Chapter 432: One Yuan a Skewer...

Meanwhile, Su Chen, holding a bamboo skewer, repeatedly lifted the ingredients out of the broth and plunged them back in, only stopping after several repetitions.

Each time he lifted them out, the ingredients were visibly coated in glistening red chili oil and dotted with sesame seeds. The agitated broth released a spicy, fragrant aroma that shot straight into everyone’s nostrils.

“Boss, when we get back home, you absolutely have to make this for everyone!” This was the only thought on Zhang Jiayi’s mind.

If these Bobo Chicken skewers were one yuan each, she felt like she could devour all four hundred of them herself!

“Can I ring the bell now?” Liu Ahbao’s throat felt dry and scratchy as he spoke.

This was a make-or-break moment!

“Don’t panic,” Su Chen said, glancing at his watch. “Let it soak for another five minutes.”

Around this time, several other contestants rang their bells one after another. Unfortunately for them, they thought all they had to do was bring out their signature dishes—creations they considered absolutely top-tier—to win the competition.

One contestant from Italy even had a complete breakdown when the host announced he had scored zero points.

“Why are we, as culinary artists, expected to cure a disease that even doctors can’t?!”

“Our mission is to create the world’s most unique delicacies, not to treat some absurd case of anorexia!”

“Damn it! This year’s competition is a total sham!”

The organizers had no choice but to escort the distraught contestant from the premises.

Five minutes. Not a long time, but not a short one, either.

「Capital City.」

Zhao Huilian gripped the arms of his chair, his hands tense. ‘Bobo Chicken! He actually entered a world-class competition with Bobo Chicken? This is absurd, absolutely absurd!’

Just a few days prior, Zhao Huilian had even tactfully offered to give Su Chen the recipes for several of his restaurant’s specialty pastries, all shaped into forms that children adored.

He was certain they would be more than enough to win the competition!

But his kind offer had been politely declined. He’d assumed Boss Su was planning to unveil some secret weapon to stun the world.

He never imagined it would be a pot of Bobo Chicken.

‘What a load of bullshit!’

「Jingzhou.」

Feng Yaoyang put a hand to his forehead.

‘I had a feeling he’d do something like this, but seeing Boss Su actually present this dish… it still feels a bit absurd.’

‘Bringing street food to a world-class competition? Heh… That’s just like him.’

In fact, Feng Yaoyang made a decision right then and there.

If Su Chen’s Bobo Chicken actually managed to place in the competition—even if it wasn’t first—he would immediately choose Delicious as his partner.

Now, all that was left was to see the results.

Lu Yongliang from E Province and Cui Yufen from Lu Province felt the same.

When they saw what Su Chen had actually made, their feelings were simply beyond words.

Absurd!

That was the only way to describe it—utterly absurd!

‘There are thousands of state banquet-level dishes, and you choose to compete with Bobo Chicken, a common street food from Sichuan Province? What the hell?’

Five minutes were up.

The moment Liu Ahbao’s hand pressed the bell, everyone watching felt their hearts leap into their throats.

Hearts pounding, hands trembling!

「Jingzhou City, a villa’s basement.」

Most of Zhang Jiayi’s extended family was gathered there. Just moments before, they had been laughing at the other contestants for scoring zero.

But now that it was their own girl’s turn to be scored, they all clenched their fists, their eyes fixed on the projection on the wall as if facing a mortal enemy.

Then, in the next moment…

“Bobo Chicken~ Bobo Chicken~ Just one yuan a skewer, Bobo Chicken~”

In the basement, the friends and relatives were stunned for a moment. Then, they all exchanged confused glances.

They could hardly believe what they were hearing.

Then, the recording began to cycle through seven different languages.

When one cycle finished and it returned to Chinese…

“Bobo Chicken~ Bobo Chicken~ Just one yuan a skewer, Bobo Chicken~”

Zhang Jiayi’s sing-song voice, strangely catchy, echoed in their ears once more.

It wasn’t clear who started it, but…

“Hahaha, hahaha! Holy shit, ‘one yuan a skewer’ Bobo Chicken? My niece is hilarious!”

That broke the spell, and everyone else burst out laughing.

Zhang Jiayi’s father had been a coal boss his entire life. He’d seen and weathered his fair share of storms, but in this moment, his face flushed red all the way to his ears.

‘I had you study languages your whole life for this? So you could do megaphone sales pitches?’

But he had to admit, the jingle was damned catchy.

After hearing it just twice, it somehow got stuck in his head, replaying on a loop as if it were toxic.

The six children on stage were puzzled when they heard the languages they didn’t know, and completely dumbfounded when they heard their own.

By the second time the recording played, even before it reached their own native languages, a few of the children had already started chanting along with the megaphone’s broadcast.

“Bobo Chicken~ Bobo Chicken~ Just one yuan a skewer, Bobo Chicken~”

Everyone was floored.

Seeing this, everyone was completely stunned!

The hostess was stunned too. If the director hadn’t been frantically shouting in her earpiece, she would have forgotten what she was supposed to do next.

“Uh… I mean, contestant, could you please tell us how this dish is meant to be eaten?”

‘I’ve never seen anything like this!’

Even though she was a well-known food program host in her own right and had seen skewer-based dishes before…

…how was one supposed to judge this? How was it meant to be savored?

Liu Ahbao proudly held up the pot of food himself. “Jiayi, come on up with me! Help me out with a few words.”