Chapter 231 - Ruling

"Present the dish now, then. For the chefs that didn't qualify, please come back next year." Natasha smiled brightly, she had to uphold her reputation. Even though she's usually a cranky woman in the eyes of the public, she's a m.a.t.u.r.e and kind woman. She had let herself go a bit too much earlier, her hatred for Xie Xiu was just too much. 

Natasha had been the only female chef who has ever won the competition and the genius until Xie Xiu came and smoked everyone. She wouldn't been too bothered if the bitch only had won once, but she did thrice! No one remembered Miss Natasha anymore just Xie Xiu."I believe in you Wang Ming hopefully the dish stands up to our expectations. Don't let down Chef Xie, as it could reflect badly on her and her choices." She said, this way she could act nice and still make stabs at Xie Xiu.

"Don't worry Miss Natasha, I believe my dish will surprise you." Wang Ming then grabbed his plates and presented them to the judge. 

"Now then Wang Ming, please introduce your dish." Natasha said once again. 

"I base the dish on another dish you might have heard about, Pho. It's with the noodles I made from scratch, I also used the fish bones and the tuna meat to flavor the soup. The icing on top is the Tuna on the side, you can dip the Tuna into the soup and eat it. The spring onions are for an extra fresh flavor. When you take a bite of the fish, noodles and soup you should get a delicious Umami flavor, it should almost be like a sea breeze hitting your face, like you're at sea."

Gao Ying with a cynical laugh said. "Aren't you bragging a bit too much? Sea breeze hitting your face? This isn't in a fantasy book but reality!" 

Wang Ming didn't know why the judge had such a horrible attitude toward him. He didn't agree at all about what Gao Ying said. A talented chef should be able to do exactly that. Of course it's not always possible to do it with just a dish, but with the atmosphere and location it should be more than possible. 

"I'm sorry, Sir but I don't agree with your opinion. What I meant with sea breeze is think about it when you eat the dish, the steam from the soup will hit your face, not only that the soup has a great aroma like you're at sea." 

Gao Ying felt his face redden. He didn't think that Wang Ming would refute him like that. He just wanted to make Wang Ming look bad without thinking too much, as he thought Wang Ming would just take the criticism. He only wanted to help Natasha again. "Whatever, let's try the dish then. You want to taste first Natasha?"

Natasha loves to be in the limelight. She took the opportunity with no hesitation. "Since you all say that, then I'll go first." Seeing that Natasha took a spoonful of noodles, tuna and soup, Wang Ming felt nervous. He hoped the noodles weren't overcooked by now. 

Delicately eating the spoonful she just took, Natasha didn't show any emotion and just sat down again. "Gao Ying your turn then." Seeing the spoon on the table that Natasha had just used, Gao Ying almost salivated because he would use her spoon. But before he could touch her spoon, the production gave him another spoon. He wanted to curse the hell out of the person who gave him the spoon, but he couldn't for something like that. 

Gao Ying then went for a bite. After Xie Xiu and Jiang Zhu did the same, none said or reacted, like they thought his dish was average. "Wang Ming, please step back, us judges need to talk."

After Wang Ming stepped back, the judges started talking with each other, Wang Ming couldn't hear what they were talking about but those at home could, as the cameras and microphones captured everything. 

Wang Ming didn't miss out from much though. 

"Do you guys think like me? He should definitely qualify over any other participant here." Natasha said. She wanted to act like the nice guy before Xie Xiu could. Even though she didn't like Wang Ming, she couldn't bend the truth too much. His dish was more than enough for him to qualify. They had watched all the chefs, including Wang Ming, his attention to detail while making the eggs and even filleting the fish made them impressed. Especially the scrambled eggs he made. It almost looked like a square shaped cake piece. 

"Agreed." The people at home who rooted for Wang Ming, cheered and shouted when they heard their ruling. Many before the ruling felt disappointed, as some had even bet on Wang Ming, since he's the dark horse in the first round he had a 1 to 35 odds. Wang Ming made some people very rich that day.

"Wang Ming, please come." Hearing his name being called Wang Ming went back to the table. He felt his back being stared at by the 10 other chefs. As their ruling would mean that one of them wouldn't be qualified. "With an unanimous vote, I'll announce now that Wang Ming will be through to the next round. Zheng Yunru I'm sorry you're out."

Zheng Yunru couldn't believe his ears, they would take Wang Ming instead of him? He had over 20 years of experience and has participated in the competition many times. This is the first time he's ever qualified he felt like he was on cloud nine, but now everything had been shattered just like a pleasant dream which suddenly turned to a nightmare.

"Judges, I don't agree! I don't believe he's better than me or any of us who has qualified."

"It's fine just test the dish, if you have any complaints after that then we'll take it from there." Zheng Yunru with a stride went up to the table with confidence, he didn't believe that Wang Ming's dish would be that good. Taking a small bite of everything, he finally realized how wrong he was. Zheng Yunru has definitely tasted better food than this, but for Wang Ming to wing a recipe in a little over 20 minutes that's incredible.

Sighing, Zheng Yunru walked back from the table dejectedly. He had lost completely. "I admit defeat." Then looking at Wang Ming, Zheng Yunru said. "You're incredible, young man. I understand now why Zhang Hou, let you represent him. I will root for you in this competition."

Meng Zhong, who had said nothing in a while, finally got his chance. "Everyone at home, please give an applause to all the chefs who qualified today. Now we'll go to an advertis.e.m.e.nt break before the next group. Please sit tight." After Meng Zhong announced the break, Ming Ming went crazy shouting and clapped her foam hands. This time no one said anything, as they had muted the audio during the commercial.

Seeing the little girl make such a spectacle made Wang Ming smile. He wanted to give her a big hug. But the other chefs who wanted to congratulate him stopped him. Many even apologized as they had thought that he was just in the competition because of Zhang Hou, but just now he proved he has more than enough ability to be in this competition.

Many of them have joined the competition many times but still not made it through yet, Wang Ming had done it in his first year. He's also the youngest participant ever, it gave the other chefs massive respect for him. They were just blinded by jealousy and believed what Mao Qingling said about him.

Many chefs wanted to taste Wang Ming's dish and asked him about his inspiration and how he made the dish. After explaining the same thing 10 times, Wang Ming finally gave up and said. "I'm sorry everyone I'll tell you all about it another time, my Uncle wants to see me, please." Over 30 chefs crowded him, but luckily he was saved by Meng Zhong announcing that the next round would start.

Finally getting peace, Wang Ming could give Ming Ming the hug she deserved. The little girl started shouting once again, but he stopped her in time. The show had started again, after getting a hug from her, Wang Ming, Ming Ming, Fu Ya, and Zhang Hou walked out of the room.

Since Wang Ming's finished, they all left the place to get Ming Ming something to eat. Wang Ming wanted to stay to get an idea of what his competition would be. But Ming Ming's a priority, her stomach was making angry noises every minute. Seeing all the food being made, made her stomach so hungry that she wanted him to take her to a restaurant the moment they got out of the room.

"Ming Ming, do you want to try Grandpa Hou's restaurant? I promise you will love it!" Zhang Hou wanted to show Ming Ming his restaurant, being Wang Ming's uncle and technically her grandpa. He needs to show her that his food is delicious as well.

"Mhm!"