"You—"The young man was provoked by Rebecca's words and couldn't contain his anger any longer. He approached her directly."Why do you have the right to say such things? Is there anything wrong with what I said? You're just a woman, and you don't seem very old either. Your role as a judge here is an insult to us, and we have every right to tell you to get lost!"As he walked closer, his voice suddenly grew louder. This made Rebecca frown slightly uncomfortably.However, Rebecca remained seated in her chair. Her voice was calm and unhurried."Firstly, I'll reiterate that I'm against any form of gender discrimination. I'm not the only female chef here.“Secondly, I was invited to be a judge on behalf of Four Seasons by the organizers. You have no right to tell me to leave. And if you think this is an insult, it's not my doing.“Lastly, I'd like to remind you that if you're confident in your cooking, you shouldn't care who's sitting here today. As long as your skills are good enou
The familiar voice made Rebecca look up, and she saw Daniel in a black suit.His tall and slender figure was accentuated by the suit, and his straight-cut trousers hugged his long legs as he walked.Daniel exuded an aloof air of nobility that was far from approachable.Rebecca's eyes widened.Why was he here?If she remembered correctly, Sam had beaten Daniel up pretty badly yesterday.However, when Rebecca looked at Daniel’s face, it seemed as if nothing had happened.Of course, Rebecca didn't know that all the punches exchanged yesterday landed on Daniel's body and not on his face. Hence, there were no visible injuries on his face.As for Daniel’s disheveled appearance yesterday, it was mainly due to the heavy blows and the dirt on the ground, which made him appear terrifying.Today, Daniel had tidied himself up. He wore a well-fitted suit and polished shoes. His hair was perfectly styled. So, there was no hint of disarray.In fact, Daniel had even attracted the attention o
"Being able to recognize your mistakes is a rare quality. So, I accept your apology," Rebecca replied.Rebecca was willing to give a favorable response to someone who could admit their mistakes and make amends.She looked at the young man earnestly and offered some advice. "You're still young, and it's normal to get emotional when people around you provoke you with words.“I hope that the next time you encounter such a situation, you can calm down and think carefully. Is the other person truly as others describe, and from what perspective are you making your judgments?“I forgave you this time because you're still young, and you apologized promptly. However, if there's a next time, I might not accept your apology.“You should focus on honing your culinary skills, and I hope you can achieve a good ranking in this competition."Everyone participating in the Grand Culinary Championship aimed for victory. They were not aiming just for the substantial prize money or the promotion of t
If Rebecca could hear what Daniel was thinking, she would have screamed, "No!" at him, much less shown him a pleasant expression. Was he daydreaming? Who did he think he was?He was lucky that Rebecca had been gracious enough not to consider him an enemy. Why did he still want to compare himself with a stranger? At the very least, strangers had never hurt her in a substantial way. Could he say the same?Even though that young man had been rude to her, he had apologized. What about Daniel? Where on earth did Daniel find the gall to say such things to her now? Was it just because Sam had beaten him up yesterday? What kind of wishful thinking was this?It was only now that Rebecca realized Sam had been holding back when he had beat Daniel up. In fact, Daniel hadn't needed to be admitted to the hospital, seeing as he seemed fine enough to join in on this drama today.If she had known, she wouldn't have stopped Sam yesterday. She had even nearly gotten into a fight with him over i
"Sure! Why not?" Before Markus could say anything, Liam had already rushed to answer.He had been in a dilemma about what to have for lunch, too. The food at Gourmet Haven made him lose his appetite, especially after eating Rebecca's cooking for the past two days.It was hard to go back to eating mediocre food after having tasted such culinary delights. It would be like eating cardboard.Hence, when he heard James' suggestion, Liam quickly approved of it. Since someone had already approved of the idea, the rest of them didn't go against it. Markus didn't have much of an opinion, either. He would love to have more of Rebecca's cooking. Still, he faked nonchalance. "Let's see if Ms. B minds. I don't really care."Rebecca didn't really mind, either. Although she felt a bit lazy, she was willing to cook for these old men.Besides, all the ingredients that were prepared here were top-notch, as were the cooking utensils. She only had to cook, so it wasn't that much trouble. Bu
When she heard this, Rebecca paused in her footsteps. She fell silent as she thought about whether to answer. But then, James answered his own question."If I recall, Mr. Winston said your last name is Johnson, right? That isn't a very common last name in these parts. "But the Johnson family is quite remarkable, comparable to the Winston family in Riverwood. Have you heard of the Johnson family in Rookfort, child?"Rebecca could only feel her own silence ringing in her ears. Well, it was better to just get it over with quickly.She had planned to visit her grandfather with her parents. That way, they would be able to explain things properly. But now that things had gotten to this point, there was no point in hiding the truth.Besides, based on how James and Markus spoke to each other, they were quite close. That was a guarantee of his character. It was natural for one to be biased toward one's own family. Thus, Rebecca could understand why James had treated her like that earl
Although Serena was a bit better than Mary and knew to behave at home, she was just the same as Mary when she was outside.Many parents in their circle had complained to James about Serena. Serena would even bully kids under the age of ten! Still, she didn't feel ashamed about her behavior.It was just that James had never caught her in the act. He was also worried that Serena would be too upset about it, so he had never disciplined her too much. All he ever did was lecture her a bit while having dinner. James had never even raised his voice at Serena before.Besides, he wasn't Serena's parent. He was only her maternal grandfather, so he couldn't overstep.On second thought, James realized that he should think deeper into what Serena had done during that altercation with Rebecca.From what Rebecca said, it sounded like she and Serena had met before. If Rebecca had gotten mad because of the bad situation, why had Serena?As the older one, it was fine if Serena didn't defend Re
Rebecca didn't know what James was thinking. She was too focused on her cooking. Since the three people she was serving for lunch were old men, she decided to cook something that didn't need much chewing and was easily digestible.Since it was a cooking competition, there were all manner of ingredients ready to use. Plus, they had all been prepared. All Rebecca needed to do was cook.She worked fast. Even though James had asked her to make a couple of simple dishes, she decided to make a full-course meal for the three old men.She would make them a dessert. Bananas Foster was a simple dish with only a few ingredients, but the test came when she needed to flambé the bananas. Then, she made osso buco using a shank of lamb. It was a lot of work to get it braised, but that was fine because Rebecca was looking forward to having some later as well. She prepared a gravy for it, too, and the polenta it would sit atop.The next dish was much simpler. She chose to make a risotto, as it