The director was stunned.
This was originally a trap he had set up.
“Huh?”
Liang Zhiwei beamed with joy and pointed at the pile of luggage behind them.
“Sorry, Director. When you had us purchase daily supplies earlier, we already bought a large batch of kitchenware. We’ve got all the basic tools we need.”
This was all thanks to Liang Zhiwei’s personal habits.
She was particular about cooking tools, so she carefully picked out everything from knives and utensils to all kinds of pots, pans, and bowls.
The items they bought were enough to fully outfit a functioning restaurant kitchen.
Even Gu Zhaoping had to admit—this was professional.
No one saw this twist coming.
When the rules were being explained earlier, Liang Zhiwei had shown a flash of surprise on her face.
She turned to look at Gu Zhaoping and only understood what was happening when she saw the smile on Gu Zhaoping’s lips.
—That’s why she was willing to stake those chips earlier, and why she chose the most expensive street-facing storefront.
The show had priced the kitchenware extremely high.
If Group 2 wanted to purchase a full set, it would cost them over 15,000.
They had bet 30,000 and spent another 30,000 on rent, leaving them with only 40,000.
After deducting the kitchenware, they would have just over 20,000 left for ingredients.
Meanwhile, their own group had only staked 10,000 and spent 40,000 on rent, but they didn’t have to pay for kitchenware.
This meant they still had 50,000 remaining—all of which could go toward food and operations.
Even though they chose a better storefront, they had twice the remaining budget of the other team.
Liang Zhiwei stared in shock, then couldn’t help but break into a grin that wouldn’t go away.
She hadn’t even fully processed how this happened, just how they ended up with so much more than Group 1!
No wonder Sister Zhaoping was so confident—with just a few words, she lured the other team into their own trap!
The logic was simple.
As soon as Gu Zhaoping saw the rules of the game, she remembered the kitchenware they had purchased earlier.
At the time, she thought it was just one of Liang Zhiwei’s quirks, but unexpectedly, it came in extremely handy for this first challenge.
So she immediately calculated without factoring in kitchenware costs.
From a standard game design perspective, to increase the drama, the fixed starting funds would be set just close enough to each team’s cost threshold to create tension.
Since the rent was already so high, she reasonably deduced that the cost of kitchenware would also be significant.
Originally, she leaned toward playing conservatively.
But since Li Xunxi had been so provocative, raising her stake, Gu Zhaoping decided to follow—and even take a riskier, more exciting route.
If someone wanted to play this game with her, why not?
After a quick calculation, she saw that Group 2 had bet 30,000.
Even if they chose the cheapest mobile stall option at 20,000, they’d only have 50,000 left.
Her own group, after a 10,000 bet and renting the most expensive storefront at 40,000, still had 50,000 left—and didn’t need to pay for kitchenware, which Group 2 would absolutely have to buy.
After calculating this tipping point, Gu Zhaoping had no hesitation in provoking Li Xunxi into raising the stakes to 30,000.
Her goal in only betting 10,000 was to force Li Xunxi into raising at least that much to keep up.
This way, they could win a 20,000 advantage in starting capital and still grab the best storefront without falling behind.
With higher operating funds and the best location, Gu Zhaoping had no reason to lose.
Of course, the safest strategy would have been to bet on Li Xunxi’s group losing.
Since they had so little capital left, choosing a mobile stall would mean limited profits, while choosing an office building would make it hard to attract foot traffic and increase their marketing costs.
So from the beginning, their group was nearly locked into a losing path.
As for the prime storefront?
They were never going to get that—cost was too high.
If it came down to a bidding war, Gu Zhaoping’s group would always have the upper hand.
But playing it safe all the time just wasn’t Gu Zhaoping’s style.
Raise the stakes with her?
Then she’d bet on her group winning.
The director wiped his sweat.
Who would’ve thought someone would play it like this?
“Haha…Well, since the props they brought themselves…are also usable, we didn’t ban that in the rules. If any of the other teams brought their own equipment that can be used during the game, they’re free to use it too.”
“And of course, you can hire outside help during the game—but they must be paid with your own funds, and the payment must reflect fair market value.”
That rule closed off another route—they couldn’t cut labor costs either.
Li Xunxi’s expression was already dark.
But the most upset one was Ruan Nian.
She could clearly sense that if they couldn’t hire help, she’d likely be the one doing most of the work—those siblings definitely weren’t going to lift a finger.
Ruan Nian was about to break down.
What was going on?
How did things turn around so fast?
Just a moment ago they were mocking Gu Zhaoping, provoking her to raise her bet.
And now, suddenly they were the ones with the least capital left??
Ruan Nian looked at Li Xunxi with a trace of resentment.
Why was this rich heiress so impulsive?
She didn’t even talk to the team before making a solo decision to challenge Gu Zhaoping.
If she hadn’t raised the bet by that extra 20,000, they’d still be in a comfortable position.
Even if they chose a mobile stall, they could’ve saved an extra 10,000.
But no—they had to go with the most expensive option!
If Gu Zhaoye were here, would Li Xunxi dare to make a decision like that on her own?
Of course not—she’d listen to whatever Gu Zhaoye said!
Ruan Nian was suffocating with frustration.
But she knew that whatever she said right now, they wouldn’t listen.
They didn’t respect her at all.
Ruan Nian felt a deep sense of helplessness without a backer.
She was so angry she wanted to cry.
Her chest felt tight, like she might cough up blood.
For years, she’d had the system’s support and Gu Zhaoye behind her.
She’d never been bullied, and there was always someone protecting her.
But now her favorability points were down, she had no charm stats, the system wasn’t helping, and Gu Zhaoye hadn’t shown up.
On her own, she was no match for these rich and powerful players.
Even though she was a top star, in front of real elites, she still had to act humble.
Without visible backing, others would treat her like a disposable toy.
The more she thought about it, the angrier and more wronged she felt—her eyes were already turning red.
In the past, whenever she showed a bit of sadness, someone would always come comfort her—especially the system.
It would never let her stay miserable for long.
But now, due to its own error in assigning Gu Zhaoping, the system felt too guilty to face her.
After issuing her punishment, it quietly went offline and into sleep mode.
Li Xunxi turned around, already annoyed.
Seeing Ruan Nian like this made her even more irritable.
She snapped,
“What are you doing? Feeling sorry for yourself? You unhappy with my decision?”
Ruan Nian hadn’t expected her to confront it so directly and was caught off guard.
Her voice faltered,
“No…no, Xunxi-jie, I’m not unhappy.”
Li Xunxi was even more annoyed at that.
She hadn’t known Ruan Nian well before and never had strong feelings about her either way.
But after meeting her, she found that Ruan Nian always acted like she was wronged, and it grated on her nerves.
It was so…petty.
She was already feeling insecure about betting everything, and seeing Ruan Nian acting like a victim just made her angrier.
She gave her a quick glance, expressionless, then turned back.
“Instead of wasting time playing the victim, how about you think of ways to cut our costs or attract customers? Are you planning to stand at the door and cry to lure your fans in? If that works, then fine—go ahead.”
“Li Xunxi, why do you talk so harshly?”
Ruan Nian’s face turned green.
Of course, Li Xunxi had always been surrounded by people who flattered her, so she never thought there was anything wrong with how she spoke.
Ruan Nian held back her anger and said nothing more.
She silently sat down again and continued listening to the director group auctioning off other ingredients.
She didn’t know why, but in just this brief encounter, she felt that Li Xunxi seemed even more annoying and harder to deal with than Gu Zhaoping used to be.
Are all these heiresses from elite families like this?
They act superior, never consider other people’s feelings, and don’t seem to have any manners at all—worse than ordinary people, really.
At this point, she instinctively overlooked Gu Zhaoye.
Gu Zhaoye’s temper was even worse than these two heiresses she had encountered.
When she first met him, she had suffered quite a bit of humiliation.
It took all her cunning and strategy just to appear in front of him again, and she had to sacrifice a lot before she could move him.
As the male lead in a domineering CEO novel, his coldness, ruthlessness, and disregard for gratitude all seemed standard.
As a rising star in the business world, how could he be emotional? How could he be gentle and polite?
Even if he appeared that way on the surface, deep down, he had to be tough, manipulative, and shrewd—only then would he be charming.
Only when a cold, harsh man like him eventually falls in love with someone like Ruan Nian, whom he used to look down on, does the story feel satisfying.
As for the others, they were simply mean and nasty—without any interesting contrast in their characters.
In the final auction round, the director group brought out ingredient-representing cards and stuck them on a whiteboard.
“Attention guests,” the announcement went,
“All common, general-purpose ingredients are available for free. Only the core ingredients each restaurant needs must be acquired through bidding. Please think carefully before placing your bids.”
This essentially meant that each team now had to finalize the core theme of their restaurant.
Li Xunxi’s group already had a preliminary concept.
Without much thought, she discussed with her brother Li Xunwen:
“Let’s do a mid-to-high-end private kitchen. I have a lot of experience with this. I also have great taste—if a dish is off, I can tell right away. Our flavors shouldn’t go wrong. I also know a lot of secrets from state banquet chefs and Michelin-starred chefs, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
She usually dined on gourmet food prepared by world-class chefs.
With those high-end cooking and plating techniques, they could offer similar meals in a business district at lower prices.
It would definitely appeal to young people looking for trendy dining experiences.
Compared to nearby eateries, they would totally outclass them.
Li Xunxi had it all planned out and told her brother: “Our brand slogan should be: ‘Enjoy a Michelin three-star meal at everyday prices.’ It’ll be great for social media. We can also set aside some budget to make the restaurant beautiful, maybe even set up a photo corner for people to take pictures.”
The siblings had it all figured out.
Ruan Nian was getting anxious—
Wait, did you guys not consider me at all?
I’m the actual chef here!
Even if you know all those techniques, how would I know them?
Are you seriously expecting me to catch up to national banquet and Michelin-star chefs in just one day?
Ruan Nian stared at them in disbelief, but Li Xunxi and Li Xunwen didn’t see that as a problem.
They even felt lucky—since this wasn’t the real market, the director group had kept all ingredient prices at the same starting point, regardless of rarity.
That way, the originally high-cost ingredients for their private kitchen concept became slightly more affordable.
And since the other two groups seemed to be taking different directions, there wouldn’t be much competition over the same key ingredients.
The siblings immediately targeted the rare ingredients for their signature dishes—high-quality meats, foie gras, truffles, wagyu beef, and other upscale items.
They figured no one would compete with them, so Li Xunxi placed aggressive bids and locked down most of the prized ingredients at close to their base prices.
Liang Zhiwei whispered,
“Sis, do we need to bid against them?”
Gu Zhaoping didn’t seem engaged at all.
She was scrolling through something on her phone, paying no mind while the others snapped up the ingredients.
Afraid someone might steal the goods, Li Xunxi quickly swept up all the most important ingredients.
Only then did Gu Zhaoping put down her phone and say: “Let’s bid for the truffle.”
Liang Zhiwei and Chu Yanze were stunned but didn’t hesitate—they quickly raised their paddles to increase the bid.
Li Xunxi’s group was also caught off guard—
What?
They hadn’t bid on anything this whole time, and now they’re fighting for the truffle?
Were they planning to open a similar type of restaurant?
Uh oh—competition.
Now it wasn’t just Li Xunxi who was anxious, even Li Xunwen got involved.
He pursed his lips and called out: “We’ll raise the bid!”
This ingredient was crucial to them and couldn’t be allowed to fall into the other team’s hands.
Even though they didn’t have much capital left, this was the last essential item.
They had secured everything else, so losing this one would feel like a gaping flaw in their plan.
Gu Zhaoping calmly said: “Raise the bid.”
The opposing team’s expression darkened.
They kept going.
After three or four rounds, Gu Zhaoping suddenly said: “No more bids. It’s yours.”
Li Xunwen finally let out a sigh of relief—thankfully, they secured all their main ingredients.
Their capital was nearly depleted, but since no major surprises came up, they figured they could economize going forward.
As long as they didn’t add extra costs and handled all labor themselves, their budget might just make it.
Just as Li Xunwen was feeling pleased about managing their budget, Gu Zhaoping pushed their team’s paddle forward again and said: “Next, we’ll bid on that cooking oil.”
That oil brand was the show’s title sponsor and biggest investor.
There was an entire row of it, and no other oils were available for bidding.
So it wasn’t a general ingredient either.
At this point, their team’s initial 50,000 budget was untouched.
Gu Zhaoping glanced at Li Xunwen’s remaining funds, then calmly quoted: “5,000.”
Li Xunwen’s face changed dramatically.
They only had 4,500 left!!
Originally, since there was plenty of that oil, they didn’t need to fight over it.
It would’ve been distributed based on the bid amounts…
But Gu Zhaoping had no intention of entering a bidding war at all!
Her plan was to monopolize—to scoop it all up for herself!!
In that instant, Li Xunwen’s heart sank.
He finally understood what Gu Zhaoping was up to!
The moment she realized that this brand of oil was the title sponsor of the show, she must’ve figured out that there would be no substitutes—which meant this oil was actually the only irreplaceable ingredient in the entire program.
And yet, every restaurant obviously needs oil to cook.
So whoever monopolized the oil would essentially control the lifeline of the other two teams.
But in the beginning, no one had thought of that.
Everyone was focused on grabbing their own team’s specific utensils and core ingredients—worried that someone else might snatch them first.
Oil, this seemingly ordinary and unremarkable item, was the last thing on anyone’s mind.
Li Xunwen’s face turned green.
They got played?
Even the director team was stunned.
Wait, seriously??
You’re actually pulling this move—cutting off the fuel at the source?
Li Xunxi’s face turned downright ugly at this point.
She’d realized it too—
Gu Zhaoping bidding on the truffle earlier had been a decoy!
She probably never planned on opening a Western-style restaurant at all!
She just randomly drove the price up a few times and then dropped out!
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