Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 157: Strength and Frenzy

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Strength and Frenzy

"Clank, clank, clank..."

Pole Star Dormitory Kitchen emitted a rhythmic sound.

Knife clashing with the cutting board, Xia Yu was the first to slice bamboo shoots. As his knife swished down, the tip of the shoot split in two along the centerline. Then, hugging one side of the bamboo shoot, the flashing knife light produced slice after slice of uniform bamboo strips that stacked upon the cutting board.

These subtle knife skills displayed the confidence and poise of Chef Xia Yu.

Watching on screen and from the audience seats offered a completely different shock compared to observing up close at the scene. The people from Pole Star Dormitory hardly dared to breathe as they saw the dense flickering of the knife light.

But slicing bamboo shoots was just the beginning.

After slicing, Xia Yu immediately started to julienne the bamboo slices, but soon frowned and paused, "Is the young shoot too brittle..."

The thin strips of bamboo under his knife had snapped. Xia Yu pinched a bamboo strip, glanced at its length, then shook his head.

"Not enough!"

Luckily, Ichise Hui had prepared plenty of fresh bamboo shoots. Xia Yu switched tactics—this time, he julienned the bamboo shoots directly!

The sound of the knife intensified, like a conductor who suddenly changed the rhythm of the orchestra, the music burst forth, urgent and high-spirited. The people from the Pole Star Dormitory watched as the bamboo shoots under Xia Yu’s hands rapidly transformed into continuous, unbreakable julienned strips, each one of them astounded.

"Excellent knife skills!"

Ichise Hui exclaimed.

"My dad once told me he saw a chef who could cut tofu into ten thousand strands..." Xingping Chuangzhen gaped, "Now I really believe that there are chefs who can cut a block of tofu into ten thousand strands!"

It seemed as though the audience was watching not just cooking, but a performance, completely mesmerized.

Aside from his knife skills, the aura of Xia Yu, akin to that of a seasoned head chef of many years, deeply fascinated these students who had not yet left school. Even Xingping Chuangzhen, who had experience serving guests, felt utterly ashamed and vaguely saw the shadow of his father.

After bamboo shoots came ham.

Watching the ham turn into thread-like strips under Xia Yu’s knife, the folks from Pole Star Dormitory gradually became numb.

"Makki, help me wipe my sweat!" Xia Yu said while taking julienned ham, bamboo shoots, and separated fish fin strips, his fingers suddenly becoming agile, weaving through like threading through flowers, rapidly tying knots.

Makoto Morioka, as asked, wiped his sweat, then turned back and saw that the strips of ingredients in Xia Yu’s hands had vanished, replaced by tightly entwined "rope" with three distinct colors, clearly layered.

Releasing the hand, the "rope" didn’t unravel. Xia Yu’s eyes gleamed with joy, "Done!"

One, two, three...

More and more "ropes" piled on the kitchen counter. Then, everyone saw him take the smoked sausage casings prepared by Iwazaki Jun, cautiously filling each section of three-colored "rope" into different casings, not without using tools to facilitate the process.

Including Morioka Makoto, Pole Star Dormitory now comprised 11 people.

Counting Xia Yu’s own portion, that made 12 people. Xia Yu made a total of 36 "Dragon Roll Fish Fin Sausages," three for each person, with just enough ingredients.

Placing the fish fin sausages into the steamer, Xia Yu paused at the stove, thoughtfully recalling his cooking process, checking for any mistakes or areas needing improvement.

Problems were identified and corrected bit by bit. As in this instance, the bamboo shoots he used were very fresh and brittle, demanding extremely precise knife skills when julienned.

Had he not recently practiced the "Fierce Bull Green Dragon Slash" and honed his delicate knife skills, Xia Yu felt it would have been really risky.

The secret of the "rope" in the fish fin sausage highly tested a chef’s knife skills. If the knife skills weren’t up to par, let alone getting to the step of forming the rope, just the initial slicing of ingredients would have been a challenge.

"Smells delicious—"

The steamer soon emitted white vapor, and everyone sniffed the aroma permeating from the kitchen and surreptitiously swallowed their saliva.

Half an hour later, Xia Yu, timing it perfectly, lifted the lid of the steamer.

Wow.

Accompanied by a dense mist, a dazzling flash of light appeared and vanished in an instant. Unfortunately, the light was fleeting and Xia Yu felt disappointed, "A pseudo-glow cuisine? It didn’t reach 90 points!"

"How is it! How is it!"

Yuji Yoshino, drooling at the mouth, was the first to rush over with a small white ceramic plate, eagerly looking at Xia Yu like a begging kitten, pitifully cute.

Xia Yu chuckled and served her three steaming fish fin sausages.

"I want some too—" The second was Xingping Chuangzhen.

Makki Morioka was third, she had two plates, one in each hand. Xia Yu glanced at the shy Tanaka Hikari in the crowd and then placed three fish fin sausages on each plate.

Soon, including Mrs. Wenxu who had come upon hearing the commotion, everyone received a delicious lunch plate.

Yuji Yoshino held a steaming fish fin sausage with her chopsticks, puffed her cheeks, and blew on the food vigorously as if to cool it down before eagerly biting into it.

"Sst!"

It was like biting into a cracker. There was a crisp sound as her teeth cut through the fish fins, ham strips, and bamboo shoots as they snapped and scattered in her mouth!

"Um—"

In that instant, Yuji Yoshino’s eyes widened, as if she had seen a ghost, her face filled with disbelief.

"This texture..."

Sitting on the chair, her upper body was swept back as if caught in a tornado, nearly breaking her slender waist. Yuji Yoshino bashfully clamped her limbs together, as the sound of howling wind sharply rang by her ears!

She found herself over an endless bamboo forest, where a tornado carrying fresh green bamboo leaves swept toward her. Yuji Yoshino turned to run in terror, but the tornado accelerated and swallowed her whole.

She screamed, tumbling and disoriented in the tornado, her entire body dazed, the bamboo leaves scraping against her smooth skin—an embarrassing yet exhilarating sensation that left Yuji Yoshino struggling helplessly.

"Yuji-chan!"

Someone called out to her in the wind. Yuji Yoshino collided with Reiko Shen, also stranded. Bang—they crashed into each other in the tornado, then clung tightly together, their chests deforming under the pressure.

"Eh."

A faint voice echoed above their heads. Reiko Shen and Yuji Yoshino looked up to see Tanaka Hikari and Makki Morioka also present.

"Impactful enough, and the flavor is not bad, but it didn’t score 90. What detail did I overlook?"

Xia Yu stared blankly at the half-piece of fish fin sausage on his chopsticks. To his left, Mrs. Wenxu, usually with her hair neatly tied by a headband, now had her hair frizzed out explosively.

And to his right, Xingping Chuangzhen, normally sporting a spiky hairstyle, looked as though he had been electrified, with his hair standing even more on end before finally settling down.

"A chaotic texture!" Xingping Chuangzhen murmured, still mesmerized, "It’s enticingly captivating!"

"It’s like becoming young all of a sudden..."

Mrs. Wenxu stroked her wrinkled face, her eyes shimmering with memories, as if she had returned to decades ago. There she was, standing on a slope, facing the typhoon and storm, angrily pointing at the sky as a heartbroken young girl.

"Power and chaos!" she declared.