I'm the Culinary God

Chen Yan joked:

"Then you and Qi Siming will have to pass several rounds of review before you can be together, huh?"

"Can you stop poking where it hurts? There’s not even a stroke of the character for fate between us yet, and you’re already stirring things up. Back when you pretended to be the head chef and tricked Officer Ren, did we hype it up like this?"

Chen Yan angrily took a bite of the starch sausage:

"Back then you were the most excited one, tossing out all kinds of ridiculous ideas... If you really end up with Qi Siming, I’m going to tell him every embarrassing thing you’ve ever done!"

Zeng Xiaoqi’s momentum instantly deflated:

"Yan Baobao, that really isn’t necessary, right? We’re sisters-in-arms; why let some stinky man chill our feelings."

Chen Yan burst out laughing:

"I just love it when you act all meek..."

The movie ended, and everyone had basically finished eating.

After they split and ate the two durians, Lin Xu went downstairs, drove Geng Lele back to her dorm at Tsinghua University, then went home, washed up, and went to bed.

Over the next two days, as New Year’s Day approached, the holiday atmosphere got thicker and thicker.

The shop held a birthday banquet for Tongtong, and taking advantage of the extra points, Lin Xu redeemed a few more teaching and training tasks, pushing everyone’s cooking level up as much as he could.

Online, the video Chen Yan posted about Michelin ratings set off a big industry-wide discussion.

Catching this opportunity, the official account of Lin Ji’s Food issued a statement, refusing any lists or related organizations from doing star-level ratings on Lin Ji’s Food.

"A restaurant’s reputation comes from its customers, not from some random organization. Besides, whether the reviewers for these organizations are even qualified to rate dishes is very questionable."

If any other restaurant said this, the media would definitely tear them to shreds.

But what kind of status does Lin Ji have? It’s backed by Fishing Platform and Yanjing Hotel, the twin ceilings of Chinese cuisine, and it also has the Chinese Cooking Association and the National Travel Association covering it.

In the food-critic world, it even has the number-one contemporary food critic, Geng Lishan.

With that old man around, those so-called gourmets are all half-baked at best; some don’t even qualify as foodies—they’re just gluttonous idiots.

Under the statement, netizens lined up to show support.

Chaikefu-Tearing-Chicken: When other restaurants use those shady lists to throw their weight around and jack up prices, Lin Ji just gives them a flying kick. How can you not love a place like this!

Violinist who can’t play Butterfly Lovers: After reading this statement, I was so happy I emptied my wallet to treat myself to dumplings.

Lift Your Skull: I really hope the people behind those lists will try to butt heads with Lin Ji. Then Boss Lin yells "Master!", and bam, those lists vanish.

Sitting in a wheelchair, Rush 80: New fan here. Is Boss Lin’s master really that awesome?

Floral Skirt Goes Better with Leg Hair: Even though Old Gao is always giggling and acting unserious, he’s actually the real-deal chief director of the Chinese Cooking Association—his name’s on the official website.

Beer, Seeds, and Bottled Water: Haha, I randomly checked the official site yesterday and saw it too. I thought it was just someone with the same name, but turns out it’s really Old Gao. With a big shot like this backing him, Boss Lin can’t help but go wild.

Not long after Lin Ji’s Food posted its statement, Chen Yuanyuan had Dou Wenjing use Ziqiang Shengjian’s official account to likewise post a refusal of ratings from related organizations.

At first, Dou Wenjing didn’t quite get it:

"Yuanyuan, we’re just a small chain selling shengjian. Even if we wanted to get on those lists, they wouldn’t give us a chance."

Chen Yuanyuan said:

"We’re showing support for my cousin, and grabbing some free publicity while we’re at it."

Sure enough, once the statement went out, netizens flocked over to tease them.

"Haha, you guys really are keeping pace with the big boss."

"You’re overthinking this!"

"I almost thought Ziqiang Shengjian was some huge restaurant."

"I’ll give this wave of advertising 99 points."

"Even piggybacking off your own people’s hype—classic you!"

This kind of teasing pushed Ziqiang Shengjian’s popularity up another notch.

Lin Xu hadn’t expected Sister Yuanyuan to be a marketing genius. It’s a pity Ziqiang Shengjian only has branches in a few nearby blocks; if it were all over Beijing, today’s sales would probably have skyrocketed.

Then Fishing Platform and Yanjing Hotel followed suit, likewise announcing that they refused ratings.

As for the Western restaurants whose official accounts had been pretty active online, they suddenly went low-key; the "Michelin certified" and similar wording in their bios quietly disappeared.

The TV station officially canceled the show "Taste of the Human World," and the sponsorship deals they’d talked about before also evaporated.

Min Zhengnan got so thoroughly beaten by Lin Xu in the shengjian with goose liver showdown that even his underwear didn’t survive. Not only did he lose the TV station collaboration, his original Western restaurant employer also fired him.

Ending up unemployed from making videos—that was something he’d never expected.

And the Western restaurant owner hadn’t expected that the head chef he trusted would turn out to be so weak.

This whole storm blew over just like that; the TV station even quietly shut down the official account for "Taste of the Human World," putting a period at the end of the affair.

But supposedly, people like Advertising Director Liu Guitian, who kicked out Zeng Xiaoqi and the others back then, all received internal disciplinary action.

A once booming food show got messed up by them to the point of being taken off the air. You really have to marvel at the destructive power of amateurs.

"Xu Baobao, what are you doing?"

Shen Jiayue, happily scrolling through the news and all kinds of gossip online, came into the little kitchen with her phone. Seeing Lin Xu slicing a slab of pork belly, she asked curiously.

"Making some crispy pork bits. Later, when I don’t feel like fussing around in the morning, I can just cook some noodles and throw in a handful of crispy bits—that’s a beautiful breakfast right there."