Translator: Sy
Editor: SipsTea
Chapter 12: The Hot Pot Preview
In the end, Lin Ning couldn’t get Xizai into the shower. The cat trashed the whole room. Even the anchovies were useless, so there was nothing Lin Ning could do.
What he could do, however, was put his hands on his hips once he gave up on chasing the cat and berated, “Xizai, you hate hygiene way too much. You stink! Can’t you smell yourself?!”
What a low blow. The cat couldn’t care less about what Lin Ning had to say. It crouched from above, face stoic like a mountain.
“……”
So Lin Ning took his shower alone. In a few more days, he thought, when Xizai was no longer against baths, it wouldn’t be too late to give it one. Besides, kitties lick their fur every day… Cats love staying clean. It’ll give in and take its bath sooner or later.
Now that he thought about it, his Xizai sure wouldn’t go down without a fight… As long as it was against it, capturing the kitty was impossible. He couldn’t even touch its shadow. The cat was still fine even when Lin Ning — who had a dancer’s lithe body — was wheezing. It darted away with wild speed, then stared calmly at Lin Ning, who panted like a dog.
!!!
“Fine. You win.” Lin Ning waved his hand, deciding to leave that little god be, and left to take his shower.
***
Later that night, Lin Ning opened the Shine Livestreams app in his bedroom, preparing to read through his audience’s feedback. Now that he was a qualified streamer, interacting with fans was unavoidable — one, he had to grow closer to his fans, and two, he had to gauge how things currently stood for him.
There were so many comments.
[Lemon Kitchen, can you tell us where we can buy those vegetables and meat?] [I’m sad. Will he only be giving out three meal sets? I’ve been lurking around the channel for days without a chance…] [Consider me, streamer! Give me a small set of the food, and I’ll sing your praises ten days and ten nights straight! I may suck at everything, but my ass-kissing skills are an exception!] [HAHAHAHAHA I’M DYING. Don’t bother, commenter above. This era of internet users are way too talented at ass-kissing. But come to think of it, are you really not going to consider selling your food? I saw some rich guy put a bounty on you. He said he’s willing to pay a hundred thousand to anyone who gets Lemon Kitchen’s food…] [Your comment’s old news. Looks like that guy is rich. I heard my boss, who’s one of the richest people in space, and his rich friends are betting on who’s gonna buy the next meal. My bet’s that when the next meal comes, they’ll be hauling way more than a hundred thousand to the winner. After all, to most people, a free meal can’t compete with cash that’ll touch the sky…] [ I’ve finally found something I can sympathise with rich people. I never understood their habit of blowing money, but now I want to give up all my possessions to Lemon Kitchen so he can start a big scale business and become famous throughout the universe…] [Haha didn’t know there were so many lurkers like me. I’ve got a classmate who works in real estate, and he’s pretty tight with some of the elites and trust fund babies in the entertainment industry. He says that Lemon Kitchen’s food is becoming their latest flexing goal. Don’t know why they’re so crazy about it.] [What’s weird about that? When things are rare, they’re expensive. If you want to show people how rich you are, you’ve gotta buy it. Especially when they’re limited. Lemon Kitchen’s food is amazing AND rare. Doesn’t that count as being limited?] [If you put it that way, it makes a lot of sense. Is Lemon Kitchen really only giving out three meals to the entire universe?] [Damn, that’s super limited. That’s way more exciting than luxury items. If I were a rich second-gen, I’d buy the streamer, so I can eat all kinds of stuff every day!] [Am I the only one thinking about earning money? Honey, if I were lucky enough to receive food, I’d start an auction and give the highest bidder’s address to the streamer so he’d send it straight to that guy’s place. Then I’d take those funds and wait till food stores open throughout the universe, for the day food prices drop and are sold in bulk….] [Holy shit, that’s genius. Thank you, I’ve learned something.]Lin Ning couldn’t help but laugh. Were all his viewers that cute? Looks like he’d have to find an opportunity to make his next giveaway, or the viewers would go crazy waiting.
So Lin Ning sent a thread of messages on his chat.
Lemon Kitchen: [Thank you for your support. As a token of gratitude, tonight I’ll be picking the top thirty Rewarders as recipients for our next meal: hot pot. I’ll also be picking out thirty lucky viewers from the comments section and will be gifting them hot pots too. Please note that the thirty Rewarders will be receiving hot pots with a mix of meat and vegetables, while commenters will be given vegetarian hot pots. ]
Lemon Kitchen: [Preparing for a hot pot livestream isn’t easy, so it’ll be airing at 9am the day after tomorrow. At the scheduled time, I’ll be streaming all kinds of soup bases and set meals for the hot pot, which will be up for you guys to choose. Tonight, I’ll release the name list of the sixty people, so if your name’s on the list, please send me a private message detailing how I should contact you on the day of the stream, your address, and your chosen set.]
Lemon Kitchen: [Chosen Rewarders may choose from the following sets:
- Beef, lamb and vegetables set
- Beef, fruits and vegetables set
- Lamb, fruits and vegetables set
- Lamb and vegetables set
- Seafood and vegetables set…]
Lemon Kitchen: [Chosen commenters may choose from the following sets:
- Green vegetables set
- Multi-coloured vegetables set
- Fruits and vegetables set ]
Lemon Kitchen: [Please also note that two soup bases can be chosen. If not chosen, bases will be selected at random.]
Lemon Kitchen: [Soup base list:
- Super sour and spicy soup base
- Clear soup base (suitable for all ages)
- Strong fungus soup base
- Sweet and sour tomato soup base.]
Lemon Kitchen: [I’m short in time, since preparing sixty sets is a huge process. I’ll post the namelist immediately, so please cooperate with me. To my fans who don’t win this time around, there’ll still be a next time.]
Lemon Kitchen: [Also, the Food and Safety Bureau’s official certificate and the third article of virtual tasting’s official certificate can certify that food and cooking streaming is safe to the public. Here are the images: nationalfoodandsafety.jpg, virtualtasting.jpg]
After Lin Ning was done with the thread, he compiled the list of thirty Rewarders as well as the thirty commenters before releasing another message.
Lemon Kitchen: [@InterstellarNo1Prince @StreamerLookImNotBroke @notakingifimnotinkingschool @I_just_want_a_bite @IamFashion… to the sixty people above, once you’ve read the thread, please send me a private message after 9am the day after tomorrow once you’ve tried out the samples I’ll be posting through virtual tasting. I’ve set things up for you guys, so don’t miss out. If anybody forfeits, I’ll choose a new lucky fan from the chats.]
The second after he pressed ‘post’, Lin Ning bounced up and down on the bed, cackling. He ran towards the living room and yelled, “Xizai! Xizai! XIZAI!!!”
The cat jumped. It scurried into the room. “Meow?”
Lin Ning was smiling so hard, his mouth took up half his face. Stars glittered in his eyes. Even the cat couldn’t stay totally immune to him.
“Xizai, things are turning around!” Lin Ning laughed, hugging a pillow as he tumbled across his bed. “You’re about to become a rich kitty, because your owner’s working hard to earn money~ I’ll buy you little outfits and cat trees and good things for you — I’ll buy you everything!”
All the exasperated cat could do was sit stiffly on the ground, tail curling around its two front paws as it watched its self-proclaimed boy of an owner roll on top of his bed. He didn’t even realize that his clothes had shifted, exposing his pale, delicate waist and smooth, long legs.
Earn money? Buy things for it?
The cat’s gaze fell silently onto Lin Ning’s waist. Something seemed to flash past its eyes.
***
Tags were speeding into the trending page at sonic speed, gaining millions of views by the minute. The comments piled.
#LemonKitchenReleasesHotPotNamelist
#WhatTheHellisaHotPotandSoupBase
#HotPotLivestreamat9amtheDayAfterTomorrow
#RewardersVsCommentors
#WinnersAreTheBestAtKissingAss
#RewardersAreTooRich
Trending tags clashed fiercely at each other, almost as if they were about to explode. One of the hottest topics was comparisons between those who won food through review comments and those who won through Rewards.
Most of the commenters who won had unleashed 200% of their idiocy, descriptive writing skills, and comedic talent when writing those reviews. A lot of the reviews Lin Ning picked had the sort of power to make people choke while reading. Those who didn’t win trickled over to the winners’ review section. Some spewed out soul-crushing, thousand-word essays while some wrote poems and unforgettable jokes.
[Damn, that’s too funny. No wonder I couldn’t win. My humour’s crap!] [Requesting for help. Need to know where to get a literary mommy who’ll write beautiful reviews for me. ] [I actually cried reading a review. To the person who wrote it, just apply to whatever uni you want. They’ll definitely accept any essay you send them.]It was also noisy over at the Rewarders list because a few celebrities were bragging about their names being on the namelist Lemon Kitchen shared.
What surprised people was the number of the winners who were famous princes and princesses of wealthy families. Based on what they read on the Rewarser’s list, the top thirty winners had submitted a whole string of aircraft carriers, and Aircraft Carriers were worth 1000 Stars. The person ranking first on the list had submitted 900 of them. That was 900,000! Even the last person of the top thirty had submitted at least 500,000 plus Stars’ worth of Rewards.
Sharp-eyed users also noticed that Fat_bunny, the person who won Lemon Kitchen’s first ever meal, was on the Rewarders namelist too. That made her the only person in space who’d ever received food twice!!!
Jealous!
Many of the users were getting curious about Fat_bunny’s identity. As they dug through their account, they found that Fat_bunny was likely just a side account. Perhaps Fat_bunny was a rich master or mistress…
But tonight was way too hectic. Everyone’s attention swiveled back and forth. Those who won through Rewards, naturally, were rich, and so couldn’t be bothered to sell their hot pots, but the thirty commenters were still available. About twenty of them chose to resell theirs, revealing their true identities on their accounts to show that they were open to negotiation. They were going to send the buyer’s address over to Lemon Kitchen instead of their own so that he’d send the food straight to the buyer.
And, people actually bought them!
Tons of buyers approached those twenty sellers. In minutes, the winning commenters posted messages one by one, stating that they’d sold their food.
Some netizens complained about how the sellers mentioned that 50,000 wasn’t enough. The actual prices they sold their food at were unthinkable.
#WinningCommentersSellTheirHotPots
#WealthyViewersBuyingPriceScreenshot
Quickly, more tags started to trend. Some entertainment and upper-class circle members even shared screenshots of the prices they bought their hot pots for. Interstellar accounts had real name systems, so many weren’t worried about scams. They were happy to pay.
The broke and unlucky viewers were jealous.
People can get rich watching cooking livestreams?!!!! Food was being exchanged at rates of 100,000 Stars, and there must’ve been even more getting offered at higher prices… To those city-dwelling spectators, that much money was enough for them to live off of comfortably for years.
Jealous. They were so jealous. Rewards weren’t a challenge to the rich — those commenters who had to rely on raw skill and talent were so jealous, air shot out their nostrils like bulls.
Even though the moon hung high up in the sky, it was as if everyone was still awake, minds too occupied over what hot pots were, and how good they must be for Lin Ning to be so willing to give out sixty sets of them.
Some scholars scoured through their bookshelves, compiling notes, studies, and breakdowns of Lemon Kitchen’s next meal. It looked legitimate and mouth-watering. Some viewers with talent even began drawing impressions of hot pots, wondering if they smelled as good as they imagined.
At this time, Rong Xinxin was reading through the winner’s list. Gleefully, she sent a message to her clique. This was their own little circle, full of the sons and daughters of the elite she hung out with regularly.
Good_bunny: I won again. How many of you guys got it, too?
The group quickly became active, some sending screenshots.
Good_bunny: My mom said my mission was to bring a set home, so mission complete!
Cherry: Ha! My grandma said she wanted to try Lemon Kitchen after seeing the picture Aunt Rong sent their chat. She’s the head of the family, so they gave me this mission. I’ve completed it, too!
RacerwnoHorn: Got it. You, Rong Xinxin, just gave Shine and Lemon Kitchen free advertising. Now they’re trending everywhere. You’ve earned your credit.
Good_bunny: Hehe, you spread my post too, didn’t you? It’s just too delicious!
***
Meanwhile, countless people flooded Shine’s customer call service, asking for Lemon Kitchen’s details.
Nutrient Dose companies, advertisement companies, gourmet food buyers, and netizens were all curious about one thing:
Who was Lemon Kitchen? And how could they work with him?!
The company’s CEO stared at his exploding phone, wiping the sweat off his shiny, bald head. I don’t know either! He wailed to himself. He’d just hung up on one of his millionaire friends. His wife and his precious daughter had been begging him for a hot pot, and he himself was rather curious, too. Price doesn’t matter, he’d said, as long as he could take a spot on the namelist.
!!!
He was Lemon Kitchen’s platform’s CEO, and even he didn’t make the cut!
This is exciting hahahahah