Chapter 320: All Things Beautiful Arrive As Expected
The third day of business passed without much trouble.
Both the lunch and dinner services went smoothly and harmoniously.
If there was anything different, it was this:
Fu Ya told Qi Han that during both lunch and dinner service, hardly any regular customers showed up — nearly all the customers were new faces.
Meanwhile, Ping Xinyan and Ji Yunruo mentioned that many of the deliveries they made that day were to customers who usually preferred dining in and rarely ordered takeout.
It was almost as if the regulars had agreed in advance to all order delivery and avoid queuing up at the restaurant.
Qi Han hadn't heard any whispers about this beforehand, but it only took him a moment to figure out the reason.
It was the last day of the food festival — the regulars clearly wanted to leave the chance to dine in to those who had never tasted Han Shi's food before.
After all, if someone hadn't actually experienced Han Shi's food firsthand, they wouldn't be likely to vote for it based solely on its reputation or current ranking. This move was clearly meant to help Han Shi win more votes from new customers.
Qi Han was deeply moved by the customers' unspoken act of solidarity.
Looks like it was time to do another customer appreciation event.
The last promotion Han Shi did was when they introduced Crystal Sugar Hawthorn — a free skewer was given with every purchase.
As for the system's rule that forbade discounts and freebies…
Last time, the system had turned a blind eye. And now that the system had manifested into Ru Yi, with emotions and greater autonomy, it was even less likely to object.
As for the specific promotion idea, Qi Han hadn't come up with it yet — he'd figure it out later.
After dinner service ended, Ping Xinyan and Ji Yunruo, who had been closely following the leaderboard, brought the latest rankings:
1. Squirrel-Shaped Mandarin Fish – 560,000 votes
2. Fish-flavored Shredded Pork – 520,000 votes
3. Spicy Fish Head with Chopped Peppers – 450,000 votes
4. Bodhi Vegetarian Dish – 400,000 votes
5. Dragon Well Tea Shrimp – 360,000 votes
6. Swallow-Skin Dumplings – 330,000 votes
7. Jade Dragon Tendon – 220,000 votes
8. Wensi Tofu – 210,000 votes
9. Dingyu Longzhen – 140,000 votes
10. Hundred Flowers Immortal Brew – 100,000 votes
There were still a few hours left until midnight, so these weren't the final results. But the gaps between rankings were large enough that they likely wouldn't change, so treating this as the final result wasn't unreasonable.
Across all of Shrek City, the total number of voters was less than 4 million, with each person having 3 votes. So the total number of votes was around 10 million.
These 10 million votes were cast across nearly 500 participating dishes.
And since each person could only vote for a given dish once, even in theory the most votes a single dish could get was 4 million — though that would only happen if one dish overwhelmingly outshined all others.
If Han Shi had only entered one dish, that might've been possible. But with so many dishes in the competition, the votes inevitably got spread out. Even so, the current results were already very impressive.
Han Shi's eight dishes accounted for over 3 million votes — a result that made Qi Han feel proud.
However...
When he thought about the two 3 Star dishes, Qi Han couldn't help but smile wryly.
Those two 3 Star dishes had dominated the leaderboard on day one, but as the number of voters grew, they were gradually surpassed by other 2 Star dishes. By now, they had fallen to 7th and 8th place — and were significantly behind the 6th-place dish, Swallow-Skin Dumplings.
This further demonstrated the negative impact that high pricing had on a dish's popularity.
As expected, his judgment was correct — aiming too high and alienating the masses is not the right path for cuisine. There was no real value in artificially elevating the status of 3 Star dishes. Respecting the diners is the true way forward.
With that, the food festival had more or less come to a close.
After seeing off his seven staff members, Qi Han shut the restaurant door and opened his quest panel.
Since the final results of the festival rankings hadn't been officially announced yet, Side Quest 6, which required being voted as the most beloved by food lovers, hadn't counted as completed — but once the final tally was released the next morning, the reward for that quest would be ready to claim.
As for Side Quest 5, which required three food-related stories — the progress still showed 2/3.
Qi Han had thought that with the high foot traffic during the festival, he would have completed the third story by now. But clearly, it wasn't that simple.
Looks like once the busy festival period was over, he'd have to put even more effort into discovering meaningful stories among his diners.
He didn't want to complete Main Quest 7 only to be held back by an unfinished side quest.
Speaking of Main Quest 7, which required 100,000 diners from outside the city to eat at his restaurant…
Qi Han glanced at the current progress: 25,000 / 100,000 — and a satisfied smile spread across his face.
That level of completion was excellent.
Relying on dine-in customers alone, it would be nearly impossible to hit those numbers in three days. That figure also included delivery orders.
The idea of hitting 100,000 in just three days? Qi Han knew from the start that was unrealistic.
That would mean averaging over 30,000 diners a day, and with Han Shi only open for four hours daily, that was simply impossible.
So from the beginning, he had no intention of finishing it during the festival itself.
Instead, the food festival's role in helping complete Main Quest 7 lay in two key areas:
First, it brought a huge influx of out-of-town visitors to Shrek City.
These tourists wouldn't all leave the moment the festival ended. Shrek City had so much good food that three days wasn't nearly enough to try it all. Normally, even after a festival ends, it takes about a week for the tourist wave to fully die down. That post-festival period was a great chance to gain more progress toward the quest.
Second, was the bonus publicity awarded to the first-place dish.
This was a chance for Han Shi to enter the awareness of the wider Douluo population.
For most restaurants, even if one of their dishes made it into the top ten, that didn't mean people would remember the name of the restaurant itself.
Visitors from other regions might remember the dish was delicious, and when they came to Shrek City, they'd start asking around to find out where to eat it.
But if eight out of the ten top-ranked dishes came from a single restaurant?
Everyone would remember that restaurant's name.
It was a completely different level of impact.
So in the days ahead, even those who didn't attend the festival were likely to visit Han Shi after hearing the buzz from across the continent.
These two factors would greatly accelerate Qi Han's progress toward finishing Main Quest 7.
With all three quests nearing completion, Qi Han would soon reach a level above 40, unlock new Ingredient Acquisition quest, acquire his fourth spirit ring, and fulfill the prerequisites to take the Intermediate Chef's Exam.
Everything was going exactly as he had hoped, and that kind of control over his progress was immensely satisfying.
With Pururu in his arms, Qi Han headed upstairs. Even as he drifted off to sleep, a small smile lingered at the corner of his lips.
…
"Fu Ya…" On the road, Ying Shuang suddenly tugged on Fu Ya's sleeve. "Let's go check out that Mo Wu Tuan stall. I want to eat some Mo Wu Tuan…"
"You've been in a low mood all evening, and this is why, isn't it?" Fu Ya turned her head and glanced at Ying Shuang. Only then did she realize the source of her melancholy. She couldn't help but feel both exasperated and amused. "That guy, Ye Lingqing — he'll probably leave after tonight."
"That's exactly why I want to see him one last time!" Ying Shuang stamped her foot in frustration, eyes brimming with tears. "Just this once, okay?"
Fu Ya looked at her with a trace of heartache.
It was rare to see Ying Shuang cry.
What was so special about that boy?
Fu Ya recalled Ye Lingqing's figure and couldn't help but shake her head.
She never expected that Ying Shuang — who usually ignored every boy in school — would suddenly fall for someone.
Sigh… so be it.
"One last time. Let's go."
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