Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian, "???"

Zhang Zuting, I had treated you so well; this is how you repay me!

Pei Qian hurriedly took a look at the comments on Zhang Zuting's Weibo account and ascertained the seriousness of the situation.

If the response was good, there was going to be trouble.

Zhang Zuting had already revealed the keywords 'Jingzhou' and 'private kitchen'. If someone really was interested and started to ask around, what was Pei Qian going to do?

Although Zhang Zuting was no longer that popular, he still had his die-hard fans. If a few of them were coincidentally in Jingzhou and wanted to try a 'Zhang Zuting dinner', wouldn't Pei Qian's restaurant be exposed?

While Zhang Zuting's popularity had tanked—since he posted this message a few days ago, more than five hundred comments had been left on it.

Pei Qian hurriedly took a look.

"Sponsored partnership? This is good, this is good."

"Hahaha, why didn't you say earlier?! If I knew you were in Jingzhou, I would have gone to meet you!"

"What a pity; I missed an opportunity to meet my idol."

"With a game company? Which game company has such great foresight and has found a treasure like Uncle Zhang?"

"Uncle Zhang, are you helping this restaurant to publicize? No worries; please send us the location so that we can go and support it!"

"So, where can we find this private kitchen?"

"This restaurant is a little unprofessional. Since it had enlisted Uncle Zhang's help to publicize it, it should at least provide a few nice photos. There isn't even a single one now; who would go and try it?"

Everything else was similar to the above.

Pei Qian was a little more relaxed now.

Evidently, most fans had caught the gist of the message, that Zhang Zuting was 'collaborating with a game company' and were all trying to guess which company it was, what type of collaboration this entailed.

Only a minority was fixated on the second half of the Weibo message.

The crux was that there weren't any pictures attached.

For gourmet food and delicacies, pictures were the most persuasive; they were after all worth a thousand words and could instantly catch everyone's eye.

Of course, if someone was a writer and could use words to describe mouth-watering food, that was a different case.

Zhang Zuting evidently wasn't such a skilled writer.

Hence, although a few were asking for the private kitchen's address, most did not pay much attention to it.

Zhang Zuting had also selected a few more popular comments to reply to.

"The partnership collaboration is currently still confidential; I will update everyone shortly."

"As it was a hasty trip to Jingzhou this time, I will definitely find a chance in the future to meet my friends in Jingzhou!"

"It isn't publicity; the food is really, really good."

"I am actually not sure of the exact location as well; my partners had sent a car to bring me there. I can only recall that it was in a rather secluded villa district. It was rather quaint, and the scenery was beautiful."

"I don't have any pictures. This private kitchen forbids any photo-taking as they feel that photo-taking would rob the whole gourmet food experience and details would be missed out. I strongly recommend locals in Jingzhou to go and try it! Also, it might be extremely pricey."

If Zhang Zuting didn't reply, things might have died down. However, after he did, his fans were even more confused.

He didn't know the location. He didn't have any pictures. He didn't even know the price of the food items there.

The only clue given was that it was in a secluded villa district that was very quaint.

However, there were so many such districts in Jingzhou!

Jingzhou City had seven or eight scenic districts; each of them had at least six to seven villa sections. Besides these districts, there were some scattered villas around as well.

Even after filtering 'secluded', 'rather quaint', and 'the scenery was beautiful'; there were at least twenty to thirty places that fit this description. Furthermore, each of these places had so many villas; how would the fans know where exactly this private kitchen was hidden?

Without any leads or any pictures, how were they supposed to look for this restaurant?

They couldn't possibly go door-to-door and ask 'hello, are you a private kitchen', right?

That was a little ridiculous.

Naturally, if everyone knew that it was a semi-commercial villa, that would definitely help to eliminate many possible places. The problem was Zhang Zuting didn't know about this, and so his fans were in the dark as well.

Zhang Zuting didn't even know the name of the private kitchen.

Even as his fans kept asking, as Zhang Zuting himself didn't know the answers, how could any answers be found?

After seeing all the comments, Pei Qian sighed out in relief.

All is good, all is good. A false alarm!

Pei Qian had made the right choice by not revealing the location of the restaurant and not allowing Zhang Zuting to take any pictures.

Zhang Zuting was after all a star and had experienced much in life. He wasn't like bumpkins who would want to take pictures to boast if they were having delicacies. He also wouldn't pay particular attention to the restaurant's location.

Pei Qian was very emotional; he was very grateful that Zha Zhuti had not caused him much grief!

From the looks of it, Ming Yun Private Kitchen was not in danger of being found-out yet.

He had just wanted to put his cell phone back into his pocket when—'ding'. He received a message alert. Zhang Zuting had sent a new Weibo message.

"I have the location! I had asked my assistant. Luckily, he had noted down the location! Location: Jingzhou City—Ming Yun Villas"

"Pfft!"

Pei Qian nearly spat blood out.

Done for; I have been made by this assistant!

Zhang Zuting indeed had not recalled the location; however, his assistant had!

Come to think of it, that assistant had seen the table filled with delicacies, particularly the King Crab dish; and his eyes had glistered. He obviously was not going to forget that sight.

Pei Qian had not thought of much; he had just asked the assistant not to take pictures.

However, he had actually noted down the location of the restaurant; Pei Qian couldn't possibly have noticed that!

Soon, the comments section grew noisier.

"Ming Yun Villas? That is indeed rather secluded. Thank you for the recommendation, Uncle Zhang. I'll drive by someday to have a look."

"Wow, that's far. Even by car, it takes one hour."

"It is really that good, that Uncle Zhang is full of praise? Can someone go try it out? If it really is that good, I could consider flying to Jingzhou and try it and take in the sights as well. Who knows where it's nice to go to in Jingzhou?"

Pei Qian scrolled the Weibo account page as he froze.

The previous message had been alright; most people had focused on Zhang Zuting's commercial partnership.

This message was bad; it had specifically stated Ming Yun Private Kitchen's location.

That was too eye-catching!

People were going to come knocking!

Pei Qian scratched his head.

What could I do to dissuade these people?

He definitely couldn't maliciously do something to turn them away.

"Calm down. Things should not be that bad. Even if a few people found their way here, that won't be a problem. This place is so expensive, and most people would not be able to afford it.

"Zhang Zuting only had over four thousand likes on his previous message; his fans are also scattered around the country. Even if a small number of them really found Ming Yun Private Kitchen, that would only be tens of people. Some might not be able to afford the prices as well.

"En, Ming Yun Private Kitchen is making huge losses monthly. Even if one wave of customers came—in the long run, this would not be able to cover the losses."

Pei Qian had been a little flustered at the start. However, after calming down a little, he felt that things were not as bad as he thought.

After all, Ming Yun Private Kitchen still had a few lines of defense. It was rather secluded and far while the dishes were priced so exorbitantly; most of the rare ingredients in dishes had to be preordered beforehand. These would definitely dissuade ordinary customers.

Of course, while that might be true, Pei Qian couldn't sit still and do nothing.

He thought for a moment and decided to give Chef Lin a call.