Chapter 108: Double Blessings Arrive

The next morning, while Han Jiayi was still downstairs making breakfast, Wang Bei suddenly burst in and headed straight for Bai Ren’s room.

“Old Bai!” Wang Bei exclaimed as she pushed open the door, only to find that Bai Ren was not asleep at all. She froze.

“What is it? If you have something to say, say it,” Bai Ren grumbled, frowning.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Wang Bei asked in surprise.

“I went to the market with Jiayi this morning.” Bai Ren glared at her. “So that shout you make every morning when you come in is deliberate, isn’t it?”

“Oh, come on. I was only asking out of curiosity.” Wang Bei pouted indignantly, then brought a package from behind her back and placed it in front of him. “Look! Do you know what this is?”

“You haven’t even torn open the wrapping. How would I know?” Bai Ren rolled his eyes.

“Here’s a hint: it’s from the International Association of Gourmets, Liangang City branch!” Wang Bei said with a wide-eyed grin.

“Could it be…” Bai Ren felt his heart pounding. “Is that finally here?”

There had been no news for several days, and he had almost started to think that Laurent Bichel had merely been making empty promises. Yet the package had actually arrived.

At that moment, Han Jiayi called up from downstairs, “You two, come down and have breakfast!”

“Jiayi! Old Bai’s international free-dining card has arrived!” Wang Bei shouted from the stairwell.

“What?! Open it quickly and let’s see!” Han Jiayi replied excitedly. “I’ve never seen one in person!”

When they reached the ground floor, they opened the package and found an ID card. There was no photograph or personal information on it, only a number, along with an instruction booklet.

“It says you have to register on the International Association of Gourmets’ website using the number on this card.” Han Jiayi read through the instructions and explained, “Once you bind it to your personal information, this becomes your official ID card. From then on, whenever any famous banquet invites members of the International Association of Gourmets, you’ll receive a notification in your personal email.”

Han Jiayi turned to Bai Ren with an admiring look. “This certificate is incredibly prestigious! Calling it an international free-dining card isn’t an exaggeration at all. Think about it: large banquets need to be grand enough to properly entertain their guests, but if there aren’t enough guests, all the food won’t be eaten. So they usually reserve a great many places for international gourmets. They even invite them to state banquets!”

“And apparently the certificate can be transferred!” Wang Bei leaned over to look at the booklet and exclaimed. “So if you ever don’t want it anymore, you could sell it to someone else! I bet plenty of food creators and streamers would be willing to buy it!”

“If you had a hen that laid golden eggs, would you sell it?” Bai Ren tapped her on the head and scolded her.

“True…” Wang Bei rubbed her head and muttered.

“With this certificate, I’ll be able to film some material at famous banquets in the future.” Bai Ren rested his chin in his hand and pondered. “That’s the kind of content you can’t find on other creators’ channels…”

More importantly, this was not merely an “international free-dining card.” It was also a “King-tier credential.”

For him, the most difficult part of visiting restaurants was no longer obtaining permission to film, but obtaining permission to tell the truth.

Most restaurants allowed filming. However, most of them did not allow creators or streamers to say anything negative about their food, since that could affect their business.

Bai Ren, on the other hand, was a creator who spoke honestly. If something tasted bad, he would say that it tasted bad.

At that point, the restaurant would ask, “Are you an authority? Does something become bad just because you say so?”

Then they would pursue legal action and demand that he take the video down.

But with this certificate, Bai Ren could simply produce it and say, “As a matter of fact, I am an authority.”

And after that? If they wanted to sue, they could go ahead and sue. Who was afraid of whom?

Still, if they wanted to act boldly, possessing a “King-tier credential” alone was not enough. They also needed legal counsel. So they would have to visit a law firm and hire a lawyer as their permanent legal adviser. Any legal issues could then be handled directly through the lawyer.

“And that isn’t even the only good news.” Wang Bei gave him a mysterious smile. “At around two o’clock last night, Old Bai finally passed one million followers!”

“Finally…” Bai Ren let out a breath of relief. He had figured it would happen within the next few days.

During the final week of August, he had released a series of high-quality videos. Since then, he had been gaining roughly seventy or eighty thousand followers a day. Recently, the figure had climbed to more than one hundred thousand daily and still showed signs of increasing.

Of course, that momentum would eventually slow down. The only question was where the ceiling would be.

But Bai Ren still had plenty of room to grow. Most of his current followers were food enthusiasts, while the gaming and film communities still offered countless potential followers to attract. He was not worried.

“You were still awake at two in the morning? What were you doing?” Han Jiayi asked, frowning.

“Well, I also had…” Wang Bei suddenly faltered, then quickly changed the subject with a laugh. “Isn’t this a wonderful occasion? It’s a double celebration! The gold trophy from D-Station should be arriving in a few days too!”

“Indeed. It’s absolutely worth celebrating.” Bai Ren nodded with a smile. “As for this certificate from the association, I won’t make a video about it today. I’ll just post an update and let my followers know. From now on, I can add a disclaimer to my videos: ‘Do not imitate professional practices. The creator holds a certificate from the International Association of Gourmets.’ Then everyone will understand.”

“That sounds pretty pretentious…” Wang Bei nudged him with her elbow, teasing him.

“How about we go to Old He’s place to unbox the gold trophy and celebrate?” Han Jiayi said, nodding with satisfaction.

And so, Han Jiayi went to work at the restaurant, while Bai Ren and Wang Bei stayed home to prepare the necessary paperwork for showing off his new status.

After registering his information with the International Association of Gourmets, Wang Bei began taking a series of photographs of the ID card, preparing to post them on her social media feed.

“Oh, our rates for food-related commercial partnerships are going to rise again after this. Is Old Bai the only internationally certified gourmet on the entire internet?”

“Who knows? Our country is enormous, and there are plenty of talented people,” Bai Ren replied. “You carry on. I’m going to send a word of thanks.”

This certificate was far too meaningful to be measured in money, so Bai Ren expressed his gratitude to the organization responsible and informed them that he had received the certificate and completed the relevant registration.

Licorne soon replied:

“Please don’t mention it. Ever since your video was released, business at our restaurant has improved considerably as well. We hope there will be opportunities for us to work together again in the future.”

“Certainly,” Bai Ren replied. “I hope you can convey my thanks to Chef Lawrence.”

The other party answered:

“Our chef has already returned to Nanhua City, but before he left, he specifically instructed me to pass on a message. After receiving this certificate, he hopes you will devote yourself to promoting international culinary exchange and help more people understand the charm of cuisines from other countries…”

“As a creator, I will certainly make that my goal and work hard toward it,” Bai Ren replied.

Then he let out a long sigh of relief.

He was in an excellent mood. From here onward, the road would only become smoother.

Still, wearing a King-tier title meant nothing if he went into a King-tier match and finished with a score of zero kills and twelve deaths. So his top priority remained helping Han Jiayi raise the restaurant’s rating. After that, he would visit restaurants like Wang’s Pancake Roll Shop and help improve their businesses. Only by doing so could he prove through real results that his sense of taste was truly reliable.

As for the other abilities rewarded by the Connoisseur app…

Bai Ren calculated that the remaining achievements would be difficult to complete in a short time. The best approach was to accumulate progress while continuing to make videos. Ideally, he should complete the achievements one by one, so that each new ability could assist him in his work.

The achievement for going on fifty blind dates… He was still one short, but Bai Ren was not in a hurry. The Attribute Glasses would not be of much use in making videos, and once his blind dates with Han Jiayi came to an end, the achievement would be completed regardless of whether they succeeded or failed.

Therefore, his next goal was to read one hundred highly rated online novels and obtain the “Inspiration of a Platinum Master.”

That ability would help him to some extent when reviewing films, because a large part of what determined a movie’s quality was its screenplay.

With a good script, even a cast of mediocre actors could keep a film from becoming a complete disaster. But with a terrible script, even excellent actors could not prevent the final product from being a bad movie.

Once he had settled these matters, Wang Bei posted Bai Ren’s international free-dining card to the work account’s social media feed.

At Lanwa House, Yang Hua stared at the post from White Rose Studio and pounded his chest in regret.

“Little Bai needed something like this?! Damn it, he should have told me sooner!” Yang Hua stamped his feet furiously. “All I had to do was say one word to the association, and they would have issued it to him long ago! Those scheming people at Licorne actually used something like this to win him over!”

“That’s because you don’t understand anything except cooking.” The beautiful young lady behind him laughed as she teased him.

“So what?” Yang Hua snorted. “Even if all I have to work with is cooking, I’ll still bring him over to my side!”

“Hmm…” The beautiful young lady rested her chin on her fragrant hand and stared at Yang Hua in thought for a moment. Then her eyes suddenly lit up. Covering her mouth, she murmured, “Heh heh. I have an idea.”

Bai Ren checked the time. It was noon.

He made his way to Yijiaxuan and, as usual, went straight to the staff lounge. No one stopped him.

“Welcome,” Han Jiayi said with a bright smile. “What would you like to eat today?”

This exchange had practically become part of their daily routine. If they did not go through it, each day somehow seemed to be missing something.

“Do you have any recommendations?” Bai Ren asked with a smile.

Han Jiayi thought for a moment, then gave him a mysterious smile.

“How about ratatouille?”

“Ratatouille…” Bai Ren frowned slightly and fell into thought.

“The one from the movie?” Han Jiayi said excitedly. “I made it exactly like the dish in the film! It looks exactly the same, and it tastes wonderful!”

“I’m afraid vegetables alone won’t fill me up,” Bai Ren said hesitantly.

“It won’t be just vegetables. The set meal comes with a chicken leg!” Han Jiayi quickly added.

“Then fine. I’ll have that set meal.” Bai Ren closed the menu and placed it to one side.

“Coming right up!” Han Jiayi replied cheerfully, turning toward the kitchen.

(Thanks to Xswaa and Lin Shendu for the monthly support.)

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