Chapter 193 Reality
Li Yan looked at the dishes in front of Xu Qing.

Compared to his gorgeous and exquisite Moon in the Sea, this dish seemed so ordinary and casual.

The dishes were not carefully plated, the food was just haphazardly placed in them.

It doesn't look like the work of a top chef, but more like a home-cooked meal in an ordinary family. It is neither exquisite nor stunning, but reveals a rare kind of affinity in its casualness.

The ingredients Xu Qing used were also very common. He used the cheap seafood that he used in the first duel. Those inconspicuous small fish, small squids, small shells and seaweeds sank or floated in the light soup. The price of a small piece of lobster in the casserole alone was a hundred times higher than that.

However, Li Yan was well aware of the wonderful flavors hidden in these seafood, so he had no doubts about the taste of this dish.

"The answer in my heart..."

Li Yan whispered to himself.

He took a deep breath, dipped the spoon into the casserole, scooped up a spoonful of clear soup and lobster, and put it into his mouth.

Unlike its casual appearance, the taste in the mouth is extremely delicious and exquisite.

The soup, which looks as light as water, brings out the umami taste to the extreme. After taking a sip, even the feeling of the soup disappears. The taste buds are completely conquered by the delicious taste. Only the fresh fragrance fills the mouth, and nothing else can be felt. It's as if the other tactile senses are paralyzed at this moment, leaving only the nerves that can feel the delicious taste to continuously transmit signals to the brain.

Seafood has a unique flavor. Its deliciousness does not require complicated cooking and can be fully brought out in the simplest way.

However, the freshness in my mouth at this moment goes beyond the freshness of seafood and those tastes that can be classified by humans, and reaches the essence of freshness.

Li Yan had never thought that there would be such a delicious taste in the world.

This umami taste transcends those vague concepts and breaks away from those indescribable subtle feelings, becoming so vivid and specific that it seems as if you can touch it with just the slightest movement of your tongue.

It seemed that what he put into his mouth was not soup, but the concrete form of the word "fresh".

It is as if the beauty in the painting moves lightly with lotus steps, deftly crosses the threshold between imagination and reality, and steps into the mortal world. It becomes flesh and blood from a thin flat painting, clearly visible, and every frown and smile is captivating.

This delicious reality made Li Yan deeply intoxicated.

And behind the ultimate deliciousness is the taste that is unique to lobster.

The sweetness and smoothness hidden behind the deliciousness is highlighted at this moment.

However, unlike what Li Yan imagined, this was not pure sweetness.

Generally, only lobster meat is used in clear-boiled lobster, while the lobster brain, internal organs, etc. are useless impurities.

The only thing worth savoring is the sweet and tender lobster meat.

However, Xu Qing did not completely remove the impurities from the lobster. He beat the lobster meat into a paste, made a hollow lobster ball, and stuffed the essence of the shrimp brain into it.

At this moment, when you take a bite, the lobster meat on the outside is tender and smooth, and the soft meat is fresh and juicy, bringing you an incomparable enjoyment. Inside, the taste of the lobster brain hidden inside spreads the moment your teeth bite it.

Unlike the pure sweetness of lobster meat, lobster brain has a slight fishy and bitter taste, but it also contains a delicious taste different from lobster meat. This taste is cleverly integrated with the fishy and bitter taste, becoming a complex and wonderful taste.

It may be hard to accept at first taste, but after tasting it, you can't help but crave this unique flavor.

At the same time, the sweetness of the lobster meat cleverly alleviates the bitterness of the shrimp brain, and the unique charm makes the sweet lobster meat more layered, adding a bit of thickness and fullness to the pure sweetness.

The ingenious combination of the two is like constructing a complete lobster in the mouth, swimming freely and vividly between the lips and teeth.

Those small fish, small squids, small shells and seaweed also fully release their unique freshness, and this freshness does not cover up the taste of lobster, but blends perfectly with it, adding more wonderful flavor to it.

As you chew it, the lobster seems to have the elasticity and toughness of shellfish, the fragrance and crispness of seaweed, the tenderness and softness of small fish, and the firmness and chewiness of small squid.

It is no longer a one-sided lobster, no longer just a lobster with a sweet taste. It seems to be a unity of countless kinds of seafood, with such a rich and wonderful taste.

The more you chew the ingredients in your mouth, the more harmonious their flavors become, and the richer the taste becomes. In an instant, countless flavors bloom in your mouth at the same time, as if you were filling your mouth with the vast ocean, and your taste buds are swimming freely in the ocean, sometimes turning into small fish eating seaweed, sometimes turning into lobsters catching small fish, and sometimes turning into seaweed in the sea, swaying gently with the waves.

This extremely real and specific feeling makes the body's senses deeply immersed in it. For a moment, I even forget who I am, where I am, and the reality.

Because what you taste in your mouth is the only truth.

The delicious taste spread into his heart, and Li Yan seemed to hear Meixiang's voice in a trance.

That clear and sweet voice flows into my heart like a spring.

Li Yan would be intoxicated every time.

Meixiang's brilliant smile is like the unchanging moonlight in the sky, always bright and beautiful.

But when he opened his eyes, he saw a different plum fragrance.

Meixiang is sad because of her father's scolding, Meixiang is frustrated because of the guests' dissatisfaction, Meixiang is worried and fragile, Meixiang will endure all the pain alone and secretly hide away to cry.

Even after crying, Meixiang would still smile brightly, not wanting others to worry about her.

Only then did Li Yan realize that Meixiang was not so perfect.

She was trying hard to pretend to be a perfect and strong girl, in order to please her strict father, in order not to cause trouble to others, and in order to let the chefs in the restaurant and the guests who came to the restaurant see her best side.

So she tried hard to smile.

And her pain and sadness were all hidden behind her bright smile.

Li Yan also saw the panic on Meixiang's face when he advanced to the final showdown of the cooking competition.

That was a scene he had never noticed before. At that time, he was so excited and nervous that he had no time to pay attention to Meixiang's expression.

In fact, the perfect moon in his heart never existed.

Because the bright moon in reality also has phases of waxing and waning.

The ever-perfect Meixiang in his mind was just an illusion he created.

He was bewitched by Meixiang's brilliant smile and forgot that Meixiang was just an ordinary girl with her own fragility, helplessness and despair.

the truth……

At this point, how could Li Yan not know the truth?

He and Jidi are fellow apprentices, and he knows Jidi very well. Jidi's passion and seriousness about cooking are even greater than his.

How could such a person do something like plotting to poison others during a cooking competition?

The only one who can do this is Meixiang.

Meixiang was overwhelmed by pain and despair.

Li Yan felt extremely bitter.

Even the deliciousness and sweetness in the mouth cannot alleviate the bitterness spreading from the bottom of the heart.

The truth is painful indeed.

(End of this chapter)