When Xiao Ming looked up, he couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised. “Mister Shi, you finished as well.”

Si Qi smiled and nodded at Xiao Ming before turning to the other two judges. “I am. I only made two simple dishes. I hope the judges won’t mind.” He followed the staff member to the judges’ table, and then picked up the bowls by himself, putting them down in front of the judges before turning to the staff member and thanking him. Only then did he step back to where the contestants were supposed to stand, looking at the judges patiently.

Si Qi had spoken up before in favor of Si Jin and Si Yi so whether it was Chu Yu An or Mister Yu, they both had an impression of him.

Seeing him interact politely with everyone, Mister Yu’s impression of him immediately went up another notch. He happily picked up the spoon and tried the first dish. This was a soup that used the cabbage and the carrots from the ingredients the contestants had been given, as well as some rice from the staple section.

Mister Yu nodded slowly after giving it a taste and motioned at the bowl. “Well, let me start with this one first. This was very well done. The soup base has a distinct taste that fits well together with the slightly sweet taste of the cabbage. If this dish was standing on its own, you could have gone a bit heavier on the seasoning but looking at the other bowl, it seems like that might not be necessary.” Saying so, he picked up his chopsticks and turned to the bowl with kung pao chicken, slowly nodding after taking a bite.

Putting down his chopsticks, he turned back to Si Qi. “As expected. Your second dish is pretty spicy. Taking both together, it was a good idea to make the soup a bit lighter.” He pondered for a moment and then knocked against the rim of the soup bowl again. “If there was one thing I have to say, then maybe you could have cut the cabbage a little smaller. Like this, it can be difficult to eat.”

“Thank you, Judge Yu.” Si Qi nodded, remembering this detail for the next time. He didn’t know how far he’d make it on the show but he would try his best. When it came to feedback, he was sure that it would help him tremendously. After all, while the judges would oftentimes stress the same things, it was the little comments at the side that could open new doors.

While Mister Yu had given his feedback, Chu Yu An and Xiao Ming had already had time to taste both dishes, so they could start with their feedback.

“I would agree about cutting the cabbage a little smaller, although I know that most recipes actually call for cutting them this big. Still, some variation isn’t bad. You’ve done this yourself by adding in the rice.

“I think that was a good change as well. The cabbage is very soft after being cooked and while the carrots are a bit chewier, the rice grains add a different kind of texture. The combination of that is really nice.” Xiao Ming smiled when he said so. This wasn’t a major change but a fitting one. Also, there was no rice in the kung pao chicken so adding it to the soup didn’t feel redundant.

“I think what I like the most though is the combination of dishes. There is a slightly heavier dish and a lighter one. One meat dish and one vegetarian dish. Something sweet and something spicy. It just works well together on all layers.”

Si Qi inclined his head again. “Thank you, Judge Xiao.”

Xiao Ming didn’t know what else to say about the dishes, not really finding something that was critique-worthy other than the point that Mister Yu had already raised. Really, with contestants who knew what to do and had also chosen relatively simple dishes, there wasn’t much that you could ask them to do differently.

Chu Yu An pondered for a moment, having a similar problem. She didn’t know if this was because this was the first episode or if the tasks they had given the contestants were too easy but it really was difficult to come up with something to say every time. “Well, I want to echo what Mister Xiao and Mister Yu said. One thing I find interesting is that you substituted the chilies for bell pepper. Was there a special reason for that decision? I mean, you could have found chilies in the seasoning section.”

Si Qi’s expression turned a little complicated. “Well, we were given bell peppers as ingredients …”

When the three judges looked at him, his expression turned even more embarrassed. Even his face flushed a little.

“I admit that I was unsure what to do with the bell pepper at first. I was thinking of maybe making a cold dish but felt it wouldn’t fit as well with the other two dishes. In the end, I decided to substitute them for the chilies.

“I figured the two were closely enough related so that the texture wouldn’t be affected. They also give the kung pao chicken a somewhat sweeter note beneath the spiciness which ties in well with the cabbage soup. To still achieve the level of spiciness that the dish should have, I instead used chilly oil and added some dried chilly flakes from the seasoning section. I hope this doesn’t instead detract from the dish.”

Chu Yu An shook her head. “No, I don’t think it detracts from it. To be honest, I felt it was a well-chosen substitute and a creative way to incorporate the ingredient into one of your dishes and keep the overall idea you had. It’s not bad at all. In fact, in my opinion, you could have even reduced the spiciness a little. Just because the dish is traditionally spicy doesn’t mean you have to follow through with that as well.”

Having said that, she looked at the two bowls standing next to each other and then noticed that he had also taken time to do something special about the presentation. “I do like that you picked bowls of different colors.

“The right one for the kung pao chicken might be a bit on the nose with that fiery red, but I do like how it contrasts with the green bowl you used for the soup.” She pondered for a moment, her fingers tapping the top of the table. “I think that, if it was me, I would go for something that is slightly more understated. Maybe a muted green for the cabbage soup and or even a mint green, and then orange for the kung pao chicken. You could even choose something with a faint pattern that takes some of the color away. While having a contrast is nice, you don’t want to overdo it after all.”

Si Qi once again inclined his head. “Thank you very much, Judge Chu. I will remember for next time.”

With that, the three judges had already finished giving their feedback. They exchanged another look to make sure that nobody wanted to add anything else and then nodded towards Si Qi.

“Alright, then the second task is already done. For now, you can go home first. The staff members will contact you about the task for tomorrow.”

“Thank you, I’ll keep it in mind.” Si Qi bid farewell, and then left the room, passing by the entrance to the studio and looking inside.

Just like usual, his gaze was immediately drawn by Si Yi but he hurriedly retracted it, not wanting to disturb him. Instead, he looked toward Fan Mei, wondering how far she had gotten.

From outside the studio, it really was difficult to say, especially since Fan Mei was on the other side. However, one of the staff members seemed to be going in her direction, pushing over a food trolley, so maybe she was also about to finish up.

He didn’t know but he figured that he might as well wait for a few more moments to find out.

Si Qi had actually been right. The food trolley had indeed been meant for Fan Mei. When the staff member brought it over, she put down the dishes, and then followed the man out of the studio and over to the small room where she would be judged. Passing by Si Qi, she gave him a curious look, probably feeling that him lingering there was pretty suspicious.

Si Qi just inclined his head toward her and then stepped away from the entrance of the studio, standing in the corridor with a light smile.

She could think whatever she wanted. He didn’t have anything to hide. Well, he did have to hide that he was a member of the Si clan and that the clan even existed in the first place, but he had nothing to hide about why he was currently here. In fact, she would find out soon enough.

Fan Mei also didn’t need more than just a few minutes in the other room, only getting a few sentences from the judges.

Contrary to Si Qi, the judges didn’t have a high opinion of her at the moment. Still, they couldn’t let their personal feelings cloud their judgment so they gave her dishes a taste and earnestly critiqued them the same way they just had for Si Qi, focusing on the appearance, the dishes individually, and also the combination.

It could be said whatever one wanted, no matter how poisonous Fan Mei’s tongue was, her taste buds still had to be good because the dishes she made were very good. Her chances of advancing to the next round actually weren’t bad as long as she wasn’t disqualified for making such a ruckus before.

When Fan Mei came out of the room and still saw Si Qi standing there, she couldn’t help but furrow her brows. Originally, she had focused much less on him because he only spoke up after her article came up but, of course, she hadn’t forgotten about that. Now, not only had he written that article and spoken up in the conflict before but he was even hanging around like that after clearly having finished. She really was getting suspicious again.

Si Qi didn’t give her the chance to speak up first and instead walked over, inclining his head in greeting. “Ms. Fan, I’m sure you were also told by the judges that we can leave for today. Maybe you’d have a moment for me?”

Fan Mei couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he wanted. “A moment for what?”

Si Qi merely smiled and motioned down the corridor. “A moment to … just have a talk. We could go and eat somewhere if you’d like or maybe just have a cup of tea. If that’s too much, I’d also understand. We could just sit down somewhere in the vicinity. I just don’t think we should linger in the corridor here or we’ll disturb the others.”

Fan Mei had no idea what he wanted but she still felt intrigued. Anyway, this might just be to lure her away but then, she didn’t think that that Si Jin and the others would dare to do something with everyone else around.

The scene before should’ve alerted everyone to the possibility that there was something fishy going on even if they didn’t believe her yet. So, she didn’t believe that Si Jin would dare to do anything outrageous. Certainly, whenever he moved from his cooking station, the other contestants would immediately notice.

The only thing that was a pity was that the judging was now being done in another room but she had seen that there was a camera around the whole time when she was being judged. In the worst case, she’d have to ask for the recording of the feedback that Si Jin had gotten to be published. Surely, if ‘Golden Spoon’ didn’t want people to think that the judges were being biased, they’d agree to that.

So all things considered, going with Shi Ru Qiu shouldn’t didn’t seem like a bad idea. Making up her mind, she smiled at him as well. “Well, we’ve been cooking for a long time. Smelling all those tasty dishes sure has me a bit hungry. Let’s go out and eat.”

Si Qi nodded and then slowly walked out of this corridor, taking out his phone and pulling up Baidu. “Well, do you have a special place in mind? I’m not too familiar with the restaurants around here but there should be something nice. If you have any preferences, just say so. It’s my treat.” Anyway, this was Si Shi Qi’s sister and also, he was the one who wanted something from her so it wasn’t like he could expect her to pay.

Fan Mei stared at him, wondering if this was some kind of ploy. She just wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be. A honey trap? Or maybe this was killing with kindness. But no matter what it was, she wouldn’t fall for it!