Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Female Lead

At noon, Chen Yu was busy preparing the ingredients when Zhang Qian entered the kitchen with a strange expression on her face.

"Brother Yu, there are two guys outside acting all sneaky. They've been here several times in the past few days, always staring at the kitchen."

Chen Yu looked up and sure enough, he saw two shifty-looking fellows.

One of them he had seen before; it was the spy previously sent by the breakfast shop nearby.

"Don't mind them, since they've come through the door, they're guests. Just serve them well," he said.

Zhang Qian nodded and didn't say anything more, just went out and served the two men a cup of tea.

The breakfast shops in the vicinity had suffered greatly due to Chen Yu's impact, with more than half already closed down.

Only a few larger-scale ones were still struggling to stay open.

It could be said that now, this street and several others nearby were dominated solely by Chen Yu's store.

At the moment, the owners of the last few shops sat together, disheartened with no spirit left.

"Forget it, I'll also pack up in a few days. The more successful that kid's shop is, the less hope there is for us."

"Now that they've introduced braised meat, we have even less of a chance."

"Before we could at least sell some braised eggs and meat since our fried cakes and vegetable pastries weren't as good as theirs, but now, there seems to be no hope."

"If I can't stay here, I'll find another place. I refuse to believe that with our skills, we can't find somewhere else to thrive."

...

In the western part of Suzhou City, there is a natural reserve area.

A large number of crew members gathered here, along with many celebrities and their studio teams, arriving in droves.

Fang Yuan was also there, surrounded by her own team, staking out her territory.

"Yuan sister, this reality show has a script, so you don't need to worry. If we follow the script, anything beyond it will fetch extra money from the organizers," someone from her team assured her.

Fang Yuan was holding a script, pondering how to get more screen time.

Just then, a rich aroma suddenly wafted over from not far away.

At a neighboring campsite, a female celebrity around Fang Yuan's age had her assistant distributing braised delicacies.

"I never expected to find such delicious food in this little place. The last time I tasted this flavor was at Duan Fu Ji in the capital city."

"Don't even mention Duan Fu Ji. Their ordinary braised meat costs a thousand bucks, and the better ones are worth several thousand more."

"All thanks to Su sister this time, we get to enjoy such tasty treats," they said.

...

Fang Yuan stood up and saw that the celebrity in the middle seemed to be Su Rui.

Su Rui's star status was much higher than Fang Yuan's, having debuted as a child star before the age of ten.

In the entertainment circle, she is definitely a big shot!

Whether it's about resources, assets, or connections, she is many times more powerful than Fang Yuan.

At that moment, Su Rui's assistant approached Fang Yuan with a small bowl of braised pork knuckle.

"Yuan sister, my boss Rui asked me to bring this for you, please enjoy," the assistant said.

Fang Yuan smiled and took it, taking a dainty bite as if she were a lady.

"Delicious! Where did you buy this from?" she asked.

"Rui sister bought it on her way here, from a shop she passed by. I heard that shop used to be just a food cart," the assistant replied.

A jolt went through Fang Yuan's heart as she thought to herself, it definitely can't be Chen Yu.

But the rich taste made her involuntarily recall the fried cakes and vegetable pastries she had before.

After the assistant who delivered the braised meat left, Fang Yuan's own assistant quickly sensed something was amiss.

"Yuan sister, are you feeling unwell?" the assistant asked.

Fang Yuan shook her head, forcibly suppressing the emotions in her heart.

"You, find two people to check out the place where we last bought deep-fried buns and vegetable turnovers!"

The assistant was bewildered for a moment, as she didn't know about Fang Yuan's past.

Besides, this wasn't the first time Fang Yuan had tasked her with visiting that small food cart.

However, she didn't dare to refute and could only agree.

Just then, the executive director of the event organizers suddenly walked over to Fang Yuan.

"Miss Fang, do you have any open dates after this reality show wraps up?"

Fang Yuan quickly stood up, "I've been quite busy recently, so my schedule is probably fully booked. What's the matter?"

"It's like this, there's a film, and the investors specifically requested you for the role of the third female lead!" Sёarᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Upon hearing it was for the role of the third female lead, Fang Yuan was ready to decline.

But the executive director suddenly took out a script, "However, the investors mentioned that if Miss Fang is willing, they would also consider you for the role of the leading lady."

Fang Yuan couldn't help but widen her eyes.

Until now, she had always been in TV dramas and had never been involved in the big screen.

She had never even considered becoming the leading lady in a film.

However, Han Mintao had always told Fang Yuan that in the entertainment industry, there were no pies falling from the sky.

If you wanted to obtain something, you had to exchange something of equal value.

Despite her excitement, Fang Yuan did not immediately accept the offer.

"I'll have to think about it, as I can't allow my schedule to be too conflicted."

The executive director didn't say much more and just stuffed the script into Fang Yuan's hands.

"Please do get back to me as soon as possible."

After the executive director left, Fang Yuan couldn't wait to open the script.

Yet, the so-called script was nothing but a bunch of blank pages, with a room card tucked inside.

Fang Yuan immediately understood, this was not about offering her a film role at all!

But she wasn't in a position to make a scene right now, so she just put away the so-called script and sat down.

Then she called Han Mintao.

...

At twelve noon, instead of waiting for Zhang Fan to come get it, Chen Yu had Han Cai deliver the eight pounds of braised meat they had set aside.

But it was less than ten minutes later when Zhang Fan came in, bringing with him eight strapping men in full spirit.

"Old Chen, make it twenty more pounds for me. These brothers of mine have just come back from fixing cars in the wilderness, and they need to replenish a lot of energy."

The eight sturdy men were already eagerly looking at Chen Yu.

It was clear at first glance that these eight were rescue firefighters from the outskirts.

They usually volunteered for emergency rescues or handled community fires.

Judging by their weary appearance, this mission must have been hard on them.

Chen Yu immediately cut out twenty-six pounds of meat and handed it over, "The extra six pounds is on me."

"How can we accept that?" one of the sturdy men objected, "This braised meat is so delicious that we'd find fifty too cheap. Now you're giving us an extra six pounds as if looking down on us?"

Saying so, the sturdy man counted out thirteen hundred yuan in cash and slapped it on the counter.

Zhang Fan quickly stepped forward to intervene, "It's already been agreed that I'm treating everyone today. Besides, with the relationship between Old Chen and me, is there any need for you guys to pay?"

With that, Zhang Fan scanned thirteen hundred yuan on the adjacent payment code.

Li Yu, who was responsible for the cash register today, had the sense to quickly take the thirteen hundred yuan in cash and stuff it back into the sturdy man's hand.