Chapter 30: Sand Pear Dragon Well Tea

Due to popular demand, Taotie Delicacies launched the Good Luck Heavenly Dog Cookies, and they were booked solid for the next two weeks as soon as they hit the shelves.

Clearly, the hype was real.

The peaceful days didn’t last long, though. The system came back with a new mission.

[Level 5 Mission: Launch at least one new Sand Pear drink and invite at least 3 local food bloggers with over 100,000 followers to review it within a week.

Reward: 500 Shanhai Points, 500 Shanhai Coins, 1 Shanhai Voucher

Penalty: 24 hours of volunteer work in a random dimension.]

“Launching a new Sand Pear drink isn’t hard, but the extra conditions are a bit tough,” Yun Tao said, rubbing his chin. “First of all, do we even have that many local food-bloggers with over 100,000 followers?”

[Yes, I’ve filtered out the relevant food bloggers for you.]

The system’s screen displayed the bloggers’ profiles.

Yun Tao spotted a familiar face—He Xiaoying.

She mainly reviewed dark cuisine, but her follower count was quite impressive, close to 200,000, with accounts on various platforms.

“Sister Xiaoying counts as one. She really likes our shop, and even if we don’t make it dark cuisine, she’d probably be happy to accept the invitation. But I can also make a dark special for her.”

[You can try inviting her!]

Yun Tao opened Taotie Delicacies’s homepage, which had long surpassed 100,000 followers. “I guess I count too, I’ll invite myself.”

[…] He’d found a loophole!

Yun Tao looked at the other bloggers’ profiles, but they were mostly filled with ads and the content wasn’t that great. He wasn’t really interested. Then he saw the last one, and his eyes lit up.

“It’s him.”

This blogger, named “Wind Rabbit,” had just crossed the 100,000 follower mark, and he wasn’t a full-time food blogger. Half of his posts were personal vlogs, and his last restaurant review was two months ago.

The system was puzzled. [What’s your reason for choosing him?]

It couldn’t be just because he was the most attractive, right?

Yun Tao scrolled through Wind Rabbit’s page and gave a solid reason. “He’s learning to swim, and he’s terrible at it!”

Wind Rabbit didn’t post food reviews often, but he was always updating his daily life, like it was his personal feed. He’d post several times a day.

Recently, all his posts were about learning to swim. He’d been at it for two months, hired countless coaches, and made zero progress. He couldn’t even get over his fear of water.

A lot of his followers were keeping tabs on his progress, and Wind Rabbit would occasionally reply.

[Did Wind Rabbit manage to get in the water today?]

Wind Rabbit: Nope.

[You’re so persistent, this must be day 57 of failure. Are you really determined to learn to swim?]

Wind Rabbit: Yep! It’s really important to me!

The system understood. The Sand Pear’s effect was “controls water,” and even someone who couldn’t swim could learn easily. This blogger had been struggling for so long, and he was too scared to even get in the water. Maybe he had a secret.

He was also desperate to learn to swim, so if Yun Tao told him he could learn by drinking a few beverages, he might bite. When he announced in his review video that he’d learned to swim, it would be the best advertisement for the Sand Pear drinks.

But…

[If you tell him the truth, he might think you’re a scammer.]

“True,” Yun Tao said. “I won’t mention the Sand Pear at first, I’ll just ask about a collaboration.”

Yun Tao used Taotie Delicacies’ official account to DM He Xiaoying, and they exchanged contact info and talked on the phone.

When the call connected, He Xiaoying heard Yun Tao call her “sister” in his baby voice, and she couldn’t help but smile. “Taotao, hi, why are you calling me?”

She didn’t think for a second that Yun Tao was the real boss of Taotie Delicacies. After all, the kid was only four, no matter how smart he was!

Yun Tao shamelessly put on his cutest voice. “Because I wanted to ask sister for a favor.”

The kid was too adorable! He Xiaoying’s voice softened. “Go on, tell me.”

Yun Tao clearly explained his request, and He Xiaoying readily agreed. “Sure, I was planning to do a summer drink compilation, and your new drink can be the first one. The concept is pretty interesting.”

He Xiaoying was drawn into work mode by Yun Tao’s serious attitude, and she subconsciously treated the kid as a real business partner.

“Great, thank you, sister,” Yun Tao said sweetly. “Tell me your promotion price.”

He Xiaoying said, “I’ll promote it for free, your Earth Toast really helped me out!”

Others might have liked the Earth Toast because of the hype and curiosity, not necessarily believing it had the Earth God’s spiritual energy. But He Xiaoying, as someone who’d experienced it, had a different view. She believed Taotie Delicacies wasn’t just an ordinary restaurant, and getting involved with it would definitely pay off.

Yun Tao said, “That won’t do, I can’t let sister work for free.”

They eventually compromised, and He Xiaoying gave him a very low, friend-to-friend price.

After hanging up, He Xiaoying realized: this kid was too clever, he was practically a little demon.

Then again, she’d encountered a ghost, so even if the kid was a demon… it didn’t seem so unbelievable.

After settling things with He Xiaoying, Yun Tao contacted Wind Rabbit. He waited for a while, but there was no reply, so he went to sleep.

The next afternoon, just as Yun Tao was about to send another message, Wind Rabbit finally replied.

Wind Rabbit: “Sorry, I’ve been busy learning to swim, I don’t have time for reviews. I don’t want to hold you up.”

Yun Tao thought for a moment and replied with a subtle message: “We’ve launched a new Classic of Mountains and Seas concept drink. Have you heard of the Sand Pear? The legendary fruit that lets you control water when you eat it. I’d like to offer you a drink and wish you luck in learning to swim. You can still refuse after trying it, and we can discuss the promotion price.”

Wind Rabbit still refused. “Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”

Yun Tao: “It’s real Sand Pear, it can help you learn to swim.”

Wind Rabbit: “You’re funny haha, but really, sorry.”

“Okay, he doesn’t believe me, and he’s not tempted.” Yun Tao wasn’t fixated on him, just a little disappointed. He didn’t rush to contact other bloggers and decided to work on the new drinks first. Maybe seeing the actual photos would make the bloggers more willing to collaborate.

At the same time, in a juice shop near the swimming pool.

“Seriously, you asked me to hang out, but you’re just on your phone?” A young man in a goose-print T-shirt frowned.

“Not just messing around, I was talking about work.” Wind Rabbit put down his phone and blinked. “A shop wants me to review their new drink, a Sand Pear concept drink, sounds interesting. But I’m busy learning to swim, I don’t have time. If it was real Sand Pear, I’d definitely go. But who has Sand Pears these days?”

“Sand Pear concept drink?” Bai Wangfei said thoughtfully. “Which shop is it?”

Wind Rabbit took a sip of his carrot juice and smiled. “It’s called Taotie Delicacies. Hey, now that I think about it, their shop’s style is pretty consistent!”

Bai Wangfei hissed. “I knew it!”

Wind Rabbit was confused. “What?”

Bai Wangfei quickly searched for information about Taotie Delicacies and showed it to him. “You’ve been obsessing over swimming, you haven’t paid attention to the outside world, have you? You don’t even know about this restaurant! They’re super popular lately! They have dishes like Zhuyu Pancakes, Worry-Free Scallion Oil Noodles, Reality-Check Ginger Scallion Chicken, and Five Grains Prosperity Steamed Fish, all Classic of Mountains and Seas concepts, but I think it’s more than just concepts!”

Wind Rabbit had glanced at Taotie Delicacies’ page when he declined the invitation, but he hadn’t looked closely. Hearing this, he was intrigued and carefully read through the online reviews.

He was shocked. So many good reviews, so many people turning their luck around after visiting the restaurant?

Wind Rabbit zoomed in on the food photos posted by netizens, but he couldn’t see anything special.

“Do you think this shop uses real Zhuyu, Ping grass, Guanguan chicken, and Wenyao fish?”

Bai Wangfei nodded. “It’s not just me who thinks so, there are lots of discussion threads on the demon forum.”

Bai Wangfei opened the demon forum, an anonymous forum for demons created by some bored big shot demon. You had to pass a quiz to get in, and the questions were so tricky that only a demon could pass.

Bai Wangfei didn’t even need to search; there were already several hot threads about Taotie Delicacies on the front page.

“I heard Taotie Delicacies recently got a Heavenly Dog as a security guard. My fellow demons, come and verify if it’s real.”

“I heard the Earth Toast contains the Earth God’s spiritual energy. Is the boss of Taotie Delicacies actually the Earth God?”

“What’s the origin of this red-haired guy? Can any of my demon friends tell?”

“Stop guessing, everyone. I bet a dime that this shop just has good feng shui, there are no real Classic of Mountains and Seas ingredients!”

Wind Rabbit was stunned. “There aren’t that many demons in Xi’nan City, how could there be so many hot threads? Are they all multiple personalities?”

Bai Wangfei said, “You think only demons from Xi’nan City are paying attention? How naive.”

Wind Rabbit said, “Since everyone’s so curious, why not go to the shop to find out?”

Bai Wangfei countered, “What’s the name of the shop?”

“Taotie Delicacies.”

Bai Wangfei: “Say it again.”

“Taotie… Delicacies…” Wind Rabbit bit his straw flat, his eyes wide. One of his ears twitched. “It’s not what I think it is, right?”

“It’s exactly what you think it is.” Bai Wangfei shrugged. “With a name like that, if the boss is really a Taotie, would you come out in one piece? Who would dare to go and check?”

He changed his tone. “Well, maybe some demons have secretly ordered takeout, but they’re not telling the truth? It’s an anonymous forum, there are a lot of actors.”

If Taotie Delicacies considered selling fresh Zhuyu and Ping grass, he’d also want to order takeout and give it a try.

Wind Rabbit was so nervous he wanted to bounce his leg. “If that’s the case, and they really have Sand Pears, I shouldn’t have refused.”

Bai Wangfei clicked his tongue. “Knowing that shop might have a Taotie, you still dare to go?”

Wind Rabbit looked at him, his eyes a little crazy. “But it’s Sand Pear. Now that I know, how can I give up this review opportunity?”

“Besides, I have to learn to swim.”

Some rabbits could swim, but he couldn’t. He was scared of water. He’d learned all the theory, but he was useless when he got in the water.

Bai Wangfei patted his shoulder. “Okay, they invited you, they won’t do anything to you. I’ll go with you.”

Wind Rabbit picked up his phone and sent a message to Taotie Delicacies. “Boss, can we talk about the drink review again?”

Yun Tao and Feifei made several Sand Pear drinks and invited everyone to try them.

He said, “I’ve already thought of the name, it’ll be called Sand Pear Dragon Well Tea. Let’s vote on which one to launch.”

The table was full of colorful and beautiful Sand Pear drinks.

Yun Fenghe chose a Sand Pear Longjing tea, took a sip, and his pale lips turned a rosy red. The Sand Pear that Yun Tao used was sweet and sour, perfect with the fragrant lemon. The Longjing tea had a smooth taste and a long-lasting sweetness.

“It’s very good,” Yun Fenghe blinked. “I feel like I can already swim.”

Tai Sui: “…” It was hard to judge if the Earth God could swim.

Just then, Yun Tao saw Wind Rabbit’s message. “Huh? The food blogger I contacted before agreed to collaborate. Let me ask if he has time to come over now, he can help us vote.”