Whenever Liang Xiuwen came up, Mi Lai immediately began to worry.
Last month, the company had received a commercial collaboration from a famous pigeon restaurant in Huacheng. The client specifically requested that Mi Lai’s channel handle the promotional video for this campaign.
After graduating from university, Mi Lai decided to take her food channel seriously, so she signed with a local MCN company called Steam Media.
She knew that signing with a company would inevitably have its drawbacks. For example, her creative freedom would be restricted to some extent. But she also knew that the tips from her fans alone were nowhere near enough to support her. The traffic support and advertising revenue the company could bring to her channel were very important to her as a university graduate who had just entered the workforce.
Her channel, “Xiaomi Eats,” was a food channel that combined food with local culture and history. In addition to featuring food, her videos also explored local cultural customs through the origins of different dishes. The channel had a soothing, healing atmosphere.
Therefore, to better match the channel’s style, the commercial collaborations arranged for her by the company were generally with long-established local restaurants that had been operating for decades, or even more than a century.
The food served by these old restaurants was generally quite good, and they also held a certain place in the hearts of Huacheng residents. As a result, the commercial collaborations on Mi Lai’s channel were not met with resistance from her fans.
On the contrary, many people felt that it was precisely because of Mi Lai’s channel that viewers from other provinces had the opportunity to learn more about Huacheng’s cuisine.
Fans from outside the province, in particular, felt that many food channels either resorted to sensationalism or simply went around eating at trendy internet-famous restaurants that served photogenic food, without a trace of everyday life.
Through “Xiaomi Eats,” they could learn more about Huacheng’s culture and discover the historical stories behind its food. The channel was practically a breath of fresh air.
To preserve the viewing experience of the channel, Mi Lai strictly limited commercial collaboration videos to one every two months. This approach greatly increased her fans’ goodwill toward her as well.
As a result, “Xiaomi Eats” had highly engaged followers and a high interaction rate, making it a long-term collaboration partner for many restaurants and food establishments in Huacheng.
The client this time had already collaborated with Mi Lai several times before, and their communication had always gone smoothly. However, this time, the client had added one more requirement to the collaboration.
The owner of the pigeon restaurant hoped that “Xiaomi Eats” could film this restaurant-review video together with Liang Xiuwen.
Liang Xiuwen was a somewhat well-known local food writer. In one of his previously published collections of essays, there was a short essay titled Lychee Wood, in which he mentioned a past visit to this very pigeon restaurant.
That was why the client hoped Mi Lai’s team could help invite Liang Xiuwen to the restaurant for a joint feature.
In order to make the collaboration happen, Mi Lai thoroughly investigated Liang Xiuwen. Only after searching did she discover that he was a very private person and had not opened any social media accounts. There was very little information about him, apart from rumors that he was a highly educated graduate and quite handsome.
Since she could not find any way to contact him online, Mi Lai went through the publishing house and, after considerable effort, finally obtained his phone number.
Last week, she had personally gone to visit him, but she had failed. This morning, Chen Chen had gone there again, only to return empty-handed once more.
Chen Chen took a large gulp of water before telling them about what had happened today.
“His attitude was actually pretty good, though. He even asked me to stay for lunch. If I hadn’t needed to hurry back to edit the footage, I definitely would have accepted.”
After hearing what Chen Chen said, Mi Lai collapsed into her office chair and let out a long groan.
“Ugh!”
As the backbone of the team, she quickly pulled herself together and looked at Xu Meng beside her.
“Go again next week. If it still doesn’t work, then there’s nothing we can do.”
Xu Meng agreed, but inwardly she thought, Me?
Actually, she had read quite a few of Liang Xiuwen’s books and could even be considered one of his fans.
When she first learned that they would be collaborating with Liang Xiuwen, Xu Meng had been very excited. But judging from the current situation, there was a good chance the collaboration would fall through.
Although she would naturally be thrilled to meet Liang Xiuwen in person, the thought of being entrusted with the difficult task of persuading him to cooperate filled her with a few worries.
Big Brother Chen was experienced and knowledgeable, while Mi Lai was articulate and persuasive. As for herself, aside from eating and writing copy, she couldn’t do anything!
Seeing the worry in her heart, Mi Lai added, “Don’t put any pressure on yourself. If it doesn’t work out, the boss can deal with the headache. I definitely won’t blame you.”
Xu Meng nodded and turned her attention back to the screen in front of her, quietly letting out a sigh.
The following day was Saturday.
At ten in the morning, Yao Xiaotong rubbed her eyes and climbed out of bed.
Yao Jianbin had been ready since early morning. The moment he saw his precious daughter get up, he said excitedly, “Come on, let’s go. Dad’s taking you out for something delicious today.”
Only then did Yao Xiaotong remember that her father had mentioned yesterday that he wanted to take her to some hidden-gem breakfast shop.
As she washed up, she thought about it in front of the mirror. She had already made plans a few days ago that she would definitely go to Sister Xia’s breakfast shop over the weekend to support her.
I’ll just eat something with Dad for now, then go to Sister Xia’s place and eat as much as I want.
The two of them arrived in front of Rongxing House. Yao Jianbin held Yao Xiaotong’s hand and pointed toward the savory pancakes frying in the oil.
“Look. What’s that?”
Yao Xiaotong followed his finger and looked over at the many things frying in the wok. Then she raised her head and met the gaze of the person standing behind the glass display counter.
A cry of surprise escaped her lips.
“Sister Xia! Why are you here?!”
Xia Yongen came back to her senses. She saw a familiar face pressed close to the glass display counter, smiling and greeting her.
“Xiaotong, what brings you here?”
Yao Jianbin looked at the two of them acting so familiar with each other, completely bewildered. He couldn’t help wondering to himself:
Wait, how do you two know each other? Isn’t this the hidden-gem little shop I discovered?!
Xia Yongen said to him, “If I’d known you were Xiaotong’s father, I would have set aside some savory pancakes and savory water chestnut pastries for you. Then you wouldn’t have had to come here and wait in line.”
“Dad, the snacks I bought at school were made by this sister. They’re so delicious.”
After the two of them explained everything, Yao Jianbin finally understood.
Now he knew why his daughter had been coming home with a full stomach recently, and why she had been rushing back to school these past few days to buy breakfast.
If it were him, he would have been exactly the same—or perhaps even worse.
Thinking about this, Yao Jianbin couldn’t help feeling rather pleased with himself.
As expected, my precious daughter really takes after me. Even her taste is exactly the same as mine.
The newly added savory water chestnut pastries and savory pancakes had not yet been taken to the school to be sold, so both father and daughter were quite interested in the savory pancakes. They ordered one, along with two tea eggs, a cup of soy milk, and a cup of water chestnut drink.
After looking forward to it all day, Yao Jianbin finally got to eat the savory pancake he had been longing for.
The savory pancake had only been out of the fryer for a short while and was still steaming hot. Yao Jianbin bared his teeth and blew on it, then endured the heat as he tore off a small piece with his fingertips and stuffed it directly into his mouth.
The freshly fried savory pancake had an exceptionally crispy exterior, while the inside was filled with honeycomb-like air pockets. It was wonderfully soft and fluffy when chewed. The toasted fragrance of the dough, the unique bean aroma of fermented red bean curd, and the rich fragrance of sesame gradually blended together with every bite.
It was absolutely delicious!
Yao Jianbin’s memories instantly returned to his childhood.
In the gloomy old residential building, the aroma of freshly fried snacks would drift through the corridors. He and his younger female cousins would squeeze together at the kitchen doorway, watching Grandma use a bamboo strainer to scoop savory water chestnut pastries, fried dough pastries, jian dui, egg crisps, and all sorts of other fried treats out of the wok.
But most of these fried treats would be placed before the family shrine as offerings to their ancestors. The small portion that remained would be put away by the adults and saved for entertaining guests during the New Year.
To children, these fried treats were the most delicious food in the world. Yet even though they were right before their eyes, they were not allowed to eat them.
It was enough to make them itch with longing.
So when he was little, Yao Jianbin often did one thing: after the adults had all fallen asleep at night, he would sneak out of his room and creep over to the family shrine to steal the offerings.
Naturally, he passed this brilliant idea on to his younger female cousins. As a result, the several families would mysteriously discover that every Chinese New Year, some of the offerings before the family shrine would inexplicably disappear.
In the end, Grandma came forward with an explanation: perhaps the ancestors had manifested themselves and eaten the offerings.
And just like that, the matter was dropped.
As the years passed, the offerings before the family shrine were never short again.
The Yao family had long since moved away from that old residential building. His younger cousins, who worked in other places, rarely came home. The bamboo strainer, along with Grandma’s belongings, had been sealed away in a wooden chest, never again seeing the light of day.
Yao Xiaotong was happily eating when she noticed that her father was staring blankly at the savory pancake in his hands, sniffling.
“Dad, do you have a cold?”
Yao Jianbin wiped his nose.
“Let’s go visit your grandparents later. A few days ago, Grandpa said he got a really good chicken and was just waiting for us to come home and eat it.”
After finishing breakfast, father and daughter said goodbye to Xia Yongen before leaving.
On Sunday evening, after returning from her stall at the food plaza, Xia Yongen began calculating the week’s accounts.
The new shop had been open for a week, with total sales of 2,035 yuan, which was exactly enough to complete the system’s task.
However, yesterday she had gone to the market and bought a large wok for 100 yuan. Since fried snacks accounted for one-third of the shop’s products, buying oil-absorbing paper and draining racks was also necessary, costing another two hundred yuan or so.
On top of that were all the other costs incurred during the week. There was not much left—or rather, after working hard for an entire week, she had not earned a single cent.
Xia Yongen was still calculating the accounts when Auntie Zhen came out of the kitchen carrying a large pot of soup.
“This is goji berry and wild ginseng chicken soup I made for you. It’s just right to drink now.”
“Huh? How am I supposed to finish such a huge pot?”
Lai Meizhen scooped out the ingredients and soup residue.
“It’s good for your health. Look at you—you’re always so exhausted that you fall asleep without even realizing it. How can that be good?”
Remembering how Auntie Zhen had discovered her practicing her culinary skills, Xia Yongen gave an awkward smile.
“Drinking wild ginseng in weather this hot… I’m afraid it’ll make me feel overheated.”
“Then tomorrow I’ll make you something to clear away the heat and cool you down. How about lean pork soup with figs? Or bitter melon and soybeans stewed with pork bones…”
Xia Yongen lowered her head helplessly and drank her soup.
Next time, I absolutely cannot enter the Boundless Space in front of Auntie Zhen!
After finishing the soup, she opened her account book again.
Business at the breakfast shop had been mediocre during its first week. Fortunately, the income from selling food at the school every afternoon and at the food plaza on weekends could keep things afloat.
As for Sister Feng’s breakfast-food distribution business, it was doing much better than Xia Yongen had anticipated.