In order to build a network for her future food column, she planned to help manage topics, getting Lin Xu indebted to her. This way, when her column started, inviting Lin Xu would become much easier. If she could get Lin Xu to join her food column, then the higher his popularity, the higher the program’s ratings would be. So, helping him boost the topic’s popularity now was actually helping herself.
Lin Xu thought Zeng Xiaoqi’s proposal was a good one. Now that Panda had become "Boss Panda" and was busier than ever, he indeed had no time to manage the topics anymore. And the main task of breaking into the top ten of the topic leaderboard was urgent. Switching to an experienced topic host should better accomplish the mission.
With this in mind, he added Zeng Xiaoqi on WeChat and pulled the beautiful journalist into Lin Ji’s Food’s high-end VIP customer group. There, he mentioned Panda and briefly explained the situation.
Soon, Zeng Xiaoqi became the host of the Lin Ji’s Food topic.
As for the #Yanjing Food Sharing# topic, Zeng Xiaoqi handed it over to a colleague. This change had just occurred when Zeng Xiaoqi’s fans were all stunned.
"Why hath our sovereign lord rebelled?"
"How did Xiaoqi become the host for Lin Ji’s Food?"
"We were still trying to figure out how to regain first place, and she ran off to the other side?"
"Not only did she go, but she just announced she’s a Lin Ji girl... Heh, women. She must have defected because the boss of Lin Ji is handsome." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ Nove1Fire.net
"Handsome? How handsome is he?"
"Searched for a photo—definitely very handsome! No more pretending, I am a Lin Ji girl, and I’m laying my cards on the table!"
"Sisters, see you on the other side!"
When these people flocked to the Lin Ji’s Food topic, they saw a post from a netizen called [Panda Brother]:
"Sorry, folks! I’ve been too busy with work to manage the topic. To make it up to you, until nine p.m. tomorrow, the netizens whose posts sharing their Lin Ji’s Food experience get the 11th to 20th most likes will each receive a 5,555 yuan cash red packet!"
What? There was money to be had? What kind of miraculous topic was this? But why the 11th to 20th places?
These people quickly saw another reward announcement: the top ten would actually get a huge 6,666 yuan red packet.
AHHH! I’m going to eat at Lin Ji! I want to win the big prize!
There’s money for the top twenty. This offered a huge incentive to the users’ enthusiasm.
Panda’s bold move caused the popularity of the Lin Ji’s Food topic to soar once again and also ignited the customers’ enthusiasm to dine in the store.
The staff meal wasn’t even over when customers started coming in to place orders. Everyone quickly finished eating and began to get busy at their posts.
Zeng Xiaoqi also hurriedly picked up her camera and started to film the kitchen of Lin Ji’s Food.
The evening brought even more customers, including long-time diners who visited to bid farewell through photos, as well as many new customers attracted by the Lin Ji’s Food topic. Such an enticing cash red packet was sitting there. It was hard not to be tempted.
Before dinner service began, Lin Xu felt the store was well-prepared. But when the customers swarmed in, he realized he had underestimated the allure of the prize money.
If there weren’t enough seats, they’d share tables; if there were no available spots, they’d get takeout.
No matter what, they had to buy a meal from Lin Ji’s Food today.
While buying, they also took some photos, planning to share their dining experiences online after eating.
Meanwhile, under the Lin Ji’s Food topic, many out-of-town netizens who hadn’t come to the restaurant started making up stories for the prize money.
"I’m a blind taxi driver. One day, while dropping off a customer on Yingchun Street, I smelled a fragrant aroma and found my way into Lin Ji’s Food for a bowl of noodles. Afterward, my sight was miraculously restored! Boss Lin is amazing!"
"One day I was being bullied by some punks when I ran into Boss Lin. He rubbed a few nuclear bombs together with his hands and told me a real man should fight back!"
"I’m Ultraman. A few days ago, I came to Earth on a mission, and my energy was critically low. Without an immediate return to the M78 Nebula, I would’ve been in mortal danger. It was Boss Lin’s bowl of noodles that restored my energy, helped me defeat the little monster, and save Earth!"
"I’m a Great Mahayana Stage cultivator. I decided to go to outer space to check it out one day and happened to encounter Boss Lin taking a bunch of ingredients out of a black hole. He said chilling ingredients in a black hole would make them taste better."
Xie Baomin, looking at the bustling crowd of customers, said to Lin Xu, "Let’s do one more day tomorrow. I’ll come over in the morning to give your little shop a perfect send-off."
"Then thank you, Senior Brother. Should I prepare breakfast for you?"
"Prepare some. Get some high-carb food and some meat. Otherwise, we can’t last until noon. The workload here is too much now. Thankfully, the pay is high enough, or these employees would all run off."
Lin Xu had already considered the issue of workload when setting salaries, so he paid generously.
If the pay were the same as other restaurants, why would people come here to work themselves to the bone when they could have an easy job in a less busy establishment?
By a little past eight in the evening, the store had sold out of food.
Xie Baomin and his subordinates, along with Zeng Xiaoqi, also took their leave.
But the customers didn’t leave. They were still taking photos and selfies in the store, even making short videos, and lining up to take pictures with Dundun by the cash register.
It wasn’t until nearly nine o’clock that they began to leave in dribs and drabs, while Lin Xu, exhausted, carried Dundun home to rest.