Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 1026 - 1006. The selection is about to end

Chapter 1026: 1006. The selection is about to end

Faced with food, Li the master’s companion tilted his head and stared at two burly men in front of him who clearly could gulp down a bun in two bites but insisted on nibbling slowly instead...

*Gulp.* He swallowed hard.

A moment later, years of bustling experience drove him to take action. He pushed and squeezed his way forward with all his might, frantically shouting:

"Buns! I want to eat buns too! Radishes, I want to buy radishes too!"

But the barriers ahead were too many, the worst being people with props blocking the way. Not only were they obstructing him, they were also shouting loudly: "Watch out, watch out! This equipment costs tens of thousands!"

"Exactly, exactly! Be careful with my camera—it’s worth thousands..."

"Hey, hey, hey, these props are expensive! Don’t push..."

"Judges... judges... we’ve already been delayed for over an hour, shouldn’t we move on by now?"

"Judges, stop eating... seriously, you can’t eat anymore, your stomachs will burst..."

The crowd grew increasingly restless, their urgency becoming more evident. The small exhibition area was now a chaotic din, with everyone craning their necks, wishing they could leap over like martial arts masters...

Until someone at the center shouted loudly: "Ah! It’s all eaten up! There’s nothing left!"

At that moment, who knows how his companion felt, but he instinctively shouted back: "I don’t believe it! Just give me the cabbage leaves—I’ll go back and toss them into a hotpot!"

With those words, silence fell upon everyone.

The very next moment, countless hands reached out from the crowd: "Give me!"

"Huh?" Qiaoqiao froze, holding three pitifully wilted old cabbage leaves in her hands: "You want these too? Earlier, when the buns weren’t enough, didn’t you all use the tender leaves to wrap chili sauce and eat them?"

Everyone: ...

No matter how irrational they behaved, the three wilted cabbage leaves now looked like tattered cloth fluttering in the wind. Even at a vegetable market, picky old aunties would have casually torn them off and refused to weigh them.

The crowd instantly grew crestfallen.

Meanwhile, the already-opened venue began to buzz more loudly:

"Hey? Isn’t this supposed to be some kind of competition? Why are so many booths empty?"

"Exactly, weren’t we supposed to score as popular judges... Ah! I get it! It’s self-service tasting and self-scoring, right!"

"Yeah, yeah, makes sense! This way, it avoids bias from staff members, ensuring fair scoring..."

"Is that really necessary? Popular judges’ results are only published online, hardly anyone reads them anyway..."

"Why wouldn’t it be necessary? Online channels are crucial now—here, try this roasted corn. What I mean is, most people wouldn’t even know about this competition; it’s too low-key."

"Oh my, this corn is delicious! You should try it too!"

"Exactly, if I hadn’t read the official website with the introduction, I wouldn’t have known that the currently trendy and expensive varieties won gold and silver prizes at this competition..."

At Booth 7, an instantly restless crowd began to stir. Several staff members wearing different booth vests suddenly came to their senses:

"Ah, ah, ah, we’re doomed! Our potatoes need to be roasted!"

"Our greens need to be stir-fried in oyster sauce!"

"Corn! Don’t let my corn get burnt on the grill!"

"Quick, quick, quick, I forgot about the public judging!"

Everyone hurriedly scattered, and the crowd dissipated gradually. Yet just as people were leaving, someone suddenly asked: "That... that bun wrap combo, which booth was it from?"

"Yeah, yeah, which booth? It tasted pretty good..."

"Is there a link? I want to buy some flour packs for my family..."

Finally resting after the frenzy, Yang Zhengxi perked up and quickly shouted at the top of his lungs:

"West Area! West Area B18 and B23! The bun wraps are theirs!"

Then he touched his stomach with a mournful expression: "I still feel like I didn’t eat enough..."

Qiaoqiao glared at him, clearly disapproving: "You did eat! I saw you eat two buns!"

Yang Zhengxi shouted back: "I wrapped 20 rolls but didn’t taste a single one! I saved space in my gut for them, and now it’s still empty!"

Song Tan looked at the mess on the table, feeling a headache coming on. Hearing the kids squabble only added to her fatigue. She urged, "Hurry up and clean this up—wash up the stoves and pans and return them quickly."

"Oh." Sister’s favorite, Qiaoqiao, immediately stopped arguing and obediently started working.

With his sibling gone and not wanting to return to his own booth, Yang Zhengxi hesitated for a moment and joined in tidying up.

Song Tan, however, shifted her gaze toward the media people packing up and the hesitant judges. After giving it some thought, she earnestly remarked:

"Everyone, I’m not trying to make excuses, but honestly, we have nothing to sell this winter—how about this? This is the link to our livestream and online shop. If you’re really interested, you can place orders when we have new products or stock available."

Everyone froze, then immediately whipped out their phones: "Me, me, me! Let me add!"

Even the judges didn’t want to fall behind. Patiently, they asked, "Young girl, is Old Song still working with your family?"

Song Tan paused for a moment and then chuckled: "He sure is! Professor Song plans to bring more students to practice at our place next year."

Everyone gritted their teeth: What do you mean, ’practice’? They’re already growing such amazing produce—how can this be considered practice? This is clearly taking advantage of proximity to reap benefits!

Shameless!

Leading the pack, the elderly lady curiously remarked: "Looking at the application forms you submitted, the test report data for your produce seems rather unusual... are all of them..."

She trailed off, hesitant.

The test report data was truly remarkable, with every advantage just slightly better than others, seeming not too outstanding overall. But the key was, each crop had several standout features!

Even more remarkable, the data was exceptionally balanced!

If they hadn’t spent years dealing with plants, they probably wouldn’t have realized how difficult it was to achieve such balance!

Rumor had it that the initial data was even more exaggerated, but it was later sent back and replaced with the real data. The elderly lady initially didn’t believe it, but now after tasting the produce herself, she realized—perhaps the data really was genuine...

"Could it be that, to convince people, you forged the data?"

Song Tan thought for a moment—the forms weren’t filled out by her, they were outsourced to Secretary Xiaozu. Secretary Xiaozu couldn’t handle it, so he hired Professor Song. Professor Song submitted them, but they got rejected, so Yan Ran took over in the end...

What was on the forms again?

They had sent out plenty of samples, all edible ones, but Song Tan hadn’t paid much attention at that time... She did, however, recall one detail:

"Oh, are you talking about the underperforming test report? Those were from poorly growing secondary fruits... Actually, even secondary fruits taste just as good."

Spiritual energy nourished the crops evenly, but plants still had genetic differences.

The elderly lady let out a long sigh, her expression enigmatic and complicated.

Finally, she laughed out loud: "Alright, alright, after eating so much of your produce, this year’s Hou Ji Produce Awards will finally have some standout winners!"

She sighed: "A 9.5 score is required to earn a gold prize. In past years, many gold prizes were left vacant."

"As for the scoring... I don’t think there’s any need to deliberate further today."