It was in the square of the Golden Palace in the Palace.

The cooking competition was ongoing. The Emperor, the jury board, the audience, Imperial Guards, and Honour Guards all stared at the two teams on the field, afraid that they would miss something when blinking.

In Gu Yunxi's team, Chef Liu kneaded the glutinous rice flour, the wheat flour, and the water into the right smooth dough. Then he divided it into two and dyed one of the dough bright red with rose juice.

After that, he mixed the red dough and the white dough to make the red and white dough.

Handing the dough to Chef Zhou on the side, Chef Liu went to the cooking shed to clean his hands and then went to kill the eel to get eggs.

Chef Zhou was in charge of wheaten food. He quickly rolled the dough into a thin wrapper with a uniform texture.

Another assistant, Chef Han was preheating the food steamer in front of the stove.

Gu Yunxi put a little salt, a small amount of ginger powder, and some chopped green onion into the lungfish. Then she mixed them well and made dumplings with the same size as gold ingots.

At this time, the heat of the food steamer was just right. Gu Yunxi soaked the steamer cloth and put it at the bottom. Then she put the dumplings into the steamer and steamed them over medium heat.

In the team of Ying State, their rivals, Sakata Aki had mixed various red, green, yellow, and brown ingredients into a viscous sauce and put it on the side of a chopping board for later use.

As the breeze blew, a wisp of extremely seductive smell drifted, all of which attracted people's taste buds.

In Gu Yunxi's team, the four imperial chefs smelled it and began to whisper.

"My god! What's that?"

"Look. I think it's the sauce just made by that guy."

"What kind of seasonings are used? They smell good..."

"He makes it so fast. I can't even see it, but only the sauce is so delicious. We can smell it a long way from him, and he may make some novel dishes!"

Under heavy pressure, Gu Yunxi clenched her fists hard.

On the opposite side, the chefs of Ying State were busy. They were mixing rice, frying eggs, and arranging food elaborately. They cooperated with each other tacitly.

Gu Yunxi looked directly at the tall and confident young man among those people with her clear beautiful eyes, and fine sweat gradually appeared on her forehead.

"Sakata Aki is really hard to deal with. I have to give it my all." She thought.

Giving a deep sigh and adjusting her mood, Gu Yunxi commanded without turning her head.

"Cheer up. We must not fret and stumble. Let's fight!"

In the team of Ying State, Sakata Aki took the thin roll of seaweed, cucumber, omelet, and grilled tuna meat, which were wrapped with vinegared pearl-cooked rice from his assistant, and then he rolled them in a plate of fresh fish roe.

By the viscosity of the outer layer of pearl rice, the thin roll was covered with a thick layer of yellow roe.

Sakata Aki's assistant slaughtered the live eel, took the roe out, and washed it repeatedly with water, high-concentration salt powder, and vinegar.

Sakata Aki leisurely cut the long rice rolls in his hand into square blocks and put them into a porcelain plate in a complicated way. Then he put a few slices of fried goose liver and drizzled them with some sauce.

The team of Ying State had completed two dishes.

The time was still enough. Gu Yunxi encouraged her assistants and ordered one person to burn oil in a pot. She blanched fish roe on another stove.

Chef Liu knew that Gu Yunxi was going to make dry fried fish roe. When he just took the eggs and washed them, he was very careful and did not break the outer membrane of the entire fish roe sac.

Gu Yunxi added wild pepper, sliced ginger, and green onion to hot water. Then she blanched a few pieces of fish roe until they were half-cooked, and then she took them out for later use.

The temperature of the vegetable oil in the iron pot on the side was just right. Gu Yunxi took an appropriate amount of sliced ginger, garlic cloves, wild pepper, and green onions into the vegetable oil and fried them, and then she added a pinch of ten spicy flavors.

The ten spicy flavors that contained beef tallow melted rapidly in the vegetable oil, and the whole cooking shed was filled with a strange mellow taste.

At this time, Gu Yunxi put the blanched fish roe into the spicy sauce, stir-fried it several times, and finally added konjac blocks, agaric, and lotus root slices with an appropriate amount of water, a few lantern peppers, salt, sugar. And then she simmered the dish for a moment.

As the water evaporated, the smell of ten spicy flavors mixed with the roe gradually spread throughout the square.

The jury board, audience, Honour Guards, and Imperial Guards all showed incomparably stunned expressions. They opened their eyes wide with confusion and enjoyment. They squinted and looked for the source of the strange fragrance.

"It's so fragrant. What kind of dish Her Grace is making?"

"I've never smelled such a good smell in my life!"

"If only I could take a bite, I would die without regrets."

A few rich men with their big bellies in the audience could not resist the temptation and stood up. They stretched out their necks and stood on tiptoe.

Their actions immediately caused dissatisfaction among the people in the back row, who all denounced them hurriedly.

"Hey, sit down. You're in our way!"

"Oh, sorry. Sorry."

The men sat down, turned around, and began to talk.

"Hey, I think, Her Grace must win in the first session!"

"Yeah, that's right. What are we waiting for? Let's cheer them up!"

Therefore, one man suggested and the crowd responded.

The fifty men all stood up. They lifted the banner again, raised their fists, and shouted.

"Her Grace, you will certainly win! Fight! Grand plans!"

The Emperor Huanan Xin saw it from a distance and was happy to clap the chair. Ignoring the expression of Yuancang on the side, he laughed.

"Great! Great! Liang Zhen, order them to continue shouting. Don't stop. I'll reward them once the event is fished!"

On the field, Sakata Aki's assistants were also deeply attracted by the aroma wafting from the opponent's cooking shed and became stunned.

Sakata Aki was setting up a two-finger-thick willow branch shelf to make the last dish. Seeing that his assistants made a gaffe, he couldn't help but shout in chagrin, "Come on!"

Then, he left them in a huff and walked alone to the opposite cooking shed.

"You. What do you add to the pot?"

He questioned aloud in Central Plains Mandarin disfluently.

Gu Yunxi thought that he wanted to damage her work and signaled to several imperial chefs to protect the food. She raised her eyebrows and looked up.

"None of your business. Anyway, you and I are both fully committed to what we're doing. Sir, you forget yourself and raise a hue and cry. You can't afford to lose, can you?"

Sakata Aki sneered and looked down with his cold eyes. Then he glanced at the pot full of red roe on the stove, which was constantly bubbling. And then he raised his head. He stared at Gu Yunxi's sweaty little face undisguisedly and licked his lips with a hint of evil interest.

"So delicious. If I want to taste it, will you give it to me?"

"…"

Gu Yunxi felt shivers down her spine and goose bumps over her body.

Was she too sensitive?

She felt that she was offended without reason.

There was no such a rule.

With anger, Gu Yunxi frowned, clenched her fists, and was about to get mad. Ritual Minister, Wang Can, ran all the way from the jury board to stop Sakata Aki and admonish him.

"Sir, please return to your cooking shed immediately."

Sakata Aki looked steadily forward, completely ignoring him. He only smiled deeply at Gu Yunxi and paced to the opposite cooking shed.

"Lord Wang, thank you for helping me."

Gu Yunxi nodded to Wang Can. Then Wang Can bowed his hands and said humbly.

"Your Grace, you're welcome. Please keep up."