A Bite of Douluo Continent

Since Xuan Ye brought up this identity, Qi Han naturally guessed the other party's purpose.

The Shrek Food Festival, held a week later, was organized by the Shrek City Food Association. Clearly, Xuan Ye's visit was related to the food festival.

Registration for the food festival started three days ago, but Qi Han wasn't in a hurry because he hadn't finished learning all the two-star recipes yet. He planned to register for the competition after he finished learning them, so he hadn't gone yet.

"Senior, is it about the food festival?"

"Yes." Xuan Ye couldn't help feeling embarrassed, after all, he usually ate at Hanshi Restaurant, but now he had to announce something that was bad for Hanshi Restaurant.

Although it wasn't his idea, but rather the result of a majority vote after discussion, he still felt somewhat guilty towards Qi Han.

Despite feeling ashamed, I still had to get down to business.

"How much does Mr. Qi know about the food festival?"

Upon hearing this, Qi Han pondered for a moment before speaking, "As far as I know, the food festival should last for three days. After three days, the top ten dishes with the most votes will be announced and will receive varying degrees of publicity and fame. The dish ranked first will be voted as the diners' favorite food."

“That’s right, but…” Xuan Ye changed the subject, “The appearance of this year’s Cold Food Festival may have a great impact on the food festival.”

"At the food festival, apart from the top ten, there are no other dishes that receive any rewards. But this time, there is a very high probability that the top ten will be taken by Hanshi."

As the person involved, Qi Han was a little stunned when he heard this.

You know what, he hadn't thought about this before, but considering the previous food tasting experiences, the possibility was actually quite high.

By now, he had a rough idea of ​​why Xuan Ye had come.

If the Cold Food Festival occupies the top ten spots, it will be quite embarrassing for the food festival.

Although it wasn't his fault, it was just that his opponent was too weak, but deep down Qi Han was still a very reasonable person.

He was also looking forward to trying all sorts of food from different places at the food festival; how could the food festival be a disaster?

Therefore, without much hesitation, Qi Han readily asked, "Senior Xuan, what do you think is the best way to resolve this matter?"

As for the sixth side quest that Ruyi posted, all he needed to do was get first place and make the cold food dishes the most popular food among diners. As for dominating the rankings, he didn't really care.

Well... when the opponents are too weak, dominating the rankings doesn't bring much sense of accomplishment.

Seeing Qi Han's "I understand you" expression, Xuan Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Here's the thing, the Food Association has discussed it and decided that starting with this year's food festival, each restaurant can only have a maximum of nine dishes submitted. I wonder if Mr. Qi can accept this?"

A maximum of nine dishes can be served?

So that's how they prevent dominating the charts?

For a moment, Qi Han was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

He originally thought that Xuan Ye intended for him to go easy on him or something, in which case he naturally could not agree.

As for how many dishes to submit for the competition, Qi Han didn't actually have any high requirements.

His purpose in attending the food festival was simply twofold.

First, achieve first place, complete side quest six.

Secondly, attract more out-of-town diners drawn by the food festival to dine at Hanshi Festival, helping him complete the main quest seven more quickly.

Apart from that, he didn't have many other requirements, so the nine-course limit didn't affect him much.

But... nine paths?

Qi Han's heart stirred.

What he originally prepared for the food festival were those new dishes that had not yet been launched.

The new dishes that have not yet been launched include Wensi Tofu, Jade Dragon Tendon, Squirrel Mandarin Fish, and Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chili. If all goes well, four more two-star dishes will be launched later, making a total of eight dishes.

As for Dinghu Shangsu, Qi Han still has Bishu in his heart.

It's impossible to finish before the food festival.

If nine paths were to be introduced, it would actually be a troublesome matter for Qi Han, who suffers from decision-making anxiety.

Eight new dishes will definitely be submitted for the competition, so who should we choose for the last one?

After a moment's hesitation, Qi Han shook his head helplessly.

This is a really difficult choice.

Or... why not just have eight new dishes participate, and not the previous dishes?

That's a good idea.

Anyway, there are at most nine steps, it doesn't have to be nine.

Having one more spot in the top ten gives others a chance.

Thinking of this, Qi Han smiled and said, "Senior Xuan Ye, this year's Cold Food Festival will only have eight dishes submitted for the competition."

This…

Xuan Ye's eyes widened suddenly. "Are you serious?"

It's important to know that having one more dish listed in the top ten of a food festival can bring a huge amount of profit and prestige to a restaurant.

Before coming, he guessed that Qi Han would probably agree, because Boss Qi's temper has always been pretty good.

But he really didn't expect that Qi Han would voluntarily reduce one dish in order to support the food festival, making such a sacrifice and concession.

Yes, in Xuan Ye's mind, Qi Han only offered eight dishes, and there was no other possibility besides this reason.

For a moment, the centenarian couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

Little Qi is such a good kid!

After confirming that Qi Han had indeed only offered eight dishes, Xuan Ye stood up and gave Qi Han a grateful look.

No, Qi Han has made such a sacrifice, he must compensate him, otherwise his conscience will not be at peace.

Hmm... I've decided. This time, I'll secretly put more effort into promoting the dishes that made it into the top ten of the Cold Food Festival!

"Don't worry, Boss Qi, I, Lao Xuan, will remember this favor!"

"Huh?" Qi Han looked confused as he saw the grateful expression on Xuan Ye's face.

Is this person... imagining something weird or strange?

Never mind, it doesn't matter anymore.

Without lingering on the Cold Food Festival, Xuan Ye quickly took his leave after receiving Qi Han's reply.

Qi Han comforted Gulu and carried it upstairs to the second floor.

The day's business is over, time to sleep.

Chapter 280 The Gambling Dog Terminator (Seeking Recommendations)

When a person gets busy, they feel that time flies by.

The business at Hanshi Restaurant was very busy every day, so for Qi Han, the seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

In those seven days that seemed to fly by, Qi Han completed the remaining four two-star recipes as expected, and the Dinghu Shangsu event had also begun, but...

Finding vegetarian food at Dinghu was more difficult than he had imagined.

The creator of Dinghu Shangsu, like the monk Wensi, was also a monk.

Its creator is Master Qingyun from Qingyun Temple on Dinghu Mountain in Zhaoqing.

Perhaps because monks share similar temperaments, Master Qingyun's explanations, like those of Monk Wensi, were quite detailed and thorough, greatly benefiting Qi Han.

Even so, this dish still stumped Qi Han.

At least, it's not something you can expect to finish in the short term.

Tomorrow is the start of the food festival, and Qi Han didn't leisurely go to the Food Association to register until the last afternoon when business closed.

The two-star recipe was learned three days ago.

It's not really Qi Han's fault that he only signed up now.

I don't know who changed the requirements for dish registration; only dishes that have been launched and put on the shelves can be registered.

However, this time it wasn't targeting Qi Han, since no one knew he was going to sign up for the new dish.

All I can say is... perhaps it was some brilliant idea that came to mind.

So, in order to surprise the diners, he had to sign up on the last day.

The eight dishes were only secretly introduced by Qi Han after the afternoon closing time, and were displayed on a price list on the wall. To this day, no diners know about it.

With the introduction of eight dishes, the price list for the Cold Food Festival reached twenty-eight items, naturally leading to the adoption of a menu format.

And Qi Han could finally begin to enjoy the joy of having everything under his control when allocating recommendation slots.

According to Ruyi's introduction, Qi Han can choose twenty dishes and hang the price tags on the wall, which can only be changed once a week.

The first choice was naturally made by Qi Han himself, but he already had a bold idea about how to make subsequent choices.

We can announce it after diners see the new menu tomorrow.

Qi Han's initial choice was based on a simple and straightforward method: assigning dishes according to their star rating.

Currently, the shop only has nine one-star dishes.

Fried rice with egg, smashed cucumber, Qinan juice, pan-fried honey-glazed pork ribs, bursting pork intestines, foil-baked pig brains, dragon beard noodles, xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), and candied hawthorn.

Simply choose eight of these nine to put on the menu. As for the two-star and three-star dishes, hang them all on the wall as the lucky ones for the first recommendation slot.

Five three-star recipes are placed at the beginning, followed by two-star recipes.

As for which of the nine one-star recipes to keep.

As the shop's first recipe, and also the recipe Qi Han trained on for the first time, fried rice with egg is undoubtedly the timeless classic of Hanshi.

Cough cough... It's not because its price tag says one is worth two.

...

The Shrek Culinary Association was located about two streets away from Hanshi. Qi Han arrived at his destination quickly.

It was impossible for anyone in the food association not to recognize him. Soon, a member in charge of registration ran over excitedly, "Hello, Boss Qi!"