The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Ever since Fu Yu started working part-time at the music restaurant, he hadn’t had a proper day off, except for that time when he took a few days because his parents were visiting.

The next day, Zhao Meng had the morning shift, so Fu Yu went to ask for leave.

As soon as he mentioned it, Zhao Meng made the decision: ”What are you waiting for? There’s not much going on this morning. Once you’re done with the prep, just head over.”

By around nine-thirty, the kitchen prep was mostly done. The rest, like frying stuff quickly, could be handled by the junior staff.

Fu Yu didn’t waste any time. He greeted Zhao Meng, ready to make a quick trip there and come back early.

Zhao Meng stopped him, advising, ”Whatever happens, don’t be impulsive, and no need to rush back by noon. Invite your brother out for a meal. Young people have big hearts, as the saying goes, there’s nothing a good meal can’t solve. If one meal doesn’t work, then have two. Once you’ve eaten to your heart’s content, everything will be alright.”

Fu Yu laughed, ”Got it!”

He intentionally didn’t take the bus, opting for a taxi to go to Qiming E-commerce Training School.

Today was the second day of their phase training exams. When he arrived, the morning exam had just ended.

Groups of students emerged from the exam hall.

Because he looked so young, he blended in easily with the students coming and going, and no one noticed him sneaking in.

On the contrary, his good looks caught the eyes of many female students, who gathered and whispered, ”Which class is that handsome guy in? Does he not come to class often? Haven’t seen him before...”

Fu Yu asked around and found the exam room where Lu Minghao was.

Lu Minghao was at the entrance, arguing with a boy of his age, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.

Fu Yu squeezed in and first saw the live broadcast results on the exam room’s electronic screen.

Boldly in first place was Lin Minghao’s name, with a live view count of 23,731 people, more than a thousand ahead of second place.

The view counts for second and third places were quite close.

It’s important to know that in such impromptu live-streaming exams, to prevent friends and family from boosting view counts artificially, live broadcast times and locations are always set on the spot.

Ensuring fairness and justice while allowing each trainee to showcase their skills—whether it’s using techniques or talents—as long as they could attract and retain platform viewers to watch the live show, they would be deemed successful.

Lin Minghao was handsome, articulate, turning the live broadcast into a funny guest talk show during the sales pitch, with a unique hosting style that was rather innovative, attracting many viewers to the live room to support him.

The reason the number got stuck a little over twenty thousand was that the broadcast started too hastily and didn’t last long.

Reaching that result was already quite commendable.

During a previous phone chat, Fu Yu had asked Lin Minghao about his usual live-streaming performance. Lin Minghao had said his best view count reached fifty thousand viewers.

And the previous seafood takeaway review event that caused an unprecedented promotional effect had only twenty thousand plus viewers.

That was achieved with three well-known streamers hosting live on site.

The harsh sarcasm interrupted Fu Yu’s thoughts.

The boy arguing with Lin Minghao sneered, ”Getting first place? Look how smug you are! Did you even pass the cost conversion exam yesterday?”

Lin Minghao couldn’t take it: ”Which eye of yours saw me being smug? I’m not good at cost conversion, so what? Did you get first place yesterday? You didn’t, and yet you’re here barking at me?”

Fu Yu figured it out too. This guy wasn’t trying to reason with Lin Minghao; he wasn’t looking to convince him. He just wanted to piss Lin Minghao off, and every word he spoke was meant to poke at Lin Minghao’s weak spots.

”Look at you, sat there for the entire exam just jabbering away in front of the camera, while others were singing and dancing, each showing their talents. Why did so many people watch you? You must’ve bought fake viewers. With your skills, attracting that many viewers, isn’t it fake? Who knows how much the rich lady you cling to paid you.”

Lin Minghao’s eyes were red with anger, just about to retort when a strong hand firmly gripped his shoulder.

With one hand on Minghao, the other in his pocket, and using his height, Fu Yu bent down slightly, deliberately looking at the guy: ”He knows rich ladies, has status, has position. Who are you? Who knows you? If you’ve got the skills, you should get yourself such a rich lady too. Ugly people make more trouble; you look bad, don’t have the means, so you’re just envious of others. Does that make sense?”

”Screw this! Another playboy clinging to a rich lady,” the boy scoffed disdainfully.

Fu Yu: ”Wow, maybe you wanted to cling, and she didn’t let you.”

”Bullshit! You...”

Fu Yu: ”Fighting over a minor live-streaming exam? With your level, having live viewers over ten thousand means passing, don’t you know? You think just because you’re a newbie it’s normal for no one to watch your streams? That’s too trashy. And I’m not just talking about you; everyone in your bunch is trash.”

The boy was trembling with rage, and the paper he was holding fell to the ground.

Fu Yu picked it up and saw it was an exam admission ticket, with the name and age written on it.

”Oh, you’re 24? Even older than me? You must be a senior then, right? How many years have you failed? Now turning around to mock a top student from another major, isn’t that inappropriate?”

Fu Yu glanced at the electronic screen at the entrance: ”No way, no way, your name isn’t even in the top ten in your class? How many people are in your class? You’re surely at the bottom, aren’t you?”

The boy snatched back the admission ticket, furiously pointing at Fu Yu’s nose: ”You’re awesome, how many viewers did you have during your live stream?”

Fu Yu grinned, showing a set of neat white teeth: ”Sorry, during my live, I had fifty thousand viewers, and I didn’t cling to a rich lady.”

He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a wallet, took out a card, and tossed it to the ground before picking it up: ”Eh, what’s this? Oh, turns out it’s my ID card.”

Fu Yu waved the ID card in front of the boy: ”OMG, why’s it like this? My ID says I’m only 22. I thought I was the oldest here; turns out you’re older than me!”

The boy’s face turned beet red with anger, pointing weakly at Fu Yu: ”Who can’t bluff? You say fifty thousand means fifty thousand? I could say I had five hundred thousand viewers too.”

”No way, doubting fifty thousand viewers? Do you think it’s incredible to have fifty thousand watching a stream? Seriously, stop studying, save some educational resources for kids who can’t afford school. Your contributions to the country are less than someone farting less, which would help more in alleviating the greenhouse effect.”