The Reviled God of Cooking Tries to Slack Off - Chapter 28

Jiang Tingzhou originally thought that once Xu Feng’s mess was exposed, he could ride the wave and pressure him with that video into not making any more trouble. What he didn’t expect was that karma came this quickly.

The video was very clear. Xu Feng started the fight first, cursing and swearing. As a result, Jiang Tingzhou stepped forward, subdued him, and pressed him against the wall by the neck. The angle was a bit slanted. An Xiaoping didn’t have the heart to adjust it at the time, but Xu Feng’s apology was very clear.

As the public grew angry, An Xiaoping’s video traffic skyrocketed and ranked first on the short video platform.

[“Good fight!”]

[“There’s proof that it was that garbage Xu Feng who provoked him first. The video shows it clearly. That injury he has? His dad gave it to him at the hospital. Don’t try to frame anyone.”]

[“If the top beam isn’t straight, the bottom beam will be crooked. The Xu family isn’t a good family either.”]

[“That idiot who showed up later was hilarious too—probably Xu Feng’s little lackey. Tried to sneak attack and still got taken down. He didn’t even know what he was doing.”]

At that time, Lu Jiahe was actually caught on camera, but no one recognized him because his face wasn’t clearly shown. He fell to the ground as soon as he got close.

He wasn’t scolded, but he felt more ashamed than if he had been.

Who are they calling an idiot?

Who’s Xu Feng’s little lackey?

And who tried to sneak attack?

Open your eyes and take a look!. 

He was just trying to help someone. He didn’t want to hit Jiang Tingzhou at all.

Lu Jiahe swore to everyone that he was different from Xu Feng. He never hit anyone. If he did, it would be a disgrace to the Lu family.

But how could he explain that?

Fortunately, netizens couldn’t recognize him. If he admitted it, wouldn’t he be admitting he was a fool?

Lu Jiahe got so angry that he called Lu Baiyu, who had been on a business trip for several days.

“Brother, you have to help me,” he said. “How can I tolerate what the Internet is saying? Can you tolerate it?”

But Lu Baiyu only replied with, “Why did you get involved with Tingzhou? And who the hell does Xu Feng think he is to lay a hand on him?”

“?” Lu Jiahe was stunned and shouted, “Is that the point? You watched the video too. Jiang Tingzhou didn’t lose a hair! And you still have the heart to defend him? He didn’t come back when you visited last time. It’s obvious he doesn’t take our family seriously. You’ve always favored him. Is he your real brother or am I?!”

But after hearing this, Lu Baiyu didn’t think about brotherhood at all; instead, his tone sounded even angrier.

“Exactly because you’re my real brother, the family already made sure you weren’t implicated. Others might not recognize Xu Feng’s ‘lackey’, but you think no one in our circle knows?” Lu Baiyu said. “The Xu family brought this on themselves. Xu Feng took the fall so Aunt Qin could quietly scrub all traces of you from the video. Compared to Tingzhou, you’ve already had it easy. Lu Jiahe, stop it. I already have very low expectations of you. It’s fine if you accomplish nothing, but don’t be like your bad friends and make trouble for the family.”

The fallout from Xu Feng’s actions was severe enough to impact the Xu family’s business. They had gotten by until then thanks to some powerful connections, landing lucrative contracts through backdoor deals. That was how Xu Feng managed to walk out of the police station without issue and erase all surveillance footage during the Lu family’s investigation. But times had changed.

In the internet age, it only took a day to dig up everything. And Xu Feng wasn’t exactly discreet—plenty of people around him knew about the Xu family’s background. Now, they all rushed to kick him while he was down. A large-scale boycott followed, and their projects were poached by competitors.

Now, it wasn’t just the Xu family itself in trouble—their higher-ups were also in trouble, as more people came online to post evidence. The Xu family’s connections were in jeopardy.

“Am I the same as Xu Feng? I got beaten up for nothing!” Lu Jiahe protested.

He had no intention of defending Xu Feng. But he couldn’t stomach the injustice, especially when the back of his head still hurt from getting slammed into the ground. Yet even after bringing it up, Lu Baiyu didn’t care.

He felt the price the Xu family paid wasn’t enough and was extremely dissatisfied with Lu Jiahe’s approach.

“Tingzhou just got out of the hospital after being sick. How much strength does he have? You just lost your footing. Ask the housekeeper to rub some liniment on you,” Lu Baiyu said. “I talked to him when I went to his place. He wasn’t in good health and needed to rest for a few days. Why did you bring people to pick on him now? Go and apologize to him.”

“I’ve said it a hundred times—it was a coincidence! We didn’t go looking for trouble! And I’m not apologizing!”

Lu Jiahe slammed down the phone in rage.

Li Shuyan had said the same thing. Now even his own brother? Even when he called his mom, Qin Rushuang, her attitude was no different.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? Xu Feng is a cautionary tale. And even if the Xu family doesn’t fall completely, they’ll never go back to how they were. His methods were too shady—good riddance,” Qin Rushuang said. “Stay in line. You can’t even handle your current tasks at the company. Just keep yourself in check and don’t provoke Jiang Tingzhou again.”

Lu Jiahe stormed around his room in frustration.

He had been working hard lately on a key project for the Lu family.

Qin Rushuang assigned him to host the production team from A Bite of China, which was a great chance to build experience, expand his network, and polish his résumé.

Director Cheng was both planner and chief director, with a strong say in the project. He knew many people at CCTV and had an official background. The advertising title for the whole project needed his approval. If Lu Jiahe could sign this cooperation on behalf of Lu Group, no one in the company would dare say he was just a second-generation heir messing around.

A show with A Bite of China’s influence and background didn’t lack high-paying sponsors. This whole collaboration only happened because Jiang Tingzhou made the introduction. Director Cheng only followed up with Qin Rushuang after hearing it was Jiang’s recommendation. Now that there was finally some progress, if the key person disappeared, it would definitely affect the outcome.

They couldn’t let Jiang Tingzhou walk away just like that.

Lu Jiahe accepted this, at least subconsciously—when it came to food, Jiang Tingzhou was absolutely indispensable. He was indeed an impeccable chef.

Besides, there were still plenty of unclear entanglements between him and the Lu family. How could he just up and leave like that?

Lu Jiahe always wanted to prove he wasn’t as useless as his family said. If he could do what even Lu Baiyu hadn’t done, it would be even better—he was going to get Jiang Tingzhou back, just to prove to his mother and brother that he could.

This matter couldn’t end like this.

The Xu family was its own mess—Xu Feng got what he deserved—but Jiang Tingzhou was a separate matter. He had to find a way to bring him back, to make them acknowledge his strength.

Lu Jiahe and Jiang Tingzhou had long been at odds. Jiang You wasn’t the main reason. He simply had it out for this man.

Reckless actions were Xu Feng’s business. Lu Jiahe never ordered anyone to use force, but many things didn’t require him to act personally.

The outside world is in turmoil, but Jiang Tingzhou remains quiet, though he knows what is The outside world was in turmoil, but Jiang Tingzhou remained quiet, though he knew what was happening online.

The video shot by An Xiaoping went viral, but it wasn’t just that.

When he called Jiang Tingzhou, his tone was a little incoherent but very excited.

“Brother! Ahhhhhh, look! Your video is popular! Not just the Xu Feng one—there are a bunch more, and you’re in a lot of them! I accidentally posted the unedited one. Believe me, I really didn’t mean to. I didn’t even have time to do post-production. I posted all your silly eating faces… But it’s so popular! Brother, I just want to say, you’re very good-looking. Everyone will definitely like you!”

He was so excited his voice cracked at the end.

Jiang Tingzhou listened patiently for a long time before understanding what he was saying.

Xu Feng’s video received over a million likes and 100 million views, successfully driving traffic to An Xiaoping’s account. If it were just his usual beauty videos, the conversion rate probably wouldn’t have been this high, but he accidentally uploaded some others.

These were several rough recordings with minimal editing, completely different from An Xiaoping’s usual polished, beautiful, and somewhat pretentious online celebrity persona. Unexpectedly, these videos became very popular. Although they didn’t reach over a million likes, they all hit around 100,000 likes.

Right after the Xu Feng video, the first one showed him resisting the beef porridge over and over, only to give in in the end.

The first part was him halfway through applying makeup, tidying his face, flipping around to find an eyebrow pencil, mumbling as he searched for something, looking a bit clueless. But once he started putting on makeup, his expression changed instantly.

At that time, Jiang Tingzhou was busy in the kitchen at the back. While cutting vegetables, the rhythmic “da da da” of the knife, the gurgling of boiling porridge, or the sound of vegetables tossed over high heat to gather their juice acted as background music. He appeared to be a skilled and efficient cook.

When the dishes were served, An Xiaoping’s eyes lit up.

An Xiaoping still ate like a child, puffing out his cheeks like a little hamster, instantly making him look more animated and alive.

The lunch for the two looked delicious. Not only the steaming beef porridge, but also the drool-worthy shredded pork in garlic sauce looked incredibly appetizing, making viewers hungry even through the screen.

Later footage showed Jiang Tingzhou working in the yard while An Xiaoping took pictures.

An Xiaoping posed professionally like a trained model, standing by a tree and a wall, giving off a literary and artistic boy vibe. But if you watched the full process, it was very different.

While An Xiaoping posed, Jiang Tingzhou, wearing a vest and straw hat, swung a hoe nearby.

At first glance, they seemed from two different worlds—one walking a runway, the other doing rural construction—but An Xiaoping was noisy and tried all kinds of weird poses to find good angles.

From time to time, Jiang Tingzhou helped fiddle with the camera and adjusted angles as requested. The close-up shots of An Xiaoping’s face were taken then, but a moment later An Xiaoping said, “Oops.”

“What happened?” Jiang Tingzhou asked.

“Brother, I accidentally stepped into a ditch,” An Xiaoping said. “My shoes are soaked.”

Jiang Tingzhou said, “Then change shoes.”

“I only brought this pair. Forget it, I’ll wear slippers. We’re almost done taking photos today. I’ll add a few more upper-body shots later.”

He took a very good-looking half-body photo, wearing navy blue plastic slippers underneath, looking up and pretending to be sad.

After the sad pose, the shoot was over. He turned around and helped Jiang Tingzhou with work, moving flower pots planted with onions and garlic.

Later, they took photos of the sugar factory garden by the morning tea shop’s window. The garden was especially beautiful, lush and quiet—rare in the city. Behind it stood a row of old buildings.

In the long footage, An Xiaoping secretly filmed Jiang Tingzhou eating quietly.

Jiang Tingzhou usually wore a blank expression that made him look unapproachable, but he smiled faintly at the camera when facing An Xiaoping.

The wind blew through the window as they exchanged a few words, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

An Xiaoping’s nine-grid pictures posted on his Weibo, where he had many fans, included this set. He racked his brain for literary and pretentious captions to make himself look cool.

These videos differed completely from his usual style and the video of Jiang Tingzhou beating Xu Feng.

[“Wait—this is the guy who beat someone up? Dude walked out of the kitchen like a househusband—looked so gentle carrying dishes…”]

[“LOL, ultimate contrast duo.”]

[“Brother’s cooking looks so good…”]

[“Don’t say the poster is greedy. I want to eat too, even if I’m not hungry. He looks so skilled at growing vegetables—no wonder he’s so skilled at his work.”]

An Xiaoping habitually called him “brother,” so viewers naturally assumed they were siblings and followed suit. Besides, the two resembled each other a bit around the eyebrows.

Just days ago, Jiang Tingzhou had gone viral and hit number one on the trending topics—with his face so distorted in the photoshopped image that it barely looked human. Later, the clarification videos focused on Manager Yang. Now, with proper footage online, no one even recognized that he was the same Jiang Tingzhou.

Everyone thought the two were a sharp contrast, and it seemed unintentional. People were struck by the contrast and full of praise.

Compared to that, An Xiaoping’s usual beauty-stan fans hardly said anything. His comment sections were always filled with a few hundred identical compliments or silent likes. But now, with these mistakenly uploaded videos, everything changed.

Beyond Xu Feng’s incident, many viewers started seriously discussing the content and encouraged him to keep filming.

[“If I hadn’t seen this, I wouldn’t have known the Yongqing Sugar Factory garden reopened. Last time I saw it, it was still locked.”]

[“I heard it was renovated. The district government spent money on repairs. It just opened recently, so there aren’t many visitors yet.”]

[“I showed it to my mother. She grew up in the sugar factory compound as a child and still misses it now.” 

[“Man, the candy plate from the shop is also full of memories. I haven’t eaten the sugar factory’s lard candy or candied winter melon for a long time. I guess they’re less greasy and sweet now, but I really loved them as a kid. Candy was only for New Year and Spring Festival.”]

This platform was still relatively new, and not many posted works there. Once traffic came, it was easy to get recommended. All of An Xiaoping’s later works were very popular and still rising. His follower count reached 70,000 or 80,000. He never expected such results.

And it had only been two days!

“Brother, you’re famous,” he shouted, “No, we’re famous!”

When flooded with messages, he realized he had sent the wrong video. More importantly, he discovered the platform recently offered a very generous traffic subsidy.

Just from Xu Feng’s video, based on views, he earned the platform’s highest payout. The backend showed 50,000 yuan in income, and other videos also brought earnings.

“Eight thousand yuan, eight thousand yuan for one video!” An Xiaoping bounced while talking on the phone with Jiang Tingzhou. “And it’s still rising. I think it’ll reach at least 10,000 or 20,000. Brother, you’re really a lucky star!”