James was standing at the door, watching Xiao Ping's strange actions, but he didn't hide his caution and was still thinking about what Xiao Ping had said earlier.
'What is that man doing at the entrance? Why doesn't he come in!? Is he afraid of my words? How can he not be afraid? Humans are sensitive creatures when you threaten their favorite people, whether they are people they love or relatives... this threat is enough to make them feel fear.' Xiao Ping turned his head and looked at James with a calm smile on his face. "Come here, partner, we have a competition here!"
This smile is capable of turning things around in a person's mind and completely contradicting their thoughts about you, making you completely unpredictable. Xiao Ping had been devising a meticulous plan from the beginning to trap James, but with great caution.
James looked at that smile Xiao Ping showed him and felt there was something wrong with it, but he didn't show it and entered the kitchen before saying: "Alright, I'm coming to you! But thinking about this: who will be the judge?" James asked in a natural way.
'Very impressive, he doesn't show on his face that we just threatened each other. He must be an expert at this!' Xiao Ping thought before saying: "That's easy! It should be Madeline or Sticky!" Xiao Ping spoke confidently.
"I'm afraid Madeline won't appear anytime soon!" James said it while leaning his body against the left side of that shelf before saying: "As for Sticky, he's a lazy cat who loves to sleep a lot, and I think the food you make will be bad in Sticky's opinion even if he doesn't taste it!"
"I think you mean your food! As for my food, the least that can be said is that it's legendary!" Xiao Ping thumped his chest while moving towards the dual-use gas stove.
"You seem very confident, for a previous loser!" James looked with his crimson eye, and there was a challenging glow in it.
"The loser is the one who talks too much! The winner will be seen only through his actions!" Xiao Ping replied, and his eyes also showed a faint glow of challenge within them.
"We'll see!" James replied coldly as he approached the dual stove.
"Is there any meat? Or fish?" Xiao Ping asked.
"Yes there is, it's pork from the northern plains. Buying it cost a total of 3 copper liras." James replied.
"Pork? Disgusting, man! It's really disgusting!" Xiao Ping replied and almost vomited. He continued: "Is there meat like lamb breast or sheep or mutton? These meats are much better than dirty pork!"
"No, there isn't... only there is pork and some fresh fish that Madeline bought this morning!" And saying that, he pointed to a specific shelf where the fish was, before continuing to say: "If you think pork is harmful, you're wrong! It's delicious!"
"What? Delicious? Hehehe, it seems you've hit your head on something! And in terms of harm, pork sits on the throne of the dirtiest types of animals on Earth, not to mention that its meat contains a fat percentage equal to 100%!" He paused a little and continued: "Well, I said no bets, but what I'm going to say isn't a bet but a condition! If I win, you and Madeline must stop eating dirty pork! You have the right to propose a condition for yourself or reject the condition I set! Of course, if you're just afraid of losing!" Xiao Ping's last words aimed to pull James into the duel compulsorily, truly putting him in a difficult position.
'Is he trying to play with words to pull me into accepting his condition? A good attempt, I won't fall for such pitiful tricks.' James thought and was about to refuse that condition, but a voice suddenly intervened.
"James will accept your condition!" Madeline said while standing at the kitchen entrance. The embarrassment had disappeared and there was nothing left to make her face red.
She wanted to compete with Xiao Ping herself, but she saw that James wanted to compete, so she made a decision not to interfere between their duel. But the talk he said about pork caught her attention, as eating pork had been a normal thing since a long time ago, but Xiao Ping's description of it as dirty and high in fat... made her want to stop eating its meat, but she saw that James was hesitant about this condition, so she intervened!
'Yes, keep pushing him like that! And one day he will fall into the abyss because of these interventions of yours! But this doesn't matter, because it's in my favor!' Xiao Ping thought while saying: "Do you accept, James?!" Xiao Ping extended his hands like a devil towards James.
'Madeline is interfering again! If this continues like this always, I'll die one day!' James lamented to himself before extending his hand and saying: "I've accepted, but my condition is that you become a worker in this café for six months if you lose." Compared to their first handshake in the bar, this was a handshake between two devils pretending to be innocent!
'Six months? Damn you! What do you really think I am? Well, have it your way, if you can even win in the first place!' Xiao Ping looked at James's hand which remained holding his for some time and said: "Let go of me, I'm starting to suspect you're gay?"
"Gay? What the hell are you saying!.." James was shocked by Xiao Ping's words, so he quickly moved his hand away from him… and Xiao Ping did the same.
"Then, since I'm here, I'll be the judge!" Madeline said in a sweet voice before continuing: "Since lunchtime has come, you two will prepare lunch, and I will judge by tasting between the two dishes!"
'I feel sorry for making this young lady taste the flavor of dirty pork, but what can I do? This world is stupid to a scary degree? Is not eating an option for you to eat pork? No... humans are strange creatures.' Xiao Ping waved his hand coldly before putting his hand in his back pants pocket.
He took out a round pocket watch, its color was gold with some strange engravings on the back surface, and it also had a 20 cm long chain.
Whenever Xiao Ping looked at it, he felt depressed because he couldn't tell what time it was, because it was written in a strange language and he couldn't read it.
'It's that watch from before!' James spoke to himself, there was a slight admiration in his eyes towards that watch in Xiao Ping's hand, and he had refused to sell it to him before, making him regretful.
It's very beautiful, Madeline spoke to herself, and thought that this boy had many surprises up his sleeve.
"Catch this!" Xiao Ping said while throwing that watch towards Madeline.
Madeline caught that watch thrown to her by Xiao Ping, but she couldn't stop herself from asking, saying: "But why, Ping, did you throw it to me?"
"Use it to measure time, meaning give us a specific time to cook in!" Xiao Ping replied indifferently.
"Ah! You mean this then." Madeline spoke while focusing on the words on the watch, then raised her head before saying: "The time now is about 11:43 AM, and the time given to you is 40 minutes, meaning at 12:23 PM the time ends!"
"Alright, this is more than enough to crush you!" James spoke arrogantly!
"As I said: the one who talks too much, cries last. Prepare yourself from now to not eat pork for life!" Xiao Ping replied, very confident of his victory.
"Alright… let the cooking competition begin!" Madeline shouted, announcing the start of the awaited competition.
At that moment, Xiao Ping moved towards his ingredients, and he had four fish with some vegetables like lemon and parsley, and also a kilogram of rice and wheat, and many different spices like curry and pepper and others.
He felt sorry because… there was no hot chili, otherwise the final taste would have been better than expected!
He didn't care about this, so he quickly lifted four fish from the shelf and took a look to see what the difference was.
This fish he was going to cook wasn't very different from the fish he knew in his previous world. There was only a difference in size, and in terms of shape it was the same. Just the type of fish he was cooking now was called «Sol», and this type is characterized by being very flat and oval-shaped, living near the seabed, and characterized by pure white meat, firm, and almost free of small bones, making it the favorite of upscale restaurants in his previous world! And it was very easy to separate the meat from the backbone with one fork strike.
My luck is very good to meet this luxurious type of fish in this era! Xiao Ping laughed internally.
He took out a wooden cutting board from the shelf, with a fork and knife, before washing them well in the sink, and after that he washed the fish and vegetables, and put the rice inside a pot and poured water over it to soften it and be ready for preparation.
After this, he put the fish on the wooden board, and used the fork to separate the thin backbone of the fish before cutting it quickly and with high skill into slices.
James put the rice in a pot and poured water over it, to soften and be ready to cook on low heat after several minutes.
After that, he took out a cutting board made of wood but it was large with an equally large knife… and washed them with the pork and vegetables, then placed them on the cutting board.
His hand moved and he cut very quickly, after cutting the meat carefully… then put the pork in another pot, and put on it some spices and seasonings he had selected, and also a sprinkle of salt extracted from the Sea of Oblivion!
After that, he put the vegetables in the same pot on the pork to form an artistic plate… and the vegetables he put were like potatoes, tomatoes, and parsley.
At that moment, James wasn't cooking food, but was more like painting an artistic painting. He put oil and water on the pork and chopped vegetables… after that he took the rice pot and emptied it of water, then put the rice in the pork pot.
He took the pot lid from the shelf before placing it on the pot, and headed towards the dual gas oven and placed the pot on it, before lighting the oven and leaving it on the heat, and stepped back.
"Hssss!" He heard a hissing sound due to the oil boiling in the pot.
James went back towards the left shelf and leaned against it, with one foot on the ground and the other on the shelf.
At that moment, James looked towards Xiao Ping who was carefully cutting vegetables, but he was somewhat slow compared to his earlier fish cutting.
So a smile appeared on his lips because of Xiao Ping's slowness in preparation.
'Hehehe, you will inevitably lose to me! And become a waiter here for six months! But this is only in the morning period, because we will work together as investigators anyway in the afternoon period! This will make you feel tired and exhausted and regret saying that pork is bad and dirty!' James laughed to himself, and was just waiting for the time to end and know the winner, while waiting quietly for his pork stew to cook.
Madeline was standing holding that watch in her hand, while features of shock were appearing on her face. James's skills were wonderful, but Xiao Ping's skills were no less.
'Their skills are really good, making them like imperial palace chefs! To be honest, it will be difficult to judge them.. so let's taste what they cooked and decide later who is better. Thinking about it: would I be completely useless if both of them have this skill? No no… don't think about these things, Madeline… you can never be dispensed with, so push these thoughts out of your mind, and focus on judging these two people who turned an ordinary competition into a war in your kitchen!.. No matter what, I must be useful in something.' Madeline's thoughts scattered, but soon she opened her mouth and said: "It would be better not to cause any damage to my kitchen… do you hear?" Madeline raised her voice in her last words when she saw that James and Xiao Ping were immersed in concentration.
'Do you think I'm a fool? Why would I cause damage in my kitchen?' Xiao Ping thought while speeding up his vegetable cutting pace before saying: "Lady Madeline shouldn't worry, because I won't cause any damage!"
"And I also won't cause anything, Madeline! Just watch how I crush this peasant in cooking!" James also replied, and there was a smile on his face.
'Well then, prepare to be crushed by this peasant's hoe.' Xiao Ping mocked.
...
End of Chapter ~ To be continued