Chapter 161: Creating a New Show

To Second Sister's surprise, the son of the head chef arrived early the next morning.

"My snake soup isn't as good as my dad's, but I've got about sixty or seventy percent of his heat control down. I haven't made it often, so my hands are a bit out of practice." The man was quite honest, stating his shortcomings right off the bat.

"The reason I came is this: if you don't mind, I can work here and you can pay me a standard salary. Whenever you feel my snake soup is good enough to carry the restaurant's reputation, we can renegotiate my pay. What do you think?"

Second Sister glanced at her husband, thought for a moment, hardened her heart, and accepted his request.

The kitchen certainly couldn't rely solely on Uncle Zhou. At worst, she would just consider this hiring an assistant for Uncle Zhou. If he didn't do a good job, she could simply let him go; if he did well, she wouldn't hold back on giving him a raise when it was due.

The old master's surname was Zhao, and everyone in town called him Old Man Zhao. He had three sons. The eldest had died early without leaving descendants, and the one who came to Second Sister's agritainment resort was the second son, who had always stayed with the old couple, and his wife was also from the town. The third son had moved to Nanyang and settled down after retiring from the military. The third son's wife was an only child, making him effectively a matrilocal son-in-law. Old Man Zhao had been hopping mad about it but was completely helpless. Over the years, the third son's couple only came back for the New Year, and otherwise called once a month.

The ancestral culinary skills had been passed down entirely to the second son, but the second son wasn't as quick-witted as the third. After studying for so many years, he still hadn't mastered the craft enough to work independently, so coming to Second Sister's resort was truly a move born of necessity.

There weren't many guests at the resort yet, so the work could be described as very leisurely. Second Sister had successfully established her reputation, but how things would go moving forward depended on whether people would show up over the weekend.

Chen Xin's school start date was quite late, not until late September. Since she had already completed most of her administrative procedures beforehand, registration on the first day was just a formality, so she planned to stay here through the Mid-Autumn Festival before heading back.

Zhou Hao couldn't stay that long and had to return to report back for duty before the Mid-Autumn Festival. When he left, he packed two large woven snake-skin bags full of various food items. Lei Bang was the one who drove him and laughed at him for making a profit on this trip, getting both food and gifts, which completely ruined a real man's dignity.

"What dignity?" Zhou Hao grinned smugly. "This is a sign of my popularity. What about you?"

"Heh!" Lei Bang sneered twice and rewarded him with a pair of rolled-up eyes.

"Seriously, if you're really planning to date someone, you need to get your family matters sorted out over there. When things blow up, I'm not taking your side. I'm telling you this in advance, so don't blame your buddy for being unbrotherly."

"I know. Just worry about yourself." Zhou Hao turned his head to look out the window, a hint of gloom lingering between his brows.

After seeing Zhou Hao off, Chen Xin left Zhang Zhang in the care of his grandparents and set off once again to wander around in search of material.

Her previous book on scented tea had already secured its publication standard book number. The first print run wouldn't be too large; the editor's intention was to test the waters first and judge the response before deciding whether and how many reprints to make.

This book was Chen Xin's test run, and she wasn't counting on making a fortune from it. She just wanted to put it out there to gauge market reaction before deciding how to design and write the next one.

Additionally, because her blog frequently recommended food and travel, some people were now starting to test the waters by asking her to place soft advertisements. The pay wasn't much, but the other party would cover all travel and lodging expenses along with a small writing fee. Chen Xin was still hesitating. She would definitely accept such soft ads later on, but right now was the crucial time to build her reputation. She hoped to scout the locations in person first—if they were genuinely good, she would recommend them on her blog; if they were subpar, she would certainly decline.

However, a problem arose: if she, a single woman, went over there and the other party refused to honor the deal or turned hostile, what should she do? How could she protect her rights and safety? This was not an era where the internet penetrated every aspect of life; by the time the police procedures were even set in motion, her body would already be cold.

In later generations, such soft-ad campaigns were operated by entire teams. Trying to stand out in this industry through individual effort alone was extremely difficult—not impossible, but truly arduous. One person's mental and physical capacity could never compete with an entire team, so Chen Xin felt she could begin preparing her own core crew now.

A team like this didn't need many people, but they had to be reliable and capable of enduring hardship. At the same time, the male-to-female ratio needed to be carefully controlled—having an all-female crew was impossible, and an all-male crew wasn't appropriate either.

The biggest problem right now was that people in this era weren't yet very open-minded. Coastal areas and major cities were a bit better, but inland small and medium-sized cities lagged behind the big cities by at least five to ten years in terms of mindset. Therefore, she had no clue how to go about assembling this team.

Her own entry into this industry had been an accident; a senior student she met in school was doing this work, and later, when that senior settled down and stopped doing it, she took over the operation. Even so, she later scaled it down and functioned primarily as an independent writer, publishing recommendations on her personal account.

If she started preparations now, the obstacles she faced would be substantial, but the advantages were also numerous. At the very least, this industry was still an untrodden virgin territory, and early entrants would undoubtedly grab a larger share of the cake.

Chen Xin wrote down her thoughts in her notebook, shouldered her backpack, and began drafting a province-wide travel itinerary. This was a small milestone she had set for herself and the first step of her practice. If she wanted people to recognize her, she had to deliver substantial, high-quality content, and these travel guides sprinkled with personal insights were the best form of soft articles.

The province where the Zhang family lived possessed rich tourism resources, but due to poverty, adverse geography, and inconvenient transportation, its tourism development lagged behind the surrounding provinces. Yet, precisely because of this, the primitive landscapes and authentic local delicacies held an even greater appeal.

Her first destination was the provincial capital. The capital was not situated in the center of the territory, but rather leaned toward the southwest. There were several quite famous scenic spots near the capital, with single-way travel times ranging from one to two days. She could take night trains, which would save both accommodation costs and travel time.

Tourist transportation maps at this time were not as concise as those of later generations. Chen Xin directly bought a provincial highway transportation map, a provincial travel map, and a national transportation map, combining them to chart the most comprehensive circular travel route. The starting point was the provincial capital, and the destination was another nationally famous historic revolutionary base area near the capital.

After finalizing the route, she sent the itinerary to Song Yi and Senior Brother Han, hoping they could help her spot any flaws or omissions. As a result, those two beasts found out and made a fuss about coming along, and it ultimately took Teacher Cao to suppress them both.

However, Song Yi, the wealthy second-generation heir, quietly brought Chen Xin a set of imported digital cameras and video recorders, along with some self-defense tools useful for a young woman.

"I actually wanted to accompany you, but recently I want to use our restaurant to shoot a program, so I'm giving you a heads-up in advance. The production crew will contact Cheng Jie then, and the scripts and everything will be sent for you to review."

"What's this? Have you decided to become a food show host?" Chen Xin teased.