CHAPTER 683: CHAPTER 682: SUSPICIOUS PERSON (PART 1)

"You’re in Japan?"

Xia Yu found a spot, keeping out of the woman’s camera shot, and gestured that he didn’t want to be on camera.

Tang Yuqiong wore figure-hugging jeans, her long, straight legs making quite an impression on many passing tourists, causing a high rate of second glances.

She had on a sweater, draped in a denim jacket, with her hair cascading over her shoulders, and on her head, a blue, rabbit-eared knit hat adding both cuteness and beauty. Beaming towards Xia Yu with a radiant smile, she probably made many male fans in the live stream room heartbroken.

"Yeah, after the event in Sapporo, I’ve been traveling around Japan, from Hakodate at the southern tip of Hokkaido to Wakkanai City at the northernmost end, had a thorough visit, it was great!"

Saying this with a bit of smugness, Tang Yuqiong pouted her lips and motioned for Xia Yu to see her camera stick, "I’ve got a bunch of companions with me!"

Huh.

At this moment, however, Xia Yu noticed a breathless female coming out of the crowd, like Tang Yuqiong’s attendant.

The woman, upon seeing him, quickly bowed and said, "Chef Xia, I am a staff member dispatched to Japan by Flying Fish live stream platform, responsible for broadcasting this Far Moon Academy Festival."

Xia Yu asked with interest, "How many hosts have entered these past days?"

"Twelve, each one of them a culinary figure."

She answered and glanced at Tang Yuqiong interacting with the audience in the live chat, saying, "After Chef Tang’s live stream room got exposure, she’s become the mainstay of our platform’s food section, with a stable viewership of over a million each time she goes live."

"And the specific number of viewers?"

"This..."

She hesitated for a moment, not expecting a young chef who grew up overseas to be so familiar with the live streaming circle, she cautiously said, "The popularity in the food section is all very real."

Local live streaming platforms dispatching hosts to Far Moon’s ’Academy Festival’ in such a big way was equivalent to a powerful advertisement campaign, filling Xia Yu with joy.

"Did you get the guidebook?" Xia Yu asked.

"Yeah!"

Tang Yuqiong interjected from the other side, pulling out a colorful magazine from her small bag.

"And your plans?"

"No plans, just walking around, looking around..."

Xia Yu, breaking into a sweat, said, "Then let me take you around, I guarantee it’s all highlights!"

So, as the Academy Festival Execution Guide Teacher, he led Tang Yuqiong and the live stream platform’s dispatched staff member, starting from the Corridor Area.

The Curry Rice Research Association’s booth.

Chairman Koishi Katsuyoshi and lead Mizuhu Yumei were attending to the queue of customers.

"Please come and try the finest curry rice from the Curry Rice Research Association!"

Some group members were shouting out like market peddlers.

"Chairman!"

Suddenly, someone poked Koishi Katsuyoshi urgently in the ribs, pointing stutteringly at the end of the line, "Th-that is..."

The sweating Koishi Katsuyoshi, busy as he was, replied irritably, "What are you talking about? You all need to buck up!"

"No, it’s not that!"

While Koishi Katsuyoshi still didn’t understand what was going on, Mizuhu Yumei served up a steaming bowl of beef curry rice and walked straight out of the stall, handing it over to a young man with a somewhat nervous expression.

"Instructor, please try!"

The blonde, brown-skinned girl, who also had a bit of a tsundere attribute and came from a distinguished background, was now so nervous she couldn’t speak smoothly.

"Ah!"

Koishi Katsuyoshi froze, and after a while, he screamed in agony as he was scalded by a hot pan.

The crowd, upon Xia Yu’s arrival, immediately formed an inhumane circle around him, incredibly lively.

"Chef Xia, can I, can I take a photo with you?"

There was an ordinary high school girl from another school, dressed in a blue and white sailor uniform, who had fought her way to the inner circle. Her face flushed with excitement as she yelled out to Xia Yu. After a while, she took out her phone, her hands shaking as she captured a photo with him, then fanned her obsession wildly in the crowd, "Today is really my lucky day!"

Her companion, who had come along with her, could only feel a mix of envy and admiration.

Tang Yuqiong and the staff member from the live streaming platform were squeezed to the outermost edge, watching the surging crowd.

"This guy, his popularity is really exploding!" Tang Yuqiong was somewhat dumbstruck.

The female staffer bit her lip, seeing how approachable Xia Yu was, posing for photos with all sorts of people and even smiling brightly with a peace sign, she immediately regretted not asking for an autograph and a photo earlier.

Tang Yuqiong, looking at the dense barrage of comments, couldn’t help but laugh in frustration.

The comments were also flooding in with "Miss, I want Chef Xia’s autograph", "Asking for Chef Xia’s autographed photo", "Same here, willing to pay a hefty sum for it".

After a while, Xia Yu finally presented a bowl of slightly chilled beef over rice and handed it to Tang Yuqiong, "Here you go, this is Jingyan Association’s signature delicacy. ’Jing’ in Japanese means ’to cover’ as in the rice."

"Is that so..."

Tang Yuqiong handed the selfie stick to the staff member, letting the camera focus on her, while she picked up her chopsticks to taste the food.

A beautifully pan-fried piece of beef, she bit into it with a ’pu-chi’ sound.

"Mmm! Satisfying!"

"This steak is cooked to perfection, the control of heat is masterful, someone with less than a premium skill level can be proud of this!" Tang Yuqiong commented.

Xia Yu stretched out his hand, "If you’re satisfied, please pay with a 500 denomination gourmet coupon."

"Here you go!" Tang Yuqiong rolled her eyes but handed over the gourmet coupon in high spirits, while Xia Yu hurried back into the stall to give it to the Curry Rice Research Association students.

Next, the group visited Takeomi and Isami’s stall, the Italian brothers.

The place was even more bustling, but mostly with female customers, and even the female students helping out were all Takeomi’s fans.

"Not bad!"

Tang Yuqiong was equally satisfied with the brothers’ food and handed over a gourmet coupon.

She glanced around, sniffing the scents of food in the air, and nodded to Xia Yu, "This stall should represent the highest standard of the Corridor Area... so, let’s head to the Central Area next!"

On the way to the Central Area, the trio didn’t walk but took the free campus shuttle, during which Xia Yu couldn’t avoid attending to onlookers.

When the bus arrived, Tang Yuqiong got off but couldn’t find Xia Yu anywhere. Annoyed, she made a phone call only to receive a power-off notification, grinding her teeth in frustration, "What an unreliable guy, ditching me!"

"Let’s just browse around then, Chef Xia might be busy with something," the staff member could only offer an apologetic smile to calm her down, secretly wiping sweat from their forehead.

The live comments understood the situation and the atmosphere instantly became lively.

"Only Chef Xia could ditch Tang’s Mingzhu like that, goodbye!" Many of the audience members who had come for Xia Yu left a comment and then disappeared, among them some big spenders.

"Goodbye (insert emoticon here)!"

Tang Yuqiong saw her viewership numbers plummet by several hundred thousand and said bitterly, "Fine! Everyone just go!"

...

Xia Yu walked among the crowd in the Central Area, his gaze fixed on a youth in a black trench coat with his hands in his pockets.

The youth moved unhurriedly, seeming aimless with casual glances around, but his eyes occasionally revealed a sharpness.

Upon spotting this suspicious-looking visitor on the bus, Xia Yu got off, casually pulled out a pre-prepared mask, and knitted cap from his pocket, and disguised himself so well that even his childhood best friend would have a hard time recognizing him with his hair and face covered.

As he continued on, the noise of the crowd gradually dwindled, and the number of patrons thinned, leading him to a three-way intersection.

Behind him lay the wide asphalt roads of the Central and Corridor Areas.

One of the diverging roads led to the High Platform Area, where luxury cars sporadically zoomed towards it.

The other road led away from the educational district, towards the Far Moon Back Mountain, the Tiqie Mansion, and Xia’s Farm among other buildings in that direction.

The youth paused abruptly at the bus stop at the fork in the road.

"You’ve followed me all this way, enough is enough!"