Daddy's Gourmet Shop-Chapter 380 - 370: Are Your Eyes Not Working?

"At the corner of West City Old Street, Delicious Restaurant, yes, it’s this place, it’s right here!"

"Whoa~ What time is it now... and there are already so many people in line..."

"You’re really out of the loop, aren’t you... This restaurant just hit the trending search last night, of course there’s a crowd here for the hype..."

"Ahhh... with so many people in line, how long will I have to wait?"

The impact of last night’s trending search has already begun to spread.

Plus, it’s Sunday, so many people from neighboring cities have specially driven hours to get here, eager to taste the food at Delicious Restaurant.

And it’s all because of Jiang Qihang!

What he said on his live stream last night and this morning—"If you don’t eat here at least once in your lifetime, you’ll regret it forever, and your life won’t be perfect"—really did the trick!

And it worked like magic!

It instantly attracted lots of viewers from other cities to come here in a rush.

The hot search glory also attracted quite a few influencers and some lesser-known celebrities to fly over.

This little shop getting such attention,

It’s no exaggeration to say that Jiang Qihang deserves the most credit!

Right then, a young and fashionable woman with a white bucket hat, trendy oversized sunglasses perched on her nose, wearing an oat-colored coat over a white low-neck cashmere sweater, a black short skirt on her lower body with her long legs exposed, and black high heels on her feet, saw from afar the line like a dragon in front of the shop, her beautiful big eyes instantly flashing with surprise.

"This place is insanely popular..."

"Had I known, I would’ve flown here last night!"

Looking at the line, the woman couldn’t help but complain a little.

Her name is Zhao Meilu, a TV actress.

Her looks are stunning, her acting is decent, you could say she’s been playing lead roles since her debut, starring in over ten TV series.

She’s worked with many viral male stars.

But in the end, none of the shows managed to create any splash.

Not to mention becoming a hit, it was even hard for people to remember her name!

Some joked that Zhao Meilu has the "cold body" effect, where male actors who work with her invariably don’t get popular, no matter what!

As a result, despite so many years of making TV series, her status is still not high, barely scraping into a third-tier level.

Early this morning, she flew two hours to get here, one, to taste the food that’s been praised to the skies.

Of course.

She also had a plan in mind.

She wanted to ride the wave of this small restaurant’s popularity to gain some attention.

She originally thought she might be arriving too early, taking a flight first thing in the morning and arriving at 10:00 AM.

She even worried that there wouldn’t be many people here, too quiet!

Who would’ve thought...

There was already a line forming early here!

Speaking of which.

Are people nowadays this desperate to hop on trends and draw attention?

What else could she do?

She could only helplessly accept the reality before her.

She turned her head toward the middle-aged man wearing a black baseball cap with a camera hung on his chest, and instructed him, "Make sure to take good photos of me later, remember to make me look pretty."

"Lu, rest assured! I’ll definitely make you look beautiful." The middle-aged man in the black baseball cap nodded while flashing her an OK hand sign with a smile.

Saying this, he raised the camera from his chest and started taking pictures from various angles.

This assurance and attitude made Zhao Meilu feel satisfied.

She didn’t chatter on with him.

If she kept talking, a few more spots in line would be taken by others.

She walked in her high heels, swaying her waist, trying to maintain an elegant posture while quickening her pace.

Quickly, she moved to the end of the line to queue up.

Striking poses, crafting a look.

Trying to create an impression like "even queuing up, I’m stylish to the point of explosion."

The middle-aged man with the baseball cap took a bunch of photos of her in line, then pulled out his phone and started recording video of her.

While recording, he shouted in excitement and surprise, "Wow, everyone look what I’ve found! It’s the big star Zhao Meilu! It’s really a big star... I can hardly believe my eyes, I can’t believe I’d run into the big star Zhao Meilu here..."

Exactly!

He was pretending to have accidentally encountered a big star on the street!

All of this was part of their pre-arranged plan!

Of course, his shouting naturally caught the attention of quite a few people.

Curious, everyone turned their heads to look.

Zhao Meilu elegantly took off her sunglasses with her fair hands, hanging them on her low-necked wool sweater, then gracefully waved at the phone camera and smiled charmingly at the queuing customers who turned to look at her: "Hello everyone, I’m Zhao Meilu."

The customers in line: ???

The customers in line, unaware of this person in the entertainment industry, looked bewildered and couldn’t help but murmur questioningly.

"A big star? Is there such a person in the entertainment industry?"

"Hmm, who is this pretty lady?"

"Who is Zhao Meilu?"

"I have no idea! Do you know?"

"I don’t know either! Judging by her unremarkable, assembly-line face, and the way she likes to show her legs even in the middle of winter, she must be an internet celebrity..."

"Hey, hey, hey, buddy, if you want to film an internet celebrity, just film them properly, but don’t think you can use that as an excuse to cut in line!"

"Exactly, exactly, we’ve seen people like you plenty of times, we’re not falling for it! I’m warning you, if you want to cut in line, don’t blame me for being rude!"

These words left Zhao Meilu a bit dumbfounded when she heard them.

What’s going on here?

With so many people around, is there really no one who recognizes me?

Even though she has a cool persona in the entertainment world, she’s still a third-tier celebrity with her own place in the industry.

Someone whose name can be recognized!

But now, among these people, not a single one recognized her!

This made her almost question her existence.

Honestly, those male customers in line really couldn’t recognize her.

Few men are star-chasers in the first place.

Unless it’s those particularly famous first-tier celebrities, to most men, a typical female star is no different from those girls who twist their waists on Douyin.

Especially with such a generic internet celebrity face...

Zhao Meilu stared at the man in front of her in line, and the man happened to be looking at her too.

Their eyes met...

The man finally couldn’t take it and asked, "Miss, why are you looking at me with that gaze? Oh, I get it, you must be planning to sneak in front of me when I’m not looking, right? I mean, cut in line to get ahead of me?"

Zhao Meilu: "..."

Who the heck wants to sneak in front of you...

Blech, blech, blech...

Who the heck wants to cut in line in front of you!

Even though she’s not a big shot, she’s starred in several TV series with many popular male stars!

How did she become just like a passerby here?!

She painfully shed two wide noodle-like tears in her heart and quietly put her sunglasses back on.

Pretending to be isolated from the world!

The man wearing a cap, filming the video, was still enthusiastically shouting, "Come and see... the big star Zhao Meilu, it’s Zhao Meilu... the actress playing the female lead in the new version of ’Legend of the Condor Heroes’!"

Everyone looked at him like he was a fool.

A pot-bellied middle-aged man spoke earnestly: "Brother, stop fawning, take a piece of advice from me, you can’t handle a pretty woman like that."

The man with the cap: ???

Zhao Meilu turned her head to the side, pretending to look at the scenery elsewhere.

In reality, she was dying of embarrassment inside, embarrassed enough to use her toes to carve out a fully furnished three-bedroom apartment in the ground.

Seeing this scene, several fashionably dressed young men and women nearby all subconsciously lowered their hat brims, put on sunglasses, and even masks, quietly lining up at the back of the queue.

The customer behind them, curious, asked, "Hey, buddy, there’s no sunlight over here, why are you wearing sunglasses? Do you have a problem with your eyes?"

The masked man in sunglasses: "..."

Other customers gestured and said, "Don’t ask, he’s probably a celebrity or something!"

"A celebrity? Do celebrities wear sunglasses during the day? What are they covering their face for? Even if they don’t cover their face, no one would recognize them!"

The masked man in sunglasses: "..."

This really stings, cuts deep...

Feeling awkward, he quietly took off his sunglasses and mask, putting them in his pocket.

The customers in line all curiously glanced at him, laughing, "Haha~ I really thought some celebrity was here, turns out I was overthinking it."

The masked man in sunglasses: "..."

I really am a celebrity, okay...

It’s your fault for not recognizing me, and I’m to blame?

The other celebrities around were also indirectly suffering from their awkwardness.

Keeping their sunglasses and masks on was awkward, taking them off was awkward, a real dilemma.

On the way here, traveling by flight, they were all quite worried.

They worried that if their appearance caused a fan frenzy, leading to traffic jams and crowded stampedes, it would not be good for the business owner.

It was only until now they realized...

They were completely overthinking it!

They were imagining things too beautifully!