A sweet fragrance instantly blossomed before everyoneâs noses. It was honey!
Before, the air had only held the scent of fried food and pumpkin. But after being brushed with a thin layer of honey, the fried pumpkin cakes gleamed under the lights with a crystalline crispness.
The pumpkin cakes were fresh from the wok, still steaming.
Jiang Qiuqiu was the first to pick up one of the small cakes. She gave it a gentle pull, and the hollow pumpkin cake, unable to withstand the force, quickly tore open.
The outer crust made a faint, crisp sound. But as the shell cracked, it revealed a soft interior.
Faced with such a delicacy, even Jiang Qiuqiu couldnât resist. She took a bite.
The high-end camera faithfully recorded the soft sound of the pumpkin cake breaking, followed by an irresistible chewing soundâ
"A sweet aftertaste lingers on the palate."
"The first thing you taste is the sweetness of the honey, but itâs not overpowering. As you chew, the sweet fragrance of the pumpkin and the texture of the breadcrumbs mix together. Itâs both crispy and fragrant. I think this will be a dish everyone likes."
[...I donât need you to think for me! I think the most important thing is for you to just hurry up and fry more!]
[Hey, Juju! Youâve still got a whole bowl of batter left to fry, letâs get back to it!]
"Alright, alright, Iâm on it. Pumpkin cakes are delicious, but they have a downside. Once they get cold, the honey makes them a bit heavy. So for todayâs taste-testing slots, Iâll be releasing them as I cook."
Before anyone could react, Jiang Qiuqiu had already sent out the six prepared portions of pumpkin cakes.
In an instant, thirty million slots vanished into thin air.
The whirlwind came and went too fast. The unlucky ones and the slow-to-react hadnât even processed what was happening.
"..."
Fortunately, these things fried up quickly, so everyone just put up with it. The remaining fans watched expectantly as the yellow batter in the large bowl was gradually transformed in Jiang Qiuqiuâs hands into hollow pumpkin cakes, golden brown on both sides and slightly puffed up.
On the bullet-comment screen, the lucky fans had already started devouring their cakes and sharing their taste-test reviews.
[!!! I didnât think theyâd be as good as the little cakes! Looks can be deceiving! These pumpkin cakes are too good!]
[Theyâre so sweet, I canât believe I actually got one... This sweet pumpkin cake has soothed my soul.]
These were the comments expressing their good fortune.
And those were the kind ones. Others posted what amounted to mini-essays about their tasting experience: [The little cake deflates as soon as you bite into it, but even after deflating, itâs still firm and crispy! The inside is so soft. I hogged all three for myself, and I discovered that the texture is richest and tastes the best if you eat them in one bite!!!]
[...]
[Block! Block! The people who won should just go eat their food and stop coming to the comments to gloat! Waaah!]
[+1 Arenât you afraid of getting beaten up for showing off like that?!]
A group of fans started attacking each other in the comments.
It was a back-and-forth of "Youâre showing off!" and "Youâre just a sore loser!" Amid the playful banter, time passed quickly.
More than half the pumpkin cakes had been fried, and the fragrance grew richer. Midway through, Jiang Qiuqiu opened a window to air out the room.
The stream should have been winding down from there. But, in a subtle turn of events, right after another round of pumpkin cake slots was released and fans began praising how amazing they tasted, someone suddenly askedâ
[These pumpkin cakes are so, so good! Juju is basically the Xi Shi of Pumpkin Cakes!]
[Xi Shi? Whatâs that?]
[She was a famous beauty in Ancient Earth culture! Everything Juju makes is delicious, and not only that, itâs beautiful too!]
After a few lines of flattery to set the stage, the comments quickly pivoted to the real topic:
[Weâve been watching your streams for so long, Iâm suddenly really curious to see what Juju looks like!]
[+1]
[+2]
[+...]
This group of people was impressively coordinated in their little Q&A session.