Four hundred and fiftieth chapters fell to the ground
Yes, all your wishes come true... No matter how happy and confused Chef Song was, at the end of the preliminary round, the extra question was the same as most people's, and he only got two points as a consolation prize.
I was able to make it into the ten-man roster. Even though I was only at the bottom of the list and finished tenth, at least I entered the semi-finals.
What he didn't even expect was that when the big list was announced and some people were happy and some were sad, a young eunuch came over in a hurry, looked up and down, left and right, and stared at him for a long time.
, and then he bowed his hands seriously.
"It's Chef Song, right? Princess, please go up to the third floor to talk."
At this moment, Chef Song felt that the gazes of the other chefs around him were like knives, piercing his body hard - the feeling of being stabbed by a thousand knives really made him suffer from lack of sleep in the past few days.
They all woke up instantly. If it were a person with an unruly temperament, he would have looked left and right at this time and then said harsh words, but let's leave it to him...
He scratched his head uneasily, and then scratched his shoulders, as if he was itching all over his body. When he saw the little eunuch looking at him with a strange face, he stood up straight in a hurry, and then pointed at himself in confusion.
The nose asked: "Summon me? Princess? But there are so many chefs today, and I am ranked tenth for the first time. How could the princess..."
As soon as these words came out, the hostile chefs wanted to catch Chef Song and stab him. What does it mean to be the tenth genius? You have already been promoted, okay? What's more, there are still more than thirty
I'm hanging on behind you, bastard!
The little eunuch was also startled by Chef Song's tone, but he was obviously different from those people in the play who were arrogant and rude outside. As a new generation of five good eunuchs trained by Chu Kuan, he was only slightly
After being stunned for a moment, he said with a smile: "Yes, the princess and Miss Zhu are deeply impressed by your sweets, Chef Song. Just now, Master Six said a lot of good things about you."
"Originally, I wanted to announce you to the position before, but doing it before there was any result would have a feeling of imperial approval. Miss Zhu even said that if you fail to become the imperial chef, I will invite you back to Zhao Guogong's mansion later, so
Now that you are still among the top ten after being judged by so many people, it won't matter if the princess summons you again."
If a lot of people were envious, jealous, and resentful of Chef Song before, then at this moment when they heard the little eunuch's warm words and smiles, those negative emotions suddenly turned into silence.
If this little-known chef who came out of a small restaurant suddenly qualified for the preliminary round, and then was "lucky" to be included in the future semi-finals, and they still had the confidence to pull some tricks behind the scenes, then
, after hearing that the princess favored the fiery-tempered Miss Zhu who also liked the taste of the food, most people stopped.
If you offend Princess Yongping, the consequences may still be unknown; but if you offend Zhu Ying, it is already obvious that some people are unlucky!
Chef Song was stunned for a long time, and finally after the little eunuch made a gesture of invitation, he followed the people away with an unnatural expression. By the time he entered the Xinglong Tea House, the public judges who had been invited to the first floor had already
They all dispersed. He didn't even know that although these people were just judging the dim sum, most of them were full after more than thirty courses of boring dim sum.
When he got to the second floor, he noticed that a large number of rich and well-dressed people were looking towards him. However, before he could see them clearly, he was already surrounded by the little man who was leading the way.
The eunuch urged him to go up to the third floor.
For a moment, he didn't even know who was sitting on the second floor.
And before he could even finish walking half of the stairs from the second floor to the third floor, he saw the person sticking his head out from the stair railing. He could not help but be stunned when he saw clearly that it was the strange guy who had come and gone without a trace before.
He was stunned for a moment. In this shock, he almost lost his footing and fell directly onto the stairs. Fortunately, the little eunuch who led him had ears and eyes in all directions and grabbed him.
Immediately afterwards, he felt another strong hand suddenly grab him, and then dragged him upstairs. This is really no exaggeration, he didn't even feel that his feet touched the ground, he was flying like this
After climbing the last half of the floor, when he finally stood firm, he was so shocked that he couldn't help but stare at Ah Liu's face again for a while, and then rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
And ever since he saw this person, Zhang Shou had been quietly observing this chef who actually knew about cassava flour, and even knew how to make taro balls with sweet potatoes when he saw them for the first time.
But after observing for a while, he couldn't draw a conclusion. Because Ah Liu quietly described Chef Song's reaction to him just after he came back, and he felt that if this person wasn't a fool without much scheming,
He must be a guy with such a deep and unpredictable mind. At first glance, although he thought he looked more like a fool, he couldn't be sure.
Ah Liu didn't care what Chef Song was wondering about, and directly dragged him in front of Zhang Shou - of course in front of Princess Yongping and Zhu Ying. Then he pointed at the other person's face and said: "This person is just like this, a bit stupid.
of."
When Ge Yong heard Ah Liu seriously saying that others were stupid, he couldn't help but spit out a sip of tea while he was drinking tea. Qi Jingshan, who was sitting opposite him, hid extremely quickly. It was really a dodge, like more than 20 people.
For ordinary young people, Zhang Chuan, the Duke of Qin at the table further behind, reacted more slowly. Thanks to Zhang Kang, the Bo of Weinan, he was able to pull him up and avoid the aftermath.
However, Mrs. Ge did not care about losing her composure and looked straight at this strange Chef Song.
Sure enough, the next moment, he saw someone hurriedly bowing and saluting, but if Ah Liu hadn't suddenly dragged the person back, the person's head would have almost hit the edge of the table! That's not all, this person woke up
After that, I kept explaining.
"Princess, forgive me, everyone, forgive me... I didn't sleep all night last night, I was all excited!"
Even Princess Yongping, who had always been putting on airs, couldn't help but be amused by this series of actions after coming up. However, after all, she was still smiling without showing her teeth. At this time, she just smiled and said: "Song
The chef is so good at his craftsmanship. He caught up after falling behind in an extra question in today's preliminary round and ranked among the top ten. How can he be excited about participating?"
"Ahem... I just went to Mr. Lu San to sign up for a try. He just gave me a reply the day before yesterday. I didn't expect to be here today. So, in fact, I didn't sleep for one day, but two days...
"
As he spoke, Chef Song stretched out two fingers and shook them. Then he couldn't help but want to yawn, and finally stopped it. He then whispered embarrassedly: "Actually, I hid it from my family.
I found a small restaurant and put my name on it, so I could come here as a chef. When the shopkeeper first looked at me, he looked at me as if he were a monster. I gave him two dollars, and he agreed."
Seeing Princess Yongping's smile suddenly froze, Chu Kuan smiled and said: "Princess, Lu Sanlang only tastes the dishes to see if people have enough cooking skills to submit for the preliminary round. As for examining the background of these chefs, there are other matters.
People do it.”
Although he didn't say it clearly, everyone here was a smart person and could all guess that the royal servants under the Supervisor of Ceremonies had naturally already done this quietly. Zhu Jing, the Duke of Zhao, disapproved of this, and Zhang Chuan, the Duke of Qin, frowned.
Weinan Bo Zhang Kang frowned slightly, but the three elders Ge Yong, Chu Ying and Qi Jingshan knew that Chu Kuan knew the true identity of the person, so they just laughed.
Old Xianyu, who was just making up the numbers, glanced at the three big and one small monks who were looking at Chef Song curiously. He thought that he shouldn't think too much about such a big shot and just watch the fun. But even if
Even so, he was still very curious about Chef Song's true identity.
In view of his previous worries and now being summoned by the princess, Chef Song thought about it all the way and decided to confess. At this time, in full view of everyone, he scratched his neck again, as if he felt itchy, and his voice became quieter.
He said something like: "I'm not a suspicious person, and I don't have any other ideas. I just think that this kind of royal chef selection competition is very interesting and fun."
"So, I boldly gave it a try. I didn't expect to advance. Actually, I'm not a cook. My family is a maritime merchant in Guangdong. Well... ahem, I'm a civil servant. I got sick in the last class and didn't make it this time.
I was forced by my family to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination."
Except for Chu Kuan, who had already seen the resume of the chef candidate for today's election and had already seen it investigated by the imperial servants, and knew the names of the people, everyone else was almost without exception extremely surprised at this time.
Even for ordinary people, being a cook is a good career. Even if it's a bit pyrotechnic, you can still make money.
But Youdao is a gentleman who is a chef far away. This Song Juren was forced by his family to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination. It doesn't matter if he doesn't prepare well for the exam. He actually went to this imperial chef selection competition to test for the imperial chef? This guy is not afraid of angering his elders in the family later.
Come out for good or bad?
Even Zhang Shou, who felt that he had some foodies in common with Chef Song, now should be said to be Song Juren, felt dumbfounded at the moment. In the silence where his eyes dropped, he coughed and asked
"Mr. Song, if Princess Yongping didn't think of summoning you today, would you just plan to fish in troubled waters and persist until the end?"
"This..." Song Juren's eyes suddenly rolled around, but when he found Princess Yongping glaring at him with a somewhat stern look, he, who was already feeling guilty, could only lower his head and say honestly, "Actually, I have loved sweets since I was a child.
, so if you make sweets well, you can only fool around with other soups and dishes. I learned how to carve seals with radishes out of interest when I was a child."
As he spoke, he scratched his head again and muttered in a low voice: "I think I'm lucky to have passed the preliminary round. It's impossible for me to continue all the way. Anyway, with this reputation, if I fail to pass the Jinshi exam, I might still be able to do it in the future.
Being able to open a candy shop will put my skills to use. We have candy shops everywhere in Guangdong, but there are none here in the capital, which is really a pity."
This time, there were even more people who fell down. Princess Yongping, who couldn't bear it at all, even slapped the table in anger.
"Are you promising? Han Chuang has been studying hard for so many years. Is it possible that your ambition is so low?"
"It's not like I wanted to study for the imperial examination, it was my family who forced me to do so!"
Song Juren finally couldn't help it this time. He raised his head and argued unconvincingly: "In life, eating and drinking are the two words. I heard that this was what Emperor Taizu said! I have already passed the Juren examination and can be exempted from part of the tax. I am worthy of it.
My family has trained me for so many years, so why waste time taking the Jinshi exam that I am sure I will fail?"
As he spoke, he pointed at his nose and said confidently: "Besides, if a person like me becomes an official, the people of Li will suffer terribly! In addition to memorizing certain sages' books, I can also figure out a lot of ingredients.
I don’t know how to cook and eat, and I don’t know anything about money, grain taxes, criminal names, laws and regulations, farmland water conservancy... I don’t want to be dismissed from office and go back to my hometown to make a living!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
It wasn't until this moment that Ge Yong, who had just laughed once, laughed again. He tapped the table lightly with his fingers, and when everyone looked at him, he said with a smile: "They all say that there are skills in the art.
Specialized, but after so many years, this is the first time I have seen someone who can persist in this job that the world thinks is not a serious job. Compared with you, Zhang Shou, a foodie, is not qualified!"
Zhu Ying almost burst into laughter when she saw Song Juren knocking Princess Yongping so hard that her face turned pale.
At this moment, she managed to straighten up while holding her belly, and then said seriously: "Mr. Song, it will be fruitless if you and Princess Yongping argue about this. Don't look at how she was fighting with me just now.
You are full of praise for those sweets you made, but she is a person who only thinks that everything is inferior, only reading is good!"
Princess Yongping was so angry that she forgot her manners, slapped the armrest heavily and stood up suddenly: "Zhu Ying, what did you say!"
"Am I wrong? Just look at your Yuehua Lou Literary Club and you will know... The Literary Society and Poetry Club is for reciting poems, composing poems, and discussing current affairs. How can any literary club actually gather a bunch of eight-part essay anthologists every month?
What kind of craftsmanship are you criticizing there?"
Zhu Yingcai was not afraid of Princess Yongping getting angry, she raised her brows and started tit-for-tat. Seeing that the man's face was red and speechless due to being choked by her, she smiled and looked at Song Juren who was stunned by the argument.
"Mr. Song, since you said it yourself, you only know how to make sweets and are not very good at other dishes and soups. It is estimated that if you still want to break through to the semi-finals, it is really impossible. And what if your family members find out that you
If you act like this, you might be kicked out of your home. Most of the scholarly families in the world have such a virtue, as if people have no other way out if they don't take the imperial examination."
Seeing that Song Juren had a guilty look on his face, she glanced at Zhang Shou. He nodded slightly to her, as if he knew what she was thinking, and the eldest lady immediately became even happier.
"That's the case, I'll give you two choices. First, if you want, you can go to Ashou's Zhangyuan to study. Don't frown. After all, you went to Beijing to prepare for the exam with your family expenses. Is it possible that you will end up in the same place?
Don’t you have the courage to give it a try? If you feel bad about it, just let me live here for free, as long as you have time to go to the kitchen and make some sweets!”
Seeing that Chef Song was noncommittal, Zhu Ying smiled again and said, "As for the second option, it's very simple. If you're not afraid of your family falling out with you, we can go to Xinglong Tea House and A Shou and I will pay for it.
You can just open a candy shop."
In an instant, Song Juren's face lit up with a look of ecstasy, and he shouted without hesitation: "I choose the second one!"