Chapter 119: An Unfriendly Visitor

Chapter 119: Chapter 119: An Unfriendly Visitor

The audience could sense the wariness and surging undercurrents in the conversation.

They all grew curious about the newcomer’s identity:

[A food critic? Who is he? Is he famous?]

[Isn’t that Li Shan? A super famous big shot in the industry! He has several million followers across all platforms!]

[I copied his bio over—Li Shan, special guest judge for Michelin, senior writer for the United States’ "Food" magazine, professional food critic for Gourmet Record...]

[What’s Michelin? I know Gourmet Record, my whole family uses their rankings to pick restaurants every day! Looks like this food critic is really impressive and professional!]

[Wow, our Nan Family’s Small Restaurant is attracting such an amazing food critic! *clapping* *tears up*]

[So exciting, everyone! I feel this sense of pride and accomplishment, like seeing our own kid go from a helpless baby to learning how to walk!]

[Don’t get too happy yet. Hasn’t anyone noticed that this Mr. Li Shan has been incredibly picky since the moment he walked in? Nan Zhi and the others look like they’re facing a formidable enemy!]

[Nan Zhi... does she?]

[He’s a professional food connoisseur, so it’s normal to be a little picky. My mom has to scald her bowl and chopsticks with hot water three times whenever she eats out!]

...

There were cameras set up outside the restaurant, but no sound equipment, so the feed only occasionally cut to them.

So the livestream audience didn’t know about the small conflict that had just occurred at the entrance.

From their perspective, Li Shan’s behavior since entering seemed perfectly normal.

In any case, Li Shan’s subsequent performance perfectly matched their stereotype of a food connoisseur—

Li Shan first took out a disinfectant wipe and meticulously wiped down the table and chair.

Then he took out his own thermos, which contained freshly brewed light tea for rinsing his mouth between dishes to cleanse his palate, making it easier to taste the next dish.

After that, he took out a mini-camera and set it up on the table, preparing to record his commentary and tasting process to post online later.

Only then did he open the menu. After seeing its contents, he let out a contemptuous sneer:

"Well, who would’ve thought. The chef at this place dabbles in quite a variety! Sichuan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu cuisine... even Lu Cuisine is here! Texas Roasted Chicken? Now that’s a sophisticated dish, a famous representative of Lu Cuisine! You all probably don’t know this, but Lu Cuisine is the largest of the imperial court cuisines, represented by Kongfu Cuisine. It has deeply influenced other regional cuisines and was once considered the head of the Eight Great Cuisines! It’s the cuisine with the longest history, the richest techniques, and the one that best demonstrates a chef’s skill! A truly skilled Lu Cuisine master has to have been honing their craft in this field for at least fifteen years. The chef at this restaurant... heh. Just by looking at all the different cuisines on her menu, I can already tell the food won’t be any good. After all, if you bite off more than you can chew, you won’t chew anything properly!"

Li Shan was speaking to his own camera.

But as luck would have it,

his arrival made the production team think it was a great opportunity.

So they cut the camera to him, wanting to hear a few words of praise from the professional food critic.

But instead...

The cheerful livestream audience suddenly couldn’t laugh anymore, instead feeling an overwhelming pressure:

[Uhhhh, this is awkward.]

[What kind of food critic is he? He hasn’t even eaten the food and he’s already spouting nonsense!]

[Is he here to deliberately trash Nan Family’s Small Restaurant? I knew it, we were too naive and celebrated too early!]

[So what if he’s a food critic? Don’t blindly trust authority! So many customers have eaten here and said it was great!]

...

Many viewers felt the irritation of seeing their own kid get passive-aggressively attacked, and immediately vented in the bullet comments.

But in this world, there are even more fence-sitters, especially those who blindly trust authority.

They quickly switched sides in the bullet comments:

[I actually think Mr. Li Shan has a point. A professional definitely knows more than we do.]

[LMAO, Li Shan hasn’t even said anything truly critical yet and the fans are already losing it. Since when do "cooks" have fans these days?]

[The little restaurant downstairs from me is terrible, but business is so good it’s incomprehensible! Some things are just a mystery. Maybe the customers are just here for the celebrities?]

[They’re probably shills for the show. I’ve thought so for a while, but people get shut down online! And all those people claiming they’ve eaten there, I guess you can’t believe them now! Is anything on the internet even real anymore?]

[Li Shan is an expert, there must be some truth to what he’s saying. The idea of Nan Zhi mastering multiple cuisines by herself was already illogical!]

...

Because of Li Shan’s words, the bullet comments immediately erupted into a heated argument.

This scene made the production staff, who were monitoring the direction of the bullet comments backstage, look at each other in dismay.

They turned to ask Xu Lin, whose expression was grave:

"Director Xu, what should we do? Should we cut away?"

Before Xu Lin could speak, someone softly objected:

"But wouldn’t that make it look like we have something to hide? Even more people will accuse us of ’shutting them down’!"

It wasn’t that they didn’t understand the logic.

But they couldn’t just let this food critic keep talking.

He started out prejudiced; who knew what more outrageous things he’d say later!

Xu Lin said, "Let’s just keep watching for now."

’He mulled over the food critic’s identity, feeling that his arrival wasn’t so simple.’

’It was like... a deliberate attack.’

"Oh, right. Send someone to give Nan Zhi and her team a heads-up."

Xu Lin’s first sentence had put everyone on edge, but his second made them all feel relieved, and smiles broke out.

There was a time when Xu Lin had been ready to "sacrifice" Nan Zhi for ratings, and the entire team had unanimously agreed.

But now, everyone was genuinely worried about Nan Zhi.

The message was quickly passed to Nan Zhi, away from the cameras.

"Okay, I got it."

Nan Zhi wasn’t surprised in the slightest; she was already mentally prepared.

In fact, her primary suspects were the production team and Director Xu Lin, who had a "prior record."

Given their current working relationship, there was no way Nan Zhi could trust them one hundred percent.

She was a very guarded person by nature.

However, the production team’s actions now led Nan Zhi to remove them from her list of suspects.

’So who could the mastermind behind this be?’

’This is clearly aimed at me...’

In the main dining hall.

Li Shan had finally chosen his dishes and called Qi Pei’er over to take his order.

The message the production team passed to Nan Zhi had spread through the entire restaurant at top speed.

Qi Pei’er knew about it too.

She already thought this so-called food critic’s attitude was strange, and now her expression was even less friendly.

At most, out of politeness, she offered a smile that didn’t reach her eyes:

"Sir, if you’re dining alone, you won’t be able to finish this many dishes. It would be best not to waste food."

Her tone also had a hint of passive-aggression.

Li Shan: "I’m a food critic!"

"Mm, so?"

Qi Pei’er’s imperviousness infuriated Li Shan:

"So this isn’t called wasting food, it’s called a tasting!"

"Is there a difference?"

Qi Pei’er resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Li Shan: "I’ll get it to go, alright?"

Only then did Qi Pei’er take the menu back:

"Please provide your own takeaway containers. Our restaurant does not offer a takeaway service."