Past 1 PM, a luxury hotel in the capital.

Qi Yan had just finished frantically coordinating with on-site staff about changing from recorded to live broadcast, then briefed the judges to “strictly evaluate Cold Noodle Girl.”

These sudden changes made Qi Yan somewhat flustered, though fortunately neither modification was too critical. After hurriedly explaining everything, the event could still proceed normally according to the original schedule.

Qi Yan was originally Cold Noodle Girl’s marketing department head, responsible for executing specific marketing work according to Meng Chang’s requirements.

After Cold Noodle Girl’s incident, Qi Yan, like other employees, felt lost for some time.

Meng Chang himself was already in a mess, naturally with no time for her. After job hunting for several days without deciding where to go, good news suddenly arrived: her job was saved!

Tenda acquired Cold Noodle Girl. Unpaid wages would be settled properly, and work continued as usual!

While relieved, Qi Yan also felt worried.

The relief came from not needing to struggle finding new work. Meng Chang was generous with employee salaries – switching companies might not guarantee her current pay.

The worry concerned her career prospects.

Previously joining Cold Noodle Girl, Qi Yan was partly attracted by Meng Chang’s charisma as a “perfect entrepreneur,” thinking she could learn from him, and partly by Cold Noodle Girl’s development prospects.

However, Cold Noodle Girl not only failed but spectacularly and publicly.

Now everyone knew Cold Noodle Girl was an unreliable project. If Qi Yan truly worked there for three to five years before job hunting, it was uncertain whether this experience would be an asset or liability.

Qi Yan felt conflicted, but hearing Tenda was the new owner, she decided to wait and see.

After all, Tenda was a large corporation with exceptionally good reputation, worth trusting.

With Meng Chang no longer part of Cold Noodle Girl, He Dasheng assigned Qi Yan full responsibility for it, with her reporting to He Dasheng, who reported to Mr. Pei.

Currently, Cold Noodle Girl was just an ordinary fast food chain with poor business and reputation – hardly worthy of direct reports to Mr. Pei.

After the ownership change, Qi Yan’s first major task was this street food competition.

While many marketing activities were canceled, this one remained.

Qi Yan wasn’t sure why, but proceeded with the original plan.

Preliminary work started long ago – finding well-regarded street food vendors across various cities, paying to bring them to the capital for competition. Several food critics with strong tasting abilities were also invited as judges.

The competition was about to begin.

Qi Yan checked the livestream on her phone.

A few scattered comments, essentially no popularity.

This was expected.

The last-minute change from recording to livestream left Qi Yan scrambling for streaming platform resources. Since recommendation spots were pre-arranged, they only got mediocre placement.

Moreover, Monday afternoon had minimal platform traffic anyway.

Qi Yan sighed disappointedly.

This event was originally planned as a post-edited promotion on AiLiDao’s rankings. Now converted to livestream without recommendation resources, could it generate buzz?

Without buzz, what was the point of this street food competition? Wouldn’t all the money be wasted?

But worrying was useless now. They could only let things take their course.

…

2 PM, the street food competition officially began!

Two hosts, male and female, appeared on camera, introducing the organizers, attending guests, and competition rules to viewers.

Besides several high-level food critics, dozens of on-site audience members would also taste foods and vote.

Guests could comment with higher scoring weight. Combined judge and audience scores determined rankings, selecting the competition winner.

Behind the hosts, first-round participants were ready. Of varying ages and genders, they all stood proudly with serious expressions.

Behind them were food cart stalls. The first round featured “pancake vendors,” all skilled in making pancakes.

Each vendor had numbers, making several pancakes to cut into pieces for judges and audience tasting. Higher scores won.

After pancakes, other street foods followed:

Hand-grabbed cakes, iron-plate squid, grilled gluten, bean jelly, iron-plate tofu, meat burgers, roasted cold noodles, etc.

Just reading the names highlighted their down-to-earth nature.

Besides these common street foods, there was a special “uncommon snacks group” where lesser-known street foods competed.

While stinky tofu belonged among street snacks, considering the enclosed venue and odor concerns, organizers tearfully rejected several excellent stinky tofu vendors to ensure smooth proceedings.

Food ingredients were pre-selected, with vendors choosing according to needs and habits. Final taste differences mainly came from cooking techniques and heat control.

Naturally, no competition could be 100% objective, given individual taste preferences.

However, combined judge and audience scoring maximized fairness, ensuring results reflected general public taste.

After introducing rules and judges, cameras panned to participating vendors.

Each vendor gave brief introductions, roughly twenty-thirty words.

Suddenly, various regional dialects filled the air – overlapping voices creating explosive entertainment.

This was a luxury hotel in the capital with red carpeting, elegant tables, chairs and decorations – supremely upscale.

Vendors wore formal chef uniforms with tall chef hats, appearing very professional, until they spoke.

The two hosts struggled to maintain composure, barely containing laughter thanks to their professionalism.

The competition exuded absurdity with hints of magical realism.

Finally, all vendors finished introducing themselves.

The competition officially began.

Vendors took positions. At the host’s signal, on-screen timers started!

With practiced hands, vendors scooped grain batter onto pancake griddles, spreading it with wooden tools. As surfaces slightly browned, they cracked eggs on top…

While these steps were familiar to everyone present, vendors’ techniques showed subtle differences – seasoning amounts, cooking temperatures varied.

On-site audiences waited patiently, intently watching vendors perform.

Somehow, the atmosphere grew tense.