How did this tiny hallway fit so many people?
How did they even get up here? Did the elevator fit them all?!
He glanced toward the stairwell and realized—it was full too!
A massive number of people had climbed more than twenty flights of stairs to get here!!
This… this was Ruan Nian’s fan power.
This… was the rallying force of a true top-tier idol.
In the crowd, the fan club president looked flushed and sweaty, but proudly led the cheer:
“Sisters, hold your positions! No pushing! Let’s do our chant first!”
“3, 2, 1!”
“Never forget Nian Nian, we echo back!”
“Never forget Nian Nian, we echo back!”
“Nian Nian, we’re here for you!”
They chanted twice in unison.
The volume was so loud it felt like the elevator was shaking!
Li Xunxi’s face turned dark.
She glared at Ruan Nian and quickly ducked her head, covering it with her arms as she tried to push her way through the crowd.
Ruan Nian’s expression went through a wild range of changes.
Normally, she’d be smiling, waving, even crying with emotion at the fan turnout—but right now, all she wanted to do was die of embarrassment.
A powerful wave of irritation rose up in her. She hadn’t expected things to go so wrong.
Face dark, she followed behind the director—who was struggling to push through the crowd—and made her way toward their restaurant.
The director flailed his arms like a bear, desperately trying to clear a path.
But every time he moved forward a step, the crowd surged in behind him.
They finally, finally reached the restaurant.
He slammed the door shut with a pained expression, and everyone inside let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Oh my god. That was like going through a tribulation,” someone muttered.
The director looked shell-shocked and miserable.
He had no idea how things had spiraled like this.
He turned around and shouted, “Who leaked this?!”
The staff all swore they didn’t—there were NDAs in place, after all.
Ruan Nian’s face flushed with embarrassment.
She hadn’t expected it to blow up like this. She quickly tried to explain:
“I’m sorry, Director, Xunxi-jie, Xunwen-ge… I had no idea my fans would be this crazy. They didn’t even consult me before gathering like that…”
As Ruan Nian frantically tried to explain, the curtain behind her suddenly moved.
Two people carrying cameras crawled out from inside.
At first, they looked pleasantly surprised, but then their expressions gradually turned blank.
The director and Li Xunxi were so startled they almost fell to the ground.
There were two more people hiding in here?!
The two people holding the cameras seemed to possess some sort of supernatural ability.
They just stared dazedly at Ruan Nian, seemingly having heard what she just said, and murmured:
“Nian Nian, how could you say that? Are you saying we disobeyed you and disturbed you?”
Confusion welled up on the faces of the two fans, and then pain and disbelief overtook them.
“Wasn’t it Sister Li who told the fan club to organize people to come support you? We’re all here to cheer for you, Nian Nian!”
“Nian Nian, didn’t you say you love your fans the most? Why would you say something like this about us?”
They were so emotional they were nearly in tears.
Forget Ruan Nian—even the director was completely stunned.
Once they came to their senses, they immediately rushed forward to snatch the cameras from the fans’ hands!
But in the chaos of the struggle, one of the cameras slipped and fell to the ground with a loud “smack”!
Everyone froze.
Outside the door, the crowd seemed to sense the sudden silence too, and that hush quickly spread.
After a long pause, Ruan Nian slowly lifted her head in a daze.
It’s over.
How could it turn out like this?!
***
On the other side of the commercial street, a newly opened Sichuan-style light food restaurant was attracting the attention of many passing young professionals.
Gu Zhaoping knew well that this kind of fusion cuisine usually didn’t taste great and was hard to win people’s trust.
So she selected a few sample dishes with excellent presentation and placed them outside the door.
Their vibrant colors and appealing aroma immediately caught the eyes of passersby.
They still had a good amount of startup funds left, so they hired two waiters at standard market wages.
The first customers who were drawn in curiously looked around the shop.
Then, they saw a man come out of the kitchen wearing an apron.
It was—Chu Yanze!
“No way, it’s Chu Yanze! And he actually looks good in an apron!”
The customers ended up ordering, and while they ate, they kept sneaking glances at Chu Yanze as he bustled between tables.
Chu Yanze seemed to notice the flash of a phone camera, turned around and put a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence.
The customer quickly put the phone down and nodded vigorously, not daring to post the photo.
Once they started eating, they were stunned.
This food… it’s actually really good?!
Completely different from the bland light meals they usually had!
They kept eating.
Then, they looked around again.
Was that Liang Zhiwei in the kitchen?
Was that Gu Zhaoping talking to customers at the front?
Were they filming a show?
But wait, they’re all celebrities and wealthy heiresses.
How could food from a show set actually taste this good?
Could they film this show forever?
It would be a lifesaver for everyone struggling to find tasty, low-calorie meals!
As they thought about how the show would end and the stars would leave, many customers felt a deep sense of loss.
They immediately pulled out their phones and began messaging their friends to come quickly.
Of course, some still couldn’t help but post in fan groups that Chu Yanze was now running a restaurant here.
But since it was a workday, not many people had time to rush over.
Most of the foot traffic came from curious passersby.
When that Ruan Nian fan from the other day brought her coworkers over, she found a long line already forming outside the shop.
She had known from the start that today would be popular, so she kept turning around to reassure her friends:
“This place is really good. Just wait until you try it—you’ll see. I’m not lying!”
Her friends were skeptical but still followed her into line.
“Even if the food isn’t great, getting to see Chu Yanze makes it worth it.”
“No matter the cost, this meal will be worth it.”
Among them stood someone else.
She was also a fan of Ruan Nian—but hadn’t unfollowed her yet.
She had been sent as a spy to gather intel on the other teams.
After hearing all these glowing reviews, she rolled her eyes with disdain.
What kind of people were in this team?
Gu Zhaoping, Liang Zhiwei, Chu Yanze?
The three of them teaming up to run a restaurant?
No way that would work.
Victory today was bound to belong to Ruan Nian!
Ruan Nian already had tons of fans showing up to support her.
She was only here to see what the other teams were doing.
And these people were still blindly confident?
Maybe one of them was just a biased fan.
As the line grew longer, the undercover fan noticed that the restaurant had already launched a delivery service on just the second day.
They’d even created a separate takeaway lane outside the shop with orderly lines.
They had enough staff, business was booming, and everything was running smoothly without a hitch.
She couldn’t hide her scowl—her brows furrowed tightly.
Showy.
Nian Nian will do it better.
Finally, her group made it into the restaurant.
They quickly sat down and ordered several dishes that one of the girls had tried yesterday and confirmed were delicious.
As they ordered, that girl kept stealing glances at Chu Yanze busy in the dining area, Liang Zhiwei working in the kitchen, and Gu Zhaoping managing the front.
Blushing, she lowered her voice and said to her friends:
“I came here yesterday too. It was Chu Yanze who took my order, and Liang Zhiwei even gave me a small gift! Gu Zhaoping gave me the recipe for the dipping sauce, and told me if I had time today, I should bring friends!”
Everyone was shocked.
“No way—this is a restaurant run by celebrities and a wealthy heiress, and they’re this friendly?”
At the next table, the undercover fan sneered.
Putting on an act, clearly.
What nonsense.
How could a few celebrity guests possibly be this attentive to customer service?
If you want to brag to yourself, fine—but don’t treat everyone else like fools.
As if Chu Yanze would ever pay attention to people like you.
“Whoa! It’s Chu Yanze!!”
Someone cried out.
The undercover fan watched in disbelief as Chu Yanze really walked over to the table that had just waved him down.
Her eyes widened in fury.
So easy?
Just like that?!
When Chu Yanze walked over and personally asked them how their meal was going, the group finally realized:
That girl hadn’t been bragging.
Not at all.
Everything she said was true—and even beyond what they imagined.
The undercover fan was frozen in place, her expression growing darker and darker.
When the food arrived, the next table was even more blown away.
“How is this even possible? It’s this good?”
“This is totally chef-level cooking! I could eat this every day and not get tired of it!”
The undercover fan still didn’t believe it.
How could it possibly taste good?
None of these people looked like they could cook, and the dishes were all this weird hybrid fusion style.
Ruan Nian is the real culinary god of the entertainment industry.
Fueled by this aggressive doubt, she grabbed a bite of one dish with a hostile expression—and then choked, nearly spitting it out!
Her pupils shook.
How?!
How could it be this delicious?
Did they secretly hire a professional chef?!
Still in disbelief, she tried every single dish on the table.
By the end, she was dumbly sipping soup with a spoon, her heart flooded with disbelief and humiliation.
After a long moment, she finally tried to convince herself:
So what if the food is good?
Ruan Nian’s side isn’t bad either.
They’ve got fan support too—maybe even better business.
No, definitely better.
***
At that moment, Chu Yanze was busy taking orders, walking back and forth, when he suddenly got a phone call.
He happened to be standing between the undercover fan’s table and the one next to it.
He paused, glanced around, and lowered his voice a bit:
“What? Ruan Nian’s group called the police?”
Even he was stunned.
“What the hell? How long has it even been—how are they already at the police station?”
“Huh? Someone else reported them??”
Chu Yanze was even more shocked.
At that moment, the former Ruan Nian fan at the table next to them heard everything.
Just as she thought. That group was bound to cause trouble sooner or later.
The undercover fan heard it too—and immediately spit out her soup.
“Pfft—what?! Ruan Nian got reported to the police?!”