Chapter 789: Chapter 788: The Name of a Person (Part 2)

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The next day, at nine in the morning sharp.

In Shanghai, a sealed off area echoed with the ringing of bells, their sound carrying for miles.

Following the bell, salutes from cannons resounded in unison, colorful confetti showering the sky like rain.

The city seemed to be ignited by the enthusiasm of its people, with excited shouts heard at every street corner. Loudspeakers from shops small and large spontaneously broadcast information about the star contestants of this Hunting Game:

Tang’s Dragon Town Restaurant.

On the second floor, as Tang Yuqiong heard her name mentioned in a broadcast from another street, she ate the crab roe bun from her chopsticks, chewed a bit, then chuckled, “Not bad…”

“Right?”

Opposite her at the table, “Little Tianji Star” Wu Yingying was also smiling, boasting modestly, “My crab roe buns are…”

“It’s not about your crab roe buns.”

Tang Yuqiong put down her chopsticks, “I’m talking about how good this Hunting Game is. That guy Ye Feizhou, he’s been dominating the young generation of the Chinese Realm for the past five years, being the Tournament King of the Hunting Games all this while. This time, it should finally be our turn to take the spot.”

Wu Yingying said cheerfully, “Sister Yuqiong, so you want to be the Young Tournament King of the new generation!”

“Of course!”

Tang Yuqiong didn’t hesitate to admit it directly.

Wu Yingying was about to respond when her gaze, casually drifting to the window, suddenly froze, and her expression became delicate, even uncontrollably letting out a gasp, “He…”

“Who?”

Tang Yuqiong looked outside; beneath the restaurant was a bustling crowd, so dense that even a Heavenly King superstar would probably be drowned in it.

After all, aside from the elite competition, the annual Hunting Game was also considered a national food festival, and Shanghai was destined to be swamped by both local and foreign tourists. Such a grand occasion precisely explained why the brothers Zhou Li and Zhou Hu had such trouble finding an inn to stay.

In the alley not far from Dragon Town Restaurant.

“Phew!”

Facing the throng, Zhu Qing and Xia Yu exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Hu and Zhou Li, the muscular brothers, also followed, standing at the entrance of the alley like iron towers, guarding it and prompting other tourists to give up any thoughts of taking a break in the alley.

“I think I won’t go out at all for the next few days!”

Xia Yu patted his chest, taking a while before he could exhale a sigh of relief.

No matter how strong his physique was, being pushed around like a ball in a crowd was terribly uncomfortable.

“Me too!”

Zhu Qing mimicked Xia Yu’s motion and sighed, saying, “This scale seems even livelier than in previous years. We chefs should just stay in the kitchen and hone our culinary skills. Yes, that’s it, to become hermits and create a new world!”

Xia Yu’s mouth twitched.

He had almost forgotten; his Aunt Qing was quite the homebody. During so many days in Tokyo, she hadn’t once taken the initiative to step out.

Ten minutes later, the group struggled to reach the headquarters of the Hunting Game.

Compared to the competition site, this place was much quieter; most of those entering and leaving were staff members. Zhu Qing had an appointment, and from a distance, he greeted a woman standing still at the headquarters gate:

“Wei Qinglian!”

This woman, standing quietly like an icy snow lotus, who commanded enough awe to deter the staff from looking at her too long or too disrespectfully, wasn’t she the same Imperial Chef who had arrived from Japan just the previous night to deliver some laughable decree to Xia Yu?

Although she hadn’t returned to the country on the same plane as Zhu Qing and Xia Yu, their arrival times had roughly coincided.

Moreover, Wei Qinglian was also the deputy chief executive appointed by the Dragon Head, with authority only second to that mysterious elder of the Lan Family.

Or to put it more directly, aside from the rather hands-off elder of the Lan Family, Wei Qinglian was essentially the head of the official side of this Hunting Game.

“Here, take it!”

Right upon meeting, Wei Qinglian tossed a sealed document bag to Zhu Qing, saying coldly, “All the Hunting Game documents are inside.”

Zhu Qing gave a thumbs up, “That’s what I like, straightforward people!”

“Yu, take a look at this!”

Thus, the document wallet was passed on to a third pair of hands. Xia Yu wiped his sweat and said, “What is this?”

He opened it, and whoosh, several sheets of paper fell out.

One of the forms recorded his personal data as follows:

“Name: Xia Yu.”

“Origin: Chinese Realm.”

“Age: 16.”

…

Glancing through hastily, it turned out to be astoundingly similar to the information he had provided when he first applied for the IGO culinary assessment.

Oh, no!

It should be said that it was an exact duplicate of the information.

Even the “Culinary Skills” section was, just as before, prominently marked with the three characters for “To be assessed!”

“Ha, to be assessed!”

For some reason, Xia Yu had a peculiar expression on his face.

“This data really comes with its own backstory,” he said.

Zhu Qing stopped laughing and, along with Wei Qinglian, gave him a puzzled look, almost as if question marks were written on their foreheads.

Cough!

Xia Yu collected the forms, closed the document wallet, and shrugged, “It’s nothing, just some personal sentiments. Always to be tested and to be assessed, why am I so calm right now?”

Zhu Qing understood something and said with a giggle, “Why is your heart not even slightly perturbed, you even feel a bit like laughing, right?”

“Aunt Qing, that’s your personal commentary!”

“I’m just expressing your most genuine feelings directly. What’s to be afraid of? If you want to laugh, just laugh; no one is stopping or scolding you!”

As they spoke, both Zhu Qing and Xia Yu’s faces turned a bit off, their eyes holding back laughter.

Behind them, Wei Qinglian’s pretty face had already turned dark.

Weaving hints that this year’s Talent Hunt had low standards and lacked a sense of challenge, Wei Qinglian took the hint. She dared to handle Xia Yu’s talent data only after consulting with her foster father in the Forbidden City.

Ha!

You might as well laugh more while you can!

Wei Qinglian, with a touch of sympathy in her gaze, thought to herself, “As a newly ascended Lin Chef, returning home with his skill, he should have shocked the world, making a name for himself… But when a new star is rising, if it suddenly explodes, wouldn’t the hand that detonated the new star attract even more attention, creating an even more stunning effect?”

Thinking of that Young Tournament King from White Jade Tower, Wei Qinglian’s lips curled slightly, her smile serene.

Ye Feizhou was that pair of dark hands. Appointed unanimously by her and the upper echelons of White Jade Tower.

And Xia Yu, he could only be the final stepping stone for Ye Feizhou’s mastery, the most splendid one that the young generation of the Chinese Realm had ever seen!

“Feizhou must be in seclusion inside the tower by now, delving into the precious scriptures of Qilin’s Kill!”

As Wei Qinglian was about to turn back to carry out headquarters’ orders, something came to her mind, and she paused slightly.

“Right!”

She said, “Your Talent Hunt number is A998. You’ve been placed in Group A, and the thousand talents in Group A will undergo a massive preliminary selection in half an hour at Meeting Hall A. It’s not too late to head there now…”

Ultimately, Xia Yu arrived at the Meeting Hall A mentioned by Wei Qinglian just in time.

“Clang!”

As soon as Xia Yu crossed the threshold and stepped onto the stage, a gong-ringer ran around the venue, following which four burly security guards uniformly stationed themselves at the entrance for the talented contestants, sealing off the passage.

That was a close call!

Seeing the security guards lock the entrance behind him, Xia Yu couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. He cursed Wei Qinglian several times in his heart. This woman definitely had it in for him, placing him in Group A, at Meeting Hall A for the first round of the preliminaries; she must have wanted to see him make a fool of himself.

Finally, under the strange gazes of the staff, he found his numbered cooking station. Just as he had settled in, the venue erupted into cheers welcoming the three preliminary judges.

Xia Yu was baffled, looking at the three unfamiliar figures taking the stage, his face full of question marks.

Who were these people?