Although Gan Lan was thrilled that they were booking the whole place, what she needed right now was popularity. How could a mere four people bring life to 44 Red Demon Street? While she didn’t know the exact criteria for "bringing it to life," it should probably be like her original world—turning it into a Food Street or something similar.
Or perhaps something like the Food Street at Mingzong. However, transforming it to that extent in just one month would have been nearly impossible in her original world. In this world, there was a slight possibility, but there were too many restrictions. The competition format was rather harsh, especially since access to the Star Network was restricted.
Therefore, relying solely on the Guos was completely unfeasible. She had to go out and promote it, perhaps by setting up a food tasting. For this, she would probably need to enlist Guo Daixuan or Guo Dacheng to drive her to a bustling area in their flying cars for a live mukbang show!
Gan Lan had come up with this idea on a whim, but the more she thought about it, the more viable it seemed. The more she pondered it, the more she felt that she was truly a genius for thinking of it.
She decided to put it into action tomorrow. She would take the stage herself and bring the Guo siblings along. As long as the promotional effect was good, then for the duration of her stay on the Red Demon Star, anything she cooked would be completely free for them to eat, whenever they wanted.
Besides, the Guo siblings were quite good-looking. Although their eating habits were a bit unrefined, they were highly captivating.
"Let’s put aside your legendary five-person support group for a moment. I need you to do me a favor. The reward for this is that for every day I remain on the Red Demon Star, you’ll get a portion of whatever good food I make!" Gan Lan patted Guo Daixuan’s shoulder with her clean hand.
Guo Daixuan, who was busy sucking on a shrimp, was so tempted by this reward that she wanted to agree immediately. On second thought, agreeing right away would make her seem too cheap; she needed to play hard to get.
Even though her eyes were already shining brightly, she held back and asked with forced restraint, "What is it?" Despite asking, she had already decided that no matter what Gan Lan wanted her to do, as long as it was within her capabilities and didn’t violate her moral bottom line or break the law, she would do it.
She was thoroughly won over by Gan Lan’s culinary skills. Although she had only had vegetable porridge, sponge cake, spicy Ugly Shrimp, and garlic Ugly Shrimp today, everything perfectly suited her tastes. Let alone one favor, she would gladly do a hundred!
Before Gan Lan could even open her mouth, Guo Dacheng eagerly interjected. "Whatever my sister can do, I can do too! Don’t even worry about what it is, I agree! I’ll take that reward!"
"She asked me first. What does this have to do with you?" Guo Daixuan glared fiercely and raised a fist in threat. "Trying to steal my business? Or did you not get beaten enough earlier?"
"Dad!" Guo Dacheng bellowed, pointing a shrimp head at Guo Daixuan. "Look at her, she’s always trying to hit me! I’m going to sue her for domestic violence!"
Old Guo was so startled by the yell that he choked on his food. Coughing, he slapped Guo Dacheng on the back. "Are you trying to scare me to death so you can inherit the family business? In your dreams!"
Yuanyuan looked back and forth between them, completely bewildered as to why they had suddenly started arguing. Oh well, she should just go back to eating her shrimp. The shrimp was delicious.
Gan Lan hurriedly intervened to stop the three of them from engaging in a full-blown brawl. The two younger ones were one thing, but how did Uncle Guo end up joining the fray? What a delightfully chaotic family.
"I haven’t even said what the favor is yet! Both of you can go, Yuanyuan can go too, and if you don’t mind losing face, Uncle Guo, you can join as well. Now stop fighting and listen to me!"
The three of them, who had already rolled up their sleeves, instantly quieted down. Old Guo rolled his sleeves back down, returning to his gentle, gentlemanly demeanor. He looked at Gan Lan with keen interest and asked, "Losing face? What kind of face-losing?"
"I plan to have Xuan drive me to the most bustling area on the Red Demon Star, preferably somewhere relatively close to here, like the center of the street, to host a live mukbang show. I’ll take the stage myself, but I won’t have enough drawing power alone. If I bring Xuan and the others, the effect might be pretty good. Of course, if you want to join us, Uncle Guo, you’re more than welcome," Gan Lan explained her idea.
"So that’s the plan. What do you think? Are you going?" Gan Lan asked each of them again.
"Wouldn’t it be better to just do a livestream or buy some ads so more people can see it?" Guo Dacheng played games often, so he was familiar with the concept of livestreaming.
If done well, the income would be substantial. Plus, Gan Lan was cooking the Red Demon Star’s most infamous Ugly Shrimp. It would either become wildly popular or completely ignored, given how much the locals despised the Ugly Shrimp crawling all over the planet.
Besides, he’d heard that this year’s culinary competition was being held on the Red Demon Star. He just didn’t know where all the participants had gone. Logically, a competition should make the planet incredibly lively, but instead, it hadn’t even made a splash before fading into obscurity.
He watched the competition occasionally, though he hadn’t paid much attention this year. He heard people say that Contestant Number Nine was amazing, but he firmly believed that the Gan Lan standing before him was the absolute best. After all, she was the first person to make Ugly Shrimp taste this good. As for this Number Nine, whoever that was, they couldn’t compare.
"I have personal reasons for not wanting to livestream. Besides, if you want to experience life, you naturally have to immerse yourself in it. A livestream is untouchable and unseen—how could it compare to the authenticity of all the different kinds of people walking by in real life?" Gan Lan casually spouted some nonsense, yet she unexpectedly received two cheers of approval.
"Well said!" Guo Daixuan clapped her hands. "That was beautifully put! Just for those words, we’re going tomorrow! Or even right now!"
Mr. Guo also nodded along. "What a wonderful sentiment: to experience life, one must immerse themselves in it." He cast a pointed look at a certain someone who only knew how to log onto the Star Network to play games all day, then shook his head and sighed. "Kids these days just lock themselves at home to play games on the Star Network. If only they all had your level of enlightenment, Gan Lan."
Guo Dacheng was speechless. What did he do now? So everything he said or did today was wrong? He felt angry, indignant, and irritable, but he didn’t dare show it, terrified that he would soon become the victim of another mixed doubles beating.
"So, are you guys going?" Gan Lan asked once more.
Aside from Mr. Guo, who said he would think about it, the other two nodded and agreed to go.
This was entirely within Gan Lan’s expectations. Mr. Guo didn’t seem like the type of person who would eat in a bustling place like a street center anyway. It just didn’t match his image and temperament.
"Fuck! What is this dump!"
"Guo Daixuan! Are you playing us for fools!?"
"Guo Daixuan! Explain yourself! Is this the place you said we’d regret not coming to?"
"Screw you, Guo Daixuan! I thought treating us to Ugly Shrimp was just an excuse, but you were actually serious!"
"Guo Daixuan, if you’re out of Credit Points, your master here will lend you some! Come out! I’ll transfer them to you right now!"
Five different voices rang out from the entrance of the shop, their tones laced with various degrees of shock, disbelief, and even mockery.
Upon hearing these voices, Guo Daixuan’s first reaction was joy. They were finally here. If they hadn’t shown up, Gan Lan might have actually thought she didn’t have a single friend.
Then, a surge of anger washed over her. What kind of nonsense were they spouting? Shoving the last bite of shrimp from her hand into her mouth, she immediately charged out the door and roared, "Who are you calling yourself the master of? As if I’d be out of Credit Points! Let me tell you, Jiang Zizhen, I can crush you to death with my Credit Points!"
Guo Daixuan’s furious bellow brought a sudden silence to the doorway, but it was quickly followed by an explosive eruption of bickering.
Gan Lan even thought she heard the sounds of a scuffle. Even though the guests had indeed arrived, the fact that such a small group could cause this much chaos made her suddenly worry for her already crumbling storefront.