Chapter 103: Interview
People tend to side with the underdog. Shen Lan, who was clearly at a disadvantage, looked like she was on the verge of tears, easily stirring feelings of sympathy.
However, most of the people here were apathetic. They wouldn’t stick their necks out for a stranger, at most offering a few condemning glares.
They were just powerless glares, and Shen Lu paid them no mind. She let out a scornful little laugh. "Malicious slander? Isn’t that a term better suited for you?"
Shen Lan pressed her lips together and shoved at Xue Can. "Let go of me!"
Xue Can confirmed that Shen Lan was just an ordinary person with no superpower before releasing her.
"Is Miss Shen’s memory a bit poor? Have you already forgotten what I taught you last time? The burden of proof is on the one who makes the claim." Shen Lu’s gaze was sharp. "You claim my crawfish are diseased and toxic. Do you have any actual proof? If not, can I assume you’re libeling me?"
"I’m not spouting nonsense!" Shen Lan had learned her lesson; she wasn’t just making baseless claims this time. "There are only a handful of crawfish farms in the Imperial City. I’ve already asked around. All of their stock combined doesn’t even amount to five thousand. You claim you have ten thousand crawfish prepared. How is that possible?"
"Why would it be impossible? Did I ever say I sourced my stock from farms in the Imperial City?"
"Shen Lu, you..."
"Miss Shen, the Imperial City isn’t the only human settlement on this planet. As for my supply chain, I don’t believe I have any obligation to tell you. That’s a trade secret."
Shen Lu’s eyes glinted with a cold light. "Is there anything else, Miss Shen? If not, I won’t entertain you any longer. I have a lot of work to do."
’One after another, they just had to pick today to cause trouble.’
’They want to stop my grand opening, do they?’
’Not a chance. I’m not just going to see today’s event through to a smooth finish—I’m going to make the name ’Little Deer Cuisine’ echo throughout the entire Imperial City. I’ll make all those people who look down on me, who hate me, who just want to see me fail, absolutely furious.’
Shen Lan tried to argue further, but Xue Can clapped a hand over her mouth. With a swift and practiced move, he twisted her arm behind her back and hauled her out of the crowd.
Xue Can gave her a shove forward. Shen Lan stumbled, nearly falling to the ground. She shot him a hateful glare and muttered, "Lackey!"
"If you know what’s good for you, Miss Shen, you’ll stay put in the Upper City District. The Lower City District is too chaotic," Xue Can said, his tone soft yet frigid, his words laced with a menacing chill.
The color drained from Shen Lan’s face. She pressed her lips together tightly, and after a moment, she managed a cold huff before leaving in disgrace.
’She truly cherished the good life she had lost and now regained. After leaving a place like the Lower City District, she never wanted to set foot in it again.’
’Having lived in the Lower City District for over a decade, she didn’t need a warning from Xue Can to know just how chaotic it was.’
’Today, to avoid being recognized, she had come alone and in disguise. It really wasn’t a good idea to linger here. What if someone got any ideas and tried to kidnap her?’
’If they wanted money, that would be one thing. But if her reputation was ruined, how could she ever become the Crown Prince Consort?’
’And her birthday banquet was tomorrow, of all days.’
The more she thought about it, the more terrified Shen Lan became. She took off as if a ghost were hot on her heels, fleeing the Lower City District.
When Xue Can returned to the restaurant’s entrance, Shen Lu had already calmed the restless crowd and was repeatedly assuring them of the crawfish’s safety.
"All the ingredients at our restaurant are fresh and non-toxic, completely safe to eat. If you don’t believe me, my staff and I can eat some for you right now."
True to her word, Shen Lu gestured to two onlookers at random and scooped a bowl of crawfish from the massive pile.
She, Cai Su, and Wang Daguo ate the marinated crawfish in front of everyone, dispelling the crowd’s last lingering doubts.
The crawfish competition resumed. The daily quest, which had been stalled for some time, finally updated, and at three in the afternoon, the completion notification chimed.
[Ding! Quest update: 500/500 crawfish sold with customer satisfaction of three stars or higher. Completion time under eight hours. Quest complete. Reward: one Lottery Ticket.]
Shen Lu couldn’t help but sigh in relief, though she followed it with a discontented pout.
’The quest difficulty went up, but the reward is still the same.’
As she zoned out for a moment, a microphone was suddenly thrust in her face.
"Hello, are you the owner of Little Deer Cuisine?"
Shen Lu looked up and saw the telltale red recording light on the cameraman’s lens.
"And you are?"
"Hi there! My name is Little Zhen, and I’m a reporter with Truth Seekers. It took forever to get through the line and register to get in, and since there’s still a wait, I thought I’d come over for an interview."
Shen Lu didn’t really want to do an interview. She had been talking nonstop since the restaurant opened, and her throat was starting to ache. She really couldn’t keep it up, so she had asked Wang Daguo to take over hosting for a bit while she took a break.
She had heard of Truth Seekers; it was a popular influencer account on a major video-sharing platform. Shen Lu figured this must be the Twenty-four-hour Promotion Traffic Accelerator at work. Otherwise, an account like that would have no reason to come interview her.
"Alright, let’s go talk over there. It’s quieter."
Shen Lu led the pair to the booth area. It was sectioned off into semi-private spaces by half-height wooden partitions. The cameraman panned the lens around, and viewers on the livestream immediately started commenting that the restaurant’s decor looked pretty good.
——I thought it was just one big dining hall, but they have booths too.
——Looks pretty nice. The decor is quite upscale.
——Give me a break. It’s probably just sheet metal painted to look like wood. Be realistic, people, real wood is crazy expensive.
——Honestly, if it wasn’t in the Lower City District, I’d totally go check it out.
——A place like the Lower City District? You couldn’t pay me to go there. It’s filthy and chaotic. Didn’t you all see just now? Those thugs were smashing windows and kicking doors. Total savages.
"Please, have a seat." Shen Lu chose a spot with the best lighting. "So, what did you want to interview me about?"
Little Zhen: "Well, we’re actually live right now. If you don’t mind, I’d like to select a few questions that our viewers are curious about. Would that be alright?"
"That’s fine," Shen Lu nodded. "But I’ll only answer the questions I’m able to."
Little Zhen: "That’s your prerogative."
Little Zhen pulled up the stream’s backend and selected a few questions.
Shen Lu answered the ones that weren’t too invasive or pointed, but she skipped over some of the more boring ones.
Little Zhen: "One of our viewers is curious: on a big day like your grand opening, why haven’t we seen your biological parents, Boss Shen?"
Shen Lu raised an eyebrow and gave a helpless smile. "The truth is, I’ve never met my biological parents. I don’t know where they are."
"Oh? How could that be?"
"After being kicked out of the Shen Family, I’ve been completely focused on making a living. On top of that, the Shen Family never told me my biological parents’ whereabouts or how to contact them, so we’ve never met. Perhaps when I find some free time, I’ll ask someone to help me look for them."
The interview had gone on for a while, and Shen Lu couldn’t let Wang Daguo hold down the fort forever. She invited the reporter to experience it for herself by joining the competition and tasting her marinated crawfish.