Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 224 - 223: The Cannon Fodder’s Original Shirt

Chapter 224: Chapter 223: The Cannon Fodder’s Original Shirt

"The eleventh apprentice, Shanben Xiaoshu!"

At the entrance of the main hall, the ice-faced miko cast an indifferent gaze.

"It’s my turn! It’s my turn!"

Shanben Xiaoshu, as if pardoned, immediately got up and dashed into the main hall.

Hmph.

Ujou Mamie put away her phone, knelt on her cushion, and scanned the ever-composed Xia Yu with a mental nod of approval.

"Mr. Xia Yu, being ranked later this time shouldn’t discourage you," Ujou Mamie said, her anger subsided, smiling kindly at him.

"For me, I’ve attended at least ten training camps over the years, accumulating enough experience to finally have confidence. But you are still very young; if you can pass the assessment before the age of twenty, you’d already be a rare young top-class chef."

She emphasized the word "young."

"In this session of the training camp, you and Shanben Xiaoshu are the youngest, everyone else, like me, is over thirty."

Ujou Mamie didn’t mind revealing her age at all—a very forthcoming and spirited woman.

"Thank you."

Xia Yu could tell, it was heartfelt.

"However, I don’t want to wait until I’m twenty, I want to ’pass’ this time!" he suddenly shifted the tone.

He blinked.

Ujou Mamie looked astonished, and shaking her head, she said, "You will understand once you go inside. Granny Chiyoda, she is a perfectionist taster; if there’s a flaw in your cooking, she can detect it and will point it out one by one."

"In the Neon Food World, it’s rumored that Granny Chiyoda also possesses ’Divine Tongue,’ but some say it’s ’super smell’, ’super touch’, or ’super hearing.’ Who really knows?"

Ujou Mamie spread her hands.

"It’s said, just said, that the ’Lin’ chefs above the special class often visit the shrine to seek Granny Chiyoda’s advice," Ujou Mamie dropped the bombshell.

Lin chefs show great respect to the shrine owner?

Xia Yu immediately let his thoughts wander.

The courtyard was buzzing with discussion.

Shanben Xiaoshu and Xia Yu, being the youngest apprentices, attracted a lot of attention.

"That person looks so young!" Xingping Chuangzhen pointed at the figure of Shanben Xiaoshu, "Even though he is an adult, he definitely looks younger than Chef Shigong, Chef Qian, and the others!"

Tiqie Helinai was also deeply shocked.

Such young apprentices?

But then, when her gaze shifted to the seated Xia Yu, she could not help but laugh and cry.

Hey, hey, hey, there’s still a high school student here!

"Shanben Xiaoshu, 22 years old, from Shi Lin Temple!" this time, Liangzi Lina explained voluntarily, "He is a junior brother brought up personally by Instructor Aoki, highly valued by the top echelon of Shi Lin Temple!"

"So he is a disciple of Shi Lin Temple!" Helinai realized.

Unlike Far Moon, abundant with pupils, Shi Lin Temple never publicly recruits disciples, and nobody knows their standards for discipleship.

In any case, each generation of Shi Lin Temple’s pupils is very rare; the last generation, Aoki’s generation, had only three people, and this generation, it’s said, has five, with the other four never having shown their faces, very mysterious.

Even the apprentices gathered were whispering, discussing Shanben Xiaoshu.

"Will Granny give a high score to his kind of cooking?"

The South Korean chef, Park Shi-heng, had a pained expression, as if he had suffered a loss from Shanben’s ’dark cuisine.’

"The culinary skills are competent."

"It’s just whether Granny can accept it."

Takai Masashi spoke gravely.

"In previous training camps, were there apprentices who got low marks for ’innovation’?" Hase Ichiro slowly opened his eyes and asked.

Innovation?

Xia Yu, listening on the side, couldn’t help but laugh; what innovation—it was plainly outrageous!

An outrageous person with an outrageous culinary style. It’s a shame he wouldn’t go to the Dark Cuisine World and cause a bloodbath.

...

In the dimly lit temple hall.

An old woman dressed in a shrine maiden’s attire sat beneath the ancestral tablets of Chiyoda Shrine, the room illuminated by two hanging lanterns, devoid of modern lighting, casting dim shadows.

"Granny!"

Shanben Xiaoshu reverently placed a box of ingredients on the small table in front of the old woman and opened the lid.

Instantly, a unique aroma of food filled the air.

The old woman’s nearly bald eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, "The main ingredients are fish and eggs?"

Her cloudy eyes gleamed with clarity, focusing on the unappealing ’Norwegian Herring Crispy Cracker’ inside the box, and after a few seconds, she looked up at Shanben Xiaoshu.

"Quite interesting..."

Granny Chiyoda’s voice carried a distant tone, as if it came from beyond the horizon.

Shanben Xiaoshu’s eyes sparkled with delight, and he swiftly cut the pizza-like pancake into small pieces with a sharp knife, placing one piece into a pristine white plate.

The stoic shrine maiden took the plate and gently presented it to the old woman.

Under Shanben Xiaoshu’s gaze, Granny Chiyoda firmly grasped a shiny fork, pierced the pancake, and slowly took a bite.

"Hmm?!"

Her wrinkled face suddenly flushed with a hint of red.

The old woman continued eating with great appetite, visibly savoring each bite, though the pancake on her fork diminished rapidly to the naked eye.

Seeing this, Shanben Xiaoshu felt puzzled.

In recent days, he had further refined the ’Norwegian Herring Crispy Pancake’, mixing a special spicy seasoning with eggs in the dough—his creation was supposed to have an explosive taste, yet the old woman’s reaction to his cooking was merely a faint lighting of her face.

"It shouldn’t be!"

Shanben Xiaoshu murmured in his heart, "Why is the response to this ’explosive’ dish so bland?"

Silence filled the hall.

After a while, the old woman slowly said, "Your cooking is excellent, quite remarkable for your age. I give it a score of 75!"

"Ah, 75?"

Shanben Xiaoshu’s face fell with disappointment.

That was too low.

Currently, a score of 80 was ranked third. His score of 75 placed his cooking among the middle or above average among the twelve apprentices, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.

However, Shanben Xiaoshu was aiming for ’passing.’ He was far from satisfied!

"Granny..." Shanben Xiaoshu’s lips quivered, "Can you tell me why?"

As soon as he spoke, he could feel the old woman’s piercing eyes, seeming to peer into his soul.

"Fish!"

The old woman said quietly, "Herring is the perfect match for your dish, but you haven’t handled it well enough. The flavor of the herring hasn’t integrated into the dish, so when you taste it, you have to tear off a piece of fish meat to mix with it to achieve that ’explosive’ flavor!"

A jolt ran through him.

She pinpointed exactly what had troubled him for days.

Shanben Xiaoshu said in a stifled voice, "But how else can I prepare the herring?"

"Smoked herring is merely suitable, not the best or perfect!" At that moment, Shanben Xiaoshu noticed a strange smile in the old woman’s eyes, "What do you think of herring in cans?"

"Don’t even think about it—"

Hearing the name of the dreadful canned food, Shanben Xiaoshu’s face turned green, and he waved his hand, "I’ve tried it, but I simply cannot focus on cooking with that smell!"

"Give it a try."

"Nothing else to say, I look forward to the next time you present me with a truly ’explosive’ dish!"

With those words, Granny Chiyoda closed her eyes as if she had drifted off to sleep, her breathing barely detectable.

Shanben Xiaoshu, left with no choice, reluctantly left with the stoic shrine maiden.

"They’re out!"

The moment he stepped across the threshold of the main hall, whispers flooded his ears. Shanben Xiaoshu stuffed his hands in his pockets, nonchalantly knelt down on his cushion.

"Shoot, I’ve ended up as cannon fodder too."

Shanben Xiaoshu glanced at Xia Yu, looking at him with a look reserved for cannon fodder, "It’s your turn! Good luck!"

As Xia Yu stood up, he glanced at the notice board where the shrine maiden had hung up Shanben Xiaoshu’s plate, saw the score "seventy-five," and silently nodded.

The moment he stood up, the courtyard quieted down, numerous eyes fixed on his back.