Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 202 - 201: Clumsy Cuteness (Part 2)

Chapter 202: Chapter 201: Clumsy Cuteness (Part 2)

Clang.

Savoring Makki’s French frozen dessert, one could still firmly grip the fork, but as they lightly tasted a bite of Tanaka Hikari’s cuisine, the fork slipped from their hands and fell.

"This slightly tart flavor, how could it be amplified like this... Disqualified! Absolutely disqualified!"

Shigong Xiaoci Lang was struggling in vain.

Sour!

Even if it was just a hint of sourness, it created a stark contrast against Makki’s "sweet" French frozen dessert.

Quietly picking up the fork and wiping it clean with a handkerchief, Shigong Xiaoci Lang said nothing and once again forked a piece of the French frozen dessert to his mouth.

"Boom."

Something was pried open.

In the blink of an eye, one was transported to the early spring of Hokkaido.

The wild furrows were still covered with snow not yet melted, and a beautiful and gentle mother stood at the end of the field, softly calling to a toddler with big braids who had just learned to walk, "Xiao Hui, Xiao Hui, come here, I’m over here!"

The toddler was bundled up thickly, looking like a chubby dumpling, the air was still freezing, her cheeks were flushed with a lovely red, and with babbling sounds, she wobbled unsteadily, taking one step at a time.

"Snap."

Suddenly, Shigong Xiaoci Lang frowned.

The toddler, named Xiao Hui, had fallen, the ground was covered with a hard layer of ice, but as soon as she fell, she immediately sat up. Her large, clear eyes, like gems, firmly fixed on her mother standing at the end of the field, she got up again.

Snap. After a few steps, she fell again.

Shigong Xiaoci Lang, barely able to bear the sight, averted his head, but from the corner of his eye, he still kept an eye on the staggering toddler.

"You’re so clumsy!"

Soon, the toddler fell for the third time, and Shigong Xiaoci Lang uttered a harsh curse, but watching the toddler with her palms bright red, her knees, and body covered in ice, he sighed deeply and decided to go help her.

But just as he took half a step with his right foot, the toddler got up again, tears already swirling in her eyes, but she didn’t cry; instead, she stretched out her hands, like a clumsy penguin on the ice, her little face tightened as she tried hard to keep balance and slowly moved forward.

"Fools get eliminated!"

Shigong Xiaoci Lang declared, watching the toddler joyfully thrown into her mother’s arms, and for some reason, there was a hint of sourness in his eyes.

"Xiaoci Lang!"

Behind him came a mother’s call, and Shigong Xiaoci Lang immediately tensed.

The scene changed again, and Shigong Xiaoci Lang found himself smaller, wearing a dirty school uniform, and feeling pain in his face, arms, and back.

He dumbly lifted his arms, and on the skinny limbs were bruises of blue and purple, not the kind from a fall, but the "trophies" from fighting with other kids.

The environment was also familiar to Xiaoci Lang, the rural roads he knew, the green fields on both sides of the road, and many childhood memories suddenly flooded his mind. He had chased dragonflies with a net on the path through the fields, caught little fish in the clear streams, and had also laid on the grass of the hillside, with his head on his hands, quietly watching the clouds float by in the sky, and...

"The taste of my hometown!"

Shigong Xiaoci Lang thought incredulously, when that pretty mother approached him and squatted down, humorously observing the young boy who had become disheveled from a fight with pals.

"Xiaoci Lang, why did you fight with them again?" His mother brushed off the grass fibers from his clothes with her fair hands.

His hair was a mess too, and while the weeds were still sticking out, his mother meticulously combed through it, and finally with a pair of warm palms, she cradled his bruised little face. Seeing him silent, her eyes filled with laughter, she said, "It must be because of your bad temper that they fought with you. If you don’t reflect on yourself, you’ll have no one to play with in the future, you know."

Hmph!

Turning away, Shigong Xiaoci Lang said subconsciously, "I can do it on my own! I don’t need any companions!"

Thwack. A slight pain crossed his forehead.

The young mother, with a flick of her finger to the boy’s forehead, her eyes swept with helplessness, "Xiaoci Lang, listen to me, okay?"

His nose suddenly felt sour.

The boy hadn’t cried when he fought with his playmates, but now he completely succumbed to his mother’s tender onslaught. Shigong Xiaoci Lang couldn’t control himself, collapsed into that warm embrace, clutching tightly around his mother’s neck, unwilling to let go.

Cry.

Have a good cry.

All the difficulties and obstacles he had encountered while opening a restaurant in France Paris, all the suffocation he had been suppressing in his heart, and the anxiety that his culinary skills hadn’t advanced further—all were released in the warm embrace, through tears, to his heart’s content.

...

Reality.

The fork dropped onto the table, Shigong Xiaoci Lang propped up the table with both hands, his head buried deep, as tears coursed down his face, trailing over his jawline, and dropping to the floor one by one.

At this moment, aside from Xia Yu and Liangzi Lina, no one would disturb his unrestrained crying. The other four judges, along with Morioka Makki, Xingping Chuangzhen, and Tiqie Helinai, were all immersed in the world of home conjured by Tanaka Hikari’s cuisine.

The warmest haven is doubtlessly the familiar hometown.

Battered from the struggles outside, once back home, with the mother standing in front of the familiar house, asking after one’s well-being, anyone would be conquered by such tenderness.

Shigong Xiaoci Lang was not collapsed by Makki’s sweet offensive but surrendered completely under the subtle sourness of Tanaka Hikari’s cuisine.

Even Dojima Yin, the iron man, had the corners of his eyes shimmering with moisture.

After a while.

The underground kitchen still bathed in an eerie silence.

The worst-looking one among them was probably Tiqie Helinai.

When it came to the hometown, to childhood, although there were sweet and precious memories, there also lurked that dreadful figure she did not wish to recall.

That person was her father, a dark chef, who tried to completely lead her "Divine Tongue" into darkness.

"Another dish filled with personal marks!"

Mizuhara Fuyumi slouched on the chair, sniffed her nose, wiped the tear from the corner of her eye, still with the same expressionless face, said, "Even, the sentiment Tanaka Hikari infused into the dish is stronger than Morioka Makki’s. We can’t control our emotions."

Dojima Yin nodded, "This time, Tanaka Hikari also used ’vinegar’. Although the cauliflower was intact and not discolored by oxidation, not requiring ’vinegar’ for bleaching, the slight sourness of vinegar mixed with the sweetness of the entire French vegetable aspic, creating an incredibly harmonious taste... This stroke, too, contains her strong sentiment, the ’finishing touch’!"

He stared fixedly at Tanaka Hikari, his eyes radiating an intense glow.

It was as if he was looking at a peerless gem, and not a rough uncarved jade.

"The ’Chef’s Heart’ on the verge of breaking out of its cocoon and transforming into a butterfly, incredible!" An inner deep tremor. Dojima Yin had not expected that there could be such exceptional talent among the freshman class of high school students.

"Clumsy... yet she’s also gritting her teeth, pushing forward, step by step. So clumsily adorable!"

After wiping his tears, Shigong Xiaoci Lang suddenly said this.

He then pulled apart Qian Rixiangzi, who was hugging Tanaka Hikari, and met the student’s dodging, fearful eyes, saying word by word,

"I take back my previous assessment, you are qualified!"

"No, you are excellent!"