Starlet Taotie Chapter 25
Chapter 25 Good Person
Chu Ruoyu was extremely restless.
On one hand, her heart felt as if a cat was scratching at it. She desperately wanted to know what exactly was wrong with the black tea series.
But on the other hand, she kept telling herself to hold back. Absolutely do not give Jiang Tao the chance to get close to her.
However, just as she was suffering through this intense inner struggle, Jiang Tao’s attention had already shifted to Li Siwan.
Li Siwan had finally met the idol she admired so much. The excitement, the joy, and the overflowing affection in her heart were practically spilling out.
She had so many things she wanted to tell him. She wanted him to know just how much the Sea Salts* loved him!
(TLN: 海盐 Sea Salts should be Shen Zhiyan’s fandom name. While not the character, the Chinese word for salt is pronounced yán, which sounds similar to Shen Zhiyǎn)
She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her eyes shining brightly. “Zhiyan ge—”
At that moment, a slender finger gently tapped her shoulder.
“Your bag fell.”
The overflowing affection in her heart seemed to be instantly sucked away.
The excitement and anticipation disappeared without a trace.
Just moments ago, she had been on the verge of crying tears of joy, almost fainting from happiness, with rose-colored stars filling her vision.
Yet in the blink of an eye—
Li Siwan: I am without worldly desires.jpg
(TLN: 没有那种世俗的欲望 originated from a 1993 OVA, Nenbutsu Monogatari. In the scene, the young Buddha (Siddhartha) rejects King Bimbisara's offer of half his kingdom, stating that he left home to seek enlightenment and has no worldly desires. The screenshot became a popular Chinese reaction meme around 2020.)
Shen Zhiyan was still looking at her politely and patiently.
Li Siwan was extremely embarrassed.
She could only use the excuse of bending down to pick up her bag to desperately recall her love for her idol.
Jiāyóu, Li Siwan!
You can do it!
Hurry up and remember!
Wuwuwu…
She couldn’t do it.
Right now, looking at Shen Zhiyan was somehow less appealing than the plate of sunflower seeds in front of her.
However, in the next second, a slender, fair hand shot out from beside her and, with lightning speed, pulled the plate of sunflower seeds away.
Jiang Tao: Don’t even think about my sunflower seeds!
Li Siwan was so aggrieved that she was almost about to cry.
In her twelve years of life, this was the very first time she had tasted the harsh bite of the real world.
Looking at her sniffling appearance, Jiang Tao belatedly began to feel a little guilty.
She took out a single sunflower seed from the plate, struggled and hesitated for a long time, then finally closed her eyes and handed it to Li Siwan with a pained expression. “Here, you can have this.”
Li Siwan accepted the sunflower seed with tears in her eyes.
It seemed like things were not quite as embarrassing anymore.
Wuwuwu, this jie jie is such a good person!
Ever since that meal at the Fang’s private kitchen last time, Shen Zhiyan had not seen Jiang Tao for a long while.
During this period, he had managed to keep himself under control. Every day, he could barely force himself to eat a little.
However, the feeling of forcing himself to consume food just to stay alive was completely incomparable to the relaxed, happy feeling he experienced when eating with Jiang Tao and genuinely enjoying the taste of food.
If not for the fact that he still had his rationality, he would have already thought of every possible way to poach Jiang Tao into his own studio and have her accompany him for meals every day.
So when he learned that Jiang Tao would be attending the tasting banquet, he changed his schedule and deliberately set aside this day.
Sure enough, the plate of sunflower seeds in Jiang Tao’s hands suddenly seemed incredibly fragrant to him.
Jiang Tao immediately noticed someone eyeing her sunflower seeds and hugged the plate protectively.
“What do you want?!”
Shen Zhiyan smiled slightly. “Zhou Zhilan recently found a restaurant that specializes in Cantonese yum cha. You know about yum cha, right? There are countless varieties. You can eat from morning all the way until afternoon…”
Jiang Tao: (?﹃?)
Shen Zhiyan continued, “If you have time, would you like to—”
“Yes!!” Jiang Tao answered so enthusiastically that she almost raised her hand.
Shen Zhiyan’s gaze fell onto the sunflower seeds in her arms.
Jiang Tao: “……”
On one side were the sunflower seeds right in front of her.
On the other side was Cantonese yum cha that already sounded incredibly delicious just from hearing about it.
Wuwu~~
This was such a difficult choice!!
She scrunched up her little face, then painfully and reluctantly picked out one sunflower seed from the plate and placed it in front of Shen Zhiyan.
Holding back his laughter, Shen Zhiyan put on a solemn front and bargained, “Three.”
Jiang Tao glared at him. Don’t push it!!
Shen Zhiyan smiled. “I heard that restaurant’s har gow are made with an entire jumbo shrimp inside each one. Through the translucent wrapper, you can even see the fresh, tender shrimp meat…”
Jiang Tao painfully picked out another sunflower seed. “Two! No more than that!!”
Shen Zhiyan: “Deal.”
The transaction was complete.
Jiang Tao quickly finished the entire plate of sunflower seeds, leaving him no chance to go back on his words.
Shen Zhiyan cracked open the two hard-earned sunflower seeds.
Mmm… delicious.
Nearby, Li Siwan thought: Even a meal of Cantonese yum cha with Zhiyan ge ge only earned him two sunflower seeds!
She instantly felt that the single sunflower seed in her hand had become incredibly precious.
This jie jie really is a good person!!
Chef Master Shi’s tasting banquet consisted of a total of ten dishes, and every single one was a brand-new creation.
They were not served all at once, but one dish at a time.
After each dish was tasted, enough time was provided for the guests to savor and reflect on it. If anyone had any thoughts or suggestions, there were servers stationed beside every table who would record them at any time.
Jiang Tao kept Tong Tong’s advice firmly in mind.
Eat more. Talk less.
Chu Ruoyu had originally planned to wait and see what Jiang Tao was capable of, to find out what kind of opinions she could offer about today’s dishes.
But from the first dish all the way to the final one, Jiang Tao did nothing but bury herself in eating, completely showing no intention of offering any comments.
Chu Ruoyu went from being fully prepared and on guard at the beginning, to disappointment, and finally to complete disdain.
She had it right from the start; Jiang Tao truly did not possess any real ability.
She had merely relied on some unorthodox tricks to deceive Grandpa Shi, and she had almost been deceived as well. Once they arrived in front of Grandpa Shi, she would definitely expose this woman’s true colors!
…
The tasting banquet was a huge success.
No one had expected that even at Shi Wenqing’s age, he was still as sharp as ever and could come up with such astonishing new dishes that left people full of praise.
The most impressive part was that despite being new creations, they still possessed excellent color, aroma, and flavor. They were so delicious that it was almost impossible to find any faults.
After the meal, Shi Wenqing was helped out by his disciples to see the guests off.
When Chu Ruoyu saw him approaching, she immediately stood up. “Grandpa Shi!”
Shi Wenqing looked at her kindly. “Xiao Yu, how were Grandpa Shi’s dishes today?”
Chu Ruoyu nodded. “Grandpa Shi’s dishes are naturally the best.”
Shi Wenqing then looked toward Jiang Tao.
“Xiao Jiang, what do you think? Are there any shortcomings in the dishes I made today?”
Chu Ruoyu had originally been about to tattle when she suddenly stopped in place.
What did Grandpa Shi just say?
Did he actually just ask Jiang Tao what shortcomings there were in his dishes?!
Could it be that Jiang Tao really could find something wrong with them?
Under Chu Ruoyu’s incredulous gaze, Jiang Tao replied with an earnest face, “Okay, you asked for it, so I won’t hold back.”
Jiang Tao then began speaking at length.
Shi Wenqing was like a student listening to a teacher. As he listened, he even put on his reading glasses and took notes. Whenever they reached an important point, he would stop and discuss it with her.
At first, Chu Ruoyu could still understand what they were talking about.
But as they continued, their conversation became more and more profound, until Chu Ruoyu’s mind was completely muddled.
She felt like an elementary school student who had been thrown into an advanced calculus lecture, staring at a sky full of incomprehensible equations.
She wanted to cry, but this was no place or time.
Fortunately, most of the disciples standing behind Shi Wenqing had expressions not too different from hers.
That gave her a little comfort.
But this also suddenly made her realize something.
Could it be that everything Shi Wenqing said was true?
Could Jiang Tao really solve the problems with her new product development?!
So, just as Jiang Tao finished speaking and was about to leave, Chu Ruoyu finally broke through the last barrier in her heart.
“W-Wait… Can you tell me what exactly is wrong with our Ruoxian black tea series? And if you have time, could you come to our Research and Development (R&D) department and try our new products? I’d like to know what could be improved upon." She raised her head proudly. “Of course, I won’t make you work for free. If you can truly solve our problems, I’ll pay you according to the market rate, as well as give you a one-year endorsement contract for both Ruoxian and Tangmi’s product lines.”
Although Ruoxian was a new product, the Tangmi series was a national brand. It was the biggest bargaining chip Chu Ruoyu could offer.
Shi Wenqing smiled and said to Jiang Tao, “Then I’ll congratulate you in advance for obtaining two such great endorsement deals!”
Chu Ruoyu had not expected Shi Wenqing to have so much confidence in Jiang Tao; she, in turn, was doubtful.
Could Jiang Tao really solve a problem that their entire R&D department had spent over half a year failing to resolve?
…
The ride back was extremely quiet.
Li Siwan opened her QQ group chat to find it already incredibly lively. The chat was filled with people sharing photos of Shen Zhiyan from tonight.
The moment she appeared, the group became even more excited.
Sea Salt Cheese: 【Pea, you finally showed up! Did you see Zhiyan ge ge today?!】
Sea Salt Pea: 【Mhm.】
Although Li Siwan was young, she was also a major fan.
The fans all knew that she was a wealthy trust-fund baby. Not only did she spend a lot on fan support, she also often had opportunities to meet Shen Zhiyan in person.
Before she went to the tasting banquet this time, she had already told the fan group.
But Li Siwan’s state was clearly unusual today.
Sea Salt Biscuit: 【Pea, what’s wrong with you? Did something happen to Zhiyan ge ge?】
Sea Salt Cheese: 【Don’t scare me!】
Sea Salt Pea: 【No, no. Ge ge was in great condition today. I was sitting right beside him, and he ate quite a lot of food!】
【Aaaaaahhh!! So jealous!!】
【Was he super handsome in person?! Ahhh Pea, you’re so lucky!!】
【Ahhh!! Did ge ge’s ED get better?! I’m so happy!!】
【Wait, if that’s the case, shouldn’t you be really excited? Why do you sound so down?】
Sea Salt Pea: 【I’ve decided to think about this rationally. What exactly do I like about ge ge?】
【???】
【What happened to you? Why are you suddenly thinking about this?】
Li Siwan told them about what happened today: how she had wanted to confess her feelings to Shen Zhiyan, only to suddenly lose that overwhelming affection.
【Of course, I still love ge ge!!】
【It’s just that… my feelings don’t seem as intense as they were before anymore……】
The other fans:
【Something’s wrong! This is very wrong!】
【Did some little vixen outside lure you away?!】
Li Siwan looked at the ID of the last messenger: Sea Salt Sunflower Seed.
She suddenly thought of the sunflower seed Jiang Tao had given her and coughed guiltily.
She would absolutely never betray ge ge!
Though…sneaking a look over the wall, and becoming a dual-support fan…that’s harmless, right?
