"This bitter melon soup is completely different from what I imagined! While it's a little bitter at first sip, the aftertaste is wonderfully sweet and fragrant. The bone marrow from pork shin bones has melted right into the broth—it smells so good!"
Sun Datou didn't care at all at this point. He grabbed a large pork bone and started gnawing on it, slurping away with total disregard for his image, his face plastered with a look of pure satisfaction.
The viewers in the livestream chat were left speechless.
[Is it really that exaggerated? Stop doing restaurant reviews and become a mukbang streamer instead—you definitely have a bright future ahead.]
[Not gonna lie, I'm actually drooling now. This place is called Qiongye Restaurant? I'm going to try it tomorrow!]
[Sun Datou, you've really thrown away all your shame just to take a sponsored gig this time. It's just bitter melon soup, do you really have to pull a face like that?]
Ergou, busy adjusting his phone mount, looked equally baffled. Was it really that good?
Weren't they supposed to come here and trash the place?
Still, it was just a simple livestream, so it didn't really matter if they strayed from the script.
He picked up his chopsticks and secretly tried a piece of Stuffed Bitter Melon with Meat. Although it had gone somewhat cold, the rich meat juices combined with the refreshing taste of the bitter melon burst directly across his palate.
Ergou couldn't help blurting out, "Holy crap, this is actually so good!"
The chat instantly exploded with even more comments.
[Who's that guy in the background?]
[Looks like the food here is genuinely amazing. Even the assistant is speaking up.]
[I feel like I'm about to drool, but I'm still a bit suspicious. Exactly how much did they pay you, Sun Datou? Doing your own sponsored ads is one thing, but hiring someone to play stooge with you? That's going way too far!]
Sun Datou looked at the chat, a flash of smugness in his eyes.
Good reviews or bad reviews, it didn't matter—a busy chat meant high popularity, and traffic was money!
Besides, those bitter melon dishes just now were genuinely exceptional. Even if he didn't like them, he had to admit that the chef at this little shop had real culinary skills.
Watching secretly from the side, Bai Mengmeng felt quite pleased.
It seemed the bitter melon feast had won them over. These two streamers probably wouldn't talk trash anymore, and she might even be able to use this opportunity to drum up some publicity.
To her surprise, Sun Datou actually drew in quite a few people. Over the next several days, fans kept coming in specifically asking for the bitter melon feast.
Bai Mengmeng had originally prepared other dishes, but every single customer who walked through the door wanted the bitter melon feast.
She had wanted to stand her ground and decide what dishes were served each day, but the customers were paying genuinely good money. For the sake of the cash, Bai Mengmeng spent three straight days cooking bitter melon until her very clothes seemed pickled in the scent.
While Kroraina was decent, she absolutely could not make any more bitter melon. If she kept going like this, she'd likely lose all her regular customers.
No matter how delicious a bitter melon feast was, you couldn't eat it every single day!
Besides, as the weather grew warmer, wild fruits were beginning to appear on the mountain.
Bai Mengmeng planned to head up the mountain to see if she could find any, ideally to create a couple of new dishes and switch things up.
...
Heading up the mountain once more, she knew the route like the back of her hand.
Suddenly, near the base of the mountain, her legs went weak—she hadn't even realized anything was wrong.
When a sharp pain flared in her foot, Bai Mengmeng looked down to find a small snake covered in fine scales, its triangular head raised, entirely grayish-brown and looking utterly vicious.
She was so terrified her soul nearly left her body and her scalp prickled with goosebumps. Fortunately, her bodily instincts kicked in even faster: with a flash of her sickle, the snake was neatly sliced in two.
Though the snake was dead, she didn't dare get too close. Instead, she whipped out her phone and hastily snapped a photo.
Some idiots might take this moment to post photos on social media, but Bai Mengmeng used to work as an emergency room doctor. She knew that if you were bitten by a snake, recording its appearance allowed doctors to quickly identify and administer the correct antivenom.
Bai Mengmeng turned to head down the mountain, but the pain in her foot grew increasingly intense, and her vision began to darken.
Out here in the remote wilderness with everyone else down below, even calling for an ambulance was useless—they'd never be able to find her.
Realizing she couldn't make it down on her own, Bai Mengmeng suddenly smacked her forehead. "Liang Cha! He's on the mountain!"
Her top disciple practiced martial arts in the back mountains every single day. Uncle Xu had told her before that if she ever ran into a real emergency, she just needed to yell his name.
Bracing herself, Bai Mengmeng had no idea which direction Liang Cha was in, so she could only shout at the top of her lungs into the trees: "Liang Cha! Hurry up and come here! Help! Save my life!"
Her voice echoed out, and the entire forest seemed to grow even quieter.
A wave of disappointment washed over her. Could it be that at this crucial moment, her top disciple wasn't around?
Uncle Xu had said the top disciple had incredible hearing, but the woods were so massive—could he really hear her?
Hearing something from this distance? Only Superman could pull that off!
Just then, a sharp whistling sound tore through the air. A figure materialized right in front of Bai Mengmeng, swift as the wind and sudden as lightning.
"Is qinggong seriously this insane?"
Her jaw dropped so wide she could have fit an egg inside.
Of course, that wasn't the main point—the main point was that she just yelled once, and the guy actually ran right to her?
Liang Cha didn't say a word. His eyes immediately locked onto the snake on the ground.
"Venomous snake!" He frowned, crouching down to examine the wound. He saw that it was deep, still oozing blood, and already beginning to swell.
He quickly pulled the shoelaces out of his sneakers and tied them tightly around her leg.
"Hop on! I'll carry you down the mountain!"
Though they were about the same age, he still looked like a kid, and letting someone carry her felt a bit embarrassing.
Still, Bai Mengmeng knew very well that this wasn't the time to be squeamish. Even though her physical fitness had improved immensely, if the snake's venom was potent enough, it could still cost her her life. She quickly scrambled onto his back.
The scenery on either side began to blur past at breakneck speed. Bai Mengmeng couldn't even tell east from west anymore; at times, it felt like she was practically flying, and she clung in terror to Liang Cha's neck.
Though her top disciple looked like a child, under that exertion his muscles were clearly well-developed, giving a profound sense of security.
The trip down the mountain should have taken a good hour or more, but in less than ten minutes, they had already reached the foothills.
Liang Cha wanted to carry her all the way to the hospital, but Bai Mengmeng quickly stopped him.
The roads were crawling with security cameras. If someone caught this kind of speed on tape, she'd definitely end up being hauled off for government dissection and research.
"Take me in Wang Hao's three-wheeler!"
A wave of emotion washed over her at that moment. It turned out Wang Hao didn't just build junk; sometimes his contraptions were genuinely useful in an emergency. Once she had money, she was definitely buying him a Wuling Hongguang!
Liang Cha looked at the dilapidated three-wheeler with a speechless expression, but he went ahead and started the engine anyway.
The route was a wide-open main road with no obstacles, and the town hospital wasn't far away, so Bai Mengmeng finally let out a breath of relief.
Medical help would be here soon.
The moment she relaxed, she noticed that Liang Cha's body was stiff, drenched in sweat, and both of his hands were rigidly locked in place.
"Don't tell me you don't know how to drive a three-wheeler?"
Even though letting someone who didn't know how to drive a tricycle haul her around meant they might easily flip over, Bai Mengmeng couldn't help laughing anyway.