Witch Special

Chapter 221: Cooking Competition: Witches Are Magical Girls Too

After reporting the words, the host clapped his hands in white gloves and added some vivid dubbing. His funny look made people laugh.

At the same time, a large amount of white mist suddenly spurted out from one side of the stage. It should be something like dry ice, which made half of the stage full of white smoke. Then a middle-aged man wearing a tall white chef's hat and glasses, who looked gentle and a little fat, walked out of the white smoke.

He walked to the host's side, to the center of the stage, and waved to the audience in the auditorium, bowing several times in different directions, with a constant smile on his face. Because of the upward curve of his mouth, even the two deliberately grown mustaches on his upper lip were almost horizontal.

Apart from anything else, at least in terms of respecting the audience and winning their favor, the defending chef has done a great job.

After all, the second stage of the challenge required audience ratings. These audience members were randomly picked from the nearby streets. They could hardly tell the quality of the top chefs' cooking, and they would just say "delicious". At this time, a good impression score was crucial.

After the bow, the host started chatting with Tang Niu, asking some meaningless questions, such as whether he had confidence, etc., basically a wave of commercial praise. This is the benefit of the champion. As long as you win, you will have a lot of opportunities to promote yourself, which is very tempting for both the chef himself and the restaurant he belongs to.

After completing this routine operation of advertising himself and his boss, Tang Niu walked happily towards his stove area, where four beautiful cheongsam women with unique characteristics had been waiting for him. They were standing behind the stove, and when they saw Tang Niu coming, they all smiled like flowers.

"What do those women do?" Lin Zhenxi nudged her best friend with her elbow and asked in a low voice.

Isn’t this a cooking competition? Why is there a mistress?

"Those are waiters who will help serve the dishes later. With those four waiters, Tang Niu can serve the dishes he prepared to the four guests at the same time, without any order. And those are the waiters of the 'Big Joy' restaurant who serve Tang Niu specifically." Yan Qing answered in a low voice.

She was so focused on watching the stage that she forgot about her habit of speaking.

"Is that even possible? That's a bit tricky." There were exactly four guests in the guest booth, which matched the number of waiters. Serving the dishes to all guests simultaneously eliminated the issue of who was served first and who was served later, and avoided the situation where pleasing one guest would offend the other three.

Victory always comes to those who are prepared. Everyone is a signature chef at their own restaurant, so even if there's a difference in skill, it's probably not that far off. Instead of focusing on culinary skills that won't improve in a short period of time, it's better to focus on these superficial techniques; they might actually yield some surprising results.

As Chef Tang Niu, the defending chef, took his place, the host, Teacher Mee Mee, began introducing today's challenger. He stood on one foot, raised his hind leg high, and stretched forward, forming a "D" shape with his body, pointing toward the entrance in the opposite direction. He shouted in his incredibly loud voice, which could be heard by the entire audience even without a speaker.

"Let's welcome today's challenger! The chef from Xinju Xialou, a rising star who specializes in making fantastic food, Liu Angxing!!!"

The white mist made of dry ice once again filled the stage, and a young man who looked young but very energetic stepped through the smoke and walked onto the stage.

His "spirit" mainly comes from the red headband tied on his forehead.

"No way! So young?" Lin Zhenxi exclaimed softly. The dishes they had just ordered must have been made by this young man wearing a white shirt with a red waistcoat over it.

By the way, shouldn’t the owner of this restaurant be a handsome middle-aged uncle? Why does the chef who came out now seem younger than her?

Like doctors, chefs rely on experience, and youth means inexperience. Logically, a chef's peak age is around forty, when experience reaches its peak and physical condition hasn't begun to decline. This is exactly Tang Niu's current state. As for Liu Angxing across from him, judging by his appearance alone, he'd probably be considered young to be a kitchen helper in any other regular restaurant, and would have to start by learning as a waiter.

Picking such a young chef to compete against Tang Niu, who has been winning for several days in a row, isn't this really just to help Tang Niu improve his record? Is there some shady deal going on?

Liu Angxing's adaptability to the stage was far lower than Tang Niu's. He was a little at a loss when facing the microphone handed to him by Teacher Mimi. He hesitated for a long time before saying a word of thanks, and his ears turned red.

However, appearance is justice. Compared with the pot-bellied Tang Niu, the handsome young man Liu Angxing is obviously more likely to attract the favor of female fans. Now it is working hours, and among the people who can be seen strolling on the street, women do account for a larger proportion, so the applause for Liu Angxing in the audience is actually not much less than that for Tang Niu.

After Liu Angxing finished his speech, he handed the microphone back to Teacher Mimi and trotted over to his own station. The older woman with long, rosy-red curly hair who had served Lin Zhenxi and the others was already waiting there, but there was no one else there. Regarding the waiters' preparation, Liu Angxing was also at an overwhelming disadvantage.

With the entrance of the two contestants, Teacher Mee Mee continued to roll her tongue and use a rolling tongue sound to introduce today's competition. Of course, it was still the old-fashioned competition system, which was to decide the winner in three rounds. The first two rounds were scored by the guests and the audience respectively, and the last and most crucial round was left to the chefs to decide for themselves, which was the ultimate showdown.

Then came a series of terrifying advertising sponsor announcements without a breath or pause. After taking a deep breath, Teacher Mee Mee started talking about a long string of advertisements. It was like a magic sound that was poured into your brain, coupled with Teacher Mee Mee's exaggerated facial expressions. In short, it was very magical.

"Has this person...always been like this?"

"Yeah, I heard he used to be a teacher, but the students didn't listen carefully in class. They all looked at him and laughed. So he later switched to being a host and became very successful, meow."

"After all, he really has a talent for acting." Lin Zhenxi sighed sincerely as he looked at the host on the stage who had been spouting lines for dozens of seconds without a single pause.

There are top talents in all 360 professions. As long as you find your own stage, everyone can be the protagonist of his or her own profession.

After reading a long string of speeches without blushing or breathing heavily, the host began to announce today's theme.

"Tofu!"

Since today is September 15th, also known as Tofu Culture Day in China, tofu is naturally the theme of the day. The first dish of the day is tofu-based delicacies.

As the topic was announced, several rows of cabinets for storing food materials rose from under the stage. Inside, there were a wide variety of ingredients that might be used, including frozen and refrigerated fresh fruits and vegetables, and even living things.

Another interesting aspect of the MasterChef Challenge is that both teams are not allowed to use the same ingredient as the main ingredient, and each ingredient is only available in one portion. Therefore, as the competition progresses, the requirements for preparing food that meets the standards become higher, and naturally, the chef's knowledge reserves are further tested.

As a challenger, Liu Angxing was entitled to preferential treatment and was allowed priority in selection.

The competition on stage officially began, but Yan Qing was a little restless because she came up with a good idea.

"Maki Maki, how about we go help too, nya?"

"Huh?" Lin Zhenxi had no idea what was going on in her best friend's mind.

"Look, the fat chef over there has four waiters behind him, but we only have one handsome boy here. This is unfair, right, meow." Yan Qing said, pointing at the big sister with rose-red hair behind Liu Angxing.

"You have already chosen your side." Lin Zhenxi lowered his eyelids (﹁"﹁) and looked at Yan Qing.

She felt that Yan Qing seemed to have set her sights on her, because Yan Qing was now looking at her intently.

"Hehehe~ Of course, that handsome boy gave us such delicious food, we have to help him, don't we, meow."

"Go ahead, you're wearing a cheongsam anyway, so it won't be awkward for you to go on stage." Whether it was coincidence or just a common Chinese dining convention, the waitresses serving food at both Tang Niu's and Liu Angxing's tables were all wearing cheongsams. The cheongsams perfectly accentuated the girls' curves, adding another beautiful touch to the culinary showdown.

Yan Qing's hand firmly grasped Lin Zhenxi's arm, conveying her unshakable will to Lin Zhenxi.

"Maki, come along, nya."

"No, no, this outfit doesn't suit the stage at all. I'll just ruin the place if I go up there. If you want to go, go ahead. Don't drag me along." Lin Zhenxi shook his head like a rattle.

"Is it just because of the clothing issue?" Yan Qing suddenly let go of Lin Zhenxi, looking as if she had a plan.

Lin Zhenxi's bad feeling became stronger and stronger, because she found that Black Cat seemed to have stood on Yan Qing's side for some reason.

"Yanyan, what are you doing!"

"Maki, meow, it's time for you to change up your outfit. I've seen you wearing this for years, meow."

"Please! Take care! (o'ne'gai')" Yan Qing clapped her hands three times in a row towards the black cat that was floating in the air and stretching its body, and prayed to the black cat in a very pious tone.

The next moment, Lin Zhenxi's body burst into light, and the everyday clothes she was wearing began to dissolve under the cover of the holy light.