Li Xiao messaged Lin Jifei to ask a question.
After getting a confirmation from him, he put down his spoon and spoke to the camera.
"This Mango Pomelo Sago tastes really good. It’s sweet and sour, and the different textures from the various fruit pulps give the whole dessert a lot of depth."
"If you haven’t tried it, you should definitely give it a go. It won’t disappoint you!"
"I just saw that a lot of viewers want to try this Mango Pomelo Sago."
"Well, I have a little something for everyone."
The viewers in the livestream immediately got excited. After all, most of them had just successfully snagged a free half-kilo of walnut powder.
They didn’t expect another giveaway so soon.
"Is the streamer going to give us vouchers for Manji Dessert?"
"What kind of god-tier streamer is this?"
"Now this is a real whale! When he says he’s giving stuff away, he really does it!"
...
Amidst everyone’s anticipation, Li Xiao announced the giveaway.
"Some of you in the chat guessed right. I am indeed treating everyone to a free Mango Pomelo Sago."
"However, it’s not the Mango Pomelo Sago from Manji Dessert. It’s from another milk tea shop."
"In a moment, I’ll be sending out a coupon red envelope. Anyone who gets one can buy a Mango Pomelo Sago for the price of 0.01 yuan."
"This coupon has no expiration date, so you can use it anytime."
"You can use this coupon in-store, or on the Meituan and Ele.me platforms."
"Currently, only one location is operating online. So if you’re looking to order delivery, it’s only available for nearby addresses. Otherwise, you’ll have to go to the store in person to redeem it."
"But don’t worry. In ten days, the shop will be opening its second branch in Baiyun District. Viewers who live nearby will be able to redeem it then."
Li Xiao didn’t go into much detail about the Xihan’er Milk Tea Shop. He just mentioned it briefly before having his assistant send out 10,000 of the promotional vouchers.
Quite a few viewers grumbled about the voucher only being usable at a single location.
But since it was a free giveaway, the voices of these disgruntled viewers were quickly drowned out by the thanks from everyone else.
After chatting with the viewers for a bit, a waitress brought over a small plate of Tang Bu Shuai.
Seeing the food appear on the table, many clever viewers in the stream immediately shared their thoughts.
"I know what that is! One look and you can tell they’re tangyuan!"
"These tangyuan are a bit strange. Why aren’t they in a soup? They’re just sitting on a plate."
"They must be cooked tangyuan that were just scooped out of the water, right?"
"I’m not the most cultured person, so don’t you guys lie to me. Aren’t tangyuan a northern dessert?"
Seeing many viewers making fools of themselves in the chat, Li Xiao quickly began his explanation:
"Although this looks a lot like tangyuan, it’s really not!"
"This is called Tang Bu Shuai, and it’s a dessert from Guangdong Province."
"I’m guessing you probably won’t see this anywhere outside of Guangdong Province."
"Making Tang Bu Shuai is simple. You just boil glutinous rice flour, knead it into balls, cook them in a wok with hot syrup, and then sprinkle them with crushed roasted peanuts or shredded fried egg."
"This place didn’t use shredded egg. They used crushed roasted peanuts instead."
Li Xiao picked up a piece of Tang Bu Shuai with his fork and gently put it in his mouth.
As he gently bit into it, the sweet fragrance of glutinous rice was immediately released.
Though its appearance was simple, the inside was very sticky. While being simmered, the Tang Bu Shuai had fully absorbed the flavor of the sugar water and ginger.
However, what Li Xiao didn’t quite like was that the Tang Bu Shuai was made too firm. It had completely lost that soft, yielding texture of glutinous rice.
The roasted peanuts on top, however, were very fragrant and crispy, adding a bit more complexity to the texture.
The next moment, the System’s voice sounded in his mind.
[Congratulations, you have lit up the 38th entry in the Food Guide]
[The food guide entry you lit up is: Tang Bu Shuai]
[Food item rating: 71/100 (Average)]
[As the food item rating is ’Average,’ rewards are doubled (x2)]
[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward: 100,000]
[Congratulations, you have received a recipe reward: Tang Bu Shuai Recipe]
...
Seeing the "Average" rating, Li Xiao wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
Although the seasoning of the Tang Bu Shuai here was decent and the peanuts were well-roasted, strictly speaking, the dish was very mediocre.
Tang Bu Shuai is supposed to be chewy and soft, but the one here was as hard as a rock, completely betraying the original character of the dish.
Li Xiao had looked into the situation before. While most of the food at Manji Dessert was made in a central kitchen,
a small portion of the ingredients still needed to be prepared in-store.
This included the Tang Bu Shuai; all of it was made fresh daily in the back kitchen by the shop’s own chefs.
After all, Tang Bu Shuai could only be kept for a day. If refrigerated for too long, the dough would harden completely.
Li Xiao shook his head helplessly at the camera.
"This Tang Bu Shuai... the flavor is decent, but the texture is just awful. It’s hard as a rock, with none of the softness that glutinous rice should have."
"It’s made very poorly. I don’t recommend anyone come try it."
"This is probably the drawback of relying too much on a central kitchen."
"While capital can significantly reduce a store’s operating costs, eliminating the need to spend more on hiring sufficiently skilled chefs."
"But it also leads to the chefs in the stores being very mediocre."
"Tang Bu Shuai is very easy to make. To not even be able to make such a simple dessert properly is really..."
Before Li Xiao could finish his sentence, a woman’s cold snort came from nearby:
"I follow the exact production process given by the main office. We sell dozens of orders of Tang Bu Shuai every day, and everyone thinks they’re delicious. You’re the only one who thinks they’re bad."
"I swear, you internet beggars are pathetic. What good can you do besides maliciously smearing others?"
"You have hands and feet, and you’re so tall and able-bodied. Why can’t you just get a proper job???"
????
This sudden confrontation left Li Xiao momentarily stunned.
He turned his head and saw that the speaker was a young woman in her early twenties, wearing the work uniform of Manji Dessert.
From the transparent mask she wore over her mouth, it wasn’t hard to tell she was probably a member of the kitchen staff.
He figured she was probably the one who made the Tang Bu Shuai, which would explain why she was so upset.
Hearing her rebuttal, Li Xiao didn’t say much in response.
’As a grown man, he wasn’t in the habit of arguing with women.’
’Besides, if it was really as she said, and everything was made according to the company’s official process, then even if the chefs were highly skilled, they’d have no room to showcase their abilities.’