Zhao Mengru looked up at the audience and the judges, but they didn’t spare her a single glance. Even her little followers were completely captivated by Gan Lan. She wondered, "I work so hard and take this so seriously. How am I inferior to this ugly freak?"
Her fingers gripped a bamboo skewer so tightly that she snapped it without even noticing. Her face twisted in pure anger.
"This ugly freak is so deeply scheming," she thought. "Always trying to take the spotlight for everything. Disgusting!" Furious, she smashed the broken bamboo skewer onto the ground, turned on her heel, and ran off.
Gan Lan was entirely unaffected by Zhao Mengru’s dramatic exit. She merely glanced over before continuing her lecture.
Yes, a lecture! The judges on stage and the audience below were now all her students, and Gan Lan was teaching with even greater dedication. Likewise, the judges and the audience weren’t bothered by Zhao Mengru leaving, though the shift from a fierce competition to a cooking lecture was quite the plot twist.
Simply looking at Zhao Mengru’s preparation steps, the materials she readied, and her ingredients, the difference in skill was immediately obvious. The accusation of plagiarism was pure nonsense.
I Love Barbecue: [Oh my god! This is what a true goddess looks like. I love it! I’m officially a fan!]
Immortals Fighting: [Although the goddess is honestly a bit short, right now she seems ten feet tall!]
Tomorrow Will Come: [Waaah, I’m so moved! The goddess is so selfless!]
...
Yan Yifei was also watching the live broadcast. The person on the screen worked methodically and smoothly, speaking with calm confidence. Even her cooking looked like she was crafting a piece of art, inexplicably drawing everyone’s eyes.
Three hours later.
Gan Lan let out a sigh of relief as she looked at the finished dishes on the table, all exuding a mesmerizing aroma. Being a teacher was truly not easy, especially when having to answer the students’ bizarre questions. She felt a bit mentally exhausted. "Alright, the preparation is fully complete now. Please begin your tasting!"
Gan Lan divided the food into five portions, and a robot automatically came over to distribute them to the judges one by one.
She planned to give the leftovers to the students below. Before she could even begin dividing them, an anxious and excited voice rang out.
"Where’s mine? Where’s mine? Seeing as I’ve worked so hard and diligently as the host, I should get a portion too!" Wu Mingyu, guessing Gan Lan’s intentions, hurriedly rushed over to stop her. He had taken the host job specifically with the hope of eating the food Gan Lan made. Seeing the opportunity right in front of him, he sprinted up instantly.
Gan Lan was speechless. What else could she do? She had no choice but to give him some. Looking at the meager amount of food left, Gan Lan gave up on her original plan and had to tell the audience to go into the live broadcast room to eat the digitized sensory data instead.
The elderly judge looked at the dishes in front of him, each emitting a different, distinct fragrance. He covered his eyes with one hand. Even before tasting them, just smelling the aromas was enough to move him to tears.
With his other hand, he picked up a meat skewer. His old, wrinkled hand trembled slightly as he took a careful bite.
From beneath the hand covering his eyes, crystal-clear liquid seeped through his fingers and dripped away out of sight.
He thought, "This taste... this must be hope."
The old man took a deep breath, composed his facial expression, and tasted each dish one by one. They were perfect in color, aroma, and taste. To be fortunate enough to taste such delicacies in his lifetime made everything worth it. He had researched diligently for years, but alas, he simply lacked the innate talent. It showed just how important a natural gift truly was.
He looked up at the students below with deep gratification. They were the hope for the Culinary Department’s rise, and their leader would undoubtedly be the petite figure standing on stage—the person with clear eyes and a gentle, magnanimous aura.
He stood up with a serious expression and raised his hand to quiet the students below.
"Now, I announce that Gan Lan is the winner! Thank you to Gan Lan for her willingness to make such precious recipes public. Those who slander others will ultimately be punished." He paused for a moment.
"This is the second time Gan Lan has been slandered, and the academy will absolutely not show leniency!
"After discussion by the academy’s administration, we have decided to expel Zhao Mengru, who has slandered her fellow student twice and refused to change her ways. The academy does not accept students with such moral failings. We hope that all students will heed this lesson and keep it firmly in mind!"
The old man spoke with resonant authority. The students in the audience, including Gan Lan, listened quietly to his announcement.
Gan Lan was a little surprised to hear that the punishment was as severe as expulsion. She originally thought Zhao Mengru would receive a major demerit at most, considering her impressive family background. She hadn’t expected the academy to be so strict!
This made Gan Lan quite happy. The annoying fly was finally gone, which also served as an indirect way of avenging the original owner of this body. Thinking about it made her feel refreshed all over, and she decided to head back and celebrate later.
After the announcement, the panel of judges left one after another. Some of their plates were wiped completely clean. As for others... the plates were entirely missing!
Gan Lan saw Professor Ye turn back to give her a gentle smile before leaving, her eyes soft and kind. Gan Lan was stunned by her beauty! However... the plate at Professor Ye’s seat had mysteriously vanished!
Gan Lan finally breathed a sigh of relief upon returning to her dorm room. Her classmates had been far too enthusiastic, and she had barely been able to handle it. If Wu Mingyu hadn’t stepped in to help her out of the siege, she might never have escaped.
She decided she would count him in for tonight’s celebratory roast pig!
Since Gan Lan had almost no friends in this world, she could only choose guests from her regular customers. Thinking about it, that wasn’t too bad—after all, there were over a million people who wanted to eat with her!
However, tonight’s celebration shouldn’t be too large. It was better to just invite a few people over for a quiet, casual meal.
Because Zhao Mengru had run away, Gan Lan’s fragrant roast pig hadn’t even had the chance to make an appearance. So, she would just use it as the main course for tonight’s celebration!
Gan Lan already had the menu planned out. The featured dish would be the roast suckling pig. She would also make big plate chicken, potato and beef brisket stew, stir-fry two green vegetable dishes, and simmer a lotus root and pork rib soup. Everything would be cooked in massive portions!
She decided to make the fragrant pig in a simpler style, using five-spice flavor.
Taking the processed fragrant pig—well, actually, it wasn’t a fragrant pig, but a new species from this future era called a "mini-pig." It was similar to a fragrant pig, weighing a solid six or seven catties, and she had specifically chosen the smallest one.
She marinated it with salt, five-spice powder, MSG, and maltose.
Gan Lan pierced the mini-pig with a steel fork, driving it from the meat on both sides of the hind legs all the way to the front legs. Then, she used bamboo splints to prop open both sides of the pig, scalded the pigskin with boiling water, and brushed on a coloring glaze made from maltose, vinegar, and water. She left it to air-dry naturally until the skin was taut.
Next, she placed it in a covered oven over low heat to roast for about two hours. After taking it out, she roasted the mini-pig over an open flame until the skin turned a perfect, crispy golden-brown.
While the mini-pig was still roasting in the covered oven, Gan Lan took the blanched pork ribs and placed them into a pot. She added lotus root, ginger, goji berries, and water, then transferred it all directly into a soup pot to simmer.
She poured oil into a wok. Once hot, she tossed in scallions, ginger, garlic, cinnamon bark, and star anise, stir-frying until their rich aromas were released. She added the blanched beef brisket and kept tossing, then poured in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and oyster sauce. After stir-frying a bit more, she added fresh water, bringing it to a boil over high heat before lowering the flame to let it stew.
In another wok, she heated oil and added dried chili peppers, douban sauce, scallions, ginger, and garlic. After stir-frying the aromatics, she added the chicken and mixed it thoroughly. She poured in cooking wine, white sugar, and dark soy sauce, followed by hot water. Next went in the potato and carrot chunks to simmer for ten minutes. Right before it was ready to be served, she tossed in bell peppers for a quick stir-fry.
Add in the blanched choy sum and the simply stir-fried broccoli, and everything was complete!
Success! Fortunately, there were robots to prep the ingredients, making the cooking process relatively easy for Gan Lan.
It seemed like the menu was a bit small, adding up to only six dishes, but they were all massive platters that looked extremely impressive. It would be more than enough to feed a few people.
She plated a portion of each dish and had a robot deliver them to Professor Ye’s office as a token of gratitude.
Then, Gan Lan sent out invitations one by one to Wen Ningyue, Wang Bin, Yan Yifei, Wu Mingyu, and Sky Blue.
Gao Haiyang was a bit confused when he suddenly received a private message from Gan Lan. Had he won another prize? He opened it and saw that it was exactly that! Hahahaha, my god, what kind of fairy junior schoolmate was this!
Just as he was dancing around in excitement, he noticed Yan Yifei beside him, looking at him with a half-smile.
Gao Haiyang instantly went on high alert, wishing he could slap himself. Why was he getting so excited? Couldn’t he see this insidious person sitting right next to him? That’s what you get for being excited! He kept repeatedly punching his own thigh.
Watching Gao Haiyang act like a performing monkey, Yan Yifei couldn’t help but roll his eyes. This guy had to be a fool. What "little genius of manufacturing"? He was more like a little manufacturing fool.
He had never seen someone so overly dramatic. This idiot really belonged in the Acting Department.