Chapter 8: You Have Made Great Progress

After everyone made their choice, they set off for the gourmet fish restaurant that served the dish.

When Jin Luo and her two companions returned to the original grilled fish restaurant, the landlady greeted them warmly as soon as she saw them.

"Young lady, you're here!" she exclaimed, rushing over to Jin Luo's side.

Jin Luo nodded smilingly at the landlady, "Yes, I am."

"I was just thinking about which group from your show would come here to learn, and I was hoping it would be you. I didn't expect you guys to actually choose this dish."

Chen Yousheng stepped forward with a smile, "Thanks to your dish, we managed to take first place."

"Really!" The landlady's face bloomed with smiles, "It's good that you won."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the trio followed the landlady into the kitchen.

The head chef asked them, "Does any of you know how to cook?"

Chen Yousheng said, "I can make some home-style dishes."

Li Xiaolei added, "Same here."

Jin Luo, "I can't."

The head chef looked at her, "Then you…" he was about to suggest she help with minor tasks.

"I can eat." Jin Luo.

Not only could she eat, but fish was also all she could eat.

The head chef, "..."

Chen Yousheng and Li Xiaolei weren't surprised at all to hear that Jin Luo couldn't cook.

They hadn't expected anything from her from the start.

Chen Yousheng laughed, "It's good that you can eat."

Seeing that the other two who could cook had no objections, the head chef nodded and didn't fuss over it.

After preparing the fish and ingredients they needed, the head chef began to teach the two of them.

Chen Yousheng and Li Xiaolei took out their notebooks, watching the head chef and taking notes as they went along. Once they both knew the steps, they started to try their hands at it.

Jin Luo lay on a chair to the side, dozing off.

Over the past few days, she had tried to learn cooking from Gu Jinshen but ended up learning nothing and nearly blew up the kitchen. To avoid causing more trouble, she gave up and decided it was best just to lie back and relax.

After finishing their lesson, Chen Yousheng and Li Xiaolei saw Jin Luo sitting to the side, dozing off.

"..."

Not long after, Jin Luo was woken up by the aroma of the fish they were cooking.

Seeing this, Li Xiaolei and Chen Yousheng quickly presented the fish they had cooked for Jin Luo to taste, knowing that although Sister Jin Luo couldn't cook, she could eat.

Casting a glance at the black lump on the plate, Jin Luo asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you made this?" Was the delicious smell from before just her imagination?

Upon hearing her words, both of them wore embarrassed expressions.

"We made a mistake in our technique… we accidentally ended up with this…"

After speaking, they also scratched their heads sheepishly.

"Don't judge it by its looks, it might taste good…" Chen Yousheng's voice trailed off, his volume dropping; he didn't believe his own words.

"We'll redo it!" Li Xiaolei immediately said.

And then Chen Yousheng followed her to remake the dish.

In the time that followed, Jin Luo was solely responsible for taste-testing, but this time it wasn't as enjoyable because both of their cooking skills were quite poor.

The fish was either charred or undercooked.

What happened to being able to cook?

Seeing that Sister Jin Luo's face was crumpling like a baozi, Chen Yousheng and Li Xiaolei felt sorry.

Fortunately, after several failed attempts, their cooking skills slowly got back on track.

"The heat wasn't enough," Jin Luo commented after tasting a fish prepared by Li Xiaolei.

"The salt is a bit too much," Jin Luo pointed at the fish prepared by Chen Yousheng.

"The texture doesn't feel right."

"This fish isn't fresh enough."

Jin Luo kept on tasting repeatedly, and the two of them kept on cooking repeatedly.

Finally, Jin Luo, who initially found their fish hardly palatable, gradually began to find it acceptable, and now their skills had improved significantly.

"You guys have made a lot of progress," Jin Luo sparingly praised them.

After countless failures and finally earning Jin Luo's approval, both of them were close to tears; never in their lives had they cooked so much fish.

Sister Jin Luo, who seemed both cute and adorable, turned out to be exceptionally strict in this regard.

"Sister Jin Luo, I feel like the image of you as a cat in my heart has climbed another step," Li Xiaolei said.

Chen Yousheng nodded along beside her.

Sister Jin Luo was so obsessed with fish that she wouldn't allow them a single mistake; she could pinpoint exactly where they fell short.

Seeing that the two had finished cooking, the chef went up, took a pair of chopsticks, and tried a small piece of fish. Instantly, his eyes lit up.

It was rare for two ordinary people to cook a dish as delicious as a chef's.

He had been watching the whole time; the girl named Jin Luo didn't need any help from others, she had effectively taught them herself.

It turned out her way of tasting wasn't just any tasting; she was a tasting master.

The chef's gaze towards Jin Luo was filled with eagerness.

His culinary skills had plateaued for many years, and he desperately needed a breakthrough.

"Young lady, could you taste my cooking too, and see where I still need to improve?" he asked.

As soon as the chef spoke, everyone looked at him.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, he couldn't help but cover his mouth and cough a few times.

Jin Luo blinked, "I only know how to taste if fish is good or not; I can't help you with other dishes."

"Is that so," the chef sounded a bit disappointed, then his spirits rallied as he said, "Then I'll cook every fish dish I know how to make, and you help me taste them, maybe give them a critique?"

Jin Luo nodded, "Sure, but it has to wait until after the show is over."

Upon hearing this, the chef's eyes sparkled. If it weren't for the many cameras around, he would have been excited to shake her hand and thank her profusely.

"All right, young lady, I'll wait for you after the show," he said.

Then, the chef pulled out his phone from his pocket and asked, "Young lady, what is your WeChat? I'll transfer money to you."

The chef was quite savvy; he knew that getting a skilled tasting master to taste your dish required paying tuition.

Jin Luo was taken aback, but she still took out her phone and showed it to him.

Afterward, Jin Luo received Fifty Thousand Yuan in cash on her phone, "..."

Chen Yousheng and Li Xiaolei, "..."

In their minds: Sister Jin Luo is really something.

The landlady's face was animated with joy; this young lady was truly a treasure, not only improving her business but also motivating her kitchen's chef to advance.

The outcome of the two Splendid Multi-Flavored Fish dishes was that the one made by Li Xiaolei tasted slightly better than Chen Yousheng's, so they chose hers for the competition.

The landlady sold the failed dishes made by Chen Yousheng and Li Xiaolei at half price, and the ones that were really bad were fed to the pigs.

Meanwhile, the other two teams were in the middle of preparing their fish…

Xiao Yuan's team was in utter chaos due to poor division of labor, resulting in a disorganized kitchen and poorly presented fish.

On the other hand, the team of Chang Yu and Chen Fei looked more methodical and organized; all three of them knew how to cook.

Especially Chen Fei, who prepared a very attractive-looking Hunan-style chopped chili fish head, surprising everyone with how good it was.

It was well known that her financial situation was good, and no one had ever seen her cook in previous shows.

Chen Fei saw everyone's looks and felt unspeakably proud and triumphant in her heart.