Chapter 222: Crisis Management

The appearance of these three middle school students was like the sounding of a battle horn.

One after another, fans began to show up at Taotaoju.

Except for a few fans with social anxiety, most of them came over to say hello to Li Xiao before finding a place to sit.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, this meal was on Li Xiao.

It would have been terribly rude to just eat and drink nearby without even greeting him.

Besides, out of sheer curiosity, most people wanted to see what the streamer was really like in person.

As more and more people saw Li Xiao with their own eyes, the vibe in the livestream chat started to get a little weird:

“Oh my god, I always thought the streamer used a beauty filter, but I can’t believe he’s actually streaming with a bare face!!!”

“For real!! The streamer is way hotter in person than on the stream!”

“The streamer’s 1.8-meter frame and those long legs… I’m practically crying with envy!”

“The way the streamer talked to me just now was so gentle.”

“I should’ve asked for his private WeChat just now!”

“To the person above, stop dreaming. A guy like the streamer—tall, handsome, and rich—is definitely taken already. What makes you think you’d have a chance?”

“Listen to you. For a high-quality catch like the streamer, forget being his boyfriend—even being his f*ck buddy would be worth it.”

…

Seeing the comments in the livestream chat getting more and more outrageous, Li Xiao could only ignore them.

After all, he knew that when it came to this kind of talk, girls could be much wilder than guys.

Li Xiao’s gaze shifted from the livestream feed to the dim sum on the table.

The “Splendid Seafood Red Rice Rolls” looked quite impressive. The color of the outer red rice noodle sheet was very pure.

It was red but not garish, a clear sign that not much red yeast rice powder was used and that no other food coloring had been added.

However, the moment his chopsticks touched the red rice roll, Li Xiao’s brow furrowed slightly.

The Splendid Seafood Red Rice Roll had stuck to his chopsticks.

When he tried to place it in his bowl, the outer skin was so sticky that it clung to the chopsticks. With just a little bit of force, the skin tore open, and the entire Splendid Seafood Red Rice Roll fell apart.

The golden, net-like crepe, whole shrimp, chives, and shredded shiitake mushrooms—all the fillings that had been neatly wrapped inside—spilled out into the bowl in a heap.

Looking at the slick red rice noodle sheet stuck to his chopsticks, Li Xiao couldn’t help but shake his head.

‘To think that a big establishment like Taotaoju could make such a major mistake.’

They had actually mixed up the front and back of the red rice noodle sheet.

Red rice noodle sheets have a front and a back, which are formed when they are steamed.

The upward-facing side receives more heat and cooks more thoroughly, making it less sticky, smoother, and better-looking.

The downward-facing side, however, is stickier because it rests against the steaming container.

This stickier, downward-facing side should be used to wrap the rich fillings of the red rice roll.

This might not seem like a serious issue, but it was.

It indicated a severe lapse in the back-of-house management; otherwise, such a basic error wouldn’t have occurred.

After all, the front and back didn’t look that different.

But the difference was immediately clear upon handling them—one side was sticky to the touch, and the other was not.

For a chef in the kitchen to mess up something so simple proved they were being incredibly careless with their work.

“The choice of fillings is actually quite good. The shrimp are fresh, and the chives and shiitake mushroom shreds are finely handled, with distinct textures.”

He sighed softly and continued:

“But this problem with the red rice noodle sheet severely affects the dish’s texture and presentation.”

“To even get the front and back mixed up… it’s just not careful enough.”

Livestream Chat:

“This should count as a food quality incident, right? Why doesn’t the streamer ask them to remake it?”

“Yeah, yeah, you can tell this dish wasn’t made right. It fell apart as soon as he picked it up! If it were me, I’d definitely make them take it back.”

…

Hearing the viewers’ suggestions, Li Xiao thought for a moment and agreed.

Mixing up the front and back was indeed a rather significant problem.

Li Xiao waved to a floor manager in the distance.

In fact, the floor manager had noticed Li Xiao long ago.

After all, with so many customers coming in and making a point to greet Li Xiao, how could he not attract the restaurant’s special attention?

The floor manager had also learned from those same customers that Li Xiao was a major streamer.

They had all come because the streamer had promised to cover their bill for the day; they were here for a free meal, so to speak.

Most restaurants had a love-hate relationship with the appearance of major streamers like him.

They loved it, of course, because a major streamer could bring them a huge amount of traffic. If they were lucky, they could even go viral from a video or two, or a couple of livestreams.

But they also feared it because these streamers had massive online followings. If the restaurant had any food quality issues, or if they were maliciously slandered by a popular streamer, the restaurant’s losses could be enormous.

Now, seeing Li Xiao wave him over, his heart tightened, and he quickly hurried over.

“Sir, is there a problem?”

Li Xiao nodded and got straight to the point:

“Yes, there’s a small issue. Please take a look at your red rice rolls.”

As he spoke, he extended his chopsticks and picked up another red rice roll from the plate.

He loosened his chopsticks just as before, and, unsurprisingly, the red rice roll was pulled apart as the chopsticks opened, its fillings spilling into the bowl just like the last one.

Seeing this, a cold sweat broke out on the floor manager’s back.

If an ordinary customer had encountered this problem, it would have been a small matter. At worst, they would just replace it with a new one.

But the person before him was a major streamer, and one who was currently live.

His eyesight was excellent; with just a casual glance, he had seen that the number of online viewers in the livestream had already surpassed 20,000.

This meant that over 20,000 people had already witnessed the situation.

In that moment, he had already cursed the chef in charge of the red rice rolls ten thousand times in his head.

‘They make this simple dish every day, yet they can still screw it up this badly.’

But he knew this wasn’t the time to assign blame, but to deal with the problem at hand.

Taotaoju was indeed a time-honored establishment. While it wasn’t like a small shop that could be driven out of business by online public opinion…

…the power of online opinion was not to be underestimated. If this issue wasn’t handled well, it would definitely affect their business.

The floor manager’s mind raced, and he immediately thought of a solution.

Comping the meal might be tempting for an ordinary person, but a streamer who was treating hundreds of people to dinner certainly wasn’t short on money for one meal.

If handled properly, he might even be able to turn this crisis around.

“I am very sorry, sir. It seems a chef in the back kitchen accidentally mixed up the front and back of the red rice noodle sheets.”

“Nowadays, all our kitchen staff are required to wear food-grade gloves before working, so it’s difficult for them to feel the difference between the two sides of the noodle sheet. It was an honest mistake.”

“However, this is indeed an error on our kitchen’s part. How about this? I heard that you, sir, are treating your fans to a free meal at our restaurant today.”

“Sir, that shows great faith in our restaurant. Since you are being so generous, we can’t just do nothing in return.”

“To show our gratitude and our apology, for every one of your fans’ tables today, we will send out a complimentary portion of red rice rolls.”

“I wonder, sir, what you think of this solution?”