CHEF (1)

In the present day. Lin Dan was a bit disoriented and confused about her identity. She subconsciously called for a system, but realises she doesn’t know what it is.

She held a spoon in her hand with a creamy broth in it, suggesting that she had just taken a sip. But the question is, Lin Dan had no idea about who she was, what she was doing, and why she was there.

She stared at her small, calloused hands, feeling that they were hers, but also as if they weren’t. She was standing here, but clearly did not belong here; like a visitor from another world who suddenly barged in and didn’t fit in with everything around her. She couldn’t even figure out what the current situation was.

However, people around did not notice that the Lin Dan at this moment was not the same as before. One of them pointed to a dish in front of her and said, “It’s still missing something in terms of taste.”

But what kind of flavour it was, he couldn’t tell either, after all, he was not a professional chef, but just had more sensitive taste than ordinary people.

Lin Dan was awakened by these words, and looked up to find that the other party was a young man wearing intricate clothing. He was slim, fair-skinned, and handsome. If he didn’t say anything, he looked like a little girl. He was also holding a ladle, tasting dishes like Lin Dan, frowning and looking very serious.

“It’s true that it lacks a bit of flavour.” Another person said slowly.

Lin Dan turned her head to see that the speaker was an old man with a white beard. He was constantly smacking his lips, as if trying to discern the taste of the soup.

Lin Dan quickly looked around, even though she didn’t understand anything, she didn’t show any panic on her face. She seemed to be accustomed to dealing with unexpected situations.

“What do you mean by lacking flavour? It’s all the same to me, there’s no difference.” The speaker this time was a middle-aged man with a dignified appearance. He was wearing a robe embroidered with auspicious clouds and blue Qilin. His status seems to be quite high, as those people around him began to nod and agree, with a slightly flattering smile on their faces.

Lin Dan didn’t focus on him, instead turning her head to look to the side. Standing seven or eight metres away was a young girl, only thirteen or fourteen years old. There was also a square table with a plate of food on it.

Judging from the colour, fragrance, and taste alone, it was almost identical to the dish Lin Dan had under her eyes.

Taking into account the environment, characters, dialogue information, and other factors. Lin Dan quickly came to the conclusion that she seemed to be in a cooking competition with someone.

The young girl smiled a little after hearing the words of the young man and the white-bearded old man, but when she saw that the middle-aged man did not support her, her eyes furrowed immediately, revealing her stubbornness

“Please try it again, Marquis.”

Marquis? Lin Dan, who was trying to gather information quickly glanced at the middle-aged man.

The middle aged man was about to speak, but the handsome young man impatiently said, “Can’t you even taste whether the dish is good or bad? Why bother being a chef?”

It was obviously directed at Lin Dan as his clear eyes were staring straight at her. The girl was pleased and lowered her head, pursing her lips with a shy smile.

Earlier, Lin Dan tasted her own dish, but she did not admit defeat. It was more accurate to say that she couldn’t really tell what was wrong with it or what flavours it was lacking. The young man who thought she had already lost was quite unhappy with this.

Now that she figured out the situation, Lin Dan did not need to adapt to the changing circumstances. Instead, she decided to play along with the situation like a normal person would.

She silently evaluated the soup in her spoon and walked over to the upset little girl, scooping out some soup from her plate. Both dishes were made with vegetables, crab meat, and chicken. Although they look simple, they were actually difficult to make. Cooking is like this; the simpler the dish, the harder it is to make.

Lin Dan initially just wanted to take a few bites and concede defeat to quickly get away and find a quiet place to digest this sudden situation. But when she actually tasted the two dishes, her taste buds and brain automatically made a judgement.

She was surprised to find that her sense of taste seemed to be much more sensitive than ordinary people. Even the slightest differences could be magnified several times by her tongue, which was exactly what Lin Dan had lacked before.

“I lost.” After putting down the spoon, she sincerely said, “My dish is slightly bitter.”

This kind of bitterness cannot be tasted by ordinary people, only those with extremely sensitive taste buds can tell.

The old man with a white beard looked deeply at Lin Dan and pointed out, “That’s right. When you thickened the sauce, you didn’t wait for the vegetable to be fully cooked, which prolonged the heating time of the starch and easily caused it to burn and become bitter. The essence of the crab roe and vegetable dish lies in two words: fresh and smooth. Your dish looks good, but it lacks a bit of flavour.”

Lin Dan nodded and said again, “I lost.”

Seeing her calm and peaceful expression without any resentment after her defeat, the old man with a white beard nodded slightly. The middle-aged man sighed deeply with a look of reluctance, and a woman hiding behind the crowd suddenly covered her chest and fell down, startling everyone.

“Oh no, Qi Shi has fainted! Lin Dan, come and see your mother!” Two women immediately helped the woman up and waved to Lin Dan.

Lin Dan quickly collected information from the conversation to supplement her identity, and without hesitation rushed over and said loudly, “Please help me find a doctor. I’ll take my mother back first.”

She took over one of the women’s duties to support her mother. The woman whose hand was freed did not notice anything unusual and hurriedly led the way, quickly bringing Lin Dan back to her own home. After a busy period, the doctor finally arrived and said that the woman was not seriously ill, but had fainted due to excessive worry. Drinking soup to calm her nerves should do the trick.

After taking the prescription, Lin Dan took off a silver hairpin from her head as payment for the consultation. She didn’t know where the woman kept her money, and even if she did, the money box was surely locked. Now that the woman was unconscious, she couldn’t ask for the key.

The doctor looked at her with pity and said in a gentle voice. “The Marquis has already paid the fee, you can keep the hairpin. Give me the prescription, I’ll send the servant from the Marquis Mansion to get it for you. Your mother is unconscious and can’t be left alone.”

Looking at the doctor who shook his head and sighed as he slowly walked away, Lin Dan realised that the cooking competition seemed to be very important to her. Otherwise, everyone wouldn’t have had such great sympathy for her, and her mother wouldn’t have fainted after she admitted defeat.

But she had lost, that was an undeniable fact. That’s why Lin Dan did not feel any regret for what she had done.

Seeing the woman covered in sweat, she picked up a copper basin to fetch water outside. However, she saw a sixteen or seventeen-year old boy walked in and whispered,

“Lin Dan, I’ve got the medicine for you. One packet of medicine and three bowls of water, boil it over high heat and simmer over low heat to make one bowl. Don’t throw away the remaining medicine dregs, you can make two more doses out of it. Drink three doses a day for seven days and it should be enough.”

Lin Dan quickly expressed her gratitude and saw off the guest before going to the kitchen to make medicine. Whether it was chopping firewood, cooking or fetching water, her body could do it unconsciously.

The medicinal soup was boiling and bubbling, so Lin Dan removed some dry firewood and switched to a low heat to simmer it slowly. Then she brought over a small stoll and sat by the stove to organise her memories. She seemed to have gotten used to doing this and quickly understood her situation.

Her father was Lin Baotian, the head chef of the Yongding Marquis Mansion. Since the Marquis was a gourmet who was particularly picky about food, Lin Baotian’s extraordinary culinary skills were highly valued.

He was even taken along on military campaigns, demonstrating his status. As a result, Lin Dan and Qi Shi had a very good life in the mansion. They not only had their own living quarters but also had servants waiting on them.

But two months ago, Lin Baotian suddenly became severely ill and passed away. On his deathbed, he passed on his lifetime culinary skills and kitchen knives to his only daughter, Lin Dan.

Lin Dan had admired the young master since childhood and like the Old Marquis, he was also a food lover. It was her reason to practise her cooking skills every day just to catch his attention.

After her father’s death, she took over as head chef in the mansion. Despite being only twelve or thirteen years old, her culinary skills were already very skilled.

One day, she cooked her signature dish, Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallions, which she had practised for a long time. Unfortunately, she heard the young master say that the dish was inferior to that of the servant girl’s cooking in his courtyard.

Lin Dan has always been proud and arrogant. When she immediately went to compete with the young maid, she didn’t expect the maid to reveal a shocking secret.

Lin Baotian’s culinary skills and knives were stolen from her grandfather Yan Bo, and was not a descendant of the Golden Knife Imperial Chef, but a person who betrayed his teacher and ancestor.

The little maid’s name was Yan Langqing. Her grandfather was the renowned Golden Knife Imperial Chef Yan Bo. After leaving the palace, he took on several apprentices, one of whom was Lin Dan’s father, Lin Baotian.

Later, Yan Bo fell seriously ill and was about to die. However, Yan Langqing’s father was away and could not return in time to send his father off. It was Lin Baotian who buried Yan Bo and took the opportunity to steal the Golden Knife and Yan family’s recipe, disappearing without a trace.

Yan Langqing’s father was deeply resentful and travelled around with his wife and children to search for Lin Baotian. Finally, they found him at the Yongding Marquis’s Mansion but did not expect that he had already died.

So, he sent his daughter to infiltrate the mansion to learn about the situation of the enemy’s descendants and to find an opportunity to challenge Lin Dan, with the bet of being the Imperial Golden Knife and Yan’s family recipe.

Lin Dan was very competitive and unwilling to lose face in front of the young master. In order to defend her father’s reputation, she accepted the challenge immediately. Later she lost, and became the current “Lin Dan.”

The handsome young judge was the young master, and the middle-aged man who knew Lin Dan could not defeat Yan Langqing but still spoke up to defend her was the Old Marquis.

Although they share the same name, Lin Dan clearly perceives that her past and present selves are not the same person at all. The previous Lin Dan was all about the young lord, feeling ecstatic at the sight of his smile and lost at the sight of his frown. But now, Lin Dan feels nothing and thinks of him as a stranger.

What she urgently needs to solve now is not her identity and memory issues, but where to go from here. Losing the competition and having a sickly mother to take care of, what should she do in the future.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***