Bai Mengmeng was not entirely clear on the idea, nor did she have much of a reaction to it. The meals she cooked were so delicious mainly because of her talent, coupled with good ingredients; she possessed no secret recipe, nor could she open a chain of restaurants.
Of course she wanted to make money, but she had no desire to let outsiders meddle in the affairs of the restaurant.
"Thank you for your kind offer, but things are quite good just as they are." Bai Mengmeng shook her head in refusal.
Father Qi was instantly disappointed, though he did not pay too much mind to it.
He simply couldn't help thinking to himself that this young woman before him possessed such incredible culinary skills, she was bound to become famous in the future. If he established a good relationship with her now, perhaps it would come in handy at some point.
After this family left, Bai Mengmeng remained to guard Qiongye Restaurant, and business was neither bad nor good.
Although her culinary skills were indeed astonishing, her daily menu was not fixed, and coupled with her lack of enthusiasm for running the business, the number of customers in the shop always remained low.
Yet Bai Mengmeng cared very little, and the other members of the Qiongye Sect cared even less; having enough food and clothing was already enough to satisfy them.
Bai Mengmeng devoted most of her time to her private plot of land, weeding and catching bugs every day, and the vegetables grew more and more lush as a result.
As the temperature gradually climbed and rainfall slowly increased, Xiaoman arrived in the blink of an eye.
……
Sun Datou was a live-streamer, and a relatively rare outdoor live-streamer at that, enjoying a small reputation in the industry.
Usually he liked to film local tourist attractions, editing them into explanatory videos, and occasionally reviewing restaurants, allowing him to turn a decent profit.
Today his companion Ergou sought him out, and the two of them came to Phoenix Mountain early in the morning, intending to shoot a short video. Recently Phoenix Mountain had built a new cruise ship pier, which was just the thing to give a wave of publicity.
Yet who would have expected that they hadn't checked the weather forecast before heading out, and a torrential downpour interrupted their plans.
The Phoenix Mountain Scenic Area was located in a remote area, and it would take a while to get to the downtown area. But since they had prepared everything and traveled all the way here, heading back just like that would truly be a waste of time.
Sun Datou noticed that there were quite a few agritainments nearby, and an idea suddenly popped into his head—he decided to do an impromptu restaurant review.
However, since he hadn't received any money and hadn't written a script, he certainly wasn't going to help people advertise for free. So after much deliberation, he planned to find an ordinary little shop, order a few dishes with terrible cost-performance ratios, and wouldn't the viewer count just roll in by itself then?
If the restaurant's food didn't taste good, he could casually complain about it and warn everyone to steer clear of the pitfall. Yes, for sure a lot of people would watch that.
With this thought in mind, the two of them searched back and forth for a long time, and finally discovered an agritainment that looked thoroughly shabby.
When they looked it up online, this shop couldn't even be found. It seemed it had opened not long ago and had no reputation to speak of. Persimmons should be plucked where they are soft, and the two of them instantly decided to go make trouble at this place!
Sun Datou started his live stream, chatted with the audience for a few moments, pointed his camera at Qiongye Restaurant, and began introducing it.
"Ladies and gentlemen in the audience, the place we've come to today is Phoenix Mountain. But since it's raining so heavily outside, let's find a place to get something to eat first. This agritainment is called Qiongye Restaurant, and I have no idea whether the food tastes any good or not."
He filmed the entirety of Qiongye Restaurant, focusing specifically on the crude environment.
"The decor doesn't look like much, a bit rundown, but the rain is too heavy, so let's head inside first."
The two of them lifted their tripods and walked straight into the restaurant.
The lobby was desolate and cold, entirely devoid of customers. At the front desk were two young women in their early twenties, and who knew what they were doing.
……
At that moment, Bai Mengmeng was playing with tarot cards. She and Hua Guduo were both at the front desk, having a grand time.
Originally she hadn't really believed in these things, but now that immortal cultivation was a reality, tarot cards might actually have some effect.
Besides, it had been raining all morning and there was simply no business for the restaurant, so she had simply called Hua Guduo over to test their upcoming fortune with tarot cards.
To her surprise, she directly drew the Tower.
Bai Mengmeng's face was full of joy as she smiled and said, "What does the Tower represent? Could it be that I'm about to strike it rich?"
Hua Guduo was somewhat speechless, her tone strained as she began to speak, "Sect Leader, this card indicates that you are about to go through a period of bad luck."
The smile vanished from Bai Mengmeng's face. She tossed the card onto the floor and said dismissively, "This thing is definitely inaccurate. It was passed down from the West, how could it possibly divine things for us Easterners? Let's play something else."
At that moment, she suddenly noticed two men walking into the restaurant carrying mobile phones.
"My lords in the audience, we've already come inside. The waitstaff at this little shop actually look pretty good, two great beauties."
Sun Datou unceremoniously used his phone to film everywhere: "But there's nobody around here, not a single person in the restaurant at high noon. Let's find a place to sit down first, and then order food."
As he spoke, Ergou began to adjust the mobile phone tripod.
Bai Mengmeng instantly knitted her brows. Online live-streaming was common enough, but coming into a restaurant and filming left and right without even a greeting showed a complete lack of manners. Could they be here to pick a fight?
Hua Guduo didn't care in the least; she already liked live-streaming, and upon seeing peers in the industry, she scurried right over.
"You two, what dishes would you like to order?"
Facing the beauty, Sun Datou looked cordial and pleasant, his face blossoming with delight: "Beauty, this is our first time coming here to eat, do you have any recommendations?"
Hua Guduo's expression instantly stiffened as she awkwardly turned her head to look at Bai Mengmeng.
Bai Mengmeng felt a fair bit of regret in her heart as well. Had she known that a live-streamer was coming to review the shop today, she definitely would have prepared properly. But right now, aside from bitter melons, there wasn't a single other ingredient prepared in the kitchen.
Yes, only bitter melons.
Earlier, Uncle Xu kept talking about Xiaoman and how one had to eat bitter melon. Who knew where he bought it from, but he directly brought back a whole basket of bitter melons.
No matter how good Bai Mengmeng's culinary skills were, she couldn't possibly endure eating bitter melon every single day. To consume the bitter melons as completely as possible, she had even concocted a bitter melon banquet, writing it right on the menu.
Bai Mengmeng felt a touch of embarrassment in her heart, but outwardly she looked quite calm. She gritted her teeth, reached out a finger, and said to the two live-streaming guests, "Dear guests, our menu changes every day. Today's dishes are written on the blackboard, you can look for yourselves."
Sun Datou furrowed his brows and glanced at the blackboard, seeing several dishes written upon it.
"Stuffed Bitter Melon with Meat, Bitter Melon and Pork Bone Soup, Golden Sands Bitter Melon, Waxberry Bitter Melon?"
Prices were marked next to these dishes, noticeably much higher than those on the market.
The price wasn't all that important; the crucial issue was why were all these dishes made of bitter melon? Sun Datou's facial features instantly scrunched up.
Yet very quickly, joy began to well up in his heart—it was obvious these dishes were exceptionally good conversation starters!
Live-streaming worked this way: you had to have attractive hooks, and preferably gimmicks that people could hype up.
He hurriedly motioned for Ergou to train the camera on the blackboard, lingering there for a long time.
Despite the joy in his heart, facing the audience in his live-streaming room, he still put on a look of deep regret: "Ladies and gentlemen in the audience, let's switch to another restaurant. I've disliked eating bitter melon since I was a child."