Chapter 438

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Protagonist:

Lu Feng

Hearing that Pang Lingling wanted to eat all the dishes in the shop, Lu Feng couldn't help but point to the shop rules written next to the price list and remind her: "I have rules here; if you order food and can't finish it, wasting it, you'll be put on the shop's blacklist and refused service in the future."

"Boss Lu, I know all the rules at your place."

Pang Lingling immediately said with a proud face upon hearing this: "But you don't need to worry about me not finishing it; I'm a professional Big Stomach King. I'm even worried that one round of your dishes won't be enough for me! Before, when I went to other restaurants to film videos, I even brought my own pot of rice to eat!"

"Since you know the rules here, that's fine."

Lu Feng nodded and didn't speak further.

"So Boss Lu, if I come to livestream eating at your place tomorrow, can you comp my meal?"

Pang Lingling hurriedly continued to press the question.

"No."

Lu Feng refused directly without even thinking.

The young man beside Pang Lingling frowned, moved forward a bit, his tone carrying a few points of taken-for-granted dissatisfaction: "Boss Lu, actually we're not unable to pay this money, but we charge fees for promoting other shops. Now we're promoting your shop for free, just asking you to comp our meal — this request isn't excessive at all, right?"

"Since you're not unable to pay, why should I comp you?"

Lu Feng asked with a serious face.

"We promoted your shop! Our account has over a million followers! Letting you freeload off our account's traffic, shouldn't you comp us?"

The young man was stunned for a moment, then said righteously.

Lu Feng couldn't be bothered to argue with them too much.

Freeload off their account's traffic?

He really didn't know who was freeloading off whose traffic right now.

"How you are at other shops has nothing to do with me."

Lu Feng shook his head and said with a determined face: "But at my place, eating requires paying money; this is also a rule."

Some so-called food exploration bloggers online now, relying on their ability to bring traffic to shops, demand free meals or even advertising fees from shop owners.

If the shop owner contacts them actively, then both parties are willing participants, and that's unobjectionable.

The key is some bloggers clearly come uninvited and righteously demand free meals from shop owners.

After being refused by the restaurant owner, they still make sarcastic remarks mocking the shop for lacking magnanimity; they eat and drink for free and still think they're in the right.

In Lu Feng's view, such behavior isn't food exploration at all; it's clearly just taking advantage.

Maybe some restaurant owners think losing one meal doesn't matter, but at Lu Feng's place, it won't do.

Since opening his shop, he's never made an exception in this regard, and never actively asked anyone to promote his shop; he just wants to run his own shop steadily.

Even before, when a big internet celebrity actively contacted Lu Feng to promote Lu Family Restaurant, on the condition of booking the whole venue and only letting their team enter, he didn't agree.

Seeing she was refused by Lu Feng again, Pang Lingling's expression looked a bit ugly; she couldn't help but purse her lips and complain in her heart.

This boss is too stingy, right?

I'm a big internet celebrity with a million followers, promoting his shop for free, and he's not even willing to comp a meal?

If this were at other shops, other bosses would probably have agreed by now.

But Pang Lingling herself knew clearly that it was them who actively sought out Lu Feng; the initiative was in his hands.

So she could only suppress the dissatisfaction in her heart and say as a second-best: "Fine then, if no comp then forget it; but giving us a discount should be okay, right? Fifty percent off is fine, won't let you lose money, Boss Lu."

"Sorry, this store does not offer discounts."

Lu Feng's tone was still flat; this time he didn't want to entangle with the two any further, directly issuing an order to leave: "This store's business hours for today have ended. If you want to come eat at the store, please come tomorrow evening."

"Wait, Boss Lu, listen to me; my popularity online is really high!"

Pang Lingling got a bit anxious and said with heavy emphasis: "If we livestream one session at your shop, it'll definitely make your shop's turnover rise a big chunk! We're promoting your shop for free; if you won't comp us, at least give us a discount?"

"I don't need promotion here, and no discounts."

Lu Feng shook his head and refused again with a determined face.

"Baby, let's go; don't waste time here anymore."

The young man showed a dissatisfied expression on his face and said impatiently to Pang Lingling, then turned and walked toward the door.

"Alright then, we won't disturb you, Boss Lu."

Pang Lingling's face fell and she said goodbye to Lu Feng helplessly.

"Take care, won't see you out."

Lu Feng stood in place, not the slightest intention of seeing them off, watching the two leave the shop.

After the two figures disappeared outside the door, Hu Xiaoyun walked over holding a rag and asked curiously: "Boss, what did those two want with you?"

"Nothing, they just wanted to come eat for free at the shop."

Lu Feng said with a faint smile.

"Eat for free? There are still people like this these days?"

Hu Xiaoyun asked with a surprised face.

Lu Feng smiled and didn't speak, turning back to the kitchen to pack things up.

…………

The Food Street at past eight in the evening was still immersed in clamor; on the restaurants and small stalls on both sides of the street, the flavors of various foods intertwined and drilled straight into people's noses.

Pang Lingling walked on the Food Street road with a depressed face; her complexion didn't look too good.

Although the two had taken a taxi straight to Food Street after getting off the plane, they hadn't even had dinner yet.

But judging by Pang Lingling's expression at this moment, she didn't seem to have any intention of finding a restaurant to eat at first.

The young man followed beside her, still carrying big and small packs on his back, and dragging a huge pink suitcase in his hand.

Although he was a bit hungry at this moment, he had no thought of speaking up to suggest going to eat first.

Seeing Pang Lingling walk for a long time without speaking, the young man knew she was unhappy because of what had just happened, and began to comfort her in a gentle voice.

"Baby, actually we really don't need to suffer these grievances in this shop; if it really doesn't work, we'll find a better shop to livestream at. Our popularity is already high enough now, every livestream's online viewer count can break ten thousand, there's no need to look at this boss's face."

"Sigh... I want to do that too."

Pang Lingling stopped her steps and sighed, spreading her hands with a helpless expression: "The key is that this time we promised our fans to livestream at this shop, and the fans' gifts—those top few big brothers have all sent gifts. There's no way, we have to satisfy the fans' requests. We two are now being supported by these fans; they are our parents who provide food and clothing."

The young man turned back to look at the Lu Family Restaurant's signboard which had already dimmed, frowning and complaining: "But this boss is too rigid, isn't he? If it were another shop, they would have happily agreed long ago! As for him, not to mention the many requirements and many rules, he doesn't have any vision at all!"