"Refreshing and appetizing, it even beautifies and nourishes the complexion! Amazing. I really want some!"

"Wow, Datong River is so impressive!"

"Yeah, especially this good-looking guy named Shen Qiang. He's really amazing, making herbal cuisine so divine—it's truly rare."

"Indeed, ordinary dishes can be found everywhere, but a truly effective herbal cuisine seems to be unique to this place alone."

"Yeah, I've set a new goal now, which is to save money and go eat herbal cuisine at Datong River."

"Honey, I want to go to Datong River for the herbal cuisine!"

Instantly, the webpage was swarmed with comments from various women, but the guys stayed quiet.

Are you kidding, did you think they were fools?

Using their simple brains, they knew that the herbal cuisine at Datong River wouldn't come cheap. In order to ensure their wallets remained intact, the guys pretended not to see it.

Meanwhile, because of this herbal cuisine, the scores between the three competing teams had been clearly differentiated.

First place, without a doubt, was Shen Qiang's Datong River.

They topped the leaderboard with a score of 97.

Following close behind was Yuqing Hall with 96 points.

Baihua Building, because of their Yangtze River knife dish, scored 94 points.

The competition continued.

Whether it was the netizens, commentators, or even the on-site host, their favor shifted from initially supporting Yuqing Hall and Baihua Building to rooting for Datong River.

The focus of the next competition

centered around Lv Shuyao's father and Adrian.

After all, a truly excellent restaurant couldn't rely on just one great chef.

In the following competition, Adrian's cold dish first encountered a debacle.

It scored only 46 points.

Fortunately, following him, Lv Shuyao's father turned the tide with a cold dish that regained the disadvantage.

But in the subsequent pastry contest, Lv Shuyao's father's pastry scored the lowest.

Just when everyone thought that Datong River's dark horse momentum would prove to be a fleeting phenomenon,

French chef Adrian, with a dessert deemed perfect, won over all the judges, earning the highest score of 49 points in the pastry category, achieving redemption.

Thus, as the normal competition summed up,

Shen Qiang's Datong River team ultimately ranked first with a total score of 289 points.

Yuqing Hall came second with a total score of 288 points.

Baihua Building, with a total score of 285 points, ranked third.

The moment the results were announced, a young disciple following the Master of Yuqing Hall burst into tears, kneeling beside the Master and said, "Master, I'm sorry. If it wasn't for my mistake, Shen Qiang wouldn't have been one point ahead of us, and we wouldn't have lost this competition."

The Master of Yuqing Hall, with a stern face, said sternly, "If you know your mistake, correct it. No crying, stand up."

The young man, wiping his tears, stood up.

Looking at Shen Qiang, who was smiling, the Master of Yuqing Hall seriously said, "Shen Qiang, I have to admit, your chefs at Datong River are very impressive, all of them well-honed experts; however, we did not lose this competition to your cooking skills."

Shen Qiang just slightly smiled, but before he could speak,

The Master of Yuqing Hall continued, "Because I've observed your movements very closely, I've realized that you're not really a chef. I even think that aside from simmering, you might not be able to complete even a simple stir-fry."

"Because your movements, though smooth, show many details that reveal you're not often in the kitchen."

"So in terms of cooking, we didn't really lose to Datong River, we lost to your medical skills."

Shen Qiang smiled and said, "You've said it before, what is the Dao? The Dao is excellence, the Dao is the best. How does it matter if I use Medical Skill or if I use culinary skills? The pinnacle of the Dao conveys all."

After a moment of silence, Master Chef Yuqing Hall sighed, "Impressive. I really didn't expect that you could present such two medicinal meals. From now on, in the Huaxia cuisine scene, the medicinal meals from Datong River will become a banner. Even though you won this round, my cooking skills did not lose to you."

"I only lost because I don't understand medicine!"

"If Datong River didn't have your medicinal meals, I firmly believe you wouldn't even have the qualifications to win against Baihua Tower!"

Shen Qiang smiled, "Perhaps, but now I have won. I said I would win this competition to show my respect for you all."

As the sound transmission stopped.

The competition organizing committee began the award ceremony. Besides a gold-plated trophy, there was also a cash prize of one million yuan.

As Shen Qiang stepped onto the award podium, he didn't feel very excited.

Because for Shen Qiang, medicinal meals were, after all, just a means of conditioning the body and helping patients recover.

But at the same time, Shen Qiang was very glad he participated in this competition.

Because for Shen Qiang,

The biggest gain from the Huaxia Cuisine Grand Prize wasn't the championship title.

It was the words spoken by Master Chef Yuqing Hall.

The Dao is excellence.

The Dao is doing your best.

This is the true reward that no one can take away.

If he hadn't understood the true meaning of the Dao, perhaps Shen Qiang would still be standing confused at the sidelines, hating Bianyi, haphazardly putting together a few dishes, and heading home content with a third-place finish.

But now it's different, the current Shen Qiang understood clearly: if one pursues the ultimate Dao, then in everything one does, either don't do it, or do it to the best of one's ability.

Be it treating and saving people, making medicinal meals, practicing Alchemy, practicing Cultivation, or even taking revenge, one must do it to the best of their ability.

As the award ceremony ended, addicted netizens were still fervently discussing online.

"My god, those medicinal meals from Datong River's Shen Qiang were incredible, truly unrivaled presence. Even under the circumstances where Miss Chu Qing maliciously deducted points, both of his medicinal meals didn't lose to any other dish."

"Shen Qiang is really impressive, he was the only chef in this competition, whose both dishes didn't lose at all."

"Yeah, Master Chef Yuqing Hall's Antarctic Shrimp lost, Master Chef from Baihua Tower's Yangtze River knife lost, but Shen Qiang was tied for first place, which means, even when the other two master chefs performed their best, they could only just barely match Shen Qiang."

"Match my ass, it was a total crush, okay? If it weren't for the capricious beautiful judge and that old guy worrying the medicinal effect wouldn't last till the evening, both of Shen Qiang's medicinal dishes would have gotten perfect scores."

"Exactly, and regarding the cold dishes and pastries that followed, they were just mere decorations, not impressive at all."

"Mhm, Shen Qiang is so impressive, once I've saved up enough money, I'm definitely going to try his medicinal meals."

The netizens discussed fervently, and the reputation of Datong River's unparalleled medicinal meals spread rapidly.

After greeting the judges, Shen Qiang, trophy in hand, was pushing his way out of the venue with all his might.

"Mr. Shen, our consortium is prepared to invest three billion yuan to acquire thirty percent of the shares in Datong River."

"Mr. Shen, for a thirty percent stake, our group can provide no less than four billion yuan, including shops, to help you and Datong River expand across Huaxia Land."

"Mr. Shen, money is not an issue for our consortium, we have plenty of it. As long as you are willing to talk, the amount is not a problem."

Dragging Adrian over, Shen Qiang instructed, "Talk to him, he's the major shareholder."

Completely unaware of the situation, Adrian, thinking it was a champion interview, excitedly began speaking in fluent French, and Shen Qiang took the opportunity to hastily push through the crowd.

As he stepped out of the venue.

He could see Bianyi, clad in a suit, smiling smugly.

"Congratulations to myself, your Datong River actually won the championship," he said gleefully.

Thrusting a contract in front of Shen Qiang, Bianyi smiled triumphantly, "Sign it, because I've sold your Datong River."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.