After divorcing my celebrity wife, I became the world's richest person

Chen Yu couldn't help but frown, as he had already treated this senior with the highest etiquette, yet to his surprise, the old man was still disrespecting his age.

"Old sir, I know your knife skills are unparalleled in the world, and I may not compare, but how can we know without a trial?"

Chen Yu remained very polite, flipping the kitchen knife in his hand, and imitating Wen Zaichang's manner, stripped off a cabbage leaf.

With just a few cuts, the cabbage leaf rapidly transformed in Chen Yu's hands, and in less than two minutes, a lifelike phoenix appeared in the middle of the plate.

"This junior can only casually present a phoenix, and I ask for the senior's guidance," he said.

Chen Yu put down the knife and his gaze towards Wen Zaichang turned a bit more hostile.

Wen Zaichang's eyes widened in disbelief; his carved phoenix-tail cabbage was already top-notch in terms of knife work, but after all, what he carved was just a replication based on a model.

Chen Yu, on the other hand, directly carved out the entire phoenix.

In terms of knife skills and speed, he had already surpassed Wen Zaichang.

"Impressive, young man. It seems you've set your heart on challenging me today! Since that's the case, I accept your challenge," Wen Zaichang said.

Chen Yu's face was filled with gloom; he had come here only because the kitchen's food was not to his taste and he could only come over to cook a meal himself.

But he didn't expect Wen Zaichang to be so lacking in elder's dignity and so aggressive.

"This old guy is too arrogant!" Jin Lingsu suddenly burst out, "Chen Yu, go against him, teach this old boy a lesson."

Chen Yu's mind was full of black lines; wherever he was, as long as Jin Lingsu was by his side, he could never have peace.

Wen Zaichang didn't wait for him to speak and immediately took out a piece of deer meat from the refrigerator, slicing it in half.

"This is freshly transported deer meat from the northeastern mountains, it can be considered a top-grade ingredient. Let's both make a dish with this deer meat, and everyone present will be the judges," Wen Zaichang declared.

Without saying anything more, Chen Yu simply accepted the half-piece of deer meat handed over by Wen Zaichang.

The others in the kitchen stepped back, moving aside to create enough space for the two of them.

Wen Zaichang adjusted his breathing slightly, then took out three incense sticks, placing them in a bowl on the stove.

This was a tradition of the older generation of chefs, to pay homage to the ancestors and the Kitchen God before cooking a traditional dish.

Chen Yu, however, had no such customs; he directly took the knife and began to section the deer meat.

By the time Wen Zaichang had finished his offerings, Chen Yu had already evenly divided the deer meat into four pieces.

"Young man, don't think that by getting the upper hand you can beat me! Today, I will cook a palace dish that has been lost for ages, to show you what it means to be a chef," Wen Zaichang said.

Chen Yu merely nodded respectfully, and then he went back to focusing on his own cooking.

Wen Zaichang was stunned for a moment, not expecting Chen Yu to be so indifferent towards him.

A nameless rage suddenly rose within him, and then he picked up the cleaver and brought it down fiercely, splitting the piece of deer meat in half.

Half an hour quickly passed by, and Chen Yu had already finished four dishes, which he arranged in basins and pushed out.

These four dishes were extraordinary, each with their uniqueness and full of color, aroma, and taste.

When displayed, they gave off a sense of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter!

Reynolds could hardly wait and immediately started tasting each dish in the order Chen Yu had presented them.

"Delicious! These four dishes have the unique flavor of four seasons, and eating them all gives one the feeling that a white deer is carrying them through the scenic beauty of the seasons," Reynolds exclaimed.

Upon hearing this, the other people also became excited and crowded forward to taste.

This exerted an invisible pressure on Wen Zaichang.

Having been in the culinary world for half his life and participated in over a hundred competitions, he'd never expected that today his speed in serving dishes would actually be slower than that of a twenty-something-year-old young man.

About ten more minutes passed before his dish was finally brought out.

"A lost imperial secret dish, the Nine Colored Deer! Please, everyone, have a taste!"

He said this with extreme excitement, as if the dish he'd prepared was the finest in all the world.

Yet, no one at the scene paid him any attention; they were all gathered around Chen Yu, carefully tasting his food.

Wen Zaichang couldn't help but widen his eyes; logically, food tastes best the moment it comes out of the pot. Ten minutes had already passed; Chen Yu's dish should have already lost its flavor.

His own dish's aroma should have been able to surpass Chen Yu's.

Wen Zaichang subconsciously sniffed the air, only to find that the fragrance lingering was still strongest from Chen Yu's side.

"How is this possible? What method did you use? Did you add some other kind of seasoning to the dish?"

Wen Zaichang was somewhat off-balance; his Nine Colored Deer dish had once won a world-class cooking competition, earning him the title of Kitchen God.

But now, Chen Yu had casually prepared four dishes that seemed to surpass his own!

Chen Yu didn't answer but simply pushed his dish forward.

"According to the rules, both parties in the competition have to taste each other's dishes, and I am very interested in the master's signature dish."

Without waiting for Wen Zaichang's consent, Chen Yu had already picked up some chopsticks and took a piece from the Nine Colored Deer.

It must be said, Wen Zaichang's culinary skills were indeed top-notch. Just this Nine Colored Deer alone used twenty-four different ingredients, and the taste of each ingredient didn't clash with the others. Instead, they were perfectly fused together through the venison.

That mellow fragrance left Chen Yu with a lingering aftertaste.

If he didn't have the system on his side, Chen Yu would likely not stand a chance against his opponent.

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"Indeed worthy of the master's signature dish, it's just a pity that you skipped two steps in the preparation!"

As these words came out, Wen Zaichang's eyes instantly bulged.

The main point of this dish was to fully enhance the aroma of the venison using the other ingredients, which required first charcoal-grilling the cured meat, then steaming it to allow the flavors of the other ingredients to fully integrate.

But such a process was overly complicated, and seeing Chen Yu cooking at such a fast pace had forced him to skip this step.

What astonished him the most was that Chen Yu could discern the essence of his dish after just one bite.

"Who exactly are you? Who taught you how to cook?" Wen Zaichang stared intently at Chen Yu with a strange look in his eyes.

"No one taught me. I just happened to come across an ancient cookbook and slowly practiced according to the methods described there!"

Wen Zaichang trembled all over: "So you're saying you're self-taught!"

Chen Yu didn't reply, just picked up the ingredients beside him and continued cooking.

He hadn't come here for a competition; he simply wanted to cook a good meal for these people.

After all, Victor and Reynolds had traveled a long way to get here; he had to make it worth their while!