Chapter 418: Let You Open a Food Shop, You Open for Business at 3 AM

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

From the wide-open gate of Lu Family Restaurant, all sorts of tempting aromas drifted out endlessly.

Xi Xi, standing in line, had no mind to pay attention to these.

Right now she was secretly lowering her head to adjust the action camera on her chest.

The black action camera was small and portable, hung at her collar with a dedicated mount, its lens just covering the view before her.

She was wearing a black T-shirt today, so wearing this action camera, unless someone observed closely, no one could tell.

After adjusting the action camera, Xi Xi opened the livestream on her phone, and the livestream screen showed the first-person footage captured by the action camera.

The action camera had a built-in microphone, so she could interact with the audience in a timely manner based on netizen comments in her phone livestream room.

As an anti-counterfeiting livestreamer, she naturally couldn't livestream openly holding her phone like those food bloggers, so some disguise work was still necessary.

Actually, the day before she decided to come to Jiangcheng, Xi Xi hadn't been idle either; she had already conducted a detailed investigation of Lu Family Restaurant.

She flipped through all the very popular short videos about Lu Family Restaurant on short video platforms, watched every special interview about Lu Family Restaurant on "Late Night Food" Program, and even checked Jiangcheng's relatively popular local forums, finding quite a lot of information about Lu Family Restaurant.

Online, the prices of dishes at Lu Family Restaurant showed a phenomenon of extreme polarization.

Netizens questioning that the dish prices were too high posted Lu Family Restaurant's price list, expressing strong dissatisfaction with the prices above.

And the voices opposing the questioning mostly had only one simple reply: "Talking is useless; whoever eats knows."

Under almost every comment questioning the price, one could find quite a few such uniform replies.

This instead made Xi Xi a bit doubtful: Were these people really water armies hired by the boss? Even if they were water armies, the replies were a bit too perfunctory, weren't they? Even if they made up a few different sentences, it would be fine!

Until she dug up some genuine reviews from diners who had actually gone to Lu Family Restaurant and eaten there, Xi Xi felt even more that something was off.

If it was a woman, the comment content mostly praised Lu Feng for being handsome.

And male diners' comments praised that the things Lu Feng made tasted delicious, with culinary skills that could basically be called god-tier.

Xi Xi read quite a few such comments, and the more she read, the more she felt it was abnormal.

The people who had eaten at Lu Family Restaurant were almost unanimously all giving good reviews.

Even if it was a very impressive restaurant, could the reviews really be so one-sided?

Even if they hired shills to brush up reviews, they wouldn't be this uniform.

What really made Xi Xi decide to come to Lu Family Restaurant to check out the shop was those price lists from inside Lu Family Restaurant posted by netizens.

"Damn! A steamer of xiaolongbao sells for 50? Jiangcheng isn't even a first-tier city? The xiaolongbao at ordinary breakfast shops sells for at most ten yuan a steamer? The price in this shop directly went up five times?"

"Wait, 88 yuan for a portion of tea eggs? Only two eggs in a portion? A whole box of eggs sold at the supermarket is only 20 yuan, and this boss sells two tea eggs for 88? Why not just go rob money instead?"

"The prices for fried noodles and soup noodles are also dozens to over a hundred; this price, even in a high-end restaurant, is a bit too high, isn't it?"

Xi Xi looked at the enlarged price list on the computer screen, complaining while looking.

After looking at the prices on the price list, Xi Xi couldn't help but make a preliminary judgment in her heart:

The pricing of this shop absolutely has a big problem!

Someone online said that eating at Lu Family Restaurant requires crowdfunding to afford.

Before, Xi Xi thought it was just a joke made up by netizens to tease.

Now it seemed that ordinary people wanting to eat a full meal at Lu Family Restaurant really had to pool money to afford it, right?

She scrolled down the comments, and below was another long string of "whoever eats knows" comments.

Xi Xi couldn't help but roll her eyes, and somewhat speechlessly complained: "Whoever eats knows... Do you really think you're Da Bao?"

Facing such a price list with somewhat outrageous prices, Xi Xi immediately made a decision.

This shop really needed to be personally visited to see if the things the boss made were actually worth such high prices.

If it really was price gouging, not exposing this shop would simply be letting down her title as an anti-counterfeiting livestreamer.

Looking at the somewhat glaring prices on the computer screen, Xi Xi couldn't help but have some doubts in her heart: "This shop's prices are set so high, doesn't the local consumer association care at all?"

Carrying this confusion, she searched online for some relevant information about price controls.

Soon, the search results popped up.

According to the clause content explanations of the latest released "Dining Industry Price Management Rules," she finally understood.

As long as the operator publicly displays commodity prices in a conspicuous position at the business premises, with complete price tags, clear handwriting, no yin-yang menus, or deceiving consumers about prices, etc., it does not constitute a violation.

That is to say, every dish in Lu Feng's shop was clearly priced, with prices written very clearly, and there was no behavior of deceiving customers or trap-like yin-yang menus.

Although the prices in his shop were very high, they completely complied with regulations.

Therefore, the consumer association really couldn't manage it.

Xi Xi stared at the clause content on the screen, and the corner of her mouth couldn't help but twitch.

She determined that this boss of Lu Family Restaurant definitely had studied this clause thoroughly.

Selling at high prices openly, naturally he didn't need to worry about customers complaining that he falsified prices.

This boss really knew how to exploit loopholes.

"No, this matter can't just be left like this; if the consumer association doesn't manage it, I will."

Xi Xi looked at the over two million followers on her account, feeling that as a professional anti-counterfeiting livestreamer, she had an obligation to help everyone expose the true situation of this sky-high-priced restaurant.

Xi Xi closed the browser, found Assistant Xiaoxia's phone number on her phone, and called it.

Xiaoxia was her assistant, and also an administrator in her livestream room.

The two had been partners for several years, jointly operating this anti-counterfeiting account, and cooperating very harmoniously.

After Xi Xi and Xiaoxia discussed for a while on the phone, they reached a conclusion.

They speculated that there might be some backing supporting this shop behind the scenes.

Otherwise, with prices so much higher than those around it, it would have been complained about by customers and competitors alike and forced to rectify long ago.

But as for such risks, Xi Xi did not feel afraid.

On one hand, she felt that fans had always supported her because of their trust in her, and she could not back down just because she worried about getting into trouble.

On the other hand, this time she went to investigate in person, and it was not as if she was deliberately smearing that restaurant without any basis.

She simply went to experience it herself, to see whether the dishes in that restaurant were worth the set price.

If the taste of Lu Family Restaurant was no different from that of an ordinary restaurant, then it was undeserving of its name, and even if she exposed him, it was well deserved.