Li Han and Uncle Quan, nephew and uncle, were both serving themselves noodles on their plates.
Li Han’s face turned pale.
On the plate was a glittering golden ’noodle braid’; he poked it with his chopsticks and the recoiled dough had an incredible elasticity, feeling like a tightly stretched rubber band.
He glanced over at the expressionless judge.
Then at the smile on the young chief chef’s face, Li Han silently gritted his teeth and muttered, "I want to see how the ’Seven Countries United Fried Noodles’, without a recipe, can surpass the original—"
With that thought, he opened his mouth.
The noodles were suctioned into his mouth, and Li Han gently chewed, his poker face showing a trace of astonishment.
"Elasticity... indeed astonishing!"
"Repeatedly pounding the beef to break its tendons, giving the beef noodles a springy texture similar to beef balls?"
As he pressed down with his teeth, the noodles offered a soft resistance, requiring effort in his cheeks to sever the strands in his mouth, making Li Han’s facial muscles tremble, faintly sensing the calamitous scene that would follow after breaking the noodle.
With resolve, Li Han closed his eyes tightly, and clenched his teeth!
Juices splattered as if a flood had arrived.
In an instant, his mouth swelled up like being filled with water, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, Li Han gulped down the overwhelming creamy juice.
"Ahhh ahhhh ahhh ahhh!"
In his mind, tiny figures were rolling in lava, crying out in both delight and sorrow.
A sensation so extreme it felt as if his skull cap had been blown off.
Li Han’s gaze suddenly became lost, his face turning blank.
The dusk-covered palaces.
On the city wall, the wind howled.
A figure in black garb and wearing an Imperial Crown moved away step by step along the wall.
The sky was filled with a blaze of red clouds, turning the whole world orange.
For some reason, as Li Han watched the back of the emperor moving away, he couldn’t bear to be left behind, and involuntarily shouted, "Hey, wait for me!"
That mysterious figure clad in sunset hues came to a halt.
"Come here yourself..."
The voice echoed ethereally.
"Alright! Wait for me!"
Li Han said, a hint of joy in his eyes, just as he attempted to step forward, but his legs felt as if they were filled with lead, rooted in place, and he nearly lost his balance and fell forward.
After regaining his balance by grabbing onto the wall, he looked up just as the figure resumed walking, and he quickly called out again, "I said wait for me—"
This time, the figure did not respond.
Suddenly, Li Han froze, noticing his uncle, Li Quan, appearing on the path the figure was taking, his face showing a complex expression as he stepped aside to let the emperor pass.
Then more familiar faces emerged.
Uncles and aunts from the Li and Ya Families, and then the older generation, gray-haired old women and men.
These people spanned from the modern era to the early modern era, their clothing styles changing from contemporary to the period of the Republic of China.
Li Han’s eyes widened in shock.
Li Quan glanced back at him and said in a low voice, "This is our ancestor, Ya Kan!"
On the road ahead of the wall, a tall man on the wall, his body covered in ancient bronze armor, watched the palace scenery with his hands on the wall.
The figure wearing black garb and the Imperial Crown paused next to this man.
Upon hearing this, Ya Kan, once one of the ’Five Tiger Stars’ in the world of Chinese cuisine, slowly turned.
"I never imagined that after a century, someone would reach this level."
His voice deep and resolute.
"Ya Kan, my path is different from yours."
A younger voice responded.
Li Han trembled, watching as Ya Kan and the figure turned together, shoulder to shoulder, gradually vanishing into the sunset, unable to help but cry out, "Who exactly are you?!"
The person merely tilted his head slightly.
The Imperial Crown’s beaded curtain swung delicately, revealing a youthful yet divine face.
The uncle and nephew caught a fleeting glimpse but were dumbstruck for a long time.
Had he reached the realm of their ancestor Ya Kan?
Coming back to reality,
it was the silent Hokkaido Shrine Pavilion.
The final competition in Sapporo was still ongoing, Li Han and Li Quan stared blankly at the empty plates, with the residual warmth and flavor of the fried noodles in their mouths, their minds still holding onto the images of Ya Kan and the mysterious figures in Imperial Crowns walking side by side.
"...Do you understand?"
Li Han shook his head slightly, barely concealing the shock in his eyes, meeting Andrea’s profound gaze.
"I think, I understand," Li Han clenched his fist.
"Our ancestor Ya Kan, actually expressed himself directly through the ’Seven Countries United Fried Noodles’ recipe; he is like King Qin sweeping across the world, embodying that emperor..."
Swallowing hard, Li Han confirmed decisively, "And I, am merely painting with a brush, describing the legend from an outsider’s perspective."
Andrea clapped, "Holding a brush? That’s a fine comparison. It’s always much easier to paint others than to paint oneself, as it’s often difficult to see oneself clearly."
"Food’s Profound Meaning!"
That was all Sta had to say.
Li Han lowered his head.
"Food’s Profound Meaning?"
White Jade Tower Team’s chefs looked at each other in alarm.
As one of the tasters, Li Quan just shook his head and returned to his seat, muttering under his breath, "Youth to be feared, youth to be feared indeed..."
A spirit of solitude towering above the peaks!
In the midst of the turmoil, Li Han suddenly turned his head and stared at Xia Yu, struggling to ask, "...Has your ’Bursting Flame’ truly reached the realm of our ancestor Ya Kan?"
Xia Yu ignored him, simply shrugged and said casually, "What I wanted to say is all in the dish."
Li Han gasped for breath, the image of a figure walking away under a fiery sky reappeared in his mind; he could only shout from behind and watch helplessly as his figure was left further and further behind, eventually losing sight of the other completely.
Seeing this, the two female hosts exchanged glances.
"Alright, the tasting segment is over, and now we move to the voting segment—"
Chiyoda Aichi announced.
The big screen above the venue suddenly displayed the voting screen, showing Xia Yu and Li Han’s profiles, both with zero votes.
"What a pity, perfect ’color,’ ’aroma,’ ’taste’!"
Andrea was the first to vote, her hand slapping down on the voting device.
"No matter how perfect, it can’t compete with the ’meaning’ of cooking!"
Sta stated gravely, casting his vote next.
"Yes, the ’meaning’ of cooking!"
The third to vote was unexpectedly the Chief Judge Kogawa Shinyiro, who spoke with a complex tone, "Color, aroma, taste, shape, meaning, nourishment."
"Perfect in color, aroma, and taste means haute cuisine; beyond that are the ’meaning’ and ’nourishment’ that only a Lin Chef can meticulously describe," he paused before continuing, "the so-called ’meaning’ of cooking transcends color and shape, specifically referring to the atmosphere, mood, and cultural essence of the cuisine—essentially the focal point of a Lin Chef’s ’Food’s Profound Meaning.’"
Kogawa Shinyiro passed the topic to the next judge.
IGO research authority Luther laughed and said, "Food nourishes. All life evolves and grows through eating. The evolution of life is inseparable from ’food.’ In the superior realm of the Qilin, ’nourishment’ mainly refers to those taboo dishes beneficial to the human body."
Many in the audience, including professional chefs, were hearing about ’meaning’ and ’nourishment’ for the first time in connection with the Qilin domain.
In fact, many people had also picked up on the subtle hints of the judges.
Perfect color, aroma, and taste.
Overpowered by ’meaning’!
Wasn’t this saying that Li Han’s ’Seven Countries United Fried Noodles’ had been crushed by a higher-tier ’Food’s Profound Meaning’?
Thinking this, many incredulous eyes once again focused on the young head chef.
"Food’s Profound Meaning?"
"No way! How old is he to have grasped the ’Food’s Profound Meaning’?"
"Nothing is impossible! Back then, Liu Maoxing and Lan Feihong of that exceptional generation were either at Lin level or already Imperial Chefs in the royal palace at that age!"