Gourmet: The God-Level Culinary Tycoon

Li Xiao bantered with his live stream viewers for a bit before his gaze fell upon the last dish: the stir-fried noodles with pig offal.

He picked up some noodles with his chopsticks and put them in his mouth. The next moment, Li Xiao’s brows furrowed slightly.

A faint, but noticeable, burnt taste filled his mouth.

In the next instant, the System’s notification sound echoed in his mind.

[The food you have tasted is: Stir-fried Noodles with Pig Offal]

[Food Rating: 55 Points [Fail]]

[As this food item did not reach 60 points, it cannot be added to the Gourmet Catalogue.]

Hearing the System’s notification, the corner of Li Xiao’s mouth twitched slightly.

Although he felt the stir-fried noodles with pig offal were very mediocre, he never expected they wouldn’t even get a passing score.

To be honest, the pig offal at this Hongji pig offal porridge place was exceptionally fresh.

However, the skill level of the chefs in the back kitchen was rather inconsistent.

The chives with pig blood curd, the sizzling plate pig offal, and the stir-fried noodles with pig offal were most likely made by three different chefs, leading to a wildly fluctuating quality.

The first two dishes were barely passable. Even the lower-rated sizzling plate pig offal managed to score over 60 points and successfully activate the catalogue entry.

But the quality of these stir-fried noodles with pig offal was truly disappointing—it didn’t even break 60 points.

The pig offal itself was good, but it was clearly overcooked.

All the offal was fried until it was too tough. Some of the more severe cases were even burnt and charred.

The noodles themselves were a disaster. Just like the offal, you could see obvious black, burnt marks on many of them.

After just one bite, Li Xiao had no intention of picking up his chopsticks again.

Seeing Li Xiao’s reaction, many viewers in the live stream grew curious.

"Judging by the streamer’s face, those noodles don’t seem very good."

"’Not very good’? It must be terrible. He only had one bite and hasn’t touched it since."

"That can’t be right. Stir-fried noodles are so easy to make. I learned how in middle school."

"A big restaurant like this can’t even get stir-fried noodles right?"

"Making stir-fried noodles is simple, but making them well is a different story."

Seeing this comment, Li Xiao nodded.

"That’s right, this viewer named ’Bones’ is absolutely correct!"

"An ordinary person can probably learn to make a plate of stir-fried noodles in just a few minutes."

"But to make a delicious plate of stir-fried noodles? That could take months of practice!"

"As for the stir-fried noodles here at Sister Hong’s pig offal porridge, I can only say they’re very mediocre. No, to be precise, they’re terrible. They don’t even get a passing grade from me."

As he spoke, Li Xiao picked up some noodles from the bowl to show his viewers.

"Stir-frying noodles is actually very particular about heat control."

"If you don’t use enough heat, the noodles will be soggy. If you use too much, they’ll have a burnt taste."

"They didn’t prepare the noodles properly before frying. Many of them were still clumped together when they were thrown in the wok. This resulted in the outside noodles getting burnt while the ones on the inside were still soggy."

"I don’t even think this is a case of slipping standards. I think the chef in charge of stir-frying just isn’t very skilled to begin with."

With that, he waved his hand at the camera.

"The sizzling plate pig offal and the chives with pig blood curd are still quite good, so you can give those a try if you come. As for these stir-fried noodles with pig offal, I strongly recommend you don’t order them. The taste is really, really mediocre!"

「In the live stream」

"Honestly, up until two minutes ago, I was wondering if the streamer was getting paid by the restaurant for a promotion. But the moment the stir-fried noodles came out, I knew this review was 100% real!"

"I always get the porridge when I go, never the stir-fried noodles. They’re genuinely awful!"

"The streamer doesn’t know? The one in charge of the stir-fried noodles is Sister Hong’s husband. He’s... creative and likes to mess around."

"If the pig offal porridge wasn’t so good, I wouldn’t set foot in this place!"

"Wow, an honest streamer for once. Dropping a follow right now!"

"Praising the good and criticizing the bad—that’s what a real food vlogger should do."

"I thought all food vloggers were just full of it. I can’t believe I found one who actually tells the truth!"

It wasn’t hard to tell from these comments that many viewers in the stream had been to Sister Hong’s pig offal porridge before.

Seeing Li Xiao’s honest opinion, they immediately spoke up to support him.

Li Xiao never imagined that simply speaking his mind would earn him such a torrent of praise.

A saying came to mind: it wasn’t that he was so good, it was just that his competition made him look good.

He felt a little embarrassed and cupped his hands toward the camera in a gesture of thanks.

"My handsome viewers and Immortal Sisters, you’re all praising me way too much!"

"I’m just speaking my mind."

"You can all rest assured, my future reviews will stick to the same style. If it’s good, I’ll say it’s good. If it’s bad, I’ll say it’s bad."

"I’ll do my best to bring you more delicious restaurants and help you avoid the ones that aren’t worth your time."

While chatting with the viewers, Li Xiao and his three roommates finished off the rest of the food.

Since it was already very late, the four of them casually found a nearby four-star hotel and checked into two rooms.

The next day, the four of them woke up early and took a Didi back to the university.

Just as his morning classes ended, Li Xiao’s phone rang.

"Greetings, Mr. Li."

"My name is Yao Mingquan. I’m the sales manager at the Baiyun branch of Mercedes-Benz."

"The Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 4MATIC Coupe SUV, Deluxe Edition, that you ordered from our dealership a month ago has arrived. As you requested, all the paperwork has been completed. When might you be free to come and pick up the car?"

Li Xiao’s eyebrow shot up. He had been wondering how the System’s rewards would be delivered to him.

’Would it descend from the heavens in a flash of golden light, or would it just quietly appear downstairs from my dorm?’

’Looks like I was overthinking it. The System already arranged everything, and in a pretty reasonable way, too.’

Li Xiao glanced at his class schedule. Perfect. He only had one lecture and one P.E. class in the afternoon.

He could easily skip the P.E. class by pretending to be sick. He just needed to let his academic advisor know in advance.

With this in mind, he said to Yao Mingquan,

"I’m free this afternoon. Barring any surprises, I should be able to get to the dealership by 3:30."

"All the paperwork for the car is complete, right? I can just drive it off the lot?"

Yao Mingquan replied respectfully,

"Yes, sir. All the procedures have been taken care of."

"The license plate is the one you pre-selected, Yue ST1888. The commercial insurance and compulsory liability insurance are both active. Mr. Li, you can just come over and drive the car away."

Yao Mingquan said politely,

"In that case, I won’t disturb you any further, Mr. Li. All of us here at the dealership look forward to your visit."

Li Xiao hung up the phone and jumped in surprise. Three pairs of eyes were staring intently at him.