Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 108: The Rhythm-Driven Divine Tongue

Chapter 108: Chapter 108: The Rhythm-Driven Divine Tongue

Everyone quietly finished eating the "Spice Nine-layered Egyptian Roasted Chicken" and was reminiscing.

Dojima Yin saw this and laughed, "Everyone, let’s review it."

Xingping Chuangzhen, Morioka Makoto, and others exchanged glances.

"I’m definitely going to lose."

Xia Yu rolled his eyes. This Dojima Yin was really stirring things up. It wasn’t a food battle, just a gathering to make some signature dishes and have a good time, wasn’t it? Asking for reviews only made things awkward.

Tiqie Helinai, however, was unexpectedly serious. She put down her utensils, took out a napkin to wipe the oil from her lips, and after deep thought, she slowly began to speak: "Senior Dojima’s cooking is flawless. Setting aside the ’spice extremity,’ in other aspects like the control of heat, seasoning, and even the knife skills for preparing ingredients, my Divine Tongue couldn’t find any flaws..."

"But!"

Helinai suddenly changed her tone, "Fire was humanity’s first seasoning. Fire is also the mark of human transition from primitive savagery to civilization; it enabled us to move from raw to cooked food! The spice called ’fire’ is ancient, profound, carrying history, striking humanity to the depths of its soul. So I support Xia Yu’s dish!"

No one expected such a plot twist.

The Divine Tongue, defeated by Xia Yu, was the first to stand up and support him?

Hearing this, Dojima Yin was stunned.

Xia Yu’s expression wasn’t much better. Damn, Helinai just loved to say ridiculous things with a straight face!

He felt amused inside.

Serious lines paired with mismatched evaluations—why did it feel so embarrassing?

Speaking of emotional cards, there was no need for Tiqie Helinai to play one for him, right? Xia Yu couldn’t figure out this little girl’s thoughts, so he decided not to guess and just chalked it up to her being headstrong.

"So—sorry, Mr. Dojima, I also support Yu’s dish!" Morioka Makoto took a stance of apology, bowing ninety degrees.

"Uh..."

Xingping Chuangzhen scratched his face, "How should I put it, that ’Flame Roasted Suckling Pig’ has a bit of my effort in it too. Uncle, sorry, but I support the roasted piglet!"

"..."

Now the whole building skewed!

Both Xia Yu and Dojima Yin were a bit dumbfounded.

"I firmly follow Miss Helinai!" Niho Fuyuka said with a stern face.

"Hey, hey!" Xia Yu internally commented, "How did the rhythm get set by this little chick Tiqie Helinai!"

He couldn’t help but glance at the instigator, only to see the Divine Tongue’s lips curl into a slight smile. Realizing his gaze, Tiqie Helinai straightened her generously endowed chest.

"Miss Liangzi, what’s your opinion?"

Dojima Yin was helpless with the whimsical opinions of Xia Yu’s group of friends, so he could only look at Liangzi Lina.

Liangzi Lina did not answer directly. She put down the teacup in her hand, sat up slightly, and her tone became serious, "This is my second time enjoying the taste of flame. The first time, that taste of flame wasn’t yet at its peak, and the dish itself was far from quasi-special-grade quality. But today, a week later, the flame taste truly walked on the road to its peak, growing very fast, very fast..."

"As a chef, Dojima, you should know, even extreme flavors come in degrees, right?" Liangzi Lina said softly, "If you used another extreme flavor instead of the spice extremity, I might have supported you."

Tiqie Xianzuowen had not participated in the review.

"Forget it, forget it!" Dojima Yin waved it off irritably, "It’s not like it’s a food battle or competition, you can evaluate however you like."

Xia Yu laughed.

He indeed lost, no matter how others dressed up their words for him; losing was losing. Xia Yu wouldn’t be so affected as to lose his spirit or anything.

In fact, being pushed by the system to perform under pressure, being able to make a glowing version of the "Flame Roasted Suckling Pig" was satisfying enough for Xia Yu. As for defeating Dojima Yin? Let him advance to special grade first, or master a Purple Recipe, otherwise, Xia Yu saw no hope.

He appreciated everyone’s kind encouragement.

Around nine p.m., the feast at the Tiqie Mansion finally ended, and everyone ate to their heart’s content.

Xia Yu received his clothes and shoes from the Tiqie family’s servants, all washed, dried, and neatly folded, split into two small bags. The male black yukata and the wooden clogs he wore naturally became his attire back home.

Xingping Chuangzhen had already left first. His home was in the suburbs, and Tiqie Xianzuowen instructed a driver to take him to the nearest train station.

At the gate of the Tiqie Manor, Dojima Yin approached and handed Xia Yu a document bag, saying with a smile, "All my work contents for tonight are inside, including a document with my and the General’s signature and seal. Take it home and look it over. If you agree, reply to me by phone, or you can also reply to Minister Shinohara of IGO."

"Okay."

Xia Yu watched Dojima Yin get into the car, though his mind wasn’t on those documents; he was focused on the system information:

"Task [Flame Cuisine’s Hospitality] completed."

"Cooking level raised to lv19."

"Obtained item [Comprehension Crystal] *1."

He summoned the inventory and saw the crystal item occupying the third slot, after the [Jade Fragment Knife] and the [Seven Star Blade·Greedy Wolf]. Xia Yu’s heart started racing. Dojima Yin’s "Spice Nine-layered Egyptian Roasted Chicken" dish was well worth using an item to explore its secrets!

If his luck was off the charts, he could directly steal a special-grade chef’s recipe and just imagining it made the devil in Xia Yu’s heart want to run wild.

"Get in the car—"

A faint voice interrupted his thoughts.

Liangzi Lina had changed out of her kimono, now wearing a floral silk chiffon long dress, standing by the door of a red sports car in the driver’s seat.

Xia Yu did not decline. After all, they were acquaintances. With a nod to Morioka Makoto, they both got into the back seat.

As soon as he was in the car, Xia Yu leaned back against the soft seat cushion, closed his eyes, seemingly exhausted in a pretend nap, but in reality, he was communicating with the Chef God System to use the newly acquired item.

"Comprehension Crystal has been used!"

The system’s mechanical voice chimed, and suddenly his head was like a player, with extremely vivid images emerging inside.

A burly, indistinct-faced chef was busy at the kitchen counter, moving swiftly, slaughtering chickens, gutting, cutting ingredients, adding Egyptian rice, salt, cumin, and black pepper first to stir-fry for ten minutes.

On another side, a stainless steel pot was placed on the second stove, filled with boiling hot water.

While the Egyptian rice was being stir-fried, the male chef used the time gap to add another batch of spices into the pot, including bay leaves, cardamom, small shallots, little cardamom, and black pepper.

By this time, the Egyptian rice was thoroughly cooked, and the chef stuffed the rice into the chicken’s belly, also cutting carrots and onions to stuff inside. Using toothpicks to seal it up, he carefully checked over the whole chicken to ensure there were no broken parts, if not, placed the chicken into the pot, continuing with more salt and seasonings.

The middle-aged chef never stopped, peeling potatoes, slicing onions, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes.

Demonstrating superb knife skills, the chef used just a few minutes to arrange the side ingredients neatly in a transparent glass baking dish. Xia Yu concentrated on watching as the chef added spices for the third time.

Curry powder, turmeric powder, cinnamon powder, and even some chicken powder were added. Of course, salt and black pepper weren’t left out. Lastly, olive oil was poured in, and with hands, the chef mixed the side ingredients in the baking dish so that the seasoning adhered evenly to each piece.

Egyptian cuisine prominently features spice usage.

After thorough mixing, the base of the baking dish with side ingredients was fully prepared, the aroma of spices wafting around.

After a brief moment, the entire chicken was retrieved from the pot, drained of water, and the sealing toothpicks were removed before the fourth round of spices was added. However, this time, the spices were mixed into tomato sauce and French mustard. The chef’s blending speed was too fast, and Xia Yu’s eyes widened, "Wait—!"

He hastily called out to the system, "Slow down! Slow down! Rewind!"

But the miraculous state of the item clearly couldn’t be controlled.

The image continued to play at normal speed. All Xia Yu could do was watch, helplessly, as the middle-aged chef evenly coated the chicken with the blended spice sauce. In no time, the whole chicken was enveloped in the curry-yellow sauce.

Finally, the chicken was placed on the transparent baking dish with a layer of similarly seasoned side ingredients beneath it.

Oven temperature, 250°C.

Baking time, 60 minutes.

Ding.

Just as the oven emitted a pleasant chime, the image in Xia Yu’s mind disappeared.

"Damn it!"

Xia Yu was flabbergasted. The spice sauce spread all over the chicken was undoubtedly the soul of this dish!

Yet it was precisely at such a crucial step that the middle-aged chef’s hand speed was terrifying. Perhaps it triggered some kind of culinary technique, for Xia Yu couldn’t even discern how many types of spices were mixed into the sauce, let alone the specific quantities of each.

"If only I had ’Super Vision,’ huh!" Xia Yu could only fantasize grudgingly.

"Super Vision" differed from "Super Tactile Sense." This culinary technique was akin to a pupil skill, capable of instantly replicating a target chef’s actions and perfectly reproducing an opponent’s unique skills.

Additionally, "Super Vision" had the ability to replicate a dish and acquire the recipe. This was reminiscent of the ace technique held by ’Green-eyed Tiger’ Mira in the original Little Master—the unique trait shared between them. If only he had this kind of talent, Xia Yu wouldn’t have come away empty-handed.

Yes.

No gain.

Exiting the state of the Comprehension Crystal, Xia Yu’s heart sank.

He didn’t say that he hadn’t learned the recipe; he hadn’t gained a single scrap.

And then...was that it?

Opening his eyes, the slightly unfamiliar interior of the sports car appeared. On the driver’s seat was Liangzi Lina, weaving through Tokyo’s busy urban streets.

"Yu, you’re awake?" Morioka Makoto’s sweet voice came from beside him.

"Seems like something’s different..."

Xia Yu’s gaze shifted to the car’s rearview mirror, beneath which hung a delicate handmade sachet, its scent drifting in wispy fragments. He took a gentle sniff, and instinctively said:

"Mint, clove, lavender."

"A bit of mild spice, but the aroma is strong—is it Sichuan pepper?"

"There seems to be herbal spices too, patchouli, mugwort, cinnamon twig, sweet flag..."

Having said that, Xia Yu surprised himself. When had his nose become this sensitive to spices?

The rearview mirror reflected Liangzi Lina’s slightly surprised face.

"It’s a sachet I made myself."

She said, "You’ve named all the ingredients, not missing a single one."