The venue for the Food Soul Competition, a stadium capable of holding twenty thousand people, had been temporarily converted. Outside the arena, people bustled about. Such large-scale competitions not only featured contestants for the preliminary rounds but also attracted many local residents who came to watch. Sometimes, the dishes prepared by the contestants would even be judged by these onsite spectators.
At the entrance channel, batches of contestants had already arrived. Renz casually found a seat.
"Hello," a man in a suit greeted him, his legs crossed. Behind him, two bodyguards in sunglasses stood guard. He squinted as he spoke.
"Hello," Renz replied, noticing the greeting.
"You're also a contestant in this Food Soul Competition, aren't you?" The man introduced himself. "My name is Nikaido Yoshikane, and my family runs a French restaurant."
"It's quite difficult for contestants to reach this stage."
"After all, if you don't have a certain level of skill, there's no way to get into the preliminary rounds, especially since the Food Soul Competition is hosted by the Nakiri family."
"By the way, the Nakiri family's Young Lady, Erina Nakiri, is making a comeback this time. I'll tell you a little secret: I also attended Totsuki Academy once."
"I was a schoolmate of Young Lady Erina."
"By the way, I've been talking about myself. What should I call you, if you don't mind?" Nikaido Yoshikane asked with a toothy smile.
"I'm not a contestant," Renz said, scratching his head.
Nikaido Yoshikane's smile instantly froze. Contestants who made it into the preliminary rounds were worth befriending; they might become famous culinary figures in the future. If he wasn't a contestant, there were only two possibilities for why he was here: a contestant's family or a lost spectator. The value of befriending him immediately dropped.
"My name is Renz, and I'm accompanying my wife," Renz said calmly. He hadn't heard about Erina Nakiri's image from anyone else's mouth yet. Running into one of Erina's schoolmates now was a perfect opportunity to get a deeper understanding.
Renz was lost in thought, and Nikaido Yoshikane likewise had some thoughts. This guy looks so young, and he's already married? Nikaido Yoshikane thought to himself. Marriage wasn't difficult. For someone like him, with a wealthy and influential family, finding a girl of ordinary background and marrying her was easy. No need to make a fuss.
Renz briefly considered. If he pretended not to know Erina now, and then went on stage with her later, would this Nikaido Yoshikane guy think he was being pretentious? It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"I think I just heard my wife's name mentioned in your conversation earlier," Renz said calmly, carefully choosing his words.
Before Renz could finish, Nikaido Yoshikane had already started to laugh politely and gracefully. "Hahahaha, my friend, you're quite a joker. Good thing you're talking to me."
"If someone from the Nakiri family found out, you'd be kicked out."
"Do you know how terrifying the Nakiri family is?" Nikaido Yoshikane mused. "Let me put it this way: half of Japan's restaurants rely on the Nakiri family's approval to survive."
"If just anyone from the Nakiri family comments on any Japanese restaurant, even an ordinary review, that restaurant can experience a continuous stream of customers within a month."
"And the Nakiri family's Young Lady, the restaurants she patronized since childhood were all culinary giants and famous masters."
"Even if I wanted to marry into the Nakiri family, it would be a pipe dream. My small French restaurant, I fear, would be run over by the Nakiri family without them even noticing."
"However, who Erina's husband is remains a mystery in our culinary world," Nikaido Yoshikane said, feigning deep thought. "Because the Nakiri family didn't invite many people to their wedding."
"It was a complete secret wedding."
"But, it's worth noting that Young Lady Erina announced her retirement from the culinary world after getting married, and there hasn't been much news since. This comeback has many people coming just for Erina's evaluation."
"By the way, this sudden comeback, could it be a marriage breakdown?" Nikaido Yoshikane pondered. "She retired for so long; if nothing happened, she wouldn't normally make a comeback."
"I think, given Young Lady Erina's strong personality, there's a good chance she bullied her husband every day, forced him to cheat, and then, in a fit of rage, divorced him and made her comeback."
"I saw her temper back when we were at Totsuki Academy."
By the end, Nikaido Yoshikane didn't forget to mention "Totsuki Academy" to gild his own lily. He usually paid a lot of attention to such gossip, and in the heat of the moment, he just blurted everything out.
"You shouldn't just open your mouth and slander people," Renz said righteously. "Erina is the best in the world. Not only does she cook the most delicious meals for me every day, but she's also gentle and considerate. Strong? Is that what you call strong? That's noble elegance."
Saved.
Damn it. Saved! He thought I was joking, but Renz was actually telling the truth. But why would this guy dare to joke like that...?
Renz's expression and tone showed such a strong will to survive. Nikaido Yoshikane immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He swallowed and quietly looked behind him.
The next second, he froze as if under a spell.
A chef's uniform in pristine white, the white fabric complementing Erina Nakiri's fair, jade-like skin, accentuating an ethereal aura. Her soft, golden hair cascaded like a waterfall down her back to her waist. Her delicate features, set on an oval face, were like a lotus emerging from water, and her gleaming eyes held a cold killing intent.
Though the chef's uniform didn't particularly emphasize her figure, at a glance, she exuded the dazzling brilliance of an idol celebrity gracing the scene.
It was! The real deal! Erina Nakiri!
"The matters of the Nakiri family are not for someone like you to gossip about," Erina Nakiri said flatly, raising her hand and sharply slapping Nikaido Yoshikane's face. The two bodyguards standing behind Nikaido Yoshikane didn't even dare to flinch. Who the hell would dare to move?
"Am I fierce?" Erina Nakiri asked Renz, her tone questioning. "Am I irritable?"
Renz shook his head like a rattle drum. "Fierce? Not at all fierce. I don't know who spread such rumors; those people deserve to die." Honestly speaking, Erina was a bit irritable. But her attitude towards him was definitely better than towards most people.
Ha... Maybe that's just because of his sweet talk. Renz thought his emotional intelligence was quite high; the term "steel-straight man" was an insult and a prejudice against him!
"Indeed, I don't know where all these rumors came from," Erina said, then naturally and smoothly reached out and linked her arm with Renz's.
She had just taken Haruki and Rina to the central audience seats and entrusted Alice to look after them, asking Renz to wait for her here first. As soon as she arrived, she heard something infuriating. Was she, from Totsuki Academy, really that irritable? She was just strict with others; how could that be called irritable? People who spread rumors behind others' backs like this were truly detestable.
---Support with power stones