After a week of preparation, the Su family's restaurant finally opened.
It was located on the commercial street of Fog City, a two-story building with a ground floor for casual seating and private rooms on the second floor. It was named Ming Yue Zhai!
This was a direct challenge to the Wu family.
The Wu family's establishment was called Wu Yue Zhai, and the Su family's was Ming Yue Zhai. The Wu family's was not open to the public, while the Su family's was.
Everything was done in reverse.
A direct confrontation!
Of course, all these ideas came from Su Ru, who purely wanted to infuriate the Wu family and Wu Lingxuan.
The Su family had put in a great deal of effort to prepare Ming Yue Zhai.
Besides Chef Bian Ru, they had also invited 10 other highly skilled chefs, each capable of opening their own restaurant.
With these 10 chefs working with Bian Ru, and the Su family's unique fresh produce, they immediately captured the attention of the entire Fog City.
On the opening day, it was packed.
The already bustling commercial street became even more congested, with no space to even stand near the entrance of Ming Yue Zhai.
A long queue formed, with people packed shoulder to shoulder.
Naturally, the Wu family would not allow the Su family's grand opening to proceed smoothly.
Wu Lingxuan didn't show up.
However, Wu Hao and Hu Ziming did.
"Make way, make way."
The Wu family's thugs roughly pushed the customers aside, clearing a path.
Wu Hao swaggered into Ming Yue Zhai, drawing disgruntled glances from the patrons.
Seeing Wu Hao enter, Su Wanran said with a cold face, "Young Master Wu, our Ming Yue Zhai is just opening today. We believe in prosperity through harmony. Please do not cause trouble."
Wu Hao chuckled, "I'm not causing trouble. I'm here to eat."
"Heh heh," Su Wanran let out a cold laugh and said, "If you're here to eat, please go queue outside. Ming Yue Zhai doesn't cook for line cutters."
Her words drew applause from the surrounding crowd.
"Well said, Director Su!"
"Exactly! What kind of person does this? Relies on a few lackeys to act so arrogantly, just to cut in line. The Wu family, pfft!"
"How could the living bodhisattva Wu Lingxuan have such a trash of a brother?"
"He's just tarnishing the living bodhisattva's good name."
Hearing the harsh words, Wu Hao became somewhat flustered, his face turning red as he prepared to retort.
Hu Ziming, quick as lightning, grabbed Wu Hao's arm, preventing him from clashing with the customers.
He whispered, "Brother Hao, our purpose here today is to target the Su family, not to argue with customers. We are also in the business of running a restaurant. If we offend customers and damage our reputation, it will be detrimental to our Wu family."
Wu Hao suppressed his anger and did not lash out.
Then,
Hu Ziming raised his hands, signaling everyone to listen to him.
Hu Ziming said righteously, "Everyone, please calm down and listen to me. We are not actually cutting in line. Our Wu family is very cultured."
Someone retorted, "If you're cultured, why did you push people aside? If you're cultured, why did you come from the back to the front?"
Hu Ziming replied with a smile, "A good question. We are not actually here to eat. Our visit today, and the special effort to push through the crowd to the front, was done with good intentions. We are here to expose the Su family's ugly face and prevent everyone from being deceived!"
Huh?
What did he mean?
The crowd exchanged confused glances, not understanding what Hu Ziming was implying about deception.
Su Wanran's expression turned grim. These two indeed came to cause trouble!
She angrily shouted, "Hu Ziming, stop your nonsensical talk!"
Hu Ziming sneered, "Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you will be the judge after you hear me out. Just a week ago, the Su family's establishment, Su Wu, caused a mass food poisoning incident on its opening day. Have you all forgotten? It's only been a short while, and the Su family is opening again? They clearly don't care about the customers' safety!"
This...
Su Wanran was speechless.
Indeed, the Su Wu incident had just passed. Was it appropriate for them to re-enter the catering industry so soon? Had the Su family's problems been resolved?
The customers also fell silent, a hint of suspicion growing towards the Su family.
Hu Ziming sneered coldly, his objective nearing fruition.
However,
Lu Ming calmly stepped forward and said, seemingly nonchalantly, "I recall Su Wu was not solely opened by the Su family, was it? To my knowledge, Su Wu was a joint venture between the Su and Wu families."
Lu Ming looked at Hu Ziming and asked, "You say the Su family reopening after only a week is irresponsible to customers. Then, after the incident, did your Wu family close down any of the over 100 restaurants in Fog City for rectification and investigation?"
Uh... a bit awkward.
Su Wu had collapsed, yet the Wu family not only didn't cease operations for rectification but even worked harder.
Hu Ziming was so stumped by Lu Ming's retort that he didn't know what to say.
The surrounding customers started to jeer.
"Haha, well said."
"They always point out others' faults but never mention their own. Why is the Wu family so hypocritical?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I was almost fooled by this scoundrel."
"Get lost, don't embarrass yourself here. Seeing you makes me sick."
Listening to the insults, Hu Ziming took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and not be swayed by the atmosphere.
After a long pause.
Hu Ziming suddenly looked up at Lu Ming and questioned, "May I ask, is the new head chef you hired for Ming Yue Zhai Bian Ru?"
Lu Ming nodded, "Chef Bian's culinary skills are exquisite and unparalleled. Is there a problem with hiring him as our head chef?"
"What problem? How can you even ask that!" Hu Ziming pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and held it up high for everyone to see. "Everyone, after my thorough investigation, this man named Bian Ru is a mentally ill patient! Just a week ago, he was still in a psychiatric hospital!"
The crowd was astonished at his words.
Mentally ill?
No way, are they letting a mentally ill person be the head chef?
Can food cooked by someone mentally ill be eaten?
Are they sure it won't be fatal?
Seeing the doubts arising, Hu Ziming continued, "Yes, Bian Ru was once a very accomplished chef. However, due to certain events, he lost his sanity and became mentally ill. The Su family, disregarding the customers' safety, only cared about making a spectacle and insisted on bringing Bian Ru out of the psychiatric hospital and hiring this mentally ill person as their head chef! Heh, I just want to ask, who among you dares to eat food prepared by a mentally ill person? Are you tired of living?"
This caused a huge stir.
Everyone hesitated.
The Su family's reputation was already shaky, given the recent food poisoning incident. Now, with the revelation of a mentally ill chef, the Su family clearly didn't care about the customers' lives!
Whether the food was good or not was one thing, but the fear was that it could be deadly.
In an instant, the crowd became agitated.
"Damn it, is the Su family crazy? I trusted them so much, and this is how they treat me? Hiring a mentally ill person as head chef, without any regard for us customers!"
"Exactly, the Su family is utterly insane."
"Such a Su family should be kicked out of Fog City!"
"I regret it, I was wrong. I take back what I said earlier. The Wu family is the truly benevolent family, a million times better than the Su family."
"Not only is the Wu family's food delicious, but more importantly, it's safe. You won't die from eating it."
"Let's go, let's go. Everyone hurry and leave. Don't eat here, be careful you might die!"
Once a credibility crisis erupts, it becomes difficult to control.
Customers began to worry about the dining environment at the Su family's restaurant.
No one was willing to eat food cooked by a mentally ill person!
Su Wanran was plagued by a headache.
She hadn't expected that this scoundrel Hu Ziming would resort to such ruthless tactics. He couldn't drive Bian Ru insane, so he exploited Bian Ru's past mental illness to ruin him.
Ruthless, truly ruthless.
It's better to offend a gentleman than a scoundrel; offending someone like Hu Ziming is truly a terrible fate.
Hu Ziming sneered coldly. His objective had been achieved.
Customers began to leave one after another, none wanting to dine at the Su family's Ming Yue Zhai.
The Su family was on the verge of a second failure.
Opening day became their 'graduation'!
At this critical moment, the 'mentally ill' Bian Ru walked out, notably holding a cleaver.
Seeing this, everyone was terrified.
Hu Ziming, feigning panic, shouted, "He's out, he's out! The mentally ill person has escaped. Look, he's even carrying a cleaver! He's going to attack someone! Mentally ill people are not responsible for their actions, everyone run!"
The customers were all scared and fled in panic.
The Su family was finished.