Chapter 919: Internet Crisis
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Stop talking so much. Come down, it’s something good,” Yuan Zhou said, shutting Wu Hai’s grumbling mouth.
“Something good? Are you making something good for me to eat? Yes, I shall not walk away from this honor,” Wu Hai started running.
When Wu Hai reached, Yuan Zhou saw that he was still dressed in blue long sleeves s.h.i.+rt and a pair of sandals. His hair was somewhat long, yet his mustache was still trimmed neatly. He was gazing at Yuan Zhou expectantly.
“No new dishes, but you will get to eat free food,” Yuan Zhou said in deadly earnest.
“You will actually let me eat for free?” Wu Hai eyed Yuan Zhou suspiciously. It was obvious he did not trust those words.
One could not blame Wu Hai for this. Each time he ate Yuan Zhou’s food, he would have to either pay with cash or work hard for it. He had never enjoyed any free food from Yuan Zhou.
And thus, he was greatly suspicious of Yuan Zhou’s motive.
“There will be an event soon and two representatives are needed to judge the food of other restaurants. The representatives will have the right to voice their opinions,” Yuan Zhou gave a simple explanation.
“Right to voice my opinions? Do you mean I need to go eat at other restaurants and criticize their food?” Wu Hai asked.
“Not criticize. Just voice your opinions on their food. Moreover, you will only be required to visit one restaurant,” Yuan Zhou said.
“Sichuan Exemplary Restaurant, yes, I think I saw something about that before,” Wu Hai muttered to himself. Then, he concluded, “Since you have joined this event, you will definitely need to send your representatives as well.”
“Yeap.” Yuan Zhou nodded.
In truth, Yuan Zhou had no idea if Wu Hai would agree to this request. After all, Wu Hai had never eaten at other restaurants when Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was open.
Even if he had to attend some gatherings, he would first eat at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant before attending the gathering.
Yuan Zhou knew this very well.
“Sure, I’ll go. But you need two, right?” Wu Hai nodded without hesitation before asking.
Yuan Zhou was slightly astonished but he still answered, “Yes, two. I am planning to get Ling Hong to be my second representative. He should be free for now.”
“No Discount Ling? He can’t be a representative,” Wu Hai waved his hand, clearly looking down on Ling Hong when it came to eating.
He lamented that there were no expert eaters among the customers of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
Yuan Zhou did not say anything. He merely gazed at Wu Hai.
“I think Yu Chu is better. He did very well in information gathering for the website and he has done extensive research on eating,” Wu Hai suggested with a bizarre smile while rubbing his mustache.
“It will be very interesting if Yu Chu is the representative instead,” Wu Hai thought to himself.
“Does Yu Chu has the time for this?” Yuan Zhou asked.
“He will make the time for anything concerning you, Compa.s.s.” Wu Hai said. He added, “Moreover, you know his superior very well anyway. It won’t be a problem even if he needs to take leave from work to help you.”
Yuan Zhou ignored the part about the superior. He started seriously considering Yu Chu as a representative.
“I’ll talk to him when I see him during lunch,” Yuan Zhou nodded and accepted Wu Hai’s proposal.
“Ok,” Wu Hai nodded.
“Thank you.” Yuan Zhou thanked.
“Don’t worry about it. You are Compa.s.s, so I have to help you with this. But don’t forget me the next time you have some good food,” said Wu Hai righteously as he rubbed his mustache.
“Wait a bit,” Yuan Zhou paused slightly before saying.
“So you really have something nice?” Wu Hai’s interest was immediately piqued.
“I made something two days ago. But it’s something sweet,” Yuan Zhou said with a nod.
Wu Hai never liked eating sweet food, with the exception being Yuan Zhou’s sweet food. Of course, he still ate very little of them in comparison to spicy food.
“So what if it’s sweet? If it’s your food, I’ll eat it even if it’s bitter,” Wu Hai said as he slapped his chest, clearly intending to showcase his loyalty.
“Sure, I’ll make something bitter for you next time,” Yuan Zhou replied seriously.
“No, please, that was a joke. But why not we take a look at this sweet food you got?” Wu Hai surrendered.
“I’ll go get it,” Yuan Zhou said and went back into the restaurant.
The moment Yuan Zhou went into the restaurant, he opened the sergestes wall landscape and walked into the courtyard of the pub. That was where he stored the sweet food.
In about three minutes, Yuan Zhou came out with the food on hand.
“Is this jam?” Wu Hai asked when he saw the purple substance in transparent bottles.
“I made some jam from the mulberries I bought,” Yuan Zhou said with a nod.
“It might not be as good as blueberry jam and the ingredients are not sourced from my usual supplier,” Yuan Zhou said before Wu Hai could say anything.
“Don’t worry. It looks good,” Wu Hai took two bottles of mulberry jam and quickly stuffed them into his pocket.
Yuan Zhou gazed at Wu Hai’s clothes. It was quite weird since before this, he did not notice any pockets on Wu Hai. So he wondered where had Wu Hai stuffed those two bottles of jam.
One could not blame Wu Hai for not believing Yuan Zhou when he claimed that this jam might not be as good. After all, he used crystal bottles instead of gla.s.s bottles for the jam. The bottle was hexagon-shaped, and with the purple jam within, the entire thing looked both pretty and appetizing.
“You only have two bottles?” Wu Hai asked as he peeked into the restaurant.
“Two bottles per person,” Yuan Zhou said.
“Sure. Give me two more bottles then,” Wu Hai said as he stretched his hand out.
Yuan Zhou gazed at Wu Hai silently with a calm expression. Evidently, he was already used to Wu Hai’s shamelessness and was prepared to ignore him again.
“There is a reason for this. Zheng Jiawei is getting two bottles as well, right? Pa.s.s it to me and I’ll bring it to him,” Wu Hai offered.
“Will you pa.s.s it to him?” Yuan Zhou was no idiot and would not trust Wu Hai.
“Of course. Have trust in my character,” Wu Hai nodded seriously.
Yuan Zhou stared at Wu Hai when he heard these words. It had only been a few hours since he saw Wu Hai but everything seemed to have changed? Even Wu Hai had a trustworthy character now?
Wu Hai met Yuan Zhou’s gaze directly.
When Yuan Zhou confirmed that this Wu Hai would not falter by his questioning gaze, he spoke.
“I’m going to prepare lunch ingredients.”
“Remember my two extra bottles of mulberry jam,” Wu Hai shouted outside the restaurant.
“He was just saying he would help pa.s.s it over. It doesn’t even take him long to expose his true intentions,” Yuan Zhou was speechless and decided to pretend he heard nothing. He continued on with his task at hand.
While preparing the lunch ingredients, a concern suddenly appeared in his mind.
“That unit of measurement using my name seemed to have originated from Yu Chu, right? Won’t he be too harsh if I make him my representative?” Yuan Zhou wondered.
But when he thought of how even Wu Hai, who would never eat somewhere else had agreed to join, there shouldn’t be a problem with having Yu Chu joining as well.
In any case, there were no other suitable candidates. He needed to pay more attention to the Yuan Zhou Gourmet Review Website as well.
After the launch of Yuan Zhou Gourmet Review Website, it received the support from many foodies. Many Chengdu foodies had turned the website into their headquarters.
As the person in charge of marketing, Ling Hong did his job very well and managed to get several famous food forums to redirect traffic to the Yuan Zhou Gourmet Review Website. Thus, the website enjoyed a healthy traffic.
The reason why Yuan Zhou’s restaurant had never been targeted by other restaurants before was because the chef was truly very skillful. Moreover, the restaurant was tiny yet expensive. As such, there would be minimal effects on the other restaurants.
Simply put, the benefits of the other restaurants weren’t threatened, and thus, they did not care. But now that the Yuan Zhou Gourmet Review Website was using Yuan Zhou’s restaurant as the unit of measurement, that would be a threat.
Thus, apart from comments from the foodies, there were also some disgruntled comments on the website now.
“Heh, using a tiny restaurant as a unit of measurement? The scope is too small.”
“I thought this was a trusted website, but I am greatly disappointed. This website is as good as dead.”
“In my opinion, the Sichuan Cuisine at Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant is better.”
“Here, a sad song for you. You’re welcome.”
Such comments were starting to appear, though they still weren’t too conspicuous since they were still being buried among the many comments of the foodies.