Chapter 709

Chapter 709:

Sensing Ashton’s intentions, Malcom quickly grabbed his arm and shook his head.

“Let it go, Ashton. It’s all in the past now. I failed to earn their trust and respect, which is why they chose to leave. There’s no point blaming them now. Let’s focus on preparing for the competition.”

Despite his usually fiery temper, Malcom’s years of experience made him far more composed than Ashton in moments like these.

Ashton clenched his fists, feeling it was unfair to Malcom and wanting to say more.

However, before he could, music began to play in the center of the venue. A well-dressed, rotund man took his place at the judges’ table for the culinary competition.

Noticing this, Malcom patted Ashton on the shoulder and smiled. “Let’s drop it for now. The competition is about to start.”

Reluctantly, Ashton nodded, his face still stern as he shifted his focus to the judges’ table on the stage.

The man on the stage cleared his throat and addressed the crowd. “Thank you to all the teams and audience members for your support. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jeremiah Aston, deputy director of Staville Culture and Tourism Bureau, and the organizer and judge of this event. I will now explain the rules of the competition.”

The crowd burst into applause as Jeremiah continued, his voice booming over the noise. “Due to the hasty preparations for this competition and the overwhelming enthusiasm, we have a total of one hundred teams participating, even after some initial screenings. To streamline the process, we’ve had to implement some last-minute rule changes. The competition will consist of three stages: the preliminaries, the semi-finals, and the finals. In the preliminaries, every five teams will form a group, and each team must prepare three dishes for evaluation. The scores will be given by myself and the other two judges. Only the team with the highest score in each group will advance to the semi-finals.”

The announcement sent a wave of uproar through the venue. The rules, even in the preliminary round, were merciless and left many participants stunned.

This meant the teams had to bring their absolute best from the very beginning, setting the stage for an intense and thrilling competition.

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As the crowd buzzed with murmurs, Jeremiah wrapped up his opening speech. With a wave of his hand, he promptly announced the list of participating teams and directed them to their respective areas for preparation. However, as soon as the list was revealed, a wave of dismay rippled through many teams. The reason was clear: the Crawford family’s Pavilion Foods Group had entered not one, but three teams into the competition.

It was evident that the Crawford family aimed to dominate the event, leaving no room for others to claim the top spots. Their goal of sweeping first, second, and third places was a bold proclamation of their supremacy in Staville’s catering industry.

This realization left other participants hoping for a stroke of luck—that the Pavilion Foods Group’s teams would be pitted against each other in the first two rounds, giving the remaining teams a fighting chance for better rankings.

Malcom, standing nearby, anxiously scanned the grouping list. The more he read, the darker his expression grew.

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