Universe Infinite Canteen

Actually, Sun Mei did have a bit of a misunderstanding about Ma Lu.

Ma Lu wasn't specifically looking for Qi Shanzhu; he genuinely wanted to chat more with the contestants, just like how he had initiated a conversation with Chuan Ye Zhengming in the car earlier.

Although Ma Lu was determined to win the title of God of Cooking and the prize money, he hadn't forgotten Old Wang's request.

The reason Old Wang wanted to participate in the chef competition was to observe the philosophies and convictions of other chefs, thereby breaking new ground in his own culinary skills.

So, of course, Ma Lu couldn't just focus on cooking; he also needed to interact with other head chefs.

Nationality wasn't a problem; he had the Traveler's Bracelet, which came with a translation function, so communicating with people from other countries wasn't an issue.

However, after walking a few steps, he stopped in his tracks again.

Turning back to Yu Yitong, he asked, "Don't you have your own work to do?"

"My job is to follow you, to track and interview you about what you're doing in this competition. Of course, if you feel that I'm disturbing you, I can stay a bit farther away."

As Yu Yitong spoke, she took a couple of steps back. "Is this okay?"

"So... what you mean is that for the next three days, I'll have a little tail following me around."

"Two, actually. I also have David, but you can pretend we don't exist. Just do what you need to do."

"You're saying I should approach Qi Shanzhu now, and you'll follow me there too?"

Yu Yitong nodded.

"I'm saying this for your own good. I'm worried that what might happen next could affect your mood and give you mastitis," Ma Lu said. "I think it's better for you to go back to your room and rest."

"No need, I understand that what's past is past. Right now, I just want to throw all two hundred percent of my energy into my work."

"Hearing you say that, I feel relieved."

"This competition has players from over thirty countries, more than a hundred people. And we have a limited number of interviewers. The company assigned me and David to follow you from the start because they believe you have a good chance of making it to the end and winning the championship.

"Special tracking coverage like this is only available to eight contestants in this competition."

Yu Yitong explained, but what she didn't mention was that Ma Lu's name wasn't discussed in the interview team's first meeting. Even though the team generally held Universe Infinite Canteen in high regard and more than half believed it could win the championship, the assumption was that Old Wang, as the canteen's head chef, would be competing, not Boss Ma, since nobody had tasted Ma Lu's cooking.

Nevertheless, Yu Yitong insisted on conducting a follow-up report on Ma Lu because, from her understanding of him, Ma Lu seldom engaged in anything without assurance.

Most crucially, this guy would never engage in a losing business; Universe Infinite Canteen had already sent out a closure notice to the fan group.

Meaning, for every day Ma Lu spent in the God of Cooking competition, he lost a day's earnings, and the daily turnover of Universe Infinite Canteen was certainly not low.

Although Ma Lu had never disclosed it publicly, a simple multiplication of the menu prices by the customer flow revealed it was definitely more than 100 thousand.

In other words, even if he didn't win the championship, Ma Lu had to at least make it into the top three to avoid losses, because only the top three would receive prize money.

However, this judgment was based on her familiarity with Ma Lu and couldn't serve as a reason to convince others.

So, in the end, Yu Yitong volunteered herself, and David, who was very interested in Universe Infinite Canteen, started to follow and interview Ma Lu.

Despite Yu Yitong convincing herself that she was doing it strictly for business and didn't want to miss covering the champion, realizing she would have to stay with Ma Lu for the three days of the competition still caused her insomnia.

And she suffered from insomnia for several days straight, developing dark circles under her eyes that she had to cover up with concealer and eye brightener.

Having reached that point in the conversation, there was nothing Ma Lu could do but shrug and say,

"Alright then, if you want to follow, follow. But can we not record our conversation?"

"Sure, I'll have the cameraman stand even further away."

After setting ground rules with Yu Yitong, Ma Lu headed towards Qi Shanzhu.

The lobby also had other contestants,

but Ma Lu still chose Qi Shanzhu. Why? Of course, because Qi Shanzhu had nice legs.

"Annyeonghaseyo," Ma Lu greeted Qi Shanzhu in the only Korean phrase he knew as soon as they met, "I'm Boss Ma Lu from the Universe Infinite Canteen. You look familiar, as if I've seen you on TV—are you a guest or a contestant?"

"I'm a contestant too," Qi Shanzhu said curiously, "Why is it that even though you're not speaking Korean, I can still understand you?"

"I learned some soul magic from a Shaman Eskimo in Greenland."

"So you are a mage?" Qi Shanzhu pursed her lips and stifled a laugh.

"I know a bit of magic. Do you want me to do a divination for you?"

"Sure."

"Then just give me something of yours."

...

Not far away, David stood to one side, enviously watching Ma Lu chatting and laughing with Qi Shanzhu.

"Boss Ma really has skills. If I had that kind of flirting technique, I wouldn't still be single now."

"Smooth talk is nothing to be proud of," Yu Yitong said.

"Of course it's great. You see, Boss Ma even exchanged phone numbers with Qi Shanzhu."

After getting Ma Lu's number, Qi Shanzhu searched all over but couldn't find a notepad, so she simply stretched out her hand, letting Ma Lu write directly on her palm.

Yu Yitong snorted coldly at this scene, hands on hips, flicking her hair.

"What era are they living in, still playing this game? If there's no paper, why not just call?"

David asked cautiously, "Boss, are you angry?"

"I'm not, why would I be angry? This is just normal interaction between contestants, right?"

"But I also feel that there's no need to write on the hand... it seems a bit like flirting."

"That guy is definitely doing it on purpose," muttered Yu Yitong, "trying to drive us away. We can't let him succeed. Keep filming."

"Uh... film them flirting? Isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

"Film it. We can cut it out later," Yu Yitong said.

"Oh."

Ma Lu and Qi Shanzhu talked for about fifteen minutes, and he successfully got her phone number and Instagram account.

Especially on the Instagram account, Ma Lu took a glance and saw quite a few goodies.

After receiving her room card, Qi Shanzhu discovered that she was actually next to Ma Lu's room and joyfully said,

"Our rooms are so close, that's great. I can't read Chinese, so I'm afraid I'll have to bother Boss Ma for a lot of things later on."

"Sure, feel free to come to me if you have any problems," Ma Lu readily agreed.

Before leaving, Qi Shanzhu also gifted Ma Lu a bottle of homemade blueberry jam from her restaurant as a welcome present.

Ma Lu thought for a moment and took out a bag of chewing sticks made by Old Wang from his suitcase in return, something he had originally planned to snack on during his free time.

Sadly, Qi Shanzhu's cooking skills were average; even Ma Lu, with his mediocre skills, could tell she was significantly behind the likes of Chuan Ye Zhengming and Sun Mei.

She truly did enjoy cooking, but being a model, a YouTuber, and acting in films took up too much of her time. She had little left to devote to cooking.