Xiao Ming had no idea that he was currently in the process of breaking somebody’s heart. Instead, he was completely focused on his task. Well, usually, it wouldn’t be his task to go over when one of the contestants had a problem. Instead, the staff members should do this but he wasn’t sure if everyone was busy or if they just hadn’t noticed but nobody had bothered to go over to Zhao Li Yu yet.

The three judges had noticed a few minutes ago that something was up over there though. They had discussed for a moment and finally, Xiao Ming had suggested just going over himself to see what was up.

Actually, they already had a good guess. After all, Zhao Li Yu had clearly stopped cooking a few minutes ago and already plated his dish. Now, he was looking from the plated portion to what was still in the pot over to the judges’ table, muttering to himself. What was this supposed to mean other than ‘I’m finished, can somebody please have a look?’

When he reached the table, he gave Zhao Li Yu a smile. Originally, he had wanted to ask what the problem was, but with how obvious it was, he couldn’t bring himself to do so. “Mister Zhao is already finished?”

Zhao Li Yu nodded. “I’d like to go.”

Xiao Ming was taken aback, but then remembered how curt Zhao Li Yu had been when the first task was going on as well, so he didn’t think too much. Just like Si Jin, Zhao Li Yu was just the kind of person who didn’t like to talk much.

He looked around, realizing that none of the other contestants was as far as he was. No wonder Zhao Li Yu was feeling impatient. Yes, they had allotted two hours for this task because everyone could choose what exactly they wanted to make. This meant that some people would need the full two hours while others like Zhao Li Yu finished in a short amount of time and would long be done by the time the countdown was up.

Looking back to the judges’ table, it turned out that hardly half an hour had passed. To have to wait here for more than one hour … Yes, that didn’t seem right. Xiao Ming looked at the steaming bowl of stirfry, feeling that it also wouldn’t be good to leave it out for too long. “Well, I personally wouldn’t mind that but this also interrupts the flow of the show. I’ll have to make sure it’s alright with the crew first. Please, wait a moment. I’ll go and ask Ms. Yang what she thinks.”

In general, the idea was for everyone to do the task, and when everyone was finished, they would go up one after the other, and receive the feedback of the judges before the next task was started. The problem with somebody finishing early and being judged at that time was that others might hear something that would influence what they did.

In this case, while nobody else might be making a stirfry, they couldn’t guarantee it. So if they gave feedback that the other person could make use of, that would be giving them an advantage while disadvantaging Zhao Li Yu. While you could say that it was his own fault for finishing fast instead of taking this time like the other contestant, that would be too unfair.

Surely, some measures could be taken against that like judging the dish in a separate room. It was just that this opened up other problems. For example, if the other contestants wouldn’t hear the feedback that was a lost opportunity to profit from, and ‘Golden Spoon’ shouldn’t just be about winning but also about having opportunities to learn and advance their craft. To lose the judgment process … it didn’t seem right.

Xiao Ming didn’t know what to do about this yet but either way, he couldn’t make a decision. He could only hope that the team could come up with something on the spot or at least figure something out for the next episodes.

Just when he wanted to turn around to go and see Yang Shu Na about this matter, she had already arrived at Zhao Li Yu’s cooking station.

Originally, she would have only sent a staff member over, but since Xiao Ming himself had already gone, she couldn’t leave this to just anyone. If it had been judge Yu, maybe she wouldn’t have cared as much, but after the matter with Fan Mei, it was better to be careful where it concerned Xiao Ming. She didn’t want rumors again that he was treating any of the contestants differently.

She smiled at the two of them, trying not to show her annoyance at the whole matter. “What might be the matter?” And she really hoped that it wasn’t anything serious. She had already had enough of that today!

Xiao Ming motioned at the bowl that had already been prepared, and then at the countdown over at the judges’ table. “It seems that Mister Zhao already finished but there is still a lot of time left. He asked if he could be judged in advance.”

Zhao Li Yu nodded and then repeated his previous words. “I’d like to go home.”

Yang Shu Na was just as taken aback as Xiao Ming before. Then, she couldn’t help but glance over to where Fan Mei stood. With the ruckus she had made before, they had lost so much time that they would finish later than planned. If Zhao Li Yu’s dish was ready and he left immediately after the judgment, he’d manage to get home by the time he had originally been supposed to. So really, she couldn’t even say that he was unreasonable.

Thinking of it this way, she didn’t feel like it was too troublesome anymore. Either way, wasn’t it just a small adjustment? She didn’t see a problem with that so she nodded. “Well, then let’s just do that?” She still looked at Xiao Ming to see what he thought though.

Xiao Ming’s expression was complicated. He motioned at Zhao Li Yu to wait for a moment and then asked Yang Shu Na to go over to the judges’ table to discuss with everyone.

He told Chu Yu An and Mister Yu that they had indeed been right and that Zhao Li Yu was finished and wanted to be judged so he could go home. Then, he turned back to Yang Shu Na, telling her about the worries he had had before.

Hearing this, her expression also turned complicated. “I see. Well, letting the others see the feedback later isn’t a problem. The process will be filmed either way. After everyone is done, we could upload the videos to the website. Not to the public parts, of course, as long as the episode has not aired yet. But we can create a password-protected part for the contestants. That way, everyone can watch slowly at home.

“Actually, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to do this for all the tasks from now on. There are several benefits I can see. For one, after this matter with Ms. Fan before, it will reassure viewers and contestants equally that everything is fair.”

Xiao Ming nodded. “That does sound good. I’m just not sure if it will be alright for this episode though? After all, we did things differently for the first task.”

Yang Shu Na immediately shook her head. “I don’t see a problem with it. In fact, this is the second advantage I thought of: For the first task, the judgment process took a long time. I’m afraid it was too much, actually. This wasn’t your fault but bad planning on our part. We didn’t consider just how long it would take to judge all sixty-four contestants.

“If you start judging while the others are still cooking, the time needed will be cut down drastically. For tasks with wildly differing time requirements for each participant, I would suggest doing it this way from now on. If everyone does the same dish, we can organize them doing it in groups if there really are too many people. Just let each group start with an hour difference.

“Either way, this is the first season of the show and also the first episode. It really doesn’t matter if we change a few things. Also, ‘Golden Spoon’ is very varied either way. Don’t we have different tasks each week? And won’t there be a new temporary judge every episode?

“No two episodes on ‘Golden Spoon’ will ever be exactly the same. That is the beauty of the show so we should see this as an opportunity. Especially so if it makes the show run more smoothly. I don’t think the audience should have a reason to complain about that either.”

Xiao Ming nodded, completely convinced.

Chu Yu An showed a difficult expression though. “I’d agree in general, Ms. Yang, but what about my task? You do remember that I was supposed to announce it after today’s second task is over so the contestants will have enough time to prepare until tomorrow morning and send over their list of ingredients?”

Yang Shu Na stiffened when she was reminded of that. Right. This task might be difficult to handle. She thought for a moment but then, her expression lit up. Anyway, she wasn’t the producer’s assistant for nothing. Solving tricky situations was her forte.

“Ms. Chu, don’t worry about it. I have an idea. For your task, we have the full day tomorrow. Let’s film an introduction of your task today after the last dish has been judged or maybe in-between if there is enough time. Then, tomorrow morning, we will send out an email to the contestants with a link to your video message. After that, everyone will have a set amount of time to make their decisions before they need to be at the venue and start.”

Chu Yu An’s expression still looked uncomfortable. “In general, I wouldn’t mind. But my task is mostly about creativity. The more time they have, the better. Also, they might need to do some research for this. I don’t want anybody to get poisoned.”

At that point, Xiao Ming cleared his throat again. When the others looked at him, he seemed a bit embarrassed but still spoke up. “I’m not sure how to solve that either but there is still more than one hour on the countdown.

“I’d suggest we first judge Mister Zhao’s dish and let him go home. Then, we can discuss slowly what to do about Ms. Chu’s task. In the worst case, we can just film that video message Ms. Yang just mentioned and sent out a notification immediately.

“This way, we won’t have to keep the contestants for too long today but they’d still have enough time until tomorrow to prepare. If we find a better way to deal with this, we can still implement that later.”

The other three nodded after a moment of thought. For the time being, that really seemed like the best idea.

Yang Shu Na was the one who finally had to make the decision. Seeing that the other two judges had no problem with this, she also didn’t want to discuss further for now. “Let’s do that then. As for the judgment … It would be nice to have a similar set-up as the judges’ table here in the studio in the other room. That’d look better on camera.”

Xiao Ming nodded, feeling that this was also a good idea, but he also had to stop her before she could go and have it arranged. “That sounds like a good suggestion but I’m afraid that for now, it might be difficult. Waiting too long with judging the dishes will also affect the taste. That wouldn’t be fair to the contestants. Since Mister Zhao is already done, I’d prefer it if we could judge at least his dish immediately.”

Hearing this, Yang Shu Na sighed. “I guess we won’t be able to do an elaborate set-up then and just need to go with a simple one for now. Then, you can already follow one of the staff members to one of the small rooms and get ready. I’ll have Ms. E make an announcement so the contestants and the viewers at home will know what is up with you suddenly leaving.”

The judges nodded. As soon as Yang Shu Na stepped out of the area that was being filmed, the camera pointed at the table again and captured the scene of the three judges getting up and leaving for the other room. Some of the contestants couldn’t help but look over, wondering what was going on.

Before they could worry further, E Cheng Jun already stepped to the front, showing her signature smile and giving an explanation. “Everyone, please give me a tiny bit of your attention for just a moment.

“For the second task of today, you are all making very different dishes. As such, the time everyone needs to finish is also very different. By now, only about a quarter of the time has passed but one of you has already finished the task.

“The crew has decided on short notice that it will be better to have the dishes judged in the order that they are finished in to ensure that they can all be rated while they are still hot. So from now on, as soon as you’re done, please flag down a staff member, and they’ll bring you over to a separate room where you will get your feedback from our three judges.

“Don’t worry! The process will be filmed and everyone will be able to watch the whole process later on to get some valuable pointers from the judges whether it’s for your own dish or those of the other contestants. You won’t miss out on anything!

“Now, those who are still busy preparing their dishes for the second task, please continue to do so! Don’t feel any pressure to rush. As you can see, there is still more than an hour left on the clock, so you are not in danger of being too slow. Good luck, everyone!”

With that, E Cheng Jun already stepped to the side again while Zhao Li Yu immediately raised a hand to one of the staff members and was led over to the other room.

Thanks to Si Jin’s previous question about the food trolleys, the staff members had already prepared one for all the contestants so nobody would say that he was getting special treatment. Now, they actually came in handy: Zhao Li Yu’s dish was put on top and then wheeled over to the other room, making it easy not to spill anything.

The other contestants couldn’t help but watch and the camera also followed him as he made his way outside, giving him a bit of a spotlight as the first one to finish.

As for Zhao Li Yu, he himself didn’t care much. He couldn’t help but turn around when he left the studio though, looking toward his cooking station, his expression thoughtful.