Chapter 50: A Dream of Golden Millet

Jiang Yuran and her brother Jiang Yubai were led to the same spot. The table was a small one for 2-4 people, with water flowing past one side. It seemed to be channeled from the river outside, winding its way around each small table.

“Look at the menu and pick whatever dishes you want. Our underworld has everything today!” White Impermanence waved his sleeve, and the wooden mechanism in the center of their small table opened, revealing a thin wooden board.

Several rows of slender yellow talismans were pasted on the wooden board, each with the name and price of a dish written in vermilion, looking both ancient and elegant.

White Impermanence, his tongue lolling out, walked away saying, “Just tear off the ones you choose. I’m going to have a drink. Take your time ordering!”

Jiang Yubai and his sister exchanged a glance, then huddled together to look at the menu with interest. The production team also understood the audience’s psychology and took the opportunity to zoom in with the camera.

There were four rows of yellow talismans, representing cold dishes, main courses, fruits and desserts, and beverages.

The names of the dishes were all in the style of classical Chinese cuisine, with a line of small print below, very much like a proper restaurant.

[I’m relieved, the dishes look pretty normal. To be honest, I wouldn’t dare to eat the food in those horror-themed amusement parks… The prices are also reasonable, even a little lower than I expected.]

[Whispering quietly, I wouldn’t dare to eat Sheng Pingsha’s either. And he’s selling it so expensive!]

[Looking at the setting, Director Shang’s is where underworld officials have their meals (dog head)! Of course, they eat good food.]

The siblings chose many dishes and tentatively tore off the talismans. In an instant, the yellow talismans began to burn with a bluish-white flame from the top, drifting towards the void.

“This is so cool!” Jiang Yuran’s eyes were full of stars. If it weren’t for exceeding their budget, she would have ordered the entire menu.

Jiang Yubai rubbed his hands together in anticipation: “I wonder how the dishes will be served later? Will it be those ghost waiters?”

According to the normal setting, the waiters would be the servers. But the process of serving the dishes once again exceeded the two’s expectations—

The hot dishes were indeed brought by the waiters, but the cold dishes and drinks were placed on trays and floated along the river beside them to their table.

[Wow, the diners can brag about this later: I’ve eaten a meal delivered by the River of Styx. Have you?]

[I’m so envious, why didn’t I get a ticket! I would be sitting there now QAQ]

[Me too QAQ This can be considered half of the legendary “winding stream and floating goblets^[1]A traditional Chinese custom where wine cups are floated down a winding stream, and guests seated along it compose poems.,” right? I’m so envious ahhhh!]

The dishes weren’t necessarily mind-blowing, but they were up to a chef’s standard. Crucially, under the enhancement of the atmosphere, the siblings’ appetites were greatly stimulated, as if they had really become gods invited to the underworld to attend a banquet.

Especially when they were halfway through eating, the music behind the screen changed, and the curtain on the stage was drawn open. Dancers danced gracefully, their water sleeves fluttering. They held folding fans, and between raising and lowering them, their peach blossom faces and skeletal faces switched, eerie and unpredictable, similar in concept to Young Master Gu in “Rouge Comb.”

[I remember this choreography! It was from a popular historical drama some time ago. It was performed so much that I got tired of it, but I never thought it could be reinterpreted like this!!]

[So stunning, so beautiful. Coupled with Yun Yongxue’s new song, it has a kind of beauty that transcends the boundary between humans and ghosts…]

[Just this performance alone is worth the price.]

Jiang Yuran watched with rapt attention, almost forgetting to move her chopsticks. Jiang Yubai, however, suddenly became restless.

Jiang Yuran saw that her brother’s expression was off and asked, “What’s wrong, bro?”

Jiang Yubai’s face was a picture: “…I need to pee.”

Jiang Yuran hesitated: “…”

Ah, this.

[Hahahaha, I’m dying of laughter. Just like me, I don’t even dare to go to the bathroom halfway through watching a horror movie.]

[I totally understand!! When I go to the bathroom in the middle, I feel like a ghost face will appear in the mirror!]

[Oh no, imagining myself there, I wouldn’t dare either. This is an underworld toilet!]

However, physiological needs couldn’t wait. Jiang Yubai had no choice but to pull another male diner along to find the restroom. The production team found it interesting and followed them with the camera.

The diners had just arrived and sat down to order in a daze. They hadn’t been able to see the full view of the underworld. This was a good opportunity to show it to the audience.

The banquet tables were placed in the front hall. Jiang Yubai and the male diner didn’t dare to ask the waiters, so they could only stumble around blindly. They could see directional signs in hidden places.

“Seeing the familiar restroom signs makes me feel like I haven’t really transmigrated…” the male diner said, trembling.

Jiang Yubai was very devilish: “How do you know that the real underworld doesn’t have directional signs? The ghost messengers of the underworld also have to keep up with the times.”

Male Diner: “…”

I beg you, stop talking!

But, come to think of it, Director Shang was indeed meticulous. Every NPC was made extremely realistic.

When the two passed behind the screen, they also heard the hurried preparation sounds of the ghosts who were changing shifts before going on stage:

“Where’s my plectrum^[2]A plectrum is a small, flat tool used to pluck or strum the strings of a musical instrument. It’s more commonly known as a pick, especially when referring to guitar picks.?”

“Hairpin! Who took my hairpin!”

“You’re stepping on my skirt, get off!”

It was exactly like actors getting ready backstage in real life. This was fine, but the scary part was that it was interspersed with sentences like:

“Oh my, who put my thigh bone in the wrong place?”

“My head is missing too. Who hid it? I’m going to get angry!”

“Isn’t your head in your hand? You laughed it off earlier.”

Jiang Yubai and the other diner: “…”

They strongly suspected that if Director Shang were given another month, she could create a horror story for each NPC.

The two listened in, fascinated, and only reluctantly moved on after quite some time. The comments were also reluctant to leave.

As they continued walking, the two began to pay attention to what the surrounding NPCs were saying. As a result, when they turned a corner past a curio cabinet, they bumped into the bone maiden who had just come off stage, holding a pipa.

“Aiya!”

Jiang Yubai instinctively took a step back, but the bone maiden walked straight through him. Seeing him stunned, she turned back and said kindly, “It’s okay. You were a human not long ago, right? You’ll get used to it after being a ghost for a while.”

—Holographically simulated characters cannot be touched. In other restaurants, even if the diners were previously very immersed, they would feel a little disappointed when they accidentally discovered this: After all, it’s all fake.

But in the “Underworld Banquet,” this could be completely self-consistent, and it even added a touch of realism!

Everyone was a ghost, of course they couldn’t touch each other.

[I’m going, that’s amazing! They even used this point!]

[Ahhhh, I really had a moment where I suspected that our live broadcast camera was connected to the ghost realm!]

[Maybe, maybe we think Director Shang is setting up a holographic restaurant, but in fact, she’s taking us to transmigrate to the underworld (dog head)…]

Production team staff saw the comments: “…”

They subconsciously touched the camera. Don’t say that, it’s scary!

The camera stopped at the door of the restroom where the two went. Fortunately, apart from the dim lighting, there was nothing scary in the restroom.

Jiang Yubai solved his physiological needs at the fastest speed of his life. During this time, his mind was full of the terrifying scenes of the protagonist of “Building 18” being trapped in the toilet.

Compared to the “real” ghosts, he and the male diner were like sneaky intruders. When they were about to reach their seats, Jiang Yubai couldn’t help it and stopped a waiter to ask, “I’m just confirming, you’re all fake, right?”

The waiter stopped, turned his head, and said, “Don’t be afraid.”

Its tone was gentle. Jiang Yubai was relieved. But before he could fully relax, he saw the red lips under the ghost waiter’s yellow talisman slightly curl up, revealing an eerie smile.

“We are all officially employed ghosts, we won’t harm people.”

Jiang Yubai directly gasped: “…”

Help, it’s even scarier!!

–

Underworld Banquet backstage.

Today the show was broadcast, and the Dreamweavers were all waiting in their respective backstages, observing the situation at any time.

“How is it?”

Sheng Pingsha paced anxiously. Not long after the broadcast started, he asked his assistant editor.

He still had some confidence in his own design. When he watched the previews earlier, all the Dreamweavers had at least shown a corner of their restaurant. Only Shang Jingyan had a completely black screen, and a ghost popped out at the end.

This must be a sign that she didn’t have anything good to show!

On the first day, you couldn’t see much of a comparison. Among the five groups of Dreamweavers, at least Shang Jingyan, Hua Feitian, and Sheng Pingsha’s customer traffic would definitely be saturated, because of their high popularity.

Sheng Pingsha was asking about the online public opinion. The editor looked for a while and said conservatively, “Uh… it’s all pretty good.”

—In fact, the differences could already be vaguely seen. If Sheng Pingsha was “good,” then Shang Jingyan was “amazing.” All the viewers who followed that live broadcast were going crazy!

They had even quickly created a #PleaseDirectorShangOpenHolographicChainRestaurants# tag, which was currently rising in views.

Sheng Pingsha sensed something from his words, took a few steps over to look at the light brain in his hand, and came face-to-face with the debut scene of the “Underworld Banquet.”

This segment had already been cut by some bloggers and had become a popular video, with comments full of “holy crap”:

[This is actually a holographic restaurant? The setting is comparable to a movie!]

[Production team: Small kitchen; Director Shang: Deluxe film set.]

[Ahhhh, please tell me how to go, I’m desperate!!]

The editor didn’t have time to stop him, so he could only watch as Sheng Pingsha’s face turned extremely ugly.

Sheng Pingsha’s small kitchen was also very good, but compared with Shang Jingyan and Hua Feitian’s creativity, it seemed extremely mediocre.

The biggest projection in front of him was his own live broadcast room. When the part he had arranged appeared, the audience’s reaction was flat, completely without the enthusiasm Sheng Pingsha had expected.

How could this be? Sheng Pingsha became even more anxious. He was very proud when he was designing it. Wasn’t that young girl surnamed Shang doing the same thing? He adapted it, so why didn’t the audience buy it?

The diners who were selected by lottery were Sheng Pingsha’s old fans. But after seeing that human leg, when ordering, she silently only chose vegetarian dishes.

[Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter. I’m also timid. I wouldn’t dare to order meat in a restaurant with this setting.]

[Did anyone else notice? Sheng Pingsha’s pricing is so expensive. It should be the highest among the five groups.]

[There’s a fame bonus, that’s normal.]

Sheng Pingsha frowned deeply. Why didn’t she order meat? How could his plot develop? He still wanted the male protagonist to have a righteous scene.

He contacted the staff, and soon, the waiter brought a plate of green pepper stir-fried pork, smiling happily: “This is a free gift from our boss, he thinks you have good karma!”

Diner: “…”

Even more afraid to eat it!

The diner’s reluctance was obvious to anyone. Sheng Pingsha said resentfully, “They don’t even eat the free food, why are they so demanding!”

He was in a bad mood, so he browsed the show’s tag on the star network. Unexpectedly, the more he looked, the angrier he became.

There were no direct complaints in the comments, but in the “following updates” section, many viewers directly expressed their dissatisfaction.

[What’s with the black-hearted inn… This is really off-putting! Isn’t the original setting of the Jianghu inn good?]

[Although I’m not superstitious, isn’t this a bit unlucky? Who wants to think about “becoming food myself” while eating?]

[I’m very heartbroken. I really liked the inn in “Moonlight River,” but now I feel like it was destroyed by the creator himself.]

Some of these were obviously his fans and had feelings for “Moonlight River.” Some were simply viewers of “Wandering Kitchen.”

[I haven’t seen this Dreamweaver’s works, nor have I seen Shang Jingyan’s. But if I had to say, Shang Jingyan’s is more interesting, haha.]

[A martial arts restaurant isn’t exactly a brilliant idea… I didn’t understand when I heard you guys talking. Does that mean Sheng Pingsha copied Shang Jingyan?]

[I feel sorry for the viewers who were selected by lottery. They have the feeling of something stuck in their throat, unsure whether to continue eating (dog head).]

Sheng Pingsha was furious: “Why?!”

They both used a horror style, so why were the reviews of him and Shang Jingyan polar opposites?

Sheng Pingsha was in a dead end, thinking hard but not understanding.

The editor knew, but didn’t dare to say. He had been following Sheng Pingsha for so many years, he knew his temper all too well.

The latter suppressed his anger and turned the prayer beads in his hand.

It’s okay… it’s okay. He comforted himself. He still had a backup plan. He must win this championship!

Sheng Pingsha’s eyes gradually darkened. This was his chance to appear in the public eye again after many years. He absolutely couldn’t let it go!

After comforting himself repeatedly like this, he asked unwillingly, “What about that little girl surnamed Hua?”

He thought that this time the editor would praise him. Who knew it still wasn’t so. Sheng Pingsha lost his temper instantly, grabbed the light brain to look, and was taken aback.

Hua Feitian was so bold, she didn’t make a formal restaurant, but a snack market!?

–

Hua Feitian indeed abandoned the concept of a traditional restaurant. And, everyone who saw it had to admit: Nothing could be more in line with her “romantic punk” style than the current design!

After entering her restaurant area, diners would appear in an old, dilapidated transfer pod. When they opened the door, a lively night market scene would come into view.

This was not an ordinary night market. Its background was a chaotic, fictional era. The diners’ identities were tourists traveling on a black-market starship. The black-market ship stopped at an energy transfer station, and the tourists took the opportunity to get off the ship and move around.

Hua Feitian was particularly good at describing chaotic, ungoverned zones. This was a reflection of her disordered inner world, which many people found inconsistent with her appearance and family background.

This energy transfer station was the same. The stalls for various snacks were staggered and crookedly put together, stretching as far as the eye could see. The scene was all outdoors, and you could see the vast starry sky of the desolate planet above.

[!! Director Hua’s design is also so bold, I was really shocked just now.]

[This is so in line with her style. Several of her works instantly flashed through my mind. Not to put anyone down, but this time, the designs that can reflect personal style are actually only Director Shang and Director Hua.]

[+1, the sense of immersion is so strong, it’s like I also transmigrated into a desolate planet traveler…]

The leading diner looked around. Hua Feitian’s details were also excellent. There was accumulated water on the ground, and you had to be careful to avoid the puddles; various accents of speech floated around, mixed with slang she didn’t understand; the sounds of snacks being steamed, fried, cooked, and boiled mixed together, full of the atmosphere of life…

[Wow, I’m drooling just looking at it. When I was a child, I would pass by a night market after school. Of course, it wasn’t this chaotic, but it was very similar.]

[Right, right, walking from one end to the other, I would be full.]

[What I miss the most is when the various aromas are mixed together! Heavy seasonings, logically speaking, would be very messy, but in the end, they all add up to a unique, enticing smell…]

“No wonder Director Hua got a perfect score on the objective part of the entrance exam, she’s amazing.” The diner said admiringly. To reasonably construct a mixed-residence night market, the Dreamweaver’s own “common sense” level in reality must be extremely high.

She stopped with interest in front of a stall. The stall owners were two tall beastmen with bear heads. One was male. He—or it—was slicing a strangely shaped fish. The sliced meat was strung together by the female beastman and placed directly on the charcoal fire beside them. Oil and spices were sprinkled on, and the aroma exploded, making people drool.

The Alliance officially had only discovered one race in the universe, humans. This was written in the textbooks.

Beastmen, merfolk, insectoids, and the like were all fantasies of Dreamweavers, so the audience was also very interested, and some comments even shouted [I want to pet the bear head].

“How much is this?” the diner asked.

The stall owner held up a bear paw: “Five star coins a skewer.”

It wasn’t expensive, just the price of an ordinary snack.

The diner curiously bought a skewer, took a bite, and confirmed: “This is actually the meat of a star belt fish.”

She walked and ate along the way. This night market was obviously a multi-racial mixed residence. The stall owners included bear-headed beastmen, merfolk lying in water tanks, and blue-skinned humanoids…

The diner was a loyal fan of Hua Feitian. She recognized that many of them were races that had appeared in Hua Feitian’s works before, giving her the thrill of discovering Easter eggs.

And as she bought snacks, the fun gradually became tasting what these fantasy foods really were.

Fried snacks that looked like some kind of tree branch—

“This is potato, fried so crispy, it smells so good.”

Meat chunks dug out of insects—

“It seems to be blue-shelled crab? Oh my god, there’s even crab roe. It’s sold at the price of ordinary crabs. Director Hua is so generous!”

A certain egg said to be an “edible stone”—

“Isn’t this the fried Great Simi, a specialty of the southern hemisphere of our V066? It’s hard and durable, and it changes color with temperature. I’m dying of laughter, no wonder Director Hua set it as a temperature-sensitive stone!”

[Wuwuwu, I also want to go to Director Hua’s. Are there any investors watching? Turn this season’s show into chain restaurants!]

[I watched five groups, Director Hua and Director Shang have the strength to compete for first place.]

[Ahhhh, it’s so hard to choose! Never mind, it’s not like one person can only go to one place. I’ll go to all of them!]

The diner walked to the end, almost unable to hold anything more in her hands. She touched her belly, which was already round.

“Burp… I really can’t eat anymore.”

She said contentedly, “Nothing can stimulate appetite more than a snack stall, absolutely!”

–

Underworld Banquet live broadcast room.

The Jiang siblings had achieved a clean plate by the end. They both burped contentedly.

Jiang Yubai looked at the bill and made a wicked joke: “According to the banquet setting, participants shouldn’t have to pay, and prices shouldn’t be marked on the menu.”

Hosts and guests enjoy themselves, there’s no reason for the guests to pay?

But he was just mentioning a small bug he felt. He didn’t really intend not to pay. The creativity of the Underworld Banquet was too stunning. This little thing that couldn’t be fully explained was completely negligible.

The two were looking around for the checkout counter when there was a commotion at the door, as if an important figure of the banquet had entered.

“Which deity is that?” Jiang Yuran stood up, wanting to watch the excitement. Who knew that the woman, when passing by the two of them, suddenly stopped.

This woman was elegant and graceful, wearing golden clothes, with embroidered rivers and mountains on the hem, her eyes seeming to encompass everything.

Some comments recognized her: [I guess, this is Houtu Niangniang^[3]A deity in Chinese mythology, the Goddess of the Earth?]

Houtu looked at them for a while and laughed: “Which office was so careless, they even brought living souls here?”

Jiang Yuran and others: “?”

So this is our setting?

The surrounding bull-headed and horse-faced demons and black-clothed ghost messengers heard this and gathered around:

“Oh my, they really are!”

“Let me see… They didn’t eat anything they shouldn’t have, so they should be fine, right?”

“How did living souls get invited! I knew they smelled wrong!”

[What? Stunned.jpg So the diners aren’t gods, but just us who accidentally entered the banquet.]

[Hahaha, I’m dying, this setting is so fun!]

[Then what happens next?]

“It’s no big deal, it’s just that some karma has been formed. In the eyes of living souls, these karmas have their own prices—look at those bamboo slips, there are prices marked on them, right?” Houtu Niangniang smiled. “Pay with gold, silver, and treasures, and the karma can be settled.”

All the diners were dumbfounded: They could even use this method to make the setting consistent!

A waiter calculated for a while, pondered for a moment, and said, “Just pay in your mortal way.”

When they paid and walked out, Jiang Yubai was still in a daze, shaking his sister: “Pinch me, am I dreaming?”

Jiang Yuran did not hesitate to pinch him. Jiang Yubai jumped: “Ouch, hiss hiss hiss… It hurts! Why did you really pinch me!”

These were not fake, but turning back, there was only an ordinary door closing behind them. Beside them was a commercial street full of modern atmosphere.

Jiang Yubai unexpectedly felt a bit of barely perceptible melancholy. But thinking about it carefully, it couldn’t be better.

It seemed like there were often such stories in ancient legends. An ordinary person’s soul would somehow enter a banquet of ghosts and gods, witness scenes that could not be seen in the mortal world, and finally return to the human world, leaving only the story to be passed down.

The word “vague resemblance,” in many cases, was the core of Chinese legendary stories.

The bright sun shone, and the sound of the underworld orchestra seemed to still linger in his ears, like a dream of golden millet.

“Bro, don’t space out.” Jiang Yuran’s call brought him back to his senses. “Look, the production team has added a voting channel!”

“Voting?” Jiang Yubai leaned over, his eyes lighting up.

It turned out that because they saw the #PleaseDirectorShang/DirectorHuaOpenHolographicChainRestaurants# tag trending, the production team seized the hot topic and added an honorary voting section: “Which Dreamweaver’s small kitchen do you most want to keep open for a long time?”

And they indicated that the final champion would have the opportunity to receive sponsorship from Boss Qin to open the restaurant in a chain model.

—If Director Shang could win the championship, wouldn’t it be possible to eat at such a restaurant in the future?

The voting had only started less than three minutes ago, and not many people had noticed it yet. Jiang Yubai immediately rolled up his sleeves: “I’ll vote now!”

–

Underworld Banquet backstage.

The initial popularity of the five groups’ live broadcast rooms was not too different. The large base was still the original audience of “Starry River Wandering Kitchen.” And most of the Dreamweavers’ respective fans also chose to have all five groups open at the same time, to observe the situation of their opponents.

But as time went on, the difference in popularity values became larger and larger. Among them, Shang Jingyan was the highest, followed by Hua Feitian and Sheng Pingsha.

The new viewers were all recommended by the previous viewers. Once they came, they would go directly to the recommended live broadcast room, which caused the gap to widen.

[Yanyan!! Our heartbeat points have increased again!] X71 was clinging to the backstage. Its attention to the data hadn’t stopped. Its electronic voice was stained with excitement. [Doing variety shows can also increase the heartbeat points. Yanyan is amazing! That Sheng Pingsha’s face must be very ugly now. Who told him to be so bad!]

Shang Jingyan propped her chin on her hand and leaned back on the recliner, humbly saying, [It’s nothing, just standard performance.]

She was about to go to the star network to see the public opinion, but her light brain suddenly popped up with an unfamiliar friend request. The reason for the request was:

[Hello, is this Director Shang? I apologize for bothering you. I have some things about Sheng Pingsha that I want to discuss with you. I have no malicious intentions. I hope Director Shang will accept.]