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On the tall competition platform, a wooden stick had somehow appeared, which Sun Qian and Gao Xuan were earnestly cleaning with clean cloths.

The crowd was drawn over by Lin Yuan, all loudly discussing. Isn’t this a culinary competition? Why are they using a stick? Could it be they’re going to perform some juggling trick?

Their discussion seemed like it was from a different world compared to Lin Yuan; at the moment, she was holding a small pot and earnestly simmering something on a small stove.

Her serious manner was as if taking her eyes off the pot for even a moment would make its content vanish.

While earnestly wiping the stick, Sun Qian and Gao Xuan quietly speculated its purpose.

Although both were helpers in this competition, they actually had no idea what dish was to be prepared; they just did whatever Lin Yuan asked of them.

Even though Sun Qian was just a helper before, he had now become a capable head chef, and his relationship with Gao Xuan had also become much more harmonious.

As they squeezed their eyes at each other, they looked at Lin Yuan, who continued to simmer her ingredients, and then at the chicken steaming over the pot, growing ever more puzzled.

Wasn’t that chicken just boiled? Why was it put into a steamer basket right after leaving the pot?

Curling his lips, Sun Qian whispered sympathetically to the chicken: "The other chickens are just cut once and then it’s all over; this chicken is truly pitiful, being steamed and boiled, who knows if later it will also have to be fried?"

Clicking his tongue twice, Sun Qian seemed to guess the pain the chicken was enduring and couldn’t help but yelp "ouch"!

Gao Xuan couldn’t help chuckling at his amusing antics and started to joke around: "Steamed and boiled, I bet this is the last step. If it’s fried as well, this chicken will turn to brittle!"

"I don’t think so, no one can fathom the Boss’s thoughts." Sun Qian gestured towards Lin Yuan with his chin, saying just now, who could have expected her to only use two types of vegetables after bringing out so many?

Not to mention those commoners, even he and Gao Xuan were taken aback.

Gao Xuan raised an eyebrow: "Don’t worry, it definitely won’t be fried again, if it is, I’ll eat this stick!"

Sun Qian chuckled, and the two quickly reached a consensus, beginning to make bets with each other.

It wasn’t just the two on the platform making bets; the people underneath were too, many speculating on the use of Lin Yuan’s long stick.

Some guessed it was to knock on the chicken, others thought it was to hold a platter. These people generally believed Lin Yuan had already admitted defeat to Drunken Immortal Tower, thinking since she couldn’t compete in culinary skills, she’d compete in technical performance instead!

Hearing many guesses from below, Lin Yuan merely curved her lips in a smile, completely unconcerned.

Lowering her eyelids to watch the syrup in the pot, after some simmering, the syrup had turned thick and changed color slightly.

The heat was just right!

Lin Yuan inwardly praised, deftly took the pot off the stove, and then switched to a long-handled spoon.

"Is it cleaned now?"

Sun Qian and Gao Xuan answered in unison: "It’s clean."

Lin Yuan nodded, gestured for them to raise the stick horizontally, then stepped back a few paces with a mysteriously smiling vermilion lip: "It’s showtime now!"

As she spoke, under the speculative or disdainful gazes of the audience, Lin Yuan held the small pot in one hand and the long wooden spoon in the other, flicking the syrup-coated spoon towards the stick.

With her brisk and decisive movements, all the audience could see were her rising and falling arms, and strands of shining silk connecting her to the wooden stick.

The fine and long silk strands, under the winter sun, shimmered with a fluorescent glow, exceptionally eye-catching.

Wow!

The audience was stunned by the spectacle, opening their mouths in awe, even Master Niu, who had been busy dealing with white clams, couldn’t help but stop and stare intently at her with his bell-like eyes.

This, this is really juggling!

"Good!"

Someone in the crowd suddenly clapped and shouted praise, and the onlookers at the competition couldn’t hold back their loud applause, which could even be heard from River View Tower.

Lin Yuan hooked her lips, her hands never ceasing their motion, but she still found a moment to cheekily stick out her tongue at the clapping and cheering commoners.

That simple gesture made everyone burst into laughter, and when they looked at Lin Yuan again, their eyes held an affection as though she were their own endearing daughter or little sister.