[Hu Tao: Hahahaha, this director is dying of laughter. Zhongli got dragged into this without doing a thing.]
[Jean: Given the Shogun's status, it's understandable that she can't cook, but this punishment...]
[Paimon: Good thing the Shogun didn't call our names.]
[Diluc: Ye the Heavenly Emperor escaped disaster.]
[Kaedehara Kazuha: Shh, Mr. Man of Justice, keep your voice down. Are you trying to get me dragged over there too?]
[Kaeya: Don't worry, Your Excellency. We won't tell anyone that you can't cook.]
The Shogun stood before the stove, knife in hand. The timer had already started.
"Please note: if Ei fails to prepare two dishes with an adequacy score above 40 within half an hour, all tasters will receive a special punishment together."
Yae Miko jumped up anxiously. "Ei, get moving!"
"What should I do?"
Kamisato Ayaka was also a young lady from a noble family. Her culinary skills... weren't outstanding.
Zhongli? He understood all the principles, but if he could cook himself, he wouldn't spend every day eating and drinking out.
"Your Excellency, chop the firewood first!" Kujou Sara reminded her.
Ei nodded. There was plenty of firewood beside her.
"Generally speaking, given the limited time, we should choose two simple dishes to teach the Shogun," Zhongli mused.
Now it wasn't just the Shogun getting anxious. The diners were anxious too. If she couldn't make the dishes, they would all be punished.
Venti was laughing himself silly in the tavern. "Zhongli! Even Zhongli got called over!"
Ei picked up a block of wood and chopped it.
Clang-
A chill ran down the six onlookers' spines. The entire island, along with the sea, was cleaved open for a thousand meters.
[Chongyun: ...]
[Lisa: ...]
[Beidou: The Shogun isn't chopping firewood. She's splitting mountains!]
Kamisato Ayaka said, "Your Excellency, gently. You need to chop firewood gently. Just cut it into pieces about two palm lengths long."
Ei nodded. "I haven't adjusted to my restored strength yet. So blocks of wood will do?"
Ei tossed the wood into the air. As it fell, swish, swish, swish, swish-no one could follow her movements.
Her cutting was impeccable, at least. Every piece was exactly the same size.
"Then what?" She looked at Kujou Sara.
"Your Excellency, light the fire. Put something burning into the stove, then add the wood and blow air into it."
Kujou Sara and Kamisato Ayaka guided her through it step by step.
[Kamisato Ayato: @Xiangling, quick, help us take a look! What simple dishes can we make with these ingredients?]
[Yoimiya: That's right! We have Chef Xiangling here.]
[Xiangling: Let me see. There's such a full range of ingredients! For a beginner, the simplest dish would be a Teyvat fried egg!]
Yoimiya said, "Right, a Teyvat fried egg is really easy."
Zhongli said, "But generally speaking, might that dish fail to qualify? It needs a score above 40."
"Cough, cough, cough... cough, cough, cough." Ei choked while trying to blow the fire into life, then raised her head.
Pfft-
Yae Miko burst out laughing.
Kamisato Ayato, Yoimiya, and the others covered their mouths, desperately struggling to hold back their laughter.
Ei's face had been smoked black as charcoal.
"Hahahaha! I'm dying!"
Ei immediately went to wash her face. "Go ahead and laugh. I'll make you eat all of it later."
Yae Miko instantly stopped.
Ei set the iron pan on the stove. "What next? What dish are we making?"
"Your Excellency, try a Teyvat fried egg first. It takes hardly any time. Pour in the oil first."
Oil, then an egg. That was simple. She had watched her sister make it before.
Although that had been five hundred years ago.
Then came the sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
"Your Excellency, it's ready! You can scoop it out now!"
The first fried egg was burnt.
"This won't work. We need to tell her sooner."
This time, they told her ten seconds earlier. She took the fried egg out and followed Kujou Sara's instructions, sprinkling it with sesame seeds and chopped ham.
"Adequacy score: 20."
"As expected, it won't do. This dish is too simple."
"We're running out of time! Only twenty minutes left!"
"Xiangling!"
[Xiangling: How about vegetable and meat stew? You can just put all the ingredients in and stew them over high heat for fifteen minutes. Use the other stove for radish, vegetable, and meat soup. The principle and method are the same.]
"Those two dishes will work. Everything just goes into one pot!" Kamisato Ayato settled on the plan.
"Let's do that. Your Excellency, cut the potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbage."
Ei picked them up and sliced away in a flurry of swishes.
"Um... Your Excellency, you need to peel the potatoes after washing them," Kujou Sara said.
"There's no time now. Just cut them as they are," Yoimiya said.
That was indeed the case.
Both stoves were going at once, and Ei was completely flustered.
"Your Excellency, add water... too much, too much!"
"Your Excellency, the other stove needs more firewood!"
"Your Excellency, add salt and seasoning... not the whole bottle..."
"Add some water to balance it out."
"Your Excellency, this pot needs seasoning too. What did you just pour in?"
Ei stood there. "I don't recognize any of them... I put them all in."
[Xiangling: ...]
[Hu Tao: One customer, two customers, six customers.]
[Xingqiu: You're counting your own consultant too?]
As they watched the Shogun dump all the seasonings and ingredients into the pots, the six people present had an extremely bad feeling.
Before you continue