My Next Life in Teyvat: I Just Wanted Friends, Not Every Girl's Love!-Chapter 192 - 191: Taste Test

"Lady Durandal is also planning to participate in this cooking competition. I’m sorry, the judges for this competition seem to be the Seven Stars of Liyue, and I can’t..."

"You can’t what? What do you want to do, White Oriole?"

Miss Durandal glared at White Oriole, directly interrupting her and asking with an unkind expression, to prevent her from saying something she didn’t want to hear.

Under Miss Durandal’s gaze, White Oriole realized her thoughts were too impolite and bowed apologetically.

Thinking about it carefully, Miss Durandal had always had a habit of cooking; it was just that due to her status, she hadn’t tasted her dishes before.

When Miss Durandal pulled her over to evaluate the food this time, she thought Miss Durandal was displeased with her recent behavior. Now, it seemed things were different from what she imagined. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Um, I’m curious why Lady Durandal became interested in cooking? What did you dedicate yourself to cooking for?"

"For what? For a certain ’Little Sun’ who can’t sit still all day. Seeing her happy expression after eating my cooking made me go learn how to make grilled fish."

Unconsciously, some time had passed. She could now make more than just grilled fish, but she was still best at fish dishes, because Klee liked fish the most... probably.

"’Little Sun’? You mean that little girl from Mondstadt, right?"

In White Oriole’s impression, the only one who could be called ’Little Sun’ was Klee. She was indeed a lovable Children, but she occasionally did some dangerous things... like the bombs in her backpack.

She wondered how the Knights of Mondstadt allowed that Children to run around with a backpack full of bombs. If it were in Liyue Harbor, the Millelith would definitely restrict her once they knew about it.

"When she left, she even came specifically to thank me for taking care of her during that time and wanted to give me a gift. Since it was a Children’s gift, I was prepared to accept it. But when she took out the bombs from her bag, I lost all desire."

Although quite impolite, it was unavoidable. As the housekeeper of this villa, she had to prevent any accidents.

As they chatted, Miss Durandal’s first dish was completed. It was a very memorable fish dish. Although it wasn’t cooked over a campfire in the wilderness, the aroma it emitted already told Shenhe and White Oriole of its deliciousness.

"There are other dishes. Those will take a little longer to finish. You two eat this first to fill your stomachs."

Shenhe hadn’t eaten at Wanmin Restaurant because she had left with her, and White Oriole was also hungry because of her own matters, so Miss Durandal made these grilled fish first to let them fill their stomachs, to prevent their stomachs from rumbling while she cooked.

"Fill our stomachs... Girls eat very little, Lady Durandal. I think these few grilled fish are enough to fill us up."

White Oriole couldn’t help but tease. When she was usually too busy to eat, she would just hastily eat an Apple. These grilled fish were already enough to fill her stomach.

"Don’t worry, it’s just a feeling of fullness. If I try a little, I should be able to eliminate it."

Wait... wait a minute, Lady Durandal. ’Fullness’ isn’t a negative state; you can’t eliminate it with your abilities.

"I know, it’s just helping you digest the food in your stomach. If the food is digested, you can continue to eat, can’t you?"

That’s true, but... wait a minute, is this Miss Durandal’s idea, to make them not worry about eating too much, and as long as she’s still preparing food for them, she won’t let them leave?

White Oriole was a little scared. If she kept eating like this, her weight would become exaggerated, right? She didn’t want her body to become top-heavy.

"Um, Lady Durandal, my figure..."

"Figure? Are you worried about getting fat? Heh~ The exact same worry as Ganyu. Don’t worry, all those calories will be absorbed by me, and your weight won’t increase."

Since making a deal with Miss Durandal, Ganyu’s dietary restrictions had been greatly eased. She no longer only ate Qingxin like before, occasionally eating some meat dishes.

Although it was only occasionally, she ate a lot each time. Despite being a girl, her Adeptus physique made her appetite much larger than average. This led her to immediately seek out Miss Durandal after every meal, asking her to help eliminate the excess calories in her body.

"Even calories can be absorbed, Lady Durandal... how amazing."

Can calories also be considered ’toxins’ that affect the body? White Oriole didn’t know much about this, but since Miss Durandal said so, she could definitely do it.

Since that was the case, she had nothing to worry about. Her mood lightened considerably, and she sat down with Shenhe to eat the grilled fish.

She originally thought this appetizer was just an ordinary dish, but the moment she took the first bite, White Oriole froze.

Shenhe, eating grilled fish beside her, smiled with satisfaction at White Oriole’s reaction. She had been observing from the beginning and finally saw the expression she wanted on her face.

"This grilled fish..."

White Oriole looked at the grilled fish in her hand with some surprise. When she was poor, she often ate this cheap grilled fish. She was already familiar with every flavor.

Miss Durandal’s grilled fish wasn’t an exaggeratedly delicious dish that would make people’s clothes burst, but... but there was a feeling in it that she couldn’t quite describe.

That feeling was very comfortable, very... gentle. This gentleness made White Oriole take another bite, and after realizing this feeling wasn’t her imagination, White Oriole’s movements quickened.

"No need to rush, no one’s taking it from you, White Oriole."

"My apologies, Lady Durandal."

White Oriole realized her impropriety, apologized awkwardly, and couldn’t contain her curiosity, asking a question.

"Um, Lady Durandal. Did you add anything to this grilled fish?"

"Such as?"

"Such as, your..."

White Oriole didn’t dare to say everything, but her meaning was already very clear: was Miss Durandal adding her power to the grilled fish, which made its taste so unforgettable?

"Miss Durandal didn’t do that, White Oriole."

Shenhe answered for Miss Durandal: "Miss Durandal never uses her abilities in such ways. All the ingredients she used are from the kitchen; there are no special ingredients."

"Is that so? How amazing, Lady Durandal."

White Oriole exclaimed again, "Klee is really amazing. Miss Durandal can do so much for her."

"Excuse me."

Just then, a guest arrived. Ganyu walked over and nodded to Durandal.

"Lady Ganyu."

Seeing Ganyu’s arrival, White Oriole, as the housekeeper, habitually stood up to greet her, but Shenhe, who was beside her, pressed her back down.

Durandal, busy in the kitchen, noticed Ganyu’s arrival and nodded: "Have a seat. Whatever you want to say, wait for me. Eat something with Shenhe and White Oriole first; I’ll be done soon."

"Yes, I understand."

The matter Ganyu had to discuss with Durandal this time was not urgent, so Ganyu obediently sat down next to White Oriole.

White Oriole timely pushed a plate of grilled fish in front of her, politely inviting her to taste it.

Ganyu initially refused. Even with Durandal’s help, she didn’t want her diet to become too extravagant; an occasional indulgence was enough.

But Shenhe said, "Durandal just told you to eat with us. Are you not going to give her face?" This made Ganyu immediately speechless.

She had no choice but to taste the grilled fish with the two of them. After feeling the tenderness in the grilled fish, she had no intention of refusing anymore.

"I see, Lady Durandal is also planning to participate in this cooking competition."

Hearing that Durandal wanted to participate in the cooking competition, Ganyu nodded. Based on her understanding of past cooking competitions, this one would likely be very lively.

Fortunately, only the Seven Stars of Liyue and a few others like Ganyu knew Durandal’s true identity. Otherwise, how would other contestants dare to compete seriously? They wouldn’t dare to be targeted by a God.

"There shouldn’t be any special requirements to participate in the competition, right, Lady Ganyu? Like having to be a chef or something."

"No, there are elimination rounds before the competition. If you can’t even pass the elimination rounds, you naturally won’t make it to the finals."

This method can filter out those who are just there to make up the numbers and those who are truly capable. These decisions will be left to the judges of the preliminary rounds.

This job is actually quite complex for them because they have to taste the dishes of many contestants. For fairness, they will carefully taste every contestant’s dish.

Some of these dishes are good, some are bad. They naturally want to eat delicious dishes, but when they encounter what looks like dark cuisine, they have to bite the bullet and eat it.

I remember in a past cooking competition’s preliminary round, a contestant’s dish was so potent that a judge collapsed after just one bite and had to be carried away by the Millelith to Bubu Pharmacy.

Because of this incident, the position of preliminary judge went unfilled for a considerable period, and it was only partially resolved later through a lottery system.

"I’m glad you’re willing to participate in the Liyue Harbor competition, Lady Durandal. I believe everyone else will be happy to hear about this."

"Happy... well, I hope so. Don’t forget my identity; they should be vigilant to prevent me from adding anything untoward to the dishes."

Durandal said in a mock-threatening tone. To such words, Ganyu merely returned a sweet smile, not making a big deal out of it.

That day, Ganyu had a grand meal there, thoroughly tasting every dish Durandal made. Finally, with Durandal’s help, she eliminated the excess calories and left content.

As she was leaving, Ganyu suddenly paused, wondering.

"Did I... forget something very important? By the way, why did I come to see Miss Durandal this time?"

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