Ye Shu did not exactly keep her voice down.
For a moment, aside from the camera directors and other staff who had to keep a close eye on the set, everyone else turned to look at her.
Following her gaze, they indeed saw that the screen of the phone held by Mrs. Zhuang's husband displayed footage of Xu Yanxia cooking with her teammate, Xiaoman.
Due to his particular shooting angle, the two of them appeared to be standing very close, laughing and talking together.
Sensing something was wrong, the producer hurried over and asked, "What happened?"
Ye Shu immediately replied, "This Mr. Zhuang has been holding up his phone and constantly filming our Director Xu. I don't know what he's scheming."
"What could I possibly be scheming?"
The man surnamed Zhuang immediately smiled and said, "I was just taking pictures of my wife and decided to take a few of the others while I was at it. We are all competitors here on the same show. Is taking pictures not allowed?"
Hah, he sure knew how to twist words.
Ye Shu immediately sneered and said, "Taking a few while you're at it translates to taking over a dozen close-ups of our Director Xu? Meanwhile, no one is even taking pictures of your wife right next to you."
"Given your age, could you at least show some basic decency as a married man?"
"What did you say?!"
The man surnamed Zhuang finally looked embarrassed and indignant.
However, the producer immediately followed up, "Brother Zhuang, we have rules here, and it's stated in the agreement. Aside from promotional photos of your own artist, you can't just take pictures randomly."
"Yesterday, someone secretly took photos of the scores and sent them to Brother Song's fan group to stir up trouble. They've already called the police overnight. Once we find out who it is, we will hold them accountable for breaching the contract. Just take pictures of your own artist, and refrain from snapping others."
"That's right,"
Ye Shu quickly added, "Delete the photos of Director Xu."
This...
The man surnamed Zhuang paused, then had no choice but to unlock his phone screen and delete the photo that was just displayed.
He had hoped to just gloss over it, but Ye Shu firmly demanded, "There are others too. Please delete them all!"
The producer also chimed in, "Please cooperate, let's not make things ugly for everyone."
The man surnamed Zhuang had no choice but to delete all irrelevant photos from his album today, even letting the producer check it before the matter was settled.
Surprisingly, there were nearly twenty photos of Xu Yanxia on his phone, all of them featuring her in the same frame as her assistant Xiaoman, caught in conversation.
His intentions couldn't be more obvious.
The producer held back the curses that reached the tip of his tongue and turned his attention back to the set.
It was time for each group of contestants to submit their dishes.
Mrs. Zhuang's group presented colorful dumplings; Master Jin's group offered golden, perfectly round rose pastries; Brother Song's group served up supreme crayfish that were red and glistening with oil; and Xu Yanxia's group presented chrysanthemum tofu that looked incredibly lifelike.
Visually speaking, they were all quite pleasing to the eye.
After being portioned out by the staff, the dishes were brought before the judges.
Since Brother Song's group's supreme crayfish was clearly heavily spiced and strongly flavored, the judges unanimously decided to taste it last so as not to affect their palates.
They started with Master Jin's group's rose pastries—
"The appearance of this rose pastry is really quite good."
"It smells fragrant and has a great layered texture when eaten."
The two good-natured judges, Sister Xue and Dr. Hui, gave ample emotional support as usual, while Judge Qiao and Chef Zeng continued to offer objective insights—
"The shape of the pastry is indeed very good, and the aroma is acceptable. But I feel the rose jam inside is just average; the sweetness is a bit high, and the fragrance smells too industrial."
"Agreed. Additionally, the flakiness is slightly lacking, and the layers stick together a bit. The water-to-oil ratio and the folding technique could be further refined."
Hearing the judges' feedback, Master Jin smiled and said, "The main issue this time was the short timeframe; there wasn't enough time to marinate fresh roses on the spot. We used store-bought canned filling, so the taste is indeed a bit lacking. If you ever have the chance, please visit our Jingbei Imperial Flavor Restaurant to try a more authentic palace-style rose pastry."
The judges appreciated his attitude, and in the end, he received a total score of eighty-eight points.
At least it was an improvement from yesterday.
Next, the judges chose Xu Yanxia's chrysanthemum tofu to cleanse their palates.
Because although the dish was called tofu, it was actually a soup.
Earlier, while Xu Yanxia was slicing the tofu, she had also quickly simmered a pot of mushroom broth. Now, the soup and the dish were combined. The tender white chrysanthemum tofu bloomed in the slightly brown clear broth, garnished with a few red goji berries on the side, making it look incredibly beautiful.
It made the judges couldn't help but take out their phones to snap some gorgeous photos before eating.
And once they tasted it, everyone gasped in admiration—
"The tofu melts in the mouth, and the soup is so fresh and savory. It's delicious!"
"From a nutritional standpoint, tofu is high in protein and low in fat. Paired with the broth, it's perfect for all ages!"
"Exactly! As the saying goes, a chef is judged by their soup, just as an opera singer is judged by their voice. Director Xu is not only skilled with a knife, but her soup base is flawless. This dish easily ranks in the top three chrysanthemum tofus I've ever eaten!"
"The tofu is tender and moist, soft and smooth, without any raw beany taste. The knife work is impeccable, and the savory flavor of the soup doesn't overpower the light sweetness of the tofu. Every single step showcases perfect culinary foundation."
After the other three judges finished, Chef Zeng also said with a face full of admiration, "Especially considering the sudden accident just now, being able to calmly produce such a perfect finished product... Her psychological resilience, ability, and experience are all beyond question."
With that said, he led the four judges in giving it full marks.
Combined with the scores from the public jury, Xu Yanxia achieved a perfect score of one hundred points!
"Wow, the first perfect score of the event has appeared!!!"
The host said with evident excitement, "I think what happened just now might become one of the iconic scenes of this show! Let's congratulate Director Xu!!!"
"Congratulations, Director Xu!!!"
Applause erupted both on and off the set.
But as the applause died down, Mrs. Zhuang smiled and said to Xu Yanxia, "Miss Xu is truly born for television. The variety show effect of that scene just now was incredibly strong! If people didn't know better, they would think it was planned in advance!"
"..."
Everyone on set quietly paused; the insinuation in her words was a bit too obvious.
Fortunately, the host quickly explained, "This really wasn't planned by us in advance. The stagehands just confirmed that there was a problem with the floor wheels of Director Xu's workstation."
"This was a mistake on our production team's part. After all, that scene earlier was quite thrilling. The slightest misstep could have caused Director Xu to injure her hand. It's no joke."
Saying this, the host didn't give her another chance to make snide remarks and quickly invited the judges, "Next, teachers, please taste the colorful vegetable love dumplings from Mrs. Zhuang's group."
With that, the judges began to taste the dish.
Mrs. Zhuang took the initiative to introduce them from the side, "The yellow dumplings have pumpkin wrappers with a salmon and carrot filling. The green ones have spinach wrappers and a cucumber and shrimp filling. The black ones are made with black bean wrappers and a three-delicacy chive filling, while the purple ones have purple sweet potato wrappers and a chicken and sweet corn filling."
"Since we were short on time, today we used our own brand's all-natural fruit and vegetable flour to make the dough. It is rich in various nutrients, has beautiful colors, and is perfectly suited for children."
"Exactly, especially for picky eaters."
Her teammate, Huihui's Mom, chimed in, "For instance, our Huihui used to be a picky eater. Ever since I started trying to make various dough-based foods for him using this fruit and vegetable flour, his appetite has noticeably improved!"
As her voice trailed off, Sister Xue, who was unaware of the truth, nodded and sighed, "Mothers really break their hearts worrying about their children's meals. Maternal love is truly great!"
Judge Qiao, however, remarked, "The filling of these dumplings is quite good, but the wrappers aren't very tasty. They feel a bit sticky and the texture is quite different from those made with regular flour. Could it be because of the added coloring?"
"That's right, they even have a bit of a gummy texture when you eat them."
Even Dr. Zeng, who was used to playing the peacemaker, tasted that something was off and couldn't help but say, "If possible, it is still best to try and use regular flour to make dumplings for children. After all, these fillings are quite good."
Seeing that Chef Zeng was also about to speak, Mrs. Zhuang immediately said, "We considered that these were for children, so we made the dough a bit softer to begin with. Moreover, it has been a while since they were boiled, so it's inevitable that the wrappers absorbed water and became sticky."
Saying this, she even tried to squeeze in another advertisement, "These fruit and vegetable flours are our star products. They have been selling for years, so everyone can rest completely assured..."
Give it a rest.
Unable to tolerate it any longer, Xu Yanxia interrupted her and asked, "I would like to ask Mrs. Zhuang and Huihui's Mom, do you really feed this fruit and vegetable flour to your own children on a regular basis?"
