chapter 13

Several days has passed and everyone is preparing for the cooking competition . At first, no one expected that this would be serious, but Ming kept pushing on the idea and finally it's becoming true .

Everyone in the palace was working on the upcoming competition , since it will be held inside the imperial palace And everything must be according to expectations due to its high status . From the Good reception and security to the quality of the ingredients used in cooking , and that was so much work to do .

Let's forget about the competition for a moment and take a look on the other palace inhabitants that we forgot about .

*************************

There was . in the imperial garden, two young women sitting on the grass , picking some flowers and eating snacks ( actually, One is picking herbs and the other was picking mushrooms) .

" Can you believe this ! , that stupid brother, all he thinks about is swords and muscles !.... all .. the time! "

" Sorry sis .. that must be so tiring 😅 "

" Yes it is !! ... chasing after him all the time , and warning him of all the conspiracies that could be hatched against him ....but does he care ? .. barely !! "

" That's bad ..I really hope I could be of help but ....😔 "

" No no no dear ... it's not your fault, you are doing enough by listening to my endless complaining , you know I. Can't talk to so many people in the palace..and talking to you gives me a lot of comfort 🥺 "

" Yeah...I feel the same too...but I wish I had more things that I can do for you , just like how you helped me in my hard moments "

" Hehehe 😊 , your feelings are more than enough sis "

The younger sister smiled poorly to her old sister, she was a very good and talented member , but for the bad of her lack, her brother was nothing like her , He was hindering her more than he was helping her.

After her little picnic with her older sister , the younger one went to have lunch with her grandfather who was living in the imperial palace too .

" Long time no see Grandpa , how was you doing ? "

" Oh ! Look who finally remembered her old grandfather I think I am finally getting sometime in your super busy full of most important things princess schedule " ( he said leaning on his chair dramatically)

" Oooo.... grandpa ~ , don't say this, you know this humble granddaughter is always thinking about you ~"

" Humble? " ( He said rising an eyebrow)

" The wheat ears in the fields are humble, but my granddaughter is a highly proud princess , who rarely cared about her commoner old grandpa "(narrowing his eyes )

" Ooooh ! ( She complained) come on , stop being a drama queen , you are very old for this , by the way how have you been ? "

" Hmmm..😑 , well..I am still alive (shrugging) , and you? What do you need from me ? you only remember that you have a very old and sick grandfather in his last days living in the same palace , unless you need something of course so spell it up !! "

" I can swear that I am the real old one here 😑" (whisper)

" What did you just say?"( The grandfather raising an eyebrow)

" Ooo~ don't say this grandpa ~ you're not this old_...okay, I really need something from you ( she said narrowing her eyes and giving that bored expression)

The grandfather shrugges again wearing a victorious provocative smile .

" Ahm ... well... grandpa, I need your advice in a small but important matter to me "

" What is it"

" So....you know that I don't have so many friends and supporters in this Palace regarding my status situation, and one of my closet friends who helped me a lot in the past is having some troubles lately , and I want to help her with the least thing possible , any ideas ? "

" I see I see , your friend..." ( the old man caresses his chin slowly)

" She is a woman? "

". Yes "

" A young woman? "

" Yes "

" Single? "

" Yeah?"

" Her problem is family or job' s related "

" Omg! How did you know?! "

" And I thought that was a big problem , that's very easy actually "

" You found a solution already!? "

" Yup <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠ > "

" Please tell me! "

" Find her a husband "

" Yeah... what!?"

" As I said, find a husband. For your friend "

" Grandpa I am not kidding "

" Neither I am "

" How can a HUSBAND help in solving my friend's problem!? "

" Find her a husband, so her problem will be someone else's problem , he can't avoid it when she is already his wife, and...Boom! Problem solved by itself. No need to thank me " ( the grandfather said raising his shoulders and smiling arrogantly)

" I think grandpa wasn't kidding when he said he is getting old " (tired expression)

" What did you just say?"

" No no no ! Nothing grandpa, thanks for your help, I will take my leave now and think about your advice, excuse me now"

After bowing slightly, the princess leave her grandfather's room , letting out a heavy sight

" Grandpa can be very weird sometimes but ...he rarely makes mistakes , his insight is very deep and wise.. maybe he is right.... maybe the forth princess is in need to a partner who shares her burden with her..... unlike her troublesome brother "

And with tired smile she gives a side look to the little friend who was resting on her arm elegantly . Yes this was the seventh princess Yaopin and her grandfather's little friend the parrot, it wasn't hard to guess anyway. The parrot was giving an unreadable look, that's hard to believe that it's coming from a mere animal, it was a deep look, one of realization and thoughtness ....

...

...

Noooo....just a stupid animal trying to act cute.

Aside from this , let's go back to the main event in this period , the cooking competition .

given enough time to the news to spread far , our Ming has finished writing the competition rules and full details , and published it all around the imperial palace and the other related places (! I will explain later )

To simplify understanding the competition's rules, we divided it into three main points :

1 _ motivation and reward

2_ participation rules

3_ winner determination

let's start with the reward, it's very simple .

to attract people to your useless event . just bribe them with a useful prize .

The participants are requested to show maximum dedication and effort in this competition In order to achieve the desired results of this competition (finding a suitable pizza chef) , Ming never fell short in this regard, as he promised to fulfill any wish for the winner as long as it did not violate the law or threaten the stability of the government and the country , as already said, simple but effective.

Secondly : the participation rules, chefs are supposed to make one or two dishes according to the emperor's instructions ( Ming only know how to eat and not cook so he doesn't know any receipts, which is the hardest part) they need to create a perfect plate from the 21's century, without knowing so much information, they will be given specific ingredients within limited quantities , In order to make a dish that meets the expectations of the Emperor first, then the jury that's consisting of experts in this field secondly.

But , not everyone is allowed to participate in such competition, only the very well-known chefs around the country, trusted nobels or people that's recommended by those close to the emperor . of course most of the people of the palace are allowed since all of them are trusted, so a variety of people will be attending this competition, either as participants, viewing audiences or helpers.

Another point is added, people can participate alone or in teams of two or three persons , and all team members will receive the same refereeing regardless of their roles.

And finally, regarding the winner's determination , The jury will includes the Emperor of course (who has the final say), the Imperial Chef , the imperial academy director and a guest from another country ( who is that!?).

Each dish will be evaluated individually, and each judge will give a specific mark from one to ten for each dish. The marks of every judge on the same dish will be added together and the team with the highest overall dish will win. Teams can give more than one dish, but the marks won't be added together, they will only have another chance to win but no extra marks . All of them will be considerd as winners and have separated rewards for each member and.....

" Wait !!... don't you think it's unfair for people working on teams to have the same reward like the individual ones!?... your majesty"

" Uncle Jian uncle Jian... of course it's very fair.."

"What are you talking about_..."

" Do you think that working together with someone to create a dish that you never heard about is that easy? ... there will be a lot of pressure and uncertainty and working in teams can be more of a hindrance than a help in some cases Soo...."

" Are you implying that, the team idea is a trap for people who want to take the easy road?"

" Ooo.... uncle Jian, your overthinking, that's only Just a simple challenge to make the competition more fun for the viewers " ( mind said titling his head to the side giving an innocent look)

" The real trap actually is their reward" ( now this is a sly smirk)

Ming sudden change in attitude left the physician Jian dumbfounded for a couple of seconds

" Your majesty.... are you planning on giving all the team only one reward!?...but you said in the publicity that you will give everyone a separated reward .. this is clearly cheating!!? " ( Angry face)

" Uncle Jian , uncle Jian , calm down.... you are overly excited today....I am not cheating, and of course I meant what I said in the competition publicity ."

" Huh !? " (dampfounded again )

" Then.... where is the tarp? "

Uncle Jian raised an eyebrow confused looking at emperor Ming who smirked looking at him as if he was the smartest person ever.

" Hey uncle Jian, I will keep this information as a surprise, but I promise you , I am not lying in any one of the rules of the competition, I am a man of my word "

Ming winked playfully at the physician before leaving his room on the direction of the imperial garden, The place that connects most of the halls and rooms of influential figures in the royal palace. Now he was leading to the second prince palace apparently to ruin his peaceful life by giving him a job.

Meanwhile in the first prince's palace .

" I think you already know why I came at this spisefic time to visit you"

a young woman was saying in the dimly lit room with narrowed eyes.

" I have an idea but I would like you to explain more" (different person, same narrowed eyes said )

" It's about the upcoming cooking competition"

" I see ... you must have plans in mind"

" That's true ! I am planning to participate in the competition and want you to make a team with me "

the woman said stermly , widening her eyes a bit as she slammed the table in front of her slightly getting up from her chair .

" Interesting... tell why did you choose me "

the young man was sitting calmly on his chair not effected by the woman's method .

The woman answers still standing :

" You are calm and talented in different field, have a basical knowledge about plants and good at using sharp instruments such as knives "

" I see... you think that my abilities as a swordman will help you to win the competition" he said indifferently.

" True....and I think that getting along with you will be easier than the other candidates "

" I see....I would say ...I wasn't expecting this from you... first sister "

he said closing his eyes and leaning on his chair as if he was in deep thoughts

" I understand what you mean first brother "

she said closing her eyes and sitting again on her chair .

That's right, those two are the first prince and princess, and the conversation topic is about the upcoming cooking competition announced by the emperor Ming.

The first prince opens his closed eyes and looks directly at the first princess .

" Tell me the Truth first sister, no matter who much I think about it , there's so many other candidates that's are better than me in this field and who can suit your team better than me, since we are not this close you know "

" I understand your point of view brother... indeed, I have so many people who can be suitable partners for my team but .... I can't use any of them "

" And why is this, older sister?"

" Well....I need someone with the same goal...to join my team "

" The same goal?... are you talking about the wish granted by the emperor? " ( He raises and eyebrow)

" Yeah.. actually After analysing the competition text I discovered what it seems like a trape "

"A trap? " His interest was picked by this

" Yeah exactly... actually..I I found a glitch in the contest text, it says that all team members will receive separated rewards and not separated wishes, although the context states that the correct word is wish and not reward "

" Well...a context mistake, so what about it ? Where's the tape in that?"

" Actually if you think about it, it would be unfair for one team to have different wishes when another team to get one or just two according to the members number...but that wouldn't be the case if all the members had the same wish, in that case every one will have a separated reward but only one wish like all the other teams "

The first prince was speechless for one second , his mind was shouting with one word genius but he didn't let it show in his face ( he meant the trap and not the princess)

he answered indifferently :

" I see .....This will keep the contest transparent and fair, participants who plan to get multiple wishes with less effort and who have bad motives will exploit this contest to get what they want, but with this trap... even if they won they will have to choose one wish for them all which will ruin their plans and can even lead to a small conflict between them that would expose them even more."

" Exactly, I wouldn't expect less from our brilliant emperor ".

" He must have thought it through , such an unseemly competition is indeed meant to expose a lot of uncertain doubts along the palace and noble families "

****************

At this moment, Ming was coming back from the second prince palace smiling proudly.

" I can't guarante so many wishes and I can't taste that much of dishes, so much work to do , so what did I do ? . one plate , one wishes and several people , Three birds, one stone, hehehe 😁 "

Then he continued his was to another palace this time .

*******************

" By the way sister, you didn't tell me yet , What is this goal that you claim we share? Do you seriously think that the wish that I will participate for is the same as you "

" Yes brother, I believe in this , as for the reason, it's because both of us has a high statu in the palace with high responsibilities , and yet there's something we can't get despite how much we need it "

The first prince raised an eyebrow

"what could it be ".

" It's a vacation first brother , we both needs a long termed vacation bat we can't ask for it "

At least one sentence the first princess eyes showed something that he never showed to someone in his whole , He felt sympathy, he felt like he finally understood, my long suffering, I wasn't alone in it after all.

The first prince stood up , then said in a sterm deep voice :

The Emperor has assigned me the task of checking the backgrounds of all the participants in this competition and monitoring them until the date of the competition, I've gotten over myself and I'm about to finish the mission, I don't have much work left compared to usual and I'll be able to take some time to prepare. "

" The same goes for me, I was ordered to check and supervise the ingredients as well as the servants and workers involved, I stayed up long nights so that I could make time to participate in the event ، and now "

The two princes stood up and joined their arms in a firm handshake, with a look of devotion and determination to win, something only they could understand the reason and significance of.

" We sure will win ! For our deserved long term vacation " they said in the same time.

" Oh ! The first prince and princess, how lucky, I came for one and I found too , just in time "

" Your.... your majesty!? "

The moment of resolution was interrupted by Emperor Ming's sudden intervention, at this moment both princes were having a look of denial on their faces.

" ...Please no ..."

" So , I will make it quick so all of us , can go to our rooms and sleep early "

(" Please....no....." ) Pathetic inner scream

" First son, you will be responsible for the security of the competition day, first daughter, You will supervise the organization and arrangement of the site on the competition's day ... now, good night children "

Ming said quickly before he winks and leave the first prince palace, a sound of the glass breaking could be heard from the palace.

" Huh?... am I mistaking or is that a glass breaking sound?...heh ( shrugging) maybe my imagination "

Actually that was a sound of the two princes hopes and dreams being crushed under the sore reality .

" Well..... actually, those were the mission of the second prince but ...he is nowhere to be found, the servant in his palace said that he desapeared suddenly so I didn't have a choice, naaah ....it's okay, the first prince and princess are the best in doing those jobs anyway, hehe ....Ming you are a smarty "

In that night , Ming has a long beautiful dream when he was eating all types of delicious junk food , pizza , hamburger and ice cream , maybe he was a bit too excited for the competition.