"Not bad, and it’s good to have someone in our group for a contrast. The worse she performs, the more professional we look."

"Haha, we’ve been talking for so long, and we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. After passing this round, we’ll have more interactions in future competitions," the first speaker said.

"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Lou Kangtai, from Yang City."

"What a coincidence, I’m also from your hometown. My name is Heng Xinghuo, also from Yang City. I know this Lou Kangtai, he’s the head chef at the most famous internet celebrity restaurant in Yang City, very skilled."

"Oh, everyone’s a professional chef. I just have a bit of fame in little Yang City," Lou Kangtai said humbly. "There’s always someone better out there, so I dare not be arrogant."

However, even in this humility, he couldn’t hide his underlying pride.

"My name is Fu Jiaxu, from Haixin City, but I work as a sous chef in a restaurant in S City. Can’t help it, the competition in restaurants is too fierce, always under the head chef. So I wanted to take this opportunity to try and prove myself. With the experience from the Changping Culinary Competition, if I switch restaurants, my chances of becoming a head chef will be greater."

"S City, huh, the competition pressure must be intense there. Which restaurant do you work at?" Heng Xinghuo asked in surprise.

"I’m at the ’Ran’ restaurant," Fu Jiaxu said.

"Awesome, man! That’s a famous high-end restaurant!"

Everyone was both shocked and admiring.

In an instant, Fu Jiaxu had stolen Lou Kangtai’s thunder.

Lou Kangtai’s smile froze.

"Then don’t just say in our small group, looking at the whole competition, you’d also rank high."

"No way, I’m just a sous chef, not the head chef, far from it," Fu Jiaxu said modestly.

After that, everyone continued with their introductions.

"I’m Di Xingguang, from Bin City."

"I’m Peng Hongyi, from Golden City."

"Lu Yanghua, from Benli City."

"Tang Bingxia, Bin City."

"Yin Qiaoqiao, from Yuan City."

"Ding Ruyun, from Hu Ming City."

Though these six people came from different hometowns, they all work in B City now.

At this time, Lou Kangtai, who had been overshadowed earlier, suddenly raised his voice and said to Ye Fei, "Are you Fei Xiaomo? That’s not your real name, right? I’ve never heard of anyone with the surname Fei."

Unlike how they were getting to know each other just now, Ye Fei was familiarizing herself with everything at the cooking station.

From utensils to spices, to avoid being flustered when the cooking starts.

But she also heard everything those people said earlier.

When discussing her, including their disdain, they didn’t bother to lower their voices.

They didn’t care if she heard, probably thinking she would be eliminated in this round of selections.

They assumed they wouldn’t see her again later, so they didn’t need to save face for her.

Ye Fei originally didn’t want to say much to them, preferring the results to speak for themselves.

But unexpectedly, her silence only encouraged them to push further.

It was clear Lou Kangtai was here to provoke.

"Why don’t you use your real name for the competition?" Tang Bingxia also asked. "I remember the application page stated that you must use your real name to match with your ID card information, right?"

"And, you’re wearing a mask, not even showing your face?" Peng Hongyi questioned.

"These are things I applied for with the organizers, and they agreed," Ye Fei couldn’t be bothered to explain too much to them.