Jingting had thought livestreaming with Daoist Chang Kong would be easy, but now that he was actually doing it, he realized it was a little difficult after all. Because the fried meatballs smelled so good!
He felt Yun Zhaozhao wasn't trying to torment the livestream viewers with food at all. She was clearly trying to torment him.
Fortunately, there was no rule against eating during a livestream, so Jingting streamed while reaching through the folding window, then sneakily began helping himself to meatballs.
Not only did Daoist Chang Kong see Jingting sneaking meatballs, but so did the more than twenty-three hundred viewers in the livestream. They watched him pop meatball after meatball into his mouth, polishing off over a dozen in one go.
The viewers:
[Just how good are these fried meatballs? He's eating them one after another. Doesn't he get sick of them?]
[Can't speak for anything else, but I could put away a dozen of those fragrant, freshly fried meatballs in one go too.]
[I happened to be wondering what to have for lunch. Might as well order some fried meatballs! Daoist, do you sell these?]
[I want some too, +1.]
Jingting ate fifteen or sixteen in a row, only stopping to respond to the comments once he was thoroughly satisfied:
Jingting: [We do, but not online. If you want some, you can come straight to our Clear Breeze Temple to buy them.]
Jingting: [Of course our Clear Breeze Temple's fried meatballs are delicious. I'm not bragging, but no matter how many kinds of fried meatballs you've tried, ours will definitely be the best of the lot.]
A viewer named "Justice from Above" picked a fight in the livestream: [Daoist temples are selling fried meatballs these days? Now that's something I've never heard of or seen before.]
Jingting didn't indulge them in the slightest: [What else should we sell? Your freshly dropped brain?]
Justice from Above: [...????]
The other viewers all tagged @Justice from Above:
[Why would you go and provoke him for no reason? Don't you know his main job is roasting people, and selling stuff is just his side gig?]
[You should be glad you caught him at a good time. He used to charge to roast you. You got roasted for free today. That's a huge bargain for you.]
[To earn the Daoist's insults in this life, I'd gladly be a creep again in the next!]
Left speechless by the fans ganging up on them, Justice from Above soon left Jingting's livestream. But Jingting wasn't especially pleased either. He wasn't stupid, of course he could hear the sarcasm from these haters posing as fans, so he immediately began attacking indiscriminately: [I don't need you haters chiming in to help. I have a mouth. I can do my own roasting.]
The fans weren't angry at being insulted. They even humored him: [We know, we know. That foul mouth of yours was why we became fans in the first place!]
Jingting: [...???]
While Jingting and his fans were in the livestream
loving and fighting each other,
Daoist Chang Kong had already finished frying all the meatballs and begun preparing the next dish. Since this was his first time cooking for everyone on a livestream, he had deliberately chosen a dish that really tested his knife skills-chrysanthemum tofu.
Chrysanthemum tofu involved cutting soft tofu into long, thin strips without breaking it apart or cutting all the way through. The knife therefore had to be both quick and steady. When the tofu was finally placed in broth and slowly opened up, it really did look like a chrysanthemum.
The dish was somewhat similar to Wensi tofu. It was a state-banquet-level dish that ordinary households rarely made. Daoist Chang Kong had practiced in private for a long time before he could present these exquisite, chrysanthemum-like pieces of tofu on camera.
Actually, many viewers had seen this dish online before. If Daoist Chang Kong had started by saying, "Watch me demonstrate chrysanthemum tofu," they might not have thought much of it, and might even have nitpicked. But precisely because he hadn't said anything, quietly pulling out something impressive after frying the meatballs, everyone was struck by the same astonished thought: "Holy shit, who knew a shabby Daoist temple had so many hidden talents?"
Just as everyone was flooding the chat with "They managed to turn a block of tofu into something I can't afford," Daoist Chang Kong began showing off again.
-This time, he chose melon carving.
Since coming to Clear Breeze Temple, Daoist Chang Kong had not only made tremendous progress in cooking, but had also improved considerably at carving. Bamboo and wood carving had already been well within his abilities, so a mere melon carving was naturally even less of a challenge.
He first picked out a particularly round watermelon, then took up a small carving knife and began carving and picking away at it. Not only were the viewers curious, but even Jingting couldn't help being curious. Forgetting about the livestream, he went straight over to see what Daoist Chang Kong was planning to carve.
But Daoist Chang Kong pushed him away, actually refusing to let him look.
Jingting said, "Why so mysterious? Let me see!"
Daoist Chang Kong said, "You can look once it's finished."
Unexpectedly, Jingting proved quite agreeable and readily accepted. "Okay! Hurry up, then. I can't wait."
The viewers hanging around Jingting's livestream had originally come to watch him roast people, but as they watched, their focus shifted. Now, not a single person wanted to watch Jingting roast anyone. They were all waiting in the livestream along with him to see what Daoist Chang Kong would ultimately carve.
There was no denying that watching an artisan carve was incredibly relaxing, especially when the artisan was so skilled, every cut precise and clean. It felt as though that tiny carving knife came alive in his hands, while the round watermelon became remarkably obedient.
Daoist Chang Kong carved stroke by stroke, first shaping the rough outline of a face on the watermelon's rind, then gradually adding eyebrows, eyes...
Jingting had promised not to look, but how could he possibly be that obedient? He still couldn't resist leaning over for a peek, and as he watched, he even remembered to narrate for the viewers. "So far, it looks like my senior brother is planning to carve a person. These are the eyebrows, these are the eyes... this is..."
As Jingting spoke, he began running out of words, because he realized that the more he looked, the more this person resembled him.
He was a little excited and a little overwhelmed by the attention. "You're carving me, right?"
Smiling, Daoist Chang Kong held the unfinished watermelon carving up in front of Jingting and said fondly, "Well? Does it look like you? It isn't finished yet. It'll look even more like you when it's done."
Jingting nodded vigorously. "Yes, exactly like me! I'm going to frame this watermelon carving and put it by the head of my bed..."
Daoist Chang Kong said calmly, "Then you'll have a spoiled version of yourself."
Jingting: "..."
The viewers had only ever seen Jingting leave other people speechless before. This was their first time seeing someone else leave him speechless, and they found it quite novel. As a result, although there wasn't anything particularly special in that day's livestream, the viewer count rose steadily, and everyone watched with relish.
With the New Year drawing closer, Xu Tingting and Xie Yu finally began preparing to go home for the holiday.
Xu Tingting's family lived locally, so getting home was fairly convenient. Xie Yu's situation was different. Her family lived in a small county called Ji County, another two-hour bus ride from City A. So while packing, Xie Yu spent a long time debating whether to put a few talisman-tube blind boxes in her suitcase.
Later, considering that the blind boxes didn't take up much space, that she might be able to set up a stall and sell some back home, and that leaving them at school would serve no purpose anyway, she ultimately packed them along with her luggage and took them home.
But once she got home, Xie Yu spent every day either eating or sleeping. When she wasn't eating or sleeping, she held her phone and watched dramas or called her boyfriend for some romance. Her carefully laid plans to set up a stall selling talisman-tube blind boxes were completely forgotten.
Only later, when she was sorting through her luggage and came across the blind boxes, did she remember them. Having gone to all that trouble to lug them home from school, Xie Yu certainly didn't want to carry them back again. Some relatives happened to be visiting her family that day, so she simply gave one of the talisman-tube blind boxes to their child as a small gift.
After all, Yun Zhaozhao had already said that Clear Breeze Temple could reimburse them for giving a few away occasionally, treating it as advertising.
After giving away the blind box, Xie Yu forgot all about the matter and settled down to prepare for the New Year without a care.
Then, two days before the New Year, Xie Yu suddenly received a call from her relative.
Over the phone, her relative asked excitedly, "Xiao Yu, where did you get those talisman-tube blind boxes?"
Without thinking much of it, Xie Yu answered honestly, "I brought them back from Clear Breeze Temple. Why, Auntie?"
Her relative was beside herself with excitement. "You have no idea how accurate that blind box was! The paper talisman inside the one you gave my daughter said 'Sudden Wealth Talisman.' I was wondering just how we were supposed to get rich, but guess what? We got notice today that they're building a high-speed rail station in our area, and our house is about to be demolished!!!! Isn't that sudden wealth? Overnight wealth, at that! Accurate, it's so accurate..."
Xie Yu: "...!!!!"
Her relative said, "Xiao Yu, wouldn't you say Clear Breeze Temple's talismans are accurate?"
Through her tears, Xie Yu offered her congratulations. "Accurate. They're incredibly accurate! Congratulations, Auntie."
Her relative said, "Congratulations to us both. Oh, Xiao Yu, do you have any extra talisman tubes left? If you do, I'd like a few more! Several people I know are asking me for them now. Don't worry, money definitely isn't a problem..."
Xie Yu and Xu Tingting had each taken ten talisman-tube blind boxes. Apart from the two she had given away at school and the one she had given her relative's daughter, Xie Yu still had seven left. Since this was her own relative, she felt too embarrassed to mark up the price and simply told her to pay whatever she thought appropriate. The next day, she asked her father to deliver the blind boxes to her relative, who promptly transferred her 5,000 yuan.