Chapter 542: Chapter 542: I’m Worried
These spices obviously don’t grow here; they were bought by the organizers and placed in the soil.
The big screen occasionally switches between contestants, sometimes splitting the screen to show each contestant.
The audience, who had previously agreed with Fu Jiaxu’s analysis, felt a burning sensation on their faces, as if they had been slapped when they heard Ye Fei’s analysis shared with other contestants.
"It’s just Ye Fei’s guess. Who knows if it’s true or not? Let’s wait until she actually finds something," some audience members stubbornly said.
This sentiment was shared by many in the bullet comments.
Who knew that as soon as those words left their mouths, Ye Fei suddenly strode toward a tree.
Ye Fei squatted down, and the camera zoomed in following Ye Fei’s line of sight.
Right in front of Ye Fei were all sorts of plants in the soil that looked like weeds and wild vegetables.
The leaves varied in size and shape.
Anyway, the audience wasn’t professional and didn’t recognize them.
But Ye Fei recognized them.
She immediately picked some of each kind, carefully identifying each one, even personally tasting them to confirm.
Aware the audience might be confused, Ye Fei introduced them one by one: "This is basil."
Audience: "..."
Damn, she just said Ye Fei’s guess might not be right, and now Ye Fei found the basil.
Did she overhear the discussions in the audience?
"This is parsley." Ye Fei took a few steps and made another discovery.
Audience: "..."
"Maybe Ye Fei just has good eyesight, it could be a coincidence," some audience members stubbornly said.
"I found rosemary!" Hua Ciyue happily picked the rosemary and put it in her bag.
Audience: "..."
"I found fresh pepper!" Tian Pengpo announced at this time.
Audience: "..."
Are you guys here to humiliate us together?
"Ye Fei was right after all." Huo Jiarong nodded in satisfaction, shouldering the Bone-cutting Knife.
Now, those skeptical audience members had nothing left to say.
Along the way, Ye Fei had found basil, parsley, thyme, and rosemary.
She even discovered fresh pepper.
The other contestants who had heard Ye Fei’s analysis had also found many.
The only one who hadn’t found any was Fu Jiaxu.
He hadn’t even considered that there might be spices arranged by the organizers hidden in those corners.
Fu Jiaxu focused all his energy on finding ingredients.
But Ye Fei wasn’t in a rush; she first collected as many spices as possible.
She would look for ingredients afterward.
Sure enough, due to the limited space, Ye Fei unknowingly reached the end.
She discovered a large screen hidden behind the vegetation, with a scrolling display of a blue sky and white clouds background.
At this point, Ye Fei was completely convinced of her hypothesis.
She smiled and continued her search.
Finally, following the sound, Ye Fei arrived at a place where many chickens and ducks were free-ranging.
Although they were free-range, the chickens and ducks didn’t roam wildly, just occasionally pecking at the ground.
Ye Fei took a deep breath; although as a chef, she should know how to do this.
But she had always bought chickens and ducks that were already killed and processed by the seller.
Some were frozen from the supermarket, while others were live from market stalls, but the vendor would prepare them after purchase, so she didn’t have to do it herself.
Now being asked to do this, Ye Fei felt somewhat psychologically pressured, unable to overcome this mental block.
At this time, Xue Jieyu and Mi Ruoyun also arrived.
The two girls were also stunned when they saw the live chickens and ducks.
"Are we supposed to kill them ourselves?" Xue Jieyu asked in shock.
"Actually, didn’t we anticipate this earlier?" Mi Ruoyun sighed, "I was hoping we were really on a deserted island or the like, at least I could catch some fish and shrimp."
"Haven’t you done this before?" Xue Jieyu turned to ask Mi Ruoyun.
"No," Mi Ruoyun sighed.
"I thought people from Changping Academy were all-arounders, good at everything related to cooking," Xue Jieyu said.
"But killing live poultry is not necessary; there’s no need to do that in the kitchen," Mi Ruoyun said, feeling her scalp tingle as she looked ahead.
"Ye Fei, what should we do now?" Xue Jieyu asked Ye Fei again.
"We’ll just have to face it head-on," Ye Fei said, "I’ll give it a try first."
Saying that, Ye Fei took a deep breath and went ahead.
Ye Fei prepared to select a chicken.
Duck meat is gamier and has more oil and fat than chicken.
In this competition with limited cooking conditions, chicken is safer.
There’s no need to attempt pointless challenges in this competition.
However, even catching a chicken wasn’t easy.
Xue Jieyu and Mi Ruoyun, seeing Ye Fei had started, looked at each other and joined in to catch a chicken.
The three girls were a mess, unable to catch anything.
The chickens were running too fast.
The scene was very chaotic.
"This isn’t working; let’s cooperate," Ye Fei suggested, "Three of us surround the chicken to prevent it from escaping, then one person grabs it; that’ll be faster."
"Okay." Xue Jieyu and Mi Ruoyun nodded.
The two trusted Ye Fei, so they let her catch first.
With the three of them working together, it was indeed faster.
Though still a bit messy, Ye Fei finally caught the chicken.
She held it by the neck to stop it from moving around.
Then, they helped Xue Jieyu and Mi Ruoyun each catch a chicken.
Although they caught the chickens, the hardest part was next.
"I... I’ll give it a try," Ye Fei took a deep breath, looking down at the rooster struggling in her hand.
"Let’s not film this scene. I think it might be too gory," Ye Fei suggested, "There are many children among the live audience, and it’s not suitable for them to watch this."
The cameraman agreed, so he contacted the director to cut to other contestants.
They continued filming on their side to ensure there was no cheating.
Ye Fei took out the knife tied to the outside of her backpack, holding the chicken, her hand trembling slightly.
Watching the chicken crow frantically in her hand, Ye Fei struggled to place the knife on its neck.
She was almost in tears, her whole body trembling, her face pale.
Since the live stream no longer showed Ye Fei’s scene.
The audience had no idea what was happening here.
Zhao Gushen suddenly stood up.
Chi Jingsi asked in surprise, "Where are you going?"
"I’m going to check. I’m worried," Zhao Gushen said.
Ye Fei, a young girl, even though she was skilled in cooking, had never killed live poultry.
After all, in modern cooking, there’s no need to kill your own.
Most housewives would have the vendor prepare it in the market.
Restaurants have supply channels, sparing chefs from doing such tasks.
Not to mention head chefs, even apprentices don’t have to do such things.
Zhao Gushen only knew about the overall planning of the competition.
He hadn’t asked about the details.
