Having sobered up from the environment of the Green Kingdom inheritance, Mark's brain froze once again after hearing Mo Bai's muttering.
During the Six-Star assessment, the judges had critiqued the weakness of his dessert. Consequently, over the past three years, he had constantly compared chestnuts from various countries and regions, finally selecting the best locations: Yanshan, where chestnut cultivation in the Hua nation has a history of two thousand years, and Taishan, with a full five hundred years of cultivation history. These two places could be called the Sacred Lands of the chestnut world.
Screening through the varieties within these two production areas, he selected the three varieties most suitable for his Mont Blanc · Modified: Yanshan Yanfeng, Taishan Huangpeng Chestnut, and Tai'an Thin-Shell Chestnut.
And these three were exactly the ones Mo Bai had spoken of.
Having tasted Mo Bai's cuisine, he felt that the distance between the two of them was vastly different, to say the least; now, even his Mont Blanc · Modified had been completely seen through.
"It turns out the mentor was right; the geniuses of this world are not merely found within Phoenix Academy."
Just like this youth before him, who was a year older than him yet could produce a Special-Grade set menu.
"You... are correct." Mark, having swallowed the bitter fruit of defeat, looked somewhat dejected. "Who exactly are you?"
"I am just a plain and ordinary..."
"Mo Bai is the Head Chef in charge of the Heaven-class Branch Hall, Pine Crane Hall, under the Hua nation cuisine theme restaurant of our Tōtsuki Resort." Sena Hiromi pushed the door open and entered, interrupting Mo Bai's answer.
"Hah?"
When did Yours Truly manage to snag the position of Head Chef at the Heaven-class Branch Hall, Pine Crane Hall?
Also, isn't this fellow supposed to be recuperating in the hospital due to a concussion? How was he let out?
Sena Hiromi's face full of displeasure only made the completely bewildered Mo Bai even more confused.
Upon hearing this, Chapelle immediately glared furiously at Zhang Yu, while Zhang Yu revealed a cheerful smile like Maitreya Buddha. Any discerning person could see the smugness in his heart.
"Heh, I knew you crappy old man had no good intentions. Don't blame me for striking first to gain the upper hand."
What Zhang Yu did was very simple. When he left the table, he made a phone call to Dōjima Gin, who was also recuperating in the hospital, and recounted the events exactly as they happened.
Dōjima Gin naturally understood the terror of Mo Bai. That kind of proficient Culinary Heart manipulation, as if honed since he was in his mother's womb—even an old-school Quasi-Special chef might not necessarily secure a win against him. Let alone students still studying in the academy.
While Dōjima Gin's head was about to explode from a severe cold, Zhang Yu logically proposed a solution: give the other party a step down so that, at the very least, both sides could be satisfied in terms of face.
Consequently, Mo Bai was appointed as the Head Chef of the Hua nation cuisine theme restaurant's Heaven-class Branch Hall, Pine Crane Hall, through a round of black-box operations.
Sena Hiromi, who had been spending his days flirting with little nurses in the ward, was completely stupefied when he received Dōjima Gin's call.
He had been planning, after his discharge, to use the youth's thirst for knowledge about novel cuisines to transfer Mo Bai step-by-step to the French cuisine theme restaurant, following Chapelle's method. Finally, using his identity as the Deputy Head Chef, he would forcefully stamp him as a main hall Head Chef and be done with it.
But now, just as he had taken the first step, he was cut off at the knees!
So angry that he bounced right off the hospital bed, Sena Hiromi's concussion, which still had a week of recovery left, healed without medicine.
Sena Hiromi, who was drinking with Zhang Yu just a week ago as a close friend despite the age gap, cast a gaze of grief and indignation at Zhang Yu. The most critical point was that he was the one made to announce this news! After glaring at Zhang Yu, Chapelle's eyes, burning with fire, were already staring fixedly at him.
Well, a severe scolding after this is over is unavoidable.
"Branch Hall Head Chef?" Mark was not unfamiliar with this term. Phoenix Academy also possessed the academy's gourmet industry: the Phoenix Resort.
A Branch Hall Head Chef was the top chair subordinate only to the General Head Chef, Deputy General Head Chef, and the Theme Restaurant Person-in-Charge. In a certain sense, it was even superior to the former three—barring special circumstances, a Branch Hall Head Chef only needed to accept a few reservations per month. Not only were they free, but they could also freely utilize the ingredient resources within the theme restaurant.
Holding this position meant one was a talent viewed favorably by the General Head Chef, Deputy General Head Chef, and the Theme Restaurant Person-in-Charge unanimously.
This was also one of the goals Mark was striving for.
Thinking about Mo Bai's Quasi-Special cuisine, Mark felt relieved.
No wonder the former could easily crush him.
The dejection in his eyes faded away, replaced by passionate emotion.
He understood why Mo Bai could create such magic-like cuisine.
As the party involved being stared at, Mo Bai almost kicked him.
Revealing such a ravenous, wolf-like expression toward a man... if Mark hadn't been fighting for Bai Zishu's proposal of a shokugeki just a second ago, Mo Bai would have genuinely suspected Mark's sexual orientation.
This shokugeki, which had risen suddenly like a ripple, also ended silently.
Both sides were very satisfied with this result.
Perhaps the only one who hadn't recovered his wits was Mo Bai, who didn't know what a Branch Hall Head Chef was supposed to do.
After the students exited one after another, the judges remained standing in place. There was still a doubt scratching at their hearts like a kitten's paw.
"Do you also possess the God's Tongue?" Finally, Nakiri Erina was the first unable to hold back.
"God's Tongue? I don't have that," Mo Bai said, looking at the surrounding crowd who appeared ready for a three-panel tribunal interrogation, jumping from one state of confusion into another.
"Then how did you taste the production origin of the cuisine's raw materials?" Nakiri Erina, whose tone was somewhat aggressive, was currently in emotional turmoil. Not only was she teased twice within the Gourmet Illusion, but she was also shocked to hear that the other party possessed multiple God's Talents and several mature Culinary Hearts.
She, who had always been disdainful of Colson stating that an obscure, flat-headed brat was the leader of their peers, felt Mo Bai's overwhelming power.
A jumping clown...
The words Nakiri Erina once used to evaluate Mo Bai now felt more appropriate when applied to herself.
"Maybe it's because... I like eating chestnuts?" Mo Bai, having figured out the connection, gave an answer that even he himself questioned.
Who the hell likes eating chestnuts that much!
The crowd's faces twitched in unison.
"Do you intend to use such a lousy excuse to gloss over your God's Hand and God's Eye as well?!" Nakiri Erina was choked speechless by this explanation.
Mo Bai sucked in a breath of cold air, looking at everyone with terrified eyes.
"Holy crap! When did I get a God's Hand and God's Eye too!?!"
"Do you take me for a fool?!" Nakiri Erina, losing control of her emotions, left the seat in anger.
"???"
No, I really... Eh? Eh!?
"Little Mo, hiding one's clumsiness is a good thing, but one must show off when it's time to show off." Zhang Yu patted Mo Bai's shoulder with a face full of fatherly love. "But rest assured, these students all signed confidentiality contracts when they came. No one will joke around with their culinary career."
After Zhang Yu left, the bunch of people with brain-holes expanding to the horizon finally departed the culinary room.
"If I say I don't have them, do you believe me?" Mo Bai asked Miyamoto Yayako and Yukikawa Yukie, who had remained behind.
"Whatever Highness says is the truth."
The overlapping words of the two formed a marvelous echo effect, only those two pairs of bling-bling sparkling eyes held absolutely no persuasive power.
Mo Bai covered his face.
Perhaps the only one more bewildered than Mo Bai was a certain Sena Hiromi who appeared last.
"Holy crap! When did you have the God's Tongue, God's Eye, and God's Hand!?"
What a retard!
________________________________________
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