A Bite of Douluo Continent

impossible.

The only thing Zhao Yangfan can do now is to follow the emperor's wishes and obediently let Ming Tingque be a qualified stepping stone.

"Go and have someone put up a signboard. Tomorrow morning, place it in the most conspicuous spot at the entrance, mark the exact location of the Cold Food Festival, and write the words 'Ming Ting Que humbly admits defeat and hereby recommends it.'"

"Huh?" The confidant exclaimed in surprise, "Boss, we don't need to put it in such a conspicuous place, and the recommendation doesn't require such words, so the specific location doesn't need to be marked..."

Although the losing side in the food competition is required to recommend food to the winning side for a week, the specifics of the recommendation are entirely up to the winner.

Following Zhao Yangfan's approach, it's like asking you to buy milk tea, and instead you buy one of every kind of milk tea from the shop, and also buy various kinds of bread from the bakery next door to eat with the milk tea...

"Do as I say." Zhao Yangfan's tone became more forceful.

Without destruction, there can be no construction. How can Mingtingque be reborn without smashing the golden signboard brought by the royal family?

"Well... alright." Seeing Zhao Yangfan's resolute tone, the confidant had no choice but to comply.

Only after his confidant left the room did Zhao Yangfan lean weakly back in his chair.

The Sun and Moon Royal Family, if you are ruthless, don't blame me for being unjust.

"Crack!"

The armrest of the chair shattered under his excessive grip, and Zhao Yangfan closed his eyes in pain.

This cannot continue; Ming Tingque must break free from the shackles imposed by the royal family.

The advantages that the royal family once brought have now become a death knell hanging over Ming Tingque's head.

He needs to think carefully about how to solve this problem.

...

"Welcome... Huh?" Meng Yun looked at the diners walking into the store, a hint of confusion on his face.

The two people in front of me look somewhat familiar…

I remember now, this is the person sitting at the very front of the judges' panel during the lunch food competition. I think he's the president of the catering association. As for the person next to him, he's the owner of Tianxingzhai. I think he came here yesterday at noon, and he's also a judge today.

"You're a waiter at the Cold Food Festival, right?" Ye Ansheng smiled slightly. "Where shall we sit?"

"This way, please." Meng Yun snapped out of his daze and led the two to the empty seats.

After sitting down, without Meng Yun even having to invite them, the two of them eagerly opened the menu in front of them.

Needless to say, Ye Ansheng was very curious. He had heard Wu Henian describe many of the special features of the Cold Food Festival along the way. Not to mention the various dishes on the menu that he had never heard of before, he was quite interested in the menu itself and couldn't wait to see it.

As for Wu Henian on the other side... he mainly wanted to know what dish Qi Han had brought out in the third round of the food competition. He had originally wanted to ask Qi Han when the voting ended, but Qi Han ran away too quickly, and he didn't even have time to ask. He had no choice but to find the answer on the menu himself.

After glancing at the catalog, Wu Henian's brows furrowed slightly.

No?

The menu is unchanged from yesterday at noon.

Could it be that they haven't had time to modify the menu yet?

That's possible, after all, creating such an exquisite menu isn't easy.

Thinking of this, he simply raised his head and asked Meng Yunlai directly, "I remember you were also at the food competition this afternoon. I wanted to ask what the dish that Boss Qi brought out in the third round was called? Has that dish been launched yet? What is the price?"

Faced with Wu Henian's series of questions, Meng Yun smiled slightly and said, "That dish is called a low-end version of Wensi Tofu. The owner said that the dish is not yet perfect, so it is not available for sale."

During the evening working lunch, Meng Yun was amazed by the dish and couldn't help but ask Qi Han these questions. These were Qi Han's answers at the time, and now Meng Yun passed them on to Wu Henian verbatim.

The reason Qi Han said this was mainly because the low-end version of Wensi Tofu could not be sold according to the system rules, and he did not want to launch the three-star Wensi Tofu within the Sun Moon Empire.

After much thought, this excuse is the most suitable.

"A budget version of Wensi Tofu... a budget version?" This was the first time Wu Henian had heard the name of this dish. Although Qi Han had told Chef Jin about it, he hadn't heard it because the judges' table was too far away. Upon hearing the name of the dish, Wu Henian's expression immediately turned strange. Ye Ansheng, who was looking down at the menu, also looked up, his face full of astonishment.

From the dish's strange name and Meng Yun's words, the two could easily understand its meaning.

This dish is ultimately supposed to be called Wensi Tofu, but it's not fully perfected yet, so the finished product hasn't met Qi Han's expectations. Therefore, he hasn't released it yet and plans to further refine it before launching it...

and so…

The dish they tasted defeated Chef Kim's prized new dish, leaving all the judges speechless with amazement...

It's just a half-finished product that's not yet perfected?!

Chapter 523 The Secret Service, a Place of Restlessness (Seeking monthly votes and recommendations!)

When Qi Han learned from Meng Yun that the president of the Catering Association and the owner of Tianxingzhai had come to dine, the two had already finished their meal and left with round bellies.

This was quite a pity for Qi Han. The owner of Tianxingzhai, Wu Henian, had won Qi Han's favor by taking the initiative to explain the use of chopsticks to the other judges during the first round of the competition. He wanted to take this opportunity to express his gratitude, but unfortunately, the other party had already left.

Never mind, we'll talk about it next time.

Qi Han believed that no one who had eaten the dishes of Hanshi Festival could resist the urge to come again, so after a while, Mr. Wu would definitely come again, and then he could naturally express his gratitude to him.

The evening's business ended smoothly. Although the afternoon's food competition caused a great stir in the catering industry, it did not have a significant impact on diners who do not pay much attention to such things.

According to the rules of the food competition, Ming Ting Que will begin a week-long recommendation process starting tomorrow, recommending Han Shi restaurant to its diners.

Therefore, the benefits that food competition brings to the Cold Food Festival have not yet been realized.

However, the extra buzz generated by the food competition still brought Qi Han considerable gains tonight.

That is, the hundreds of people who served as spectators and judges during the food competition came to Hanshi Restaurant for a meal almost immediately after the competition ended. Many of them spontaneously recommended Hanshi Restaurant to those around them after their meal, which increased the progress of Qi Han's side quest twelve by dozens of steps overnight.

I've already enjoyed a small share of the benefits, but the real big win will depend on the Mingtingque recommendation on the second day.

...

Time passed day by day, and the progress of Qi Han's main quest nine and side quest twelve continued to increase.

The day after the food competition ended in failure, Ming Tingque erected the sign, and the reputation of Hanshi (Cold Food Festival) officially spread throughout the Riyue Avenue area.

Even diners and passersby who don't pay much attention to the restaurant industry have learned through word of mouth that a newly opened restaurant on Mingke Street has defeated Mingtingque, one of the two best restaurants on Sun Moon Avenue.

This naturally attracted more people to see what made the restaurant that could defeat Ming Ting Que so special.

The residents of Mingdu who went to Mingke Street out of curiosity to find out what was going on, once they entered Hanshi and tasted the dishes, were all completely captivated. As a result, the popularity of Hanshi soared like a rising tide.

Consequently, the overall popularity of Mink Street is also increasing rapidly.

Because there are more and more shops opening in Mingke Street nowadays, in addition to the secret agents of the Secret Service who use the opening of shops as a pretext to carry out surveillance in the vicinity of Hanshi, there are also many speculative merchants who have come here after hearing the news.

These people have invested real money to open their shops, and many of them already own businesses on Riyue Avenue. They are simply opening a branch here, which is not troublesome.

Diners who came to eat at Hanshi Festival found the nearby streets to be bustling while waiting for their meals. Many of the shops they frequented on Riyue Avenue had branches there, which piqued their interest. Even after finishing their meals, they would not leave immediately but would stroll around the various shops in the vicinity before returning home satisfied with their bags full of purchases.

In this way, the popularity of Hanshi (Cold Food Festival) unknowingly boosted the popularity of the entire Mink Street.

If you live in a remote area, but a nearby street suddenly becomes bustling with countless shops, would you go and take a look?

The answer is yes.

The popularity of Hanshi Street comes from Riyue Avenue, and the increased popularity of Mingke Street attracts residents from other neighborhoods near Mingke Street. The two sources of popularity are completely different, so they do not conflict.

While the Hanshi Festival boosts the popularity of Mingke Street, the new popularity attracted by Mingke Street also continuously benefits the Hanshi Festival, creating a virtuous cycle.

Even the people in the Sun and Moon Court never imagined that the Revitalize Mingke Street Plan, which they proposed simply to give the surveillance of Hanshi a plausible reason and avoid arousing suspicion, would actually revitalize the area. The most outrageous thing is that during this period, the morale of the Secret Service was shaken.

Gu Kun and those spies who were previously assigned to surveillance missions and pretended to run shops are now making a fortune from their shops, earning dozens of times more than the spies themselves. If it weren't for the fact that members of the Secret Service serve the royal family for life and cannot retire, these people would probably all have left the Secret Service to enjoy a life of leisure.

It's important to understand that this kind of task, which requires both disguising one's identity and keeping watch around the clock, is the most troublesome of all the jobs in the Secret Service. Therefore, those who initially came to open shops on Mink Street were not very popular in the Secret Service. Now, this job has become highly sought after, and all the other secret agents are envious.

But being envious is useless; the originally chosen person can't be changed. If Qi Han discovers that the nearby shops are frequently changing owners, it will definitely cause new trouble...

Therefore, the top brass of the Secret Service has been having a major headache during this period.

People are restless, and it's hard to lead a team.

During this period, while the popularity of Cold Food Festival soared, the number of side quests also increased at an incredible rate, all thanks to the terrifying reputation of Cold Food Festival.

Qi Han originally thought that this growth would decline after Ming Tingque's week of recommendations ended, but the subsequent growth not only did not go as he expected, but instead became unstoppable.

Then he learned that after his week-long recommendation at Mingtingque, the Catering Association had just published a monthly food magazine called "Monthly Food Review," and Hanshi, a rising star in the catering industry, appeared directly on the first page of the magazine. The magazine was selling quite well in Mingdu.

Regarding this divine intervention that he was completely unaware of beforehand, all Qi Han could say was…

Please intensify your efforts.

Although the store was getting busier and busier, there were no major mishaps thanks to the cooperation of Qi Han and Meng Yun.

Although Meng Yun didn't have the advantage of Fuya's ice-attribute soul power, which allowed her to easily clean up the mess on the tables after the diners finished eating, she had her own advantages. As a level four soul master, Meng Yun directly created a soul tool that could quickly clean the table to assist her, making her even more efficient than Fuya.

What is this called?

This is called technology changing lives.

Even Qi Han developed a considerable interest in soul tools because of this.

Originally, he thought that the purpose of soul tools was combat, and that the combat ability of soul tools was not as good as his kitchen knife, so he was not very interested in soul tools. However, after arriving in the Sun Moon Continent, the various interesting soul tools used in daily life really broadened Qi Han's horizons.

Although it may not be as advanced as Ruyi's various customized high-tech gadgets, if the technology of soul tools could be brought back to Douluo Continent, it would definitely make life much more convenient for the people there.

Moreover, although it is unknown when the two continents will discover each other, judging by the timeline, it may be within a few hundred years. If things go as fast as possible, the two continents may begin formal exchanges in a few decades.

According to the description in Douluo Continent II, the battle between the two sides will continue for a long time. If Douluo Continent can master some soul tool technology before then, it may change the situation.

However, after briefly inquiring with Meng Yun, Qi Han ultimately gave up on this idea.

Soul tool technology is not uncommon in the Sun Moon Empire, but there are no similar teaching books available for public sale. The inheritance of soul masters is basically carried out through two methods: master-disciple teaching and academy teaching. Therefore, it is very difficult for Qi Han to obtain some information to bring back to Douluo Continent.

However, soul tools are openly sold, so before leaving Douluo Continent, he might use the gold soul coins he has earned to buy some soul tools of various types and bring them back to Douluo Continent as local specialties.

Anyway, I've already earned enough for the return trip, and the gold soul coins from the Sun and Moon Continent can't be used in the Douluo Continent.

I spent it all before I left!

Chapter 524 Side Quest Completed

Although he planned to spend the money before leaving, Qi Han did not leave yet.

Therefore, his primary goal now is to complete side quest twelve and main quest nine.

The main quest nine was relatively easy to complete, and the requirement to operate for thirty days was getting closer and closer to completion. Meanwhile, the requirement for five thousand customers to actively recommend the food to customers for the twelfth day of the Cold Food Festival was also progressing rapidly under the influence of various external factors, and was finally completed ahead of schedule on the afternoon of the twenty-ninth day of the festival's operation.