Chapter 32
It was just a simple pre-dinner taste test, but they had to wear blindfolds and be fed, and the two dishes made by the same dad weren’t served consecutively. They had to taste all twelve dishes first, and only in the second round could they discuss and vote, making it quite elaborate. It was as if they were treating a bunch of three to six-year-olds like seasoned gourmands, overestimating their discerning palates.
There had been a similar guess-the-dad-by-dish segment in the show in her previous life, but without blindfolds, and no Baby Coins or Daddy Coins as rewards.
Because two of the twelve dishes were made by Wei Chengli, and because of his hesitant demeanor before they started, Wei Maomao felt a mix of apprehension and trepidation with every bite she took while blindfolded.
The first bite, stir-fried chicken with peas and corn, and the second bite, stir-fried pork with mushrooms, both tasted alright. They were standard low-salt, low-oil versions, though the chicken and pork were a bit tough… Overall, they somewhat soothed Wei Maomao’s taste buds, which had been tortured for days.
Of the dads who had participated in the show in her previous life, except for Cheng Feiying, the others were all mediocre cooks, with only a few signature dishes. Based on her experience watching the show, Wei Maomao judged that these two dishes were probably made by Wen Xiang and Shen Jianghe respectively.
The spoon Wei Chengli chose seemed a bit small, even after taking a whole spoonful, it was only about half a mouthful for Wei Maomao. She felt a bit unsatisfied, just as she was about to ask Wei Chengli to give her more per spoonful, the third bite was fed into her mouth.
Braised beef with potatoes, the seasoning was just right, saltier than baby food but less salty than regular adult food, unfortunately, the potatoes were burnt, filling Wei Maomao’s mouth with a burnt taste. She hesitated and gave up on asking for more per spoonful, mentally labeling this dish as [Wei Chengli’s Dish Candidate 1].
The fourth bite, a cold tomato salad, saved Wei Maomao from the burnt taste. This simple vegetarian dish could have been made by any of the dads, but Wen Qiming was the most likely candidate.
After finishing the tomatoes, Wei Maomao waited for a long time but didn’t get the fifth bite. She only heard the sound of Wei Chengli blowing on something, it sounded like a very hot dish.
It was a soup with crunchy mushrooms and some shredded chicken… The mushrooms seemed to have small caps, probably termite mushrooms. The soup was rich and flavorful, the chicken tender and fragrant, very delicious. It was undoubtedly Cheng Feiying’s signature termite mushroom soup… Wei Maomao swallowed it with a straight face.
Five out of the twelve dishes had been tasted. According to the pattern, if the burnt braised beef with potatoes wasn’t Wei Chengli’s creation, then the next one was very likely his.
Wei Maomao braced herself, even adjusting her position on the small stool to sit more steadily.
However, Wei Maomao had underestimated the enemy.
“Pfft…”
“Ugh… Blegh…”
“Spit…”
“Ahhhh!!!! Spicy, spicy, spicy, spicy!”
Before the guess-the-dad-by-dish segment started, the host had said that the children weren’t allowed to talk, discuss, or influence each other’s judgment during the first round of tasting, they could only voice their opinions and vote in the second round.
For the first five dishes, everyone ate quietly. Only Wen Dongyu had whispered a complaint to Wen Xiang, “The soup is still hot.”
But it was different now. Listening to the sounds of the other children’s distress, Wei Maomao silently spat out the steamed egg custard with minced meat and ginger.
“Daddy…” Wei Maomao called out softly amidst the commotion.
There were rustling sounds from Wei Chengli beside her, but he didn’t utter a single word.
“Oh, I understand…” Wei Maomao sighed. “Don’t give me this in the second round. Thank you, Daddy…”
Silence fell around her.
In stark contrast, at the Wen family’s table on the left, Wen Dongyu was screaming, “I hate ginger the most! Are there four million pieces of ginger in this! Daddy, are you trying to poison me because I have another daddy now!!”
If nothing unexpected happened, this was probably made for you by your other daddy… Wei Maomao smacked her lips slightly, spitting out a piece of minced ginger that was still stuck in her mouth.
“Daddy, why is there ginger in the egg, it’s so spicy.”
Wen Jiangyue’s soft, aggrieved voice came from the Wen family’s table on the right.
Wei Maomao also wanted to know why… Even if she had done something wrong, please don’t kill her with food! She hadn’t eaten a single decent meal all day, if she had to eat another bowl of this egg custard with a near-lethal amount of ginger tonight, she would die!
The sounds of children asking their dads not to give them this egg custard again in the next round and questioning if their dads were trying to poison them filled the air.
Finally, the chaos gradually subsided amidst the sounds of water being poured, sipped, and mouths being rinsed.
The seventh dish, stir-fried celery with shredded pork, was bland, but the children ate it without complaint. Wei Maomao even heard Wen Jiangyue whispering to herself, “I used to dislike celery, I was so blind.”
The corner of Wei Maomao’s mouth twitched slightly. Well, thank you, Wei Chengli, on behalf of celery…
Thanks to the contrast with the previous egg custard, when the eighth dish, winter melon and pork rib soup, which tasted quite good, was served, Wen Dongyu, ignoring the rules, insisted that Wen Xiang give him a few more spoonfuls.
In the blink of an eye, only four dishes remained.
A one-in-four chance of stepping on a landmine…
Wei Maomao no longer disliked the small spoon and even opened her mouth even smaller. She tensed up as she tasted the ninth dish, stir-fried cucumber with pork slices. The pork slices were as tough as the ones in the stir-fried pork with mushrooms, Wei Maomao chewed vigorously, sighing inwardly. Shen Jianghe really liked stir-frying pork slices. So why couldn’t he learn how to tenderize them? As expected of a CEO, always doing things his own way, no need for improvement.
Interestingly, the tenth dish, braised fish, was also burnt, just like the braised beef with potatoes. But Wei Maomao wouldn’t associate this dish, which tasted alright despite being a bit burnt, with Wei Chengli anymore.
Wei Chengli’s abilities were far beyond such mediocrity.
For the second-to-last dish, Wei Maomao cautiously took a small bite from the edge of the spoon and felt relieved.
Heh, who would believe this was the “shrimp cake” the host had mentioned? It tasted like a chewy ginger cake with a burnt flavor.
Wei Maomao didn’t quite understand Wei Chengli’s tendency to go overboard. He usually remembered to remove the fishy smell from meat when practicing at home, only occasionally forgetting to squeeze the ginger juice and directly adding minced ginger, or occasionally adding a bit too much ginger juice. But this lethal amount… was truly exaggerated.
The other children weren’t as prescient as Wei Maomao, the sounds of distress they had made during the egg custard round resounded once again.
Wei Maomao sighed softly, and at the same time, she heard a sigh from Wei Chengli beside her.
After being tortured by the “shrimp cakes,” the last dish, sweet and sour pork with pineapple, was truly exceptional.
Wei Maomao thought Cheng Feiying was truly boring, from chicken legs to mushrooms, and now to pineapple, which Cheng Tingyan didn’t like, did he really enjoy disciplining his child in public like this? Couldn’t people have some food preferences? There were so many things in the world that wouldn’t kill you if you ate them, why didn’t Cheng Feiying try them all and expand his culinary horizons?
It was annoying! She really wanted to make him eat all the things Wei Chengli had cooked!
The second round of tasting and voting began. The other dishes, in comparison to the egg custard and “shrimp cakes,” seemed insignificant. After all, the children could at most try to identify their dads’ familiar flavors from those dishes, the rest was just guesswork.
But when it came to the egg custard and “shrimp cakes,” it was complete chaos.
Firstly, all the children refused to take a second bite of either dish. Secondly, both Wang Zhizhi and Wen Dongyu immediately and firmly attributed both dishes to their own dads.
It could only be said that settling scores before dinner wasn’t a good idea.
Apart from Wei Maomao, Cheng Tingyan also voted for Wei Chengli for both dishes. Wei Maomao felt a bit complicated, it seemed Cheng Tingyan had already grasped her family’s culinary level, she wondered if she would still be interested in coming over for dinner after the show was over.
The remaining three, Shen Zilin, Wen Jiangyue, and Cheng Rongrong, just voted randomly. Their six votes were scattered across the two dishes, with Shen Zilin and Wen Jiangyue each casting one vote for Wei Chengli.
Soon, the second round ended, the children took off their blindfolds, and it was time to announce the results.
The twelve dishes were kept warm in buffet-style serving dishes, covered with lids, and were carried by the staff from the host’s large table to the long table where the dads and children were sitting. The host would announce one result and then open one dish.
Cheng Feiying’s termite mushroom chicken soup and sweet and sour pork, Wen Xiang’s stir-fried chicken with peas and corn and burnt braised fish, Shen Jianghe’s stir-fried pork with mushrooms and stir-fried cucumber with pork slices, Wang Qingchuan’s burnt braised beef with potatoes and winter melon and pork rib soup, Wen Qiming’s cold tomato salad and stir-fried celery with shredded pork, and…
Wei Maomao had thought that eating the ginger-infused minced meat egg custard and ginger “shrimp cakes” blindfolded, listening to the other children’s cries of agony, was the most speechless moment of her night.
She didn’t expect that the best was yet to come…
“Let me explain.” Wei Chengli stood up, forcing a smile, and looked around. “At noon, when I was cooking, I forgot to remove the fishy smell. So when I was making dinner, I kept thinking about doing it properly… I added ginger juice once, then I went to do something else and forgot, I thought I hadn’t added it, so I added it again… This time, I remembered to taste it before serving, and I realized I had added too much ginger. So I added some water to dilute it, to try and fix it, but because of that, one dish became too mushy, and the other had to be cut open and rinsed, so after I fixed them, they looked a bit… unappetizing… But it seems the fix didn’t work, the ginger was still too spicy for the children, I’m really sorry, it was my negligence.”
Wei Maomao looked at the two serving dishes in front of her, opened by the host, one was a mushy mess of minced meat and egg, the other was a pile of unidentifiable minced meat that had once been “shrimp cakes”…
Was the reason for the blindfolds that she would have immediately recognized them as two bowls of mush if she had seen them?
It was really…
Since he had only practiced making mush during his preparations, he might as well have just made mush… Wei Maomao couldn’t help but complain, he was cramming at the last minute and even cramming the wrong things.
But then Wei Maomao accidentally looked up and saw Wei Chengli’s red ears and face.
A visible sense of awkwardness emanated from him, Wei Maomao was stunned for a moment, forgetting what she had been complaining about in her mind.
How old was Wei Chengli this year, Wei Maomao tilted her head, thinking. Thirty-three, right? Still very young, an age that hadn’t been weathered by life’s storms.
After all, Wei Chengli was still a young director with a bright future. If it weren’t for her insistence on participating in this show, he wouldn’t have had the chance to expose this weakness of his… and he wouldn’t be apologizing so awkwardly, as if he had done something wrong…
Looking at Wei Chengli’s hand, awkwardly clutching the edge of the table, Wei Maomao rubbed her feet on the ground and stood up.
“Daddy, you’ve improved!” Wei Maomao gently tugged at Wei Chengli’s shirt, looking up and saying, “Daddy did better tonight than at lunch, tomorrow will be better than today, and the day after tomorrow will be better than tomorrow. By the time we go home, Daddy will be able to cook delicious food!”
Wei Chengli looked down at his precious little dumpling in a daze, his eyes turning red as he listened to her childish, hopeful words.
“Baby, Baby, are you serious…” Wei Chengli picked up the little dumpling.
Wei Maomao nodded and patted Wei Chengli’s face. “Daddy, you can do it!”
Wei Chengli didn’t speak, he pinched his palm hard, he was going to cry! His little baby was truly the cutest little angel in the world! When the whole world was criticizing him, he still had his most caring little dumpling…
The Wen family’s table was next to the Wei family’s. Wen Dongyu, after watching for a while, turned to Wang Zhizhi at the table on the other side and said in surprise, “This is called improvement? What did Maomao eat at lunch?”
“…” Wei Chengli heard it.
“Baby, Daddy will work hard to make delicious food for you every day, improve every day… Then, about lunch, have you forgiven Daddy?” Wei Chengli asked weakly.
Wei Maomao: “…”
She had only given him a step down, he didn’t have to seek redemption every day, this kind of improvement was a bit scary.
Wei Maomao felt that Wei Chengli might be a bit overly moved. To prevent him from truly torturing her with his cooking three times a day, Wei Maomao decided it was necessary to bring him back to the harsh reality.
“There’s food waiting for you at home, Daddy, do you remember?” Wei Maomao whispered.
Wei Chengli’s smile froze, it was obvious that he remembered and that’s why he wanted to be forgiven.
“Yan Yan and I ate it, Daddy will eat it too, right?” Wei Maomao tilted her head. “Daddy, you said we have to face our mistakes to correct them and improve.”
“Did I say that? But…” Wei Chengli glanced at his two serving dishes, unable to claim that there was new food tonight.
And unbeknownst to him, the viewers in the live broadcast room were already arguing about his dinner.
“Minced ginger is the most terrifying thing in the world! Especially when one or two pieces appear unexpectedly in places they shouldn’t, it’s like an assassin’s ultimate move! And our Director Wei probably dropped half a handful into the egg mixture! His dinner must be these two ginger universes!”
“But Maomao and Yan Yan cried and threw up from the mush at noon, I think Director Wei should finish the rest of the mush tonight.”
“Eat both, eat both, one for dinner, one for a late-night snack, Maomao said, we have to face our mistakes to correct them and improve, hahaha…”
“I have a brilliant idea, why don’t we have Director Wei mix the mush from noon with the two dishes from tonight, perfect…”
“??? If the live broadcast wasn’t still going, I would have thought you were Maomao’s alt account! Hahaha, what the hell, mixing them together… I’ll kowtow to you on behalf of Director Wei!”
“Our Maomao is so good, she still praised Director Wei for improving after all this, I hope Director Wei will learn his lesson!”
“Actually, Director Wei really is trying to improve, didn’t he humbly ask for advice before cooking tonight? He worked hard to bring back so many ingredients this afternoon, most of which were used as tuition fees. Wen Xiang taught him the minced meat egg custard, Wang Qingchuan taught him the shrimp cakes, actually, before he went and did that dilution thing, the two dishes looked quite decent.”
“Hahaha, only the appearance was decent, the inside was already concentrated ginger.”
“Speaking of which, Wen Xiang and Wang Qingchuan really are… Their apprentice’s cooking backfired, their apprentice’s daughter collected their sons’ ‘Daddy’s Kiss Cards,’ they were ‘scammed’ inside and out by the Wei family, hahaha.”
“Cheng Feiying’s cooking skills are still the best. After Wen Xiang and Wang Qingchuan went out to do the Kiss Card task, they came back and each burnt a dish, wasting the beef and fish Wei Chengli used for his tuition. How consistent is Cheng Feiying, that chicken soup and sweet and sour pork look so delicious. Wen Dongyu even whispered to his dad during the second round of tasting to give him a big piece of sweet and sour pork.”
“Mmm, he’s quite consistent, consistently adding mushrooms to the chicken soup…”
“I really suspect that if he could put mushrooms in the sweet and sour pork, he would have done it too. Is disliking mushrooms some kind of unforgivable sin in their family…”
“Speaking of which, Yan Yan only told Maomao that she doesn’t like mushrooms, what if Cheng Feiying doesn’t know and isn’t deliberately adding mushrooms?”
“Wouldn’t that be even funnier? As a father, he doesn’t even know what his daughter dislikes?”
…
While the viewers in the live broadcast room were constantly arguing, in the village square, the host had finished counting the children’s votes and was distributing the Daddy Coins and Baby Coins.
The one who received the most Baby Coins was Wei Maomao, she had guessed seven dishes correctly. And unexpectedly… the one who received the most Daddy Coins was actually Wei Chengli, he got six in total. It seemed that being exceptionally bad at cooking could also be a unique characteristic.
Wei Maomao thought to herself that she had been a bit too conservative in deliberately choosing five dishes incorrectly, but seven correct guesses shouldn’t be too conspicuous.
After the rewards were distributed, dinner officially began.
During the blind tasting, the serving dishes had been on the host’s large table. Before the answers were revealed, each dish was carried to its creator.
Now, the six families were sitting at a long table formed by six tables pushed together, each family with the two dishes they had made.
Although there was no rule saying they couldn’t share, looking at the two dishes in front of him, Wei Chengli knew it was impossible to share them.
“Baby, it’s actually not that bad, you’ll get used to it after a few bites, will you have some with Daddy?” Wei Chengli didn’t hold out any hope, but he still picked up the spoon and gestured towards the serving dish.
Just in case…
His baby was so considerate, maybe she would choose to share his suffering, and then he would say, “Daddy was just kidding, Daddy loves you the most, Daddy will eat it himself!” Then maybe his little baby would forgive him. Maybe she would even feel sorry for him, hehe…
Unfortunately, Wei Chengli’s occupational hazard had made his imagination run wild.
The next second, Wei Chengli watched as his cute, soft little dumpling stopped fiddling with her hands, slowly looked up at him, and asked with confusion, “Daddy, do I look like a one-year-old who’s easy to fool?”
Okay, understood.
Wei Chengli began to eat with tears in his eyes, asking as he stuffed the egg custard into his mouth, “Which dish did you like from the ones you tasted earlier? Daddy will get you some, you have to eat dinner.”
Wei Maomao: “…” Sigh, on the first day of the trip, she was already reduced to begging for food to survive.
Life was all about balance, some wanted to beg for food, while others wanted to offer it.
Cheng Feiying was somewhat confident in his cooking skills, especially after witnessing the other dads’ levels.
His two serving dishes were placed on the table, the chicken soup was rich and fragrant, the sweet and sour pork looked tempting. Cheng Feiying glanced at Cheng Tingyan. Taking the house she had drawn to do a good deed this morning didn’t work out. But tonight’s dishes, except for some ingredients that Wei Chengli couldn’t handle, which were shared, were all earned through his own efforts, cooked by him. Surely no one could object to him sharing them to make friends?
The one who took the initiative to share first would shine the brightest.
Almost the moment the host announced that they could start eating, Cheng Feiying said to his two daughters, “We can’t finish all these dishes, let’s take a little and share the rest with the other dads and babies.”
Cheng Rongrong immediately agreed supportively.
Cheng Tingyan had always been invisible at home, only ever receiving instructions, rarely asked for her opinion. It wasn’t until Cheng Feiying stared at her for a while that she realized she also needed to express her opinion. Of course, by the time she nodded, it was already much slower than Cheng Rongrong’s enthusiastic response.
Cheng Tingyan didn’t think much of this delay. But Cheng Rongrong was secretly pleased with Cheng Tingyan’s lack of enthusiasm, which could be interpreted as reluctance. Her dad was amazing, this three-and-a-half-year-old body was still too weak, when she was alone, her plans were always disrupted, now that she had her dad, it was much easier to highlight Cheng Tingyan’s coldness and selfishness.
However, Cheng Rongrong soon realized she had celebrated too soon.
Cheng Feiying picked up his chopsticks with one hand and the spoon from the chicken soup bowl with the other, expertly removing a chicken leg and was about to walk to the left.
“Daddy, give it to Sister first.” Cheng Rongrong, sitting on Cheng Feiying’s left, reminded him with a sweet smile, sighing inwardly. Cheng Feiying always messed up the details. They had agreed that he would prioritize Cheng Tingyan on the show, but he always remembered her first, what a sweet burden.
Cheng Feiying shook the excess soup off the chicken leg, feeling a bit reluctant.
In his opinion, the best parts of a stewed chicken were the drumsticks and wings, the rest was just filler. Others must think the same, during the guess-the-dad-by-dish segment, they had only taken a little bit of chicken breast and back with the shared chopsticks.
To make friends, you had to offer some delicious meat.
Cheng Feiying knew that Rongrong, like her mother, loved chicken drumsticks. At home, he would have to stew two chickens at a time, two drumsticks for Rongrong, two drumsticks for Bai Lei, and he would only get the wings.
Now there was only one chicken with two drumsticks.
Cheng Feiying wanted to give away some good meat and also save a drumstick for Rongrong, so naturally, he didn’t want to prioritize Cheng Tingyan. Besides, Cheng Tingyan didn’t like chicken drumsticks or wings… It wouldn’t make much difference if he didn’t specifically prioritize her this once or twice. And it was him who was distributing the chicken, Rongrong had already spoken, she had already shown herself to be friendlier than Yan Yan, that was enough.
“Give it to her, she also…” Cheng Feiying said, continuing to move the drumstick to the left.
Just as the drumstick was about to leave the airspace above the serving dish, a small bowl suddenly appeared from the right.
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