Chapter 14: Hundred Flowers Blossom Within A Single Night as Customers Willingly Line Up!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Every single move by Qingshan Corporation was enough to cause an uproar on the internet forums.
“Is Qingshan Corporation trying to create an internet sensation through this?”
A netizen under the name “I’m not a Loli” posted.
“That’s not very likely… what’s the point of creating a sensation over a private restaurant?” Another netizen nicknamed “Panda” replied.
“Hey, it’s not entirely impossible! Big corporations like them are not idiots. Actions that may look normal to us would usually have some profound hidden meaning and logic behind them,” a user called “Lady White is not White” rationalized.
Similar discussions had also started on another famous Qingcheng gourmet forum. The moderator had even pinned the thread as the hottest topic!
“This restaurant really has some ridiculous rules! How could anyone do business like that?” A netizen complained.
“Perhaps all those with outstanding abilities are bound to be abnormal…“ another user replied in dissatisfaction.
“Hey guys, wanna go and check it out?” Someone posted out of the blue.
When this sentence suddenly appeared, the thread momentarily fell silent.
Wang Jun was 28 years old and was from a rather well-to-do family, allowing him to live comfortably without having to worry about money. He only had one hobby in his life, and that was… to eat!
The moment he learned of any new delicious food’s existence within the city, he would spare no effort to try and lay his hands on it. As soon as he heard that there’s a private restaurant which was heavily recommended by Qingshan Corporation, he’d immediately become excited. However, when Wang Jun read the discussions on the thread, he realized immediately that these guys had all missed the crux of the topic. Thus, he’d immediately proposed to go and check whether the food there was really that good.
Seeing the thread fall into silence, Wang Jun felt a little creeped out.
But in less than 20 seconds, the thread erupted again. This time, everyone was spamming the same thing: “Tycoon! Filthy rich!”.
“Ah, please take this cute little girl with you! I can warm your bed oh~”
As expected, a few comments written by trolls were mixed into the spam. [1]
“This is a private restaurant strongly recommended by Qingshan Corporation. The price of a single meal should roughly cost me my entire month’s pay!” A kind netizen explained.
“Surely it’s not THAT costly?” Wang Jun asked in reply.
“Dear Sir, wilt thou volunteer as a sacrifice? You can go ahead of us and test for poison first! Report back to us with the results later on…“ an ill-intentioned netizen posted with a devil smiley emoticon.
By that time, a few big shots had also started to share the message posted by Qingshan Corporation on their social media accounts. Some of them had tens of thousand to a few hundred thousand followers each. Thus, the message quickly became viral and reached millions of people.
Similar scenes were happening across all the well-known local forums. Countless people were making various speculations about the taste of the private restaurant’s food.
Within a single night, Bei Feng’s Weibo account had gained over a few hundred thousand followers!
***
The culprit behind the whole commotion, Bei Feng, was completely oblivious to what was going on on the internet. He had woken up early in the morning before the sunrise and was already halfway to his spot on the side of Mt. Qing Ling.
Although summer was the hottest season, it was also the most humid. It was especially so high within the wooded mountains, so by the time Bei Feng climbed atop the giant jutting rock on the side of the mountain, the hems of his track pants were already soaked with dew.
Bei Feng stretched lazily for a short moment before starting on the three movement sets of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique. As expected, his movements were much more fluent this time thanks to the practice he did the day before.
‘As my insights regarding the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique increase, the amount of the Yang Qi I can absorb is increasing as well. With its aid, my body will become stronger over time and I will be able to practice the movements of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique more smoothly,’ Bei Feng thought calmly.
The cultivation process was actually quite conducive in regard to advancing in it. Absorbing the first rays of the sun strengthened the body. With a stronger body, cultivating the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique would have a better effect, resulting in the ability to absorb the sun rays in even greater quantities!
The sky slowly turned brighter and the sun’s rays were about the break through the clouds. Appearing to have sensed the imminent arrival of the sun, Bei Feng, who was deep in meditation, suddenly opened his eyes. It was time to begin cultivating the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique, this time in its entirety and not just as a set of movements.
Just as the contours of the clouds were lit up and the sun’s rays finally forced their way through the clouds, Bei Feng had also completed the last movement set of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique. Immediately after, he lifted his head and… took in a deep breath!
If the thickness of the wisp of sun ray which Bei Feng had absorbed last time could be likened to a strand of a hair, then this time it was like two strands of hair. In other words, the amount of Yang Qi which he could absorb had been doubled after a day’s practice!
The first ray of the sun contained a huge amount of vitality which was extremely beneficial when absorbed by the human body.
“Hua Hua!”
The moment the ray of light entered Bei Feng’s body, he felt like his entire body had been petrified. He stood rigidly like a stone statue on the rocky surface.
Although he appeared to be motionless, one could actually hear the blood surging with vitality within Bei Feng’s veins if one approached close enough!
His heart was beating powerfully, each beat sending a large amount of blood to every corner of his body. There, countless tiny cells were ravenously absorbing the Yang Qi within Bei Feng’s boiling blood.
As the tiny cells gradually reached their maximum capacity to contain energy and were unable to absorb anymore, they began to break off and form new cells! However, these newly created cells were filled with vitality, being much stronger than the old ones!
All the cells within Bei Feng’s body were brimming with energy and joy, and he felt extremely comfortable. Even his spirit seemed frisky like a fairy!
“Eh? It’s over?” Bei Feng felt a little disappointed that the wondrous transformative energy was used up so quickly.
Similar to the last time, a thin layer of grey sweat had formed on top of his body. It was a shade darker than the last time, though it was not that obvious. One wouldn’t notice unless they inspected it carefully.
Bei Feng brought up the Myriad Heavens Fishing System Interface within his consciousness and looked at it. Apart from the addition of the Minor Illumination Breathing Technique and 300 points of experience, nothing else had changed.
Acquiring only 300 out of 10,000 experience points required to reach level 2 Fisherman so far was rather slow indeed. It was like trying to counter a house fire with a cup of water.
‘I wonder what will happen once I level up… anyway, my physical state’s really too poor. Apart from my mental power, every other stat like speed or strength does not even match that of a regular person!’
Bei Feng felt that his body should have improved somewhat after having absorbed the vitality of the first sunray two days in a row. However, there were no changes to the numbers on the interface of the system.
Thus, Bei Feng theorized that the Myriad Heavens Fishing System would only display stats in whole numbers. For example, his strength was displayed as 4, but the exact value should be equal to something like 4.1 or 4.2…
Apparently, this was something that was overlooked by the Myriad Heavens Fishing System. The decimal places would only show for double digit numbers and above. [2]
Feeling immensely energized and refreshed, Bei Feng went back down the mountain and returned to the mansion.
“I wonder if Wang Jian’s side has begun the promotion campaign yet…“
Bei Feng picked up his phone and looked at his Weibo account. Out of habit, he glanced at the number of followers.
“H… hundred thousand! 260,000 followers?!”
Bei Feng stared at the phone dumbly. He couldn’t understand how he’d gained so many followers overnight!
“Boss! What did you do to gain the support of Qingshan Corporation and make them help you with advertising? I’m a novice entrepreneur who’d just set up a new company. Can you give me some advice?” A user called “The Fighting Fatty” posted. There was even an emoticon of a vulgar-looking yellow mutt at the end of the sentence. [3]
“Boss! Is the boss reading this? My monthly salary is 5,000! Is it enough to eat a meal at your restaurant?” Another netizen called “The Colossal Foodie” posted on his Weibo.
“Envying the guy above… my monthly salary is 2,500 only… I think I might not even have a pair of underwear left to my name if I ate at Boss’s place,” a user nicknamed “I’m a Poor Man” commented.
“There’s word that the design of the restaurant is pretty good… apparently, there’s a thick sense of history and culture there,” someone called “Roasted Ancient Beast” added.
All sorts of comments and discussions were all over his Weibo page. The most fervent user and the one who posted the most was a person called “Soy Sauce Gang”.
Apart from that, there were also numerous requests for reservations as well. Bei Feng took one look at his message board and felt his brain swelling up.
He immediately wrote a post stating all the obvious bullsh*t like “thank you for the overwhelming support” and so on. Then he hastily created a few WeChat and Weibo group chats for the new followers.
“Haha! First! Capture the boss alive for a medal!” A comment appeared within 20 seconds of Bei Feng’s post being released.
“Brothers! I volunteer as tribute! Let me test the poison first!” A netizen was prepared to be Bei Feng’s first customer.
“The guy above has a really high level of loyalty! Very well, go brother, and may peace be with you. I’ll be sure to take care of your wife for you,” someone replied.
“That’s right! You can leave your wife to us and go with a peace of mind. We’ll take good care of her for you. We’ll also burn some paper money for you every year at this time in remembrance of you, so that you can live comfortably in the realm of the dead!” [4]
Bei Feng watched as the entire conversation unfolded and veered off into entirely unrelated matters right before his eyes, causing his forehead to become covered with black lines. These people really had a f*cking screw loose! [5]
[1] ED/N: If someone doesn’t know what a troll (and the verb ‘to troll’ derived from it) is, the word refers to a user who tries to swindle or set up others and derives pleasure from the resulting misfortune they suffer, and sometimes from how they get angry. Can be extended to people in the real life.
[2] ED/N: The TL seems correct as far as I can tell with my meager A1 Chinese, but I really don’t get what the author is trying to say here. Maybe he doesn’t see a difference between 10,000 and 10.000? Otherwise, I’ve understood it correctly and it’s just that the system is mighty weird...
[3] ED/N: In China, you sometimes refer to shopkeepers and the like using the word “boss”.
[4] TL/N: Joss paper, also known as ghost money, refers to sheets of paper and/or paper-crafts made into burnt offerings which are common in various Asian religious practices, including the veneration of the deceased on holidays and special occasions. Joss paper, as well as other papier-mâché items, are also burned or buried in various Asian funerals to ensure that the spirit of the deceased has lots of good things in the afterlife.
[5] ED/N: The same expression from anime I’d explained before.