Food: I, Liu Maoxing, can’t be low-key at all

The knife flashed by, and the winter melon didn’t move at all.

“What are you doing? Draw your sword and slash?”

“Yes! That’s right.” Liu Maoxing put down the big knife and picked up the upper part of the winter melon (the upper and lower parts are the same size).

“……”

The whole audience was silent for a moment, and then suddenly there was chaos.

Kuga Teruki had lost count of how many times his jaw had dropped to the floor.

“Did you see it? The sword was drawn and slashed! It was exactly like in an action movie! Everything was cut in half with the flash of the sword! It was so cool!!”The boys and girls in the stands were all starry-eyed.

“I want him to teach me!!”Yuji’s eyes were full of stars.

“Don’t even think about it. It’s impossible to master this skill without more than ten years of hard practice. Are you not planning to be a chef if you learn this? This guy is a weirdo.”Mrs. Wenxu was particularly critical.

“I’m just telling you! Mrs. Wenxu.

“Phew… I have to take things a little slower. This winter melon is more expensive than my tofu!! The whole winter melon in Sakura Country is too expensive!”

Liu Maoxing complained, picked up the smallest knife, and cut around the winter melon, with the winter melon skin falling to the ground bit by bit.

“What are you going to do now?”Kuga Teruki really doesn’t understand.

“Go cook your dishes. Stop asking me, okay?”Liu Maoxing couldn’t help laughing.

Daguo, didn’t you learn Dragon Country cuisine?

You don’t know my classic operation?

After a while, Liu Maoxing stopped what he was doing and walked aside.

The audience was dumbfounded again.

“You carved the winter melon into a serving vessel?” Kuga Teruki stared at the winter melon carved with a dragon and a phoenix on Liu Maoxing’s cooking table. The upper part was carved into a lid.

“Yes. It’s just the traditional skill of Longguo cuisine – winter melon carving. Don’t you know?”

“hehe……”

Kuga Teruki turned his head away with a red face, feeling guilty.

“Okay, it’s time to prepare the tofu.”

Liu Maoxing took out the last bag of ingredients from the food box. This was the seasoning that he had collected after running around two nearby cities for two days.

“What kind of tofu are you going to make? Chili peppers, cumin, star anise, mapo sauce… Hehe, are you going to compete with me with your multi-seasoned mapo tofu? You’re too bold, aren’t you? Don’t you know that my best dish is mapo tofu?”

“Who told you I was going to make Mapo Tofu?” Liu Maoxing said as he sorted out the seasonings.

“This condiment is obviously the standard configuration of Mapo Tofu! Do you think I can’t see it?”

“Oh. So what?”

“Uh. It’s okay. Just do whatever you want.”

“Oh. Come on. You can’t beat me just by improving the taste of mapo tofu.”

“！！！”

Kuga Teruki’s pupils dilated

“Your tofu has been specially prepared. Don’t think I can’t tell. Adding one more flavor to the five flavors is indeed a good idea. But, this is what our predecessors did in the Qing Dynasty. I have made the same dish a long time ago.”

Liu Maoxing picked up a piece of white jade tofu he made, held it in one hand and put it into the water tank. With the other hand, he picked up the knife he had used to carve the winter melon and put it into the water. Liu Maoxing closed his eyes.

As the ripples on the water surface rippled slightly, pieces of tofu fragments floated to the surface. Kuga Teruki frowned as he looked at the tofu on his chopping board.

Damn, this guy saw through the dish I was going to make.

I have to think of a way, or… just create a new path!

“This is… tofu carving!! The ultimate knife skills of Dragon Country cuisine!”Nakiri Senzaemon appeared beside Liu Maoxing’s cooking table, staring at Liu Maoxing’s hands in the water tank without blinking.

Erina and teacher Roland Chapelle were also watching.

“The biggest difficulty in tofu carving is that tofu is fragile. If you want to keep the tofu from breaking, you can only carve it in water with the help of buoyancy. But in this case, you can’t observe it with your eyes, you can only rely on the touch of your hands and the chef’s own intuition. So, in a sense, this is a world-class knife skill.”Teacher Roland Chapelle nodded.

“Huh… Three judges, can you please stop looking? My hands are shaking a little bit when you look at me like that.”

Liu Maoxing opened his eyes and took out a small white jade tofu sculpture from the water. A strange old man with a cane was sitting on a stone and drinking from a gourd.

“Oh? These are the Eight Immortals from the ancient mythology of Dragon Country… I can’t remember the name of the one with the cane?” Nakiri Senzaemon stroked his beard.

“Tieguai Li.” Teacher Roland Chapelle added.

Erina blushed and was confused. What is Tieguai Li?

How come I can’t get a word in?

It’s embarrassing!!

Liu Maoxing nodded:”That’s right”

“Let’s go down first.” Nakiri Senzaemon said.

One of the ten best performers in the audience, Kobayashi Ryodan, grinned, showing her little fangs, walked to Saito Somei, and pointed at the iron crutch in Liu Maoxing’s hand:”This… can you do it?”

“This skill has gone beyond the scope of sword skills. Too much is as bad as too little. It will only be a burden. I will fight him, and we can talk about it later.”

“？？？”

The other ten heroes all looked at him.

What are you talking about in such a pretentious way?