Liuxiang

The weather in Lixia this year is exceptionally good, only two days have passed, the dark clouds shrouded in the sky have gradually dissipated, the sun has reappeared, among the surging white clouds, golden light pours down from the sky like water.

The official competition of the Kitchen King Competition will be held in the capital in June, but before the official competition, there will be a nationwide qualifier, which will be held on the first weekend after Lixia.

Beginning in April, from the capital to the provinces and cities below the capital, the local chef associations have been busy as early as half a month ago, confirming the list of applicants, contacting venue rental, confirming exam questions, being responsible for fire safety, etc., etc., etc. Things were finalized one by one, and the four-year top domestic chef event officially kicked off.

The No. [-] Gymnasium, which can accommodate thousands of people, is the special venue for this year's capital chef competition qualifiers.

Looking down from the top, the stove follows the stove, twisting and turning like a long snake circling into a maze. Every chef has his own stove, on which are placed all the tools needed for this assessment , when the chefs outside the waiting venue entered the venue together with the judges, they quickly found the stoves with their own number plates, and at a glance saw the half-meter-long and wide stoves placed on each stove. Square water tofu.

The low voices of the chefs were heard at the scene.

Yi Baitang was standing among the chefs.

In Yi Baitang's eyes, this kind of non-competitive qualifiers is no different than going out to a supermarket. He came to the scene alone without notifying anyone, and stood in his place with an indifferent face, looking at the judges. They were divided into eight groups and came to the competition area to prepare for the pre-match inspection... Among them was a young man with a particularly tall figure and stylish clothes. The back of a young man who was turning his head to talk with others caught Yi Baitang's attention.

Yi Baitang was a little suspicious: This figure from the back seems a little familiar...

At this time, the man turned his head, his lips were slightly raised, the corners of his eyes were raised, and he was full of flair when he smiled slightly, he was indeed Shang Huaiyan!

Shang Huaiyan blinked at Yi Baitang from a distance.

Previously, he spent some effort to obtain the formal qualification of a Chef Association, and then spent some effort to become a selected judge in the Chef Association, with only one purpose...

He walked slowly, all the way to the middle of the inspection line that belonged to him, before stopping at Yi Baitang's position, he picked up the competition card with the contestant's photo on it, rubbed the cheek of the person in the photo with his thumb, and took the photo After comparing the appearance in Li with the appearance of the person in front of him, he said slowly: "I think there is no problem with this contestant whose surname is Yi and whose name is Baitang..."

Yi Baitang glanced at Shang Huaiyan.

He pressed down and saw Shang Huaiyan's shock, and thought calmly: What does the little sapling want to do?

Shang Huaiyan came into contact with this radiant eye wave.He put down the entry card, raised his hand suddenly, and pinched Yi Baitang's collar.

Yi Baitang's neck tilted back unconsciously.

Shang Huaiyan was intimate and restrained.He straightened Yi Baitang's collar, and buttoned the top button properly, before saying, "It's just one button missing."

After speaking, he looked at Yi Baitang again, with a smile streaming from the corners of his lips and eyes, and asked silently like a fox: Are you satisfied with this meeting?

After 15 minutes, the on-site inspection was completed, and no accident occurred.The main judge rang the bell and announced the preliminary assessment items: "The qualifiers for the Chef King Competition have officially started! The assessment item for this competition is "Tofu Sculpture". The time limit is one hour, and the competition begins now——"

The competition had already started, but Yi Baitang didn't immediately set his eyes on the large tofu on the plate.

He immediately fixed his eyes on Shang Huaiyan.

The little sapling seems to be in a good mood today.

You must be in a good mood because you successfully teased me.

accurate.

Little Sapling teased me at the competition site, and I will also tease me back at the competition site.

So how can it be done...

Yi Baitang stared at the tofu in front of him, and fell into deep thought in the simplest qualifier for the chef king.

A gigantic timer hung above the stadium ticked the time silently.

After a full 10 minutes, Yi Baitang decided what he wanted to carve this time.

Although it is a bit simple and a bit common, it is good to use.

He confidently picked up the kitchen knife, and cut the whole block of tofu obliquely from the upper right to the lower left, and divided the remaining part into four areas from left to right, from small to large.

The tofu on the far left is carved first.

Yi Baitang didn't even change his knives, and with just a few knives, he had already carved out the shape of a sapling.

This sapling is no more than finger height, and the crown of the tree is connected into one piece. From a distance, it seems that it has not fully opened, or it seems to be shrouded in clouds and mist, so it is blurry and cannot be seen clearly.

Yi Baitang came to the second piece of tofu.

This time, he carved a little more carefully.

The clumsy kitchen knife in his hand is as dexterous as an extension of a finger, and as the shape becomes more and more distinct, it gradually becomes like a butterfly flying and circling on the treetop, free and easy.

Another tree took shape.

This tree is about one-third taller than the first tree, and has grown to about half the height of a palm. rustling sound.

The crown, roots, leaves, and even the rough skin and hollows of the tree are all visible under the dancing knife tip. A small tree has come to life so far, but Yi Baitang did not stop his movements. He took a step back, inspected the small tree quickly, and quickly handed over the kitchen knife to his left hand, and used his left hand to carve at the burl on the left back side of the trunk.

In the blink of an eye, the tree tumor turned into an insect crouching on the trunk.

The insect's upper body was hidden among the leaves, with only two wings poking out of the tree trunk, facing the light in the gymnasium, faintly translucent.

Only two uncarved tofu cubes remained.

Yi Baitang followed the same pattern and carved the third tree into a taller, thinner tree with scattered leaves and a trunk that was eaten by moths. When he was carving this tree, his gaze had already turned to the first tree. On top of four cubes of tofu...

Yi Baitang looked at the tofu cubes.

Others looked at Yi Baitang.

At the judges' table, all the judges were condescending, and they had a panoramic view of the whole scene.

The qualifiers test the basic knife skills of the chefs on the surface, and also test the chefs' ability to arrange the dishes secretly, but even if there is such an implicit meaning, there is nothing particularly difficult in the middle.According to the convention, as long as the on-site chef can carve the tofu in the fine parts and have creative ideas such as "ants climbing the tree" in the plate arrangement, it is enough to pass the qualifiers.

The judges saw that about three-quarters of the people began to carve flowers with tofu, and the remaining one-quarter used tofu to carve other things: such as birthday cakes, pavilions, towers, and animals.

"The overall quality of the players this year is not bad."

"No. 70 and No. [-] seem to be carving a garden. In an hour's time, there are not many contestants who dare to choose such a complicated look."

"It's not just that. When you carve a pavilion with tofu, you need to carefully consider the load-bearing issue."

"Don't just pay attention to this contestant, contestant No. 23 is carving a dragon, and has already started carving the scales on the dragon's body!"

"Speaking of tofu carving dragons, I think of an interesting story in the kitchen." A judge on the rostrum suddenly laughed, "Carving dragons and bones is easy, but it is difficult to touch the claws and beards. We are talking about tofu carving dragons. The body and dragon scales are easy, but tofu is soft, so it is not easy to carve out the mighty claws of dragons and tigers and the thin beard of dragons. Especially the beards, few chefs in the world can really carve them out. Don't you think so?"

The judges asked politely about themselves.The judges on the right laughed and nodded frequently.But Shang Huaiyan sitting on the left was not so cooperative. He didn't care about carving pavilions, nor caring about carving dragons and painting phoenixes. He focused on Yi Baitang the whole time, and found that Yi Baitang What is carved at the competition site is the journey of a tree from small to large.

strangeness……

Why does Baitang like saplings so much?

Shang Huaiyan was very suspicious.

It doesn’t matter if the name of the restaurant is a tree, and the growth process of a sapling is carved under the different tables in the restaurant, from the smallest seedling to the big tree with luxuriant branches... Huh, don’t think he doesn’t know about this.

It’s fine if it’s just for work. I don’t know when, what kind of sapling work stickers, what kind of sapling insulation pads, what kind of set of sapling-like bone china tableware... What’s especially annoying is that on a certain morning, Baitang He even asked him if he wanted to plant a tree together.

one!tree!Tree!

Why does this tree have such a strong sense of existence, appearing in front of his eyes all the time?

Shang Huaiyan thought sourly.

He didn't think about it in the past, but now it seems that he can't.

He began to think seriously, since when did this tree become so arrogant...

There are only 15 minutes left in the hour.

Some chefs who specialize in tofu carving have already arranged the tofu flowers on the plate, put down their kitchen knives, and raised their hands to signal the judges to complete the work.

Half of the judges began to walk off the judges' seats, enter the scene, register and keep the chef's finished product and let the chef who completed the project leave the scene, and the other half continued to sit in place, watching the progress of the rest of the contestants.

Yi Baitang's four trees have been carved.

But there is one final step missing.

He unhurriedly put the first cut tofu block into the water, quickly swung the knife in the water, and cut the whole block of tofu into thin slices.

Now there is only one minute left.

Yi Baitang finally put down the kitchen knife and asked aloud:

"Is there a hair dryer?"

"Is there a hair dryer?"

Two voices sounded at the same time, asking the same question.

Yi Baitang turned his head to look, and met the other person who was speaking.

Across a corridor, the two young men who were standing in the front and rear rows looked at each other, and then looked at each other's works.Immediately, Yi Baitang turned his gaze back indifferently, while the other person raised his eyebrows and asked again: "Is there a hair dryer? I want Philips negative ions!"

The request from the chef has reached the judges' table.

The main judges were silent. He noticed that the one who spoke out was the dragon carving chef they were discussing just now, and the other set of four trees.

Shang Huaiyan saw the needle and said: "Anyway, how could these two people pass the qualifiers, and there is no difference in grades in the qualifiers, so it's okay to give them a hair dryer?"

The main judges made a decision: "Give it to them."

Shang Huaiyan gladly invited Ying, and took the initiative to take the electric wind blower and walked to the field, and sent two electric wind blowers to Yi Baitang and the neighbor next door respectively, and then stood beside Yi Baitang openly.

At this time, the time for the competition was up, except for these two chefs, the rest of the chefs had already registered their works by the judges and were going out in a file.When going out, he couldn't help paying attention to Yi Baitang and another person.

The chef standing in front of the tofu carved dragon took a blower, first poured ice water with many ice cubes down the carved dragon body, and ensured that every inch of the dragon body was rolled over and soaked by ice water, and then suddenly Shake your hands, and pour the golden yellow viscous syrup boiled in another iron basin over your head!

The golden yellow sugar juice splashed down from mid-air, and the part that touched the tofu condensed when it condensed, while the part that did not touch it splashed off the plate.He turned on the hair dryer at the same time, and placed a finger between the hair dryers, making the cold wind stronger and stronger, blowing the dragon scales that had been cut and poured with sugar juice until they were about to explode.

In an instant, the sugar juice poured over the dragon's body, and the scales stretched in the wind. The two thin strands of the dragon's whiskers were initially condensed by the dripping sugar juice, and then were blown into the air by the cold wind, and finally solidified.

At this point, the Glazed Dragon appeared in front of everyone with his head held high and his beard and hair stretched out!

At the judging panel, the main judge applauded: "Good!"

The chef who hadn't left also exclaimed.

The only ones on the scene who were not affected by this situation were Yi Baitang and Shang Huaiyan who were standing next door, except for the chef who had gone away.

Yi Baitang unhurriedly picked up the chopped tofu from the water, all the way to the last tree.

This tree is different from the previous three. Although the trunk, rhizomes, and even branches are all clearly visible, there is no leaf that is indispensable for a tree. Until this time, Yi Baitang put the tofu in his hand When it was broken bit by bit and gently placed under the branches and trunks, the rest of the people who paid attention suddenly realized: So this tree is blooming!

The shredded tofu has covered the branches and roots, forming a small round umbrella on the branches, and the roots are not inferior, raised like a flower mound.

At this time, Yi Baitang turned on the electric fan on the side again, and adjusted it to the smallest setting, blowing the last big tree across half an arm's length.

A white jade-like tofu slice flew up.

Five petals are gathered into one flower, and each flower is as thin as a cicada's wings.

One, two, countless flowers.

The tofu slices piled up on the last tree slowly flew up and danced in the air.

Under the warm sun, the first snow melted.

A night of spring breeze, vegetation grows, and thousands of trees bloom.

The people who had just been distracted by the dragon were overwhelmed by this exquisite scene, and held their breath again.

At some point, the main judges had already stepped up from the judges' seats and came to the arena.

He looked at the Shenlong before him, then at Shusheng Chunhua on the right, and murmured softly, "How many young people are there this time..."

And for a moment Yu Liang!

If I had known that my Baitang was beautiful and powerful.

Standing beside Yi Baitang, Shang Huaiyan was not surprised by the current result. With his arms folded, he accompanied the crowd in admiration and admiration, and at the same time, he was thinking of the sapling alone...Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration.

He realized the most crucial point.

When he and Yi Baitang were on good terms, the little sapling arrogantly occupied his sight; but when he and Yi Baitang were not good, the little sapling disappeared.

What does this represent?

Shang Huaiyan bit his tongue in a hurry, so as not to be too arrogant and laugh out loud in a second!

The preliminaries ended. Among the two people who were concerned by the conservative judges, Yi Baitang stayed and waited for Shang Huaiyan to go home together, while the other one hummed a song after pouring the sugar juice, carrying a small luggage, and walked all the way. Search the city map with your mobile phone, wander to a restaurant called Ted House which is the closest to the preliminary competition site.

When he arrived at the restaurant, he ignored the welcoming guests from the restaurant, and went straight to the kitchen of Tide Building, throwing away his luggage: "Let your chefs come out, the challenger is here! Does anyone else know where Yi Baitang is? "

Deathly silence.

Even the sound of the frying stove at the top of the pot and the sound of the high-power exhaust fan disappeared at this moment.

for a long time.

at last.

Standing in the kitchen, Hu Jianming spoke dryly, facing the magic star-like name in his life: "Are you here to challenge, or to find Chef Yi...Yi?"