Translator: Sy
Editor: SipsTea
Chapter 15: The Hot Pot Livestream
“Whoa… What’s all this?!” Zhang Zhining was stunned the moment he stepped into Lin Ning’s house. “T–This… It’s not all food, is it?!”
“It is. Go ahead and take a look. I’ll set up the stream.” Lin Ning positioned the table and the hot pots, then turned on the camera, adjusting it so that only his arms were in the frame.
“Lemme see…” Zhang Zhining leaned close to Lin Ning.
As Lin Ning tapped on the stream, the screen fell into darkness. Glitch, darkness. Glitch, darkness… And the bullet screen was trickling by with viewers who’d just entered the chat… Creepy…
“What’s going on?” Lin Ning tapped on the interface.
[Ding dong! This stream is currently overcrowded. Please try again later.]
???
“My god, you really are Lemon Kitchen! Do you have any idea how popular you are right now, Lin Ning? You must’ve crashed the server with the number of people tuning in right now!” Zhang Zhining slapped Lin Ning’s shoulder happily. Since yesterday, his mind had been racing so quickly trying to guess Lin Ning’s identity that he could barely fall asleep. So Lin Ning was exactly like he imagined!
“Shh… Don’t call me Lin Ning during the stream. Ning Ning’s fine, though.” Good thing the stream was dark and muted, or Lin Ning would’ve been screwed.
Zhang Zhining nodded, although confused. “Alright.” If Lin Ning wanted to keep his privacy safe, he was going to respect his choice.
“You think the amount of the audience crashed the server… Do servers still crash in this kind of era?” Lin Ning asked. He knew servers crashed frequently during his time, but he didn’t think mishaps like this could still happen in this day and age.
“Maybe something happened to attract a huge crowd over. Lemme check Interstellar’s trending page…” Zhang Zhining whipped out his photon tablet. His mouth gaped open the second his eyes landed on the top two highest trending news.
[Film King Zhang Yiming liked Fat_bunny post] [Hot]
[Film King Zhang Yiming rewards Lemon Kitchen] [Hot]
He tapped on the news, scanning through. It turned out Fat_bunny had recently been posting threads about Lemon Kitchen’s streams. Before that, she’d already won two meals, and the way she dished out Rewards screamed wealth, so there was a scramble to guess who Fat_bunny really was. Amidst the confusion, the Film King, Zhang Yiming, who hadn’t been active in the public eye for a while, registered for an Interstellar account and liked every single one of Fat_bunny’s Lemon Kitchen threads.
The other trending news started not only because Zhang Yiming started an account without attempting to keep it lowkey, but because he gave Lemon Kitchen a never-ending stream of Spacecrafts, propelling him to the number one spot on Lemon Kitchen’s top Rewarder’s list…
!!!
Wasn’t this the Film King who hadn’t set foot on the big screen for half a year?!
The discussion surrounding Fat_bunny, Zhang Yiming, and Lemon Kitchen was exploding.
Was Fat_bunny the Film King’s side account?
Or did Fat_bunny and the Film King know each other?
And what was Lemon Kitchen’s relationship with the Film King?
No matter how they guessed, everyone’s curiosity was through the roof, alright? Zhang Yiming’s fans, the paparazzi, marketeers, figures of the entertainment world… Everybody wanted to know who Lemon Kitchen — the man who had the Film King wrapped around his finger — was. And this Film King, Zhang Yiming… his account already had 90 million followers. The amount of attention a person like him could direct towards Lemon Kitchen…
Scary. No wonder Shine’s server crashed…
“……” Lin Ning watched the drama along with Zhang Zhining, and sort of understood what was happening. “…Looks like I’m a little famous, ha-ha…” He hugged his cat nervously. The way things were developing was now far beyond his control.
And with all this sudden attention, he was really beginning to feel the pressure.
The cat felt his anxiety. A look of uneasiness flashed across its face. Instinctively, it placed a paw on Lin Ning’s hand, putting him in its protection zone.
Lin Ning rubbed the kitty’s toe bean, touched by its actions. “Xizai, you’re the best.” Even though the kitty seemed unfeeling most of the time, it sure had its way of comforting people.
“Your cat looks so soft…”
Zhang Zhining reached out his hand to pet the cat, but it slapped it away uncourteously. It nuzzled Lin Ning’s chest and leisurely swayed its tail, looking nothing like the same cat that had just thrown paws.
“Xizai’s a little shy with strangers. Did he scratch you?” Lin Ning let go of the cat to inspect Zhang Zhining’s hand. He turned it over and over again but found no wounds. It seemed that the kitty kept its claws retracted.
The cat looked at its empty paw unhappily. It glared at Zhang Zhining, getting even more annoyed as it watched their fingers touch.
“I’m fine.” Zhang Zhining smiled. Why was the cat so hostile?
“Huh? The server’s working again…” Lin Ning looked at the blinking screen and quickly scooped the kitty out of the frame. Usually, he’d leave the cat out of the stream, but this time he got careless, and half the cat’s face was exposed.
“More like, the Shine team fixed the issue. They’ve been using all kinds of methods to advertise you these past two days — they must really want to make this stream to be perfect,” Zhang Zhining explained.
“Ah.” Lin Ning nodded. “Alright, let’s start, then. I’ll go wash my hands.”
[What happened? My screen went dark for a second and now there are two guys!!!]
[Oh my god! I’m getting thirsty. This new guy’s voice sounds so good! Lemon Kitchen’s voice is still hoarse. My heart’s aching for him…]
[I think Lemon Kitchen’s actual voice is clear and melodious, but this new guy’s voice pierces straight to my heart! The voice of a god!]
[Oh my! I think I’m going to die of happiness watching this stream. Where are these godly men from?!]
[AAAAAH I dare you to show us your face! I bet you’re super hot!]
[Both their fingers are so long and defined. They look so good. And they’re wearing matching white outfits uwaaaa……]
[Was the cat earlier yours? I couldn’t get a screenshot. Someone please send a screenshot. I wanna touch it.]
[I’m a fangirl of the Film King, and I genuinely believe that the Film King is hiding among us. Show yourself, Film King. Hahahaha!]
Lin Ning came back from washing his hands and greeted his audience.
“Hello everyone! Good morning. It’s 9:10 a.m. now, so let’s start the stream. I think the server was jammed up earlier, which is why the screen went dark. But, to make it up to you guys, I’ll be doing another giveaway later. One more set of hot pot to the extra winner.”
“As you can see, I have a friend here with me to help with today’s stream… That’s right — you’re right — my friend’s an absolute hottie.”
Zhang Zhining couldn’t help but laugh. The serious face Lin Ning wore as he praised him was too funny.
“His job today is to review the food I give him. As you can see, there are four pots in front of you with boiling water inside.”
Lin Ning pulled out four soup bases, showing them to the camera one by one before pouring them into the pots.
“The spiciest one we have is the sour and spicy soup base, you should be able to smell it. It’s a little intense, so I wouldn’t recommend it to children and the elderly. But once you get used to this flavor, it’s irresistible.”
Zhang Zhining received the other three humorously.
“The soup base my friend’s adding into his pot is the fungus soup base. It’s not spicy, but it’s not mild either. The flavor’s in the middle of everything, so it’s a very popular choice. Next, we have the tomato soup base, which is sweet and sour. It’s especially delicious, in my opinion. Lastly, we have the clear soup base. It may be a little plain, but it pairs perfectly with any kind of seasoning.”
“Now I’ll introduce you to the seasoning. Everyone gets a little bowl to store the seasonings. Here… Sesame paste, mashed garlic, chopped scallions, coriander, sesame oil, seafood sauce, mushroom sauce, oyster sauce, crushed peanuts, chili oil… We’ve got everything, and you can adjust your seasoning’s flavor however you want.”
“Which do you prefer?” Lin Ning asked Zhang Zhining gently.
Zhang Zhining’s eyes glazed over as he looked at the options. “I don’t really get it. Why don’t you make one for me?”
“Are you okay with spicy stuff? Scallions?” Lin Ning asked.
Zhang Zhining sniffed the scallions. “Yeah, I can take them.”
“Alright… I’ll make you two portions. If you don’t like them, you can try making your own.” He made two portions, one with a northern touch and the other southern, then made another bowl for himself.
[The soup bases smell so good!!!]
[I’m about to die of hunger! Lemme eat! I’ll do anything!]
[Omg this man is so gentle! I want him to make a bowl of seasoning for me too.]
[What do I have to do to meet a man like him?]
[I wish I could possess this new guy. The hot pot’s attracting me way more than he is! I just wanna put some hot pot into my mouth!]
[I’m crying with Nutrient Doses in my hand. Ever since I started watching his streams, I stopped wanting to eat Nutrient Doses.]
[Damn, the big bosses are starting to Reward!!! Everyone, check out the Rewards!!!]
The sound of Reward notifications caught Lin Ning’s attention. He couldn’t help but glance at the screen.
[ZhangYiMing] gave you 100 Spacecrafts.
[Fat_bunny] gave you 100 Spacecrafts.
[ZhangYiMing] gave you 100 Spacecrafts.
[ZhangYiMing] gave you 100 Spacecrafts.
……
Lin Ning went dizzy with the string of Rewards. He could clear his debt any minute now, then he’d be able to live the rest of his life happily. A Spacecraft was worth a thousand Stars, and there were so many of them raining down on him.
But… Why was this Film King suddenly giving him so much attention?
