Evolve.

15 - Hopeful

BEFORE WE BEGIN READING THE LATEST UPDATE...

(me when I saw that Evolve surpassed 5k reads!!!)

THANK YOU FOR 5.4K READS, EVERYONE!

We're halfway through 10k AND...

only a little less than 995,000k reads away from 1 million!

I'm hopeful.

Keep it up, guys! Love you all :)

...

One dried mushroom here, and some fresh chopped ginger there. After spending most of my time into mixing and beating the rice dough without mercy, I've delicately arranged all my of my ingredients on the pizza - including the mock cheese that I made - onto the dough.

Soon after, I put the raw rice-dough pizza into a clay oven 

Phew, I'm relieved to know that my "pizza" is almost finished. It obviously wasn't pizza to the average American kid in 2017...but hopefully, these 18th century Chinese people won't be able to tell the difference! Besides, if they won't enjoy it then I will be happy enough knowing that I challenged myself today. 

However, my hard work has been put on display. I'm thunderstruck to see all forty-nine pairs of my competition constantly checking on my work. Some of the girls try not to stare but it's obvious that they are interested in my dish. Meanwhile, girls like *cough* Jade Ying *cough* have the audacity to glare at me as if I had just murdered their family in cold blood! Well, that's just Jade actually. 

Sometimes, I'd like to yell at Jade, "No, I didn't just murder your family in cold blood - so stop looking at me like that!" 

However, I don't do that because my mother raised me to be better than randomly yelling at mean girls. Although, I will break that rule once in a while.

I felt Jade's gaze on me like a tiger's eye once again. That girl just doesn't know when to stop herself! She started walking towards my direction with intention. To the people of power, she was walking to get another ingredient.

"Half-blood," she mutters so low that only I can hear.

I quickly fight back. "Your funeral, Dollface."

However, I wasn't as slick as Jade had been and everyone hears me. I wish I hadn't made myself look like a fool that coldly attacked Jade. In reality, I was just defending myself!

Qiao frowns a little bit, and I sense some disappointment from her eyes. 

It wasn't fair! This going to be just like my modern life when Crystal use to tease me at school all the time. The mean girls would keep getting away from their troubles, and I would be held responsible for their mess.

I take a deep breath to center my concentration. My pizza would be my second shot at redeeming myself. Judging from the curious stares of my peers, my pizza was also the odd dish compared to the other girls. I did try to make it resemble traditional Chinese food, but it would still be something weird and foreign to the people here.

The pizza itself was huge. I took a lot of time and some manual labor when I made the massive chunk of rice-based dough, but it was going to be worth it.

Several minutes later, I was finished and admired my hard work. When nobody was looking, I carefully peeled off one of the toppings and popped in my mouth. The dried Chinese mushrooms had come out exactly as I had planned and made a savory addition to the dish.

Then, without warning, I screamed, "I'm finished!"

All forty-nine pairs of eyes were turned to me. It was a little uncomfortable, but I figure the recognition wouldn't be so bad.

Qiao rushed over to check my work. I got worried when she frowned and gasped in surprise. "What is this? I have never seen food like this in my life."

I said, "Well, it's a called a pizza. I did come up with it...well it's not exactly my creation...but it's a creative take on a dish that I love."

"You made this?" Qiao questioned.

"Yes, but I didn't actually invent -"

Qiao interrupted, "Well, I'll be the first to try it!" 

Please, don't hate my food. 

The stern woman was paying more attention to my pizza than me, the chef. Her expression looked like a cross between shameless curiosity and doubtful hesitation. I cut the pizza into a little triangle and served the slice to her. Qiao held it in her hand, smelled the scent, and waited a few moments before she finally took one little bite.

 "This...this...this is the best meal any girl has ever cooked me in this part of the initiation.

 It was just pizza... 

Soon, I got very worried for Qiao when she wolfed down the pizza slice in a matter of seconds! Qiao scared us all when she screamed, "Liu Mei, you have managed to find the recipe of the heavens. I need to tell everyone about your discovery! All of the palace chefs need to learn from you..." 

Then, she went on about how brilliant I was. Jade was seething anger, and my friends, An and Jia, gave me a bright smile.

Alright, I was guilty of technically plagiarising recipes from the Italians - I'm sure all of my friends would be shaking their head in disapproval if they could see what was happening - but if the Italians wanted to take noodles from China and rename it pasta, then maybe Marco Polo wouldn't argue if I took their pizza and sprinkled it with traditional Chinese ingredients.

Would he?

Oh well, I was hopeful.

...

hey, hey!

The last two chapter chapters have been sorta lighthearted with the palace's version of Master Chef. If you couldn't tell, Evolve will be a mix of humor and drama.

afterall, what would you bring if you traveled back in time? astrid brought pizza.

so yeah, we'll be going through the intiation process with Mei/Astrid that determines whether or not she is fit to become one of the Crown Prince's palace wives.

can't wait for more :)

lots of love! -ashley