Chapter Thirty-six: The Judges from the Provincial Capital

  At noon, dozens of bronze drums sounded in unison, startling the birds perched on the mountain cliffs into flight, and the formal banquet began.

  A large bowl of well-prepared braised cow and sheep heads, beef and mutton... was steaming hot and delivered to the dinner tables of each village and group; The noodle makers also started to get busy, with lumps of dough in their hands, seemingly magically transformed into thick or thin noodles; The thicker ones were like the fashion belts used by big girls to tie their waists, while the thinner ones were almost as fine as hair strands. Bowl after bowl was served and passed on to the back.

  The scene was spectacular, with thousands of tables and seven or eight thousand people, yet not a hint of chaos. Bowl after bowl of steaming hot noodles were passed from the inner circle to the outer circle, and then transmitted from the outer circle to the valley outside, as if it were a military operation, like an arm commanding fingers; thinking again about the legend of Liu Xiu, even the delicate and beautiful "flower" vaguely felt a taste of gold armor and iron horse, and as men, the three brothers Zhou Yi were even more hot-blooded, which also opened up their appetite...

  Because of the long-standing tradition of offering noodles, there are noodle masters in all four villages. They usually go to the city to work and earn money, but today they have all returned. Dozens of masters worked together at the same time, dozens of large pots boiled simultaneously, and in just over half an hour, thousands of people were served a steaming hot bowl of beef and mutton noodles that filled the air with fragrance.

  That face slightly presents a light wheat color, soaking in the milk-like mutton soup, adding a spoon of chili oil made from sheep oil, and then pinching a handful of coriander... this flavor... even Zhou Yi, that annoying guy, can't help but lick his tongue.

  "Dong dong dong......"

  As the copper gong sounded again, seven or eight thousand people put down their chopsticks at the same time, and suddenly the sound of "huffing" filled the mountains and valleys, even producing resonance, causing echoes in the valley, shaking the soil on the three-sided mountain cliff.

  Thousands of people eating noodles together can be so earth-shaking and magnificent!

  In this atmosphere, you would feel embarrassed to eat noodles slowly and elegantly. Regardless of whether they were big girls or young wives, be it Zhu Xiaohua's type of sturdy woman or the elegant ladies like 'Flower', everyone was eating noodles with big mouthfuls and drinking soup in large gulps. They ate until sweat dripped from their foreheads and their fronts and backs were drenched, only then did they feel that they had reached a state of culinary nirvana, and savored the flavor.

  "Great!"

  The effect of the fish soup in Zhou Yi was evident at this time. Zhu Xiaohua and Guan Wei had already started their third bowl of noodles, and even 'Hua Duo' wanted a second bowl. Although they were clearly full, they continued to eat slowly; although their stomachs were almost bursting, they couldn't bear to give up the delicious taste.

  These two men and one woman, three amateur foodies, have a tendency to gradually become rice buckets...

  It wasn't until four o'clock that the banquet finally came to an end, and the fellow townsfolk were all satisfied, patting their bellies and belching contentedly, but none of them wanted to leave, all waiting for the most exciting program to be performed.

  Fight for the dish!

  Normally, several villages would compete in cooking, and it would be held in the largest restaurant in Liu Lou Cun village after the banquet. The villagers were just waiting for the final message; but this time was different. The long table banquet had caught the attention of the provincial government, and this time it was led by the province's largest newspaper, Zhou Nan Daily, which invited several authoritative food critics from the province to be judges, with the aim of vigorously promoting this folk custom.

  Otherwise, even if several villages put out double the money, these provincial city gourmets may still not be willing to come.

  Yunshui Village and Liulilouzi Village, these two wealthy villages thought of inviting Kong Jie, a top-notch chef, to compete. It's because this cooking competition is different from the previous ones, even the provincial capital's newspaper wants to publicize it. In the past, if they lost, they would just hide in shame for a year in the mountains. But this time, if they lose, they will lose face in front of the whole province.

  Those stoves and large pots were removed one after another, and soon replaced with exquisite stoves and dishes prepared by each village. Various ingredients are also ready, now waiting for the expert judges from the provincial city and the chefs hired by each village to enter the scene.

  Before long, several vans stopped at the entrance of the valley, and about twenty people got off. They were village heads and secretaries from several villages, who immediately went to greet them with big smiles on their faces.

  Yunshui Village's invited chef didn't show up, but Li Yuanfang had a solution. He directly approached the judges and said: "Welcome, experts and leaders! Ah, Mr. Gu, Mr. Chang, Mr. Yun, and journalist Yang, please come this way. I've prepared the best Yunli tea from Yunshui Mountain."

  He did a good job on his homework, and just as the chef was about to turn against him, he used his brains on the judges.

  "Hehe, Secretary Li doesn't need to be polite. We're here as judges and in order to stay in top condition, we haven't even eaten your famous Cloud Water Mountain beef noodles, let alone drink tea..."

  A stout old man with a head full of silver hair, wearing a black Chinese tunic and cloth shoes, smiled and said.

  "That's right. Old Guo is correct, you're trying to curry favor with the judges, aren't you, Li Yuanfang?"

  The village secretary Zhang Dayuan of Liuloucun Village hummed.

  "Hey, I'm trying to win over the judges, but you're the one who's actually currying favor, aren't you?"

  Li Yuanfang coldly smiled and glanced at Kong Jie standing beside Zhang Dayuan, Kong Jie's face turned red: "Secretary Li, this time I really apologize, according to the rules..."

  "Alright, I won't blame you, but it's strange that someone had ill intentions and asked for your senior instead of others?"

  "Two secretaries, you won't quarrel here, let's all stand and drink mountain wind!"

  Li Yuanfang and Zhang Dayuan were about to come to blows. Suddenly, a fashionable woman appeared between them, smiling softly: "Besides, what you're doing is also disrespectful to the judges..."

  "Is it her?"

  Guan Wei, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly laughed and said: "I didn't expect that the leading lady of 'Zhou Nan Daily' would also come, this time the vegetable fight will be lively."

  "Who?"

  Zhou Yi's gaze remained on the middle-aged man behind Kong Jie, who should be his senior fellow apprentice if nothing unexpected happened. It wasn't until he heard Guan Wei's words that he shifted his gaze to this female reporter.

  "Hmm... she looks pretty good and knows how to dress herself up. Do you know her, Second Brother?"

  The female journalist was tall and slender, with skin as white as freshly steamed tofu. She wore a bright red dress that was eye-catching and attention-grabbing, indeed capable of attracting men's gazes.

  However, looking at her smiling and chatting, with a gentle and elegant demeanor, Zhou Yi wasn't too fond of it. This kind of woman was too overbearing, once you got entangled with her, it would be a huge trouble, incomparable to the gentle and delicate little girl like Liu Xue.

  "She's called Yang Cai, and she's also a well-known figure in our circle. I heard her family has a good background, not an ordinary commoner."

  Gu Wei looked at the woman and shook his head: "It's said that her ideal job was to be a war correspondent, but it never came true. Now she's in charge of the food section of Zhou Nan Daily, I heard this girl is very good at eating, this time she must have come as a judge too. Old Three, don't say I didn't warn you, you'd better be careful, this girl can't be trifled with..."

  "Me?"

  "Big Brother, you should remind Comrade Xiaohua instead? I'd rather avoid this kind of woman, how could I possibly have any dealings with her?"

  "That's hard to say."

  Guan Wei smiled and glanced at Zhou Yi: "Although I don't quite understand eating, your skill in stewing lake fish shows an extraordinary understanding of food that ordinary chefs can't match. Third brother, I bet if she drank your fish soup, she would immediately cling to you."

  "My brother's eyes are so poisonous..."

  Zhou Yi muttered to himself, glanced at Xiaohua who was chatting with 'Flower', and lowered his voice: "Don't worry, Second Brother, I can avoid this girl, right? By the way, do you know those judges? Introduce them to me."

  Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles; understanding these judges is still very necessary.

  PS: Thanks for the rewards from 'Wind Style Electric Rice Cooker', '&***', 'Ethereal Countryside' brothers and 'Ruru' sister:)

  Haha, you guys are amazing! Last night, I successfully exploded the second place chrysanthemum, and now I'm already the second place newcomer on the whole site!

  Such achievements are yours now and will be in the future, without you, Guangying is just a miserable newcomer.

  The first-place chrysanthemum is already in sight, brothers and sisters. Even if the gap is quite large, we must continue to burst upwards!

  Did he blow up?

  I believe in you guys!

  Because you are god-like readers!