CHAPTER 221: CHAPTER 221 A CULINARY GOD HAS COME TO THE GOURMET DESERT!

In a Polytechnic University in Hangzhou.

At this moment, a lively discussion buzzed in one of the male dormitories.

"I heard from Zhang Ze that the internet-famous food stall owner has set up shop in Hangzhou!"

"Which one?"

"You know, that super-rich guy with exceptional cooking skills who loves setting up food stalls!"

"No way, him? Is he here to save Hangzhou’s culinary scene?"

"Let’s go try it."

A few of them immediately made up their minds.

There were six people in the dorm. Two of them only wanted to play games and were intensely focused on their computers, uninterested in anything else.

Among the remaining four, three decided to go together.

The last one hesitated, and when asked, he admitted he planned to invite a girl to go with him.

"Alright, go ask your girl out. We’ll head off first."

The three of them, amused by his demeanor, waved their hands and left the dorm early, making a beeline for Wansong Academy.

It was a scenic area with a decent number of people coming and going. A few food stalls were set up there, and their business was all pretty standard.

Back in the dorm, the guy planning to invite a girl was named Zhang Xiu.

He opened WeChat, tapped on the chat with the girl he liked, and before sending the message, his heart thumped wildly.

Then, with a surge of excitement, he typed three characters: "What’s up?"

What followed was an anxious wait. He hoped she would respond quickly.

Waiting like this was agonizing. He stood up only to sit down again, scrolled through some short videos, and even stood behind his two gaming roommates to watch them for a while.

His behavior was a classic case of "spring fever."

Thankfully, a little over ten minutes later, the girl replied: "In the dorm."

Upon seeing that message, Zhang Xiu immediately responded: "Do you know Jiang Feng? The super popular food stall owner."

This time, the girl replied quickly. "Of course, I know! The girls in my dorm love him, and we were even thinking of going to find him."

Hearing this, Zhang Xiu typed: "He’s at Wansong Academy right now, selling luosifen. He’s come to Hangzhou!"

With an excited heart and trembling hands, Zhang Xiu’s face filled with anticipation.

"Really?" the girl asked, sending a cute cat emoticon with a question mark.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiu smiled even more joyfully.

"Of course it’s true. Let’s go together, have some luosifen."

After he sent this message, the girl didn’t respond for a while.

Zhang Xiu waited anxiously. But he knew he shouldn’t message again just then, as it would make him seem too eager.

Meanwhile, in her dorm, the girl was discussing this with her roommates.

"What? Boss Jiang is in Hangzhou? For real?"

"It’s true. Zhang Xiu sent me photos; it’s legit."

"Then we have to go."

"I’m in."

"Aren’t you going with Zhang Xiu? He asked you."

"I’m not really feeling it. It’s too sudden, and I’d feel uncomfortable. Let’s all go together."

"Alright then."

Having made up her mind, the girl replied to Zhang Xiu on WeChat: "Sorry, my roommates want to go with me, so it’s not a good time for me today."

"But we agreed."

"Thanks for letting me know, though."

Seeing the girl’s WeChat message, Zhang Xiu’s heart sank with disappointment, but he feigned nonchalance and replied tersely, "Alright then."

Then, the girl sent another message: "We can go to a movie next time. Today, I’m with my roommates."

She also sent an adorable emoticon.

Upon reading this, Zhang Xiu’s excitement rekindled, and he even felt a surge of hope.

She had him completely wrapped around her finger.

Thanks to his tip-off, the girls in the dorm also learned that Jiang Feng was at Wansong Academy.

Jiang Feng’s fan base had a very high proportion of female fans. For one thing, girls often tend to be bigger foodies. For another, Jiang Feng’s good looks also played a part. That’s why so many girls were fond of him.

Once word got out, many girls wanted to see what Jiang Feng looked like in person. As a result, many of them headed to Wansong Academy.

Eat some luosifen, see the internet-famous chef, and stroll through the scenic area—what was not to like?

At that moment, Jiang Feng was methodically cooking rice noodles.

He placed a portion of rice noodles into a bowl, added various toppings, then ladled steaming hot snail broth over them.

The aroma was irresistible!

Groups of young customers arrived one after another, phones in hand, eagerly greeting Jiang Feng.

"Boss Jiang, you’ve finally come to Hangzhou! We’ve been hoping you’d come!"

"You’ve got to save us!"

"Can you set up a stall at our university? Didn’t you do that before at other universities?"

"Come to our school! My friends and I will wear black stockings for you!"

"If you come to our school, everyone in our dorm will wear black stockings for you."

A considerable crowd gathered around the stall, chatting with Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng remained unfazed, his expression as cold as a drink taken straight from the fridge.

Black stockings? He wasn’t interested. Bare legs were much better, anyway.

Jiang Feng could tell that these college students seemed really hungry; their craving for good food was incredibly strong.

Many of the girls practically squealed with delight when they tasted the luosifen.

Jiang Feng was also quite surprised by the girls’ appetites. Several girls even ordered a second bowl, downing two bowls of luosifen one after the other. They looked so slim and petite, with such good figures, that you’d think they’d be full after just a few bites. Who knew they could eat so much? Jiang Feng was almost worried they might overeat.

Soon, the area around the stall was packed with college students eating luosifen.

While eating their noodles, the girls didn’t forget to take photos to remember the occasion.

The satisfaction from the savory, spicy, and fragrant rice noodles was simply beyond words.

It was just so delicious!

It was all luosifen, so how could he make it taste this incredible? Even more surprisingly, after finishing one bowl, they immediately wanted another, not feeling the least bit heavy or tired of the flavor.

The side dishes of chicken feet and pig’s trotters were out of this world!

The skin on the chicken feet—who knows how he made them—was beautifully wrinkled and incredibly flavorful. These were Jiang Feng’s specially prepared "tiger-skin chicken feet."

The pig’s trotters were stewed to perfection; the outer meat was tender and soft, while the meat around the tendons inside was satisfyingly chewy. The mouthfeel was superb. And the taste of both was exceptionally good.

Eaten with the luosifen, it was pure bliss!

"This is so good! Oh my god, I’m so glad we came!"

"No wonder he’s so famous!"

"He’s a genuine Executive Chef! I never thought I’d eat food made by a top chef at a little street stall!"

"Seriously, it’s flawless! The taste is incredible!"

The female college students praised him one after another. Their eyes, fixed on Jiang Feng, shone with eagerness and fervent admiration.

It couldn’t be helped; if the university cafeteria food was bad, it was truly hard to eat well. And takeout options weren’t much better. Being able to eat such a delicious meal felt like an impossible dream.

He was like an oasis in a "food desert," warming the stomachs of these hungry diners.

From this perspective, Jiang Feng truly deserved the title of "Culinary God."

Jiang Feng’s business got better and better. More and more college students arrived in groups of three or five. Even a few university professors showed up to slurp down some noodles.

There were several other small food stalls nearby. When they saw how incredibly busy Jiang Feng’s stall was, their eyes widened with disbelief and astonishment.

No way, how is his business so good? Where did all these people come from? Why did it suddenly get so crowded? Is it magic? In all their years of running stalls, they’d never seen anything this strange! And all these customers are heading straight for Jiang Feng’s stall, not even glancing elsewhere! This is totally insane!

The other stall owners simply couldn’t understand it. But there was no denying that the customer traffic was indeed increasing. And with more foot traffic, their own businesses might improve a little. After all, once people finished their luosifen, many couldn’t resist buying a few other snacks.

For instance, some college students, after finishing their luosifen, went to buy grilled squid from a neighboring stall.

The grilled squid vendor couldn’t resist asking one of them, "Miss, do you know what’s happening over there? Why is everyone eating his luosifen?"

Hearing this, the college student explained, "Oh, that’s Executive Chef Jiang! He’s a stall owner who’s super popular online. His business is always amazing!"

"Once we heard he was here, we all came looking for him."

"And I bet a lot more people will show up later."

Hearing the student’s explanation, the vendor finally understood.

So that was it.

The vendor had assumed Jiang Feng was just good at online marketing. Little did he know that Jiang Feng had no social media accounts of his own and never posted videos himself. At most, he made a few culinary teaching videos for the official Jiangyue Terrace account.

Jiang Feng’s videos were all shared by netizens. People really liked his unique way of running a stall.

Inspired by him, many even started to imitate Jiang Feng, trying to change their stall locations every few days. The result? Their business tanked so badly, it was unrecognizable. For them, attracting regulars was already hard enough; changing locations before they even had a steady customer base just meant starting over from scratch every time.

Jiang Feng’s success wasn’t so easy to copy. In fact, it was probably impossible to replicate. Some even tried to combine changing locations with live-streaming. Not only did they fail to attract any diners, but they were also mocked by netizens for being laughably bad copycats.

Meanwhile, Sun Zhuangfei was busy tidying up.

That’s our boss for you! And once people start coming, more are sure to follow.

Jiang Feng, however, was mulling over something else entirely.

Hangzhou is known for Zhejiang cuisine, but I’ve heard it’s considered a ’food desert.’ Wouldn’t that make it very difficult to find good chefs? The skill of the chefs is the most important thing for my restaurant. Now that I’m opening a restaurant, finding chefs will be a hassle. But there’s no rush. I’ll have to take it one step at a time.