In less than a minute, the whole potato on the chopping board had been cut into pieces by Chen Xuan. She instinctively glanced at her reputation value, and in an instant, froze, her eyes wide open.
Reputation Value: 7000!
"Good heavens!" Chen Xuan couldn't help but exclaim inwardly. She remembered that when she got off the car, her reputation value was only a few hundred. How much time had passed? It had skyrocketed like a rocket, with such an incredible increase!
She stared at the pile of potato strips, all uniform in size and neatly arranged. Her mind quickly thought through the situation, and she vaguely guessed that this likely had something to do with the knife skills she had just shown. In this case, it seemed she had gradually figured out the correct way to earn reputation points.
With that thought, her gaze immediately locked onto the potatoes lying quietly in the basket. She walked quickly over, grabbed five potatoes, and skillfully washed and peeled them. Then she returned to the chopping board, grabbed the knife, and started slicing without hesitation.
"Da da da!" The knife struck the chopping board rhythmically, producing a crisp sound. The sound was lively and powerful, with each potato strip coming out from under her knife, as if by magic.
The viewers in the live stream were growing increasingly wide-eyed, their astonishment clear on their faces.
"Damn, Miss Chen is definitely not cutting for the first time!"
"Damn! She majored in literature in college? You're telling me she majored in literature?"
"I worked as an apprentice in a restaurant for two months, and I couldn't cut like her."
"I'm crying. Can academic geniuses have such great practical skills?"
"Sis, stop cutting, no one's ordering this many potato strips!"
Meanwhile, over at the production team, Wang Tao had already checked the situation of all the challengers. However, he hadn't yet found anyone or any storyline that stood out.
Most of the challengers were still in the adjustment phase, and the careers they had chosen were fairly ordinary. It was difficult to find any content that could generate attention. Moreover, all 100 participants were amateurs, unaccustomed to being in front of cameras. Many of them were very stiff, not yet able to relax and move naturally, their every action appearing awkward.
Left with no choice, Wang Tao switched the camera view back to Room 1 for another round of switching.
"Huh, has Chen Xuan started cooking?" Wang Tao asked in surprise as he looked at the screen.
Lin Fei also spoke up, "She's cutting so fast."
Zhang Jianmin frowned and said in confusion, "This knife skill is obviously practiced, but with her age, where did she have the time to practice knife skills?"
The observers exchanged looks, all feeling puzzled.
Wang Tao looked at the live chat, which was clearly much livelier than the other rooms. Moreover, the viewers, like them, were shocked by the knife skills Chen Xuan had demonstrated.
At that moment, Zhang Cuilan hurried into the kitchen with a list in her hand and called out, "Lao Li, the guests are here."
"They've arrived." Li Aimin walked in from the back door, having just stepped outside for a cigarette.
He washed his hands, glanced at the list of dishes, and was about to start preparing them when he heard Chen Xuan ask, "Uncle Li, what dishes?"
"Green pepper and potato strips, braised crucian carp, twice-cooked pork." Li Aimin answered automatically, then added, "I'll do the prep, you can just watch."
According to the cooking process, both the green peppers and potatoes needed to be sliced, the crucian carp had to be freshly killed, and the twice-cooked pork had to be boiled first.
Li Aimin turned on the stove and started boiling water. Just as he was about to grab the meat, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of Chen Xuan taking a slab of pork belly from the refrigerator.
Before he could stop her, Chen Xuan quickly returned to the table, dropped the meat onto the chopping board, grabbed the knife, and started slicing.
"Swoosh, swoosh!" The pork belly was swiftly cut into evenly sized blocks under her skillful hand. Then, the knife glided across the chopping board, and the pieces of pork stuck to the blade.
With a flick of her wrist, the knife made a slight tilt, and the pork belly sliced through the air in a graceful arc, landing perfectly into the plate.
The series of actions—smooth and fluid—left Li Aimin dumbfounded, his face full of astonishment.
"Holy cow!"
"This move is unbelievably cool!"
"Can cutting vegetables be so cool?"
"She's so pretty, even cutting meat looks amazing!"
"Sis, tell me honestly, did you work in the cafeteria during college?"
"This definitely isn't her first time cooking!"
The viewers were completely blown away, the bullet comments flooding the screen like snowflakes. The previous knife work might have been somewhat explainable, but the entire sequence of slicing meat could only be the result of frequent practice—it was impossible to do this with ease unless she was truly skilled.
Wang Tao and the others were also surprised.
"Has she worked in a restaurant?" Ma Jingyao couldn't help but ask.
Wang Tao looked at Chen Xuan's profile and said, puzzled, "Her profile says that after graduation, she worked as an editor at a newspaper, and there's no mention of any work related to cooking."
Lin Fei speculated, "Maybe it's a hobby?"
Zhang Jianmin nodded and said, "It's probably a hobby."
By this time, Chen Xuan had already brought the meat to Li Aimin and gently said, "Uncle Li, here's the meat."
"Ah... okay." Li Aimin finally snapped out of it, reaching out to take the pork and toss it into the pot.
Just as he was about to say something to Chen Xuan, she had already turned and walked away.
Chen Xuan returned to the chopping board, neatly arranged the sliced potatoes on a plate, then grabbed a few green peppers, quickly washed them, and sliced them with a few quick strokes. The green pepper strips were placed next to the potato strips.
Then she grabbed a piece of ginger and skillfully sliced it into thin strips, placing them aside.
In this way, the preparation for the green pepper and potato strips was complete.
She carried the plate over to Li Aimin and gently set it down, saying, "Uncle Li, the potato strips."
"…Hmm, okay." Li Aimin responded distractedly.
Chen Xuan then walked over to the glass tank, grabbed a fishnet, quickly caught a crucian carp, and walked to the sink, casually picking up a knife.
She struck the fish's head twice with the knife, and the fish's struggles noticeably slowed.
Then she switched to using the back of the knife to scale the fish.
Li Aimin watched all of this in disbelief, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
The saying goes, "Amateurs watch the excitement, professionals watch the details." You could tell whether someone had real skill by watching.
Scaling fish seems simple, but for someone doing it for the first time, it's hard to get the force right. The knife back can easily get stuck, and if you're not careful, it can hit the hand holding the fish, which, even though it's the back of the knife, still hurts.
Yet, in Chen Xuan's hands, the scales were completely removed in less than thirty seconds, even from the hardest-to-scale parts of the fish.
Next, Chen Xuan turned the knife and started gutting the fish.
She placed the tip of the knife at the bottom near the tail fin, made a forceful stab, and then made a smooth cut upwards, expertly removing all the internal organs, leaving only the fish bladder, before removing the gills.
After rinsing the fish, it was ready.
Chen Xuan walked back to the table, placed the fish on the chopping board, and with swift strokes, made three cuts on the front and three on the back.
From catching the fish to gutting it, the entire process took less than five minutes.
"Fast…"
"This person, does she work as a professional fishmonger?"
"Watching her gut the fish, why does it feel so satisfying?"
"I have a feeling that Miss Chen is definitely going to get a perfect score!"
"Knowing how to use a knife isn't enough. She still has to be able to cook, right?"
"Are you kidding? With her knife skills, you think her cooking will be bad?"
"What is professionalism? This is professionalism!"
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]