Chapter 731: 721. Piggy banks are smashed_1 Chapter 731: 721. Piggy banks are smashed_1 And the ultimate success of the winter melon candy came on the fourth morning.
Early in the morning, Qiaoqiao was already busy at work.
He carried his phone tripod, popping into the kitchen to check things out and then peering out into the yard, completely at a loss about which dish to teach the kids. He circled around, his face the epitome of cluelessness, looking truly pitiable.
In the end, it was Zhang Yanping who persuaded him, “Both tasks involve repetitive actions, so you can start with the watermelon jam, and then check on the winter melon candy after that’s done. I prepared the link yesterday; we can sell them both after the live stream ends.”
As for the seasoned beans and watermelon jam… those items needed at least a month of sun drying and didn’t have packaging yet, so they decided not to start preselling them; they’d let the customers save up their money in the meantime.
Poor things, ever since they learned about “Tian Yuan Notes,” their piggy banks have probably never been full, right?
Indeed, Qiaoqiao took the advice to heart, and once again, unexpectedly started his live broadcast at 5:00 am sharp.
In the village, everyone was up and had finished breakfast, ready to start their day’s work.
In the city, countless night owls were still struggling until they got a notification on their phones–
[Your favorite broadcaster “Tian Yuan Notes” is live now! Come join us…]
Shocked, but somehow not that shocked.
Ecstatic, but subconsciously they checked their account balances.
[I must have stayed up last night as a divine omen, a sign that my heartthrob would start streaming at 5:00!]
[Teacher Qiaoqiao, do you see? I stayed awake all night just to see you!]
[Holy crap, why are there so many watermelons? Are you selling them?]
[Selling, selling, selling watermelons!!!]
[Damn it, there are so many, why do you only sell such a small amount each time?]
[Don’t talk about shipping costs this time! It’s all paid by us anyway!]
[Watermelon! Watermelon! I must have some!]
[Folks, I have a bold idea–]
[Early birds get the worms, sleepless fans get the melons]
[Can’t afford it, sob sob sob… I refuse to believe I’m the only poor person in this live stream…]
[Here’s another one. I’ve been watching for months, and I still haven’t spent over 1000 yuan on the streamer.]
[If only I had this willpower when I was in school, finding a job now wouldn’t be worrisome…]
Because there were too many watermelons. Qiaoqiao was also helping with the work. Zhang Yanping was equally busy tending to the stove and couldn’t spare much attention.
This live broadcast maintained its usual mode of operation, focusing on surprise timing and ignoring the barrage of comments.
All one saw was Qiaoqiao setting up his phone, now seated and helping to slice watermelons. His knife skills were impressively deft now–at one go, he sliced the big watermelon, replete with its emerald patterns, in half, and then sliced off the thick rind without sparing any feelings, completely disregarding the live stream audience’s misunderstandings and the repetitive “wasteful extravagance” comments.
Meanwhile, Zhai Xiaofeng followed suit, cutting the big chunks of watermelon flesh into even smaller pieces and pushing them into a nearby basin.
Master Qian, who had never appeared in the live stream, was methodically preparing various ingredients–scallions, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and bags of cooking salt, all measured out in proportions ready in different basins.
It was a simple, mechanical, yet highly efficient assembly line work, and it felt quite rewarding to do.
As soon as Master Qian had swiftly prepared all the ingredients by weight, he immediately urged Qiaoqiao, “All right, all right, I’ll do the cutting. Weren’t you supposed to do that live stream? Go on, get to it.”
Master Qian wasn’t obstinate like Seventh Uncle. After Qiaoqiao had helped out in the mountain for a while, he grew fond of this clean and diligent lad. He had taught him plenty of craftsmanship, but had never really wanted to burden him with work.
And nearby, Zhai Xiaofeng… oh my, her daughter was about the same age as Qiaoqiao. How could she not like him now?
She fretted over his fair hands getting scalded after washing the pots a couple of times. Now, she was even more in tune with Master Qian, “Right, right, right, you go ahead with your live stream.”
It was only then that Qiaoqiao realized– he had forgotten about the kids again!
So, he quickly stood up and explained,
“Kids, this is the watermelon sauce we didn’t finish last time.”
“The beans have been fermented and are now all dried up.”
He pushed the phone forward, and soon the audience in the live stream saw basins of beans emitting a strange yellow-green glow.
[Looks like they’re moldy]
[This has grown hair, can you eat it?]
[You can eat it! It’s really tasty! My mom makes it really well.]
[We used to make it back in my hometown too, but no one does it anymore]
[Seems a bit different from how we do it in my hometown, but I bet anything from the streamer’s home is delicious]
[Link, link, post the link!]
Qiaoqiao skillfully piled the beans onto a winnowing basket: “Now I need to shake off the Aspergillus oryzae from the beans, otherwise there’s too much and it affects the flavor.”
He walked forward two steps, standing in the downwind, holding the winnowing basket with both hands, shaking it steadily up and down. Then he watched as fine yellow-green powder was whisked away by the wind… so interesting!
Qiaoqiao’s spirits grew even livelier!
The rustling of beans and the rhythmic beating sound of the winnowing basket were particularly melodic in the early morning.
If it weren’t for the yellow-green dust cloud that seemed about to choke you as it hit your face in the morning light, the sound alone might have put a batch of viewers back to sleep.
Qiaoqiao was strong and quick with his movements; he had already rubbed the fluffy growth off the beans by hand before, and now, sifting through them one by one, although it was quite time-consuming, he didn’t find it tiring at all.
[The streamer has great arm strength]
[Been winnowing all morning, hundreds of pounds of beans, aren’t you tired?]
[Looking at my own trembling arms after yesterday’s weightlifting session, I feel like crying]
[Teacher Qiaoqiao really has a lot of strength]
[I knew it when he carried the yellow clay up the mountain]
It was only then that Qiaoqiao had a moment to talk to the audience in the live stream:
“Kids, these are just regular watermelon sauces; the watermelons were bought. But later on, we’ll make our own home-grown watermelon sauce and sauce beans. I harvested the soybeans myself, and Brother Wu Lei picked the watermelons! They’re bound to be incredibly tasty!”
He spoke solemnly, word by word, and though there wasn’t a single description of the food, this alone made the audience immediately wonder–
Just how tasty could it be? It must be better than the green pepper and beef sauce, right?! Definitely!
The dream hadn’t even faded yet when Qiaoqiao added:
“But they aren’t finished yet. The watermelon sauce and sauce beans need to be sun-dried for over a month, so we won’t sell them today!”
[???!!! Not selling?]
[I smashed my piggy bank for this, and you tell me this now?!]
[I even scraped my dad’s hidden stash from behind the air conditioner, why aren’t you selling?]
[Streamer, you’re inhumane]
[Can’t you do a presale? Is the customer service still on break? I can do it! Let me! I don’t need a salary!]
[It’s just sauce drying, put the link up now, I can wait]
[Streamer! In business, you have to strike while the iron is hot!]
[Uh… The view count is just over ten thousand, it’s early morning, can that be considered ‘hot’?]
[You’re so clever, you must be new here?]
[I knew it, this traitor tone–it’s a newbie! Someone get them out!]
[Over ten thousand viewers is a lot, right? That’s good, the fewer the people, the easier it is to grab a deal — hey hey hey why are there suddenly so many people now?!]