After My Rebirth Chapter 30: Affordable luxury fast food

Chapter 30: Affordable luxury fast food

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

The restaurant’s brand targeted “affordable luxury fast food”—a working lunch for white-collar professionals that was a step above your typical office meal.

After the Suzhou location exploded in popularity, franchise branches quickly popped up across all first-tier cities.

The very first batch opened in the four megacities: JingCheng, HaiCheng, SuiCheng, and ShenCheng.

The restaurant’s signature honey beverage series hit the market before the actual branches opened, serving as a perfect appetizer—literally and figuratively—for the grand openings. Even while the new locations were still under construction, countless customers were already reserving their spots.

With that level of buzz, it was only a matter of time before Hong Yunquan took notice.

Ever since he’d completely withdrawn from C-Platform, the only thing keeping him afloat was his real-life job.

Fortunately, the debts he’d racked up had all been paid off. Now, he was barely scraping by on the modest salary from selling insurance through Weibo.

In Jing City alone, the restaurant launched a staggering eighty-eight branches. All eighty-eight stores were built and completed simultaneously, blanketing nearly every major shopping mall in the city.

One of them happened to be directly across from the building where Hong Yunquan’s company was located.

For someone in his current financial situation, the restaurant’s pricing was a little steep—but still manageable for a one-off meal.

Hong Yunquan had made his reservation early, but the place was so insanely popular that he still ended up scheduled for 2:00 PM on opening day.

At that time, most working folks had already headed back to the office. Even though the reservation list was packed, many people didn’t show up, which meant the restaurant was fairly empty by the time he went to eat.

And when a place is quiet, you can hear everything.

Like the girl at the next table who had just taken a bite of her spicy pig trotters. She got so excited, she blurted out to her boyfriend across the table, “This is so good!”

Just then, a chef happened to come out of the kitchen for a break. The girl stopped him and asked why the pig trotters tasted so amazing.

Now, they obviously couldn’t just go around giving away their recipes, but a detail or two wouldn’t hurt. The chef replied casually, “It’s our exclusive house recipe. Other restaurants usually use soy sauce to color the trotters, but our secret is to boil them with red yeast rice. Makes a huge difference.”

Spicy pig trotters colored with red yeast rice had actually gone viral about half a year ago.

But in today’s fast-paced world, even the juiciest gossip gets forgotten after a few months—let alone a recipe.

So the girl didn’t make the connection that a certain blogger had once used the exact same technique.

Or maybe she did. But judging by her reaction, it clearly never crossed her mind that it might be a case of recipe plagiarism.

She brushed it off.

But across the table, Hong Yunquan’s ears were practically twitching.

The moment he heard the chef’s comment, a little drama played out in his mind like wildfire.

He whipped out his phone and jumped on C-Platform, searching for Li Sinian’s account.

Sure enough, the top-pinned video on “Nian Nian You Today’s” profile had already been changed with the restaurant’s opening. The old spicy pig trotter recipe had been replaced with a new tutorial for low-fat egg tarts.

Hong Yunquan was so excited, his fingers trembled.

Well, well, what had he stumbled upon?

“Nian Nian You Today” had claimed the spicy pig trotters were his original recipe—but it turned out they were someone else’s exclusive house recipe?

He remembered that Li Sinian knew Bai Yusheng, so he didn’t want to jump to conclusions like last time. This time, he was going to be careful.

He went to the Bureau of Industry and Commerce’s website and checked the restaurant’s opening date—not the nationwide chain registration, but the original store’s launch date.

According to the records, the restaurant began operations nearly a month before “Nian Nian You Today” posted his video tutorial.

Hong Yunquan’s food had just arrived, but he’d completely lost his appetite.

His mind was spinning at top speed.

The self-proclaimed “original” spicy pig trotter recipe came almost a month after the restaurant’s official opening. And now that the restaurant had gained fame, the video was quietly unpinned.

What did that say?

It meant “Nian Nian You Today’s” so-called original recipe was plagiarized.

He must’ve gone to the restaurant back when it was still unknown, learned the recipe from the owner, and figured, “No one’s ever heard of this place—who’s going to know?” Then he posted it online, passing it off as his own.

That had to be it.

Sure, he also considered that Li Sinian might not be just some random person. He did know Bai Yusheng, after all. Maybe he had ties to the restaurant.

But then again… if he did have ties to the restaurant, why hadn’t he promoted it in his videos?

He was hugely popular on C-Platform, and the restaurant was a viral hit. If there was any connection, they would’ve shouted it from the rooftops.

It would’ve been a win-win: more traffic for the restaurant, more clout for him.

The fact that he hadn’t said anything could only mean one thing—he had no connection to the restaurant at all.

He was plagiarizing.

Hong Yunquan resisted the urge to message Li Sinian directly to accuse him.

Instead, he opened a voice recorder app, picked up his plate, and moved to the table where the chef was sitting.

Putting on an expression of exaggerated curiosity, he asked, “Hey, did I hear you right? You guys use red yeast rice to color your pig trotters? I’ve never heard of that!”

“Of course we do.” The chef looked proud. “We’re the only ones who make them this way. It’s our signature. The flavor’s way better than just using soy sauce—it’s super aromatic.”

“Really? An exclusive recipe?” Hong Yunquan deliberately tried to steer the conversation. “Huh… I feel like I’ve seen that method somewhere else before.”

“Impossible,” the chef said, frowning. “Where did you see it?”

Sensing the chef’s shift in tone, Hong Yunquan chuckled awkwardly. “Ah, I don’t really remember. Might’ve been a false memory.”

The chef’s smile vanished. He wasn’t as warm anymore.

“We do things differently from other places,” he said coldly. “But if you really have eaten a dish somewhere that tastes exactly like ours, please let us know. We’ll sue them for copyright infringement.”

With that, he put on his chef’s hat and went back into the kitchen.

Hong Yunquan gave an awkward smile to the couple at the next table and carried his tray back to his original seat.

As soon as he sat down, he eagerly opened his phone and saved the recording.

After work, back at home, Hong Yunquan glanced at the balance in his account. After a bit of internal debate, he still couldn’t bring himself to spend money on fake engagement. Instead, he tipped off a gossip blog.

Gossip about internet personalities never gained as much traction as celebrity scandals, so the blog simply posted a Weibo about it and moved on. They didn’t even bother creating a hashtag.

Three days passed, and still nothing—no trending tags, no heat, not even a blip on C-Platform’s internal hot list.

He had already given up hope when, out of nowhere, the name “Niannian You Jintian” shot to the top of Weibo’s trending search.

And not just Weibo—major news websites and short video platforms had picked up the story too.

#C-Platform Influencer Nian Nian You Today Accused of Plagiarizing Restaurant Recipes#

Li Sinian didn’t even know about the plagiarism accusation until he saw the news alert that morning.

His phone rang. It was a call from Jiang Rongxuan. Li Sinian picked up, and the smooth voice of the young man came through the line.

“Older brother, could you come help out at the office today? Things have been a little hectic lately.”

Li Sinian caught on instantly. “You’re worried I’ll see the stuff online? I already have.”

Jiang Rongxuan paused, then gave a soft laugh. “So fast, huh?”

Li Sinian shifted from sitting to lying back on the sofa. “It’s just a piece of bad press. You really called just because you were worried I’d see it? You think I’m that fragile?”

“Besides, even if the netizens don’t know what’s really going on, I do. If they get too annoying, I’ll just blow my cover. That’d fix everything.”

“But, older brother, didn’t you say you didn’t like mixing your online and real-life identities?” Jiang Rongxuan replied. “If you don’t like it, we won’t do it. You stepping forward to clear your name will just be a last resort. Let me handle this. I’ll clean up the online mess.”

Li Sinian’s thumb lightly flexed against his phone. “But if I don’t come forward, won’t it be harder to suppress the gossip?”

“And I looked into it—this plagiarism thing started three days ago. The fact that it’s only blowing up now means someone’s pushing it behind the scenes. Getting rid of it all won’t be easy.”

“It’s just an online account, after all. Worst case, I’ll abandon it. No need to go to all that trouble.”

“Older brother, you’ve been using that account since you moved out,” Jiang Rongxuan said. “And it’s all food content—the stuff you love. Doesn’t it feel like a waste to just toss it?”

Before Li Sinian could reply, Jiang Rongxuan added, “Anyway, brother, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. Just don’t post anything online for a bit.”

After the call ended, Li Sinian stared at their WeChat chat for a while.

Their last message had been from yesterday. The conversation was utterly mundane—Jiang Rongxuan asking what he ate, what he did, how many levels of Plants vs. Zombies he’d cleared.

Li Sinian had never been the type to say good morning or good night every day. But Jiang Rongxuan messaged him constantly. Over time, he’d gotten used to exchanging those silly little messages every day.

Suddenly, Li Sinian had the urge to go see him at the office.

He didn’t actually know Jiang Rongxuan all that well. All he really knew was that the man was the youngest in the Jiang family, heirs to the Haicheng Jiang Group.

Still, despite the family empire being rooted in Haicheng, this “Little Jiang” had chosen to stay in Suzhou to manage their joint business. He handled Haicheng’s affairs via video calls—and when that wasn’t enough, he’d fly home for a few days before returning.

Li Sinian had somehow managed to keep this man tethered to Suzhou without ever really going out of his way to visit him. It didn’t feel right.

He made two dishes, packed them into a thermal container, and headed to the office.

He arrived just as the lunch break was starting. A crowd of employees was streaming out of the building to grab food.

Li Sinian moved against the tide, walking straight toward Jiang Rongxuan’s office. As luck would have it, he ran into Jiang Rongxuan just as the man was stepping out.

When Jiang Rongxuan saw him, his eyes widened slightly in surprise, and a bright smile spread across his face.

“Older brother?!”

His gaze dropped to the thermal container in Li Sinian’s hand, and he couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“Brother, you—you came to bring me lunch?”