The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

In Fu Yu’s current situation, he logically shouldn’t even be qualified to register. This kid, he’s something else!

Gu Yunwu couldn’t help but sigh, ”Xiaofu, you’re starting pretty high. Just participating in a competition, and you get to enter the Provincial Gourmet Association’s annual culinary video contest. Impressive!”

”The Provincial Gourmet Association is quite reputable. Although it’s definitely not on par with national-level influence, the annual culinary video contest is notoriously challenging. Compared to flashy skills, it places more emphasis on cooking techniques and innovation—you’re really bold!”

Gu Yunwu pondered a bit about why Fu Yu was eligible to register for the competition and soon guessed that Yao Shi probably helped him with a connection.

The two of them were likely discussing this matter earlier.

Fu Yu sighed awkwardly, ”I didn’t know this competition was so hard. Had I known, I might have joined the city TV station’s culinary video selection event instead.”

Gu Yunwu found this somewhat amusing.

Since late summer, when the city TV station hosted a food event that was well-received, they decided to launch another culinary video selection event before the end of the year.

The entries in this event, upon being selected, would be edited and broadcasted as part of the New Year’s programming on TV.

The prize money wasn’t much, but being on TV was considered quite an honor.

However, Fu Yu didn’t submit a video to this competition because it was held by the city TV station and coincided with the holiday period, so it didn’t attract much attention in the culinary community.

His store received related news about the event but didn’t pay much attention to it.

Gu Yunwu chuckled, ”You don’t quite understand these competitions yet. Although the city TV station’s competition isn’t at the same level as the Provincial Gourmet Association’s annual event, the TV show’s influence is relatively higher in our circle.”

”Think about it, during the New Year, everyone has some free time, and the TV is on almost all day. The viewership for any selected culinary video is bound to be high.”

Gu Yunwu added with a smile, ”Actually, I submitted videos for the provincial TV station’s similar competitions twice over the past few years, hoping to get lucky. It didn’t work out, so I’m not participating this year.”

Gu Yunwu sighed, ”If one of my videos had been selected, I might have had the confidence to try again this year.”

It’s not a shameful thing. The number of culinary videos selected by the provincial TV station can be counted on one hand, and each one is from a major industry figure. Yao Shi was selected once a few years ago, and it caused quite a stir in the community.

Sharing his own experience made Gu Yunwu even more sincere, ”If you have another chance like this, you should definitely participate. Consider it training. Normally, there’s no such chance. Even though it’s just the city TV station, with your short time in the industry, this event is quite fitting for you.”

Upon hearing about the TV show’s matters, Fu Yu curiously asked, ”Does the provincial TV station also have culinary competitions?”

Gu Yunwu nodded, ”Yes, this year’s new event by the city TV station was modeled after the provincial TV’s program. However, the provincial TV station’s competition requirements are a bit higher. They not only require a certain level of culinary skill from participants but also place certain standards on the video editing quality.”

”I hired a multimedia company to help make the videos for both attempts, but still didn’t get selected.”

Gu Yunwu seemed somewhat regretful. His attitude towards participating was quite serious, but unfortunately, after two tries, he hadn’t been able to get in.

At this point in the conversation, Fu Yu couldn’t help but say, ”Chef Gu, with your skills not getting selected, the standard for participants at the provincial TV station must be really high.”

Gu Yunwu couldn’t help but laugh, ”Of course, only head chefs from major restaurants can register. For someone like me to be selected, it’s all about luck.”

Unlike newcomers like Fu Yu, fresh to the industry with plenty of opportunities to refine their culinary skills.

Gu Yunwu has been working for many years, and at this point, his culinary skills are basically set.

Whether it’s cooking habits or mastery of seasoning ratios, they’ve become second nature, almost instinctual.

Further improvement isn’t an easy thing.

It’s much harder than the raw potential someone like Fu Yu has to hone freely.

Especially since, in recent years, he’s been somewhat lax in cooking practices compared to others in the field.

However, as they talked about this, Gu Yunwu remembered something and curiously asked, ”By the way, Xiaofu, how did you manage to register for the Provincial Gourmet Association’s culinary video contest?”

Such events held by the Provincial Gourmet Association aren’t open to just anyone.

Fu Yu replied honestly, ”It was Sister Feng, Feng Xiaoxiao, who helped me with the contacts. I only needed to provide the culinary video; she handled the rest.”

Hearing this, Gu Yunwu couldn’t hide his surprise, ”She helped you with that connection?”

Although Feng Xiaoxiao is a food blogger, she’s somewhat well-known in the circle, especially since she joined the Provincial Gourmet Association, and Gu Yunwu knew a bit about her.

Fu Yu nodded, ”If Sister Feng hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known about this competition at the annual meeting.”

Gu Yunwu suddenly understood. No wonder.

It’s no surprise the Provincial Gourmet Association’s events aren’t open for just anyone to register.

If Feng Xiaoxiao helped with the connection, it’s not that surprising.

Who would’ve thought, this kid Fu Yu is quite fortunate!

To actually be able to connect with someone as helpful as Feng Xiaoxiao.

Back in the day, I tried so hard to connect with the Provincial Gourmet Association but couldn’t make any headway.

Now, even getting into the association was a matter of coincidental connections.

Something so difficult seems to have become child’s play for Fu Yu.

Gu Yunwu looked at Fu Yu with complicated feelings—envy, jealousy, and a bit of lament over being born at the wrong time.

Actually, there’s something Gu Yunwu didn’t tell Fu Yu.

Just having the opportunity to register for the Provincial Gourmet Association’s culinary video competition is an opportunity, even if you don’t win a prize.

You should know that any entered works will be reviewed and selected by industry insiders.

The people qualified to be judges are all major figures in the field.

Getting to show your face to them is a very rare opportunity.

Originally, Gu Yunwu managed to get a small spot at the Provincial Gourmet Association with a video of a soup, leading to his successful membership later on.

Gu Yunwu couldn’t help but say, ”Xiaofu, you really don’t need to rush this matter. Like the saying goes, ’A blessing in disguise!’

”You’re so young, getting a chance to participate in such an event is already impressive!”

Fu Yu awkwardly said, ”This really doesn’t count for much. If I hadn’t used Sister Feng’s backdoor, I probably wouldn’t even have been able to qualify to register.”

After expressing his feelings, Gu Yunwu smiled and said, ”That’s a skill in itself. Others want to use this backdoor and can’t even find a way.”

”When I heard you talking with Yao Shi about connections earlier, I thought you wanted to register for the competition. Turns out you were just inquiring about the selection process?”

Fu Yu nodded, ”Mainly because the culinary video has been submitted for more than half a month, but I haven’t received any feedback yet.”

Hearing this, Gu Yunwu patiently advised, ”I’m telling you, you can’t rush things like this. Also, in these kinds of competitions, whether or not you have connections doesn’t make much difference. Having connections might just help you register and submit a video, but they don’t lower the selection standards—in fact, they make it even higher.”

”Because the Provincial Gourmet Association’s selection group has always maintained a high standard for culinary video assessments. Otherwise, if everyone used the backdoor, the award slots would be too meaningless!”