Chapter 425: You're Told to Open a Food Shop, But You Operate at 3 AM

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

As soon as these words left his mouth, Xi Xi shook her head again.

She felt as if her mind had grasped onto something; although she didn't understand traditional Chinese painting or piano, the meaning An Liang vaguely conveyed, she seemed to sense it a little.

An Liang seemed to see through her thoughts, pointing at Lu Feng behind the counter: "In my view, although Boss Lu is a chef who cooks, he is no different from those artists."

"The xiaolongbao you just ate, and every dish everyone else here is eating, are all his works. Boss Lu's attitude toward food is the same as an artist's attitude toward their own works."

"His culinary skill itself has indeed already reached a considerably high level. The reason he still uses the best ingredients is not because he is being fussy, but because he doesn't want his skill to be limited by the ingredients. He wants every dish he makes to be the most perfect work of art."

Xi Xi didn't speak, her eyes still holding a hint of bewilderment.

She felt like she understood the logic, but always felt there was still a layer separating her from fully understanding.

"Even with me explaining it like this, you probably still can't completely figure it out.

An Liang smiled, then looked at the action camera hanging around Xi Xi's neck, and continued: "Although my main profession is food critic, I also understand a little about you self-media creators."

"Huh?"

Xi Xi couldn't help but freeze, asking with a puzzled face: "Uncle, what does self-media have to do with the dishes Boss Lu makes? Is there any relationship between the two?"

An Liang shook his head helplessly and said: "Young people these days really have no patience. I haven't even finished speaking yet."

His tone carried a few parts teasing, but he wasn't really angry.

Xiao Yue behind An Liang couldn't help but glance at his back, feeling a bit surprised in her heart.

The Teacher An Liang of the past had always been extremely serious, taciturn.

Ever since coming to eat at Lu Feng's shop a few times, she always felt this person seemed to have changed as well.

Compared to the Teacher An Liang of before, he had a bit more human warmth.

"Uncle, don't speak in such an old-fashioned, domineering way. I see you're not that old either; compared to us young people, you're not that much older. Don't keep the words 'young people' hanging on your mouth; your tone of voice is just like my dad's."

Xi Xi pursed her lips and said very bluntly.

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Yue behind An Liang almost couldn't hold back her laughter, hurriedly covering her mouth with her hand.

"..."

These words made An Liang freeze for a moment.

He had been a food critic for so many years, seen plenty of fawning merchants, but this was the first time someone had talked back to him so bluntly.

But precisely this little girl in front of him, her talking back made his heart feel a bit comfortable instead.

An Liang turned back to look at Xiao Yue's half-smiling expression, couldn't help but clear his throat, and his face regained a few parts seriousness: "Cough cough, little miss, you're quite the talker. But you listen to me finish first."

Xi Xi quickly glanced at the bullet screen comments in the live stream room; right now the live stream room was full of audience comments wanting to continue listening.

"Okay okay, sorry, you continue. I promise I won't interrupt you anymore."

Xi Xi stuck out her tongue, smiled embarrassedly, and said.

An Liang nodded and continued speaking.

"You self-media people usually shoot a lot of videos, and sometimes need to livestream, right?"

"For people in your industry, besides the self-media content itself, is the equipment used for shooting also pretty important to you?"

Xi Xi froze for a moment, subconsciously touching the action camera hanging around her neck.

She naturally knew the importance of equipment.

When she first started this anti-counterfeiting account, she used her own mobile phone for filming.

But back then her video quality looked very average, the picture was blurry, shooting outdoors was so shaky it made people's vertigo act up.

Because of these, she had been complained about by fans plenty of times before.

Before she could think carefully, An Liang continued: "For example, say right now you want to film a segment of material in Boss Lu's restaurant to post on your account. If there are two devices in front of you, one is an ordinary pixel mobile phone, the video shot is blurry; the other is a professional camera. Little miss, you tell me, which device would you choose to film with?"

"Do you even need to choose? Of course I'd pick the professional camera!"

Xi Xi blurted out without thinking: "An ordinary phone lens shoots a gray, hazy picture. Only a clear lens can shoot with texture. Only then is the work's quality better, and only then will fans be willing to watch!"

An Liang was not surprised at all by her answer, then smiled and countered: "You're absolutely right. Then since even you yourself know that to shoot a better work you must pursue better equipment, why when it comes to Boss Lu, must he use ordinary ingredients to replace better ingredients?"

"This..."

Xi Xi opened her mouth, still wanting to retort a few sentences: "But..."

"No buts."

An Liang directly cut off her words, tone very certain: "You self-media people should all know that to make the filmed work present a better effect, never mind the shooting equipment, even the lens angle, light intensity, these details during the shooting process must be done to the utmost."

"And Boss Lu is an artist-type chef with an extremely high pursuit of food taste. He clearly has good ingredients but doesn't use them, instead using worse ingredients. Isn't that just like you putting aside a professional camera and insisting on using an ordinary phone to shoot videos? Isn't that a waste of his skill?"

Xi Xi's face slowly flushed red. The words she wanted to retort just now were stuck in her throat, unable to utter a single word.

She lowered her head and fell silent for a moment, An Liang's words echoing repeatedly in her mind.

Yeah, when she used to film videos, she would often use the best lens she could access to shoot several takes. Even if the result was just a tiny bit unsatisfactory to her, she would re-shoot.

Xi Xi only now finally understood.

Turns out the reason this restaurant's boss refuses to compromise on ingredients is just like how she has always pursued higher-definition lenses — both are to present the best work.

"I'm sorry, Boss Lu."

Xi Xi raised her head to look at Xiang Lu Feng. The stubbornness in her eyes had vanished, replaced by guilt.

"It's fine. If you thought it was delicious, welcome to come again next time."

Lu Feng smiled, saying indifferently.

Xi Xi nodded, turned around, and walked out of the shop.

After walking out the door, Xi Xi said facing the microphone in the camera: "Thank you all for coming to watch my livestream today, but it looks like this anti-counterfeiting investigation failed."

She said this very calmly, without a trace of regret, and instead sounded somewhat happy.

What An Liang said just now was correct; whenever Xi Xi did a livestream herself, she also thought of doing her best.

The action camera she was using now was also the most expensive model on the domestic market.

Yet she still felt it was not good enough; her goal was an imported lens from abroad, with even better quality.

Only because its effect and lens presentation were better than now; ever since Xi Xi switched to filming with the action camera, she had never thought of filming directly with the mobile phone again.

Therefore she now understood Lu Feng's obsession, and expressed respect.