Chapter 28: The Audience’s Frenzy

Watching Li Xiao eat with such gusto, the viewers in his livestream felt an unbearable craving.

"Damn, look at how much he’s enjoying that!"

"I’m still stuck working overtime, and the streamer’s already eating eel! That’s too much!"

"I just searched for it—it’s only 18 kilometers away. I’m heading over right now! Everyone, watch me find the streamer in person!"

"Are the portions at this place really that generous? Eels that thick for only 58? That’s an incredible deal!"

"I really want some too, but I’ve already spent this month’s paycheck."

"You guys are still thinking about eating claypot? I’m just waiting to snag some red envelopes from the streamer to save up for instant noodles tonight!"

"Brother Li, my dear Brother Li! I’m a student. Streamer, can you send me 58 so I can try the claypot?"

...

Li Xiao found it quite amusing to see a crowd of viewers in his livestream complaining about being broke.

In other streams, it was always the streamers complaining about being broke, begging their viewers for donations.

But in his stream, the roles were suddenly reversed.

He knew that most of the viewers were just fooling around.

But having just received 400,000, he was in an excellent mood and couldn’t be bothered to figure out if they were being serious or just joking.

"I’m seeing a lot of viewers saying they can’t afford to eat. That just won’t do."

"People are iron, and food is steel; miss one meal, and you’ll be starving."

"If you really starve to death, who’s going to be left to watch my streams?"

"There are exactly 820 people in the stream right now."

"So I’ll give out 82 red envelopes, each containing 58."

"Your Brother Li doesn’t have much, but he’s got cash."

"Spam ’Brother Li is awesome!’ in the chat!"

The words had barely left his mouth before he was already tapping the function to send out red envelopes.

He sent out a flood of "lucky draw" cash red envelopes, each for 58, as if they were nothing.

The conditions Li Xiao set for claiming the envelopes were also very simple.

You just had to be one of his followers, post "Brother Li is awesome!" in the chat, and stay in the stream for five minutes to be eligible for the drawing.

His reasoning for these conditions was also simple. Of the more than 800 people in the stream, only a small portion were actually his followers.

Most people, once they followed, wouldn’t bother to unfollow.

A large portion of them would convert directly into Li Xiao’s genuine followers.

The next time he streamed, the chances of his channel appearing in their recommended feeds would increase dramatically.

The viewers had never seen such a generous streamer before.

Every single one of them was instantly as hyped as if they’d been shot up with adrenaline.

After all, these were cash red envelopes worth 58 each, and there were a whopping 82 of them.

Almost all of the 800-plus viewers tried to enter at the same time.

For a moment, the stream even seemed to lag slightly. The screen was completely covered by "Brother Li is awesome!," and for a full thirty seconds, no one could see the actual video feed.

Massive walls of "Brother Li is awesome!" spammed the screen.

The massive surge in chat activity, along with the huge number of red envelopes, instantly attracted a large crowd of new viewers. Some of the current viewers quickly called their friends to come and try for the red envelopes together.

In just one minute, the stream, which originally had just over 800 viewers, suddenly had more than 4,000, and the count was still climbing rapidly.

After all, that was 82 red envelopes worth 58 each, totaling nearly 5,000. Who wouldn’t be green with envy seeing that???

Winning just one would cover dinner for the day. Winning two meant you could go out for a nice meal.

Li Xiao also knew that he couldn’t send out all the red envelopes at once, otherwise the crowd would disperse just as quickly.

So, he calmly ate the claypot eel with his right hand, while his left hand held his phone, continuously sending out red envelopes.

His three dorm mates had tuned into the stream early on. Seeing his incredibly generous actions, they were all dumbstruck.

Zhou Yu swallowed hard. He now realized that when Li Xiao had told him that morning that he wasn’t short on money, he hadn’t just been polite—it was the absolute truth.

After all, his friend had just given away nearly 5,000 in the stream without even batting an eye.

The 4,000 he had borrowed really was nothing in comparison.

It took a full three minutes for Li Xiao to finally send out all 82 red envelopes.

He glanced at the stream’s viewer count: over 9,200 people.

’Not bad, not bad at all. For just under 5,000, I boosted the viewer count from 820 to 9,200. That’s more than a tenfold increase.’

He knew full well that most of these 9,000-plus people were just there for the red envelope grab.

They would leave as soon as the giveaway ended, but a small portion of them would stick around, having become interested in the stream’s content.

Once most people had completed the prerequisites for the drawing, the comment section—which had been a solid wall of "Brother Li is awesome!"—finally started to show a few scattered comments from other viewers.

"Oh my god, now I’ve seen everything. 82 red envelopes, each with 58!"

"Damn! Based on the stream title, I thought this was some poser rich kid begging for donations. I didn’t expect a real one to show up!"

"Giving away thousands just like that! Awesome, I’m definitely following!"

"Does anyone have the inside scoop on this streamer? He’s unbelievably generous."

"Do you need a girlfriend, handsome? I just turned 16, I’m petite, limber, and easy to knock over."

"I won! I actually won! Thanks for the giveaway, streamer! I can eat a nice meal tonight!"

"This is the first time I’ve ever won a red envelope in a livestream!! Thank you, streamer!"

"I was just eyeing a skin in a game. Thanks, streamer, you’re my sugar daddy now!"

...

Once the five minutes were up, people began receiving their red envelopes one by one.

Watching the torrent of praise, Li Xiao just shook his head with a wry smile.

’These guys are some serious brown-nosers.’

"As long as everyone’s happy, that’s what matters!"

"My stream is all about everyone having a good time watching!"

"Okay, I’m not accepting friend requests, so you can all save your energy."

"The second round of dishes is arriving. Let’s see what’s next."

The owner clearly understood that with claypot dishes, the most important thing is to eat them while they’re fresh, sizzling hot, and perfectly cooked, so he didn’t bring out all the pots at once.

Soon, the second and third claypots were also brought over by an older waitress.

Just like before, she opened the lids with her "iron hands," and a wave of fragrance washed over him.

This time, they were Claypot Beef Tongue and Claypot Crispy Intestines.

Li Xiao picked up a piece of beef tongue.

The knife work on this piece of beef tongue was very unique.

Anyone who’s eaten beef tongue should know that its cross-section isn’t very large.

If it’s simply sliced, the already small pieces of tongue will shrink and become even smaller after being cooked.

To avoid this, the chef here used a "blossom cut" technique.

When slicing the beef tongue, they didn’t cut all the way through on the first pass, instead stopping the blade just short of the other side.

Then, on the second slice, they cut all the way through.

This "blossom cut" technique effectively doubles the surface area of each slice, so even after shrinking during cooking, the piece of tongue still looks very large.

The reason for this is quite simple: beef tongue is a very unique cut of meat.