The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

115 Waste No Words, Waste No Food

In a sense, Zhao Li Yu could be counted as lucky for going up right after Ye Ping. At the very least, his presentation was pretty much the same as hers: Just a bowl with the congee filled into it and nothing else. Well, at the very least, he hadn't taken a simple white bowl and had instead picked one of the colorful ones. So it was slightly nicer to look at.

Unfortunately, this was only true until the three judges looked at the dish inside. Seeing the plain congee inside that didn't even have the vegetables that Ye Ping had used in hers, Xiao Ming felt like laughing.

Originally, he hadn't been on board with making him a contestant on the first episode because he had felt that he hadn't put his best foot forward when it came to the dish he had made in the casting. At that time, he had really thought that there was something like cooking too simple. Now, he had to say that those fried shrimps with cashew had actually been quite elaborate compared to this congee.

It really showed that it was true that there were mountains beyond mountains and heavens beyond heavens. Even when it came to the simplicity of food, that was true. You could always go one step further. Looking at it this way, he was curious what else Zhao Li Yu would be able to come up with over the course of the show.

Chu Yu An didn't have the previous experience from the casting and had no idea what had been discussed behind closed doors, but seeing as the task had been to just make congee, she didn't feel that anything was odd about somebody making congee without any additional ingredients.

Anyway, while she was somebody who liked to add twists to dishes, she also knew that many people loved the more traditional variations since that was what they had grown up with and were used to. There was always a hint of nostalgia mixed in that made them taste even nicer to them. So why shouldn't somebody make congee with nothing else but rice and water? It didn't seem that bad.

Mister Yu had half-expected this to be the result when it was Zhao Li Yu cooking so he also didn't say anything and just picked up his spoon, giving it a taste.

In the meantime, E Cheng Jun used the opportunity to get a few more words in once again. "Mister Zhao, while the judges are giving your congee a taste, can I also ask you what your idea was behind making this type?"

Zhao Li Yu gave a curt nod in response. "Too difficult."

E Cheng Jun stared at him, not quite sure what to make of this. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I didn't quite get that. What's too difficult?"

Zhao Li Yu glanced at her with a confused expression as if he really wasn't sure what she meant. "Cooking."

Meanwhile, nineteen pairs of eyes fell on Zhao Li Yu and then couldn't help but turn to the person in the first row. Really too similar, ah! Don't tell them the old master had had a secret second child somewhere out there?

While the ninjas were having fun thinking about such possibilities, E Cheng Jun regretted that she had tried to get in another sentence. It might be screen time but it wasn't good screen time if she looked like an idiot. If the viewers at home saw the scene and had no trouble figuring this out while she just wouldn't get it, how would she look?

Thinking of that, she could only force a smile and move on without elaborating. "Now, that's an interesting perspective. Let's see what the judges think of the final result!" With that, she hastily stepped aside, letting the judges take over.

This time, it really was Xiao Ming's turn to go first. He looked at the congee for a moment before he glanced up at Zhao Li Yu. Actually, he also wasn't completely sure if he understood what he had just said. But keeping the angle in mind that the others had chosen, he at least had a rough guess. "If I understood you right, you meant that congee is often being eaten when one is sick just like some of the other contestants mentioned they would.