Chapter 201: Chapter 201: Hitting the Jackpot

’Oh my god, even if I studied for another ten years, I’d never be able to do that! Isn’t this just picking on a newbie?!’

Xin Yu wailed inwardly.

"No need." Shen Lu spooned the ingredients for the stir-fried diced chili sauce into small white saucers, one by one, and arranged them neatly.

"Then why are you doing it this way today? Will it taste better?"

Shen Lu blinked. "No, but it can be sold for a higher price."

"Huh?"

"Just kidding. The Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Peppers costs the same as the other set meals, 90 Star Coins."

After all, these fish weren’t from the system. They were the old, weak, and sickly leftovers from the Upper City District. The meat quality was poor, and they had a strong, muddy taste, which the diced hot peppers were perfect for masking.

Once the diced chili sauce was stir-fried, the steamer was ready. Shen Lu reopened the settings on her Light Brain and gave Lin Zhou a look.

The latter sighed silently and did as Shen Lu had instructed. When Shen Lu tossed out the tray holding the fish head, he steadily guided it into the steamer with his superpower.

While waiting, they filmed some B-roll. When the time was up, they opened the steamer, and a large cloud of white steam billowed out. The Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Peppers flew out from within the mist.

Shen Lu had already prepared sizzling hot oil. With a swift pour and a garnish of two deliberately placed sprigs of cilantro, the Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Peppers was ready.

Finally, Shen Lu held a wok spatula, struck the Kitchen King’s classic arms-crossed pose for an ending shot, and with that, the day’s video shoot was complete.

Of course, for filming convenience, Shen Lu had only made one serving of the Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Peppers. Once filming was done, she quickly called over Song Zhigao and Shu Meng to help her prepare the rest of the fish heads.

Shen Lu was only making 50 servings of the Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Peppers today. With both the upper and lower steam-ovens running, she could cook them all in one go.

The Kung Pao Chicken was left entirely to Little Mantis, while Shen Lu had Song Zhigao take charge of the Braised Pork Belly—she just needed to portion out the seasonings for him. Shu Meng was mainly responsible for the four vegetable dishes.

Shen Lu and Cai Su prepared the Malatang, mint water, and braised dishes. Seeing that it wasn’t even 11:30, she went to the front counter to edit the video.

When the shooting is done well, the post-production editing is a breeze.

Shen Lu finished the editing in less than half an hour. As usual, she uploaded the video to various platforms and took a quick look at the comments.

Uh... well, as expected, it was a flood of negative reviews.

Especially recently. After she started mixing in a large proportion of local ingredients, the dishes were far less visually appealing than before. Someone had even posted two comparison photos.

In one photo, the ingredients were visibly fresh and crisp, the sauce glistening. You could imagine how delicious it was without even taking a bite.

The dish in the other photo was clearly much worse, with ingredients of inconsistent quality.

All Shen Lu could do was sigh.

’I hope Xue Can keeps his word and solves this ingredient problem.’

[DING! Mission issued: Sell 500 Braised Pork Belly set meals, 400 Kung Pao Chicken set meals, and 30 Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Peppers set meals. Achieve a total revenue of 99,000 Star Coins and a customer satisfaction rating of three stars or higher. Time limit: eight hours.]

Shen Lu composed herself and prepared to open for business.

The customers were very receptive to the small change in the set meals; in fact, they thought it was great.

"This is great! Now I can have different side dishes every day."

"But it won’t be the same four side dishes every day, right?"

"Boss Shen, if I get all vegetable dishes, can it be a little cheaper?"

...

However, questions also came flooding in. Cai Su could answer some, but not others.

Shen Lu had no choice but to have Wang Daguo cover her post at the front counter while she went to help in the fast-food section.

"The side dishes won’t be exactly the same every day; there will be slight changes."

"Sorry, you can’t get all vegetable dishes, but we’ll consider introducing an all-vegetarian set meal in the future."

Shen Lu answered everyone’s questions as best she could. After the initial bit of chaos, order was restored.

Shen Lu breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the front counter.

A girl ran over excitedly and placed two cards in front of her.

"Boss, I have ten stamps between these two cards. Can I enter the raffle?!"

Shen Lu first checked the cards’ authenticity. After confirming they weren’t counterfeit, she asked the girl, "The other card isn’t yours, is it?"

"It’s not, but she was willing to sell her card to me."

"Is she here? I need to ask her."

"What’s that supposed to mean? Are you accusing me of getting it through dishonest means?"

Seeing the girl was about to get angry, Shen Lu quickly placated her.

"That’s not what I meant. You probably know there’s a chance to win Li Zexing’s merchandise in the raffle. A lot of people are collecting stamps just for that. I’m only asking because I’m worried she might take your money and then change her mind, which would cause trouble not only for you but for our shop as well."

The girl thought that made sense, so she ran outside and pulled another girl in.

"Here, she’s the one who sold it to me."

Shen Lu looked at the girl who had sold the card. "Are you sure you want to transfer this card to her? Once you do, you’ll have to start accumulating stamps all over again from zero."

The girl selling the card looked a little embarrassed. "Mhm, I’m sure."

After getting the confirmation, Shen Lu pulled out the long-prepared but never-before-used raffle box from under the counter.

The girl’s face lit up, and she reached out to draw a ticket, but Shen Lu took half a step back.

"Ma’am, before you draw, I need to reiterate a few things. There are many prizes in here, not just Li Zexing’s merchandise. The probability of drawing Li Zexing’s merch is 5%. I hope you understand."

"I know, I know! I’ve always been lucky. I’ll definitely get what I want!" the girl said impatiently. "Hurry up and let me draw!"

Only then did Shen Lu let her draw.

The raffle box was filled with small slips of paper. The girl rummaged around inside with her right hand for over ten seconds before finally picking the one she felt was most likely to be a winner. She opened it and saw: "One Limited-Edition Li Zexing Poster."

"It’s a poster!" The girl was ecstatic and shouted out loud, "I told you I was lucky! I got a poster on my first try!"

She hugged the girl who sold her the card and started jumping for joy. "AAAAH, I’m so happy!"

Shen Lu hadn’t expected her to be so lucky, either. She’d said she could win, and she actually did.

Of all the merchandise Li Zexing had given her, the posters were the most numerous, with forty or fifty of them.

Shen Lu asked the girl to wait a moment while she went to the back warehouse to get the poster.

Going to the warehouse was just a pretext. The merchandise was all in her System Warehouse, but Shen Lu felt it was better to keep up appearances.

In just that short time, the group of fans who had been tirelessly taking photos with the Li Zexing standee outside all crowded in, staring enviously at the girl who had won the poster.

"Didn’t they say the odds of winning merch were low? How did she win on her first try?"

"I’m so jealous. I wonder which poster she got?"

"It doesn’t matter which one it is. As long as it’s Brother Xing, it’s handsome!"

"Hey, sis, you willing to sell that poster?"

"If you sell it, consider me! You can name your price!"

"Is anyone else willing to sell their card? I want to try drawing once, too."

...

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