Thinking of Chen Xian’s reminder, Xu Le secretly clenched his fists. Ever since they participated in the program, all the contestants would hold a grudge against the production team. As for Zhang Tong and Chen Xian, they even directly claimed that there was a something happening behind the scenes.

From the looks of it, it was not groundless.

“I’m worried… they’re cheating.”

If the production team was on the same side as the Master Chef, the audience’s votes would also be controlled. As for the judges in front of him, Xu Le’s eyes darkened. He did not believe that a respected senior who had interacted with him would play favorites.

The judges tasted the second dish of tea noodles. One had white-blanched abalone as the side dish while the other had lobster glazed over it.

Li Qing also saw that something was amiss and couldn’t help but mutter, “We clearly cooked in two different kitchens. Why is his cooking so similar to yours?”

“The abalone is cooked by blanching it. It’s fresh, crispy, and tender. It retains the fragrance of the ingredients themselves and should be quite good. The noodles are smooth and chewy, and the fragrance of tea sauce hangs on them. If the full score is ten points, you can get ten points in terms of texture and taste.”

Song Deyue nodded repeatedly and said in relief, “No matter which contestant made it, I’m very happy to know that there is such a talented chef in the next generation!”

After tasting the other bowl of lobster tea noodles, his expression froze for a moment. He chatted with Mr. Cai Lan beside him, “Do you feel that… the texture of the two bowls of noodles is exactly the same?”

“Yes, other than the side dishes, the taste is very authentic.”

The other judges quickly started voting anonymously. Someone commented, “They’re all very good, but the lobster noodles are more suitable for today’s Fujian cuisine theme. In the local…”

“Hey, you can’t say that.” Someone interrupted, “When I was young, there was a stall selling tea noodles at the entrance of my house. There were plenty of sausages, pork belly, abalone, and so on. You can’t say that the cooking method is more authentic just because of the lobsters, right?”

“Of course I’m not judging it based on the side dishes. The sauce tastes obviously better with lobster, right?”

The two judges suddenly started arguing. The atmosphere was lively. After the audience below tasted it, they gradually pressed the voting button in their hands.

The director switched the camera angle to the audience’s faces and suddenly brought it to Xu Zhexian. His face was gloomy and he looked unhappy. Xu Tian, who was in his arms, nibbled on the lobster meat and savored it with relish.

She had two ponytails beside her head. When she ate, her face was chubby. Coupled with her big black grape-like eyes and dimples, she was extremely cute!

The bullet screen immediately recognized who she was.

“Look, that’s the little Master Chef’s sister!”

“Wow, how cute! Their family members are all so good-looking!”

“Why does his father look unhappy?”

“Last time I went to the eight-year-old canteen, I saw his sister. She was really cute—”

The lychee meat and chestnut soup were even more well received. Both dishes received similar reviews, and the votes remained on par.

The host looked at the counting card and deliberately kept them in suspense. “Yo, looks like it’s hard to tell who’s stronger between the two contestants. So far, there’s only a difference of ten votes. Are we going to draw again this time? Come, let’s serve the last dish.”

Soy sauce fish and chicken soup with seafood.

Li Qing couldn’t bear to look at him. He lowered his voice and said, “Hey, Master Xu, isn’t our fish stew a little too messy?”

The chicken soup with seafood was a necessary soup dish for traditional banquets in the Fuzhou area. It was made with Minkang Sea Clam, chicken, beef, pork tenderloin, and so on.

Using sea clams as raw ingredients, it was boiled to produce the hot chicken soup. The taste was refreshing and delicious.

The ingredients alone were much higher class than the different fishes used in their fish stew.

“The judges and audience are going to be trying the taste.”

As soon as Xu Le said this, Li Qing was about to calm down but he heard him continue, “You don’t have to worry. Perhaps the host was referring to us when he said that one team had ten votes fewer.”

“Master Xu… can you not mess with my mentality?”

Li Qing saw that Xu Le’s face was calm, but he was so anxious that he could not stand still. It seemed as though the person involved was calm and collected but observers were very worried.

“Does winning or losing really not matter to you?”

“Not really.”

Xu Le knew very well that he had been crazily winning awards in all the major competitions from the beginning. He was famous and even had the title of “Little Master Chef”. In the impression of the audience, he was a genius chef. If he lost now, he would definitely be insulted by people with ulterior motives.

Understanding the logic and rules was one thing but facing reality was another.

Soon the judges were unanimous in their praises for the chicken soup with seafood.

“The soup is bright and clear, and is very well made. The freshness of the ingredients has been retained to the largest extent. The seafood is cooked at the appropriate heat and is not fishy at all.”

“It’s very good. The Minkang Sea Clam, commonly known as the West Tongue in Fuzhou, is the most refreshing seafood in the world. What surprised me the most was that there was no celery used in the cooking method. It was more authentic than the soup prepared by local masters who had been cooking it for decades.”

“Actually, in my personal opinion, this dish can best represent Fuzhou’s geographical location—surrounded by the mountains and the sea – so Fujian cuisine has a unique advantage as they can cook dishes using mountain and sea ingredients. The local chickens and sea clams are basically like the essence of Fujian cuisine.”

After a round of praise, the audience felt that it made sense and were swayed, so they all voted for the dish.

“Wait, I don’t think so.” Mr. Cai Lan pondered for a moment and said, “Chicken soup and seafood are indeed perfect together, but a local dish concentrates on the local customs and culture of a region. Miss Bai is right. The dish involves cooking of the mountain and sea ingredients… but after careful consideration, it lacks some Fujian cuisine characteristics.”

“Ah?”

This comment was confusing, and he didn’t explain what was wrong. However, Old Master Song nodded in agreement and said, “After the soup was “sweeped”, it was poured directly into a small bowl. The soup is delicious, but in order to retain the freshness of the meat, the temperature of the clear soup isn’t high enough. It’s still a little different from what the locals make.”

“On the other hand, the soy sauce fish looks ordinary. It’s a dish with mixed ingredients that are simple. But the sauce is sweet, and has a strong homely flavor. Although it doesn’t seem to be difficult, it’s even more difficult to master the fire to the point that the meat is mushy and doesn’t scatter. Therefore, I vote for the soy sauce fish.”

The voting and evaluation segment lasted for nearly an hour. Li Qing’s heart felt like it was on a roller coaster as he listened to the judges’ comments. He was extremely nervous and finally it reached the final judging segment.

The host stared at the counting card and smiled brightly. “That was too thrilling! Please look at the big screen!”

Xu Le received 356 votes, and the statistics bar beside him only had one more vote than him.

In other words, only one more person in the audience voted for the Master Chef.

He had narrowly won while Xu Le had narrowly lost.