Chapter 252 - Ginseng

Wang Ming felt surprised that they would test them with ginseng in the last round. The staff's previous actions convinced him they would try to play a trick again this round to make it hard on everyone. Though he didn't like that, they had set up the round like this. With these rules you can get to the next round with just sheer luck. He could just answer 50 and hope that the someone had answered a lot higher.

Hearing Angela countdown the time on the outside, Wang Ming hurriedly grabbed the ginseng to look at it. Grabbing it gently with his hands, Wang Ming sighed in admiration. The ginseng looked vibrant even after being shipped here. It almost felt like he was holding a living creature in his hands. The monk who had planted it had truly taken good care of it, though what made Wang Ming wonder is why would he just gift it to the competition. Even if it's a cultivated ginseng something like this, Wang Ming knew it would at least cost a few million yuan.

Inspecting the root, Wang Ming noticed something. The ginseng doesn't come from somewhere nearby. Even though the ginseng looked fairly similar to the cultivated ginseng's that Meng Hao's worker had given to him. The root looked very different. 

After staring at the root for 10 seconds, Wang Ming noticed that the ginseng had small nicks in its roots, many of them something he had never seen in any other ginseng's before. Recalling every time he had prepared a ginseng, Wang Ming felt confident he had never seen a ginseng with a root like this before. The root's fairly long, so the ginseng had to be old and well taken care of. 

From what Angela said, the monk planted this when he was young, he's now over 60 so that means the ginseng could be anywhere from 59 years old to even a hundred years old. The person who processed the ginseng had removed the leaves and most of the roots which could have helped Wang Ming to determine the age. 

Once again, looking at the root, Wang Ming stared at the marks on the root over its neck. The marks didn't look like someone had chopped used their knife to whittle on it. Though it looked like something natural had happened, a process Wang Ming had no clue about. Which made a rift on the root, which the ginseng then healed. Wang Ming counted 92 marks on the root. Every mark was almost exactly the same. Wang Ming then noticed on the top part of the ginseng was a small rift, but before it could properly heal, they had taken the ginseng out of the ground.

"Time's up! Please leave the room, Mr Wang." Wang Ming wanted to examine the ginseng more, it's not everyday you get such a special ginseng. But he had to follow the rules unless he wanted to get disqualified. If he did, then there's no need for them to even compete in this last round. 

Walking back to his counter, Wang Ming immediately wrote his answer. He had a theory and hopefully that's right. It was too hard for him to determine the age of a ginseng he had never seen before. He had once again severely underestimated how far the production will go to make things as difficult as possible for them. 

"Mr. Wang, I see you've answered already do you need more time or should we just start the results?"

"Just start." Wang Ming wouldn't answer differently with the 50 seconds he had left anyway, so there was no reason to delay the inevitable. 

"Then please everyone, gather up front, in front of the judges. They will be the ones to tell you the answer and also tell you how to determine the age of this ginseng."

Grabbing their sheet of paper, they all gathered in front of the judges, who were still sitting behind their table. Everyone had an intense stare, like they just wanted to get this over with. The atmosphere was heavy until Jiang Zhu said. "Why is everyone so silent and intense? If you're trying to find the person who let out the fart, then it's me. No need to look any further."

Jiang Zhu's joke made everyone erupt in laughter. Even Wang Ming couldn't help but laugh. Wang Ming felt impressed by Jiang Zhu's confidence, there's few people who would dare to make such a joke on public tv. Especially when you're a known chef.

Jiang Zhu didn't care though, they have always known him as the Golden Monkey in the business. At first people called him for the golden monk because of his big stature and his bald head. Not only that, when he smiles his eyes would also smile, just like a smiling Buddha. But after he got more and more famous in the business, for not only his skills but for all his pranks. They started calling him the Golden Monkey instead, but even if he likes to play around, he's a talented chef.

With a red face, Angela said. "Well, thank you, judge Golden Monkey, for the joke to lighten the mood. Now please let us announce the answer and results. Everyone is dying in anticipation, I don't think the heart of our contestants can hold much longer."

Roaring in laughter, Golden Monkey said. "Sorry, sorry. Natasha was going to announce the answer, but I'll take it from here. Is that okay, Miss Natasha?" Then looked at Natasha. Natasha didn't want to let anyone else take the spotlight, but she didn't want to offend the Golden Monkey either. She cared little about offending Xie Xiu, but she had heard from someone close to her, in fact, someone from the Russian mobs. That Golden Monkey has close ties to the underworld. If she offended him, it might not only be the end of her restaurants but also her life.

Laughing nervously, Natasha gave him the heads up.

"Thank you, well everyone, the smart contestants might have noticed that something's off with the ginseng right?" Looking at the contestants, Golden Monkey almost fell out of his chair when he saw that no one agreed with him. How could they all be so bad? He thought. But after some hesitation, Wang Ming nodded. Seeing Wang Ming nod, Golden Monkey stood up excitedly and said.

"Nice! At least there's one of you that isn't a dumbass. Now Mr. Wang right? Could you please tell me what's off with the ginseng?"

"I noticed that the monk that planted this ginseng must have used a Chinese ginseng seed. But he couldn't have planted it in China unless he did so in the far mountains, which is impossible, as the ginseng can't live in such cold environments. When I held it in my hands, the ginseng felt a lot smoother on the surface than what we have here. Though the biggest detail I found is that the root over the neck had about 92 marks on it. I'm not sure but I think it's related to its age."

The other contestants had their mouths wide open. They couldn't believe that none of them had noticed what Wang Ming did. They had all tried to determine the age of the ginseng like it's a normal ginseng cultivated in China, but if it isn't their guesses could be way off. The only saving grace for them was what Angela had said earlier, that the monk was over 60 years old. So none of them guessed below that.

"Fantastic." Golden Monkey said, while clapping his hands. "You're correct. The monk who planted this ginseng is none other than my Third Grandfather. He's one of the oldest monks alive, at 105. At a young age, they sent him to America to find a better and rich life. My great grandparents sent him away with enough money to buy a few meals and this ginseng seed, that's it. But he didn't find a job or a rich life, but instead he found a small temple with only 5 inhabitants and there he has lived ever since. "

After taking a deep breath, Golden Monkey continued. "He gave this ginseng to me when I went to visit him, to take it back to China as it's dying. He had taken care of it for so long he didn't want to see it die in his hands. So what better way to honor this ginseng than to use it in such a prestigious competition? But anyway, that's all besides the point, I will now announce the answers. Please, everyone show us your answers before I announce it."

Every contestant, including Wang Ming, then showed the judges and the cameras their answers. Everyone in the group had answered that the ginseng is about 60 to 70 years old. No one had thought that the monk would have lived for so long. Many of them s.u.c.k.e.d in their cheeks when they heard the age of the monk, but what could they do, they couldn't change their answer. They could only jealously look at Wang Ming, who had answered 92.

"The proper way to determine the age of an American ginseng, is to look at the marks or scars on the ginseng's root. Wang Ming was absolutely correct about this, even if he knew it or not. The ginseng had 92 scars which means it's 92 years old please give a massive applause to Wang Ming!"