Placing the roasted cold noodles evaluation as the second-to-last segment was deliberately arranged by Meng Chang with personal intentions.

Meng Chang’s sole purpose for organizing this street food competition was to market for Miss Gourmet Noodles.

Positioning the roasted cold noodles evaluation later would leave a deeper impression on the audience, but putting it absolutely last would be too obvious.

Placing it second-to-last, with rare delicacies as the final segment, ensured audiences wouldn’t be too repulsed while maintaining strong impressions of Miss Gourmet Noodles. Additionally, having judges praise Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles compared to others would reinforce the impression that “Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles have the best flavor.”

These were all marketing tactics.

However, Mr. Pei had already seen through Meng Chang’s strategy. The roasted cold noodles evaluation certainly wouldn’t unfold according to the scripted plan.

Soon, the roasted cold noodles vendors were ready and began cooking. Unlike other groups, Miss Gourmet Noodles’ chef was also on-site, competing alongside other vendors.

The camera focused on Miss Gourmet Noodles’ chef, and the livestream audience immediately rebelled.

“Holy shit! Caught me off guard!”

“This is Miss Gourmet Noodles’ advertisement! Damn, I watched seriously for hours!”

“So this is what they were setting up! I wondered why Miss Gourmet Noodles would bother organizing this competition – turns out it’s self-promotion…”

Many viewers immediately realized what was happening when they saw Miss Gourmet Noodles participating.

After all that buildup, all those street foods were just supporting acts to highlight Miss Gourmet Noodles’ flavor!

Many disappointed viewers exited the livestream.

The key to such competitions is fairness and justice.

If the competition ended with nepotism edging out truly excellent contestants for top awards, it would be disgusting.

Many viewers already foresaw the upcoming script, feeling no point in continuing, and left one after another.

Actually, according to Meng Chang’s original plan, if the program was recorded and edited before release, audiences wouldn’t be so repulsed.

But now with live streaming, the situation was completely different.

Seeing thousands of viewers instantly leave upon Miss Gourmet Noodles’ appearance, Pei Qian was delighted.

Perfect!

He was worried about the high popularity earlier, but now everyone was leaving!

The on-site competition continued.

Roasted cold noodles were quick to prepare, and staff used special trays to deliver them to judges and audience members.

Judges exchanged glances and began tasting.

The livestream chat was unwatchable.

“Rigged! Strong protest!”

“Heh, no need to watch – definitely Miss Gourmet Noodles first, others random.”

“Predicting judges will praise Miss Gourmet Noodles’ flavor next, chef gets emotional, host gives Miss Gourmet Noodles more ads…”

“Sigh, such a good competition, running well until this move at the end.”

“Fine, skip the ads, jump to the next segment. I want to see what rare delicacies there are.”

Livestream viewers had preconceived notions that judges would start praising.

However, they all guessed wrong, completely wrong!

The first judge took the microphone and evaluated the roasted cold noodles.

“Overall, I believe Number 6’s roasted cold noodles has the best flavor.”

“Number 6 made traditional sweet-and-sour flavor. Compared to other sweet-and-sour roasted cold noodles, its main advantage is extremely precise seasoning usage – perfectly balanced.”

“Sweet-and-sour roasted cold noodles need less sugar but more vinegar. The iron plate’s high temperature causes significant vinegar evaporation while enhancing flavor absorption. Too little vinegar results in only sweetness without sourness, completely changing the taste.”

“Seasoning quantities must coordinate with iron plate cooking time, otherwise texture and taste suffer. Number 6’s roasted cold noodles achieves excellent flavor in my opinion.”

“As for Number 1’s roasted cold noodles, meaning Miss Gourmet Noodles’ version, I believe there are issues with seasoning: insufficient vinegar. I suspect they didn’t consider vinegar evaporation due to high iron plate temperatures when calculating quantities, affecting the flavor.”

The second judge then spoke.

“I agree with Judge One. Number 6’s roasted cold noodles is indeed excellent, but I find Number 3’s superior in texture.”

“I specifically observed all vendors’ preparation processes. Everyone sprays water on noodles during roasting – correct, as proper water makes noodles soft and chewy, improving texture. Number 3’s water timing and quantity were perfect, making their noodles’ texture best.”

“Regarding Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles, texture-wise, it wasn’t terrible but hardly outstanding – felt average without memorable characteristics.”

Judges evaluated one by one.

Livestream viewers were quite surprised that the expected “forced praise” never materialized.

These judges’ evaluations emphasized objectivity, even being overly critical without mercy!

Many viewers learned from judges’ explanations that even simple roasted cold noodles had so many nuances.

Cooking temperature, heat control, water spraying during preparation, seasoning quantities… any slight deviation affected the final product’s flavor.

According to judges, Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles clearly hadn’t reached perfection. Compared to these roasted cold noodles “masters,” it immediately paled in comparison.

This undoubtedly answered the long-debated online question: is Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles really delicious?

The answer: not bad, probably better than street vendors’ inconsistent flavors, but nowhere near what Meng Chang claimed, far from the legendary “Roasted Cold Noodles God” status.

Ultimately, Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles performed poorly in evaluation, scoring almost last.

Objectively, this ranking was too low – Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles weren’t that bad. Mainly, judges specifically criticized them, influencing audience scores negatively.

The host looked awkward, glancing at Qi Yan.

According to the original script, after scoring results, there would be an interview with Miss Gourmet Noodles’ chef, promoting their unique cooking methods.

Now the script had completely changed, with Miss Gourmet Noodles scoring last – how to conduct the interview?

Interviewing now would be like public humiliation!

Qi Yan quickly waved, signaling the host to skip this segment and continue.

The clever host understood immediately, moving to the next segment of rare delicacies.

Compared to previous groups, the rare delicacies group looked quite bizarre, featuring uncommon street foods.

Like spiral potatoes: a whole potato cut into spiral-thin slices using special knife skills, skewered and stretched up to 30 centimeters without breaking, deep-fried and seasoned – visually stunning.

Or fried bananas: coated in flour or breadcrumbs, fried golden crispy outside yet soft inside.

Additionally, there were stir-fried yogurt, rice-stuffed chicken wings, seaweed pancakes, each unique.

With different food types competing, there were no unified standards. Scoring depended entirely on judges’ and audiences’ preferences.

…

The event moved to the next segment, but livestream chat still discussed roasted cold noodles.

“Huh? We guessed wrong?”

“What about advertising Miss Gourmet Noodles? Not only no ads but criticism?”

“Did I see correctly? This competition was organized by Miss Gourmet Noodles!”

“Spent money on a competition to criticize themselves? Too amazing!”

“What’s this about? I’m confused…”

All livestream viewers were dumbfounded, unable to understand the script.

What was Miss Gourmet Noodles’ goal with this street food competition?

If they wanted to advertise their roasted cold noodles, that would make sense. But now they not only failed to advertise but harshly criticized their own product!

This defied common sense and logic – Miss Gourmet Noodles had no reason to do this.

Though delicious and mediocre food differ greatly, most viewers were just watching screens, unable to taste. Good or bad depended entirely on judges’ words!

Even slight manipulation for second or third place with minor criticism would maintain competition fairness.

Was such severity necessary?

Even some who had tried Miss Gourmet Noodles felt this score was too low. While not as good as Meng Chang claimed, it was better than street vendors!

For a moment, livestream viewers were confused, discussing Miss Gourmet Noodles’ intentions while ignoring the rare delicacies competition.

…

At 7 PM, the street food competition finally reached its conclusion.

After rare delicacies evaluation, came the final grand judging.

Officials ranked all participating vendors by scores, awarding trophies and prizes to winners.

Unsurprisingly, Miss Gourmet Noodles’ roasted cold noodles wasn’t selected. Last in the roasted cold noodles group meant no chance in grand judging.

Winning vendors were thrilled, receiving trophies and prizes from staff, proudly waving at cameras.

Other non-winning vendors applauded in congratulation as this afternoon’s intense street food competition concluded.

Qi Yan sighed in relief – regardless, the event was completed!

No major mishaps was good enough.

Later, she’d organize video footage for editing and uploading to platforms like Ellie Island for secondary publicity.

But both Qi Yan and viewers shared the same confusion.

What was Mr. Pei’s purpose?

Having judges harshly criticize Miss Gourmet Noodles’ flavor – wouldn’t this further doom an already failing brand?