The top floor of the Tōtsuki Detached Palace, the office of Dōjima Gin, the General Head Chef who managed the entire Tōtsuki Resort.
The European-style white porcelain carvings, huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and lush greenery made the interior appear bright and full of vitality.
It was supposed to be an elegant, quiet, and comfortable workspace, but today, some discordant footsteps could be heard from outside the door.
Buried in documents, Dōjima Gin frowned, shifting his attention away from a certain report about a haunted kitchen.
"Come in." He could tell that these somewhat flustered footsteps belonged to Sakuma Tokihiko, the Service Department Manager of Tōtsuki Resort.
"Head Chef, something tricky has come up." The man with black-framed glasses and a broad face looked anxious.
"What is it?" Dōjima Gin's heart skipped a beat; for a subordinate who was always calm to be this urgent, it had to be something major.
"Take a look at this." Sakuma Tokihiko opened the file in the portfolio and placed it on Dōjima Gin's desk.
"A training recommendation from Chiba Shrine!?" The ancient Xuan paper bore a green leaf pattern. Deeply aware of the status of the five great shrines of the Far East in the Far East gourmet world, Dōjima Gin dared not be negligent; he immediately picked it up and held it against the sunlight.
The green leaf pattern on the Xuan paper instantly flowed with a vibrant green light, soft and intoxicating.
It's the real deal!
Having confirmed its authenticity, Dōjima Gin mentally organized the entire schedule of Tōtsuki Resort for the day at lightning speed and began to match it with the "major event" Sakuma Tokihiko had mentioned.
Dōjima Gin's facial muscles twitched slightly, his eyebrows jumped, and he immediately covered his face with his palm, looking up at the ceiling.
"Manager Tokihiko, don't tell me..."
Every year from the beginning to the end of spring, this period happened to be the time when the major restaurants of Tōtsuki Resort uniformly recruited staff.
Connecting this document with Sakuma Tokihiko's attitude, the truth of the matter was already very clear.
"Head Chef, it is exactly that 'don't tell me'." Sakuma Tokihiko, who had already heard the full story from his subordinates, felt equally helpless. "Here is what happened: this trainee named Mo Bai arrived at the resort entrance at 8:30. Mistaken for an examinee by the gate guard, a call was made to the lobby of the Tōtsuki Detached Palace."
"Subsequently, he rode a bicycle for twenty-five minutes to reach the Tōtsuki Detached Palace. A waiter, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly stepped forward to guide him to the assessment venue first, handling the formalities on his behalf."
"The trainee didn't explain anything at the time and went up to the third floor following the waiter's instructions."
"It wasn't until the waiter started registering his documents that this training recommendation form was discovered."
"By that time, the trainee had already arrived at the large cooking arena where Director Chapelle is presiding over the assessment."
After recounting the entire process, even Sakuma Tokihiko, who had been tempered for a long time in the position of Service Department Manager, had the urge to curse.
The way the Tōtsuki Resort waiter and gate guard handled this matter couldn't be considered wrong; it could even be used as a textbook example for praise.
The gate guard's careful attention and the waiter's urgency to help the guest were absolutely problem-free.
But how did it end up being the wrong person at the wrong time?
The only one who could be held responsible was the trainee who triggered the event; the fact that he didn't open his mouth to explain his identity from start to finish was the most absurd part!
Sakuma Tokihiko's mental state was on the verge of exploding.
"Emmm... indeed very troublesome." Dōjima Gin rubbed the space between his eyebrows.
Interrupting the assessment to take the trainee away would easily cause controversy and ruin Tōtsuki Resort's reputation.
If the assessment isn't interrupted, and in the unlikely event the trainee fails to pass...
After all, Dōjima Gin knew that while shrine personnel also studied culinary arts, they focused more on handling abnormal incidents. Like that report on his desk about a haunted kitchen.
Dōjima Gin took a deep breath. "Manager Tokihiko, come with me to the assessment venue."
"Are we interrupting the assessment?" Sakuma Tokihiko looked stern.
"No, let's go to the venue's observation room and take a look first."
===
Assessment Venue.
"Mmm, full, I'm full." Sena Hiromi, having sat back down next to Chapelle, rubbed his belly with a look of satisfaction. "The standard of the chefs participating in the entrance assessment this year is actually quite high."
"Teacher Chapelle, aren't you going to mooch some food from the other supervisors?"
Due to the power of Roland Chapelle's stoic, paralyzed face, even he, the general manager of the French restaurant next to him, was affected.
Chapelle shook his head, maintaining his pose of deep contemplation.
Sena Hiromi followed Chapelle's gaze and found that the latter was still looking at the young man who had arrived at the very last minute.
"Holy crap, is the mentor trying to drive him to extinction?" Sena Hiromi was terrified when he thought about it deeply, while the black stars beginning to shine in his eyes deeply revealed his true emotions. "The mentor going up against a fearless eighteen-year-old boy—the scene must be explosive, right?"
"Oh my, what do I do? I'm looking forward to this scene so much!"
He, Sena Hiromi, had a soul that was forever restless living beneath his handsome, stylish exterior.
"That late chef has been standing there for almost an hour, right?" Sena Hiromi curled his tongue, adopting a posture of stirring up trouble.
"To be precise, it is fifty-three minutes." Chapelle paid no attention to Sena Hiromi's tone of voice.
"Shocking! The mentor has actually taken an interest in the late boy!" Sena Hiromi remained impassive on the surface, but the little person in his heart was teary-eyed, hugging his own shoulders and twisting wildly in a bizarre dance.
"How will it develop next? How will it!?"
"Old Bai, someone wants to stir up trouble." Monitoring the whole venue and recording recipes, Little Bai naturally wouldn't miss a single detail.
"Which one? I'll drug him to death later." Mo Bai, refreshed from the Mental Time Chamber, stretched his limbs and asked.
"The second one at the judges' table."
Mo Bai's and Sena Hiromi's eyes collided across the air, and there was actually a vague feeling of mutual understanding.
Confirmed by the look in their eyes: both were people capable of stirring up trouble.
Sena Hiromi's eyes lit up. Oh my, not bad! You're pretty brave!
Mo Bai slumped forward in an ORZ pose. Why the hell do I run into compatible funny guys wherever I go?
He really was a serious person!
"How is your recipe copying going?" Mo Bai asked somewhat feebly.
"Almost all recorded. The only thing left is to deduce the ratios."
"Then let's start cooking."
Hua nation cuisine is a very vast scope.
From the Four Great Cuisines—Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese, and Huaiyang—to the additional four—Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui—even these are far from enough to summarize the various delicacies blossoming everywhere on the land of the Hua nation.
Mo Bai wasn't clear on what standard the Hua nation cuisine restaurant at Tōtsuki Resort used, so he decided to play a trick.
He would make just one flavor—crab flavor.
To be more precise, the flavor of the Chinese Mitten Crab.
"The trainee has started moving." In the observation room above the venue's podium, Dōjima Gin and Sakuma Tokihiko had taken their seats.
"Huh? He picked up a Hua nation Mitten Crab?"
As a very famous crab species in the Hua nation, modern chefs had more or less heard of the great name of this river crab with its rich fat and roe.
"Cooking with Hua nation Mitten Crabs in spring?" Not only Dōjima Gin, but even the stern-faced Chapelle frowned deeply.
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