The Huaxia Gourmet Grand Prix, the semifinals, five to advance to three.

Unlike the earlier audition phase that went unnoticed by the public, and unlike the straightforward live broadcast of the round of eight to five,

at just 9:30 in the morning, the event was already being live-streamed via an online platform.

At this time, the participating teams were still in the preparation stage, the players had not yet entered the arena, and the judges had not arrived; the only content available for live broadcasting was the various preparations. But in Huaxia, those who love gourmet food are never in short supply, so as soon as the live broadcast started, the website was already crowded with onlookers, and all kinds of comments were flying across the screen.

"What a huge pot."

"The same kind of ladle."

"Host's same kind of shirt, do you think I'm talking nonsense?"

"Haven't had breakfast yet, waiting to see the dishes to go with my steamed buns."

"Hahaha, I tried making mutton soup with flatbread yesterday, it tasted awesome, but I got pimples on my face."

"Deserved!"

While the comments flew across the screen, and the many netizens following the event chatted idly,

two hosts were analyzing the situation below the live broadcast page.

"According to the annual report of the Huaxia Catering Association released a few days ago, last year the national catering revenue achieved 3.231 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 11.7%."

"That's right, precisely because of this, the catering industry has become one of the ten key industries for consumption upgrade identified by the State Council."

"Yes, Mr. Li is absolutely right. There is an old saying in Huaxia, 'Food is the God of the people'. Nowadays, with the fast pace of social life and the wealth of the people, the demand for food is not just about getting enough to eat anymore. People are willing to spend a bit more money to taste delicious food."

"Mr. Zhang is correct. The reason why this Huaxia Gourmet Grand Prix has attracted widespread attention in society lies exactly here. In fact, based on the performance of past competitions, as long as a team enters the top eight, the restaurant belonging to any of these eight competing teams will immediately be packed, and it won't be long until they open branch stores."

"Wait a moment, Mr. Li. Every team that has made it into the top eight has seen their restaurants develop rapidly and amass money at an astounding rate, which is almost guaranteed. Both domestically and internationally, many consortia and venture capital firms are eyeing this opportunity, but there's an exception this year."

"This year's strongest dark horse, from the Provincial City of Beisheng Province, Datong River Restaurant, after entering the top eight, many enthusiastic netizens wanted to go and personally taste the flavor of Datong River. But unfortunately, according to the news they've sent back, Datong River has been smashed up and is temporarily closed."

"Indeed, the situation Mr. Zhang mentioned is true. We have already assigned local netizens to send back the situation from the scene."

The live broadcast screen showed a restaurant in shambles, smashed to pieces.

The barrage of comments on the webpage exploded in an instant.

"Damn, what kind of grudge is this to smash up a perfectly good shop like this!"

"Holy moly, it's a good thing I saw this. Otherwise, I was planning to try out each place after their competition."

"Damn, the owner of Datong River ain't doing it right, man. At our high-class restaurants around here, the owners are badass. Even The Black Society wouldn't dare eat without paying, let alone smash the place."

"True, the owner of this restaurant is indeed a waste."

"Are you guys nuts? Instead of questioning the evil forces who smashed up the place, you're calling the owner of Datong River a waste. What's wrong with you?"

"Tsk, the Datong River owner is a waste, alright. If he was fierce enough, who would dare to smash his place?"

"Exactly!"

The netizens' comments were refreshing like crazy.

At that moment, the commentator said, "Now that Datong River Restaurant has been vandalized, we may not be able to taste their gourmet food for a short while, but these are all minor issues. The competing teams that made it into the top eight will definitely attract numerous investors reaching out with olive branches. With enough money, they can open even better restaurants."

"Mr. Li, you're mistaken. To my knowledge, up until now, no venture capitalists have approached Datong River since it was vandalized."

"Why is that? Restaurants that enter the top eight will all be making money hand over fist. Any of them would have an annual profit of over fifty million. With the right investment, opening a few more branches could easily rake in several hundred million a year."

"Maybe they don't want to get into conflict with certain evil forces because of Datong River, or perhaps they think the risk is too high."

"Mr. Li, if that's the case, then those venture capitalists are clearly short-sighted. When it first entered the top eight, if they had talked to Datong River about venture capital, it would have probably only taken one or two billion yuan to settle the deal."

"At this point, Datong River Restaurant has already made it into the top five. Without an investment of over five billion yuan, it's clearly impossible to clinch Datong River."

"What Mr. Zhang said makes sense. According to the trends of the past tournaments, any team that makes it into the top five gets at least an investment of over five billion. And today's competition hasn't even started yet. If Datong River makes it into the top three, then any venture capital firm that wants to get a share of Datong River will need at least ten billion in capital."

"Because even if they only win the third place, Datong River Restaurant will become one of Huaxia's best restaurants. Even with just one small shop, an annual net profit of over a hundred million wouldn't be surprising."

"Mr. Li, let me interrupt for a moment. From the last match, the team leader of Datong River is a very meticulous person. The netizens all say that the dishes he makes are heartful. So I'm thinking, as the biggest dark horse of this event, Datong River may possibly become the champion of this tournament."

"Mr. Zhang must be joking. The two strongest teams of this tournament from Huaxia, Yuqing Hall and Hundred Flowers Pavilion, are also participating. In the last four tournaments, the champions and runners-up were both from among them, so this tournament will be no exception."

"Mr. Li, I'm just speculating. Suppose Datong River really becomes the champion of this tournament..."

"Then, all the investors who haven't approached Datong River yet will cry! Because becoming the champion means that Datong River is the best restaurant in Huaxia. Just the value of this title alone would be over a hundred billion. Do you understand what that means?"

"Suppose you want to be a major shareholder of Datong River with a thirty percent stake. Back when it just entered the top eight, you could become a shareholder with just around two to three billion yuan investment. When it reached the top five, about five billion would have been enough. If Datong River gets into the top three, without more than ten billion, you can forget about it."

"If Datong River wins the championship of this tournament, then you can be sure that if you want to get thirty percent of Datong River's shares, without thirty billion, don't even think about it, it's absolutely impossible."

"My god, considering the reasons why all the investors haven't approached Datong River until now, I'm suddenly looking forward to it—if Datong River Restaurant becomes the champion of this tournament by a large margin, then the expressions on those venture capitalists' faces would definitely be priceless."

"They'll be so regretful they'll want to jump off a building, I guarantee it."

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