Chapter 182: Irreplaceable

“When are you going to open another branch? Open one for other cities! Then I won’t have to come back here.”

“Everyone, don’t be anxious. Come and taste it for free.” Lu Yuxi handed over the food with a smile.

The first person to take over was a tall and fat man. There was even an assistant recording beside him. It seemed like he was a food streamer or something.

After tasting the stir-fried meat, he took a few more bites before commenting, “The fat is smooth and filling, but it’s not greasy. The lean meat is soft and dense. After chewing for two mouthfuls, the spiciness suddenly shoots out. It’s very addictive with its salty and spicy taste. After wrapping it in rice, the taste is just right. The sourness of the chili is mixed with the granulated rice, making it especially delicious.”

“It’s simply brilliant!”

The people at the side swarmed up and many people also joined in the fun. Lu Yuxi called for everyone to line up and handed over two sets of food in order. One was for themselves, and the other was made by the Master Chef.

The live broadcast was a little chaotic, but it was also filled with the atmosphere of the common life. In the end, the number of people in the live broadcast room doubled. The topic of the winner and loser quickly entered the trending topics, and the number of people discussing it exceeded 100 million.

Under everyone’s gaze, the finals slowly came to an end.

The Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was a popular dish. Most of the people who were queuing up to try it had high expectations, let alone those who had never eaten it before. After obtaining it, it was exceptionally delicious and the seafood was chewy. However, other than that, there was not much freshness and surprise.

Li Shengsheng was also in the line. It was not easy for him to eat Xu Le’s food. Although it was so spicy that his eyes were watery, he still kept eating. He said, “It’s too awesome! I’ve never eaten anything so delicious in my life.”

“You’re exaggerating—”

Lu Yuxi teased him and stuffed the watermelon dew into his hand. “Don’t choke. Drink some to relieve the spiciness.”

After all the food was distributed and the tasters who had eaten gave their votes to the production team, Xu Le and the others returned to the competition hall.

As soon as he got into the car, he pressed down the newspaper in the hand of the man in the passenger seat who was wearing sunglasses and smiled. “Don’t pretend. I can tell you’re here.”

Alex bared his eight snow-white teeth. “It’s finally over. You’ll see the Master Chef tomorrow.”

“Well, then he’s probably not human.”

After Xu Le said this calmly, Alex’s expression changed drastically. Then, he slapped his thigh and said excitedly, “I knew it! You’re smart enough!”

“If he’s not human, what is he? A ghost?”

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you talking about?”

“Tell me, tell me what you’ve guessed!”

The people in the car became excited. Xu Le said, “It’s just a guess now. It’s not convenient to say more. But soon, he will show up.”

Alex smiled thoughtfully and put his sunglasses back on. “They’ve been preparing for this for years. Let’s wait and see. Will the outcome be affected by you?”

“Who knows.”

Xu Le calmly closed his eyes. When he returned to the exhibition hall, the flashlights above his head made him unable to open his eyes. The host read the final votes. As it was a live broadcast, there was no chance to fake it. Hence, Chen Yeqi, who was backstage, was curled up in a chair with his head lowered. He looked depressed.

“I announce that the final winner is Xu Le!”

After the host forced a smile and made the announcement, there was silence below the stage at first. Then, there was an outburst of cheers. Even the judges stood up and applauded for him.

When the commotion was almost over, Xu Le said, “Since I’ve already won the competition, according to the previous agreement, can we let the Master Chef appear?”

The comments section were immediately filled with words with colorful banners. Clearly, everyone was very curious about the true appearance of the Master Chef.

Chen Yeqi took a deep breath and adjusted his emotions. He walked forward and said, “Everyone, let’s welcome the Master Chef. No, Xu Le is the Master Chef.”

He emphasized the latter half of his sentence and glared at Xu Le. Fortunately, everyone’s attention was focused on the curtain. An artificial hand pulled open the curtain.

“This is our newly launched AI intelligence. It specializes in cooking. As long as it takes a look at the production process, or send the recipe into the database, or taste a delicate dish, it can calculate the amount to be used, as well as the heat used to make it. It has no blind spots…”

Before Chen Yeqi could finish speaking, Old Master Song turned around and left. Immediately after, three or four judges turned around and left without giving him any face.

He could not maintain his expression for a moment. He was still working hard to promote the advantages of the product.

The audience had different expressions. Some were surprised, some were excited, and some were furious.

“I’m afraid there’s something wrong with you for inviting so many chefs to play with a robot like this!”

“You’re cheating. You didn’t win!”

“How despicable! Isn’t this just bullying?”

The accusations continued. Chen Yeqi did not expect this scene at all. Xu Le watched coldly from the side and sized up the robot. Other than its hands, which were especially realistic, the rest of its body was made of cold steel and ice. It looked like a cyberpunk.

Chen Yeqi originally wanted to make use of the program to promote the machine’s qualities. He swore that the AI would definitely win, so he did not give him a name from the beginning. It was simply named “Master Chef”. He did not expect Xu Le to steal the limelight in the end.

When he went on stage, he felt a little guilty. When the audience scolded him, he was so nervous that his face turned pale and he could not say a complete sentence.

Xu Le took the microphone and smiled as he gave his acceptance speech.

“Although every perfect dish is presented after thoroughly practising them, I believe that in every chef’s heart, it’s no less than a work of art. However, art is definitely not something that can be accurately replicated by exquisite instruments. This is because during every cooking process, it’s possible to experience different amount of heat, problems relating to quality of ingredients, small hiccups, and the mood during the cooking process will lead to a difference in the final texture.”

“And art is not created after careful consideration. It’s created by the product. Every chef pursues perfection and pays a lot of effort in the process. This is definitely not something that a mindless machine can imitate.”

After his acceptance speech, the audience applauded.

Chen Zui quickly went on stage and held down Chen Yeqi, who was about to lose control. He nodded at Xu Le and said humbly, “Thank you for your guidance.”

…

As for whether the Master Chef robot sold well or not, Xu Le did not care about it. However, he heard that in the public opinion, the Chen family seemed to have made a lot of money, but no one paid attention to the continuous sales that followed.

“Tiantian, come over for dinner.”

Xu Le brought the last dish to the table. Lu Yuxi stuck her head out and said, “Can you finish eating so many dishes?”

“Don’t worry, I’m here.”

Li Shengsheng patted his chest. Alex also couldn’t wait to start eating.

During the lively meal, Xu Le looked at Lu Yuxi. “When did you recognize me?”

“That day at Uncle Bai’s house, you were familiar with the way to eat wontons and were also very familiar with Li Shengsheng. I had already guessed it then.”

Lu Yuxi’s glass came into contact with his and made a crisp and pleasant sound. It was just like the classical music that was played in the canteen on the university campus a long time ago to make the place more classy.

The Coiling Dragon Cucumbers on the table were connected from head to tail. It was like the long river of life, some people would still meet again in the end.