What? You want to buy Shakima at this hour?
Lin Xu looked at the 10,000 yuan transferred by Shen Jiayue, a wry smile on his face. He couldn’t help feeling that one of her relatives had been scammed again.
But he really did have some free time right now.
Making some Shakima would be fine.
It would be a good opportunity to film it and edit it into a food-themed Vlog.
With only nine days left to reach the goal of one hundred thousand followers, he needed to hurry and prepare.
With that thought, he delegated the meat-cutting task to Niu Chuan. Then, he went to the storage room to gather the ingredients for making Shakima, set his phone on the tripod, adjusted the height and angle, put on his Bluetooth headset, turned on the microphone, and started recording.
For Lin Xu, this task was somewhat over his head.
Because his colleagues were all busy working beside him, and he had to earnestly explain things to the phone clamped on the tripod, it was quite embarrassing.
But thinking of the Perfect Level stir-fry, he could only summon his courage and continue recording.
Shakima’s preparation involved five steps: making the dough, rolling the dough, frying, simmering the sugar, and shaping. Lin Xu filmed each segment separately.
By the time he got to frying, Shen Jiayue arrived back with Dundun.
"Dundun has no parasites, and his blood work came back all normal."
She let Dundun out of the cat carrier, and the little fellow immediately ran to the water bowl and began lapping up water with his tiny tongue.
Lin Xu continued filming.
To enhance the video quality, after simmering the sugar, he transferred all the sugar-coated crispy strips from the pot to a tray. He then moved it to an outdoor dining table and swapped the tripod for an octopus-style phone holder, placing it on an adjacent table.
This not only allowed for a clear view of the shaping process but also made explaining easier.
After setting everything up, he began arranging the crispy strips on the tray while facing the camera.
As he arranged them, he explained the key points.
While he was recording, Dundun, who had been playing with Shen Jiayue, suddenly jumped onto the dining table. The kitten pushed his round, chubby face close to the lens, peering curiously into the camera.
"Oh, Dundun, what are you doing? Don’t block the camera!"
Shen Jiayue came over and whisked the little fellow away.
Lin Xu was on a roll, so he didn’t start over but continued recording.
But it wasn’t long before Dundun jumped onto the table again. He moved stealthily towards the phone as if hunting, even flashing the claws hidden beneath his paw pads when he got close.
Just as he was about to strike the phone, Yueyue Demon King picked him up again.
After the Shakima in the tray had set, Lin Xu poured it out and cut it into small pieces.
The Black Sugar Shakima was already visually appealing, and this Perfect Level method made it look even more tempting.
"Look, everyone, this is the finished Black Sugar Shakima. It’s very soft, and the syrup inside hasn’t completely set, so it still creates strands when you gently pull it apart."
Lin Xu held up the Shakima close to the phone’s lens for a close-up, while Dundun jumped from the adjacent table onto his shoulder.
The little fellow first rubbed against Lin Xu’s face, then stretched his neck to sniff the Shakima being filmed for the close-up, his little nose twitching as he did so. He seemed very interested.
Lin Xu, resigned, held the little fellow in his arms, said a few closing remarks, and then ended the recording.
Due to Dundun’s interruptions, the recording didn’t seem to turn out very well.
But to make up the numbers, Lin Xu still did a quick edit on his phone and uploaded it to the short-video platform.
After finishing all of this, lunch at the shop began.
He washed his hands and sat down to eat with Shen Jiayue, occasionally glancing at the live stream of Wu Kexin and Mr. Gao at the Fishing Platform State Guesthouse.
While they were eating, the elderly men and women from the morning pushed open the door and came in.
"Young man, have you started business yet?"
Lin Xu put down his bowl and said, "Yes, yes, we’ve started. What can I get for you folks?"
"Two small bowls of Tomato Cubes Noodles, two small bowls of Tomato Egg Noodles, a plate of lotus root, and Tiger Skin... Young man, are your Tiger Skin Chicken Feet trimmed at the nail tips?"
"Yes, they are all trimmed very cleanly."
"Then give us eight pieces."
After the elderly folks paid by scanning a QR code at the front desk, they walked into the shop. They gathered around Dundun, watching the kitten play by itself up close.
"Kitty, we came to see you, do you remember us?"
Dundun was currently playing with a toy made of cow bone and feathers. It could be used for teething or rolled around for fun, and the little fellow was having a great time.
"Ah, such a cute cat."
"Exactly, so cute and adorable. Why don’t we just have lunch here?"
"Let’s eat here then, and we can pet the cat as well."
A few young girls in mall attendant uniforms saw Dundun playing from outside and their hearts almost melted.
And just like that, the shop gained a few more customers.
When Yue Liyue and his roommates arrived for a meal, he, who usually came quite early, was surprised to find the shop already half full of customers.
What’s going on? Is my watch broken?
Usually, at this time of day, there were only two or three customers in the shop, sometimes none at all.
My top spot, held for several days—gone just like that?
Just as he was wondering about this, Panda approached from a distance.
"Damn, why are there so many people in the shop?"
Panda also looked surprised.
The group entered the shop together.
Only then did they see many customers watching Dundun play.
"Wow! This cat is even chubbier than in the video, looks really cute."
Yue Liyue took a photo of Dundun with his phone, intending to use it as a profile picture. Meanwhile, Panda shot a video and sent it to Wu Kexin, saying, "Boss Lin’s adopted cat is quite talented; it’s attracting a bunch of customers to the shop right now!"
After sending it, he ordered a small bowl of Tomato Egg Noodles.
Ever since deciding to lose weight, Panda had been very disciplined about his diet.
Combined with working out at the gym every day, he no longer looked as round as before. His movements had also become noticeably more agile.
"Panda, come on, have a beer to build yourself up!" Yue Liyue greeted enthusiastically after the side dishes and chicken feet he ordered had arrived.
Panda waved his hand, declining the invitation.
For him, the most important thing now was to slim down into a bolt of lightning; that way, he could be worthy of Anchor Wu. Otherwise, even if she agreed, he would always feel insecure and lack confidence.
Shen Jiayue, who had taken the morning off to play with cats, finished her meal. She played with Dundun for a while, then took a bunch of selfies with Geng Lele, each of them holding a cat. Finally, she headed home with the Shakima that Lin Xu had packed for her.
After getting home, she still had to go to work.
「On the short-video platform.」
The video uploaded by Lin Xu passed the system’s review and was automatically published.
The few thousand accounts that followed Lin Xu saw the update immediately.
"The perfect way to make Black Sugar Shakima? Boss Lin is quick! Xinxin was just asked about it on the phone yesterday, and he’s already filmed a vlog, right?"
Everyone quickly clicked on the video to watch.
From a professional standpoint, the video Lin Xu shot had monotonous camera work, rough editing, and uninspired narration. Among the many lifestyle vlogs, it could only be considered average.
But when Dundun’s round, chubby cat face appeared on screen, the entire vibe of the video instantly changed...