Say Your Lines!1
As a food streamer, the most important thing is that the way you eat makes others feel hungry too, making them unable to resist wanting to eat more when they’re with you.
Lizi had this exact quality.
Sun Miao watched for a few moments and discovered that the level of sheer satisfaction Lizi showed when eating dumplings was much higher than that of others. She was originally like a hamster, chewing on the food that puffed out her cheeks, but after a few bites, she didn’t just swallow it whole. Instead, her eyes went wide and round. She had a cute type of appearance, with dark black pupils, and at this moment, she appeared especially like an ancient spirit, strange and weird2.
A look of astonishment appeared in her eyes, but they were shining brightly, as if she had eaten something unbelievably delicious.
After chewing a few more times, she suddenly lifted her chin and swallowed the dumpling in her mouth.
Sun Miao watched her eat for a little while, but only a little while. Once Lizi finished that one dumpling, Sun Miao turned back to her phone. Lizi was quite pretty, and as a fellow woman, Sun Miao could appreciate beautiful girls.
However, it would be rude to keep staring, so a few glances were enough.
After playing on her phone for a while, Sun Miao felt that something wasn’t quite right. Thinking it over… it seemed a bit too quiet. She couldn’t help but lift her head and look at Lizi again, only to see her completely engrossed in eating. She still looked like a hamster, but the frequency at which she ate the dumplings had increased significantly. Before she had even finished the dumpling currently stuffing her mouth, her chopsticks were already dipping the next one into the sauce, ready for the next attack.
No, you’re a food streamer, Lizi, say your lines! Sun Miao thought, getting a little anxious.
The expressions of joy, surprise, and satisfaction Lizi showed from eating the delicious food were indeed very eye-catching, but she was a food streamer. She had to say a few words and give some commentary eventually. Yet, she just kept eating over there, one after another, without ever stopping.
Sun Miao watched her for a while and realized she wasn’t getting even a sliver of a glance, so Sun Miao could only lower her head and play on her phone. While on her phone, she kept her ears pricked up, only to find that aside from the rustling sound of the dipping sauce container and the sounds of eating, there was nothing else.
Lizi, who had been chattering away nonstop before, was now as if someone had pressed the mute button.
After a while, customers arrived, and Sun Miao no longer had the leisure to observe Lizi, focusing wholeheartedly on boiling dumplings. Everyone would chat with Sun Miao for a bit, and after they were done talking, they’d leave with their dumplings. After serving three or four people like this, Sun Miao finally had a moment of free time and heard Lizi’s voice.
“Phew, that was delicious.”
At that moment, Sun Miao had some doubts: Is she really a food streamer? How could she not say any lines? After all that, it was just that one sentence.
But her appetite was truly that of a big stomach king.
These days, many of the big stomach kings online were fake, especially the food streamers who were skinny yet had enormous appetites. The most ridiculous one Sun Miao had seen before had eaten thirteen bowls of staple food, eight bundles of thread noodles, two small cakes, and various snacks in one meal… In short, Sun Miao felt that if a person’s stomach could really hold that much, it must have been something of a different dimension pocket3 stomach.
Moreover, in many cases, the swallowing shots of these streamers who were exposed as fakes were edited; most only showed chewing without the action of swallowing. During the editing cuts, these streamers would just spit the food out. There were also videos exposed by passersby showing a streamer at a buffet, eating for the camera while spitting food out to the side.
Even in a live broadcast, faking is possible. For example, by wearing long-sleeved clothes or having a higher table, they could use the cover of their eating motions to spit the food out of their mouths.
But real big stomach kings did exist, and one was right in front of Sun Miao’s eyes. Thirty dumplings… Sun Miao could only eat fifteen, but this girl had eaten them all. This portion size was quite large, but still within an acceptable range.
Sun Miao’s dumplings were made with real, hearty ingredients. If she had eaten fifty dumplings in one go… what Sun Miao should be doing right now was dialing for an ambulance.
After she finished eating, Lizi seemed to be in a daze for a moment before she finally began to speak words of praise. At this, Sun Miao’s ears perked up. She was actually a little bit inwardly passionate4. Hearing others praise her inevitably made her happy.
Lizi praised for a while, then began her closing remarks. After she finished speaking, she packed up all her equipment, came to the front of Sun Miao’s stall, and scanned the code to pay. “Boss, your dumplings are seriously so delicious, but why is no one coming? This location is just too remote. The spot near the pedestrian street before was great. Boss, I suggest you go back to your previous spot to set up your stall. Your culinary skills shouldn’t be buried here.”
Sun Miao smiled. “Actually, I have quite a few customers. There were many before you arrived. This just happens to be a lull; more people will come in a bit.”
Hearing Sun Miao say this, Lizi assumed she was just trying not to be looked down upon, so she could only smile and say, “I’ll come again next time, they were really so delicious.”
If she had stayed a little longer, she would have seen the grand occasion of the second wave of customers. This batch consisted of people who didn’t have to work in the morning and had nothing to do. It was just past the morning rush, around eight or nine o’clock. Plus, Sun Miao’s stall this time was in a more suburban location that wasn’t prone to traffic jams, so this group of idle and wealthy people came at this time.
Zhou Ling’s mom’s little sister was the first to charge over, jogging all the way and fanning herself with her hand. “I’m here, I’m here, little boss! Is there any left? Give me two servings.”
Because there were a few more uncles and aunties today, Sun Miao packed up a little earlier than she did on the first day. When the time came, Sun Miao sent a message in the group chat—”All sold out, come back tomorrow~”—and then packed up and went home.
In the evening, Sun Miao told Su Ruixi about the matter with Lizi. Under the table, her feet were crossed, with her left foot hooked behind her right heel. She was sitting relatively far back, allowing her right foot to dangle and swing a few times over her left.
It was clear that Sun Miao was in a good mood.
“I wonder when she’ll post about me.”
Su Ruixi’s movements while eating paused for a moment. She couldn’t help but ask her, “Do you care a lot?”
Sun Miao took a mouthful of rice before answering, “Yeah, if she posts it, other people will be able to see it. I’m so curious about everyone’s comments.”
To Su Ruixi, this sentence meant—danger averted. Oh, so that’s what it’s about, she thought to herself. Su Ruixi also started to smile. “Then everyone will definitely praise you.”
Hearing Su Ruixi say this, Sun Miao let out a hehe laugh, a little embarrassed. “Actually, before, you know that post they made online about my beef pancakes and changfen? Susu-jie might not know, but someone took pictures of my food and posted them online, trying to find where I set up my stall. And because the photos were taken so well, everyone was praising me and saying they really wanted to try it.”
“Seeing others praise me makes my mood better too.”
This is actually common for many people, especially those who have social media accounts and post creative content for fun. For example, authors, artists, and video bloggers will engage in a high degree of self-searching.5 If they see praise, they’ll be happy; if they see negative comments, they’ll be dejected.
This is human nature, unavoidable. So, Su Ruixi asked with a bit of mischief, “Then if you see people saying unpleasant things, will you get upset?”
Sun Miao shook her head, then nodded a moment later. “I probably would. If someone, without even taking a single bite, said my prices were exorbitant and that I treat others as wronged big heads,6 or that the customers who buy my food are all idiots, I would still feel upset and uncomfortable.”
People always say not to let external comments affect you. But in reality, it’s hard for people living within the circle of a collective not to be swayed by others’ opinions of them. People who are truly stable as Mount Tai are actually very rare.
If you truly don’t care, it just proves that they haven’t hit your sore spot yet.
Take Su Ruixi, for example. She could accept people in her circle saying she relied on her parents and her family, that it wouldn’t have been so easy for her to establish herself on her own. She treated all these words as wind by the ear7, completely unconcerned. However, when she previously used a small account to look at posts discussing Sun Miao’s food stall in a group chat and saw negative comments, she couldn’t stop her fire from rising three zhang8, secretly battling people online from her office.
Su Ruixi had class; she would never use profanity, only using her sharp tongue to satirize people without swearing. Her words sometimes carried a bit of yin-yang strange air9, which would infuriate people. Coupled with her solid logic, no matter how others tried to twist things, they could never trap her.
But Su Ruixi only got this worked up over matters concerning Sun Miao. Her old house was on fire10. Just let her be.
Su Ruixi comforted Sun Miao, “There’s nothing in this world that can be liked by everyone, not even money. If you run into people saying bad things, just tell me and come to my side.”
Her words made Sun Miao’s eyes curve into a smile. Her feet, which had stopped moving under the table, couldn’t help but start swinging again. She knew her posture was improper when she ate, but Su Ruixi accepted her. In their own home, why did she need to be so formal even while eating?
“Okay, I will. Because even though I can’t get everyone to like me, Susu-jie definitely likes me!”
Hearing this, Su Ruixi felt very comfortable inside. She was satisfied and even a little proud, but her face showed none of it, only letting out a faint “Mm.” However, her unconsciously straightened back and puffed-out chest were all11 telling signs: she was feeling very proud indeed.
After dinner, Su Ruixi washed the dishes12, then returned to the sofa to watch TV. The two of them leaned against each other. Sun Miao sat on the sofa, her body pressed against Su Ruixi, her feet propped up on the edge of the cushion as she hunched back to play on her phone.
On the coffee table in front of them was a fruit platter Sun Miao had prepared earlier. In between watching the program, Su Ruixi would occasionally pick up a small fork to feed Sun Miao some fruit.
When the TV show was over, Su Ruixi asked Sun Miao, “How about it, have you scrolled to a store-exploring video13 about you yet?”
Sun Miao sighed. “Not yet. It probably wouldn’t be this fast, right? After all, it was just filmed this morning.”
Su Ruixi reached out, took her phone away, and leaned in closer herself. She kissed Sun Miao’s cheek. “Then stop looking at your phone, come play with me.”
Sun Miao licked her lips, unable to refuse.
As Sun Miao leaned in to kiss her, Su Ruixi let out a low laugh.
The author has something to say:
Actually, Su Ruixi was still secretly poking14 and feeling jealous… hehe.
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