Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Sir, please lower your voice. Although it is still daytime, but the voice pollution in the city has already reached a serious level. Please do not make loud noises at our restaurant. Thank you,” said Zhou Jia calmly, without the slightest hint of fear.
Chef Li wanted to unleash his temper, but he held himself back. He decided to keep this anger so he could vent it on Yuan Zhou instead.
And since he was not ordering, Zhou Jia could not be bothered to keep wasting time with him. She left, not forgetting to retrieve the number Chef Li got from queuing. She then moved on to the next customer.
And just like that, Chef Li was left standing there alone. As for Yuan Zhou, when cooking, all his concentration would be on his task at hand. Thus, he completely ignored Chef Li’s repeated attempts at talking to him.
Just like that, Chef Li stood there for half an hour, his anger growing with every second. He had to wait in line just to issue a challenge, and was even made to take a number like all the other customers. Even after all that, he didn’t even get to issue his challenge. He had an unsightly expression, his heart filled with fury.
No matter what, Chef Li was still a head chef. Thus, when he was angered, he started emanating an imposing presence. But he had never considered what type of people were customers at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Nobody cared about him.
Even the people from the Queuing Committee came in to invite him outside. After all, Yuan Zhou’s restaurant was only 20 square meters in size.
Chef Li deeply regretted his decision to not let his subordinates come instead. He had volunteered to come personally so he could see Yuan Zhou’s reaction to the challenge.
He wanted to see how Yuan Zhou would apologize to him while trying to alleviate his anger. After all, his seniority was higher than Yuan Zhou in the cooking industry.
And because of that, he stood there waiting for two and a half hours. He waited until nearly all the customers had left, only leaving some scattered pedestrians here and there. Even Zhou Jia had already signed off. Finally, Chef Li prepared to enter the restaurant again.
“Boss Yuan, I will come back around four later,” said Zhou Jia before she left.
“Ok. I have time,” Yuan Zhou replied. Then, he recalled something and said, “Remember, just come. No need to buy anything.”
Yuan Zhou remembered that when bringing one’s boyfriend to see one’s senior, the boyfriend would arrive with a bunch of gifts, such as fruits. All those things were useless for Yuan Zhou. After all, he was a man with a cheat system.
More importantly, they wouldn’t be able to get anything better than what the system supplied anyway. So there was no need to waste their money.
After Zhou Jia left, Chef Li entered the restaurant.
The moment Chef Li entered, he spoke with a strict tone, “Boss Yuan, I am the head chef of Shrimp And Crab Gathering. Your Yuan Zhou discussion forum has negatively affected over 700 restaurants.”
“Please wait a moment,” Yuan Zhou tossed Chef Li a glance before quickly taking out his phone and started checking something on it.
After about a minute, he looked at Chef Li again and spoke seriously, “Please continue, Chef Li.”
Chef Li was sure Yuan Zhou had just checked the discussions on the forum. Thus, his confidence grew.
“Today, I am here to issue you a challenge. Against those unfair reviews, we are challenging you for a seafood cooking competition that will be held in one week. If we win, you must shut down that website. Moreover, you have to issue us a public apology,” said Chef Li sternly while pointing at Yuan Zhou.
“Anything else?” Yuan Zhou frowned when he saw that Chef Li seemed to still have something else to say.
“Yes. You also need to compensate us for the negative effect we have suffered due to the unfair reviews on your website. As for the compensation amount…” Chef Li started speaking confidently.
He paused slightly when he reached the part about the compensation. He scanned the restaurant before he continued, “Just compensate us with one month’s profit of your restaurant. This will let you experience the negative effect we have suffered because of your website.”
The compensation was a condition Chef Li had thought of last-minute after he noted that Yuan Zhou seemed silent and apologetic. This was a good example of someone who wanted more after getting a little benefit.
When he saw that Yuan Zhou had once again lowered his head looking at the phone silently, Chef Li stepped forward and spoke with fury, “Since you have been so brave on the forum, why are you scared of accepting the challenge now?”
What Chef Li meant was, if he did not have the courage to accept the challenge, what was he doing reviewing other restaurants?
Chef Li intentionally spoke with a loud voice, and because of that, the customers that were taking a stroll outside heard him as well.
Some of them feared that this incident wasn’t major enough. Thus, they started typing in the chat group, “An aggressive person has arrived to challenge Boss Yuan. Brothers, come cheer for Boss Yuan!”
Anyone challenging Boss Yuan would be pitting himself against the group of foodies. After all, a challenge would waste a lot of Boss Yuan’s time, wasting the small number of hours the restaurant was actually open for business. And because of that, the customers would also have few opportunities to eat at Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
How could the foodies accept not having to eat Yuan Zhou’s delicacies? Thus, the nearby foodies all rushed over.
The reinforcements would arrive in about five seconds.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In less than two minutes, the crowd in front Yuan Zhou’s restaurant swelled in size.
They were not only looking on. Instead, they were also commenting.
“What’s going on? Who’s challenging Boss Yuan again?” asked a customer who had just arrived.
“This is not a simple challenge. Do you see that person? He’s apparently the head chef of Shrimp and Crab Gathering. He claimed that Yuan Zhou’s forum had spoiled his reputation. Thus, he decided to challenge Yuan Zhou,” said the customers that were already here earlier.
Strictly speaking, Shrimp and Crab Gathering was quite popular. A few years back, it had even won the award of the freshest seafood.
This was a restaurant with six branches in Chengdu. Unfortunately, the reputation it had accumulated during its early years had all been squandered away.
That was clear from the comments of the customers that had visited it before.
“Shrimp and Crab Gathering? I checked earlier. This restaurant is rated 0.1 Yuan. In terms of both service or food, they are terrible.”
“I ate at this restaurant before. When I first saw the bad reviews online, I refused to believe them. As a result, I found out how stupid I was. The shrimps they served were obviously frozen shrimps. The freshness was nowhere to be seen. And the Aromatic Spicy Crab dish, I think the chef had mistaken sugar for salt when making that dish. The Aromatic Spicy Crab was too sweet.”
“Yuan Zhou’s forum is the fairest forum I have seen. All the reviews there are true experiences of customers. Moreover, all the reviews would be verified by the Queuing Committee to prevent fake reviews.”
“His food is terrible and he dares to disallow us to talk about it? If he has the time to come and defend himself, he might as well spend the time to study the difference between salt and sugar.”
Naturally, Chef Li’s face was flushed red when he heard the comments. Do not misunderstand. He was not turning red from embarrassment. Rather, it was from anger.
The higher a person’s status, the harder it would be for a person to admit his wrongdoings. What was happening presently was a perfect example of this.
Chef Li had no intention of reflecting on himself. Instead, he started suspecting those people to either be brainwashed customers or part of the spam army.
This might be an inconceivable line of thought, but such people truly existed in this world. One was standing right in front of Yuan Zhou.
“Yuan Zhou, accept the written challenge.” That’s right. Chef Li had even formally wrote a written challenge declaration.
“I reject,” Yuan Zhou said, his face solemn.
…
