"Feast on Fog City," a nationally renowned variety show, had aired three seasons so far, each with 12 episodes, introducing one to three restaurants per episode.
Restaurants selected for the show were top-tier. Once featured, even a little publicity could make them immensely popular.
The first two seasons were personally selected and filmed by Xie Yuqing, with only the third season produced by his apprentice, Chang Yunwei.
Chang Yunwei had been promoted by Xie Yuqing and was also a famous gourmet. The third season was currently at episode 6. With Xie Yuqing's recommendation, there was a good chance of being featured on the show.
Exclusive promotion would be even more remarkable!
To feature one restaurant per season was an honor that, to date, only the Wu family's Wuyue Zhai had received. No other establishment in Fog City enjoyed such treatment.
Now, Mingyue Zhai also had the opportunity to be featured in a whole episode. The significance of this for the Su family was immense.
Su Wanran repeatedly expressed her gratitude to Xie Yuqing, even offering to reserve a private room on the second floor for him, where he could dine anytime without prior reservation.
However, Xie Yuqing declined her kind offer.
Both parties maintained a mutually supportive and harmonious relationship.
While one side was very harmonious, the other seemed less so.
The Wu Family.
Upon hearing about Mingyue Zhai, Wu Lingxuan did not show anger. Instead, she gazed quietly out the window, her brow furrowed as if deep in thought.
Wu Hao cautiously said, "Sister, the Su family is pushing their luck too far! They created Mingyue Zhai after we established Wuyue Zhai. Isn't this deliberately provoking us? I suggest we find someone to set Mingyue Zhai on fire, burn it to the ground, and see if they dare to act so presumptuously in the future?"
This was typical of Wu Hao's impulsive nature. Burning down Mingyue Zhai would not prevent the Su family from rebuilding. It was a superficial solution, not addressing the root cause.
The key issue was the medicinal cuisine.
They needed to devise a method to resolve the Su family's medicinal cuisine or at least minimize its threat to the Wu family.
Soon, Wu Lingxuan had an idea.
She said softly, "Perhaps we can also develop medicinal cuisine. We'll tread the Su family's path and leave them with no way forward! Isn't the Su family pursuing differentiated competition? We'll simply copy their model, leverage the Wu family's century-old reputation, and with over 100 branches in Fog City, we'll crush them!"
This strategy was indeed quite malicious.
Whatever they do, we'll copy it. As long as our traffic is larger, we'll copy whatever they release, and in the end, they won't be able to compete with us.
A clever plan, a shrewd tactic.
However...
Wu Hao hesitated, saying, "Copying the Su family's model is not impossible, but the problem is that medicinal cuisine requires taking the customer's pulse on the spot and then selecting suitable ingredients. We can't do that at the moment. Where can we find such a highly skilled doctor?"
Wu Lingxuan smiled. "If we can't copy the high-end, we'll start with the low-end. Doesn't the Su family also offer 30 sets of common medicinal cuisine? We just need to get our hands on the recipes for those common medicinal cuisines, and everything will be solved!"
Her reasoning was sound, though the execution presented challenges.
Wu Hao said, "The recipes for the 30 sets of common medicinal cuisine must be very carefully guarded. How can we steal them?"
Steal?
There was no need to.
Wu Lingxuan chuckled and said, "There's no need to steal at all. I've already arranged for someone who can retrieve them legitimately."
Wu Hao was taken aback for a moment, then realized, "Sister, you wouldn't have planted one of our people among Mingyue Zhai's chefs, would you?"
Wu Lingxuan remained silent, indicating acquiescence.
Wu Hao immediately gave her a thumbs-up. "Sister, I admire you most for this. You always think ahead and anticipate your opponents. Whenever I feel cornered, you always manage to pull off a masterful move, turning defeat into victory. Sister, you're truly amazing!"
Heh.
Wu Lingxuan smiled without a word.
"He who does not plan for the future will soon be in trouble." Wu Lingxuan had this saying etched into her bones, always remembering it.
She didn't just consider immediate problems; she also thought ahead about future occurrences. It was like playing Go; Wu Lingxuan was a master strategist, capable of considering moves four or five steps ahead.
This was also a major reason why Wu Lingxuan became the head of the Wu family!
...
After a day of labor, Lu Ming and Su Wanran returned to their villa on the mountainside.
The day's achievements were excellent, and both were overjoyed.
However, they couldn't afford to be complacent.
Su Wanran said, "We've dealt the Wu family a heavy blow today. Wu Lingxuan, Wu Hao, and Hu Ziming will surely not let this go. They're probably thinking of how to deal with us right now. Lu Ming, what do you think they'll do next? Will they take advantage of the night, when no one is around, and burn down our shop, putting an end to it all?"
So naive.
Su Wanran was as clueless as Wu Hao, as if taught by the same master!
Nearby, Jiang Mengxin chuckled. "Don't worry, Wanran. Wu Lingxuan won't be that foolish."
At this moment.
Lu Ming picked up an orange from the table, peeling it as he said, "If it were me, I'd deploy a mole."
What?
Upon hearing the word "mole," Su Wanran and Jiang Mengxin's expressions changed simultaneously, and they looked at Lu Ming nervously.
Jiang Mengxin asked, "What do you mean? Is there someone from the Wu family hidden in Mingyue Zhai?"
Lu Ming nodded affirmatively.
"No way?" Su Wanran said, "We were very strict during recruitment and conducted thorough background checks on every employee. We were afraid of another food poisoning incident like Su Wu's. Every employee has a clean record; there shouldn't be any problems."
Lu Ming smiled.
Very clean?
On the surface, it was clean, but digging deeper would reveal issues.
Lu Ming said, "One of our chefs, named Yang Tong, was recruited from Chengdu. On the surface, he has no problems, but in reality, he has major issues."
Oh?
"What problems?" Su Wanran asked.
Lu Ming ate a piece of orange. "That person isn't Yang Tong, but Yang Tong's twin brother, Yang Qing. Because they are twins, their brothers swapped identities, and no issues were detected. Yang Qing entered our Mingyue Zhai using Yang Tong's identity."
This explanation left Su Wanran speechless.
Twins?
Identity swap?
Was this necessary? Playing such a big game? Why?
Lu Ming continued, "According to my investigation, Yang Qing is the Wu family's personal chef and Wu Lingxuan's confidant! So, what do you think Yang Qing is here for?"
The answer was obvious.
Yang Qing was there to be a mole, gathering intelligence for the Su family!
Su Wanran broke out in a cold sweat. "Good heavens, such a clever tactic, using twins to swap identities. No wonder we couldn't uncover anything and were deceived. Wu Lingxuan, what a masterful move."