BXBX NOVEL Chapter 260: Taste Testing
Almost at the same time as Qin Lang’s vote count was announced, the other stall owners around them burst into a buzz.
At the end of the first round, Qiu Longfei had just over a thousand votes. After getting a better stall and the attention of being temporarily first in the All-age Group, his votes tripled after the second round.
While this increase in votes seemed a bit absurd, it was still considered reasonable.
However, in contrast, Qin Lang’s vote count directly increased five times after the second round.
And he was just less than two hundred votes short of the first place in the All-age Group.
Keep in mind that the All-age Group has one more dish than the Youth Group! So the total votes for the All-age Group were the sum of votes from three dishes, naturally having an advantage over the Youth Group. The All-age Group’s contestants are older and more experienced in cooking, the two different groups are incomparable.
And now Qin Lang, who was first in the Youth Group, is showing a momentum to surpass Qiu Longfei against the trends!
For a while, many more Spirit Chefs turned their attention to Qin Lang.
Even Qiu Longfei himself did the same.
At the moment he heard the vote count, he couldn’t help but frown and started to take the Youth Group seriously, which he had not been overly concerned about before.
Even if he won the championship under such circumstances, but was surpassed by the first in the Youth Group, he would feel like he didn’t live up to his name. After the ranking announcement, it was the second round of booth adjustment. Compared to the adjustment rule in the morning, this time, the Spirit Chefs would have more autonomy.
As the defending champion of the Youth Group, Qin Lang could choose to stick to his current stall or switch to one of the other five other best stalls nearby the boarding platforms, which was equivalent to a lateral transfer.
But Qin Lang chose the former.
Switching places and re-establishing the eating utensils afterwards seemed a waste of time.
There was nothing wrong with staying at the current spot.
Under the circumstances of a small change in ranking, the choices of the majority of the Spirit Chefs were consistent with Qin Lang.
However, some Spirit Chefs had drastic changes in rankings and needed adjustment.
At the center of the deck, Luo Xian hummed a nameless tune, cheerfully pushing the stall car under the guide of the staff, and adjusted his stall to be closer to one of the boarding platforms.
People tend to only focus on First Place, and even the second-place Spirit Chef can hardly be remembered by people, let alone him, the goalkeeper who ranked eleventh in the All-age Group.
Only a minority of people who ranked close to him and fell behind because of him would pay attention to this name, but that’s about it.
No one realized that a shark that only started competing in the second round had mixed in.
And this shark’s stall in the second round was the worst one out of all.
During the rest period, Qin Lang prepared dinner for himself and the two little ones. As expected, Shen Qian, Zhou Qing, and Li Hong came to mooch off him. Dinner was a Shrimp and Vermicelli Casserole, and Qin Lang, who was generous with ingredients, added several large Black Tiger Shrimps. The smooth vermicelli and the fresh shrimp made the other three people praise endlessly, and in the end, they finished even the soup.
After her conversation with Qin Lang, Shen Qian had some new ideas about setting up a stall and made corresponding adjustments in the second round in the afternoon.
Ranked third before their conversation, she was able to secure an excellent stall in the second round, and with the increase in foot traffic and adjustments, she managed to surpass Bai Hongrui, who was second before, and became the new second place.
However, the gap in vote count between her and Qin Lang was still significant; pushing at full force, she barely got two thousand votes.
This made her call Qin Lang a freak while eating his food.
As for Zhou Qing and Li Hong, these two were fluctuating between nth and 20th in the All-age Group, so they had given up the idea of competition and their focus had shifted to discussion and exchange more.
Li Hong noticed Luo Xian, a Spirit Chef whose name he had never seen before, suddenly dropping into the eleventh place, but he just thought that the latter had performed exceptionally in the afternoon and didn’t pay too much attention to it.
After dinner, Shen Qian turned to Qin Lang, “In the upcoming exchange session, are you still planning to participate as a stall owner?”
“No.” Qin Lang considered for a moment, then shook his head slightly.
“Shall we go check out the other stalls together then?” Shen Qian lit up, and took the initiative to invite, “I was a stall owner at noon, so I didn’t get a chance to try the dishes from other stalls, I heard many of them serve fantastic food!”
“I plan to stay at my stall and prepare for the third session tonight.” Qin Lang shrugged helplessly, “Trying the food from other Spirit Chefs is important indeed, but according to my plan, that task is for tomorrow.”
“If you’re staying at the stall, why not just go on and exchange as a stall owner?” Zhou Qing curiously spoke from the side.
“Because I plan to experiment with some improvements on the Crab Roe Fried Rice.” Qin Lang shrugged, “In that case, I won’t have the time to entertain other Spirit Chefs.”
“I see.” Li Hong put down his bowl, nodding in understanding, “Constantly improving and perfecting dishes, pursuing progress, that’s good.”
“But now that we are halfway through the Leaping Fish Banquet, isn’t it a bit risky to suddenly try to improve the dishes?” Zhou Qing expressed a different opinion.
The process of improving dishes will inevitably come with trial and error. Even if the Spirit Chef thinks it’s better after the change, it doesn’t mean the Food Guests will agree.
Qin Lang has gotten off to such a smooth start, rushing to improve at this point might not be a wise choice.
“Learning by trial and error does indeed carry some risk under normal circumstances.” Qin Lang smiled honestly, “But this afternoon, Ms. Ye Cangqing gave me some pointers, and I want to give them a try.” “Who?!” Shen Qian, who had been quietly listening, suddenly widened her eyes, “You say Ms. Ye Cangqing gave you some advice?!”
“Yes.” Qin Lang nodded and looked at Shen Qian, “I remember you chose to set
up a stall at noon, didn’t Ms. Ye Cangqing go to your stall?”
“… She did.” Shen Qian suddenly fell silent.
Ye Cangqing did come.
She tasted the two dishes that Shen Qian prepared.
However, throughout the process, she always maintained her gentle smile, without any change of expression, only said “good luck” before she left.
Advice?
What was that?
“How did Ms. Ye Cangqing advise you?” Zhou Qing seemed a little bit excited.
“She suggested that I might want to try pairing Snake Orchid, Red Hemp Seeds, and Wooden Crab Fight with crab roe during the frying process, which is what I’ll be trying next.” Qin Lang pointed to a big bag of spices next to him, “I’ve got them already.”
“I see.” Zhou Qing nodded in understanding, “In that case, go ahead with your plans!”
Once he found out that Qin Lang had received advice from Ms. Ye Cangqing,
Zhou Qing naturally changed his opinion.
The advice from a third-level Food Recommender was hard to come by.
An electric bell rang through the air above the deck.
That signaled the start of the exchange session.
Once they learned what Qin Lang’s arrangements were, the three of Shen Qian left without lingering, saying their goodbyes, and went to exchange according to their own plans and ideas.
Meanwhile, Qin Lang looked at his two excited little ones.
“Let’s get started too!”
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