Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 319 - 318: The Queen’s Dining Table

Chapter 319: Chapter 318: The Queen’s Dining Table

"Instructor Xia, I have faith in you!"

"You are a part of Far Moon! Don’t be afraid!"

"I believe it won’t be more than two or three years before Instructor Xia can pass the special grade assessment, and I can’t wait for the day you and Miss Yuchuan have a Food Duel!"

One by one, the instructors and professors spoke words of comfort before dispersing.

At that moment, Roland Chapele stood in front of Xia Yu.

"Believe in yourself!"

With a stern face, Roland Chapele forced a smile and said, "Don’t lose your way on the road to challenging the special grade! Don’t look back; just keep moving forward!"

"Thank you!", Xia Yu bowed deeply.

Xijian Run and Instructor Auson also came over to encourage.

"Just like her, passing the special grade assessment at 26? Isn’t that a 10-year limit?"

Xia Yu shook his head internally.

In fact, the system god had tasked him with passing the special grade assessment before the summer arrived, and the deadline was less than two months! Forget ten years!

Ten minutes later, Xia Yu returned to his classroom. Before opening the door, he turned to Ichise Hui and instructed, "Don’t let out the news from outside before class ends."

Ichise Hui nodded.

He pushed open the door.

The cooking room was quiet.

A dozen talented freshmen were all standing in front of their cooking stations, staring at the ingredients in their pots, lost in thought.

"Hey!"

His gaze swept over a slightly thin and dazed figure. Xia Yu approached and gently patted her shoulder, only to be surprised when the girl turned around to reveal a delicate face wet with tears.

Startled, he quickly stepped aside to block this tearful face from the view of Ichise Hui at the door, so as not to let the disgrace of "Divine Tongue" be seen by others.

"What’s the matter?", Xia Yu asked with a concerned tone.

Her blurry vision gradually became clear.

Upon seeing the young instructor up close, Tiqie Helinai twisted her head back with lightning speed, wildly rubbing her eyes with her palms as if trying to cover up a crime scene, clearly flustered.

After a while, she turned her back to Xia Yu and said in a faint voice like a mosquito’s,

"...Thank you!"

"What?", Xia Yu didn’t catch that and leaned in a little closer.

Feeling the heat approaching from behind, her ears immediately turned red. With a hint of embarrassed annoyance, Tiqie Helinai said, "It’s nothing!!"

"Geez!"

Xia Yu was already not in the best of moods, having been ridiculed by Yuchuan Ayaka in person, so being in a good mood would have been strange.

He had intended to comfort the strangely tearful "Divine Tongue", but her attitude choked him up. As Xia Yu was turning to check on the other students, Tiqie Helinai stopped him:

"Wait a second!"

"This is my cooking!"

"Taste it and you’ll understand!"

Understand your sister! Xia Yu rolled his eyes dismissively, as her words reminded him again of Yuchuan Ayaka.

It seemed that woman had indeed put a lot of psychological pressure on him.

Now, he even had a shadow over him.

In a way, an opponent who possessed a "Killing Recipe" was indeed an inescapable shadow.

Confused by the red eyes of Tiqie Helinai, who had just been crying, Xia Yu thought it odd—this young lady might be haughty, but she wasn’t the type to cry at the drop of a hat. She was an assertive character, surely a force to be reckoned with.

Suspiciously, he picked up a thin slice of beef with his chopsticks.

His assignment for the in-class quiz was to make a "sukiyaki" using ordinary ingredients.

Common ingredients, with common techniques, naturally lead to common cuisine.

And to give a common dish a distinct character, to make it so one could taste the style in just one bite, perhaps only "cooking heart" could achieve that.

Thus, the crux of Xia Yu’s test was to make students become aware of their own strengths, their own uniqueness.

"Character" and "cooking heart" can often interchange between reality and illusion.

"Ugh!"

Chewing on the beef slices prepared by Tiqie Helinai, Xia Yu’s expression immediately became remarkable.

After a moment, he opened his eyes, took in the lively Tiqie Helinai, and couldn’t help but say, "... The queen’s table?"

"Mmm."

Helinai responded softly.

Sure enough!

Xia Yu couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised, thinking, Ah, a student has finally grasped the prototype of ’culinary soul’, even if it’s a bit strange, but it’s still a culinary soul, isn’t it? He opened the system log and immediately saw an unchecked reward message:

"The Peach and Plum Trees Bloom All Over" (Part 2) accomplished."

"Received new task—’The Peach and Plum Trees Bloom All Over’ (Part 3)."

The reward of 6 Talent Points had been credited. He had finally accumulated 7 Talent Points again.

Xia Yu opened his mouth, looking at Tiqie Helinai’s face radiant with happiness, and finally understood why this little proudly disdained girl had been wiping away tears.

No matter what, grasping the form of the culinary soul was an important step for Tiqie Helinai, and Xia Yu had originally thought she would struggle with this step for a long time. Unexpectedly, she moved past it suddenly.

Thinking about the banquet table he had envisioned upon tasting the beef slice, Xia Yu chuckled to himself and said, "It really is like ’closing one’s ears while stealing a bell’. Even though it’s such ordinary beef, it has to be dressed in grandeur... Well, that’s not quite right to say. Let’s say it’s about packaging. It’s about transforming ordinary beef into a delicacy fit for the queen’s table, elevating the dining experience immensely upon tasting!"

Tiqie Helinai had upheld her philosophy.

Thus, she cultivated the corresponding ’culinary soul’.

Philosophies aren’t inherently right or wrong, and dishes also need packaging. It’s just that Helinai’s method of packaging was somewhat mysterious.

"Instructor Xia, try my dish as well!"

Xingping Chuangzhen came charging over, directly offering him a spoonful from the pot.

Upon tasting again, Xia Yu tilted his head.

"My apologies—"

Food Duel Jiao took off the white band from his forehead, his mouth curling into an excited grin.

Xingping wanted to speak but was abruptly pushed aside by someone.

"Give it a try!"

Yashan Liang looked expectantly at Xia Yu.

"Instructor Xia, my dish is ready too!" Tiqie Ailisha called out from behind.

Tanaka Hikari, Shen Liangzi, Yoshino Yuuki, Morioka Makoto, Hozoi Midori.

Marui Shanji, Iwazaki Jun, Hei Muzhang Liang.

And Takeomi, Isami, the Italian brothers too.

And so on.

In short, all students from the original story who ranked high in the "Autumn Election," Xia Yu had brought them to the cooking room for a pop quiz.

"What a burst of breakthroughs!"

Having tasted the students’ dishes, Xia Yu was secretly astounded.

Aside from Tiqie Helinai, those who had later grasped the form of a culinary soul surprisingly included Yashan Liang, Xingping Chuangzhen, and Hei Muzhang Liang.

Setting aside the Council of Ten members, the latter three were solidly the top three freshmen. Xia Yu had thought that one of them might fall behind, but instead, they all caught up head-on.

"That means Xiao Hui and Makki now have rivals."

He stroked his chin as if envisioning an intense battle among his own students during the "Autumn Election."

This was the only thing that could relieve the pressure on Xia Yu, under the shadow cast by the special assessment and Hozoi Midori’s machinations. Thinking about the prodigies in the original story, under his guidance, becoming stronger and outshining others, wasn’t that very interesting?

"How did you do it?"

Si Yingshi looked on with an expression as if he were staring at a monster, his gaze fixed on Xia Yu.

He too had tasted the students’ dishes following Xia Yu.

"Guidance—"

Xia Yu pointed to his own forehead.

He had managed to guide Tanaka Hikari and Morioka Makoto to further strengthen their culinary souls during their boarding training, and now he was able to guide the genius students to grasp their very own ’culinary souls’.

The purple-framed culinary soul had become stronger.

And the title of culinary soul supplier he had given himself, that wasn’t for nothing.