Food: Randomly set up stalls, even the little guy is drooling.

In this episode, although Lu Feng spent 3000 yuan to rent equipment to prove himself, he avoided a loss of 10,000 yuan, gained 5000 yuan from the side quest, and most importantly, preserved his reputation.

Once a reputation collapses, it's like a domino effect; no matter how much you argue, there will always be people pointing fingers and labeling you a bad business.

Similarly, some people have also seen internet traffic in it.

Liang Tao is a short video blogger on Douyin (TikTok), known online as "Xingcheng Tan Dian A Tao," and his main focus is exploring local restaurants.

In this parallel world, food is not a wasteland; competition is fierce, and people make no secret of their pursuit of delicious food.

This has resulted in two lists: one is the Meizhong platform's list, which is generated based on data such as real ratings from hundreds of millions of users, and has multiple sub-lists.

Another one, which is familiar to the general public yet even more mysterious, is the Gourmet List, an official organization of the Food Association. Every year, food critics from all over the country select the top ten in each province and the top one hundred nationwide, and an anonymous panel conducts cross-blind reviews. Without exception, those on the list are all legends in the culinary world.

Liang Tao is a staunch supporter of the Changsha branch of the Foodies Association, so this food ranking list has little to do with him.

But he is indeed a Level 5 senior public food critic on the Meizhong platform! In Go terms, that's like an amateur 10-dan!

With a certain ability to create entertaining content and an amateur level of expertise, he has a considerable number of fans, reaching 13, making him a well-known figure in the food scene of Changsha.

Today is Saturday, it's the weekend again.

Liang Tao lazily scrolled through the comments on his account, mostly the usual praise and complaints, until one comment caught his eye:

"Brother Tao, I found an amazing fried chicken place! It's so good that someone reported the owner for adding poppy shells, and the owner paid 3000 yuan out of his own pocket to prove it! I highly recommend it, and I hope Brother Tao will give it a shout-out, haha."

"So delicious it got reported?" Liang Tao scoffed, tossing his phone aside and muttering to himself, "My fans probably haven't eaten anything good. Those roadside fried chicken cutlets are just fried in any oil pan; they're greasy, cheap, how good can they be?"

"But..." Liang Tao picked up his phone again and carefully read the message, "Spending 3000 yuan to prove oneself? I've never seen this before."

Most street vendors, when faced with reports, can only close down and stop operating, accepting their bad luck. Paying 3000 yuan out of their own pocket to prove their innocence is definitely acting impulsively. In other words, they are "stubborn."

A playful smile slowly crept onto Liang Tao's lips. This highly controversial subject matter was simply the perfect code for generating buzz.

"So delicious it got reported" and "Paid 3,000 yuan to prove it"—these two tags alone are enough to boost the number of clicks. That's the kind of contrast we're after.

He quickly replied to the fan, "Thanks for the tip! What's your name? Could you please send your exact location and time? Let's check out some restaurants together today, and I'll treat you to late-night snacks tonight!"

The fan replied almost instantly, "Brother Tao, really?! My name is Zhang Jiahao, you can just call me Ahao. This stall opens at 6 pm, I've sent you the location, it's in front of the Wumei Fitness Center, Brother Tao, I'll be waiting for you!"

You can feel the excitement unique to young people on the other side of the screen between the lines.

Liang Tao glanced at his watch; it was just past one in the afternoon, plenty of time. After editing the footage he had recorded the day before, he clicked publish and then lay back down on his bed to catch up on sleep without any burden.

I slept quite soundly that night.

When he opened his eyes again, the afterglow of the sun was shining into the room. Liang Tao's heart skipped a beat as he remembered his promise to his fans.

"Oh my god, it's almost 6 o'clock." He glanced at his watch and sat up with a start. He quickly sent messages to his fans to explain, because he couldn't let his carefully cultivated image of "keeping his word" and "loving his fans" crumble.

"Ah Hao! I'm so sorry! I was delayed by processing videos this afternoon, I just woke up! I'm leaving right away, wait for me! Brother Tao has to make arrangements for you tonight!"

After sending the message, without waiting for a reply, he called his assistant, Xiao Chen, and they quickly drove to the agreed location.

By the time they arrived at their destination, it was already 6:35 p.m. Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Liang Tao was already expertly getting into the swing of things.

He first adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, then looked at his phone to refine his expression, nodded in satisfaction, and finally called his fan, "Ah-Hao, where are you?"

Not far away, a college student waved excitedly, "This! This! This!"

Liang Tao strode over, switching his expression to that of someone greeting fans, and extended his hand, saying, "Hello, Ah Hao, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

Zhang Jiahao was flattered and quickly replied, "It's nothing, I'm so happy that you could come, Brother Tao."

"Do you mind starting recording now?" Liang Tao asked gently, gesturing to his assistant to take out a handheld gimbal for filming.

Assistant Xiao Chen gave him an OK sign. Liang Tao turned around, instantly straightening up as if he were a different person. "Family, I'm A Tao. Today, we're not going to a fancy restaurant or a trendy shop. We're going to explore a very special little stall."

"This is a fried chicken stall. It got so popular because a fan recommended it so highly that someone reported it. Ah-hao, what do you think of it?"

After Zhang Jiahao briefly recounted the incident, Liang Tao continued, "They actually reported you for having poppy shells? What are poppy shells? They're drugs! The stall owner actually paid 3000 yuan out of his own pocket to prove it! Is this moral decay or a distortion of human nature? Is it a publicity stunt? Or is it true? Tonight, let's follow Brother Tao and find out the truth."

After reading the opening remarks, Zhang Jiahao, standing to the side, became anxious. "Brother Tao, we need to hurry! If we dawdle any longer, we won't get in line!"

"Huh?" Liang Tao was completely bewildered and asked, "Can't get in line? Doesn't it only start selling at 6 o'clock? It's only 40 minutes late, how can it possibly sell out?"

Liang Tao chuckled to himself as he spoke, though he was genuinely skeptical. How popular could a roadside stall possibly be?

"That's really necessary." Zhang Jiahao grabbed him and quickly ran towards the gym. "You'll see when you see it."

The three of them came out of the parking lot and stopped in their tracks.

The smile and composure on Liang Tao's face froze instantly.

There was a long line in front of me, starting from a small cart and stretching out and turning, almost filling the small open space in front of the fitness center.

He estimated that there were at least a hundred people.

"This..." Assistant Xiao Chen was also stunned, forgetting that he was holding the equipment.

Liang Tao snapped out of his daze and quickly reminded his assistant, clearing his throat, "Family members, look at this scene, so many people are queuing up. It seems this stall is indeed something special."

They had just reached the end of the line when a primary school student popped up and asked, "Are you here to buy chicken cutlets too?"

Liang Tao thought to himself, "Isn't that obvious?" But he still had to maintain his image in front of the camera. "What else can I do, kid? Do they hire child laborers here?"

The elementary school student ignored his teasing and simply pointed to the person in front of him who was looking down at their phone, explaining, "Sorry, we're sold out. This is the last number. Come back tomorrow."