Chapter 401 - 159: A King Player in the Silver League?

Chapter 401: Chapter 159: A King Player in the Silver League?

But it all boiled down to a few things: egg-filled pancakes, savory crepes, starch sausages, grilled squid, Changsha-style stinky tofu, and octopus balls.

It was always the same old stuff.

"It’s because they’re all pre-made. The vendor just needs to do some simple prep work before they can sell them, and the flavors are basic but intense." Su Chen paused by a stall, then turned to the owner. "We’ll take six starch sausages."

The stall had a cast-iron griddle with a dozen or so grooves, each perfectly sized to hold a starch sausage.

The owner just had to squirt a little oil into the grooves, place the sausages—which cost him pennies apiece—inside, wait for them to cook, and then sprinkle them with cumin and chili powder. Just like that, they were ready to be sold for two yuan each.

The pricing was two yuan for one, or five yuan for three, so Su Chen bought six.

The five of them continued their walk, starch sausages in hand.

"What’s going on up there? Look at that crowd," Zhang Jiayi said, taking charge of the extra sausage.

Even though she came from a wealthy family, she had absolutely no self-control when it came to food, especially junk food.

"It’s a grand opening promotion," Ling Shuyu said, spotting the banner over the storefront. "On this food street, shops close down and new ones open up every day. Any owner who manages to survive here has a few tricks up their sleeve."

Su Chen bought five potato pancakes, then said, "Come on, let’s go check out the commotion."

After fighting their way into the crowd, they heard a sudden burst of laughter from the onlookers.

"This girl is hilarious. With cooking skills like that, who’d dare to marry her?"

"She’s a total kitchen disaster! I feel sorry for her boyfriend..."

"You’d drop dead on the spot if you ate that, right? How can the owner run an event like this without a few ambulances on standby?"

Following the crowd’s gaze, they saw a small stage set up in front of a shop. On it were, surprisingly, seven or eight cooking stations!

A few young people in various outfits were sweating profusely as they cooked. One girl had clearly already finished her task.

Right now, she was holding a plate of something burnt to a crisp.

"Eat it! If you don’t eat this today, we’re breaking up!"

The young man in front of her looked stunned, scratching the back of his head. "Babe, I mean, it’s just an event. There’s no need to risk our lives over it. How about I promise to do all the cooking after we get married?"

"No! Eat it!"

As soon as the girl spoke, the crowd erupted in another round of laughter, and even more people gathered to watch the spectacle.

"Huh, this place has a neat idea," Zhang Heping said, reading the event rules posted on the stage.

Shi Qi stroked his chin. "Business is tough these days. Everyone’s trying to come up with innovative ideas. This is a pretty good one; it all just depends on the target audience."

Su Chen read through the rules as well.

To put it simply, this new restaurant, named "The Kitchen," didn’t serve food—it provided the kitchen itself!

In other words, customers didn’t come here to order dishes, but to order ingredients.

The restaurant staff would help prep the ingredients and hand them over for the customers to cook and eat themselves.

If customers felt their own cooking wasn’t up to par, the restaurant also had chefs on hand to cook for them.

"This is a really novel concept. It’s perfect for people who want to try cooking but hate cleaning up the kitchen!" Zhang Jiayi watched the sweaty contestants on stage, feeling an itch to try it herself.

Su Chen, however, was unimpressed. "If you actually enjoy cooking, you instinctively clean as you go. This is all just a gimmick. I bet this place will go out of business before long."

Ling Shuyu disagreed. "It could work well if the target audience is young couples."

Just then, the man on stage shut his eyes, steeled himself, and took a determined bite of the blackened mess on the girl’s plate.

"Babe! I love you!"

The crowd instantly erupted in cheers and applause.

"He actually ate it! That’s true love, no doubt about it!"

"Holy shit, that dude’s a beast! That right there is definitely true love!"

Watching him take that bite, even Su Chen couldn’t help but make a face.

’So this is the price you have to pay for being in a relationship?’

’To hell with dating!’

Once the other young contestants had also finished cooking, a host appeared on stage.

"Alright, our eight contestants have completed their dishes! And now, it’s time to start the auction!"

"First up, we have contestant number one’s... um, what exactly is this dish?"

The girl announced proudly, "Braised pork!"

"Right! Anyone want a taste?" the host asked, eyeing the blackened lump. "Braised pork, starting bid eight yuan..."

Su Chen was finally starting to understand the rules of the event.

Anyone from the crowd could go on stage to participate, choose their preferred ingredients from a selection provided by the owner, and after they finished cooking, there was a tasting portion of the event.

After that was the auction.

The contestant whose dish was auctioned off for the highest price by the crowd would be the winner.

Of course, to prevent contestants’ friends and family from maliciously driving up the bids, the auction proceeds all went to the restaurant.

The event had eight rounds in total. The person whose dish fetched the highest price overall would receive a prize from the restaurant: a giant *Cooking Master Boy* doll and an annual card for 20% off.

The prize was nothing special, so there was no need for anyone to spend a ton of money just to win the auction. All in all, the owner had designed the event quite cleverly.