Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 320 - 319: Sprint!

Chapter 320: Chapter 319: Sprint!

That night, in the kitchen of Xia’s branch.

"Have you decided?"

Shinohara Shigetaro’s deep voice came through the phone.

"Now you, don’t pay attention to the outside noise, this is the critical sprint stage, if you let the outside noise disturb your mindset, you’ll only be at a loss..."

"Outside noise?" Xia Yu chuckled lightly, feeling very good. "That woman has made such a public declaration, if I don’t strive hard, how can I live up to her expectations of me?"

"Do you plan to meet her?"

Shinohara Shigetaro’s voice grew even deeper.

"Meet her? I suppose you could say that. It’s night now. The Special Level examination ended at noon, and half a day has passed since. The outside must be buzzing. Who knows, the detractor media might be using this to mock me severely."

Xia Yu felt relaxed in body and mind.

He found it hard not to meet her.

For, the eyes of countless witnessed Yuchuan Ayaka’s shout, and Xia Yu was very confident about passing the Special Level exam, after a month, or maybe two, would be the time to meet.

The gastronomic battle should be during the summer vacation.

The precondition for the meeting was his passing the Special Level exam, so Xia Yu had just called Shinohara Shigetaro to apply for the next examination.

Shinohara Shigetaro did not respond; there was silence on the line.

Xia Yu wasn’t in a rush either. He kept the phone against his ear with his shoulder, while his right hand was chopping ingredients on the cutting board.

"Alright then!"

After a while, Shinohara Shigetaro finally answered gravely.

"I’ll ask one more time, are you sure?"

"Don’t rush to answer; you may not understand the significance of the initial examination. There’s a Chinese saying: ’The first effort is strong, the second weakens, and the third exhausts’. I manage the IGO’s Eleventh Division, and I have detailed data on hand."

"Those new Super Chefs who passed on the first and second attempts account for nearly 90%, and the remaining just over 10% are on the third attempt and beyond..."

"So, if you can’t advance in the first or second exams, your chances diminish as time goes on."

Shinohara Shigetaro spoke sternly.

Xia Yu was slightly startled. He hadn’t expected such a ridiculous discrepancy between the number of passers on the first and second examination compared to the third and subsequent ones.

After a brief reflection.

There were reasons involving the chefs’ confidence, but as time went on, a chef’s foundation should have grown deeper, how could it be that the more they accumulated, the lower the pass rate?

There must be deeper reasons, but Xia Yu didn’t dwell on it.

"I’m sure!"

Xia Yu responded, "Minister Shinohara, please have faith in me."

"Alright then, your name is on the list for the next Special Level examination, prepare well!"

Shinohara Shigetaro gave no further advice; he had said all he could. Seeing that the youth was determined to have his way, he let him be.

"A short while might be one month, a long while two, we just need at least six candidates to gather. Remember, you’ve applied for a public examination, you must prepare well! This concerns your reputation and resume as a chef!"

Before hanging up, this manager once again couldn’t help but remind him.

"Thank you!"

Xia Yu said softly, listening to the busy tone on the phone, then flipped open his contacts to find Chiyoda Naoto’s number, the principal of White Seagull High School, and dialed through.

"Requesting a leave? Alright, alright, I understand, just relax!"

"But the final exams..."

"I will take them!"

Beep.

After hanging up another call, Xia Yu sighed deeply.

He had enrolled for the Special Level exam.

He had requested leave, and with one request, it might last until the end of the term.

Without further ado, in the coming month, he was going to fully charge towards the Special Level field!

"Fantasy Ingredients! Buy, buy, buy!"

Because of his ’Special Level Candidate’ status, Xia Yu was able to access IGO’s ingredient store in advance.

Switching to IGO’s online Fantasy Ingredients store, he bought several pounds of each of the publicly sold Fantasy Ingredients. Consequently, the funds in Xia Yu’s bank account rapidly decreased, almost a month’s earnings from the branch were used to buy ingredients.

...

IGO Neon Headquarters.

After hanging up the phone, Shinohara Shigetaro sighed.

"He’s still too young."

Shinohara Shigetaro muttered with concern, "He should have properly prepared for one or two years, that way his chances of passing would be higher."

"Provoked and eager to prove himself?"

Thinking about today’s remote challenge issued by Yuchuan Ayaka to the live cameras, Shinohara Shigetaro just shook his head.

Now that he had agreed, there was no turning back, and in Shinohara Shigetaro’s view, it didn’t matter if the young man failed his first assessment. It would be a good opportunity to temper his keenness and polish him further.

This was why Shinohara Shigetaro had agreed to Xia Yu’s assessment application.

Click!

He pulled open a drawer, took out a blank form, and Shinohara Shigetaro picked up a pen and personally filled out the registration information for Xia Yu.

The event where Yuchuan Ayaka remotely challenged the "youngest Super Chef in the history of Neon Food World" spread throughout the Neon Food World in just half a day. Nobody expected such a twist in the much-anticipated Super Chef assessment.

The majority of viewers love watching a big show unfold; at this moment, the internet was full of discussions about this incident.

"Miss Yuchuan is the strongest culinary genius of this generation!"

"That’s right, although ’Taste Weekly’ gave that young genius high praise, as Miss Yuchuan pointed out, there have been many praised geniuses throughout history, and there are also many examples of failures like Nakajima Sei."

"Becoming a Super Chef within ten years? I think it’s unlikely..."

Online, the opinions were almost unanimous.

Yuchuan Ayaka was too dominant.

She could be seen as the future version of Tiqie Eriina.

Ten years later, Tiqie Eriina, nearing twenty-six, equipped with the "Divine Tongue," whether she could achieve or surpass Yuchuan Ayaka’s accomplishments, no one could assert.

"Ha—"

At the "Food Review Conference" magazine office, Baishi Jianyilang, who had been frustrated for two weeks, finally slammed his hand on the desk and laughed. The laugh was so exhilarating, it was as if he had finally exhaled pent-up frustrations.

"This time you’ve hit a brick wall! That’s what you get for being arrogant!"

After a while, Baishi Jianyilang’s laughter subsided.

His eyes were fixed on the screen, his fingers danced on the keyboard, leaving only a blur.

At this moment, inspiration surged like a fountain, and the headline for the next issue was ready.

"Under the Name of Genius..."

The article started with high praise for Yuchuan Ayaka, after all, her performance in the Super Chef assessment was witnessed by all, seamlessly integrating two fantasy ingredients into her recipes, subtly suggesting a final move, which astonished the three heavyweight reviewers.

Then, compared to Xia Yu, who had recently dominated the hot news, his secretive and somewhat controversial performance was indeed hard to convince the public.

Conquering the masses with "Shuangjiang Magical Mapo Tofu"?

Only laymen watch the excitement.

...

The next day.

Xia Yu, researching unfamiliar ingredients in the kitchen, was awakened by Tiqie Eriina.

Today was Sunday, it was still early, and Tiqie Eriina hadn’t returned to Far Moon, spending the night scrolling through online comments, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, and had awoken with dark circles under her eyes.

"What’s the matter?"

Looking at Eriina across the kitchen counter, Xia Yu raised an eyebrow.

"We have guests..."

"Guests?"

Xia Yu waved his hand, "No receiving guests until evening operation hours."

"It’s Mars and Miss Elizabeth," Eriina said.

The chef’s knife that was about to cut down paused slightly, Xia Yu pondered briefly, "Take them to room 1."

VIPs naturally demanded a different method of hospitality.

Speaking of which, Mars, the ’Food Conference’ mogul, had recently been wandering around the shopping district, mumbling to himself, it was unclear what he was up to.

So, Mars had become a regular at Xia’s branch, mostly visiting during the day, and he was very generous, often settling the bill with hundreds of millions of yen, there was no need for Xia Yu to turn away such a wealthy customer.