Walking into the other room, Si Jin felt incredibly nervous. He hadn’t had this kind of feeling when it came to the casting. At that time, he had been well prepared and had only needed to follow the steps he had learned from Si Shi Wu. Today was different though. He had gotten a task and needed to decide himself what to do before setting his course of action. Even though he felt that he had made the best out of it and even managed to elevate the result when he changed his plan halfway through, he couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t something he had overlooked.

Despite his turbulent feelings, Si Jin’s expression stayed the same as usual. Thus, the three judges had no idea how things were really looking inside of him. To them, he seemed very self-assured as if he didn’t have the slightest doubt.

Chu Yu An was actually quite curious about Si Jin. Don’t even mention the ruckus that Fan Mei had made before, this guy had also been eyeing Xiao Ming the whole time while cooking. It was hard to ignore him. And now, he walked into the room at a neither slow nor hurried pace, his gaze once again accurately landing on Xiao Ming’s face while the staff member behind him was carefully pushing the food trolley. Just seeing him like this, her interest was piqued.

She tilted her head to the side, already wanting to take a closer look at the dishes he had made, and then couldn’t help but raise her brows. “Oh, it looks like you made quite a few dishes!”

Si Jin might only be interested in Xiao Ming but he had seen that this woman was getting along with him very well so naturally, he wouldn’t ignore her. He actually retracted his gaze for a moment before turning to her. “Six.”

Chu Yu An nodded her head. He was a man of few words so she couldn’t say that she was surprised at that answer. He hadn’t said much for the whole day, just letting his assistant do the talking even when he was the topic of discussion. Remembering that, she felt that it was good enough that he was willing to answer her.

Meanwhile, the staff member stopped the trolley right before the table of the judges and stepped to the side, letting Si Jin decide himself whether he wanted to put the dishes on there or not.

Seeing that he seemed to have taken some pains when arranging this, Chu Yu An immediately extended an olive branch. “You can just leave these on the trolley. It’d be a pity if something were to happen when putting them over or your set-up was disturbed.”

Inwardly, she couldn’t help but feel that she should tell Xiao Ming and Mister Yu later on that maybe this was also something they should take into consideration for later. Even though they could expect the contestants to deal with this, accidents at this stage weren’t something anyone would want. It wasn’t in the spirit of ‘Golden Spoon’ that the two of them wanted to see.

This wasn’t just a simple show for entertainment but one that was supposed to be based on the skills of the contestants. To have somebody get fewer points or even miss out on making it to the next round because there was an accident wasn’t something that either of them would want to see. So if there was a way to prevent these things, it would be for the best.

Si Jin hesitated but then inclined his head. It wasn’t that he doubted his ability to accurately move the bowls and arrange them in the same shape again. But when it came to shapes, usually, one was able to tell what they were much easier when being a little further away, no? Thinking of that, he stayed where he was supposed to and left the food on the trolley, waiting for his judgment.

Chu Yu An who had already been speaking grabbed the opportunity to mention some of her thoughts first. “Well, let me start with some general observations while Mister Yu and Mister Xiao can test the dishes: I think that what you did here is pretty interesting.

“You have a wide variety of dishes, especially considering the small number of ingredients you were given. In part, this is because you made good use of the staples you were allowed to use. The other part was choosing dishes with few ingredients and making small portions. For this task, this is a good approach.

“Now, more dishes give you the opportunity to get creative with the set-up but can also be an additional difficulty because everything should fit together. What you did in that regard is also pretty interesting.

“The underlying shape has some symmetry to it in how it pans out to both sides. At the same time though, there are three distinct parts to it that have small differences. The big bowl at the bottom differs in color and is a regular, square shape while the other two are more irregular and vary in the number of bowls but share the white color. Overall, I think that this makes for a mix that is very interesting to look at.”

Si Jin nodded. It seemed that in this regard, he had already done well. Unfortunately, his additional purpose hadn’t been achieved. Whether it was Chu Yu An or the other two judges, nobody mentioned the shape the dishes were arranged in. Was it not obvious enough that this was a heart? Unfortunately, that was a question he could only keep in his own heart. If he inquired, that would be too tasteless. So for the time being, he could only wait to see whether it would come up later.

Even though Chu Yu An hadn’t tasted any of the dishes yet, she still couldn’t help but point at the big bottle. “From the looks of it, you made Shanghai stir-fried noodles with chicken here.”

Si Jin nodded once again.

Chu Yu An also slowly nodded and then motioned to the portion of rice that was resting in the same bowl. “Then, might I ask why there is also a portion of rice in this bowl?” In any case, there were already noodles included in this dish and she had never heard of anyone who would eat it with rice like this. Especially having it on the same plate but somehow separated by an invisible line seemed odd.

Si Jin looked at Chu Yu An and then at the setup he himself had created and had a sinking feeling. Originally, the rice had been supposed to be in another bowl, which might have been more fitting. In fact, now that he thought about it, maybe he could have left those bowls he had taken out later in there according to his original plan, filling one of them with rice and only one more with either sauce or another very simple dish. It surely would have been a possibility. Unfortunately, when adjusting his plan before, he hadn’t thought of that.

His expression still didn’t change out of habit but he nodded, showing that he understood he hadn’t done it right. “I’ll do better next time.”

Chu Yu An stared at him, not sure if they had managed to communicate well just now. Actually, she had just wanted to know if there had been a special reason that she wasn’t able to see. But then, after this answer, she didn’t know how to bring it up.

Since the big bowl was closest to the judges’ table, the dish inside was also the one that Xiao Ming and Mister Yu had tasted first.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Xiao Ming couldn’t help but want to help out. He put down his chopsticks and looked up at Si Jin, giving him a faint smile. “Well, Mister Si, I’ve just given the dish a taste and it is really good. You definitely got the seasoning on this one right.

“I also think that the idea to have the rice in the only black bowl is very good. It sets the color off much better than a white bowl would have which makes the rice look even more appetizing. But indeed, it’s a bit strange to see the noodle dish and the rice together like this. It would’ve been better to use a smaller black bowl to hold it and maybe rearrange the set-up slightly.”

In fact, having one more bowl would disturb the symmetry that Chu Yu An had pointed out which he personally also thought was a very good attempt at organizing what amounted to a whole meal. There would have needed to be more adjustments to make it work. He didn’t think it would be good to analyze that in detail though. Anyway, Si Jin could surely figure it out himself. And if not, wasn’t there still Mister Ai?

Si Jin had naturally turned back to Xiao Ming when he started speaking and nodded at him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what to say. A simple thank you seemed too early considering that there were five other dishes, and it might seem odd if he mentioned it every single time. Seeing as he was probably judged to be odd nine out of ten times already, he didn’t want to add to the impression. That would just be inviting trouble to himself.

The two of them looked at each other wordlessly and Xiao Ming couldn’t help but wonder if he had said the wrong thing. Si Jin didn’t strike him as somebody who was very sensitive when it came to feedback but you never knew.

Maybe he had thought wrong and being told this was actually a big shock to him. Well, that or maybe it was just that Si Jin who seemed to value his words like others did their riches, just didn’t want to waste them on this.

After a moment of awkwardness, Xiao Ming turned to look at Mister Yu, hoping that whatever he said next could dispel the feeling.

Mister Yu had not just given this dish a taste but even the next one since he needed to wait the longest for his turn to judge the dish. He nodded when he noticed Xiao Ming’s look and then also looked up at Si Jin. “I agree both about the set-up and also with what Mister Xiao just said about this dish. It is really well done.

“I guess compared to the one you made in the casting, there is still some room for improvement here but it isn’t bad. I think you had a very good grasp on the timing for this one. The ingredients are just right, the meat is especially tender.” Having said that, he motioned at the next dish.

“Now, let’s talk about this wonton soup of yours. The soup base is alright, although I think it could use some work. I assume you used the pre-preprepared stock from the seasoning area?”

At that, Si Jin once again gave a curt nod.

Mister Yu nodded as well, not too surprised. “Well, considering the time you had and the lack of ingredients, I think that isn’t too bad. If there was more time and you weren’t constricted in what you can use, then I think you would be able to make a better one yourself. You definitely have the skills for that.

“Now, what is a bit strange is the filling of these wontons. This might be my personal taste but I think a combination of the cabbage and the meat would have been better if you wanted to make this dish.”

At that, Chu Yu An couldn’t help but speak up. “Actually, Mister Yu, I think it’s supposed to be a vegetarian dish. Look how other than the wonton soup, he also has the cabbage stir-fry over there on your side. On the other hand, the meat dishes are on my side.

“I think adding the meat wouldn’t have worked with that. This is also one of the reasons why I said that there was a certain symmetry to this set-up. He used two types of dishes and assigned them to a side each. Even with the big bowl, the rice is on the side with the vegetarian dishes, and the Shanghai stir-fried noodles with chicken are on the other one. That’s a very nice detail to pay attention to.”

Mister Yu had also looked at the set-up but he hadn’t noticed this detail. Contrary to Chu Yu An who was used to accommodating people’s dietary restrictions from her restaurant, he had never paid attention to that. But now that it was pointed out to him, he had to say that she was right.

“Ah, I see. Well, in that case, I guess I can’t complain. Either way, the wontons themselves are done well, but it’s probably just not to my taste. But now that Judge Chu has pointed the idea behind it out, I agree it is a good one. I think I like the most that I actually didn’t notice. That just goes to show how understated this is. Very well done!”

Si Jin still wasn’t sure what to say to all this so he inclined his head, silently taking note of what had been mentioned. In fact, he had also known that the wontons probably wouldn’t be as good as they should be considering his lack of ingredients. Having this pointed out was merely telling him that his judgment had been right. In a sense, this was also something he was grateful for. It meant his skills were on the right track.

Since Mister Yu had already mentioned the wonton soup, Xiao Ming and Chu Yu An couldn’t help but give it a taste as well. The latter also took a bite of the Shanghai stir-fried noodles with chicken, even though she probably wouldn’t have anything to add. Either way, with six dishes, this time, there really was more than enough to say so they didn’t need to beat a dead horse and go on about something that had already been mentioned by the others. They could just pick another dish and talk about that.

In regard to the soup, she actually had something to say. “I do agree that you could make a better soup base. In fact, I think that you could’ve made a better one even with what you were given. It might not have been perfect, but you did have some vegetables at least.

“Then again, I guess managing several dishes in a short amount of time really wasn’t easy?” Since they had changed the room right when Zhao Li Yu finished with his stir-fry, she wasn’t too sure about this. She hadn’t been able to see Si Jin’s process after all.

But if it was true that he had only started to learn how to cook not too long ago, then she could imagine that time management would be one of the things he might struggle with. Because even though he seemed like a very organized person, there was only so much you could learn in a short amount of time, wasn’t there?

Si Jin wasn’t sure if he should nod or not. In fact, he hadn’t felt that it was too difficult. The biggest problem had been to find the right way to plate this many dishes without screwing up the idea he had had for the presentation. So nodding seemed to be wrong.

But shaking his head also didn’t seem right because it had taken some deliberation to figure out when to do which dish. And he also felt that despite the fact that he was rather fast at processing the ingredients, he still couldn’t keep up with the kind of speed that he had seen Si Shi Wu use to finish his dishes and those were infinitely more complicated than the ones he needed to make. So really, it was a bit of both.

Not getting an answer either way, Chu Yu An wasn’t sure what she should say. In the end, she just faintly cleared her throat. “Well, I would say for next time, when there is something like this, you can be a bit bolder. Sometimes, that can even lead to surprising results. But then, I guess you did go out on a limb to try this kind of set-up already. You can be proud of yourself for that.”

At that, Si Jin finally nodded. It seemed that this was a good thing and it was in line with what he had thought as well. Doing several dishes — even though it meant that he had to amend some of the recipes — had been the right choice.

The praise had come from Chu Yu An instead of Xiao Ming, but he still believed that Xiao Ming was of the same opinion. Despite the fact that he hadn’t mastered cooking in any sense of the word, he had at least this much trust in his skills.