"Sister Ei actually passed the preliminary rounds?" Xiangling looked at Raiden Ei, who had already come out, with a look of disbelief; he felt it was quite inconceivable.
But it seemed normal; he had seen how incredibly hard Raiden Ei had been practicing her cooking skills these past few days.
It was just that Raiden Ei only knew those few dishes; she was completely clueless about any others.
"Yes, my opponent is Ye Zixiu... I don't know him." Raiden Ei was a bit puzzled. She and Xiangling were currently in front of the palace watching the competition results.
"Ye Zixiu? I don't know him either." Xiangling paused for a moment. "Sister Ei, I hope you defeat Ye Zixiu and meet me in the finals."
His opponent was Yan Xiao from Wangshu Inn. Due to the addition of several judges, the matches from the semifinals onward would be held outdoors.
"Sister Ei's match is today. Good luck!"
At this moment, the Liyue Plaza was packed with people. They had originally thought they would only see one cooking competition outdoors, but it turned out they could watch three.
The Liyue audience was also very enthusiastic.
"Sister..."
Raiden Makoto was currently chatting with Lumine and Zhongli. Because of Raiden Makoto's invitation, Zhongli had also become one of the judges for the Culinary King Competition. He would be watching the next three outdoor matches.
Seeing so many enthusiastic spectators, Zhongli felt a bit more at ease. Liyue's transition from the rule of the gods to the rule of humanity was the right choice. It seemed the people of Liyue wouldn't be too affected by it.
"Sister..." Raiden Makoto was a bit excited. Today's match was between her sister and the chef named Ye Zixiu. As long as she could defeat Ye Zixiu, she would successfully reach the finals.
She, Raiden Ei, finally had a place in the world of cooking!
"Do your best." Makoto had seen exactly how hard Raiden Ei had been studying cooking over the past few days. She saw Raiden Ei seriously practicing her basic skills, and she had also taught her a few dishes that were very simple in their past life but didn't exist in Liyue.
"Mhm..."
Looking at the relatively happy Raiden Ei, Raiden Makoto thought it would have been great if her sister had been this attentive when governing Inazuma; then things wouldn't have reached the current state.
"She has changed a lot, too," Zhongli said faintly. In Zhongli's eyes, Raiden Ei was still the Shadow Clone of the Electro Archon Raiden, who had sat at the bottom of The Seven's gathering back then.
In his memory, Raiden Ei should have been very taciturn back then, right? But now she looked like a lively Lady.
"Yes," Raiden Makoto nodded. She wondered if it was because Raiden Ei had spent another five hundred years in the Plane of Euthymia after her death, so now, in front of her, Raiden Ei had returned to the personality she had when they were first born.
Back then, Raiden Ei was also very lively, but as she grew up day by day, she became much quieter and more reserved.
Since Lumine and Paimon were neither judges nor contestants, they could only stay below the stage. As for Xiangling, his match was tomorrow, so he also had to stay below.
"Good luck, Sister Ei!"
"Sister Ei, go for it!" Xiangling, Lumine, and the others all began to cheer for Raiden Ei.
"Zhongli, let's go up and take our seats." Since she and Zhongli were now part of the judging panel, Keqing had already prepared seats for them.
"Alright."
As Raiden Makoto and Zhongli sat in their respective seats, many Liyue locals below began to discuss them.
"Isn't that an Inazuman? Why is she a judge? Didn't they say the judges were The Seven Stars?"
"I don't know... The one next to her seems to be that consultant from the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor, Zhongli, right? I heard he handled the Rite of Parting for Rex Lapis... Does he understand gourmet food too?"
"Yeah, does an Inazuman understand Liyue's gourmet food?" Xiangling, Lumine, and Paimon heard the discussions from the people below.
"How can they say that about Master and Mr. Zhongli?" Xiangling was a bit angry. "Master is..."
"Yeah, how can they say that about Sister Makoto? Sister Makoto's cooking is so amazing... and Zhongli is..."
"They just don't know," Lumine said seriously. "The Moonchase Festival is a traditional Liyue festival. Having Sister Makoto as a judge does seem a bit strange to them."
"As for Zhongli..."
Lumine didn't know if Zhongli could cook, but as Rex Lapis, his taste definitely wouldn't be bad, right? He was definitely qualified.
But since Xiangling was just one of the thousands of spectators, his voice was quickly drowned out by the noisy discussions.
"Zhen." When Keqing and Ningguang walked up from behind, Keqing smiled at Raiden Makoto, then turned his gaze toward Zhongli, who was sitting upright next to her.
It had to be said that, in some ways, Zhongli really was very similar to Rex Lapis. Keqing knew that Rex Lapis hadn't truly passed away, but he didn't know that Zhongli was Rex Lapis.
"You all arrived so early?" Keqing looked refreshed. Ningguang sat next to Keqing and he also nodded to Raiden Makoto.
After all, they had met before, and Keqing had told him some information about Raiden Makoto. He knew Raiden Makoto was skilled in cooking.
To be able to be Xiangling's master in cooking, Ningguang personally felt that Raiden Makoto's culinary skills definitely wouldn't be bad.
Behind Ningguang was an elderly man around sixty or seventy years old with graying hair.
As another figure stepped out from the side, Raiden Makoto noticed that it was the energetic Lady they had run into at the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor, Yanfei.
She was slightly surprised.
"Welcome, everyone, to the site of this year's Culinary King Competition. I am Yanfei, invited by the organizing committee to serve as the notary and host for this competition." Yanfei spoke to everyone with a smile.
The previously noisy scene quieted down significantly.
"This year's Culinary King Competition is hosted by the Liyue Seven Stars and organized by multiple units. It is divided into two stages: the preliminaries and the finals. However, due to the special nature of the contestants, the semifinals will be open for everyone to watch."
"The main competition will last for three days. Today and tomorrow will be the semifinals. The winners of today's and tomorrow's matches will enter the final stage on the last day," Yanfei said gracefully to everyone.
"As the notary, I represent all the people of Liyue and the organizing committee to notarize the competition results."
"I didn't expect Yanfei to be the host," Paimon said thoughtfully, looking at Yanfei reading out the competition details on stage. He was also a bit curious. "But it seems quite normal."
"Mhm."
"Next, let me introduce the judges for this Culinary King Competition. The judges are divided into two groups: those below the stage and those on the stage. There are five judges on the stage."
"First is the Tianquan, Lady Ningguang." When Yanfei called out Keqing's name, Keqing waved to the crowd.
And everyone on the field became very excited.
"The Yuheng, Lady Keqing." Yanfei was very good at livening up the atmosphere, so much so that the enthusiasm of the audience below was completely stirred up.
Raiden Ei, waiting below the stage to go up, couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She had stayed in the Plane of Euthymia for too long, and in Inazuma, she almost never went out. There weren't nearly as many people in Inazuma as in Liyue.
She was now quite nervous.
"Sister Ei? Good luck! Don't be nervous." Paimon noticed Raiden Ei's nervousness. "Defeat that Ye Zixiu."
"Yeah... Sister Ei, don't be nervous... After all, you've learned the skills of both me and Master. Defeating him definitely won't be a problem. Besides, it's not the finals yet; there's no need for on-the-spot improvisation." Xiangling said very seriously.
"Mhm..."
"And the Tianshu, Uncle Tian."
"In addition to three of The Seven Stars, there are also two specially invited judges."
Yanfei was a bit surprised herself. The Inazuman Lady she had run into in front of the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor was actually a specially invited judge for the Moonchase Festival Culinary King Competition, and even Zhongli had come along.
It seemed that the relationship between Raiden Makoto and Zhongli was truly very good.
"The consultant of the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor, Mr. Zhongli." As Yanfei announced Zhongli's identity, the crowd couldn't help but start a bit of a commotion.
"A consultant from the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor? Isn't the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor a place that handles funerals? What does this Zhongli know about gourmet food?"
"We're not here for a funeral feast! Why invite a consultant from the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor to be a judge?"
"Yeah, what does a consultant from the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor know about gourmet food? We're not eating at a funeral; we're eating gourmet food!"
But when Yanfei introduced Raiden Makoto, they began to discuss even more intensely.
"Finally, we have the senior gourmet from Inazuma, Miss Raiden Makoto!" After Yanfei finished the introductions, the Liyue people below couldn't help but sigh.
"Does an Inazuman understand our Liyue gourmet food?"
"Yeah, not only is a consultant who handles funerals serving as a judge, but even an Inazuman has come to be a judge for the Culinary King Competition?"
"Quiet, everyone." Seeing the people below whispering and all talking about Zhongli and Raiden Makoto, Yanfei's expression turned a bit unpleasant.
"There will also be ten audience members voting from below the stage. A total of fifteen judges will cast their votes. The person with the most votes wins."
"How can they say that about Sister Makoto and Zhongli?" Paimon was also a bit unhappy listening to the people around him.
Especially when she noticed that Raiden Ei's expression was also a bit off. Raiden Ei began to look cold; she looked a bit scary like that.
"Sister Ei..."
"Sister Ei?"
He knew what Raiden Ei was like when she got angry—it was very terrifying. Paimon quickly said to Raiden Ei, "Good luck, Sister Ei! Defeat Ye Zixiu."
"Now, please welcome today's contestants to the stage." Although Yanfei was a bit unhappy, he still had a smile on his face.
"On the right is today's first contestant, from the Qingce Village area, Mr. Ye Zixiu." As a young man with crimson hair walked onto the stage, he waved to everyone.
The people who had been discussing Raiden Makoto and Zhongli stopped their chatter and began to watch the competition seriously.
"On the left is today's second contestant, from the Inazuma region, Contestant Raiden Ei!" Yanfei looked at Raiden Ei, who was slowly walking onto the stage, with some surprise. It turned out that the twin sisters he had seen at the Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor that day—one was a judge and the other was a contestant.
"An Inazuman is not only a judge... but also a contestant?"
"How can an Inazuman be competing and even make it to the semifinals? Could there be some shady business?"
"There's definitely shady business... otherwise, how could an Inazuman make it to the semifinals? So The Seven Stars' event..."
Raiden Makoto didn't care much about what the people below were saying. She just watched Raiden Ei quietly. She hoped Raiden Ei would do her best—never mind winning the championship, defeating the current chef to enter the finals was important, right?
"The semifinals will not have a restricted theme. Contestants can present their specialty dishes..."
"I will also serve as the commentator to explain today's competition to everyone." Yanfei then walked to the judging panel and sat down to one side.
"Liyue's festival atmosphere is quite nice." Raiden Makoto smiled. "It would be great if Inazuma could be like Liyue."
"Zhen, can your sister really enter the main competition?" Keqing was very surprised that Raiden Ei had made it this far. After all, Raiden Ei had a history of blowing up kitchens, and he had even seen it once right in front of him.
"Can she control the Electro element well?" Keqing was curious. "Otherwise, another Overloaded reaction might happen..."
"As we can see, Contestant Ye Zixiu is first preparing his ingredients. He is doing the preparatory work, and his basic skills are very solid."
"Now let's turn our attention to Contestant Raiden Ei from Inazuma. Contestant Raiden Ei has actually brought out a strange object... she is fiddling with those items... she should be setting up a stove... but the stove looks very strange."
"Contestant Raiden Ei has started preparing ingredients. Let's look forward to her ingredients... she's taking them out... it turns out to be... two Slimes!" While Raiden Makoto and Keqing were chatting, Yanfei began to explain the competition intensely to the audience.
"Contestant Raiden Ei's ingredients are actually Slimes! Truly incredible! What an unbelievable choice of ingredients."
When Raiden Ei took out the two Slimes, the audience below erupted into intense discussion again.
"Do Inazumans actually eat Slimes? Can they even stomach such disgusting food?"
"Maybe it's because Inazuma is too poor... I heard from a friend that Inazuma is under the Sakoku Decree... the people there are very poor."
"Contestant Raiden Ei put the Slimes into a metal bucket. Is she going to wash them? No, she's connecting the bucket with metal wires... Look, everyone, that strange stove... is actually glowing and heating up!"
"It turns out she's using the Slimes to process the ingredients! Simply unbelievable!"
Raiden Ei's method even surprised Zhongli a bit. "Zhen, you two really have unique ways."
"In terms of universal rationality, technology is the primary driving force of development," Raiden Makoto said, mimicking Zhongli's way of speaking.
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