions of everyone intensify, becoming even more pleasant and agreeable, "Therefore, the ingredients for pairing can be freely chosen by everyone, without any restrictions. If you need anything special, feel free to request it from the organizers, except that you can still only bring one item yourself. As for the other dish, I won’t draw lots this time, please just let your creativity flow, and just deliver the two dishes to Chixing Pavilion before noon."

With that, he immediately led the other four judges to Chixing Pavilion, leaving only a few servants in the open space to prevent the eateries from taking extra ingredients and causing disputes.

Hua Xiaomai also had no time to think further, she and Wang Zhanrui quickly walked to the long table, only to see the Yellow Lip Jelly placed in an exquisite box, each piece plump and beautiful, indistinguishable at a glance from one another. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

That was good too, it saved the trouble of having to pick and choose. She casually took five pieces, and also took two flying dragons from a covered basket below the table, smiled back at Wang Zhanrui, then headed straight back to the cooking tent.

Meng Yuhuai had been waiting there for quite a while, and finally seeing his wife return, he began, "What, did Old Master Xue give a hard problem again? Just now I heard someone passing by outside the cooking tent, that grumbling, it was about to reach the skies."

"You also knew he wouldn’t easily let us off."

Hua Xiaomai helplessly spread her hands, then sat down in the chair, simply staring blankly at the flying dragon and Yellow Lip Jelly.

Setting aside other troubles for the moment, the most fatal was that the Yellow Lip Jelly was still an unsoaked dry good! How much time would that alone consume?

Today, she truly experienced what "trapping people" meant; Old Xue was clearly intent on using this opportunity to thoroughly torment these chefs!