Chapter 1472: A Friendship Across Generations

Zichen and the Chairman chatted very happily; the old man and the young man were very like-minded.

Huo Zhenteng was over fifty years old; although he was very famous, he had no airs at all. Not only did he have no airs, but he could also keep up with the trends of young people.

Even some current internet slang came to him easily, and Zichen had a very good first impression of him.

When the conversation is engaging, time passes quickly. Soon, the competition time was up, all the contestants stopped, and the waiters delivered the dishes to the judges' table one by one.

A good dish emphasizes color, aroma, and taste; the first thing to look at is the appearance of the dish.

If the appearance of the dish is not good, the dish is considered a failure and is directly eliminated.

Once the appearance passes, then comes the tasting stage.

Each judge has a sign in their hand, and the sign has two sides: one side is red, and one side is green. Red means fail, and green means pass.

If the green signs exceed half, it means the dish has passed, and only if all four dishes receive unanimous votes are they qualified to enter the next selection.

The competition proceeded in an orderly manner, and soon it reached the final segment.

There were not many contestants left off the stage; the contestants whose three dishes had all passed were standing below, and the eliminated contestants had already left the venue.

There were now a total of seven contestants left on the stage; these few people had fought their way out from one hundred contestants!

The competition was more rigorous than imagined, and the judges were strict to the point of being abnormal, among whom the strictest were one old and one young—Huo Zhenteng and Sheng Zichen.

Huo Zhenteng had the qualifications to be there, so no one dared to say anything about him being strict.

But it was not okay for Sheng Zichen to be strict, and many people were unconvinced.

Although they were unconvinced, no one caused trouble on the spot. Just like that, they reached the final round, and the waiter served a braised pork knuckle, jujube-red in color and fragrant.

The judge's chopsticks touched the skin, and with a slight lift, the pork knuckle immediately split open, and the aroma became even stronger.

It looked very appetizing, smelled very tempting, and after picking up a piece with chopsticks and putting it into the mouth, the intense meaty fragrance immediately exploded between the teeth and filled every taste bud.

Although there were many experts gathered off the stage today, this dish was still stunning.

If there were no accidents, this dish would definitely advance, but accidents always exist!

The owner of the dish did something superfluous; for a perfectly good braised pork knuckle, he insisted on giving it an original name—"Old Man's Joy"!

Because it was soft and glutinous and could be eaten without teeth, it was called Old Man's Joy.

There were ten judges in total on the stage, nine of whom gave this dish a pass and gave it a high score, but only Zichen lit up a red card.

The judges looked at each other in dismay; Zichen's red card was lit too abruptly.

If it were a controversial dish, that would be one thing, but this dish could be called perfect. If even such a work was given a red card, then what else in the world of gourmet food could catch his eye?

The judges whispered to each other.

That contestant also stopped playing along.

He questioned Sheng Zichen on the spot, pointing at his nose and asking: "What right do you have to give my dish a red card? This dish is the signature of our shop. I have made it countless times, and there has never been anyone who didn't say it was good. You are clearly jealous of my ability..."

The contestant was very unconvinced and glared at him.

The other judges on the stage also wanted to know why this young judge was being so willful.

Therefore, no one spoke up for him, including the Chairman Huo Zhenteng, who had just been chatting happily with Zichen; they all stood by as spectators to see how he would handle it.

But while it was fine for others to watch the excitement, Gu Zhihao could not.

Zichen was not only his nephew but also his apprentice, and he treated Zichen better than his own son.

Seeing someone provoking him, he immediately called the Security Guard over.

He wanted the Security Guard to drive the troublemaker out and cancel his competition qualification!

But he was stopped by Gu Yuxin: "Xi Fu, you can't do that. If you drive the contestant away before the matter is resolved, many people will definitely be unconvinced, which will damage the reputation of Chen Family Village, and the food festival you spent so long preparing will fall short of success."

It would not only fall short of success but also have side effects.

"Then what should I do? I can't watch Zichen be bullied on my turf, can I?" Gu Zhihao still wanted to drive that contestant away.

Although he also felt that the dish should have been selected, Zichen must have his reasons for doing this, and even if there were no reasons at all, he would unconditionally support his apprentice.

In Gu Zhihao's heart, he favored his own kin over the truth!

"You wait a moment."

Gu Yuxin was also hot-tempered, but at this moment she kept her cool. She believed that Zichen must have a way to deal with it, so she stopped her Xi Fu from sending the Security Guard over, as escalating the conflict would not be good.

The contestant became more and more furious as he spoke; he had already jumped onto the stage and was just short of pointing at Sheng Zichen's nose and cursing.

"If you don't give me a clear explanation today, this matter isn't over..."

Zichen stood up and said in a calm tone: "You want to know the reason? Very well, I will tell you the reason now."

"This dish of yours, regardless of appearance, aroma, or taste, is top-notch and almost impeccable..."

The contestant interrupted him: "If everything is good, why did you give me a red card? If you don't know how to cook, get off the stage. In this day and age, it's impossible to make a living; anything can be a judge..."

After saying that, he made a move.

No one expected that the contestant would suddenly attack the judge.

His arms were thick and his build was burly; as he threw a punch, many people were already covering their eyes, unable to bear watching, but the situation suddenly reversed!

Zichen was unhurried; he extended his right hand to catch the fist and tapped his left hand on the man's shoulder. The man's arm went numb, and the aggressively falling punch had only momentum but not much attack power.

Zichen then twisted his arm, turned him around, and kicked him under the table.

The space under the table was empty, but it was covered with red short-pile fabric for aesthetics. Zichen's kick landed right on the contestant's leg bend, his knees went soft, and he knelt directly facing the audience.

"Hahahaha..."

The audience burst into laughter.

Someone even heckled: "Yo, why are you paying such a big tribute? It's almost the New Year; do I have to give you a red envelope for kneeling?"

"Give it, you give it..."

The man was so angry his face turned red; he stood up and turned around, wanting to hit someone again!

But he was bluffed by one sentence from Zichen: "Do you still want to know the reason? If you don't want to know, go off the stage and fight. Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

Although he was not as combative as Litian, he had been inseparable from Litian since childhood, so he knew a little bit of martial arts. He usually didn't use it, but he didn't expect to use it now.

"I do."

The contestant withdrew his fist and answered honestly.

"Apologize," Zichen said irritably.

Although he hadn't suffered any losses just now, being scolded for no reason would make anyone feel unhappy.

"On what grounds? I won't!"

The contestant's attitude, which had just softened, turned tough again.

From childhood to adulthood, it had always been others apologizing to him; there had never been a time when he had to apologize.

"You interrupted me and laid hands on me before I could finish speaking; shouldn't you apologize to me? If you hadn't made a move just now, you would already know the reason by now. This is all your fault, apologize," Zichen said, downplaying the serious and focusing on the trivial.