Chapter 12516

Lin Yi replied, "This is their home turf. We have no chance of winning if we try to argue with them here."

Lu Bukui was at a loss: "Then what should we do?"

"He can do his thing, I'll do mine."

Lin Yi turned to Gan Niannian and said, "How about we hold another tasting event?"

Gan Niannian nodded happily: "I have no problem."

With her approach, as long as the feng shui is right, even cooking in a large pot can produce culinary masterpieces; it's really not a big deal for her.

Lu Bukui scratched his head, "Will this work?"

He knew all too well what kind of people the lower classes in Tianjun were like.

No matter how many tastings you hold, it won't stop people from turning around and criticizing you for being low-class and unpalatable after they've finished eating.

In fact, the more tastings they hold, the more entrenched their stereotype becomes.

Lin Yiyu said playfully, "Taking advantage of this tasting event, let's release another menu of popular local delicacies."

"We were originally going to offer these to everyone for tasting, but because Cheng Zhiyu ate the memories related to the God of Cookery, we had to give up. Please forgive us."

Lu Bukui was momentarily confused.

Lin Yi said quietly, "Compared to what they have gained, people are actually more concerned about what they have lost, even if that thing was never actually in their hands."

The second tasting event was held as scheduled.

The Food Saint lineage had anticipated this and had long ago arranged various online forces and prepared countermeasures.

As expected, Yan Jiajie once again played the role of a rational and objective person.

The core objective is to make people increasingly dislike Tianjia Tea House and instead yearn for the so-called high-end Yipin Pavilion.

Everything is perfect.

Until a menu of a famous restaurant was leaked privately.

Lin Yi's side has not made any official comment on this matter, but has only allowed people to leak the information privately.

In just one day, the public opinion that the Food Saint lineage had been in complete control of completely collapsed.

Everyone was cursing the Food Saint lineage, especially Cheng Zhiyu, the culprit.

To put it bluntly, they are indeed greedy and always want more than they have.

But knowing full well that Yipin Pavilion wouldn't offer free samples, suddenly taking away the delicious food from their bowls would make anyone curse!

Public opinion has collapsed.

The lineage of the Food Saint immediately felt the pressure.

As the chief disciple of the Food Saint, Jiang Xuyan was covered in bumps on his forehead.

Just now, the Food Saint gave him a death order: no matter what, he must redeem Cheng Zhiyu as soon as possible!

It's important to understand that the pressure from this backlash from public opinion is primarily focused on Cheng Zhiyu.

If it were to escalate further into a backlash from the Heavenly Dao, even the Food Saint himself would be absolutely unable to protect him.

Left with no other choice, Jiang Xuyan had to visit in person.

"Redeem them?"

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Redeeming people is no problem. We don't need much from you, just offer compensation on par with this Great Dao Cuisine menu."

Jiang Xuyan took the menu and glanced at it, then his vision went black.

This is the menu that was leaked before.

The list above contains a total of ninety-nine famous dishes.

"Impossible! This is outrageous!"

Jiang Xuyan rebuked angrily with a dark face.

All of their Yipin Pavilion combined don't have this many delicacies, not to mention that every single recipe is a closely guarded secret.

Ninety-nine recipes for famous dishes on the main road—even robbery wouldn't be done like this.

Lin Yi remained calm and composed: "Since you think it's not going to work, then there's no need to talk anymore. Please leave."

After much internal struggle, Jiang Xuyan could only leave dejectedly.

The Food Saint did indeed give him instructions to spare no expense, but if he really complied with Lin Yi's demands for compensation, he would definitely be crippled by the Food Saint when he returned.

The only option is to try to exert pressure from the public opinion level.

Soon after, elected leader Yan Jiajie stepped forward and made a public appeal.

"One should be lenient when possible. Everything has its limits. The Food Saint lineage has already been generous and yielded. For you, the End Emperor, to continue to be so aggressive is going too far."

Online trolls were mobilized, and public opinion exerted pressure.

Lin Yi's response this time was quite simple.

He had Lü Bukui release a bunch of dirt on Yan Jiajie himself.

The reason he hasn't taken any action against Yan Jiajie these past few days isn't because he's too lazy to deal with him, but because he's been having people secretly gather evidence.

The worst thing you can do when dealing with someone who's active in the public sphere is to engage in back-and-forth arguments.

After all, that's their specialty.

Give him a chance, and even black can be turned into white.

Since we've chosen to take action against them, we must crush them completely.

The entire Tianjun County was instantly in an uproar.

"Holy crap! I was wondering why Yan Jiajie was always playing both sides; turns out he's a dog raised by the Food Saint's lineage!"

"I think we should wait and see, in case it's a slander."

"You're not a dog too, are you?"

"That's right, they've already released the full details, with all the certifications and evidence, why are you still not believing it?"

People from all sides collectively cursed.

There's no other reason than that, as a recognized leader of public opinion, Yan Jiajie's influence is simply too great.

The greater the impact, the greater the backlash is now.

The backlash from public opinion directly turned into a backlash from Heaven.

Within half a day, the news was confirmed: Yan Jiajie had died suddenly at home, bleeding from all seven orifices, a death that perfectly matched the symptoms of a backlash from the heavens.

As a result, the online trolls who were originally cheering for him and trying to whitewash his image immediately stopped their actions.

The backlash from Heaven is the most irrefutable proof, and no one can whitewash it.

Surely it can't be that Heaven is wrong?
Most importantly, these online trolls are also human beings. Even if they are just a few small-time trolls, they are still worried about following in the footsteps of Yan Jiajie.

With Yan Jiajie dead, the pressure fell directly on the Food Saint.

For him, this is no longer just a problem of his young son Cheng Zhiyu; the backlash from public opinion will also fall on him.

The pressure that public opinion put on Lin Yi before will only be several times, or even dozens of times, greater on his end!
On the other hand, Lin Yi's task was much simpler.

Wait and see.

While we're at it, let's continue to work on Cheng Zhiyu and see if we can uncover more secrets of the Food Saint lineage.

It is, after all, a lineage of the Five Saints.

Even if Lin Yi is at his current level, he may not necessarily find it appealing, but it's still acceptable to use it as a reference.

For the first time, Jiang Xuyan saw unconcealed anxiety on his master's face.

“Master, the Termination Society uses despicable methods, but from what I’ve observed, they shouldn’t be so ruthless as to truly harm Junior Brother, after all, they are also wary of you, Master.”

Jiang Xuyan tried to comfort him.

As a result, the Food Saint rebuked him angrily: "Poisonous hands? Yu'er has already been abused like that, what other kind of poisonous hands do you want him to suffer?"

Jiang Xuyan immediately knelt down: "Master, please calm down, that's not what I meant."

Fortunately, the Food Saint didn't take his anger out on him. After a moment of silence, he finally let out a soft sigh. (End of Chapter)