I've been possessed by a culinary genius, and I've turned Shaxian snacks into a rip-off!

"By the way, Master, your new shop is almost finished being renovated. Is it still called Shaxian Snacks?" Su Su asked.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhibai stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.

He was truly stumped by the question.

Logically speaking, his shop has a pure Shaxian origin, and his regular customers are already used to the Shaxian Snacks sign on Jiangdong South Road, so changing the name doesn't seem like a good idea. But Zhao Lei's shop across the street still has the old Shaxian Snacks sign; if his new 200-square-meter shop were to put up the exact same sign, wouldn't it lower its prestige?

After all, I'm worth over 50 million now (not counting debts), so I have to maintain the highest level of prestige!

Li Zhibai thought for a moment and said, "The name will definitely still be Shaxian, but it needs to be more high-end. Let's make a bilingual version in Chinese and English, and go straight to international standards."

"How about calling it 'Shaxian of the World' in Chinese and 'ShaXian of the World' in English? What do you think?"

Su Su thought the name sounded a bit cheesy, but upon closer inspection, it didn't seem wrong. The things sold in her master's shop were indeed expensive; calling them high-end Shaxian snacks wouldn't be wrong.

Before she could even offer her opinion, Li Zhibai seemed to have thought of something and added:

"By the way, the menu also needs to be bilingual. The Chinese version will be in RMB, and the English version will be in USD. It's specially prepared for foreigners. For example, braised pork is 99 RMB, and the English version will be 99 USD. Those who earn USD can spend USD, and those who earn RMB can spend RMB. This is called treating everyone equally and fairly."

Su Su: "...Master, isn't this kind of double-standard pricing illegal?"

"Uh..." Li Zhibai paused for a moment, scratched his head and said, "It seems so. In a society governed by the rule of law, we still have to legally rip off customers... no, legally operate our businesses."

Although he genuinely felt that the pricing was very reasonable, those foreigners were taking advantage of the exchange rate to make money and spend Chinese currency, making one yuan count as seven yuan. This was so unfair to Chinese consumers.

That's why he wanted to treat everyone equally, so that foreigners could also experience what true equality for all people means. But if he actually did that, there would indeed be problems; it would be suspected of being illegal.

However, Li Zhibai was a man of great talent. As soon as one plan was rejected, he immediately came up with a new one: "Then let's charge a service fee. Don't foreigners love the tipping culture? It's not right for them to come all the way to China and not experience the tipping culture back home. Let's charge a 20% service fee for every meal."

Su Su: "...That's certainly possible, as long as the price is clearly stated and notified in advance."

She was inwardly complaining, "Master, are you sure your shop offers any service? There isn't even a single waiter besides me."

Most importantly, the 20% service fee is at the top level in Jiangcheng.

"Then it's settled for now." Li Zhibai yawned again, said goodbye to Su Su, and went home.

I'm so sleepy.

Working at high intensity until 2 or 3 a.m. continuously is too much even for an iron man.

…………

The next few days.

Foreman Lao Zhang led a group of workers to speed up the progress, installing ceilings, laying tiles, installing light strips... They were busy as bees, and the new store was changing almost every day.

Li Zhibai still moved a small stool to the doorway and sat down, with a handful of spiced melon seeds in his left hand and a bottle of iced cola in his right, supervising the work while watching the commotion across the street, quite content.

He felt that if things continued this way, those two guys across the street would be packing their bags and heading back to their hometowns in about half a month at most.

However, just one day later, the situation on the other side began to change.

Three young women with good figures and looks appeared in the noodle shop across the street, and with their arrival, the number of male customers across the street visibly increased, and business actually improved quite a bit.

Li Zhibai observed for two more days before he was able to determine what the other side was doing.

Good heavens, Zhao Lei has hired a beautiful woman to scam people out of meals!

This trick is a bit old-fashioned, but it is indeed effective, although it is a little bit torture.

…………

Time flies, and Saturday is here in the blink of an eye.

The 7th Jiangcheng Master Chef Invitational Tournament officially kicked off at Hall C of the Jiangcheng International Convention and Exhibition Center.

Li Zhibai got up early in the morning and put on the battle robe he had made in advance, and then put on a loose sweatshirt over it to hide it.

As soon as the opportunity arises, he immediately performs a violent act of tearing off his jacket in front of the media and cameras, stunning the entire audience!

When Li Zhibai arrived at the location by taxi, he discovered that the scale of the competition was much larger and more formal than he had imagined.

The entire exhibition hall was divided into several areas. The central area was the competition area, surrounded by the audience seating and media area, and further out were the sponsors' booths.

After all, this is a professional culinary competition, and most of the attendees are top chefs and catering professionals in Jiangcheng. Some brands will definitely provide sponsorship.

Li Zhibai gasped as soon as he entered the venue.

It's not because of the scale of the event.

It wasn't because his "reading the table and tailoring the dish" skill had been stirred up like a hornet's nest at that moment, and he was frantically bombarding information with messages that he couldn't stop.

Gold, gold, purple, purple, purple, purple, purple, purple, purple, purple, gold, gold, gold, gold...

Good guy!

A bunch of gold and purple!

Everywhere you look, there are wealthy people with high spending potential.

This isn't a food competition; it's clearly a gathering of scoundrels.

Li Zhibai felt his hands starting to itch again, the kind of instinctive reaction that comes from seeing a fat sheep.

If so many wealthy people ate at his restaurant every day, wouldn't the 60 million debt be paid off in no time?

Seeing that he was staring intently, Su Su quickly reminded him, "Master, calm down, we're here to compete today."

"I know, I'm calm." Li Zhibai said calmly, but then turned to ask, "Sister Su Su, do you think if I hand out business cards to all the judges and audience members first, I'll get kicked out by security?"

"...Uh, probably not." Su Su wasn't sure.

"Really?"

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind.

"Master Li, Boss Su."

The two turned around and saw that it was Chef Fang Guoping, the head chef of He Feng Xi Yu.

"Master Fang, it's been a long time!" Li Zhibai greeted him warmly. Chef Fang was definitely one of the chefs he liked the most. After all, Chef Fang always gave him a free meal when he went to Chef Fang's restaurant, saving him several thousand yuan in total.

"How's business at the store lately? Is the braised pork selling well? Have you added any new dishes? I'll come back to try them another day."

Chef Fang's smile froze for a moment.

No, you've gotten addicted to this food, haven't you?!

You shameless bastard, why don't you just give me the money!

But he still maintained his composure: "I haven't researched the new product yet, Master Li. Today is a good opportunity for us to have a good spar. The competition in my shop last time doesn't count. I hope you can perform to your full potential in the invitational tournament and let me see your true strength."

"The championship is definitely mine," Li Zhibai said without hesitation.

Chef Fang: "...Hehe, Chef Li is so confident."

This kid really doesn't know how to write the word "humility".

As the group was chatting, the loudspeaker in the venue came on.

"Attention all participants, the 7th Jiangcheng Master Chef Invitational Tournament is about to begin. All participants, please proceed to the registration area to sign in and collect your competition attire and number tag. Again, all participants, please proceed to the registration area to sign in and collect your competition attire and number tag."

Li Zhibai's spirits lifted.

coming!

His battle robe can finally be put to good use today!