Reborn in Japan as a Chef God
Chapter 613 - 612: The Fruits of Harvest

Chapter 613: Chapter 612: The Fruits of Harvest

"That is..."

Zhu Qing stood with her mouth and nose covered, looking absolutely shocked.

On the stand in front of Xia Yu, an ingredient box had been opened, revealing a faint shimmering rainbow light.

At the center of the light were three round, fist-sized fruits.

"Rainbow Fruit!"

Zhu Qing obviously recognized this forbidden, dreamy ingredient.

"There are seven different stages of taste, and its juice can evaporate to form a rainbow in the air. A single drop can dye a swimming pool, turning the entire pool water into the juice—truly a fantastical ingredient!"

She exclaimed, and then a light seemed to flash in her head, her breathing growing heavy.

The "Rainbow Fruit" was acknowledged as a prized possession that all brewers dreamed of!

If handled properly, the "Rainbow Fruit" could be used to make many kinds of drinks. Once, a Dragon Chef used it to create a legendary drink, the "rainbow cocktail." But since that Dragon Chef passed away, the drink had disappeared, much to the regret of countless gourmets.

"Yu, you knew the topic in advance, didn’t you!"

Taking three strides in one, Zhu Qing rushed forward, excitedly shaking Xia Yu’s shoulders. Xia Yu was lowering his head, pondering and recalling what Yuchuan Ayaka had described, and now he couldn’t help but feel resigned, "Stop shaking! And what are you talking about?!"

Zhu Qing’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

"With the ’Rainbow Fruit,’ our team can easily break into the top ten and take a spot for advancing!"

"No!"

Then he negated himself, "Top ten is too mediocre, our goal is—first place!"

"Yu, repeat after me, come on, our goal is first place!"

"Stop going crazy!"

With a slap, Xia Yu unceremoniously knocked Zhu Qing’s hands away, raised his eyebrows and said, "Cool it, explain it to me properly later!"

With that, he turned his head to converse with Yuchuan Ayaka and ignored Zhu Qing.

About half an hour later.

Having received accurate ingredient information from Yuchuan Ayaka, Xia Yu turned off the video, satisfied. Yuchuan Ayaka had no secrets here with him, giving answers whenever asked. Of course, Xia Yu wasn’t a bad boss, always treating her with enough respect and often interacting with her, which had notably improved her culinary skills since their cooking competitions.

This time, Yuchuan Ayaka was just returning a favor.

Looking back, Zhu Qing was like a kid with a new toy, leaning her cheeks on her hands as she lay on the stand, her upper body tipping forward, her buttocks raised high. She had just arrived at the villa this morning and was still dressed in her professional tube skirt, which was now taut and looked quite enticing in her pose.

Yet, Xia Yu had no flirty thoughts, one thing this elder had right. An aunt is half a mother after all, though well, this playful and smiling elder isn’t quite serious, but respect is still due.

Teasingly, he also imitated Zhu Qing’s posture and laid down.

Turning his head to look, Zhu Qing, hearing his movement, finally turned her gaze towards him. Her bleary eyes cleared slightly, and she showed an embarrassed grin at Xia Yu, but that was just her nature. Soon enough, a giggly smile appeared on her pretty face again.

"Awesome!" she praised, giving a thumbs-up, "I was worrying about how to tackle the problem, but now with the most dreamy ingredient, I don’t have to think too much, just go straight in—"

Full of imposing aura.

Another slap knocked away her raised thumb.

"What problem? At least explain it to me clearly!" Xia Yu demanded, veins popping on his forehead.

"...Eh?"

Zhu Qing, confused, "Didn’t you know the topic for the first round was ’wine,’ so you prepared the ’Rainbow Fruit’ specifically for it?"

"Damn!"

"Damn, damn, damn, damn!"

Xia Yu was stunned, swearing in surprise: "The first round’s topic is ’wine,’ for real? Are you sure?"

Zhu Qing burst into laughter after a moment of surprise and darted out the door. When she returned, she slapped a letter on the table.

"See for yourself!"

Carefully and repeatedly, Xia Yu read the official letter several times before reluctantly accepting the first round’s theme was "wine."

Undoubtedly.

These three "Rainbow Fruits" were indeed harvested from the Rainbow Tree farm. With neither exceptionally bad nor outstanding luck, obtaining three out of a possible two to four was a perfectly average yield—not too surprising yet not disappointing.

With ingredients in hand, Xia Yu was set to research the long-neglected golden recipes for "Rainbow Wine" and "Rainbow Pudding."

For that purpose, he unabashedly sought advice from Yuchuan Ayaka on the most basic handling techniques.

"So, do you believe it now?" Zhu Qing asked, her eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Mmm..."

He responded.

After a brief hesitation, Xia Yu fetched some paper and a pen, carefully copied the newly learned "Rainbow Wine" recipe, and handed it to Zhu Qing. "Check this recipe and see if it works. If it does, we can start our research and practice today."

"You have a ready-made recipe?"

Expressing surprise with a raised brow, Zhu Qing chuckled. "That’s the spirit!"

However, her expression changed after skimming the recipe.

Reviewed it from start to finish.

"Huff—"

Taking a deep breath to steady her racing heart, Zhu Qing intently looked at the younger man who brought so many surprises and shocks, "This recipe... is it yours? I mean, did you create it yourself?"

"Forget where the recipe came from!" Xia Yu shrugged. "Can we use it in the first round of the competition?"

"Nonsense!"

Zhu Qing couldn’t help but exclaim, her voice unusually loud: "If I hadn’t been watching you the whole time, I would have suspected that this recipe was stolen from the IGO headquarters. It’s just so similar to the recorded ’Rainbow Cocktail’ and ’Miracle Wine!’"

With both ingredients and recipes ready,

that night, Xia Yu and Zhu Qing worked tirelessly.

But when they began the practical phase, they encountered various challenges—

Such as mastering the "Rainbow Fruit."

For an ingredient where a single drop of juice could color an entire pool of water, mastery was particularly crucial. Even though Zhu Qing was a Lin Chef, mastering it proved difficult, causing them to waste one fruit completely before they began to grasp it somewhat.

In collaboration, dividing tasks was crucial.

For the mastery phase, Xia Yu tried using "Food Dominator" to conquer the "Rainbow Fruit," while Zhu Qing attempted to subdue it with "Food Righteousness." Afterwards, they planned to decide which method was more appropriate.

Numerous details needed to be perfected in the actual drink mixing phase.

"Yu, take a look at this step in the recipe, using the Speed Brewing Method to ferment the juice, just mix it with other spirits and rock sugar..."

In the deep night, Zhu Qing, propping her cheek with one hand, yawned and handed over a heavily modified draft to Xia Yu: "The key lies in the spirit and the sugar. The ’Rainbow Fruit’s’ juice naturally carries seven different stages of flavor and color, but the issue is how to reflect these flavors and colors in the same drink. With the Speed Brewing Method, the spirit needs to be clean-tasting, without any overwhelming flavors."

"Compatibility!"

Zhu Qing uttered the word: "We need to find the right spirit within three days... If we can’t transform the juice into wine, the ’Rainbow Wine’ recipe can’t be realized!"

Xia Yu nodded.

"More practice!"

In this regard, Xia Yu was full of confidence.

Despite having few fruits left, one fruit could extract quite a bit of juice, and a single drop was enough for one trial—Xia Yu wasn’t worried about running out of ingredients.

Keeping the last fruit for the competition would be sufficient.