Beauties in the Mukbang World

An Zhiwu returned to the hospital room.

She sat on the stool beside the bed, scrolling through her phone.

She probably wouldn't be able to livestream for the next couple of days, so she first posted a notice on Y Cat saying that she had family matters to attend to and couldn't livestream for the next few days.

Then she browsed the livestreaming forum.

In the "Mukbang" section, the post about her last induced-vomiting incident had sunk to the very bottom. The latest posts in the section discussed streamers using beauty filters, and one titled "Are There Any Real Beauties in the Mukbang World?" had been pushed to the number-one spot.

An Zhiwu opened the post and read: [I'm a veteran Y Cat user, and for the past few years I've followed a mukbang streamer called "Xiaoyu Loves to Eat." I'm sure everyone knows her; she's pretty well-known in the mukbang world. I used to think she was quite pretty. Sure, she had that influencer face, but she looked all right. But last night, I don't know what got into her, she actually decided to try streaming without a beauty filter. Scared me to death! In the middle of the night, I thought I'd seen a ghost. I just want to say, don't you have any idea what you look like? All those fans you worked so hard to build up have been scared away by your glorious face! I don't think there are any beauties in the mukbang world at all. If they were really pretty, they would've switched to talent streaming or appearance-based streaming long ago. Wouldn't acting cute and putting on a sweet voice be better than doing mukbang? If you disagree, come debate me!!]

Floor 1: Xiaoyu Loves to Eat must have been possessed that day. She actually turned off her beauty filter out of nowhere.

Floor 6: She probably thought the viewers in her livestream were all true fans, interested in watching her eat rather than in her looks.

Floor 7: I was there that day too. She scared me to death; her face was covered in pimples.

Floor 14: With mukbang streamers like them, it'd be a miracle if they had good skin.

Floor 16: That mukbang girl from the induced-vomiting controversy a while ago was pretty good-looking.

Floor 17: You mean "Three-Hundred-Jin An'an"?

Floor 25: That Three Hundred Jin really is pretty. I've been watching her cook every day these past few days, and I've gone from a casual viewer to a fan.

Floor 43: I bet a pack of spicy strips she's an ugly bitch too.

Floor 55: I'm dying. Ask her to turn off her beauty filter and see what happens.

Floor 64: She livestreamed with that fashion blogger "Qianqianzi" a few days ago. The blogger looked pretty much the same in the video as she does in the photos she usually posts, okay? That shows An'an wasn't using a beauty filter, or was only using a light one.

Floor 77: Isn't the person talking about the fashion blogger a little too naive? Haven't you heard of "photo deception"?

An Zhiwu didn't know how it happened either. Did she just naturally attract traffic, so that every topic somehow led back to her?

She closed the forum and opened Y Cat Live. Sure enough, a bunch of anti-fans had left comments demanding that she turn off her beauty filter.

An Zhiwu was speechless. She hadn't been using a beauty filter in the first place!

When you roam the jianghu, how can you take a knife every single day?~~

As An Zhiwu read, she suddenly turned to An Zhiheng. "An Zhiheng, tell me, am I pretty?"

An Zhiheng had been playing Honor of Kings. When he heard her question, he failed to use Flash in time, and his screen went gray.

"Don't you have any idea what you look like?"

An Zhiwu kept pressing him. "Then do you think I'm pretty?"

An Zhiheng glanced at her. "We're twins. I'm this handsome, so how far off could you be?"

"But we're fraternal twins."

Though they were twins, one took after their father and the other their mother. An Zhiheng was the handsome type, with regular features, thick brows, and a sharp, swordlike look.

An Zhiwu's features were more delicate. Her nose and mouth were small, but her eyes were large, giving her a lively look at first glance.

An Zhiheng didn't really want to answer such a boring question. Still playing his game, he said, "What's wrong? Did things go badly with that Dr. Song? Suddenly lost confidence in yourself?"

"Just shut up!"

Then she glanced around the room, feeling a little guilty. Fortunately, no one was paying them any attention.

An Zhiwu suddenly stood up and pulled the curtain between the beds shut.

Seeing what she did, An Zhiheng gave a derisive laugh.

After that, An Zhiwu didn't chat with An Zhiheng anymore. In any case, she wouldn't hear anything nice out of his mouth.

A little after seven that evening, Mother An returned with a bag of clothes and an insulated food container.

An Zhiwu took the things from her. "Why didn't you tell me when you got downstairs? I could've come down to meet you."

"It's fine. Your mom isn't even fifty yet, not some woman in her seventies or eighties."

An Zhiwu opened the insulated container Mother An had brought. It had three tiers: sweet-and-sour spare ribs, potatoes with green peppers, and a loofah and egg soup.

As Mother An sorted An Zhiheng's clothes, she told An Zhiwu, "An'an, go buy some rice at the cafeteria. This lunchbox was too small, so I didn't bring any. Mom made these dishes at noon."

An Zhiwu immediately set off for the hospital cafeteria to get two portions of rice.

Zhikang's hospital cafeteria was open to the public.

Meals could even be ordered and delivered to the hospital rooms.

By the time An Zhiwu arrived at the hospital cafeteria, the mealtime rush had already passed, and there were very few people there.

"Auntie, sorry for the trouble, but could I have two portions of rice?" An Zhiwu said to the cafeteria worker at the serving window.

"Two yuan, young lady."

An Zhiwu took the lunchboxes. "Okay, thank you, Auntie."

Then she left the cafeteria and headed back to the hospital room.

Song Yihe was eating with a colleague in the cafeteria.

When he saw An Zhiwu come in for rice, he couldn't help looking up at her.

He Yajun followed Song Yihe's gaze. "That young lady is the twin sister of the appendicitis patient you want to operate on?"

As for Song Yihe coming to the office that day and saying he wanted to perform an appendicitis operation—

They had been stunned on the spot.

They had even wondered whether this big shot was trying to steal their rice bowls.

Otherwise, why would a liver-surgery big shot come over and compete with them for an appendicitis operation?

Only later did they learn he was doing it for a certain girl.

Only after An Zhiwu had gotten her rice and left did Song Yihe give a noncommittal "Mm."

He Yajun clicked his tongue twice. "She really is quite pretty. So this is the type our pure-hearted, desireless Dr. Song likes."

Song Yihe smiled. "She really is quite cute."

"Oho, Dr. Song, your heart's starting to stir! How many angels in white at our hospital are you going to leave heartbroken?" He Yajun had finally gotten something on Song Yihe and wasn't about to let him off so quickly. "Hey, Yihe, does the girl know you're interested in her?"

Song Yihe froze for three seconds. "I don't know."

By that, he meant he didn't know whether An Zhiwu knew how he felt about her.

He Yajun couldn't let that pass. "Yihe, you can't go on like this. I'm telling you, a pretty girl like her won't lack suitors. If you don't pursue her, watch out or someone else will win her over."

Song Yihe paused. Judging by what An Zhiwu had said in his office today, she probably liked him? The girl who could cook must have been herself.

"Don't worry, Old He. I know what I'm doing."

He Yajun wanted to pass on some more "secrets to romance," but one look at Song Yihe's face made him decide against it. "As long as you know what you're doing. In any case, make your move quickly."