Chapter 62 Unfortunately, I'm uncultured, and all I can manage is a 'wo...t'
"Have you heard? There's a food festival in Qinghe Ancient Town today."
"Shall we go take a look?"
"Check out the live stream of Qinghe Ancient Town! It looks really lively, and they have food from all over the country. Want to join the fun?"
"That won't work, isn't it supposed to be an internal invitation system?"
"Hey, let's go to the entrance and see what happens. Maybe we'll find a way in then."
"Okay, let's go take a look."
When they arrived at the entrance of Qinghe Ancient Town, they discovered that they were not alone in having many others with the same purpose. The crowd grew larger and larger. The security captain could only try to stop them, but he himself felt a little apprehensive seeing the ever-increasing number of people.
He could only repeatedly use a loudspeaker to persuade people that an invitation was required to enter.
Some people left disappointed after hearing this, while others stayed, thinking they might still find a chance to sneak in.
The comment sections of Qinghe Ancient Town's Weibo account, video account, and live stream were flooded with comments:
Please, please make it a public event. I want to get in.
[+1, please, please.]
Are you really not considering going public? It would be such a great publicity opportunity.
These messages were also urgently compiled and sent to Lu Xiaoqi and several managers.
"It was because we didn't think things through."
The business development manager frowned, immediately taking the blame upon himself. This tasting event was primarily the responsibility of their business development department, and they were counting on it to double their performance. If any safety incident or public relations disaster occurred, it would mean all their hard work over the past period had been for nothing.
Chen Yingying: "How about we go public? If we're too forceful, someone might turn their love into hatred and cause a media frenzy before the opening, which would be a loss."
Yuwen Kai frowned: "No. There are still fortifications everywhere. If someone goes in and sabotages it, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it will cause a lot of trouble."
Lu Xiaoqi looked at the security supervisor.
The security supervisor was somewhat troubled: "We don't have enough manpower to guard them all."
The ancient town is quite large.
Su Jun suddenly said to Lu Xiaoqi, "Could we contact the community director?"
Lu Xiaoqi looked at him and immediately understood what he meant: "You mean, like last time, let the community send some volunteers?"
It's not that it's impossible.
"Shelp off the road from the main gate to the plaza in Zone 1, only open this road, and place our people at all other intersections to guard them, not allowing outsiders to enter or exit. We'll leave the main gate to the community." Su Jun nodded and added, "Not only the community, but such activities are also beneficial to the local government; they might be willing to participate as well."
After dealing with relevant departments frequently, he gradually became familiar with their working style. First of all, they are also afraid of things going wrong. Even if Qinghe Ancient Town doesn't actively request help, such a gathering of people will definitely require them to send police or other personnel to maintain order.
Secondly, if the event is well-organized, then an article can be written to promote it, which would also be a good political achievement.
The others exchanged glances and agreed with Su Jun's suggestion.
Qinghe Ancient Town will inevitably host various large-scale events in the future. This experience can be considered a lesson learned, accumulating some experience for the future.
As expected, after Lu Xiaoqi made the call, the community director hesitated for a moment and said he needed to consult with the relevant authorities.
Half an hour later he called back, saying he would send people to maintain order immediately, but would also send reporters to conduct interviews, and the relevant departments should be added to the press release.
Lu Xiaoqi naturally had no objections. It's hard work to make someone work overtime on the weekend, so they should be given some benefits.
This can be considered a win-win-win situation.
The increased popularity of Qinghe Ancient Town provided relevant departments with another news item to promote, and the crowds waiting at the town's entrance could finally go inside and feast on delicious food. When they learned that entry would begin at 3 PM, the people waiting at the gate became excited.
The official accounts of Qinghe Ancient Town also released this message, and as a result, more and more people flocked to Anping County.
"Why are there so many people today?" A driver on the newly opened route from the city to Anping County wondered.
The passenger laughed: "Driver, you don't know yet, do you? There's a food festival being held in Qinghe Ancient Town today, and everyone wants to go and join in the fun."
The driver suddenly realized, "I see."
As the driver who runs this route, he was also very happy: "It's great. Qinghe City just lacks a place to have fun. The sooner the ancient town opens, the more people will have somewhere to go on weekends."
“That’s right!” the passenger agreed. “Our city only has a few attractions, and we’re tired of them all. The pedestrian street in the city is also a mess; there aren’t many good restaurants.”
They all hope that the ancient town can open for business as soon as possible.
......
Grandpa Feng arrived in Qinghe Ancient Town a day early, and as expected, they arranged a hotel for them and reimbursed their travel expenses, which made him very satisfied.
Before we even had a chance to explore the ancient town, we got up early the next morning to prepare all sorts of ingredients.
“I think this place is quite sincere,” his wife muttered. “Look, the ingredients and tools are all prepared.”
Except for some ingredients that I brought myself because they weren't available here, everything else was provided by the authorities.
They'd heard from their peers before about the tricks of participating in food festivals. Not only did they have to pay booth fees, but some organizers were also rip-offs, requiring them to buy ingredients from specific markets. In the end, they didn't make any money; instead, they lost a lot. Some popular events could charge six figures for a booth—an astronomical price!
Old Master Feng remained defiant: "The nature of this is different; this one requires you to sign a one-year indenture."
The old woman rolled her eyes and ignored him. That stubborn old man was clearly interested, but he was too proud to admit it.
It was just an internal tasting event, and the two of them didn't expect to make much money. Just like their daughter said, since the travel and accommodation expenses were reimbursed, they might as well treat it as a trip to Qinghe City.
But to my surprise, there were quite a lot of people.
Throughout the entire noon, Grandpa Feng rarely stopped to rest. Around 1 p.m., staff members came over to ask if he needed more ingredients, saying that there would be even more people in the afternoon.
Grandpa Feng frowned: "Oh no, it seems we brought too little powder."
The old woman started nagging again: "Didn't I tell you to bring more? What did you say back then? Oh, there shouldn't be many people, just bring a little bit..."
She's so angry!
The rice noodles they used are a local specialty of Yaoshi, and you probably can't buy them in Qinghe. You could make it with a different kind of rice noodle, but the taste would likely be significantly different.
This time, Old Master Feng didn't dare to talk back, and muttered, "Let's just do it for now, things will work themselves out."
The old woman no longer wanted to talk to him.
As expected, the number of people surged after 3 p.m., and by 5 p.m., the entire Qinghe Ancient Town had to implement crowd control measures, allowing people in in batches. The volunteers who were temporarily reassigned to work at the entrance naturally had some complaints, but seeing such a large flow of people, they dared not relax their efforts.
It would be terrible if no one maintained order, so they put in their best effort and did their utmost to help.
Lu Xiaoqi privately instructed the finance manager to prepare some vouchers, 200 yuan each, which could be used for the event, and family members could also use them. She couldn't give out red envelopes for fear of violating the rules, but vouchers should be fine.
Su Jun watched the whole thing from the side, and couldn't help but be a little lost in thought.
During the Song Dynasty, apart from some female officials in the imperial palace and the special position of Empress Dowager, there was not a single woman in the court. It seemed that everyone believed that women were not suitable for such public and administrative work.
They lack experience, are indecisive, weak-willed, and unfit for important tasks.
This seems to have become a consensus among many people.
So when his mother, who came from a merchant family, wanted to take the lead and do something, she was scolded for being unruly and unchaste. When she encountered setbacks, she received a lot of criticism such as, "As expected, what can a woman do?" and began to doubt herself, gradually sinking into obscurity.
The mother he remembered from his childhood and the mother he later became completely different people.
In his childhood, he was vibrant and busy. People would praise him and even play with him because they saw that he liked mechanics. Later, he became quiet and silent, as if he had lost his presence. People thought that his obsession with mechanics was a waste of time and a lack of ambition.
Su Jun's feelings about this have always been complicated.
As a child, he didn't understand why his mother had changed so much; he only knew that perhaps she was unhappy, and he often made himself unhappy as well.
They are mother and son, bound by a deep bond, yet they torment each other.
But after arriving here, Su Jun gradually understood many things. He often thought that it would be great if his mother lived in this era.
He wanted her to come a thousand years from now and see for herself that her initial idea was not rebellious. In fact, women can also be managers, not only as efficient and decisive, but also more meticulous and considerate than many men.
Lu Xiaoqi notices the hard work of the community staff and promptly thinks of giving stickers to new visitors, sticking them on the food carts of any stalls they like.
Not only her, but all the female staff members in the ancient town are just as capable as their male counterparts.
He wanted to tell his mother that she hadn't done anything wrong when she was young.
He also wanted those old scholars, those annoying people, to come and see, thinking they would be very surprised, and might even glare at him, thinking it was a rebellion against heaven and a hen crowing at dawn, which he found very interesting.
"What are you laughing at?" Lu Xiaoqi couldn't help but ask when she saw his stunned yet smiling expression.
Su Jun said gently, "It's nothing, I just think you handled it very well."
Compared to when he first arrived, her progress has been so rapid.
Lu Xiaoqi was taken aback, and was unusually embarrassed by his praise. She shrugged naturally and said modestly, "Well... it's alright."
In fact, her eyes were already smiling, and there was a hint of smugness at the corners of her mouth.
After all, who doesn't like to hear praise? Besides, they've been training for several months, and if they don't make some progress, she'll feel like she's letting them down after all their hard work.
At first, she was indeed very apprehensive, afraid that she wouldn't do well. But when the task was already looming in front of her, she couldn't just ignore it or turn around and run away. She could only grit her teeth and climb over it like she was going to a mountain.
After flipping through it a few times, you'll get used to it.
It was through all of this that Lu Xiaoqi unexpectedly discovered that her ability to withstand pressure was actually quite good.
......
The main square in Zone 1 was already packed with people, with almost every stall surrounded by crowds.
Xu Chen and Liao Yunyun had spent some time exploring Anping County in the afternoon, but returned in the evening and were shocked by the scene they saw. They had already learned about the tasting event being open to the public from the foodie group.
"Luckily we arrived early," Liao Yunyun said thankfully. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get a lot of food."
Xu Chen nodded repeatedly: "This event was indeed very well organized; each venue had its own unique characteristics..."
Just as I finished speaking, I heard a guy passing by excitedly say, "Holy crap, at least it's not starch sausage, lamb skewers, or stinky tofu! What's that? I've never seen it before. Let's go line up for that!"
Xu Chen and Liao Yunyun exchanged a smile.
It seems the masses have discerning eyes.
They also saw many people taking out their phones to shoot videos, and a few were live streaming; basically, everyone's a self-media creator these days.
Liao Yunyun joked, "It seems that Qinghe Ancient Town is about to get another wave of popularity online."
“We can suggest that Boss Lu continue to hold this food festival once a year. Even if we have to buy tickets to get in, I’d be willing to do it if it maintains this level of quality,” Xu Chen said enthusiastically.
Liao Yunyun immediately reminded us, "We definitely need to buy an annual pass!"
Xu Chen then remembered, "Oh right! They had already agreed to buy an annual pass, and Chef Song has been here the whole time!"
Then, he was moved by the word "we" in Liao Yunyun's words and a silly smile appeared on his face.
On the other side, a long queue had already formed in front of Grandpa Feng's stall.
"Boss, I'd like a small bowl of beef rice noodles with radish."
"Boss, I want..."
Grandpa Feng was getting dizzy listening to this, and shouted, "Don't rush, take it slow, one at a time."
He didn't know exactly how many bowls of noodles he had cooked, but by around 8 o'clock his hands felt weak.
At this moment, his wife came to his rescue: "We don't have enough noodles, so we can only cook five bowls."
Moreover, these were originally intended for use tomorrow.
Grandpa Feng wanted to cry: ...Can I finally go home?
Upon hearing the news, those at the front of the crowd breathed a sigh of relief, while those at the back grumbled a few times before reluctantly leaving to move on to other stalls.
The elderly couple eventually closed their stall early, allowing them to rest for a while.
Grandma Li calculated her earnings for the day, then suddenly frowned and let out a long, soft hiss.
Grandpa Feng: ".....What are you doing? Did you get bitten by a snake?"
Grandma Li resisted the urge to punch him and leaned closer excitedly, saying, "Old Feng, do you know how much we made today?"
She gave a number, and Old Master Feng couldn't help but hiss, earning a cold laugh in return.
"Are there really that many?!"
This is equivalent to almost a week's income in the past!
Grandpa Feng immediately felt that his back and hands were no longer sore, and said anxiously, "Then we have to keep working tomorrow!"
Grandma Li, always resourceful, quickly called her daughter in Yaocheng, asking her to bring a large bag of dried rice noodles from Yaocheng first thing the next morning. Yaocheng is only an hour's drive from Qinghe Ancient Town!
She had been thinking her daughter wouldn't want to make the trip, and was trying to figure out how to persuade her, when her daughter laughed and said, "Okay, okay, I'll take the earliest bus tomorrow. Mom, you don't know, I've seen so many videos of you two here online!"
After seeing it, she couldn't resist the urge and had been wanting to go over tomorrow to join in the fun!
Grandma Li put down the phone and stared blankly for a long time.
Grandpa Feng asked curiously, "Old woman, what's wrong?"
Grandma Li regained consciousness and looked at him solemnly: "Old Feng, this time we must take Qinghe Ancient Town!"
She thought she might actually make a small fortune here!
......
Anning County held a food festival, inviting well-regarded vendors from across the country; the festival received rave reviews from tourists!
The Qinghe Ancient Town is about to open, and the food festival pre-opening activities have been a complete success!
Major official media outlets have been praising Anping County authorities and Qinghe Ancient Town extensively.
[Family members, Qinghe Ancient Town is serious this time! Their food festival is absolutely amazing! We're winning big!]
Avoid the food festival at Qinghe Ancient Town; I gained three pounds in one day!
[I was wondering why the little stall downstairs from my house hadn't been open for the past few days... My child's world has collapsed!]
[Finally, I've seen a genuine food festival that brings together regional specialties from all over the country! Do you know how touched I am?]
The food festival in Qinghe Ancient Town has garnered considerable attention on various online platforms.
People everywhere are fed up with the same old food festivals! From south to north, every food festival offers the same few things, with very few truly unique offerings. While not 100%, it's safe to say that 90% of food festivals are just money-grabbing schemes, and that's certainly not an exaggeration.
For Qinghe Ancient Town, this not only earned it a good reputation once again, but also helped it find the kind of delicious food shops it wanted to introduce.
They've been busy with this for the past few days—compiling the most popular vendors in each category, including staple foods, pastries, snacks, desserts, and sweet soups, and then discussing their joining with them and signing contracts.
Surprisingly, apart from a few companies that ultimately declined, most of them readily accepted.
They are willing to spend a year working with Qinghe Ancient Town to see if there is a better future.
“We didn’t really think that much about it,” said Mr. Feng. “We just felt that you handled this matter very well, reimbursing expenses as soon as you said you would, and doing everything very well. I think you definitely have a bright future.”
The other stall owners nodded in agreement.
Whether the organizers are honest and whether their invitations are sincere should be judged not by their words, but by their actions. Clearly, Qinghe Ancient Town's approach this time won them over.
Even those stall owners who weren't selected didn't complain. They'd made a fortune during the two-day food festival. They didn't have to pay for their stalls; the organizers provided all the ingredients and raw materials. They'd only come to take a look, but leaving with a substantial sum was an unexpected bonus.
Furthermore, Qinghe Ancient Town promised to invite them again if the food festival is held again in the future.
It started off lively, ended spectacularly, and was conducted in a dignified and harmonious manner throughout.
When Lu Xiaoqi said, "The entire Investment Promotion Department will receive double the bonus this month," not only was the Investment Promotion Department overjoyed, but other departments also felt that the Investment Promotion Department deserved it.
Seeing their cheers, Lu Xiaoqi felt a surge of joy: Hehe, I can finally say that line calmly. She had secretly rehearsed this domineering CEO moment at home several times.
Cool!
While the investment promotion department was busy signing contracts, Lu Xiaoqi was about to have another important matter to attend to as the month entered mid-October.
The renovation of the opera house is finally complete.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief when she received the system notification. For the past few days, she had been avoiding Director Sun, terrified of being caught by him and facing his resentful gaze. Now, all was well!
That very evening, Lu Xiaoqi took Yuwen Kai and a few others who wanted to join in the fun to go.
The reason I didn't bring Director Sun along immediately was because I was afraid that if the theater had been modified by the system to develop some special abilities, it might scare him.
The system snorted, clearly dissatisfied with her description: "What I produce is always of the highest quality. Players, please refrain from using derogatory terms like 'frightened,' and use positive terms like 'shocking' would be more appropriate."
Lu Xiaoqi: "...Thank you for teaching me Chinese."
She opened the system and found the notification she had received earlier:
Your theater renovation is complete. Would you like to have it inspected now?
Of course, choose "Yes"!
Almost the instant their consciousness faded, the blue curtain surrounding the building slowly descended and disappeared into the night. The building inside was then fully revealed to them under the moonlight.
One by one, the lights came on, illuminating the buildings that were originally shrouded in the night, making them shine brightly. It was as if the tranquil and ethereal dream had been pulled into reality, turning the buildings into a fairyland on earth.
Lu Xiaoqi felt as if she could hear the sounds of traditional Chinese string and wind instruments in her ears at that moment.
"Holy crap..." she murmured to herself, stunned. Only then did she understand the pain of netizens; it was truly a pity she lacked cultural knowledge, resorting to the idiom "Holy crap" to get by.
Just then, Su Jun beside him murmured in admiration: "The moon palace's shadow opens to the sound of the night's drip, the crystal curtain rolls up to reveal the autumn river... Truly magnificent and extraordinary."①
Lu Xiaoqi: "......"
She'd never heard of this poem before!
Thank goodness, she was only reciting it silently in her mind, otherwise she would have looked like an illiterate person.
The system notification came at just the right time:
"Congratulations, player! You now own a theater that has been modified using a special modification card. The theater covers an area of 1,480 square meters and has two large performance halls, one large and one small. The large performance hall can accommodate 580 audience members, including 8 VIP boxes. The small performance hall can accommodate 188 audience members."
Lu Xiaoqi is no longer a novice when it comes to theaters; she knows that this capacity is already considered a medium-sized theater.
Moreover, having two performance halls allows for flexible program scheduling. She's no longer worried about the venue; instead, she's starting to worry about what programs to fill the theater.
Yuwen Kai looked at the plaque hanging at the entrance of the theater, which had three large characters engraved on it: Huanyin Pavilion.
The strokes are powerful and elegant, penetrating to the core.
"Beautiful calligraphy!" he exclaimed. "The name is good too."
It wasn't just the name that captivated him; the building itself held his gaze. Its main structure was a three-story wooden pavilion with a double-eaved hip roof, flying eaves, brackets, carved beams, and painted rafters—every detail was exquisite.
The group followed Lu Xiaoqi inside and saw the intricate and ornate details.
Even Xiang Qi and Xiang Ming, who were used to seeing fine things, stared wide-eyed at the various carvings and paintings above and around them, and after a long while, they exclaimed, "This is even more exquisite than the palace where the emperor lives."
Yuwen Kai stared intently at the details, seemingly glued to them, before finally exclaiming, "Truly a masterpiece!"
An indescribable decadence and refined elegance.
The group watched in amazement, lingering and reluctant to leave.
Its two performance halls have different styles. The larger performance hall is built according to the modern theater design, with an arc-shaped audience seating area surrounding the central stage. It has two levels, with the lower level for regular audience seating and the upper level for VIP boxes.
Of course, the decorating style is completely different from the modern minimalist style theaters that are common today, and it is also different from the Western classical opera house.
Anyway, Lu Xiaoqi loved it, and she thought the tourists would be captivated by it too.
The smaller performance hall is more like a traditional ancient theater, with a stage and a courtyard surrounding it, furnished with tables and chairs for casual seating, where you can drink tea, watch plays, and listen to music. The second floor also features private, semi-public boxes.
Upon seeing it, Lu Xiaoqi automatically imagined what kind of show would be suitable to be staged here.
"Wait, doesn't it have any special functions?" she suddenly remembered and asked the system.
It's produced by the system, so it can't just be good-looking, right?
The system chuckled softly, quite arrogantly: "Of course. Players can click on the building card to view its special attributes."
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