The portion of pickled mustard green fish wasn’t very large. In just a few bites, only the broth was left.
He had just finished the golden broth pickled mustard green fish.
The third dish was quickly brought over by the waitress.
"Hello, here is your Double-Boiled Olive and Conch Soup. Please be careful, it’s hot."
Li Xiao opened the lid of the soup tureen, and an invigoratingly fresh aroma wafted out to greet him.
He looked at the Double-Boiled Olive and Conch Soup in the white porcelain bowl.
The surface of the soup was clear and translucent, shimmering with a faint light like amber.
Olives floated within, adding a pale olive-green hue to the overall color.
The conch meat in the soup was snow-white, exuding an enticingly savory and fresh scent.
In the clear broth, you could also see tiny bits of olive pulp, adding a sense of depth to the presentation.
He immediately identified the aroma.
Olives.
Not just fresh olives, but cured ones as well.
’Interesting. Very nice.’
It wasn’t that Li Xiao had never had soup made with olives before, but he had truly never tried a soup made with two different kinds of them.
Normally, olive soup is only made with cured olives, because the flavor of fresh green olives can be rather sharp.
Furthermore, green olives have an astringent taste, though the flesh also carries a sweet aftertaste.
But if not handled properly, it could easily make the entire pot of soup bitter. ’As expected of a time-honored restaurant, their ideas are both bold and ingenious.’
However, it was hard to say what the final product would actually be like, because using this ingredient was just too daring; an ordinary person would never risk it.
Li Xiao spoke to the camera:
"This soup smells very unique and fragrant, but we’ll have to taste it to know for sure."
He picked up his spoon and scooped up some of the clear, pale-yellow broth.
The next moment, a system notification sounded in his ear.
[Congratulations, you have unlocked the 22nd entry in the Food Atlas!]
[The unlocked food entry is: Double-Boiled Olive and Conch Soup]
[Dish Rating: 90/100 [Excellent]]
[Due to the Excellent rating, rewards are quadrupled!]
[Congratulations, you have received: Guide to Selecting Dried Conch]
[Congratulations, you have received: Guide to Selecting Dried Olives]
[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward: 800,000]
[Congratulations, you have received: 10,000 pounds of A-Grade Dried Conch]
[A-Grade Dried Conch has been stored in...]
...
The first sip of the soup had a slight astringency. Li Xiao’s brow furrowed for a moment, but then immediately relaxed.
Because after that slight astringency came a long, lingering sweet aftertaste.
He nodded slightly. The astringency of the fresh olives was handled exceptionally well.
Although it was still noticeable, it was very faint.
Even an ordinary person would find it completely acceptable.
There were also two kinds of conch: fresh conch slices and air-dried conch slices.
The fresh conch slices provided a stronger, sweeter umami flavor, while the air-dried ones contributed a richer, more concentrated taste.
The conch slices were prepared perfectly. The fishy smell was suppressed to a minimum; if it weren’t for Li Xiao’s sensitive palate, a normal person wouldn’t have been able to detect even a hint of it.
The color of the soup was delicate, without a single globule of oil.
The mouthfeel was clean, bright, and comforting.
The broth was light, yet the flavor was deep.
The cured green olives added a deeper flavor, while the fresh green olives provided a fresher taste.
Even though it was a clear soup, it exhibited the kind of complexity usually found only in a long-simmered, rich broth.
The technique used for this double-boiled soup alone was enough to win Li Xiao’s admiration.
"This is delicious. Absolutely delicious."
"It’s so refreshing and smooth. One sip fills your whole mouth with sweetness."
"The flavor is excellent. But then again, considering the price here, the quality of the ingredients is also very high."
The serving of olive and conch soup wasn’t large, and the bowl was empty in no time.
In the livestream chat:
"That soup looks so good!"
"Conch and olives are both great for your health and skin. The streamer really knows how to eat!"
"My mom bought a few slices of dried conch once. Jeez, it was over 300 yuan for less than a pound."
"It looks great, but who among us regular folks could bear to use something so expensive for soup?"
"It’s not that bad, actually. You only use one or two slices each time, so it’s less than 100 yuan!"
"100 yuan is enough for my food for a whole week!"
...
Seeing that many people seemed to want to try the soup, Li Xiao glanced at the current viewer count.
Since it was getting late, the number of viewers had dropped from a peak of over 10,000 to just under 9,000.
He took out another phone and sent a message to Zhou Shishi.
As his assistant, Zhou Shishi was, of course, always online during Li Xiao’s streams, so she saw her boss’s request immediately.
When she saw the message, she first rubbed her eyes, thinking she had misread it. After confirming she hadn’t gotten the number of zeros wrong, she sucked in a sharp breath.
’Jeez, isn’t my boss a little too extravagant?!’
’Other streamers’ giveaways are just for a few people as a token gesture, or they’re giving away products they got from sponsors. But my boss is giving one to every single person?!’
The gift was 9,000 one-pound packages of dried conch. This meant that as long as you were a viewer in the stream and followed her boss, you would get a one-pound package of dried conch.
This was no small gesture. Even if one pound only cost 300 yuan...
gifts would already be 30,000 yuan.
1,000 gifts would be 300,000 yuan.
9,000 gifts would be a whopping 2.7 million yuan.
Although Zhou Shishi knew her boss was generous, in the past, he had only given away a few hundred thousand yuan worth of gifts per stream.
’How did it get so ridiculous? Giving away 2.7 million all at once?’
She quickly sent a message to her boss.
[Boss, you didn’t mistype the number of gifts, did you?]
[9,000 gifts? Are you really going to give one to every viewer in the stream?]
Li Xiao tilted his head to look at his phone, finding it a little amusing.
’My assistant is great at everything, she’s just a bit too frugal.’
[That’s right, 9,000. Just set up the giveaway according to my instructions.]
Seeing Li Xiao’s confirmation, Zhou Shishi, despite having expected it, couldn’t help but marvel at her boss’s extravagance.
However, she didn’t dwell on it. It was her boss’s money, after all; he could spend it however he wanted.
’As a lowly assistant, I wouldn’t dare have any objections.’
She opened the giveaway system and quickly found what she was looking for.
Physical Gift Giveaway.
After a viewer won the giveaway, they could directly enter their contact information and shipping address. It was very convenient and practical, saving a lot of unnecessary intermediate steps.
Zhou Shishi quickly configured the giveaway details.
The 9,000-gift giveaway was set up in no time.
[Boss, the giveaway is set up. Ready to launch whenever you are.]
While sending the message, she quickly sent the livestream link to her "We Are a Happy Family" group chat and a few other chats with friends, telling everyone to join immediately.
’Since there are freebies to be had, of course I’m not going to let them miss out.’
Seeing the message from his assistant, Li Xiao addressed the stream:
"Honestly, I’m incredibly happy today. We got a crooked restaurant shut down."
"As they say, it’s better to share joy than to enjoy it alone. And since I’m this happy, we definitely have to celebrate."
"This time, there’s a prize for everyone!"
"I saw a lot of you wanted to try this conch soup."
"There are almost 9,000 people in the stream right now, so I can’t exactly make it for all of you."
"But what I can do is send you all some dried conch slices so you can make it at home!"
"I’ve prepared 9,000 packages of dried conch slices, one pound each! One for every single person!"
"Mods! Drop the giveaway!"
Hearing Li Xiao’s command, Zhou Shishi immediately used her admin account to launch the giveaway.
A giveaway for 9,000 prizes immediately appeared in the top-left corner of the stream.