Jiang Feng woke up early the next morning to help set the restaurant up.Jiang Feng had checked the details on the Good Taste Cooking Compet.i.tion the night before. The first compet.i.tion was held in the coming March. The champion of the compet.i.tion won 10,000 dollars, while the runner-up and second runner-up won 6,000 and 3,000, respectively. Since the partic.i.p.ants were amateurs or chefs of small restaurants, news of the compet.i.tion wasn"t widely spread. That was why Jiang Feng had never heard about it before.
But since the compet.i.tion was a huge success the first time, the Good Taste company decided to expand the second season. Not only had the prize money increased, but the company even promoted the compet.i.tion on its official website. When Jiang Feng searched about the compet.i.tion online, he noticed that the media was reporting about it too.
Registration for the compet.i.tion began in January. Only 64 people would be selected to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion. After 5 rounds of matches, the champion would be crowned. The compet.i.tion wasn"t limited to A City either, the Good Taste decided to expand it to six cities, selecting the best of the best from each city to partic.i.p.ate. The whole tournament would even be live-streamed by various media companies. With all the attention that it could garner, the 10,000 dollars first prize wasn"t even the focus of the partic.i.p.ants anymore. The compet.i.tion was a chance for young chefs to gain a tremendous amount of fame.
That was why Wu Qimin was eager to partic.i.p.ate too.
The compet.i.tion would be held in March, which meant that Jiang Feng had more than four months to prepare for it.
But Jiang Feng knew that the difference in skill between him and Wu Qimin couldn"t be shortened in just four months.
Jiang Feng was cutting the vegetables as his mind was elsewhere.
"Oh, right! Xiao Feng, remember the question you asked me yesterday? I gave some thought about it yesterday," Jiang Jiankang, who was also cutting vegetables, suddenly said. "The mushroom flavor is too strong for the stock, I think it would be better if you try using daikons instead."
"Daikons?" Jiang Feng asked and gave some thought.
Hmm… Even though daikon would be a better match for all the other ingredients, I can"t change the original ingredients of the recipe…
But… Daikon is definitely a great idea. It"s available all year round, it can help moisten the lungs. When it"s cooked, it has a soothing effect. The most important thing is that it can take on many flavors.
I think it would be better if I mix daikons into the mushroom stock instead.
Jiang Feng kept pondering on what else he could add until it was lunchtime.
Liu Qian came into the restaurant with her bag on her back. She sat at the window table, where she usually sat and ordered Steamed Chicken Legs with Pickled Mustard, some Stir-fried Cabbage, and a gla.s.s of hot milk tea.
Since the weather had gotten cold, the Healthy Restaurant stopped selling Sour Prune Juice and Mung Bean Soup. Instead, they"d opted for hot soy milk and milk tea. But the sales of the milk tea weren"t great as no one was used to milk tea without artificial sweetener. Plus, the milk tea at the Healthy Restaurant was double the price compared to other places.
When all of the dishes were served, Liu Qian was ready to start her live-stream as usual. But when she opened the app for the live-stream, she was shocked by the sharp increase in her followers.
It had skyrocketed from less than 10 people to more than a thousand followers.
Am… am I becoming famous?
Liu Qian couldn"t help but think.
After setting the t.i.tle as "Daily Lunchtime," Liu Qian started the stream and waved at her six viewers.
"Heya! Qianqian here. As usual, I"m having lunch at my club president"s family"s restaurant. Here are the foods I"ve ordered. Steamed Chicken Legs with Pickled Mustard, Stir-fried Cabbage, and a gla.s.s of hot milk tea! Well then, thank you for the meal!"
As soon as Liu Qian finished her introduction, she started to eat.
Her camera was pointing at her nostrils once again.
[Hey! Frustrating Host! Hand over the recipe for the sauce yesterday!]
[He"s right! Hand over the recipe, Frustrating Host!]
[What a great name. Frustrating Host doing her best to frustrate her viewers.]
[Is she rich or something? She keeps eating such luxurious lunch every day.]
Viewers began to flood into her live-stream. Most of them were new followers who started following her since dinner the night before.
Some of the followers had only started following Liu Qian that day and was wondering why they were calling her Frustrating Host.
[Why are you guys calling her Frustrating Host?]
One of the viewers who commented the most in Liu Qian"s live-stream, with the name of Yanjia Xiaoyu, quickly replied.
[Because it"s frustrating to watch!]
Soon, Liu Qian proved why they called her the Frustrating Host.
Liu Qian didn"t even take a peek at her phone while she ate. She didn"t even remember that she had her phone on because her live-stream was always quiet. Since her viewers never interacted with her, she stopped checking her phone altogether.
The chicken legs that Jiang Jiankang had steamed were really soft, to the point that the meat and skin could be pulled away from the bone with chopsticks. Because Liu Qian was a frequent customer of the Healthy Restaurant, and because she was a member of Jiang Feng"s club, her serving was always bigger than other customers.
As Liu Qian spat out the bones in her mouth, she unintentionally looked at her phone and realized her live-stream was filled with comments.
"Frustrating Host? Why is everyone calling me Frustrating Host?" Liu Qian asked with rice in her mouth.
[Because you"re frustrating to watch!]
More than 10 comments suddenly popped up.
Now that they"d gotten Liu Qian"s attention, they started to ask Liu Qian for the recipe again.
"Wait, wait, wait! That"s too many comments! I don"t have the chance to read any of them! Can"t you guys slow down a little?"
Since Liu Qian was eating, she put her phone a little further away from her.
It was the viewers" first time hearing someone complaining that they were getting too many comments. It stunned them so much that they didn"t know how to respond to her.
Yanjia Xiaoyu was the first to comment after that.
[Why don"t you get two phones? One for recording and one for the comments.]
"No can do. I don"t have two phones," Liu Qian replied. Since Liu Qian wasn"t a professional live-streamer, there was no reason for her to get another phone.
The viewers then started to ask for the recipe again.
Lucky for Liu Qian, Jiang Feng came out from the kitchen at that moment and was looking for a seat to rest.
"President!" Liu Qian quickly called out to Jiang Feng. "My viewers want to know the recipe for the sauce you made yesterday!"
Jiang Feng walked over to Liu Qian and looked at her phone out of curiosity. When he realized half of his face was recorded, he quickly jumped away.
"Salt, aromatic oil, scallions, soy sauce, and chopped chili," Jiang Feng told the viewers. "But it"s kind of hard to get the ratio correct. I suggest eating with just salt instead."
[Thank you! _(•̀ω•́」∠)_ ]
[d.a.m.n! He sounds like a professional chef! ∠(ᐛ」∠)_ ]
[What"s with the just salt thought…]
[Is your president working at the restaurant? It makes sense if he does.]
"Oh, you got it wrong. This is his family"s restaurant. It"s just next to A University. The food here is amazing! You guys can come and try sometimes. You definitely won"t be disappointed!"
Liu Qian took the chance and promoted the Healthy Restaurant to her viewers as she took a bite of the chicken leg.
The chicken leg was perfectly steamed in its dark sauce. As Liu Qian took a bite into it, sauce began to drip from her mouth.
Liu Qian then turned off the live-stream a few minutes later because her battery was dying.
Yanjia Xiaoyu suddenly realized something and typed in the comment.
[Wait… She forgot to tell us the name of the shop, didn"t she?]
[She definitely lives up to her name as the Frustrating Host.]
[Agree.]
[Even her way of advertising is so frustrating!]
Even though Liu Qian had turned off her live-stream, her followers were still chatting online.
After Liu Qian paid for her meal, she was ready to go back to her dorm when Jiang Feng stopped her.
"Hey, Liu Qian. If you"re making a mushroom and daikon stock, what else would you add into it?"
"Mushroom and daikon stock?"