Lin Dan's bold speech had surprised the Emperor. He originally looked down on this plain-looking woman, but there was already a hint of interest in his eyes. He replied, "Of course, I must ensure the fairness of this competition. I will only watch and not comnt. Your cooking skills will be judged by these old food connoisseurs and chefs. They will have the final say."
Lin Dan faced the judges and gave them a bow one by one. She said, Even so, this competition is still unfair to . Imperial Chef Yan is very much favored by you, Your Majesty. You have provided her with the Fragrant Garden to hold the competition and even ca here personally. It is obvious that youre showing favoritism towards her. Being the ruler of the country, Im sure your people would also not dare to defy your will. Today, as soon as I stepped into the Fragrant Garden, I know Ive lost. If this was plain to , Im sure the wise and all-knowing Emperor would understand this too."
Everyone was horrified to hear this, as they had never expected Lin Dan to be so candid with her opinions.
But the Emperor gave a hearty laugh, his eyes filled with interest. "In that case, what do you think I should do? Do you want to continue this competition?"
Yan Langqing showed a mixed expression. If possible, she would naturally want to compete with Lin Dan fair and square, but she was unable to refuse the Emperor's kindness. But Yan Shouye felt that there was no need to continue the competition at all and thought Lin Dan had co to be humiliated. Once my daughter becos a concubine, I will kill her! He thought.
However, Lin Dan nodded without hesitation and said, "I will continue, of course. But to ensure fairness, would you allow to set the rules, Your Majesty? Back then, when I competed with Imperial Chef Yan for the first ti, Imperial Chef Yan was also the one who set the rules as I was the head chef of the marquis residence and was favored by the marquis. She had decided the content, rules, and judges of the competition. Now that the situation is reversed, Im making the sa request. I reckon this is not too much to ask for?"
The Emperor glanced at Yan Langqing and nodded, "Indeed, it sounds fair to . Tell , how would you like to hold the competition?"
Lin Dan may seem to have the upper hand, but the Emperor still had the final say. Even if she made the most delicious dish, a word from the judges could easily push her down into the abyss. The so-called fairness had never existed in the face of power. Lin Dan was bold, but not brilliant. The Emperor shook his head thinking of this and had lost all interest in her.
Lin Dan steadily replied, "In this competition, we will use the sa ingredients to make the sa dish, and just one dish."
Yan Langqing asked, "What do you want to make?"
"Since the Dragon Boat Festival is coming, shall we make rice dumplings?" Lin Dan tilted her head and smiled at her.
Yan Langqing was stunned. She took a while to snap out of her thoughts and nodded slowly. From Lin Dans four signature dishes, Yan Langqing had so understanding of her current level and thought she would want to compete on an extrely difficult dish. Little did she expect that Lin Dan would propose to compete making rice dumplings. However, Yan Langqing was not taken aback at all. The concubines in the palace loved dumplings too and the various kinds of dumplings she made were well received. This was why she was not afraid of competing on this dish. The concubines were extrely picky when it ca to food, and she was sure that the judges would be satisfied with her cooking if she was able to even satisfy the concubines.
"Lets make fifty catties of rice dumplings, and only at dumplings, is that alright?" Lin Dan continued.
"Fifty catties?" Yan Langqing finally showed a surprised expression.
"Are you up for it?" Lin Dan looked straight at her.
"Yes."
"Great, in that case, may I request for one hundred catties of glutinous rice and fifty catties of pork belly. The glutinous rice and pork belly do not need to be separated and can be placed in one bucket, and we will distribute it among ourselves in the kitchen later on. If there are any other condints that we need, we will make a request to the servants individually so that we will not disrupt one another. Is this arrangent okay?" Lin Dan cupped her hands and displayed a humble yet unwavering attitude.
The Emperor nodded and said, Permission granted. Let's make the preparations."
Is Lin Dan trying to stuff everyone with the hundred catties of at dumplings? The Emperor thought to himself.
Not only the Emperor was surprised, but the other guests were also puzzled too. However, Lin Dan and Yan Langqing had already gone to the kitchen and there was no ti to ask for the reason. Besides, Lin Dan probably would not give an answer even if she was asked, so they thought it was better to wait until the at dumplings were completed. The Emperor thought that it would be a competition where the outco had been decided even before it even started, but he did not expect Lin Dan to create suspense in the competition. Lin Dan was interesting indeed, he thought.
Regardless of the audiences speculations, Lin Dan, who entered the kitchen, was extrely composed. One hundred catties of glutinous rice were packed in a huge wooden barrel and was carried in by the servants who were out of breath, followed by a bucket with fifty catties of pork belly.
Lin Dan pressed the glutinous rice with her hands and nodded in satisfaction.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ ]
Yan Langqing said warmly, "Your worries are redundant. I will not stoop so low to make them prepare the good ingredients for and the inferior ingredients for you. You can take your share of glutinous rice and pork first, and I will use the rest."
Lin Dan turned her head and looked at her with a smile on her face. "Thank you then, Imperial Chef Yan."
Yan Langqing slowly rolled up her sleeves and said, "Then, shall we begin?"
"Okay, but before that, I have to specify the shape and size of the dumplings. Im sure you wont have any objections?" Lin Dan took out three dumpling leaves and rolled them into a cone. She then added so glutinous rice and tied them with rope before motioning it to her, Can you make dumplings with the sa shape and the sa size as this?"
This was a really strange rule, but Yan Langqing did not think much about it. She nodded and said, "Yes." She imdiately wrapped a triangular rice dumpling exactly the sa and handed it to Lin Dan for inspection.
Lin Dan untied the two rice dumplings, put the glutinous rice back in the bucket, and said with a smile: "Then, we can begin."
The two chefs each occupied a stove and got busy. Yan Langqing first soaked the glutinous rice, sliced the pork belly into thin slices, and marinated them with soy sauce, fine salt, sugar, peanut oil, and other seasonings. When she lifted her head, she realized that Lin Dan was setting fire in the stove and had not touched the glutinous rice and pork belly.
Why is she trying to set up fire when the dumplings are not even done yet? She thought. She felt that Lin Dans steps were strange and could not help but take another glance. She soon realized that Lin Dan was not burning firewood, but sesa candy sticks she had specially requested from the palace servants. The sesa sticks contained many ripe sesa seeds and made popping sounds when it was burned on the stone. A unique burnt fragrance was slowly given out and it slled extrely rich.
Yan Langqing involuntarily took a deep breath and felt even more curious.
But Lin Dan did not even look at her. She only set aside the sesa sticks that were burned into ashes and wrapped them in a thin silk cloth. She then put them in cool water and rubbed them until the crystal-clear water had turned muddy. After sieving it several tis with a fine silk cloth, she made sure that there was no residue left before soaking the glutinous rice.
After the white glutinous rice was added into the water and was stained with the muddy color, Yan Langqing instantly thought she was ruining the food! She thought these rice dumplings would be too dirty for the judges to consu. She was full of questions, but she thought it was inappropriate to ask her and neither was she interested to know anyway. This competition could affect her reputation and she naturally would not stop Lin Dan from jeopardizing her own victory.
Lin Dan soaked the glutinous rice and began to process the pork belly. The seasoning she chose was similar to Yan Langqing, with only a slight difference in amount. After everything was ready, she started making the dumplings. It was obvious that her thod of wrapping the dumplings was very sophisticated. She rolled up the leaf with a twist of her wrist and added so glutinous rice underneath before stuffing a piece of at in the middle. After covering it with more glutinous rice and pressing it with hands, she wrapped the dumpling and tied it with a rope. Finally, she tied a small knot at the end of the rope.
Yan Langqing also started to wrap the rice dumplings into the exact sa size and shape as Lin Dan's dumplings. After wrapping one dumpling, she threw it into the pot and waited for it to be cooked.
From morning to afternoon, the two of them finally wrapped fifty catties of rice dumplings and placed them into two buckets of the sa size and shape. The dumplings were already cooked and steaming hot. Before it was served to the judges, Lin Dan counted the total of rice dumplings, before walking to Yan Langqing's wooden barrel. Then, she slowly said, "Lets swap positions."
Although Yan Langqing was full of doubts, she did not feel there was anything wrong and stood behind Lin Dans wooden barrel. She thought that she could easily recognize her own barrel and Lin Dan should not have the guts to steal her food.
Lin Dan then invited all the guests and said, "May I ask the guests to take two guards into the kitchen and exchange the positions of the two barrels placed on the left and right. You may exchange as many tis as you like, or you may leave it untouched. After one guest has finished the exchange, another guest will enter and follow suit. After five rounds, no one is allowed to reveal how many exchanges he has made."
"What exactly are you trying to do?" The Emperor could not tell what Lin Dan was planning. Logically speaking, since the dumplings were done, the judges could try them and decide the winner imdiately. But now, Lin Dan seed to be playing a ga, and seemingly wanting to fool with everyone else. Such audacity, he thought.
"Your Majesty, you have already agreed to let decide how the competition would be conducted. Is your permission still valid?" Lin Dan asked instead of answering his question.
The Emperor frowned and waved his hand, "Get five of them out and exchange the positions of the two barrels."
Five people, including Tang Jiu, son of Lord Dianqian, Prince Cheng, Prince Gong, and Marquis Weiyuan imdiately stood up.
Yan Langqing hesitated for a mont but did not raise any objections. Although these people were loyal fans of Lin Dan, they were not the judges and would have no say to the outco of the competition. Yan Langqing thought Lin Dan rely wanted to exchange the two buckets of dumplings so that the judges would not be able to tell who made the dumplings. She agreed that this was a brilliant tactic, but perhaps Lin Dan had forgotten that old imperial chefs who had left the palace were very familiar with Yan Langqings craftsmanship. Several of them were even specially invited by the Emperor to teach her cooking and could be considered to be her master.
She was certain that they would be able to tell the two kinds of dumplings apart. Besides, Lin Dan had used that dirty thod to treat the glutinous rice, and Yan Langqing wondered if the dumplings could even be eaten. She was very skeptical about her cooking thod, and already believed that she could win. Lin Dan was not as good as her ten years ago, and it will be the sa ten years later.
The Emperor could also tell Lin Dan's intention and could not help but shook his head. This Manager Lin had been playing clever tricks but turned out that her tricks were not good enough.
After Tang Jiu and the rest had exchanged the wooden barrels, they walked out with a gloomy expression. To them, Lin Dan was fighting a losing battle and everything she did was rely a desperate struggle. She had already lost the competition the mont she accepted the challenge. Justice was absent in the face of power and she should understand this.
Yet, Lin Dan looked very relaxed and said, "Since the competition is over, I will now set the rules for judging the winner. Everyone in this room is biased and it is inevitable that this will be an unfair competition. In my opinion, the judges who are present here are not the best candidates to ensure a fair competition. Therefore, Id like to take these two buckets of dumplings to the city gate. We will peel the dumplings apart and cut them into pieces, before letting the people who enter the city taste them and take the dumpling they prefer away. The one who has all the dumplings taken away by the people first wins. Wouldnt it be fair this way? Dont worry, Ive marked the dumplings to tell two buckets apart. Ive also counted dumplings in advance. The two buckets each contain 400 dumplings, and extras were set aside in order to ensure that the outco can easily be judged."[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ ]
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