Chapter 741: Chapter 740: The Curtain of Conflict (Part 2)

“Oh, is that so?”

Facing the many voices, Lei Zhe remained calm as ever, clearly prepared for such talk. He pointed to the ‘chawanmushi’ that was still plentiful on the table, and smiled, “I’ve said before, here, let’s not discuss ‘ food justice’ or ‘Food Dominator’, let’s return to the essence of food itself.”

“Good, excellent food, the premise is, it should stimulate appetite, make people want to eat it… You all agree with this condition, don’t you?”

Everyone’s expressions changed in unison.

Indeed, no matter how beautiful or delicate the food, it still needs to be eaten.

Eating is also the destiny of food.

Only then can one talk about “satisfaction” and “happiness” and so on.

Protest Lei Zhe’s purposeful fasting, cutting off his own appetite? Sorry, the chefs of this world, no matter their allegiance, all start from the side of goodwill, their basic good notion is—no one can resist truly good food!

There had been too many examples. Just the other day, the incident at Xia’s Chinese Restaurant caused a huge uproar, but in the end, didn’t Lei Zhe speak out the praise that it was delicious and walk away in frustration?

Watching a group of speechless tycoons, Lei Zhe laughed, his gaze sweeping towards Xia Yu, his hand pointing as well.

“You all know him, right?”

“Xia Yu, although definitely a genius, is still a step behind Lin Chef in terms of culinary skill level. But his tofu set meal satisfied my ‘Food Tyrant’s Stomach’ like never before… And Main General Liangzi, they say your ‘chawanmushi’ is a Lin-level dish, what do you think about it yourself?” Lei Zhe almost had sarcasm written on his face, “I feel not the slightest bit of excitement, is this your precious creation?”

Silence!

Lei Zhe using Xia Yu to make trouble was unexpected to everyone.

Dojima Yin, Aoki Motota, Saito Chiyokuro, and others felt as if something was stuck in their chests, furious but unable to find a reason to retort on the spot.

Andrea opened her mouth slightly, casting a shocked glance at Lei Zhe. She couldn’t have imagined that Lei Zhe would once again personally acknowledge Xia Yu’s dishes, and so cleverly use the momentum to his advantage, such that the giants of the Japanese Food Industry were left speechless.

“Brilliant!” She couldn’t help but praise inwardly, secretly thrilled. Lei Zhe’s challenge was sudden and so dominant, her excitement was uncontainable—tonight was bound to be tumultuous indeed!

This is dragging me into it?

Xia Yu, silently mouthed with the main female chef, his face filled with astonishment, choked up.

“Boss Xia!”

Yuchuan Meisha tugged at his sleeve surreptitiously, casting a resentful glance, whispering, “This man is just too, too shameless!”

“What a blatant pestering!” Yuchuan Ayaka coldly huffed.

The focus shifted back to this.

People were waiting for Liangzi Lina’s personal response and for Xia Yu’s reaction.

However, the main female chef remained calm, glancing with a smile at the young man in front of her, about to explain something, but Xia Yu waved his hand and suddenly stood up, “Alright, alright!”

He had seen enough of the show to realize that Lei Zhe, this guy, wanted to stir up trouble, and big trouble at that!

His target wasn’t just him.

In fact, the entire Japanese Food Industry was within Lei Zhe’s hunting ground.

Trying to trouble the newly promoted main female chef? Given Lei Zhe’s international status, with him attending the promotion ceremony and later mouthing off to journalists, it was bound to stir up another wave of questioning opinions against the main female chef. An unpublicized promotion was inevitably surrounded by conspiracy theories.

“Life is already so hard, why must we undermine each other?” Xia Yu lightly raised his youthful face, with a flicker of a strange eagerness in his eyes, “Isn’t it just about causing trouble? Well then, I’ll join you!”

“Huh?”

Lei Zhe was still rational. Tonight, he had finally seized an opportunity to demoralize the tycoons of the Japanese Food Industry, not wanting to waste more energy on Xia Yu, “Move aside!”

He waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away a pesky dog, “I acknowledge you, I acknowledge your food, okay? Now shut up, there’s no room for you to interject here!”

Xia Yu replied amusedly, “What are you talking about? You’re questioning a teacher that I greatly respect. As a lovable and hardworking disciple of that teacher, of course, I have to stand up and win back the scene for her!”

“…”

A string of garbled thoughts floated by, and Lei Zhe, eventually catching on, his forehead vein bulging, “Teacher?”

Teacher?

The Japanese Food Industry tycoons alike all turned toward the silent main female chef.

“How is it strange? I actually have many teachers. Dojima Yin is one, and Liangzi Lina is also one of them. I’ve learned a lot from them!” Xia Yu spoke leisurely.

Indeed, it was true.

Whether it was Dojima Yin or Liangzi Lina, or the old man and Tiqie Xianzuowen for that matter, they always found ways to impart their knowledge.

Leaving the fluff aside, just consider the array of recipes—those were a chef’s most private secrets. Yet, Xia Yu had learned many; his cooking skills had soared in just a short half a year, a feat that could not have been accomplished without the ‘nourishment’ from these benefactors.

Xia Yu kept all these acts of kindness in mind; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been willingly tricked by Dojima Yin and Xianzuowen time and again.

“What exactly do you want to do?!”

Lei Zhe, with a darkening face, asked this question.

“I was about to ask you the same thing!”

Xia Yu shrugged, pretending to be indecisive, “Well, since you questioned Teacher Liangzi’s ‘Chawanmushi,’ why don’t I, as her disciple, come forward to prove it for her!”

“Prove? How do you prove it?” Lei Zhe’s eyes suddenly widened.

With a slight grin, a radiant smile spread across Xia Yu’s face, “It’s quite simple, actually. Using ‘eggs’ as the theme, let’s have a food war!”

He emphasized the term “food war.”

Food war!

These two words alone possessed an almost magical allure, heralding a storm of blood and violence as soon as they were spoken.

The atmosphere in the cottage abruptly turned ice cold, solidified as if even the four titans seated at the head seemed blank for a second or two.

Stunned.

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”

A bout of violent coughing, as if choking on air. Alice bent over, covering her mouth behind Tiqie Xianzuowen, her small face turning red, while Eriina paid her no attention, her eyes glazed over, fixed on the standing youth.

Under Xia Yu’s piercing gaze, Lei Zhe struggled to utter a word, his chest heaving more visibly.

“The simplest proof is a food war!” Xia Yu didn’t mind repeating, nor did he care about the surrounding eyes filled with shock, confusion, and disarray, calmly stating, “I can make the ‘Japanese-style Chawanmushi’ too. Moreover, it was Teacher Liangzi who taught me. Using Teacher Liangzi’s recipe, I’ll prove it to you. That’s fine, isn’t it?”

Seeing that Lei Zhe still hadn’t spoken, Xia Yu frowned.

“Is it against the rules? Lin Chef issuing a challenge for a food war has its restrictions, but a Special Chef challenging a Lin Chef has no such limits for uprising, does it?”

Xia Yu mused aloud in a somewhat uncertain voice.

Huh?

The crowd was taken aback once again.

Andrea’s mouth gaped open.

She couldn’t help but laugh, not expecting that after all the twists and turns, the situation had come full circle back to these two squaring off, and the young man who initiated the food war didn’t even seem to know the rules very well.

“Ha, haha, hahahahaha!”

Lei Zhe’s laughter eventually echoed throughout the room.

“A food war themed around ‘eggs,’ and even before the war, you reveal that your dish is the ‘Japanese-style Chawanmushi’… just to prove it on behalf of your mentor?” Lei Zhe felt a sense of contemptuous fury, barely able to contain his anger, bang!

He slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

“What exactly are you trying to prove, huh?” he almost shouted furiously.

“To prove… that you are wrong!”

“Wrong?”

Breathing heavily.

“Yes, you are wrong in so many ways. I won’t get into the others, but your disdain and trampling of the precious elements in Teacher Liangzi’s cooking deserve such a response,” Xia Yu said.

Lei Zhe’s face fluctuated between light and shadow.

To accept this food war, or not?