Chapter 253: Chapter 253: True Face

Lai Liang’s cooking class went from audience dissatisfaction to public adoration, but that transformation couldn’t have happened without financial backing.

The person responsible for all of this was, naturally, Chang Mu.

A large sum of money was spent, a professional, high-end "water army" was hired to manufacture public opinion, and dozens of major influencers coordinated to generate hype. From the looks of it, the results were excellent.

Chang Mu was very pleased. ’That idiot system has been offline so often recently, and nothing has been going my way,’ she thought. ’Finally, something to be happy about.’

’It seems not having the system isn’t such a big deal after all. I can still accomplish great things on my own!’

Now, as long as she stuck to the script and promoted Lai Liang, she could stay behind the scenes and completely crush Nan Zhi.

Just then, while she was reveling in her success, she received a phone call.

The caller ID read "Father."

After Chang Mu transmigrated into this body, the memories she received were incomplete.

She only knew that the original owner’s father was a businessman who was often busy flying all over the world. However, he treated his eldest daughter from his first wife quite well—so well that even his second wife and the young son he had with her couldn’t surpass the eldest daughter in his eyes.

Because of this, everyone around the original owner, including her stepmother, treated her very well.

But the original owner had a naturally distant personality. Whether it was with her doting father, her ingratiating stepmother, or her fearful younger brother, she was uniformly polite but lacked intimacy.

In Chang Mu’s eyes, this was absolutely foolish behavior!

’Her biological mother is already dead. The original owner’s only support in this world is her biological father.’

’What’s the deal with not trying to curry favor with your own father and exhausting yourself by relying on your own efforts every day?’

’It’s such a childish mentality. Naive! Ridiculous!’

Fortunately, it was her in charge now.

’With her father’s inherent affection, plus my methods, completely winning him over and replacing the stepmother and brother to inherit the entire fortune will be a piece of cake, won’t it?’

So, as soon as Chang Mu answered the phone, she called out sweetly, "Daddy."

The person on the other end was clearly stunned for two seconds.

"You..."

After a pause, Father Chang changed the subject.

"I looked at your recent bills. Your spending seems a bit high lately. Did something happen?"

’So it’s just about this little thing?’ Chang Mu thought.

On the surface, however, she remained obedient and explained that she was on a variety show recently and some people were badmouthing her, so she spent a little money to hire a reputation management firm.

Father Chang said pensively,

"You should know to do things in moderation."

’Moderation? In a variety show? Of course I have moderation! No one has more moderation than me!’

"I know, Daddy."

Since the opportunity had presented itself, Chang Mu wasn’t about to let it go. She seized the chance to shower Father Chang with questions about his well-being.

Unfortunately, the other person seemed to be busy and hung up after a few brief replies.

Just before he hung up, did Chang Mu hear her stepmother’s voice?

’That’s not right. Father Chang is on a business trip abroad, and my stepmother said she was staying in the country to take care of that useless brother of hers. She didn’t go with him, did she?’

’Did I mishear?’

Chang Mu didn’t dwell on it.

Her attention at that moment wasn’t on this matter.

The online feedback about Lai Liang left her very satisfied. Afterward, Chang Mu called Teacher Zhang.

She said the cooking class was having a great effect and that it would be best to increase it to one session per day.

Teacher Zhang tactfully refused.

"The children have other classes to attend. Isn’t one session every day a bit too much?"

"Lai Liang will only be in the mountains for a week. Holding classes every day is the only way to maximize the benefit! Teacher Zhang, you should understand this logic!"

Chang Mu said without a second thought.

Teacher Zhang was silent for a few seconds before asking,

"But the higher-ups said that Teacher Lai Liang would be staying in Guisheng Province for two months."

Chang Mu knew that, of course.

The "two months" was an empty promise she had made.

In reality, Lai Liang had only agreed to stay for a week at most.

He wouldn’t do it for any longer, no matter how much more money she offered.

But Chang Mu wasn’t stupid. She knew she couldn’t reveal that now.

So she just hummed vaguely in response.

"Teacher Lai Liang has something urgent that came up, so he has to leave, but don’t worry. I’ll find other teachers to take over for him. They’ll be just as good as Teacher Lai Liang, I guarantee it. It’ll be a great chance for our kids to try delicacies from other countries!"

There was nothing in writing anyway, so Chang Mu just made things up on the fly.

’When the time comes, I’ll just see how things are and make arrangements then.’

’Once Lai Liang gets famous, plenty of people will come knocking on my door to collaborate. Maybe I won’t even have to pay them.’

As for whether their skill level would be worse than Lai Liang’s, that wasn’t something she was concerned about.

Chang Mu reassured Teacher Zhang without any sense of guilt.

It was unclear whether Teacher Zhang believed her or not. Chang Mu quickly hung up, then called Lai Liang to tell him about her new arrangement.

Lai Liang’s voice sounded a bit stifled, likely because he felt the workload was too heavy and was unhappy about it.

Chang Mu casually promised,

"I’ll give you double the pay! Besides, think about the momentum I’m building for you right now. Don’t you want to seize this golden opportunity?"

It was unclear whether it was the money or the opportunity that moved him, but in the end, Lai Liang agreed.

By the next day, before the cooking class began, the entire internet was flooded with promotional articles for Lai Liang’s cooking class.

The water army and major influencers all mobilized. At a glance, the spectacle seemed to be generating even more buzz than Nan Zhi had initially!

Someone brazenly declared:

’This is the charm of a professional chef! An amateur like Nan Zhi can’t compare!’

Meanwhile, in the back kitchen of the village school’s cafeteria.

There was no one else around, and no cameras either.

Only Lai Liang’s furious voice echoed in the empty room—

"What did you say? Change the menu? The live stream starts in one hour, and you’re suggesting I change the menu now? Is your brain flooded with water, or were you kicked in the head by a donkey? Has breathing the air in this godforsaken mountainous area made you lose your mind?"

The person Lai Liang was yelling at was his assistant.

In truth, he wasn’t as good-tempered as he appeared on the surface.

In his own restaurant, in his own kitchen, the assistant chefs, apprentices, and staff had secretly given him the nickname "Tyrant" because he had a terrible temper and would explode at the slightest provocation.

Having been in Guisheng Province for just two short days, it was extremely rare for him to have held his temper in check for this long.

At this moment, with no other eyes on him and only his assistant of several years in front of him, his true temper was revealed without restraint.

The assistant was already used to this high-pressure environment and said, trembling,

"But... the kids didn’t really like the sashimi we made yesterday. The principal came to me, hoping we could switch to something more suitable for children. I was just thinking, maybe we could change the menu to something like fried pork cutlets, like the fried chicken Miss Nan Zhi made a few days ago. The children would definitely love that..."

Before he could finish, Lai Liang cut him off.

His face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

"You want me to learn from that Nan Zhi?"

The assistant summoned his courage.

"If it’s for the good of the children..."

"Shut your mouth! What right does she have to be compared to me?"

Lai Liang, a walking powder keg, had finally exploded!

The assistant tried to explain incoherently.

Lai Liang refused to listen, acting as if he had been gravely insulted.

With one hand on his hip and the other waving angrily, he spewed a stream of curses.

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