Chapter 49: Chicken Soup for 360 a Bowl

After introducing it to the viewers on his livestream, Li Xiao drank more than half the bowl before finally pausing.

He let out a long, steamy breath, feeling a sense of clarity wash over his entire body, as if he’d just received a massage from a master technician.

And it was as if this technician knew his body like the back of their hand; every inch of muscle was released, and the deep-seated fatigue that had built up for days vanished.

After a few sips of soup, Li Xiao felt a pleasant warmth spreading through his body.

The soup tureen wasn’t large. After he drank most of it, only the dregs were left.

Normally, he couldn’t be bothered to even look at the dregs.

It’s said that even in a soup that’s been stewed for hours, most of the nutrients are in the solid ingredients, not the broth.

But in Li Xiao’s opinion, modern people were already over-nourished. Who would force themselves to eat the dregs just for a little extra nutrition?

However, this was fish maw worth over 10,000 yuan a pound. It would be a real waste to just throw it away.

Li Xiao picked up a piece of the fish maw from the soup with his chopsticks and showed it to the camera.

After being rehydrated for at least 48 hours and then stewed for several more, the originally orange-yellow fish maw had changed dramatically in both shape and color.

"Everyone, take a look. This pale, tender thing isn’t pork fat; it’s fish maw."

"It’s a type called Red-Lipped Croaker fish maw. The current market price should be around 16,000 a pound, so you could say it’s quite a precious ingredient."

In the livestream chat:

"Wait, how much a pound?? 16,000? Is this a joke?"

"Fish maw? What is that? Never even heard of it!"

"What kind of fish maw is that expensive? The stuff my family buys is only two or three hundred a pound!"

"16,000 a pound, what’s the difference between that and eating gold?"

·····

Seeing that many viewers in the chat didn’t seem to know what fish maw was, Li Xiao began to explain:

"Fish maw is also known as yu-jiao, white bladder, fish stomach, or swim bladder."

"It’s mainly produced along the coasts of our country and in the Nanyang islands. It is the swim bladder of a fish that has been prepared and sun-dried."

"According to the *Qi Min Yao Shu*, Xia Country People have been eating fish maw for over 1,600 years."

"Fish maw is extremely nutritious, and the price varies greatly depending on the quality."

"Just now, I saw a viewer say the fish maw their family usually buys is only two or three hundred a pound. I didn’t see what kind of fish maw that viewer bought, though."

"But if the person who sold it to you isn’t a relative, you were definitely scammed, because even the cheapest fish maw nowadays should cost over 500 a pound."

"You most likely bought a synthetic type of fish maw. It’s made by grinding up smaller pieces and scraps of real fish maw into a powder, then mixing it with a large amount of fish gelatin or regular gelatin. They then use a mold to cast it back into the shape of fish maw."

"If I’m not mistaken, the fish maw you bought probably came in identical cylindrical shapes, all of a very consistent size."

"The fish maw this restaurant uses is from the Red-Lipped Croaker, which is one of the four top-tier types of fish maw."

"To make an automotive analogy, Red-Lipped Croaker fish maw is like a Porsche-level sports car."

After giving this information about fish maw, Li Xiao tossed the piece from his chopsticks into his mouth.

The fish maw was pale, tender, and plump. It was thick yet soft and glutinous. The moment it entered his mouth, the world suddenly fell silent, leaving only the collagen to sing and dance on his palate.

Fish maw itself has a very light flavor, but after absorbing the rich chicken broth and golden soup, the plump, glutinous morsel became incredibly savory and sweet.

He didn’t even need to chew it carefully; he could feel the maw slowly melting on his tongue, as if it were about to become one with it.

His three dorm mates had never tasted such a delicious stewed soup and were praising it endlessly.

In the livestream chat, watching the four of them wolfing it down, the audience could easily tell just how delicious the soup was.

"So jealous! When will I get a great roommate like Brother Li!"

"Watching them drink that soup is making my stomach rumble!"

"So extravagant! 360 for a bowl of soup, I could never bring myself to drink that!"

"Over 300 is enough for my whole family to eat a nice meal out! What a waste!"

"360 for a bowl of soup, isn’t this promoting conspicuous consumption?"

"Ah, so this is what he was leading up to. All that buildup was for a paid ad, promoting this high-end restaurant. How shameless."

Seeing the sudden doubts and insults appearing in the chat, Li Xiao found it somewhat amusing.

Before, when he livestreamed himself eating at street stalls and food courts, these same people called him a fake tycoon for eating such cheap food.

Now that he was livestreaming himself drinking a 360-yuan bowl of chicken soup, these same guys were accusing him of promoting luxury spending and taking an ad from the restaurant.

A contemptuous sneer touched Li Xiao’s lips. He wasn’t one of those streamers who depended on viewers to make a living, so he wasn’t afraid of offending people and fired back directly:

"To those of you saying I’ve taken an ad, I welcome you to report me."

"My pinned video should have made it very clear."

"If you have any proof that I’ve accepted a promotional fee from any business, feel free to report me. If the evidence is solid, I’ll publicly award you 300,000."

"I run this account purely as a hobby, not to make money."

"Besides, the average cost per person at this place, Jiuhe Garden, is over 1,500. Even if they wanted to do a promotion, they’d hire a major streamer or influencer with millions of followers. Why would they come to a small-time streamer like me?"

"Finally, I have never advocated for any kind of high-end consumption. At the very beginning of today’s stream, I said that food is never about high or low class."

"As long as you treat food with care, even a 10-yuan bowl of pork offal congee from a street stall can be mind-blowingly delicious."

"But if you’re careless with it, even an ingredient that costs 10,000 a pound will just end up as a pile of garbage."

Watching the trolls continue to bark and the atmosphere in the chat quickly descend into chaos under their influence, Li Xiao’s brows furrowed slightly.

He couldn’t be bothered to be polite anymore. He put down his chopsticks and started timing people out.

Suddenly, he felt his other phone vibrate. He glanced over and saw a message from the young assistant he had hired today.

His brow arched slightly. ’Why would she suddenly text me at a time like this?’

Curious, he unlocked the screen.

Zhou Shishi:

"Boss, there seem to be a lot of trolls in your livestream. I also feel like someone is intentionally stirring up trouble."

"If it’s okay, I’d like to apply to be a temporary moderator for your channel to ban all these trolls."

After reading the message, Li Xiao immediately understood. This new assistant was actually paying attention to his livestream.

She hadn’t even had her formal interview yet, but she was already diving into the work. This professional attitude left him quite satisfied.

He mentally gave his young assistant some brownie points and typed back, asking for her account name.

Egg and Pork Week

Seeing this account name, Li Xiao couldn’t help but shake his head. She had clearly chosen a name that fit the theme of his livestreams.

He clicked to set his assistant’s account as a moderator and didn’t give it another thought.