Lin Daiyu Uproots Willows: "Still daring an offline showdown? I’ll smash your damn head in! I’m right here in Sanlitun. Come get me. This is what I look like [Photo]"
I’m Lin Ji’s Food Ultimate Fan: "AAAAHHH, my wife~~~"
System Notification: [I’m Lin Ji’s Food Ultimate Fan] has changed their name to [Hello everyone, I’m called the Weeping Willow].
Lin Daiyu Uproots Willows: "?"
After the renovation date was set, the number of customers in the restaurant increased even more. People came not just to eat but also to take all sorts of photos. Even Lin Xu, who was in the kitchen rolling out noodles, often had to pause to take pictures with the guests.
For the regular customers, the new restaurant might offer many new dishes, all as delicious as ever. However, its kitchen would definitely not be open-plan, meaning they would never again see Lin Xu rolling noodles or similar scenes. So, while they still could, taking a photo for memory’s sake was essential. After snapping their pictures, customers would post them under the Lin Ji’s Food topic, reminiscing about their first time dining at the restaurant. The entire Lin Ji’s Food topic feed resembled a memoir, filled with the customers’ joys and sorrows.
「In an office building in Wangjing.」
Chen Yan, the CEO of Joyful Media, sat in her spacious executive chair, legs crossed, idly flicking one of her high heels as she leisurely browsed the web. She had just returned from an employee meal at Lin Ji’s Food and, feeling quite full, browsed the web to aid her digestion. Then, she stumbled upon the Lin Ji’s Food topic and saw the snippets of memories shared by the customers.
The beautiful CEO immediately uncrossed her legs, picked up the phone from her desk, and dialed an internal line.
"Weiwei, set up a bounty under the Lin Ji’s Food topic. By nine o’clock tomorrow night, the top ten posts with the most likes sharing their dining experiences at Lin Ji’s Food will each receive a 6,666 yuan cash red envelope. Also, get Wu Kexin and her group to generate some activity under the Lin Ji’s Food topic."
Chen Yan hadn’t actually given any thought to what she would do once the topic gained traction. She simply saw that the buzz was quite high at the moment and that netizens’ emotions were running strong. So, on a whim, she decided to try and galvanize the netizens who were posting updates.
Who knew this would trigger a chain reaction?
The customers in the restaurant, seeing there was cash to be won, grew even more enthusiastic. They not only took photos and videos inside but even the customers queueing outside began raising their phones to photograph the Lin Ji’s Food storefront, then shared their own Lin Ji’s Food-related moments.
"The first time I went to Lin Ji’s, I thought the company was screwing with me. Such a small storefront, and they wanted me to do a live broadcast! But once I got inside, I found out the food was incredibly delicious..."
Before long, Wu Kexin posted an update, earnestly recalling her feelings during her first live broadcast at Lin Ji’s, and attached a photo with Lin Xu and the other staff members. As a popular influencer herself, and with the heartfelt nature of her post, it quickly attracted a large number of likes and comments.
Seeing this, others followed suit to ride the wave of popularity, causing the Lin Ji’s Food topic to trend even higher.
「By one in the afternoon.」
The buzz around the Lin Ji’s Food topic grew steadily, eventually knocking #YanjingFoodShare# off its pedestal to become number one in the Yanjing Region food rankings.
"Thanks to all the Lin Ji boys and Lin Ji girls!"
"Haha, we Lin Ji’ers really know how to rally!"
"Logically, Boss Lin should post something like ’Grateful to my dear fans’ right about now, but for some reason, those words just make me cringe."
"Same here. Those streamers have practically given me an aversion to it..."
"We’re number one in the food rankings, but only sixteenth on the overall leaderboard! Don’t lose steam, folks!"
"Right, right, don’t lose steam, keep it going!"
「Meanwhile, the office of the Beijing Travel Channel was shrouded in gloom.」
While netizens were excitedly boosting Lin Ji’s Food’s popularity, a sense of despondency filled the Beijing Travel Channel office.
"What’s going on? We’ve held the top spot on the food ranking for over a year! How did we get surpassed? Look into this Lin Ji’s Food!"
Zeng Xiaoqi, the attractive host from the travel channel, looked utterly indignant. She had spearheaded the creation of the #YanjingFoodShare topic and, to boost its popularity, had even made it a habit to post about her three daily meals. Just a couple of days ago, the station had praised the topic as a great success and was even planning to give her an award for it. But right after the praise, they’d lost their number one spot in the category rankings.
Couldn’t you have at least waited until the award was handed out before overtaking us?!
Information on Lin Ji’s Food was surprisingly easy to find. It turned out to be an inconspicuous little restaurant on Yingchun Street, by the North Fourth Ring. Photos of the place, inside and out, were now plastered all over the internet; a quick browse online was enough to see its entire facade.
This made Zeng Xiaoqi even more indignant. Being surpassed by a large, famous restaurant would have been one thing, but to think a small eatery could overshadow the popular food-sharing topic their travel channel had built up!
How would their industry peers view the travel channel now? Newest update provided by novel⦿fire.net
Just as she was about to ask the channel director for funds to run her own reward campaign to boost their topic’s popularity and reclaim the top spot from Lin Ji’s Food, Zhen Wensheng, the director of the travel channel, walked in.
Zhen Wensheng was nearly fifty. In his younger days, he’d been the host of an outdoor program and was passionate about travel. When he got older and could no longer keep up with the physically demanding work, he returned to Beijing and single-handedly founded the Beijing Travel Channel. Since its launch, the channel had become an important platform for promoting Yanjing City, earning him numerous awards in the process.
"Director Zhen, I was just about to find you. Our topic..."
Zeng Xiaoqi had barely begun when Zhen Wensheng interrupted her.
"Lin Ji’s Food is in Yanjing City, and our travel channel is precisely the platform for promoting Yanjing. Now that this restaurant has become such a sensation, why aren’t you rushing to interview them for a feature report instead of making a fuss here? Are you planning to take the office staff to Yingchun Street for a group brawl?"
Zeng Xiaoqi was suddenly at a loss for words.
Zhen Wensheng checked his watch and said, "Hurry up and prepare for the interview. The Education Channel, Life Channel, Society Channel, and even CCTV’s Travel Channel are all planning to cover it. If our Beijing Travel Channel is scooped by them, *that* will be truly embarrassing."
Upon hearing this, Zeng Xiaoqi quickly responded, "Don’t worry, Director Zhen, I’ll go interview them right away!"
With that, she hurried off with her colleagues to prepare.
「Inside the kitchen of Lin Ji’s Food.」
Lin Xu was still working nonstop, so busy his feet barely touched the ground. He was utterly unaware that his wife’s older sister’s unintentional act had rocketed the Lin Ji’s Food topic to first place on the food rankings. Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn’t have been overly thrilled. The main quest required him to reach the top ten of the overall Yanjing Region leaderboard, and the gap was still quite large.
As he was busy, a TV interview van pulled into a parking spot not far from Lin Ji’s Food. Zeng Xiaoqi and a cameraman emerged from the van.
Seeing Lin Ji’s Food a short distance away, they were stunned. Zeng Xiaoqi exclaimed, "What’s going on? It’s almost two o’clock, why is there still such a long line? Is the food free here today or something?"
She led her team past the long queue to the restaurant’s entrance and called out to Song Tiantian inside, "Hello, can we come in for an interview?"
Song Tiantian pointed at the queue. "It’s too crowded inside; there’s no way to get in. You should line up too. It’ll be quicker that way."
Zeng Xiaoqi was growing anxious. Just as she was about to argue her case, she spotted a few familiar faces in the queue behind them—some of her colleagues from CCTV’s Travel Channel.
Even people from CCTV have to queue?
A quick note, everyone: This is a transitional Chapter, meant to lay some groundwork for the upcoming plot. Please be patient; more tantalizing content is on the way... This Chapter is 5,500 characters. Asking for Monthly Tickets, brothers!