Chapter 505: Qi Han's Choice
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
The Heavenly Star Palace had no reason to accept a culinary showdown, so why would the Bright Court Pavilion, a restaurant of equal standing, be any different?
Yet at this moment, Zhao Yangfan, the person in charge of Bright Court Pavilion, had taken the initiative to propose a culinary showdown. He had even personally come to the Culinary Association. Judging by his stance, he had clearly been waiting here for quite some time.
Something unusual was definitely going on.
So Qi Han didn't agree immediately. Instead, he looked at the other party in silence for two seconds before asking the most critical question:
"Mr. Zhao, may I ask how you came to know about Han Shi, and how you found out that Han Shi intended to challenge other restaurants?"
This was highly unusual. After all, Han Shi was far from well-known in Mingdu City, and the decision to initiate a culinary showdown at the association had only just happened. How could the other party have gotten the news so quickly?
"Well…" Zhao Yangfan coughed lightly. "To be honest, a good friend of mine is a regular customer at your restaurant. He's always praising Han Shi's food, so I've been quite interested in your establishment. As for how I learned about the culinary showdown… Bright Court Pavilion naturally has people within the Culinary Association, so when they heard Han Shi was initiating a challenge, they came to inform me."
Hmm… that should be enough to fool him, right? Zhao Yangfan thought nervously.
After hearing this, Qi Han cast an inquiring glance at Manager Zhang, who stood nearby. Manager Zhang nodded.
"Bright Court Pavilion holds a high status among restaurants, so it's true that they have people participating in the association's daily affairs."
With Manager Zhang's confirmation, Qi Han finally set aside his doubts. He looked at Zhao Yangfan and began to ponder.
To be honest, he didn't want to attract the attention of the Sun Moon Royal Family too soon, so Bright Court Pavilion hadn't originally been among his intended targets.
But now that Heavenly Star Palace had refused his challenge, achieving a similar impact by defeating a single restaurant would likely only be possible by choosing Bright Court Pavilion.
Of course, he had another option—launch multiple culinary showdowns in succession, defeating several restaurants and relying on quantity instead.
Individually, those restaurants might not match the popularity of Heavenly Star Palace or Bright Court Pavilion, but combined, the effect wouldn't be much worse.
However, choosing the latter would mean more trouble and significantly more time wasted. Choosing the former would save effort but risk attracting the attention of the Sun Moon Royal Family.
After pondering for a moment, Qi Han slowly nodded.
"Mr. Zhao, I accept your culinary showdown."
There were still eighteen days left before his Main Quest 9 would be completed. By then, as long as he finished Side Quest 10-2, he would be able to leave the Sun Moon Continent and return.
So the best scenario was to complete Side Quest 10-2 within these eighteen days, finishing both tasks at once and making a clean escape.
To complete Side Quest 10-2, he needed to attract a large number of new customers in a short period of time. Time was extremely tight. Launching multiple culinary showdowns would waste too much time and was not ideal.
And with only a dozen or so days remaining, even if he attracted the attention of the Sun Moon Royal Family, it likely wouldn't be a major issue. Once the mission was complete, he could leave immediately—they wouldn't be able to catch him anyway.
Thinking it through, competing against Bright Court Pavilion didn't seem so unacceptable after all.
Hearing Qi Han's response, Zhao Yangfan's eyes immediately lit up with delight.
"According to the rules of culinary showdowns, since I am the one initiating it, you get to decide the time. When would you like to begin?"
"As soon as possible," Qi Han replied without hesitation.
"Um…" Manager Zhang felt it was necessary to say something.
Manager Zhang was still a bit stunned at this moment. The speed at which Zhao Yangfan and Qi Han had reached an agreement felt almost surreal to him.
On one side was a top-tier restaurant backed by the royal family; on the other was a restaurant he had never even heard of before today. And these two were about to engage in a culinary showdown…
It sounded completely absurd.
"Are you two certain you want to proceed with the culinary showdown?" Manager Zhang asked one last time to confirm.
"Certain!" the two replied in unison.
"...Alright then." After confirming he hadn't misheard, Manager Zhang shook his head helplessly. "A culinary showdown is divided into two stages: drawing the theme in advance and the official competition. According to the rules, there must be a 24-hour interval between drawing the theme and the start of the competition. Each side must prepare their own ingredients."
After speaking, he turned to Qi Han. "If you want to start as soon as possible, you can draw the theme now and begin the competition at an agreed time tomorrow."
"Let's do that." Qi Han nodded. "We'll draw now, and start the culinary showdown at 1:30 PM tomorrow… Mr. Zhao, what do you think?"
"I have no objections to that time," Zhao Yangfan replied casually. Compared to when he had first arrived, he now seemed noticeably more relaxed, as if he had completed a task. However, he didn't show it too obviously, and Qi Han didn't notice anything unusual.
Seeing that both sides had reached an agreement, Manager Zhang nodded. "Then please follow me to draw lots. There will be three draws in total. The themes drawn will not be returned. To ensure fairness, each of you will draw once, and the final draw will be done by me on behalf of the association."
"Alright." Qi Han and Zhao Yangfan exchanged a glance, then followed Manager Zhang out of the office toward the designated area for drawing themes.
…
"Your Majesty, Qi Han has accepted the culinary showdown initiated by the Bright Court Pavilion."
A figure tightly cloaked in black appeared in the council hall, quickly reporting the newly obtained intelligence to Xu Haolong.
Hearing this, Xu Haolong and Zhou Yuan beside him exchanged a glance, both revealing relaxed smiles.
Early that morning, the Secret Intelligence Division had already sent a secret report: Qi Han, who had never left Han Shi in the mornings before, had acted unusually today by stepping out and heading toward Sun-Moon Avenue, even openly stating that he was going to gather information.
This sudden development gave Xu Haolong quite a scare, as he had already set aside everything related to Han Shi for the time being. He quickly summoned Zhou Yuan to figure out what Qi Han's unusual behavior meant.
Fortunately, they didn't remain tense for long. Soon, the level seven Spirit Engineer from the Secret Intelligence Division who was responsible for tracking Qi Han sent another secret report: Qi Han had entered the Mingdu City Culinary Association to initiate a culinary showdown against the Heavenly Star Palace.
After some investigation and understanding what a "culinary showdown" actually meant, the two of them couldn't help but laugh.
So after all that, it turned out to be a misunderstanding?
And that Boss Qi really had quite the nerve—was he actually turning a fake front into the real thing, seriously running Han Shi as a restaurant? He even came up with such a method to boost its popularity.
When Xu Haolong later received news that Heavenly Star Palace had rejected Han Shi's challenge, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Looking for a restaurant to compete with in order to gain popularity?
What's so difficult about that?
Xu Haolong would much rather Qi Han simply focus on running his restaurant business in Mingdu City and not entertain any ulterior motives.
So with a wave of his hand, he ordered the person in charge of Bright Court Pavilion to personally go and challenge Han Shi.
Bright Court Pavilion was backed by the royal family to begin with, so they had no choice but to obey Xu Haolong's orders. As a result, even though Zhao Yangfan had never heard of Han Shi before, he could only dutifully follow the emperor's command and seek them out. At the same time, he couldn't reveal the royal family's involvement, so when Qi Han questioned him, he had no choice but to make up an excuse to brush it off.
"What does the Prime Minister think—between these two restaurants, which one will win?" Although Bright Court Pavilion was a royal enterprise, the outcome of this culinary showdown wasn't particularly important. In his good mood, Xu Haolong casually asked.
"I believe… Han Shi will win," Zhou Yuan replied without much hesitation.
"Oh? Several of Bright Court Pavilion's head chefs were once imperial chefs, yet you have such confidence in Han Shi?" Xu Haolong stroked his chin. "How about I go take a look at this culinary showdown myself?"
After hearing Zhou Yuan's opinion, Xu Haolong found himself a bit curious.
As the Son of Heaven, he could not place himself in danger. Han Shi was suspected to have a hidden expert at the level of a Titled Douluo, so Xu Haolong had never personally gone there.
"That would be unwise, Your Majesty. It's too dangerous." Zhou Yuan shook his head. "Allow this subject to go in disguise and observe. I will report back to Your Majesty afterward."
"Very well." Xu Haolong sighed helplessly.
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