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

"???I?"

Yu Shen was taken aback for a moment, then muttered to himself, "Why does this guy care about me? Could he be from CD too?"

Thinking of this, he suddenly shivered.

This really won't work!

"Yes, it's you."

Li Zhibai began to employ his sincere and persuasive tactics, continuing:

"Brother Yu, I remember you were among the first to come and support the new store when it opened. You were there even before the old store became popular, and you are the customer who has visited my store the most, without exception."

"I, Li Zhibai, have seen and remembered your support."

Yu Shen became even more wary: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Li Zhibai: "I want to tell you that I really hoped you could win first place at the last Bodhi Jade Pavilion tasting event. During that time, I couldn't sleep every night, tossing and turning in bed. All I could think about was your money... ah, no, all I could think about was how much Brother Yu supports me. I wish I could give Brother Yu the customization rights."

"But who would have thought that Uncle Huo would book the entire place and steal it on the last day? As a shop owner, how could I not take the money he was paying me? I had no choice in the matter."

"So I could only watch helplessly as your customization rights were snatched away by the big boss. I felt so bad, it was worse than if I had been ripped off myself."

Yu nodded in deep agreement: "That old man really doesn't have any martial ethics, he's a real schemer."

He was frustrated for several days after being completely outmaneuvered by an old man who booked the entire venue last time.

"So, you called me here today because...?"

Li Zhibai didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "Brother Yu, you are the second customer in our store to obtain Diamond VIP status, and you are also the most qualified person to win this customization right. I really can't bear to see you fail again, so I've decided to risk being scolded by other customers and offer you a little help."

"What kind of help?"

"I can give you a daily report on other people's spending rankings, telling you where you rank and how big the gap is between you and the people before and after you."

"Think about it, if you could know other people's cards in advance, and know if they've cheated, wouldn't your chances of getting the first one be much higher? And you could also do some preparation work in advance..." Li Zhibai told him his plan.

Yu Shen's eyes widened after hearing this: "Damn it! Boss, how could you do this? You're so insidious! I, Yu Shen, am an upright person, I do things honestly and openly, how could I do something so sneaky and betray my brothers? You're insulting my character!"

"So, are you going to do it or not?"

"Let's do it!" Yu Shen didn't hesitate for a second.

"I used this trick, boss, you must keep it a secret. Don't let anyone else know, especially Lao Lu, that guy is very shrewd."

"Don't worry, I don't have many other strengths, but I'm extremely tight-lipped," Li Zhibai continued. "If I didn't want you to win first place, I wouldn't have kept you behind alone."

"Boss, you've done a really good job this time. It's worth it for me to come to your restaurant every day."

"Absolutely!"

"..."

Yu Shen left the kitchen happily. To be honest, he didn't expect Li Zhibai to take the initiative to help him. It seems that Li Heizi is not so heartless after all. He still has a conscience sometimes and knows who his most loyal customers are.

If he can secure this customization deal, he can really show off in front of Fatty and the others.

After Yu Shen left, Li Zhibai's smile slowly faded, and he took out his phone from his pocket and sent a message to Pang Yi.

Brother Pang, there's something I wanted to tell you. Yu Shen just contacted me; it seems he's planning to steal some chickens...

【Please don't tell anyone that I told you this. I just think you're the most suitable person to get the customization rights, and I can't bear to see you lose this opportunity.】

Pang Yi replied instantly: 【?? Explain in detail.】

Get it done.

Li Zhibai then sent WeChat messages to the other people one by one.

Brother Cha, I have something to tell you. It seems Yu Shen and Pang Yi are about to join forces. You mustn't let them scheme against you...

By the way, don't tell anyone I told you. I risked offending other customers by tipping you off. Just keep it to yourself, don't tell anyone.

Next up is Wang Yun.

Brother Wang, I've always thought your love story with your girlfriend is particularly touching and deserves a custom adaptation, so I must remind you that Yu Shen, Pang Yi, and Cha Xiaochai seem to be teaming up to mess with you two...

Keep this a secret, don't tell anyone I told them.

【…】

Li Zhibai sent private messages to each of them, using similar phrases: "There's a traitor among you; you'd better get out of here."

After distributing the gifts in one round, he couldn't help but give himself a thumbs up for his cleverness.

"What kind of unity are you all trying to establish? Do you really want to have a final showdown on the last day?"

"Did you ask about my Dragon-Slaying Saber?"

When Li Zhibai finished making the last dish, he noticed something was wrong. The restaurant was supposed to be full with 60 people today, but the total number of dishes served was only half of what was served at the last tasting event, and the revenue was only about half. This was obviously abnormal.

These guys must have reached some kind of secret agreement to fight against his Dragon Slayer Blade.

Since that's the case, then don't blame him for resorting to Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Of course, in terms of the outcome, Li Zhibai really hoped that Yu Shen could get the customization rights, since he was the only one who got the fragments today, and obviously had the best chance of synthesizing it first.

He didn't offer Yu Shen no help at all; at least he would reveal other people's spending ranking data to him. As for whether he could ultimately get a spot, that depended on his luck.

When Li Zhibai came out of the kitchen, almost everyone in the shop had left, except for a lonely figure sitting in the corner.

It was Yang Chongwu.

This guy had eaten all the food in front of him, not even leaving the decorative bamboo leaves under the plate.

He didn't leave after finishing his meal; he just sat there, as if waiting for something.

Li Zhibai had a premonition, and walked over to ask, "Brother, you're still here? Is there something you want to tell me?"

Seeing that Li Zhibai had finally finished his work, Yang Chongwu nodded and asked, "Boss, can you make 100 kinds of eggs?"

Li Zhibai: "???"

"100 kinds... eggs?"

"Yes, 100! 100 different ways to cook eggs. Can you do them?" Yang Chongwu asked again.

Li Zhibai certainly knows how to make eggs, such as scrambled eggs, fried eggs, steamed eggs, braised eggs, tea eggs, tiger-skin eggs, egg dumplings, egg custard, egg drop soup, soft-boiled eggs, onsen eggs... He can easily make twenty or thirty kinds.

However, if there are 100 kinds, even the God of Cookery would probably be scratching his head in a short time.

Why are you asking this?

"I've been trying to raise investment recently," Yang Chongwu explained. "Through a friend's introduction, I met an investor who started out in the chain restaurant business. He was quite interested in our team, so we had an in-depth conversation. We were having a very pleasant chat, but at the end, he suddenly asked me a question."

"What's the problem?"

He asked me, "Can you cook 100 kinds of eggs?"

"I thought the question was absurd at the time. What does it have to do with me developing enterprise software and how many eggs I can make? But he told me to go back and think it over carefully, and then come back to him when I had figured it out."

"I went back and thought about it seriously for a long time. I felt that he was probably testing my business thinking, such as how to maximize the value of a single ingredient, or how to create infinite possibilities with limited resources... Isn't this the core proposition of entrepreneurship?"

"Then when I got back, I started to seriously study how to cook eggs. For example, I studied hard-boiled eggs for a long time. Boiling them in boiling water for 6 minutes and 23 seconds makes a soft-boiled egg, 8 minutes and 17 seconds makes a sandy egg, and more than 10 minutes makes a hard-boiled egg..."

"I've also come up with several kinds of fried rice, such as Yangzhou fried rice, Guangzhou fried rice, curry fried rice, tomato fried rice... After all, I'm not a chef, and I can only come up with more than twenty kinds even if I rack my brains, so I wanted to ask you for advice."

"You're a professional chef, and your cooking is so delicious. You must know more than I do. Is there any way you can make 100 different dishes?"

Li Zhibai basically understood what was going on.

The investor seemed to have no intention of investing in Yang Chongwu's project at all, so he deliberately presented a problem that was almost impossible to solve, hoping that Yang Chongwu would back down on his own.

However, Yang Chongwu may have been rejected too many times and was too eager to seize the opportunity, so he didn't think in this direction, or perhaps he was unwilling to believe that the other party was asking such a harsh question to reject him.

What if? What if it really can be done?

Looking at Yang Chongwu, a programmer by training, Li Zhibai felt both sorry for him and amused.

To be honest, it's not impossible to help him come up with a hundred ways to cook eggs, but it would be time-consuming and laborious, and it can't be done in a short period of time.

Of course, this doesn't mean he's unwilling to help.

Yang Chongwu was the first customer to walk in on the first day of his Shaxian store's opening. Although his wealth had faded from a noble purple to green, life is always full of ups and downs, and everyone has their low points.

If the other party really does get financing with his help, goes public, and becomes a billionaire, and then thinks back to how only a heartless boss who runs a Shaxian snack shop helped him on his arduous entrepreneurial journey... wouldn't he want to set up his company cafeteria at his Shaxian snack shop?

Just thinking about that scene is pretty exciting.

"Brother Yang, leave this to me, I have a way."

Yang Chongwu hadn't held out much hope, but his eyes lit up when he heard Li Zhibai agree: "Really, Boss Li? You can really make 100 kinds of eggs?"

Li Zhibai laughed: "Why make 100 kinds? One is enough."

"Of course, these eggs will be very expensive!"