From Evil Sect Leader to Doctor

Chapter 741 - 711: Smoldering May over Dongzhou

Lu Qi’s wedding was extremely lively, with Su Qing and Ma Xi hosting in perfect harmony. The mix of experienced and new hosts refreshed the audience, making the event both amusing and elegant, with a lively atmosphere.Ma Xi told Su Qing that it was his first time hosting a wedding in months, and also the best he has ever felt performing.

The last wedding, Zhao Feiyang’s, left Ma Xi with a heavy psychological shadow. The station publicly criticized him, and several of his programs were affected. Only recently has he started to recover, and Ma Xi even decided not to host weddings anymore.

Today, Xue Meizhen, the head of the TV station’s news channel, also came. She wasn’t familiar with Lu Qi, but she came out of respect for Lu Ming. Lu Ming is in charge of Dongzhou’s network information security, and they often interact. Upon hearing about Lu Ming’s brother’s wedding, she naturally decided to attend and show support.

Lu Ming was also pleased with the wedding today. Many attendees came because of him. As Lu Qi’s elder brother, he was busy toasting everyone.

When he reached Xu Chunliang’s table, he specifically clinked glasses and downed two cups with him, jokingly saying, "Chunliang, when will we be attending your wedding?"

Xu Chunliang replied, "I’m still young, and my career is my priority right now."

Pu Jian chuckled on the side, implying Xu Chunliang often lies about such things.

Lu Ming said with a meaningful look, "Don’t pick until you’re spoiled for choice."

Pu Jian added, "Director Lu really knows him well."

Xu Chunliang grumbled, "You show up everywhere." He sought Lu Ming to discuss something, mainly about promoting Dongzhou Barbecue.

Lu Ming privately stated that this matter concerns the development of Dongzhou’s cultural tourism. They will fully support the promotion activities. Xu Chunliang was giving him a heads-up in advance, anticipating potential online criticisms. Strengthening online regulations is necessary to prevent things from taking a negative turn.

Su Qing sat with a few former TV colleagues, and after chatting with Lu Ming, Xu Chunliang got up to toast over there.

Xue Meizhen and Xu Chunliang have interacted a few times, becoming familiar in a way. Now Xu Chunliang calls her Sister Xue every time. The cultural tourism promotion cannot do without the TV station’s involvement. Currently, the video promotion for the tourism bureau is under Xue Meizhen’s team’s production.

Xue Meizhen updated Xu Chunliang on their video progress, taking out her phone to show him some raw footage.

Xu Chunliang, being an outsider, asked Su Qing to give some feedback.

Su Qing said, "It’s clear they’re professionals; the footage is grand and exquisite."

Xue Meizhen laughed, "Xiaosu, don’t just say the nice things. Also, offer valuable feedback."

Su Qing said frankly, "The drawback is that the camera work is too professional; it looks too refined, clearly shot by a professional agency. It differs from ordinary self-media videos and lacks a down-to-earth feel. While such images are fine for TV, on short video platforms, they appear too polished to resonate with average viewers."

Ma Xi also took a look and agreed with Su Qing. Self-media’s threshold is low, but why do seemingly shoddy short videos outperform their meticulously produced TV programs? The fundamental reason is authenticity. People now prefer watching events that happen around them, not heavily filtered content.

Xue Meizhen seemed to understand after hearing them and whispered, "I’ll relay your feedback to the production team." She then asked Xu Chunliang, "Are you in a rush to get this done?"

Xu Chunliang replied, "We plan to officially launch the promotion next week. As for the effects, it’s still unclear. It’s best to first edit the Dongzhou Culture and Tourism promotional video."

Su Qing said, "The more exquisite the cultural tourism promotional video, the better."

Xue Meizhen said, "Actually, we’ve done a Dongzhou food special before, but it didn’t have much effect."

Ma Xi commented, "We Dongzhou people have a heavy taste, and our dishes are dark, spicy, and salty. Overall, they’re not refined. Using food as a draw for outside tourists might be the wrong direction." He then laughed, adding, "I’m just speaking for myself."

Although Su Qing also doesn’t particularly like Dongzhou local food, she unconditionally supports Xu Chunliang: "Nowadays, people seek the human touch. I’ve been to many places, and if anywhere has that authentic vibe, it’s Dongzhou. It’s worth a visit just for that."

Xue Meizhen said, "Dongzhou Barbecue is good, but if our promotional theme focuses on barbecue, aren’t we ignoring the cultural essence?"

Su Qing suggested, "We could come up with a catchy name, like—Into Dongzhou in May, Searching for the Human Touch."

Everyone praised together, saying this theme was full of poetic charm. Xue Meizhen thought it could be used, but it needed to be more concise.

Xu Chunliang had a sudden inspiration and said, "Why not just call it ’Fireworks in May in Dongzhou’."

On the night of Lu Qi’s wedding, Three Two Three’s video about Dongzhou Barbecue officially went online. One had to admit the influence of internet celebrities. After the video was released, it received a frenzy of clicks and quickly shot up the trending list.

The initial trending title was "Three Two Three Praises Dongzhou Barbecue."

The Dongzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau anticipated that this video might bring some heat to Dongzhou, but they did not expect the heat to come so quickly.

The day after the video was released, many barbecue restaurants in Dongzhou experienced queues. At first, the locals didn’t think much of it, as they could just switch to another restaurant if they couldn’t get into one, since barbecues were essentially similar. But soon they realized that any restaurant related to barbecue had much better business than usual.

Especially the Lao Shi Barbecue praised by Three Two Three, where the line stretched nearly a hundred meters, causing the local police to come over specifically to maintain order.

After hearing about this, Fu Guomin specifically called Fan Lidada to experience it on site. The two looked at the long snake-like queue in astonishment. Fan Lidada suggested going back, because with the current situation, it would take at least two hours to get their turn.

Fu Guomin couldn’t help but sigh at the power of the internet celebrity; one Three Two Three could ignite a barbecue joint. If a few more streamers of Three Two Three’s level came, they might indeed turn Dongzhou into an internet-famous city.

Fan Lidada held a cautious wait-and-see attitude towards this, noting that Dongzhou had already experienced using internet celebrities to boost a restaurant. In the past, certain crayfish and Northeastern cuisine restaurants used this method, and at the time, customers were flocking in, with lines at the door comparable to this place. However, the most they lasted was two months, after which, as the traffic dividends were exhausted, they returned to their former state. The internet celebrity economy is challenging to maintain longevity.

The two decided not to queue anymore, bought some spicy snails nearby, fried a few skewers of stinky tofu, and sat at a street stall drinking beer. Even the usually unattended fried stinky tofu stall was boosted by the barbecue joint, with at least ten people queued up.

They split up to buy their goods and went to the riverside stall, ordering two jugs of fresh beer. Looking at the endless line at the Lao Shi Barbecue, Fu Guomin sighed, "It’s insane, the herd mentality is too strong among the people now."

Fan Lidada laughed, "Isn’t it? In the past, no one ate at this barbecue joint. After one promotion by Three Two Three, it became so hard to get a seat. But the ones queuing are all locals. These young people usually stay at home, relying on deliveries for three meals a day, and have no clue about life’s firework. When they see a famous shop at their doorstep on their phones, they rush over to join the crowd."

Fu Guomin said, "They’re recording, too, helping with the promotion."

Fan Lidada said, "They’re showing off, afraid others won’t know they’ve been here to eat. This is the internet celebrity effect, spreading like a virus replication."

Fu Guomin ate a piece of stinky tofu, finding it dry and devoid of uniqueness, silently cursing what nonsense this was. Looking up at the fried stinky tofu stall, wow! It’s already queued up like a dragon, at least fifty people in line already, following the trend without even distinguishing taste.

Neither Fu Guomin nor Fan Lidada believed this internet celebrity effect could last. Even the leaders of the cultural and tourism bureau thought so. Ordinary people were even less aware that their lives had subtly changed.

On Saturday morning, Xu Changshan habitually got up early to buy breakfast. He usually went to Horse Market Street to buy fried buns and (shí tā) soup. This (shí tā) soup is a local specialty in Dongzhou, reportedly originating from the pheasant stew created by Peng Zu, based on chicken soup, mixed with wheat kernels, gluten, pepper powder, etc., with a fragrant, spicy, and unique taste that is well-loved.

The name of (shí tā) soup also has a legendary story. When Emperor Qianlong went south of the Yangtze River and tasted the pheasant stew, he asked the chef, "What soup is this?" The chef, quick-witted, drew a symbol of "eat it," meaning eat it, and casually said, "(shí tā) soup," and the name stuck. Shortly afterward, Qianlong decreed Dongzhou (shí tā) soup as the "Best Broth Under Heaven."

Though the story is legendary, the influence of (shí tā) soup is limited locally. Few outsiders appreciate it outside Dongzhou, and even locally, it’s not as popular as spicy soup.

But today was different. Xu Changshan saw a long queue outside the restaurant and thought something had happened, but found out they all came drawn by the (shí tā) soup’s reputation, with more than half having non-local accents.

Elder Xu queued for a whole hour and a half before he bought breakfast. Returning home, he saw Xu Chunliang dragging a suitcase, ready to leave, and asked him where he was going.

Xu Chunliang smiled and said, "Didn’t I tell you yesterday? There’s a provincial cultural and tourism meeting in Nanjiang for a few days. Director Fan asked me to come along."

Only then did Xu Changshan remember he indeed mentioned it, realizing his memory was getting worse. He asked Xu Chunliang to eat before leaving, but Xu Chunliang pointed at his watch, indicating there was no time. He took a few buns to eat on the way.

Xu Changshan originally wanted to chat with his grandson about the queuing situation today but said no more upon seeing his rush to catch the train. He puzzled to himself why the breakfast shop on Horse Market Street suddenly became so popular.

Xu Chunliang took the subway to the high-speed rail station and clearly felt that there were significantly more people on the subway today. It was a Saturday, and there shouldn’t have been so many passengers at this time. He also heard many non-local accents.

Xu Chunliang took out his phone to check the trending list. Dongzhou Barbecue had disappeared, but there was still a trend related to Dongzhou — "Fireworks in May in Dongzhou."