Chapter 1078: Setbacks are a Mandatory Lesson in Life

But no matter how annoyed one is, it is useless; the matter is already like this.

Without an Assistant in the second round, Sheng Zichen still barely managed to win!

Although it was very close, he was not eliminated, which is already very impressive for a child of only ten years old.

Everyone's attention was on this child, and people kept asking what kind of background he had.

Sheng Zichen's identity could not be found out.

No one knew, because he had no blood ties or connections to any current culinary family.

That is good; people had different thoughts!

Very soon, the competition format entered the semi-finals.

This time, the dish was to make a vegetarian dish taste like meat.

It meant it looked exactly like meat, but was made from purely vegetarian ingredients; regardless of texture or sensory experience, the closer it was to meat, the easier it was to succeed.

This dish was once one of the specialties of the Gu Family.

Sheng Zichen was very confident.

He made a winning gesture to his master, full of confidence.

The competition began.

Although the little guy was not big, he was calm and composed.

Every procedure was orderly and methodical.

But the other contestants were not as calm and composed as he was.

Everyone had fought their way through to get here, and now, standing on the same level as such a brat was a humiliation to them, regardless of winning or losing.

But the tragic part was, looking at the brat's performance all the way, he was very likely to win!

The contestants racked their brains, doing their best to display their skills.

What Sheng Zichen made today was "Braised Pork"; although the name was common and the ingredients simple, the process was very complex.

It required using winter melon, tofu, and shiitake mushrooms to display the appearance of meat through perfect knife skills, then frying the sugar color, braising, and reducing the sauce!

Every step was rigorous; a slight mistake would mean failing to achieve the desired effect.

When the competition reached the most critical moment, the venue staff brought in folding screens and cloth curtains, surrounding each contestant's workstation so that people outside could not see the operations inside.

The conference staff gave an explanation: "Because some chefs made a request, fearing their craft would be learned by outsiders, that is why this was done."

The competition time was up; the judges pressed the bell, and everyone had to stop operating.

The folding screens and cloth curtains were removed, and those who had not finished were directly declared eliminated.

The service lady came over, picked up the dishes, and sent them to the judges' table.

When they tasted Sheng Zichen's Braised Pork, the judges' faces all revealed amazement.

The color and taste were beyond reproach.

From the appearance, it was enough to pass for the real thing; it was too similar. It was simply identical.

The judges gave the highest scores one after another, and it looked like Sheng Zichen was about to become a dark horse at the Chef Conference, but the last judge raised an objection.

"No, this is real meat."

He stood up angrily, slapping the table and pointing at Sheng Zichen: "You are faking it; what you made is not a real vegetarian dish, it is just meat."

The scene was in an uproar.

Sheng Zichen was naturally unconvinced and talked back: "You are lying, I did not fake anything at all. I made the Braised Pork using vegetarian ingredients. If there is something wrong with your mouth, don't come out to be a judge; go do whatever else you should be doing!"

"How dare you? You actually dare to insult a judge? You are disqualified from the competition."

The competition rules stated that judges could raise doubts, and contestants could file a complaint after the competition if they had objections, but they could not argue on the spot, let alone insult the judges.

The mistake Gu Zhihao had just made, Sheng Zichen made again!

The judges tasted it one by one and finally reached a conclusion: that's right, Sheng Zichen was faking it, using real meat to replace vegetarian food.

For insulting the judges and faking, he was disqualified from the competition.

Sheng Zichen was very unconvinced and kept shouting: "I didn't fake it, you are slandering me..."

Gu Zhihao was equally agitated; the two of them shouted loudly at the competition venue and were, without exception, kicked out, and were also restricted from participating in the competition for five years.

Sheng Zichen was eliminated, and he felt very wronged.

He had performed exceptionally well this time; why did those people slander him?

At such a young age, he could not figure out such a complex problem; although Gu Zhihao was older, he could not figure it out either.

He kept complaining, complaining that the judges were unfair, complaining that there was an inside story, complaining...

But it was completely meaningless.

This opportunity, for which they had held such high hopes and could have soared to the sky, was shattered just like that!

Sheng Zichen felt very wronged, and tears flowed continuously.

Jian Yixin reminded him: "Stop crying, you had better think about how to explain it to your mother when you go back."

Sheng Zichen:...

He stopped crying.

Aunt is right; what should he say to his mother when he goes back?

He took such a big risk to participate, and this was indeed the result.

Sheng Family.

Jian Yixin accompanied Sheng Zichen home; Gu Zhihao went straight back to his own home, as he did not dare to go, fearing he would be blamed.

Unexpectedly, his mother was very calm: "Back from the competition? How does it feel?"

"Sob sob sob..."

Sheng Zichen threw himself into his mother's arms and started crying, complaining while he cried.

"Mommy, they are all bad people, they swapped my dishes, sob sob sob... Mommy, I was wrong, I shouldn't have disobeyed you, I will never go to the Chef Conference again, they are not good people at all..."

Although Sheng Zichen is smart, he is still too young.

At such a young age, he hadn't yet understood this society before seeing its ugly side.

Shi Youxuan prepared to guide her son correctly, to let him know that there are not only good people in society but also bad ones, but one cannot deny all beauty just because there are bad ones!

"Why did they dare to treat you like that?"

She told Zichen that there were three reasons why those people targeted him.

First, he is alone and weak.

Other contestants are basically apprentices of some master or head chefs of some hotel; they not only have ability but also backgrounds, while he only has ability!

In many cases, having strong individual ability without a background is not an advantage but a disadvantage, making it very easy to become a target.

Second, he is too young.

Being young yet competing against people at least twice his age—if he were allowed to win, how would others make a living?

Therefore, sometimes when the timing is not ripe, one should not be in a hurry to show oneself off.

Third, he lacks social experience.

Lacking experience makes it easy for others to take advantage of loopholes, and he cannot distinguish between good and bad people!

The above three points all illustrate one central idea: now is not a good time to participate in the Chef Conference.

Zichen stopped crying, lifted his little face, and asked confusedly: "But, but Xi Fu said I would definitely win a prize."

Shi Youxuan said to her son: "Your Xi Fu only has good culinary skills; his way of handling people and affairs is terrible. What do you expect him to teach you in this regard?"

"If your ideal is just to be the best chef, then just practice your culinary skills; there is no need at all to participate in any Chef Conference and fight others for their livelihood."

"If you want to open a hotel, open the best restaurant, and open your restaurants all over the world, then that involves management. The hardest part of management is managing people. To make others sincerely admire and follow you, you must know what they are thinking and what they want..."

"You are still young now. The reason why Mommy didn't approve of you going to the Chef Conference is that I was worried this kind of result would happen. The result is not important; what's important is that I was worried it would cast a shadow on your heart, making you turn a blind eye to the beautiful things in society and infinitely magnify the dark side."