Chapter 1 The Start

It was a little after 1 PM at a luxury hotel in the Imperial Capital.

Qi Yan had just finished bustling about, explaining the change from pre-recorded to live broadcast to the on-site staff and instructing the judges to "strictly evaluate Leng Mian Gu Niang" (Cold Noodles Girl).

The sudden changes had thrown Qi Yan for a slight loop, but fortunately, neither change was fatal. After quickly making the necessary arrangements, the event proceeded as scheduled.

Qi Yan was originally the marketing manager for Leng Mian Gu Niang. Her job was to execute Leng Mian Gu Niang's marketing efforts as required by Meng Chang.

After the Leng Mian Gu Niang incident, Qi Yan, like other employees, was at a loss for a while.

Meng Chang was already overwhelmed, so he didn't have time to bother with her. Qi Yan looked for a few days but hadn't decided where to go when a piece of good news fell from the sky: Her job was saved!

Tengda acquired Leng Mian Gu Niang, the owed salaries could be paid as usual, and everything was back to normal!

In addition to being happy, Qi Yan was also full of worries.

She was happy that she didn't have to go to the trouble of finding a job. Meng Chang was generous when it came to employee salaries. If she switched to another company, Qi Yan was worried that she wouldn't be able to get her current salary.

Her worry was that her career might be affected.

Qi Yan came to Leng Mian Gu Niang because she was attracted by Meng Chang's "perfect entrepreneur" persona and felt that she could learn something from him. She was also optimistic about Leng Mian Gu Niang's development prospects.

However, Leng Mian Gu Niang not only failed but failed spectacularly and notoriously.

Now everyone knows that Leng Mian Gu Niang is an unreliable project. If Qi Yan were to stay at Leng Mian Gu Niang for three to five years and then try to switch jobs, it's hard to say whether this experience would be a plus or a minus.

Qi Yan's mindset was contradictory, but after hearing that the new owner was Tengda, she decided to wait and see.

After all, Tengda was a large and reputable company, almost unbelievably so, and worthy of trust.

Meng Chang was no longer related to Leng Mian Gu Niang, so He Desheng handed over all of Leng Mian Gu Niang's affairs to Qi Yan, who reported to He Desheng, who then reported to President Pei.

The current Leng Mian Gu Niang, to put it bluntly, is just an ordinary fast-food restaurant, and its business and reputation are not very good, so it's impossible to report directly to President Pei.

After changing owners, the first big project Qi Yan received was this Street Food Competition.

All of the other marketing activities were canceled, except for this one.

Qi Yan wasn't sure exactly why, but she proceeded with the preparations as planned.

The preliminary preparations had already started a long time ago. Specialists were sent to various cities across the country to find street vendors with good reputations, and they were paid to come to the Imperial Capital to participate in the competition. Several foodies with good food tasting abilities were also invited as judges.

The competition was about to begin.

Qi Yan took out her phone and checked the situation in the live broadcast room.

There were only a few scattered comments, and there was no heat to speak of.

This was also expected.

The change from pre-recorded to live broadcast was too rushed. Qi Yan urgently asked the live broadcast platform for resources and positions, but the platform's recommendation slots were already scheduled in advance, so they couldn't give a good recommendation slot now and could only give a general position as a compromise.

What's more, it's Monday afternoon, and the live broadcast platform's traffic is already very low, so not many people are watching.

Qi Yan sighed with some melancholy.

The original plan was to edit this event and then spend a lot of money to put it on the Ellie Island charts, but now it's changed to a live broadcast, and there are no recommendation resources. How can it become popular?

If it doesn't become popular, what's the point of this Street Food Competition? Wouldn't all the money be spent in vain?

But there's no use worrying about it now, so she could only let nature take its course.

...

At 2 PM, the Street Food Competition officially began!

A male and female host came to the screen and began to introduce the organizers, guests, and specific rules of the competition to all viewers.

In addition to several guests with high food tasting abilities, there were also dozens of audience members on site, who would also taste the street food and vote.

The guests could comment, and their scores had a higher weighting. The scores of the judges and the audience were added together to calculate the total score, and then the winners of the Street Food Competition were selected according to the total score ranking.

Behind the hosts, the first batch of participating street vendors were ready. They were of different genders and ages, but at this time, they were all standing tall and looking very serious.

Behind them were the food carts of each street vendor. The first round was the "jianbing (pancake) group," and all the vendors were masters at making jianbing.

Each vendor had a number and made several jianbing in a row, then cut them into small pieces for the judges and audience to taste. The vendors with higher scores won.

After the jianbing group was judged, there were other street foods.

For example: shouzhuabing (hand-grabbed pancake), teppanyaki squid, roasted gluten, liangfen (mung bean jelly), teppanyaki tofu, roujiamo (meat sandwich), kao leng mian (roasted cold noodles), etc.

Just looking at the names, you can tell they are very down-to-earth.

Of course, in addition to these more common street foods, there was also a special "niche snack group," where some less common street foods competed against each other.

Actually, when it comes to street food, stinky tofu should be included, but considering that the competition venue was relatively closed and the smell was not easy to dissipate, in order to ensure the smooth progress of this Street Food Competition, the organizers tearfully rejected several vendors who were particularly good at frying stinky tofu.

The ingredients for these snacks were all selected in advance, and the vendors could choose according to their needs and habits. The difference in the taste of the final product was mainly in the cooking skills and the heat.

Of course, as long as there is a selection, it is certainly impossible to be 100% objective and fair, after all, everyone's tastes and preferences are different.

However, the way that judges and the audience score together ensures the fairness of the competition as much as possible, and the final results are definitely foods that are more in line with the public's taste.

After the hosts introduced the rules and judges of the competition, the camera turned to the participating vendors.

Each vendor could make a brief self-introduction, about twenty or thirty words.

For a time, various dialects from all over the country rang out, with everyone chiming in, creating an explosive program effect.

This was a luxury hotel in the Imperial Capital, with red carpets on the floor, and the tables, chairs, and decorations all exuded luxury, highlighting the upper class.

The vendors who came were all wearing formal chef's uniforms and high chef's hats, looking very formal, but they were all ruined as soon as they opened their mouths.

The two hosts also had a hard time; if it weren't for their strong professional skills, they would have laughed out loud long ago.

It has to be said that this competition exudes absurdity from head to toe, and a bit of magical realism.

Finally, all the vendors had finished introducing themselves.

The competition officially began.

The vendors took their places, and at the host's command, the timer on the screen began to roll!

The vendors' techniques were very skilled. They scooped a spoonful of mixed grain batter and poured it on the jianbing griddle, spreading it evenly in circles with a wooden pusher. After the surface slightly changed color, they cracked an egg on it...

This step was not complicated. Almost everyone present had seen it many times, but the vendors' techniques had subtle differences, such as the dosage of seasonings and the heat of the jianbing.

All the audience members waited patiently, watching the vendors' performances with rapt attention.

For some reason, there was a hint of tension in the air.