February 22nd, Wednesday.

Huang Sibo brought the Fei Huang Studio filming crew along with Zhang Yahui, the representative sent by Cold Noodle Girl, to Chang’an.

China’s culinary culture has a long and storied history, with famous night market snacks throughout the country. Among them, many night markets have gained nationwide fame, such as Gaozhuang Night Market, Dongxin Street Night Market, Zhanggong Bridge Night Market, Xisi Night Market, and Shizi Street Night Market.

These night markets all gathered regional cuisine. Every night they would bustle with crowded voices, sizzling flames from stir-frying, vendors’ calls, flowing sweat, and ice-cold beer. Night markets possessed a unique urban charm and human touch.

Night markets were gathering places for food and excellent locations for street vending.

The production team’s first filming location was Chang’an’s Dongxin Street Night Market.

This night market began in the 1980s, with stalls and restaurants mostly located on the eastern section of Dongxin Street. The three most famous food establishments were: Wang’s Barrel Chicken, Zheng’s Steamed Buns, and Old Chen’s Stewed Dishes.

Before coming, Huang Sibo had already done research on these places.

Although Zhu Xiaoce was the director and should lead the team, he had more important work: supervising the final cut and post-production of “Mission and Choice.”

After all, Zhu Xiaoce was the director of “Mission and Choice,” so many decisions ultimately needed his approval.

Therefore, Huang Sibo led this filming trip and selected another new director from the company, taking this opportunity to train newcomers.

After arriving at the hotel, there was still time before gathering in the hotel’s lounge to discuss how to film this promotional video.

While they’d decided to film night markets, the content was too broad. They needed a clear theme for what specifically to film.

Huang Sibo and the entire team were completely unfamiliar with this, so the specific filming approach depended on Cold Noodle Girl’s representative – Zhang Yahui’s opinion.

However, what puzzled Huang Sibo was that Cold Noodle Girl had only sent Zhang Yahui alone. Moreover, Zhang Yahui didn’t seem particularly knowledgeable about Cold Noodle Girl’s business – he was just a vendor who franchised with Cold Noodle Girl.

Huang Sibo specifically called Cold Noodle Girl’s manager Qi Yan to ask. Qi Yan said it was fine – she’d already shared all her thoughts with Zhang Yahui, and they were in agreement. She had to handle daily store operations and plan the food laboratory, so she wouldn’t go. She told Huang Sibo to discuss everything with Zhang Yahui and call her only if they couldn’t decide.

Huang Sibo thought about it and agreed. Given Cold Noodle Girl’s half-dead state, whether Zhang Yahui or Cold Noodle Girl’s management team made decisions probably wouldn’t make much difference.

So everyone looked to Zhang Yahui, waiting for him to explain how to film this promotional video.

Zhang Yahui had never dealt with such professional filming crews before. Becoming the center of attention made him somewhat nervous.

He collected himself and said: “Actually, Qi always making this promotional video doesn’t have any special purpose. Mainly to document vendors’ daily lives and show netizens the bitter and sweet aspects of street vending. Of course, it can also promote traditional Chinese regional cuisine. Naturally, we can highlight some innovative street foods that build upon tradition…”

“The reason for filming street stalls is mainly because Cold Noodle Girl previously organized a street food competition that Mr. Pei strongly endorsed. Qi always believes exploring street food might be Cold Noodle Girl’s future development direction.”

“Moreover, Cold Noodle Girl’s brand image and signature dishes are inseparable from street vending.”

Huang Sibo was still confused: “I understand the general idea, but this content is too complex without focus.”

“Are we mainly filming the food or vendors’ daily lives? The former would be a regular food promotional video, while the latter would feel more like a documentary.”

Zhang Yahui paused: “Uh… I really can’t say for sure. What do you think, Brother Huang?”

Huang Sibo was somewhat speechless, thinking this was their video project – they didn’t even have a clear vision yet asked him?

But then he reconsidered. Cold Noodle Girl had only recently joined Tenda. Zhang Yahui was previously just a vendor, having not received much Tenda spirit indoctrination. Not understanding these issues was normal.

In this situation, it was up to Tenda veterans like himself to show them the way!

Thus, he thumped his chest: “Alright, I’ll share my perspective from Mr. Pei’s viewpoint.”

“This promotional video, ultimately, is still to promote Cold Noodle Girl. At least, through ‘making promotional videos for street food,’ we need to establish an impression that ‘we care about traditional food and local cuisine heritage’ for Cold Noodle Girl.”

“So my suggestion is: each episode, we pick a city, choose a local specialty food, tell a vendor’s personal story, achieving a ‘seeing the big picture through small details’ effect.”

“Previous food promotional videos centered on the food itself. Like how precious the ingredients are, how complex the preparation is, how dedicated the owner is…”

“But expanding to the broader scope of ‘street vending,’ this perspective is undoubtedly somewhat one-sided.”

“We all know street vending is actually hard labor. Many street vendors live quite difficult lives.”

“So our video structure would roughly consist of three parts: First, introduce the city and night market we’re filming, briefly introduce several famous local foods in this night market, then expand to overview the entire region’s culinary culture, giving viewers a broad perspective;”

“Second, focus on a specific vendor in this night market, detailing their journey. For instance, how this vendor started street vending, whether anything particularly touching or heartbreaking happened during their long vending career, letting audiences better understand these vendors’ inner worlds.”

“Third, after detailing the vendor’s journey, introduce their unique food. This way, viewers already have an impression of the vendor, making it easier to resonate.”

“What do you think?”

Zhang Yahui immediately nodded: “Yes, I think this is great!”

“However, this might have a small issue – it would focus all attention on night markets, vendors, and food, without much attention on the Cold Noodle Girl brand.”

“I just remembered a crucial factor I must mention.”

“Cold Noodle Girl is establishing a food laboratory to recruit outstanding food vendors from across the country. Of course, many vendors are attached to their homeland, so we’ll buy their food recipes at high prices and train specialists to learn them, striving to recreate these authentic local flavors.”

“Adding this content shifts the focus from individual cities’ night markets or vendors to Cold Noodle Girl!”

Huang Sibo immediately nodded: “Indeed.”

“Since it’s a promotional video, our ultimate goal is definitely promoting Cold Noodle Girl.”

“However, this shouldn’t be said too directly, as it could easily cause resentment.”

“I think adding Cold Noodle Girl’s logo and a brief explanation in the end credits would suffice.”

Zhang Yahui nodded: “Yes, I agree. I’ll follow all your arrangements, Brother Huang. As a vendor myself, if you have any questions about that aspect, feel free to ask.”

Huang Sibo said: “Good, I have questions now. Let’s exchange some ideas first, then plan the filming approach.”

“Actually, I understand the glamorous parts well. I mainly want to know – how bad can the difficult sides get specifically?”

Zhang Yahui smiled sheepishly: “Well… that’s a long story.”

…

According to statistics, 600 million people in our country have monthly incomes below 1000 yuan. Though economic development is rapid, producing various high-income groups, many still struggle with making ends meet.

Zhang Yahui knew many vendors forced to make a living from street vending.

They didn’t like vending – they had no choice but to treat it as survival.

These vendors did everything: applying phone screen protectors, running magazine stands, selling umbrellas at bus stops, malls, and subway entrances, franchising chicken cutlets or other snacks…

Of course, some like Zhang Yahui sold grilled cold noodles.

During vending, hardships were beyond words.

For example: vending in prime locations, having thugs destroy stalls, helplessly enduring and “paying tribute” to avoid trouble;

Renting space near popular stores, only to have landlords evict them with demolition notices, later discovering the landlord immediately re-rented at higher prices;

Trying to open small restaurants, first struggling with business licenses, then facing closure orders from complaints, operating poorly…

Once on this path, vendors typically slept later than dogs, woke earlier than chickens, worked year-round without rest. Most still barely maintained subsistence, struggling at the poverty line.

Many sympathized with street vendors, but with the premise “as long as they’re not by my home or where I travel.”

These vendors’ stalls were either unsafe (at intersections or main roads) or unsanitary (unreliable ingredients, food waste polluting streets), creating numerous challenges for city management.

Zhang Yahui started vending after high school. Though still young, he’d actually been vending for seven or eight years, changing locations many times. He understood the hardships intimately.

The Fei Huang Studio filming team listened while taking notes, beginning to plan specific filming approaches based on Zhang Yahui’s account.