The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Chapter 35

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

As the Emperor had special feelings for Yan Langqing, she naturally looked more pleasing to his eye than the others. But even so, there was no way he could bring himself to say that the dumplings made by Yan Langqing were better than those made by Lin Dan. The result of the competition was decided, and he knew that there was nothing he could do but to honor his taste buds.

Thinking of this, he put down his chopsticks and said slowly, "Lin Dan, you won."

As soon as the Emperor announced, a crisp sound rang in the private room. It was Yan Langqing who threw her chopsticks on the ground. Everyone looked at her and saw that her eyes were red, her face was pale and her limbs were shaking as if she had suffered a great shock. Her father, Yan Shouye, glared at Lin Dan. He was unable to accept the outcome and was filled with resentment.

Lin Dan bowed and remained humble. She said, "In that case, I ask that Imperial Chef Yan fulfill the agreement of this competition and return the golden knife and the recipes."

Yan Langqing seemed to have difficulty opening her mouth to speak, but Yan Shouye exclaimed angrily, "No, those things belong to my father and the Yan family. Who gives you the right to own it?"

"Your father gave it to my father before he passed on, and those things belong to my father now. Back then, you got it from me with your own culinary skills, what's wrong with getting it back with my own skills now?"

Yan Shouye still wanted to keep arguing, but the Emperor frowned and showed his displeasure. Yan Langqing immediately pressed her father's shoulders and said in a hoarse voice, "I've brought everything and will be giving them to you." Initially, she brought it just to show her generosity but did not expect to lose to Lin Dan. Since the people entering the city had already decided her loss and the Emperor had also announced it officially, she reckoned that there was nothing she could do even if she did not want to concede defeat.

Lin Dan put the golden knife aside and raised her eyebrows when she flipped through the Yan family's recipes. The recipe book was split into two parts by Yan Langqing, the second half of the book that was written by Lin Baotian was returned to Lin Dan. The first part should only have 60 pages, but it seemed to be thicker than before. It was apparent that Yan Langqing had been putting lots of effort over the years and had developed many new dishes, adding new vitality to Yan's recipes.

However, Lin Dan started to frown as she took a closer look at the recipe book before sneering at what she discovered. She tore off one of the pages and handed it to a chef who came to watch the competition and said, " I remember this braised deer tendon was developed by you, Chef Liu. Here, I'm returning this to you. This stewed soft-shelled turtle is yours, Chef Fang, I'm giving it back to you..." She tore off one after another, recipes and returned them to the original creators one by one.

These chefs looked at Yan Langqing and at the Emperor, unsure whether it was appropriate for them to accept the recipes.

The Emperor was puzzled and wondered what tricks Lin Dan was trying to pull, but Prince Cheng sneered, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid there's something you don't know. Your imperial chef is pretty obnoxious, she knew that she was unable to create dishes to please you and took away recipes of other chefs. She did not allow people to sell those dishes again, as she claimed that it would be a sign of disrespect to share the same food as the Emperor. If that's the case, I'd suggest that you make a list of foods for all the subjects to avoid, so that we wouldn't be committing a grave mistake!"

Prince Gong spread his hands and pretended to panic, "If so, wouldn't we starve to death? We can't eat meat if the Emperor does, can we not even drink water if the Emperor does, too?"