Annoying Streamer

The next morning, Jiang Feng went to the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant to help open up.

He had spent the previous night online researching the Good Taste Culinary Competition. The first competition was held in March of this year, a small affair with a first prize of 10,000 yuan, 6,000 yuan for second place, and 3,000 yuan for third. The contestants were all amateur chefs or young chefs from small restaurants. The scale was not large, and it didn't cause much of a stir, which was why Jiang Feng had never heard of it.

Perhaps because the first competition went well, the second Good Taste Culinary Competition was quite grand. Not only were the prizes much more generous, but there was also significant advertising on the official Good Taste website. When Jiang Feng searched, he found many news reports promoting this competition. Compared to the previous one, the competition process this time seemed much more formal.

Registration began in January, followed by preliminary rounds, qualifiers, and then the top 32, top 16, top 8, and top 4, before finally reaching the championship. Furthermore, the promotion was not limited to the A City area. Good Taste wanted to make a big splash and set up six preliminary competition zones across the country, with full live broadcasts from television and online streaming platforms. In this light, the 100,000 yuan prize for the champion seemed almost trivial. If this competition truly became popular, it would be an excellent opportunity for outstanding young chefs to gain recognition.

It was no wonder Wu Minqi was tempted to sign up.

The competition also started in March of next year, with over four months remaining.

The gap between Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi was not something that could be closed in just four months.

Jiang Feng was cutting vegetables absentmindedly.

"Oh, right, Xiao Feng, I thought about what you asked me yesterday. The mushroom flavor in your dish was too strong. We should change it. How about mushroom soup with white radish?" Jiang Jiankang, who was also cutting vegetables, suddenly remembered and said.

"White radish soup?" White radish soup sounded like it would pair better with other ingredients, but this would change the basic ingredients of the dish.

However, Jiang Jiankang's suggestion reminded Jiang Feng that white radish was indeed a good ingredient. It was available year-round, moisturized the lungs, cleared phlegm, was slightly spicy and sweet when eaten raw, and cleared heat and relieved greasiness when simmered in soup. Most importantly, it absorbed flavors and was very versatile, able to mellow out ingredients with strong and distinct flavors.

Simmering a pot of radish and mushroom soup as a side seemed like a good option.

Until the lunch service began, Jiang Feng was still pondering what other ingredients to add to the soup.

Liu Qian, carrying her schoolbag, sat in her usual spot by the window and ordered Preserved Vegetable Chicken Feet, Shredded Cabbage, and a cup of Hot Milk Tea.

As the weather turned cold, the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant stopped selling iced drinks like Sour Plum Drink and Mung Bean Soup, switching to hot drinks like soy milk, milk, and milk tea. However, the sales of milk tea had always been poor. Not everyone could get used to milk tea brewed manually without artificial sweeteners, let alone at a price several times higher than other milk tea shops.

When the dishes arrived, Liu Qian, as usual, opened her live stream but was startled by the sudden increase in her viewership.

It had jumped from single digits directly past the 1,000 mark.

Could it be that I'm going to be famous?

Liu Qian thought to herself.

She changed the name of her live stream to "Daily Lunch" and waved to the six viewers in her stream. "Hello everyone, I'm Qianqian. Today I'm still having lunch at our Club President's family restaurant. The dishes I ordered are Preserved Vegetable Chicken Feet, Shredded Cabbage, and Hot Milk Tea. I'm going to start eating now!"

After that, she stopped talking and focused entirely on eating.

The camera angle remained the suffocating, nostril-focused view.

"Annoying Streamer, hand over yesterday's seasoning recipe!"

"Yeah, yeah, Annoying Streamer, hurry up and give us the seasoning recipe!"

"Annoying Streamer, annoying people online."

"Annoying Streamer is a rich person! Eating such a lavish meal for lunch every day."

More and more netizens were entering, all of whom had watched the stream yesterday and followed her. They were clamoring for Liu Qian to hand over yesterday's hot pot seasoning recipe.

There were also some new viewers who, seeing everyone calling her "Annoying Streamer," were curious and casually asked, "Why do you call her Annoying Streamer?"

Yan Jiaxiaoyu, who was the most aggressive in calling her "Annoying Streamer," immediately replied, "Because she's very annoying!"

Soon, Liu Qian proved with her actions what it meant to be an "Annoying Streamer."

She didn't look at her phone at all while eating, or rather, she didn't even have the awareness to look at her phone. In the first few weeks, her stream room was usually silent, with viewership hovering around thirty to forty people. No one spoke, and she had no awareness of interacting with her viewers. Over time, she stopped checking her phone as much.

The chicken feet made by Jiang Jiankang were very soft and flavorful. With a gentle pull, the skin and meat separated. Liu Qian was a regular at the restaurant and a member of Jiang Feng's club. Because she could get preferential treatment, the portions of her dishes were much larger than others.

While she was happily spitting out bones, Liu Qian looked up at her phone and was surprised to find so many bullet comments.

"Annoying Streamer, why do you all call me Annoying Streamer?" Liu Qian asked, with food in her mouth.

"Because you're very annoying." More than ten bullet comments flashed across the screen simultaneously.

Seeing that Liu Qian was finally watching the stream, the viewers who wanted the seasoning eagerly seized the opportunity to ask her to hand over the recipe.

"No, no, your comments are too dense, I can't see clearly. Can you speak slower?" Liu Qian had placed her phone quite far away for convenience while eating.

This was the first time they had seen a streamer complain about the audience's comments being too dense. For a moment, the viewers in the stream room were a bit stunned. Yan Jiaxiaoyu, relying on her quick typing speed, sent a bullet comment.

"Can't you use two phones, one for streaming and one for reading comments?"

"No, I don't have two phones." Liu Qian wasn't a professional streamer, so why would she buy another phone specifically for streaming?

Everyone started sending bullet comments asking for the seasoning recipe again.

Just then, the kitchen staff finished their work, and Jiang Feng came out from the back, looking for a chair to sit and rest.

"Club President," Liu Qian quickly called out to him. "My viewers want the seasoning recipe that you added to the hot pot yesterday."

Jiang Feng walked over and curiously glanced at Liu Qian's phone. Without paying attention, half of his face appeared on screen. He quickly turned away and said, "Salt, sesame oil, chopped green onions, soy sauce, chili flakes. But most people can't get the proportions right, so I suggest you just add a little salt for flavor."

"Got it! (ω」∠)"

"So professional ∠(」∠)_"

"Just adding salt is too lazy!"

"Is the streamer's Club President working at a restaurant? No wonder he knows so much!"

"No, this restaurant is owned by our Club President's family. It's delicious. It's right next to our A University. Come and eat if you have time!" Liu Qian seized the opportunity to advertise Jiang Feng's family restaurant and then picked up a chicken foot that she hadn't eaten yet and showed it to everyone in front of the camera.

The plump and tender chicken foot was still coated with preserved vegetables, a rich sauce color, and full of collagen, making mouths water.

After chatting with her viewers for a bit, Liu Qian turned off the stream because her phone was dying.

"Wait, did that Annoying Streamer even mention the restaurant's name when they advertised?" Yan Jiaxiaoyu suddenly realized.

"Annoying Streamer, lives up to their name."

"As expected of the Annoying Streamer!"

"Annoying Streamer, even their ads are annoying."

The group chatted happily in the black screen of the livestream room.

Liu Qian paid and prepared to head back to her dorm. Jiang Feng suddenly had a thought and asked, "Liu Qian, what do you think would make Mushroom Radish Soup taste better?"

"Mushroom Radish Soup?"