Xia Yu practiced the recipe "Heavenly Hero Grilled Bluefish" in the Chef God Space.
Outside the classroom, a group of Far Moon students each used their methods to obtain fresh aquatic products from Lake Ashi.
After leaving, the cousin duo Tiqie Helinai and Tiqie Ailisha almost simultaneously walked briskly out of the hotel and took out their phones to make a call. Soon, two black cars stopped at the entrance.
Getting in the car and closing the door, Tiqie Helinai said to the female driver, "To the Taoyuan Platform pier market!"
Taoyuan Platform was one of the only two towns in the Lake Ashi area, and it had a small aquatic market. To be honest, Tiqie Helinai was so familiar with this area because she had been here and stayed for a while.
After all, Hakone was one of the top tourist destinations in Neon, with many hotel properties owned by Far Moon. Since childhood, Tiqie Helinai had been a professional taster because of her "Divine Tongue," traveling between the hotels under Far Moon, stopping to taste dishes.
Her background was her natural advantage.
The "Divine Tongue" further gave her a head start.
"The time limit for the task is 2 hours. Traveling back and forth by car will consume half an hour. Choosing live fish and shrimp at the market must not exceed half an hour, or less than an hour for cooking will be too rushed," Tiqie Helinai thought.
She did not worry about breaking any rules.
Xia Yu’s recent words were still crystal clear in her mind.
As long as one used any method to obtain freshwater fish from Lake Ashi and cooked it into a dish with the theme of "Spring’s Seasonal," the task’s requirements were met.
Going to the local pier at Lake Ashi to buy ingredients was simple and direct!
As for whether Xia Yu would give her a "passing" evaluation, Tiqie Helinai never considered this foolish question.
A car was following behind. Helinai glanced back, her pretty face slightly darkening in displeasure.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, when the car stopped outside the Taoyuan Platform pier, her silver-haired cousin, Tiqie Ailisha, got out of the car as well.
"Are you following me?" Tiqie Helinai said unhappily.
"How could I follow you..." Tiqie Ailisha, surprised, then lightly laughed, "Helinai, no matter what, we seem to be course partners!"
She said that with a laugh, glanced at her cousin, and quickly walked into the market. "Helinai, if you’re slower, by the time the other students arrive, the fresh freshwater fish will be snatched up!"
The task assignment was important.
Hmph. Tiqie Helinai chose a completely different path, parting ways with Tiqie Ailisha, searching for usable ingredients in the market.
"Yashan, wait for me!"
At the hotel, a girl with long black hair and a charming appearance was catching up breathlessly behind Yashan Liang, holding a small water bucket in her hand and carrying a heavy fishing gear bag over her shoulder.
Yashan Liang didn’t turn his head and said indifferently, "Kojima, I hope you realize that although we are course partners, we are also competitors. If you drag the team down, I won’t hesitate to kick you out and complete the dish myself—"
The girl was very dissatisfied but dared not complain loudly.
This residential workshop followed the grouping in Professor Roland Chapele’s course, which meant that this girl named Kojima had been Yashan Liang’s classroom partner since the semester began. So Kojima was very familiar with Yashan Liang’s temperament.
A boy obsessed only with spices and cooking.
His personal cooking skills were outstanding, but he was indifferent to girls, a loner.
It seemed he had a serious Oedipus complex.
No, that woman was Professor Xijian Run, just his adoptive mother, with no blood relation, right?
Kojima only dared to complain internally.
By the time they reached the shore of Lake Ashi, many students had already borrowed fishing gear from the hotel warehouse and occupied good fishing spots. Yashan Liang, with a cold expression, found a spot, dropped his backpack, and skillfully assembled the fishing gear into a rod.
Opening a plastic bait jar, Yashan Liang reached in, pinched a bit of bait, and brought it close to his nose for a light sniff. He nodded, "Wheat, soybeans, shrimp powder, potato starch, plus other animal proteins like scallops and snail meat... very standard bait, usable!"
The bait was also provided by the hotel warehouse. After confirming it could be used with a sniff, Yashan Liang attached a lump of bait onto the shiny hook, located the right spot, and cast his line before turning to look at his partner.
His eyebrows twitched.
As expected, his partner didn’t even know how to use the fishing rod. Yashan Liang could only go over, assemble the second fishing rod, and prepare to operate them both.
While baiting, Kojima suddenly pointed at the rippling lake surface not far away and exclaimed, "A fish is biting the bait!"
Yashan Liang immediately turned around and closely watched the float in the water.
Two or three seconds later, Yashan Liang calmly lifted the fishing rod, and sure enough, a fish was hooked on the other end of the silken line.
Putting the fish in the net, which was already filled with water, he released the fish into the bucket, glanced at it, and showed a hint of regret, "The back is dark gray, the belly silvery gray, head like a carp, and the stomach swollen... it’s Crucian Carp!"
Kojima came over, eyes gleaming, "Yashan, this fish is very plump, at least 250 grams, very rare. We have the main ingredient for cooking!"
"In spring, Crucian Carp eat constantly day and night, so it’s quite normal for them to be plump!" Yashan Liang replied.
"Should we head back?" Kojima suggested, "The 2-hour cooking time is tight!"
"Give me another 20 minutes!"
Yashan Liang calmly said, squatting down, replacing the hook on the newly assembled rod. He also changed the bait to one mixed with a poultry offal stench, "Lake Ashi also has other freshwater fish like trout and rainbow trout."
"If we can catch these two kinds of fish..." Yashan Liang suddenly gripped the rod tightly, a glint of determination in his eyes.
Achieving a "passing" grade wasn’t his pursuit.
As a super genius with god-level talent, Yashan Liang wanted to use his cooking to impress and challenge the youngest guest lecturer of Far Moon.
Even if the lecturer was powerful, having defeated the Ten Outstanding Chief, since they met this time, Yashan Liang’s pride told him that no matter what, he had to use a chef’s method—that is, cooking—to make that guy realize that Far Moon’s geniuses weren’t just the current Ten Outstanding, but also him—"Divine Nose" Yashan Liang!
"Trout, rainbow trout?"
Kojima was shocked, roughly understanding what dish Yashan Liang wanted to prepare.
Polar Star Dormitory member Shen Liangzi was also fishing by the lake.
Shen Liangzi, skilled in salt fermentation cooking, was already contemplating how to use fermented ingredients and seasonings to create the "Spring’s Seasonal" flavor while fishing.