I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 326: Chapter 308: A Beauty Enters the Tournament, Causing a Commotion

After that, more and more people began to arrive.

Although the tournament wasn’t scheduled to officially start until 10:00 a.m., everyone was clearly already in a state of high excitement.

The expert players, like Lu Xiangyun and Wang Peng, had also arrived early.

Some ordered noodles for breakfast, while others sat down at the arcade machines for some last-minute practice to get a feel for the controls.

The feel of the controls was extremely important for this game.

When you had the right feel, you could often perform beyond your usual skill level.

At the same time, news that there were about a dozen female contestants had also spread.

All the contestants, including experts like Lu Xiangyun and Wang Peng, lit up at the news.

Female contestants? Nothing could be better.

That made things even more exciting.

’I hope my opponent is one of the girls,’ every single one of them prayed inwardly.

’Fighting a girl... just thinking about it is awesome.’

Time slowly passed. At nine in the morning, registration officially closed.

The number of registered participants was locked in at 456.

By this point, most of the contestants had already arrived. Including the onlookers who hadn’t registered, there were nearly a thousand people at the venue.

The place was a cacophony of voices, bustling with incredible energy.

Just then, Liu Xu, Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and the others from Liu Xu’s foodie group also arrived one after another.

Seeing the scene, Liu Xu and his friends were secretly astonished.

’So many people, way more than I imagined.’

’The boss’s shop is just too popular now, isn’t it?’

Everyone was filled with emotion.

Seeing Li You, Liu Xu smiled. ”Boss, we’re here. How many people are in the tournament in total?”

Li You replied, ”456.”

Liu Xu and the others were once again secretly amazed. ’That’s so many.’

But the more, the merrier. More people just made it more exciting.

”Boss.”

”Hi, Boss!”

Xiao Yue, Zhang Rui’Er, and the others all greeted Li You.

”Hello, everyone. Hello. Thank you all so much for your support. I really appreciate it!”

Li You smiled and exchanged pleasantries with them for a while.

”It’s so lively! Boss, this place is absolutely buzzing today.”

That was Wei Ping’s voice.

’Wei Ping came too?’

Li You was delighted. He looked in the direction of the voice and, sure enough, saw Wei Ping’s family.

”Hello, Uncle Li You!” Wei Ping’s two children said in unison.

”Hello, hello.” Li You was quite happy. ”Yu, Xiaoxi, hello to you both too.”

Then, he exchanged another round of pleasantries with Wei Ping’s family.

”So many people, so much energy. This tournament is bound to be a huge success. Let us congratulate you in advance, Boss.”

This was Jiang Caidong’s voice.

’Boss Jiang is here too?’

Li You was pleasantly surprised once again. He turned his head and saw Jiang Caidong and Liang Heng.

Both men were looking at him with broad smiles.

Li You walked over to greet them, smiling. ”Boss Jiang, Master Liang, you came too.”

Jiang Caidong also smiled. ”We knew it would be lively here for the tournament today, so we wanted to come and join the fun. But when we got here, it was even more packed than we imagined. There must be close to a thousand people here, right?”

Li You nodded. ”Just about.”

Jiang Caidong remarked with feeling, ”For Boss Li You to draw such a crowd with a tournament in a remote place like this... it’s truly incredible!”

Li You said humbly, ”It’s mainly because the game itself is a classic with a large, popular player base. That’s why everyone is so interested.”

Jiang Caidong shook his head. ”That’s not the main reason. The main reason is that you, Boss Li You, are the one hosting it. People love coming here, they love the food here, and that’s why they’re so interested.”

Li You offered a few more humble words.

At that moment, most of the people in the crowd suddenly turned to look in the same direction.

Li You followed their gaze.

A large group of youthful, vibrant, and exceptionally beautiful girls was walking toward them.

Every single one of them was gorgeous, with a great figure. It was hard to look away.

This was especially true for the two girls leading the group. Their faces and figures could only be described as the pinnacle of beauty.

Without a doubt, it was Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and their classmates.

’So many of them came. There must be at least thirty or forty people.’

Li You was a little surprised.

But this was a good thing. Having so many beauties show up to support him made him feel proud.

Xia Xiaoyue, Mu Qingye, and their classmates ignored everyone else’s stares and walked straight up to Li You, greeting him with bright smiles. ”Boss, we’re here.”

Li You chuckled. ”Welcome! Welcome, everyone!”

At that moment, most of the guys at the event were incredibly envious of Li You.

’So many beauties... The boss is way too lucky, isn’t he?’

They all started whispering among themselves. ”How did so many beautiful girls show up at once? And they all look so young, maybe seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, or twenty at most.”

”They’re all students from Xingshui City’s Xingshui Academy of Fine Arts. Of course they’re young.”

”Huh? How do you know? Do you know them?”

”I do. The tallest and prettiest one is named Xia Xiaoyue, from the fine arts department. The one next to her, who’s also stunning, is Mu Qingye, from the photography department. I don’t know the names of most of the others, but they’re definitely all classmates of Xia Xiaoyue and Mu Qingye. I’m sure of it.”

”So her name is Xia Xiaoyue. That’s a nice name, too. She’s so beautiful, and so tall... those long legs are out of this world.”

”She is indeed gorgeous. Of all the girls I’ve ever seen, including all the ones on TV and online, only Miss Ye is a cut above her.”

”For real? There’s someone even prettier? The internet is full of beauties, but even with the powerful help of beauty apps and filters, they still can’t compare. Even Miss Xiaoru and Miss Chu are a slight step down. Are you sure there’s someone prettier?”

”I’m sure! It’s Miss Ye.”

”Which Miss Ye?”

”Miss Ye Shengge, of course. You’ve never seen her? She rents a room on the boss’s second floor and stays here often. You’ve really never seen her?”

”Holy crap! No! I only knew Miss Xiaoru rented a place here. There’s an even prettier girl renting here too?”

”It’s a real shame you’ve never seen her. But Miss Ye comes here quite often. She’ll definitely be back before long, so you’ll get your chance.”

”I hope so! You’ve really got me curious now. Miss Ye, Miss Xiaoru, Miss Chu, and then Xia Xiaoyue over there, plus Mu Qingye next to her... these are all absolute bombshells! How did they all end up gathering at the boss’s place?”

”Well... it must be because the boss’s food is delicious, he’s handsome, and he’s a nice guy. Those must be the three reasons.”

”Fine. Other than being a ’nice guy,’ which I guess I am, I don’t have the other two things going for me.”

”None of us do.”

”...”

The crowd continued to whisper among themselves. Meanwhile, Xia Xiaoyue said happily, ”It’s been so long since I’ve been here. I’m so glad I could finally come back today.”

Li You smiled. ”Are you free now?”

Xia Xiaoyue nodded. ”Basically. I can come here often again from now on.”

Mu Qingye added, ”Me too. Now I can come here to eat all the time again.”

Li You then turned to Mu Qingye. ”What’s your goal for today’s tournament?”

”Me?” Mu Qingye said. ”Well, at least not get eliminated in the first round.”

Li You laughed. ”Sounds like you have some confidence in your skills. Are you secretly an expert?”

Mu Qingye shook her head repeatedly. ”No, no, definitely not.”

”Really?” Li You said. ”We’ll find out soon enough. You haven’t checked in yet, go get that done.”

”Okay, I’m on my way.”

All contestants had to check in so that Li You would know if everyone had arrived.

The moment Mu Qingye checked in, it instantly caused a commotion.

”HOLY SHIT! Mu Qingye just checked in at the contestant table. She’s actually going to compete? A beauty like that plays *King of Fighters ’97*?”

Nearly every guy at the venue got excited, especially the male contestants.

The boss said a great beauty had registered, and he wasn’t lying.

Almost all the male contestants started praying again, this time for Mu Qingye to be their opponent.

Before, they were just praying for a female opponent; now, they were all specifically praying for Mu Qingye.

In truth, the few female contestants who had checked in earlier weren’t bad either; they could all basically be considered beauties.

It was just that, compared to Mu Qingye, there was no comparison.

...

At 9:30 a.m., Chu Yiwei came over with the contestant check-in sheet. ”Boss, all 456 contestants have arrived.”

Li You nodded. ”Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Chu.”

Since all the contestants had arrived, it was time to announce the tournament rules and draw lots to determine the matchups.

The rules were simple: players would be divided into pairs for a single-elimination match.

The 456 participants would be split into 228 pairs for one-on-one battles.

Each pairing would play a single match. The winner advances, and the loser is eliminated.

Of course, in the event of a mutual knockout, an extra tiebreaker match would be played.

The pairings would be determined by a random draw.

If you were unlucky and drew an expert player as your opponent, well, that was just too bad.

Luck was always part of the competition.

The spectators, on the other hand, hoped that the experts wouldn’t face each other in the first round.

Because if they did, one of the top players would inevitably be eliminated.

An expert getting knocked out too early would undoubtedly affect how exciting the later rounds of the tournament would be.

Li You also didn’t want the experts to meet so early on.

But it was all up to luck.

Unless he could seed the players.

He could group them into tiers based on their skill level—Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and so on.

Then, during the draw, he could apply a rule where players from the same tier wouldn’t be matched against each other.

This would prevent the experts from facing each other too early.

But Li You had no intention of doing so.

For one, he didn’t fully know the skill levels of all the contestants.

And for another, it wasn’t necessary.

If he were to force a seeding system, it might just make some people unhappy.

’So, a direct draw it is.’

As for who would be Player 1 and who would be Player 2? That would also be decided by a draw.

Player 1 definitely had a slight advantage.

If you drew Player 2, you could only blame your bad luck.

It was just like he thought before: luck was part of the competition.

He believed that all the contestants would be able to understand and accept this.

...