Elder Gu stepped to the center of the crimson-draped wooden stage before the Golden-Lotus Banquet Hall at ten o’clock in the morning. He held up an embossed gold-leaf certificate as more than one hundred thousand citizens cheered along Old Lantern Food Street.
From the north stone arch to the south river pier, municipal police officers and Tie Niu’s Iron Guard veterans stood shoulder to shoulder beside floral wreaths and crimson banners. Beside Elder Gu on the platform stood six senior masters from the Asia-Pacific Culinary Council in navy traditional silk coats.
“Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens of Jiangcheng,” Elder Gu’s voice boomed through the public speakers, carrying across the avenue. “For thirty years, international gastronomy guides judged food only by gold leaf, crystal chandeliers, and exorbitant bills. They forgot the true purpose of cooking: to nourish the working people and warm the human heart.”
The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. Street vendors, bus drivers, and office workers cheered from every corner of the avenue.
“Today, our Council rectifies that mistake,” Elder Gu declared with immense dignity. “By unanimous vote of the Asia-Pacific Culinary Council, Grandma Chen and the Taichu Hundred-Chef Sanctuary are awarded the first-ever Three-Star Heritage and Civic Gold Plaque!”
Two ceremonial attendants carried forward a massive plaque cast from pure bronze and coated in gleaming twenty-four-karat gold. On its surface were etched three radiant stars and four classic calligraphy characters: Conscience, Health, People, Heritage.
Grandma Chen walked to the center of the stage, her silver hair shining under the morning sun. Little Guo’er held her grandmother’s hand, wearing a tiny crimson silk vest, while Master Chef Lao Tang walked on the other side in his spotless white chef coat.
Elder Gu handed the golden plaque directly into Grandma Chen’s trembling hands.
“Madam Chen,” Elder Gu said with tears shining in his eyes. “You and Master Lao Tang have proven that a five-yuan bowl of wontons can outshine any three-star French banquet in the world. May your ladles never run dry.”
Grandma Chen clutched the heavy golden plaque, wiping tears of joy on her white apron.
“Thank you, Elder Gu,” Grandma Chen said into the microphone, her voice choked with emotion. “I am just an old woman who boils shrimp and pork. As long as I have two hands, no hungry person who walks past my door will ever be turned away!”
Little Guo’er leaned toward the microphone on her tiptoes. “Thank you, Grandpa Gu! And thank you, Brother Lin Mo!”
Laughter and loud cheers rolled across the entire street like a tidal wave.
Behind the stage, Lin Mo stood with Su Wan and Shen Qiaoqiao, watching the joyful scene with a faint, satisfied smile.
“Chairman Lin,” Su Wan said, handing him a leather presentation folder. “The municipal media and eighty food channels across the nation are broadcasting this ceremony live. Every table at the sanctuary is booked for the next six months.”
Lin Mo shook his head gently. “A sanctuary should not be a tourist attraction for the wealthy, Su Wan. Our goal was never just one street. If an honest worker in the eastern district has to take three buses to get an affordable lunch, we have only done two percent of our job.”
Lin Mo stepped forward onto the stage, walking up to the central podium.
The avenue fell quiet as one hundred thousand pairs of eyes turned toward the young chairman of Taichu Group.
“Today, Taichu Group celebrates this honor,” Lin Mo spoke into the microphone in a calm, steady voice. “However, celebration without action is meaningless vanity. Effective immediately, Taichu Group is launching the Taichu Pure-Heart Community Canteen Project.”
Lin Mo paused, letting his words settle over the vast crowd.
“We are allocating fifteen million yuan today to establish fifty permanent community canteens across Jiangcheng,” Lin Mo announced. “Every public hospital, construction site, railway station, and school district will have a Taichu kitchen within thirty days. Prices will be fixed at five yuan per meal. And just like here on Old Lantern Street, all food will be one hundred percent free for sanitation workers, firefighters, disabled veterans, and orphans.”
For three seconds, absolute silence hung over the avenue.
Then, an earth-shaking roar of cheers broke out. Elderly residents wept openly on the benches. Construction workers in dusty boots threw their hard hats into the air. Police officers clapped their hands, their eyes bright with respect.
On stage, Su Wan swiped Lin Mo’s Black-Gold Benevolence Card on the satellite transaction terminal: ¥15,000,000.00.
BEEP.
A magnificent, resonant chime echoed deep inside Lin Mo’s soul:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥15,000,000.00 RMB on Fifty Permanent Taichu Community Canteens!]
[Beneficiaries: 100,000 Working Families & Underprivileged Citizens across Jiangcheng (Avg Goodness: 87/100)!]
[Target Integrity Verified: Universal civic nutrition, public welfare dining, and municipal social security infrastructure.]
[Triggered 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Received Cash Refund: +¥1,500,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥50,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Personal Wealth Milestone Achieved: Liquid Vault Reaches ¥50,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +1,500,000 BMP | Total BMP: 142,949,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 8,200 Verified Righteous Allies (+25: community canteen managers, cooks, civic volunteers)!]
Fifty billion yuan, Lin Mo thought, watching the golden numbers settle in his interface. Starting with forty-eight yuan of wontons, spending everything to protect honest people, and now holding fifty billion in cash. Virtue is the highest form of sovereignty.
Before Lin Mo could close the interface, a sudden warmth erupted deep in his chest.
Above the two-kilometer avenue, invisible currents of pure, luminous golden light rose from the hearts of one hundred thousand cheering people. It was the purest form of human gratitude, goodwill, and heartfelt blessing.
The golden light converged above the Golden-Lotus Banquet Hall like a radiant cloud, then poured downward in a silent torrent, streaming directly into Lin Mo’s dantian.
BOOM!
A profound rumble echoed within Lin Mo’s internal channels.
[Ding! System Notice: Vast Golden Benevolence Qi assimilated!]
[Internal Organs Tempered: Five-Viscera Jade-Gold Transformation!]
[Host Martial Realm Breakthrough: Rank 2 Mid Martial (Jade-Gold Viscera & 500-Meter Qi Sense)!]
Lin Mo felt a sensation of absolute clarity wash through his body.
His heart, liver, lungs, spleen, and kidneys were enveloped in a layer of luminous jade-gold qi. His heartbeat became as deep and steady as a bronze temple bell, pumping rich, oxygenated blood through every capillary. His physical endurance multiplied by three.
More astonishing was his perception.
Lin Mo did not need to turn his head. His internal qi sense expanded in a spherical dome, sweeping outward through the air like invisible radar.
He could sense the breath of a sparrow perched on an ancient tile roof five hundred meters away. He could count the grains of salt falling from Lao Tang’s spoon in the kitchen below. He could feel the pulse of every Iron Guard soldier stationed at the perimeter.
His body was no longer that of an ordinary mortal. He had entered the realm of Jade-Gold Viscera.
Lin Mo opened his eyes, feeling calm, grounded, and immensely powerful.
Down on the stage, Elder Gu, Grandma Chen, and Master Lao Tang were surrounded by television reporters and municipal leaders. The celebration was in full swing, with trays of fresh river-shrimp dumplings and lotus-flower cakes being served to the cheering crowds.
Grandma Chen stepped away from the cameras for a brief moment, carrying a small celadon bowl with three plump dumplings. She walked over to Lin Mo, her eyes moist with tears of pure gratitude.
“Xiao Mo,” Grandma Chen said softly, calling him by his old neighborhood nickname. “When my little wonton cart was smashed in the rain, I thought heaven had closed its eyes on our family. Today, you gave a future to my granddaughter, to these old chefs, and to every working person in this city. Eat these three dumplings. Grandma made them especially for you.”
Lin Mo took the bowl with both hands and finished the dumplings in three bites. The warm broth carried the sweetest flavor of home.
“Grandma Chen, as long as I draw breath, no one will ever smash your cart again,” Lin Mo said quietly. “Enjoy your day on the stage. You have earned every bit of this honor.”
Elder Gu walked over, holding a small porcelain cup of clear green tea. The seventy-two-year-old master bowed his head slightly toward Lin Mo.
“Chairman Lin, in all my decades of judging food across five continents, I have never seen a young man wield wealth with such profound moral clarity,” Elder Gu said warmly. “You have built more than a culinary sanctuary. You have built an impenetrable fortress of human goodwill. Our Council stands with Taichu Group from this day forth.”
“Thank you, Elder Gu,” Lin Mo replied, shaking the old master’s hand. “Let us make sure no child or elder in this city goes to bed hungry tonight.”
Lin Mo then stepped down from the rear stairs of the stage, walking toward the shaded garden pavilion behind the banquet hall.
Tie Niu stood by the pavilion entrance, keeping the media at bay. As Lin Mo approached, Tie Niu offered a crisp, sharp military salute.
“Chairman Lin,” Tie Niu said in his deep, gravelly voice. “Every corner of Old Lantern Street is secure. The first ten community canteen sites have already been surveyed by our logistics teams.”
“Good work, Old Bull,” Lin Mo said, tapping the veteran’s shoulder. “Make sure our veterans and their families have first priority for management positions at the new canteens.”
“Understood, Chairman Lin!” Tie Niu said, his chest swelling with pride.
Just then, Shen Qiaoqiao walked into the garden, her leather heels clicking against the stone path. She held a thick, gilded envelope bound with purple silk ribbon.
“Chairman Lin,” Shen Qiaoqiao said, her eyebrows arching with amusement. “A special delivery just arrived by private courier from Jiangcheng University.”
Lin Mo accepted the heavy envelope. The paper was expensive handmade parchment, embossed with the university’s century-old crest in gold foil.
Lin Mo opened the envelope and pulled out the invitation card.
[Invitation to Jiangcheng University 100th Anniversary Alumni Gala.]
[Honored Guest: Lin Mo, Class of 2026.]
[Host Committee: Vice-Dean Ma, Executive Vice-Dean of Materials Science.]
[Distinguished Sponsors: Zhao Kai and Liu Yan, Zhao Technology Holdings.]
Lin Mo activated his [Pure-Heart Eye Lv.1].
[Target: Vice-Dean Ma.]
[Goodness Score: 12/100.]
[Moral Status: Extorts student research, steals academic patents, colludes with Zhao Kai to embezzle state research grants.]
[Target: Zhao Kai.]
[Goodness Score: 9/100.]
[Moral Status: Deep hatred for Lin Mo, seeking to rob graduate patents for Zhao Technology's stock listing.]
[Target: Liu Yan.]
[Goodness Score: 14/100.]
[Moral Status: Vanity-obsessed, acting as Zhao Kai's mouthpiece to humiliate Lin Mo at alumni gathering.]
Lin Mo read the gilded text, a cold smirk appearing on his lips.
“Vice-Dean Ma, Zhao Kai, and Liu Yan,” Lin Mo murmured softly. “They actually had the nerve to send an invitation.”
Shen Qiaoqiao adjusted her silver glasses, pulling up an academic audit file on her tablet.
“Chairman Lin, I ran a background query on Vice-Dean Ma twenty minutes ago,” Shen Qiaoqiao reported in a sharp, professional tone. “It is far worse than an ordinary alumni banquet.”
“Explain,” Lin Mo said, slipping the card back into its envelope.
“Your former academic mentor, Professor Xu, along with two impoverished graduate researchers, Lin Xiaoxiao and Chen Yu, have been working in Basement Lab Number Four for three years,” Shen Qiaoqiao explained. “They just completed breakthrough test data for a Solid-State Graphene Battery that could revolutionize national energy storage.”
Shen Qiaoqiao’s face hardened with indignation.
“Vice-Dean Ma and Zhao Kai are using today’s gala as a trap,” Shen Qiaoqiao continued. “Vice-Dean Ma is threatening to expel Lin Xiaoxiao and Chen Yu unless they sign over their entire patent portfolio to Zhao Technology for a ridiculous five thousand yuan! If they refuse, campus security will evict them into the rain before the banquet begins!”
Lin Mo’s eyes grew cold as winter frost.
Three years ago, when Lin Mo was a broke orphan struggling to pay his university tuition, Professor Xu had quietly paid his lab fees out of his own modest salary. And Lin Xiaoxiao and Chen Yu were the most honest, hardworking scholars on campus, living on dry steamed buns while spending twenty hours a day running lab tests.
“Zhao Kai lost the food war, so now he wants to rob my old mentor and classmates of their life’s work,” Lin Mo said, his voice quiet, flat, and lethal.
Lin Mo turned toward Tie Niu and Su Wan.
“Su Wan, prepare five million yuan in cash and draft emergency intellectual property injunctions,” Lin Mo instructed. “Tie Niu, bring three executive vans and twelve Iron Guard brothers. We are going back to Jiangcheng University.”
Tie Niu saluted sharply, his dark eyes burning with anticipation. “Right away, Chairman Lin!”
Lin Mo crumpled the gilded invitation card in his palm, feeling the surge of Rank 2 Jade-Gold qi pulsing through his knuckles.
“Vice-Dean Ma wants to play academic emperor in front of the alumni,” Lin Mo said softly, tossing the crumpled gold paper into a waste bin. “Let us see if his little empire can survive an audit from Taichu Group.”