As a food vlogger with over 300,000 followers, finding an eating buddy was a piece of cake for him.
All he had to do was mention it during a livestream or leave a comment under a video, and he could easily find a whole bunch of them.
However, the internet was a mixed bag of people, and he didn’t have the time to carefully screen for a good eating companion.
After some thought, he decided against posting on his Douyin account and instead opened WeChat to post a message on his Moments.
[Planning to drive overnight to Shantou tonight. There’s a major Wandering God event at 4 AM tomorrow morning. After watching, I’ll be staying in Shantou for two days to try the local food. I’m covering all expenses for this trip. Urgently looking for 1-3 eating companions. It would be best if you have good driving skills, as I can’t drive for long stretches. If you’re interested, please DM me before 5 PM tonight.]
Li Xiao thought he would have to wait a while, but to his surprise, people started contacting him almost immediately after he posted it to his Moments.
He took a look at who was contacting him and immediately understood why he got replies so quickly.
It was none other than the food vloggers he had connected with on Douyin before.
Previously, to counter the attack from Yun Ji Wonton Noodles, he had sought out quite a few food vloggers, both big and small.
He hadn’t deleted their contact information at the time.
After all, he figured they could be very useful, and you never knew when he might need them in the future.
Tasting and filming food was their main job, so when they saw someone offering to cover all food and lodging expenses, of course the food vloggers came flocking.
Just as Li Xiao was considering whether he should just pick a few vloggers with good reputations and form a group, two familiar profile pictures suddenly lit up.
Li Xiao was a bit surprised to see the profile pictures.
Still, he immediately tapped on both of them.
Zhou Shishi:
"Boss, do you need someone to drive this weekend?"
"I got my driver’s license back in my sophomore year of college. I didn’t drive much during university, but I’ve been driving consistently since graduation. I have about four or five years of experience now. Driving you to Shantou would be no problem at all."
"As for an eating buddy, if you don’t mind, I can fill that role too."
Wenchu People:
"Boss Li, are you also going to Chaoshan to see the Wandering God? I happen to be heading back myself, and I was just worrying about not being able to get a high-speed rail ticket. If you have room, could you take me and my cousin with you?"
"We’re both locals, so we can take you to all the best places to eat."
Reading their messages, Li Xiao raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected them to be interested in this trip.
He was on pretty good terms with both of them, and they perfectly met his needs.
With anyone else, Li Xiao might have felt awkward letting them do all the driving.
He would have definitely insisted on taking turns. But if the driver was his own assistant, he wouldn’t feel awkward at all.
He’d just treat it as a business trip with overtime and give her a bigger bonus when payday came.
As for Wenchu People, he was a good choice too. He was cheerful and warm-hearted. From their few interactions, Li Xiao felt he was one of those thoroughly good-natured people, almost to a fault.
If it weren’t for today’s safer society, he probably would have been sold off to some remote village by now.
So, without much hesitation, he replied directly to both of them.
[No problem. Pack your bags, send me your address. I’ll leave my place at 5:00 PM tonight to pick you up.]
Lying on her big pink bed, Zhou Shishi saw the reply from her boss and jumped up in excitement.
She had only sent the message as a long shot.
In her eyes, a boss as rich and young as hers would be flooded with offers the second he posted about needing an eating companion on Moments.
’How could an opportunity this good possibly fall to me???’
And yet, she never imagined that such a great opportunity would actually fall into her lap.
She quickly jumped off the bed, ran to her wardrobe, and started rummaging through her clothes.
After packing all her clothes into her suitcase, her gaze fell upon her underwear.
Seeing that they were all covered in cartoon patterns, a blush instantly spread across her fair, oval-shaped face.
She felt her face turn burning hot in an instant. She quickly patted her cheeks:
’You idiot, Zhou Shishi, what on earth are you thinking?’
’The boss just needs a driver and an eating buddy, that’s all. Where is your mind going?’
As she thought this, she reached out to grab a few pieces of her cartoon underwear and toss them into the suitcase.
However, her outstretched hand paused in mid-air for half a second before turning towards the matching lingerie sets tucked away in the corner of the wardrobe.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she stuffed two sets of somewhat sexy lace lingerie into the suitcase and immediately zipped it up, as if she had just done something terribly illicit.
...
Meanwhile, Li Xiao casually packed a couple of outfits, tossed his suitcase into the back seat of his car, and took a look at their addresses. Thankfully, they weren’t far from each other—only about half an hour’s drive apart.
After smoothly picking up all three, the driver’s seat was immediately taken over by his assistant.
Li Xiao sat in the front passenger seat, while Wenchu People and his cousin, Wen Yaqian, settled into the second row.
He glanced at the time. It was already 5:30 PM. If they left immediately, they would probably reach the hotel around 10 PM.
After a moment’s thought, Li Xiao suggested they grab a quick dinner in Yangcheng before setting off.
However, his proposal was quickly shot down by all three of them.
His assistant’s reason for rejecting it was that 5:30 PM wasn’t peak rush hour yet. If they could get on the highway quickly, they would definitely avoid traffic.
If they ate dinner and then left, it would probably take them an hour just to get to the highway entrance.
At that point, the original four-hour trip would likely turn into six hours.
As for Wenchu People and Wen Yaqian, their reason for objecting was that arriving between 9:30 and 10:00 PM would be perfect for catching the first round of late-night supper. After eating, they could go straight to the hotel to rest.
After a few hours of sleep, they could wake up to see the Wandering God patrol.
If they were too late, they wouldn’t get enough rest and might miss the Wandering God event.
Li Xiao wasn’t an authoritarian. Seeing that both the driver and the locals had made reasonable points, he naturally had no objections.
His assistant stepped on the gas, and the black Mercedes-Benz quickly left the city, speeding towards Shantou.
Sure enough, just as Zhou Shishi had predicted, because it wasn’t rush hour yet, the traffic was heavy but not yet at a standstill.
Moreover, his assistant’s driving skills were even better than Li Xiao had expected.
The four of them made the 400-kilometer trip from Yangcheng to Shantou smoothly in just four hours.