“Is that so? So what you’re saying is—Meng Wange challenged you like that just to win your favor?”
“…Unless I somehow pissed her off so badly that she wants to poison me to death on the spot, there’s really no other explanation.”
[Reasonable deduction. As expected of a host with top-tier villainess potential. The accuracy of your judgment is estimated at 92%.]
Although the system was unexpectedly complimenting her for once, Su Wanli furrowed her brows after thinking for a moment.
“…Wait a second. Even though your sudden interruption made me instinctively reply, didn’t I already tell you to enter Silent Mode?”
[Although you issued three consecutive commands that successfully bypassed the system’s usual reminders, you didn’t specify a duration for the silence. Therefore, the system defaulted to a ten-second mute.]
“Is it so hard to understand that I told you to shut up so I could think clearly, not just to shut you up for ten seconds? You’re supposed to be a supernatural tool—can’t you at least make an effort to understand human needs a little more intelligently?”
[According to system evaluation, your intent in initiating Silent Mode was indeed to seriously consider your plan of action. Naturally, once that period of thought ended, the system was expected to resume providing support.]
“…Sigh, whatever. Believe what you want. It’s not like you’re ever going to stop assigning me tasks just because I say ‘shut up.'”
Su Wanli let out a helpless shrug.
“But at least change your default silence duration to five hours.”
[Your requested setting exceeds the system’s maximum allowed duration. Silence duration has been adjusted to two hours.]
“You little—”
Forget it. There was no time to waste arguing with the system.
Su Wanli adjusted her posture in the chair and began seriously scanning through the recipes that had just been uploaded into her mind.
First off, given her own cooking skills, she needed something simple and easy to make—something with fewer steps, but that still looked appetizing and had a refined presentation.
The ingredients also couldn’t be too cheap or plain. She had to maintain the image of a noble lady, after all.
Hmm… and she had to factor in cooking time too. She couldn’t let Meng Wange’s dish get cold before hers was even done…
Su Wanli pursed her lips and tapped her forehead twice.
‘No, wait! I specifically let Meng Wange go first because of this exact issue—why am I even worrying about whether her food stays warm?’
She should be picking something time-consuming, to drag things out and stall her opponent!
With that thought, she weighed her options for a while. In the end, her gaze hovered between the garlic butter shrimp and the pork rib soup.
Both recipes had a similar number of steps, and if she followed them precisely, there was little room for error. Plus, with someone assisting her, the odds of messing up dropped even further. Both dishes also had a bit of a Western flair, which matched Su Wanli’s elegant aesthetic perfectly.
Most importantly, she had just spotted something useful in the kitchen—a pack of deveined shrimp in the freezer and pork ribs already chopped into segments. If she didn’t have to use a knife for the main ingredients, her chances of success would rise significantly.
In terms of presentation, the garlic butter shrimp definitely looked more high-end. A few parsley flakes, some sprigs of thyme, and a lemon wedge on the side—that would look fancy enough. But no matter how it turned out, soup was still… just soup.
As for cooking time, the shrimp dish—from marinating to plating—would take no more than twenty minutes. The soup, on the other hand, would need close to an hour.
From a purely logical standpoint, the clear choice was—
…The soup?
[Correct strategic thinking. Even though the host will have to delay her own meal slightly, using that time to diminish the quality of Meng Wange’s dish is a worthwhile tradeoff. Given the host’s level of culinary skill, it’s more effective to weaken the opponent’s performance than to try and make her own dish stand out.]
“…Are you trying to insult me or something?”
Although the scale in Su Wanli’s heart was indeed starting to tip toward the soup, a faint sense of unease made her hesitate.
“…Tsk. Before we make a decision, shouldn’t we at least consider the possibility that Meng Wange might be making something that improves in quality the longer it sits? Or something that only tastes better once it’s cooled down?”
[According to the system’s database, foods with those characteristics are typically alcoholic beverages or certain teas, along with a few specific dishes that develop flavor over time. However, those usually require years to age, making them unsuitable for a competition.]
[As for the latter, even if a dish is piping hot straight out of the pot, it can be judged after simply cooling it down with a few breaths. There’s no need to intentionally let it sit.]
The system’s reasoning sounded logical, but something still felt off. Su Wanli was sure she’d missed a crucial detail.
‘Think, Su Wanli. If you combine everything Meng Wange has said and done so far…’
—They each wanted to make a dish the other person would enjoy.
—They deliberately separated their cooking times.
—The order of use was decided through rock-paper-scissors.
—And Meng Wange had casually let slip something about a “surprise”…
At that, Su Wanli’s lips curled into a subtle smirk. She wagged her finger at the sky.
“Sigh, that’s why you’re just a system. You can’t grasp that one percent of intuition and nuance.”
As she spoke, her gaze turned toward the kitchen door—
“When we made the bet, Meng Wange didn’t say that the winner of rock-paper-scissors would be the last to use the kitchen. She said, ‘The winner can choose the order in which we use the kitchen.'”
[You’re suggesting…?]
“If my guess is right, even if I had won the game, Meng Wange still would’ve chosen to go first and leave the second turn for me.”
Su Wanli gave a confident smile.
“Whether her goal is to win the contest or to please me, she must’ve made something that doesn’t degrade over time.”
“If time doesn’t matter to her dish, then our choice becomes clear: something with strong presentation and a simple preparation—Garlic Butter Shrimp.”
At the exact moment Su Wanli finished her analysis to the system, the kitchen door swung open, almost as if in response.
A slender, fair-skinned hand pushed the door aside.
Meng Wange stood at the entrance, brushing aside the fringe on her forehead and dabbing at her brow with a tissue. She gave Su Wanli a gentle smile.
“Miss Su, I’m done. It’s your turn now.”
Su Wanli let out a faint, disdainful snort through her nose, then rose gracefully to her feet and began walking toward the kitchen.
As she brushed past Meng Wange, she leaned in slightly and whispered in her ear—
“…No matter what it is you’ve made, in the end, I’m the one who’s going to win.”
Meng Wange paused for a second, then smiled and nodded.
“Mhm. I’m looking forward to it.”