It was sunny and clear now. In the square out of the Palace, people were performing lion and dragon dances when the air was full of the sounds of gongs and drums.

Around the place, plenty of members of Imperial Guards and Honour Guards held arms and alertly watched out, trying to find something abnormal.

It was the first cook competition between Da Yi and Ying State. Concubine Yun in Jingyang Palace competed with the major chef of Dachui Kitchen, Sakata Aki.

As Sakata Aki had said, the competition consisted of three matches. Besides, people should show three kinds of meals in every match, so there must be nine kinds of meals.

The field was located in the square out of the Palace, and they had their own competition places, where tables, cookers, food materials, and water were all prepared.

Huanan Xin's chair was put in the porch of the Golden Palace, in order that he could clearly see the cooks' skills and behaviors. On both sides of Huanan Xin, it was the jury board made up of officials of Da Yi and some other countries' envoys there.

Besides, in the front of the field, except the jury board made up of officials, there was also a special group of the folks of Da Yi.

The one who proposed to let those citizens come into the Palace and watch the cook competition was just one of the vice assistants of the cabinet Zhang Song, who was the biological grandfather of the original Ritual Minister's wife.

Zhang Song's grandson-in-law was dismissed for his lazy work. Concubine Liang's father, one of the vice assistants of the cabinet Su Changxuan was imprisoned. In short days, Da Yi's court changed and varied, so people became worried and nervous.

In order to flatter Huanan Xin, Zhang Song suggested that Huanan Xin could allow twenty citizens to come into the Palace and watch the wonderful competition in the day.

At first, it was to encourage Gu Yunxi. Besides, Huanan Xin's kindness was shown.

When those citizens came back, they must talk about the thing, eulogizing Huanan Xin and Gu Yunxi.

When Huanan Xin saw his memorial, he was very interested in Zhang Song's suggestion. So he summoned him and acquired how to select the people who could come into the Palace.

There were tens of thousands of citizens in Jing City, so how could they make a selection rule in a short time?

Zhang Song suggested letting people make 20 tallies, where the competition's time, place, and other concrete arrangements were written. Therefore, those tallies could be those citizens' warrant of coming into the Palace and watching the competition. Then they sold those tallies out of the gate of divine prowess.

As a result, they got twice the result with half the effort, as they could not only select the audience but also gain a substantial income for the Palace.

Huanan Xin was so surprised that he immediately ratified this memorial. After discussing with members of the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel, they sold one tally at the price of 1,000 taels of silver.

So, after three matches, there would add 60,000 taels of silver in the exchequer.

Just in a night, sixty gold warrant tallies ornamented with silver were all made.

To their surprise, within two hours after they put up the competition's announcement, people ran to the gate of divine prowess and lined up to buy the tally.

In Jing City, there were plenty of rich people, so many businessmen and capitalists ran and carried many bank notes. Besides, many of them bought three matches' tallies.

Within one hour, sixty tallies were sold out.

While receiving the message, Huanan Xin was happy and surprised. Then he ordered to make extra 90 tallies. So, he planned to add 30 people's seats.

Besides, he let people set up 50 officials' seats.

As expected, the 90 tallies soon sold out.

In the meantime, many wager shops in the folk made a great bet about who could be the winner between Gu Yunxi and Sakata Aki.

It was a clear and sunny day when the scene had been changed.

In the square in front of the Golden Palace, many colorful flags fluttered as people performed lion dances in the loud sound of drums.

For convenience, Gu Yunxi wore a scarlet blouse with narrow sleeves embroidered with branches and flowers and flared trousers embroidered with swallows in the same color. At last, she also wore a pure apron.

After taking off her slim and long finger stalls, she made a high awl-shaped bun, in which several fragmented-plum-blossom-shaped hairpins made of pearls were ornamented.

On the side of her, there were respectively two chefs of the Imperial Kitchen as her assistants.

In front of her, there was Sakata Aki and his four assistants on behalf of Ying State.

Today, Sakata Aki wore a white shirt with board sleeves and green flared trousers. In his waist, he wore a black apron.

He folded his arms in front of the chest, with the sleeves half-rolled and his robust and white arms naked.

Since Sakata Aki came into the field, he had been staring at Gu Yunxi with clear and strict eyes. It seemed that there was a sophisticated smile in his angular mouth.

Being stared at by Sakata Aki with strange eyes, Gu Yunxi was somewhat nervous. She quietly thought, "Sakata Aki should be so bold and impolite. Did he make a mental trap to upset me?"

When the time was up, the sounds of drums immediately disappeared and gongs were played. The competition formally began.

In the citizens' seats, floods of applause suddenly burst.

Two men in cotton cloth stood up, unfolding a red streamer. There read several words embroidered by colorful silks, glinting and gleaming.

"Excellent Her Grace Concubine Yun! Victory Her Grace Concubine Yun!"

In fact, the 50 citizens were businessmen and capitalists in Jing City. Before coming into the Palace, they were required to wear simple and tidy garments made of cotton and pretend to be common people, just to show Huanan Xin's kindness to those foreign envoys.

The sensational sound encouraged Gu Yunxi and her assistants, but it appeared so funny in her opponents' opinions.

Four chefs from Ying State appeared indignant and expressed their dissatisfaction.

But Sakata Aki only sneered and looked at delicate Gu Yunxi in front of him with his gloomy eyes, casually saying in Ying language.

"Take it easy, as people in the Central Plains could only pretend to be strong. The woman had been beaten by me in the evening of holding the banquet."

The competition would last for two hours, and the food materials consisted of cod roes, fresh lungfish, and camel meat.

The cod and lungfish as food materials were brought by people from Ying State. Besides, they were kept fresh in a special way so that they would not be influenced by the cross-ocean travel.

But the camel meat was not the original material in Ying State. Instead, it was Da Yi's material in order that people could show the justice of the competition.

The lungfish's organs were toxic, so people must cautiously deal with them. Gu Yunxi's assistant Chef Fang did the task.

He paid all his attention and reached his palm in the bucket, taking the material from the water.

The lungfish was so fresh, and there were beautiful white spots on its back. And it weighed 2.5 kg.

When the lungfish was put on the table by Chef Fang, it immediately expanded to be a round ball.

Chef Fang held a kitchen knife and cut a gap in the lungfish's belly. As a wave of water flooded, the swollen lungfish immediately became wizened.

He peeled the lungfish's skin and cut off its head. Then he cautiously took its organs out, throwing them into a basket.

Later, there would be people taking those organs away and burying them in a safe place.

Chef Fang washed the white meat of the lungfish many times and gave it to Gu Yunxi. Then he went to the rear of the competition place and didn't participate in the match anymore.

It was to make sure the materials were safe and to keep him from touching other food materials with his hands contaminated with toxins.

Then it was Gu Yunxi's turn to cook.

Previously, she had thought those people from Ying State might purposely transmit something false. Therefore, she had been trying to read The Exquisite Collection of Delicacies her mother gave her.

In the book, a special way of dealing with lungfish and camel meat was recorded indeed.

At present, Gu Yunxi would cook the fresh lungfish into a great meal recorded in the book, Ruyi Dumplings.

She held two kitchen knives and chopped the lungfish many times, directly making it into minced meat.

She privately looked at people in front of her, finding Sakata Aki staring at her.

Feeling her eyes, he slightly raised his mouth, reaching his hands to uncover the cotton cloth on the table.

It was a block of square ice covered by the cotton cloth. The ice was about 33 centimeters high, on one side of which there was a groove where a kitchen knife was put.

When the assistants of Gu Yunxi saw it, they were all astonished.

Chef Liu who should knead dough sighed.

"The people from Ying State are so strange! A great kitchen knife should be put into ice."

Gu Yunxi was calm and mocked.

"What he does makes sense. If he chops the fish with a kitchen knife cooled by ice, the fish's fresh taste would not be damaged. Besides, the figure would be more delicate and beautiful."

Sure enough, the following thing was identical to what Gu Yunxi said. Sakata Aki chopped the lungfish into two divisions with the kitchen knife cooled by ice, removing something unnecessary. Then he cut them into slight slices and put them into a plate full of ices.

He behaved delicately and precisely, appearing so steady and concentrative. That made people of Da Yi admire him.

Gu Yunxi slightly frowned, saying to her assistants in a low voice.

"The major chef of Dachui Kitchen Sakata Aki is indeed an excellent man. We must be united and should never treat him lightly."