Chapter 77 - 72: First Place

Chapter 77: Chapter 72: First Place

Outside the back room, the food festival was proceeding as usual. The televised broadcast showed the squares in every district packed with people. Everyone who wasn’t bedridden had come out to join the grand event.

Having started at four o’clock, Ning He had now been working for ten straight hours and was about to collapse from exhaustion.

The soup base for the Malatang had been refilled three times already. If it weren’t for her twenty student helpers, she would have collapsed long ago.

But now, she was at the end of her rope.

The results, however, were remarkable.

In the first vote count of the morning, the North Third District had been ranked in the twenties. Now, they had climbed to fifteenth place. Furthermore, their votes were increasing at a rate significantly above average; it was only a matter of time before they surpassed the districts ahead of them.

The morale of the North Third District residents soared. Even those who had previously dismissed the idea of using food to draw crowds joined in, spontaneously filming promotional videos to share on websites and forums, which generated a lot of buzz.

With Ning He’s eager cooperation, the two professionals, Mia and Natie, filmed the Malatang-making process up close. The footage featured steaming, milky-white and tomato-red soup bases, glistening chili oil, a fresh and rich assortment of ingredients, and customers feasting with expressions of pure satisfaction. It was practically a miniature food documentary.

The video caused an immediate stir upon its online release. In the bitter cold of twenty to thirty degrees below zero, the mere sight of the steaming, ingredient-rich soup was enough to warm people’s hearts, making them eager to grab a bowl and have a taste.

So, even after the regulars from the food-sharing group and Doctor Lister had come and gone, Ning He’s stall still had a never-ending line of customers.

By two thirty in the afternoon, Ning He’s stall was nearly out of ingredients. To avoid disappointing customers who had made a special trip from other districts, the neighboring vendors voluntarily brought over most of their own remaining stock, allowing Ning He to stay open until closing.

The most surprising customers to arrive were a group from the Mecha Academy, led by Juno. There were over a hundred of them.

They arrived with voracious appetites, each person looking like they could eat two servings. After they finished, they immediately started clamoring for Ning He to sell it in the academy cafeteria.

After a grueling day, at eight o’clock that night, Ning He was finally able to collapse into her sleeping bag. Just then, Connie, who was beside her, suddenly cried out excitedly:

"Quick, look! Our Malatang is on TV again!"

’Wasn’t it on this morning? Why is she so surprised?’

Ning He barely managed to force her eyes open and glance at the distant television screen. She then realized that what was playing wasn’t the five-second clip from the North Third District’s standard promo video, but the one-minute professional version Mia and Natie had filmed. Paired with a captivating voice-over from a female announcer, it had been turned into a complete, brilliant commercial!

’And it’s on during the eight o’clock prime time slot!’

’Which kind soul bought them such a prime advertising slot?’

But Ning He’s happiness lasted for only thirty seconds.

’She could barely handle today’s crowds. If even more people came tomorrow, she might actually pass out from exhaustion. Connie and Ah Huai were doing slightly better than her, but not by much. As for the students, she already had them running around nonstop, working at their absolute limit. You can’t just work people to the bone, can you?’

’And the ingredients.’

’The ingredients they could get weren’t unlimited. The major vendors at the festival all bought in bulk, so with limited stock, suppliers had to ration out ingredients to everyone based on a priority system.’

’The sheer amount she had today was only thanks to the community administrator’s extensive efforts to coordinate supplies. Plus, with the festival in full swing, everyone was eager to spend. The residents from the Inner Ring were especially lavish, spending money without a second thought, and they all seemed to want to order the deluxe combo. Ingredients were disappearing at twice the rate Ning He had estimated. The pressure was immense.’

Connie and Ah Huai soon realized this as well, and a flicker of fear sparked within them.

’We’re going to be swamped beyond belief!’

The three of them fell asleep, a mix of anticipation, anxiety, and exhaustion. A short while later, the final vote count of the day was broadcast on television: the North Third District had broken into the top ten, decisively overtaking their arch-rival, the Beiliu District.

This was already their best result in history. If they could maintain this incredible momentum tomorrow, breaking into the top five was entirely possible.

In their shelter, the residents of the North Third District were all beaming with excitement. The elderly Sochi also lay down to rest, his heart at ease.

’This year’s ice sculpture mission has been successfully completed.’

As everyone celebrated the good news, the community administrator and the other food festival vendors came to a new decision.

"...Tomorrow, we’ll all go and help. We’ll bring whatever ingredients we get. We have to make sure no one who comes for Malatang leaves disappointed. This time, the North Third District is going to make a name for itself!"

And so, the next day, when Ning He and her two companions arrived at the square, they found all the surrounding stalls had been dismantled. The other vendors had taken out their own stoves and set them up in a long row next to Ning He’s. Beside the setup was a mountain of ingredients.

The community administrator excitedly explained the situation and, without waiting for a reaction, immediately set everyone to work. Ning He had no choice but to swallow her thanks and get busy.

Just as expected, residents from other districts arrived in a continuous stream the next day. Even with constant efforts to manage the queue, the heated tent was packed, with a long line forming outside. Many people from the North Third District volunteered to help, acting as servers. The local children, including Susan and Knight, weren’t idle either. They helped pass out stools and hot water and promoted the vote-for-a-discount deal, darting through the crowd as nimbly as little eels.

To ensure the Malatang’s flavor remained consistent, Ning He focused solely on stir-frying the base, leaving all other tasks to the others. Thankfully, the other vendors were quick learners. Simply boiling the soup was an easy task for them to master, and they rapidly eased her burden.

Ning He changed into a clean chef’s uniform, complete with a hat and mask. She stood on a chair, wielding a massive, hoe-like spatula to vigorously stir the base ingredients in a giant pot. The rich aroma drifted for miles. Customers could find the stall just by following the scent from the moment they stepped off the bus.

It was this agonizingly tantalizing aroma that compelled so many customers to brave the cold and wait in line, determined to taste for themselves if the food could possibly live up to the scent.

That afternoon, a TV reporter named Cindy, drawn by the buzz, came to investigate. She used her press credentials to cut the line, bought a serving, and prepared to present it for the camera as planned.

Cindy had covered countless food stories and had eaten at every famous restaurant in Beiluo City. She didn’t have high expectations for what looked like a simple bowl of hodgepodge.

Her interest had been piqued, however, when a mysterious benefactor paid the station a hefty sum to advertise this specific dish. She had to see what all the fuss was about.

The moment she stepped out of her vehicle, she caught it—a scent in the air that was subtle yet impossible to ignore, rich and complex.

It was an incredibly unique fragrance. In that instant, Cindy understood why the Malatang was so popular.

Cindy bought a heaping deluxe combo. Her usual routine was to first give a general overview of the preparation method and ingredients, describe the aroma, and only then take a bite to describe the flavor for her audience.

But as a cloud of steam, laden with countless aromatic molecules, washed over her face, her script vanished from her mind. She lifted the bowl and directly took a sip of the broth.

Live on air, the image of her closing her eyes in pure bliss reached every viewer. No words were necessary.

Once she finished the bowl, Cindy felt that every dish she had ever called a delicacy now seemed bland and tasteless by comparison. Thrilled, she immediately went to interview the inventor of Malatang.

Ning He was too busy to be pulled away, so she had the community administrator take the interview in her stead. Nevertheless, her figure was still captured on screen, and her image was noted by certain interested parties.

After an incredibly lively second day, the North Third District’s vote count that night reached second place.

Residents from every district erupted into heated online discussions, which in turn drove even more attention to the North Third District.

Meanwhile, the restaurants in the first-place Third Ring South Seventh District finally banded together. They launched their own vote-for-a-discount promotion, rushing out a TV commercial and online posts overnight. Unfortunately, their efforts were a stone cast into the ocean, completely swallowed by the tidal wave of Malatang hype.

On the third day, all routes leading to the North Third District were overwhelmed. The crowds were so massive that even if Ning He could sprout three heads and six arms, she wouldn’t have been able to keep up. In the end, officials had to issue an announcement restricting traffic to the area to prevent a dangerous crowd-crush situation.

At the very last moment, the North Third District surpassed the previous champion, the Third Ring South Seventh District, winning first place and a prize of fifty thousand.

That night, the residents of the North Third District slept soundly.

As for Ning He, she slept like the dead.