The other person, upon hearing this, also showed a trace of anger on his face. With a flick of his long sleeves, he waved his hand and said, “Believe it or not. Farewell!” With that, he turned and left. The first person snorted as well and stormed off in anger.

Sweating! It’s just a couplet—was it really necessary to get so worked up? Why do you care about someone else’s motives for writing it? It has nothing to do with you. Sigh! It seems that gossip and idols will always be topics of heated debate.

Kevin Thompson was left both amused and exasperated by these two gentlemen. He had just listened to a rough outline and more or less understood the situation. Although he didn’t know who the Lady White and that Young Master Cooper they mentioned actually were, judging from their words, both seemed to be quite famous—like Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, with fans all over the world, superstar-level figures.

As for the argument between these two, Kevin Thompson actually leaned more toward the one who left in anger. It takes a lot of effort to compose a couplet, and it’s not like it’s anything immoral. If you won’t even take money that’s basically handed to you, then this Lady White really is quite foolish.

But whether it’s Lady White or Young Master Cooper, Kevin Thompson knew that the one who benefited the most from all this was still Steward Walker. Although he didn’t know how much silver Steward Walker had spent to obtain these two couplets, he was very clear that the popularity and profit these couplets brought to Steward Walker and Jade Pavilion were immeasurable.

This is what’s called the celebrity effect. Kevin Thompson never would have imagined that the celebrity effect was already showing its power as early as the Song Dynasty.

In his own era, even a minor celebrity could land a lucrative endorsement deal, not to mention international superstars. Those businessmen aren’t fools—they’ll spend tens of millions just to have you stand in front of a camera and strike a few poses. If you can’t bring them several times, or even dozens of times, that amount in profit, those big bosses probably wouldn’t even bother to look at you.

Of course, unspoken rules are another matter.

It seems Yvonne Foster and Drunken Immortal House really didn’t lose unjustly!

Kevin Thompson let out a long sigh. Judging from these two couplets alone, Steward Walker’s vision and strategy were several times stronger than Yvonne Foster’s. As a decision-maker, Yvonne Foster didn’t even dare to say “You should retire” to Master Zhou. With such a soft-hearted and benevolent manager, how could Drunken Immortal House not fail?

Since this Lady White and that Young Master Cooper are so popular, their couplets probably aren’t too bad either.

After figuring things out, Kevin Thompson began to focus his attention on the two couplets. According to what those two gentlemen just said, the one on the left, “A river of wind and moon invites hearty drinking,” should be by Young Master Cooper; while the one on the right, “Pouring bamboo leaf, green thoughts condense,” should be by Lady White.

Speaking of couplets, Kevin Thompson was no stranger to them. In the past, when he wanted to give his new dishes elegant and meaningful names, he would often browse ancient books or go online to look up classic poems and couplets. In his information-rich era, there was no shortage of bizarre couplets on the internet, and the classics were even more countless. After seeing so many, he naturally became good at it.

Sweating! So they’re both couplets about the food and beverage industry. Looks like Steward Walker really put a lot of thought into this!

Although these couplets aren’t exactly timeless classics, they’re not easy either. But for Kevin Thompson, it was as if they were tailor-made for him. Food and beverage industry? Ha! That’s his old profession!

Kevin Thompson frowned in thought for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing, shaking his head and saying, “So they’re both idol types.”

Chapter 0012 Beggar Mother and Son

Although these two couplets are somewhat challenging, they’re not exactly unsolvable classics. Why hasn’t anyone managed to come up with a matching line?

Kevin Thompson watched as everyone pointed and whispered about the two couplets, but not a single person stepped forward to answer with a matching line, leaving him quite puzzled.

Actually, Kevin Thompson didn’t know that truly learned and talented people would never come here to compete with two juniors. Such things would damage their reputation, and those self-important scholars and great poets would never do it. Most of the people standing here were actually young gentlemen with little knowledge who liked to pretend to be deep.

Although he already had a matching line in mind, Kevin Thompson didn’t want to show off. There was no noble reason—just that the reward wasn’t tempting enough for him. He wasn’t at the point of not being able to afford a meal yet, and besides, he didn’t believe Jade Pavilion could make any dishes that would attract him.

In fact, he hoped these two couplets would stay up here for a few more days, just in case he needed them. If Drunken Immortal House was sold and he hadn’t found another place to go, he could still hang around here for a month or so.

After weighing his options, Kevin Thompson had made up his mind. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly saw a few people coming out of the restaurant. Leading them was a middle-aged man who looked like a steward, about forty years old, with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, two thin mustaches, drooping eyebrows, and darting eyes—one look and you could tell he was up to no good.

Behind this steward were several young and strong thugs, all dressed in short outfits, each with an arrogant look on their face. If even a thug was this cocky, one could only imagine how formidable that Steward Walker must be.