09

There was definitely no foul play, but because the live stream was so chaotic, Lin You only selected a few viewers who had posted normal comments that flashed by quickly.

Liu Yu’s gift wasn’t completely useless, as there weren’t many people giving rewards, so Lin You remembered her.

In the end, Liu Yu was one of the twenty winners.

At the same time, Lin You trended again.

#LinYouGetsHitByCow 

#LinYouGiveaway 

#MengmengWhatsWrong

Zhang Kai slammed a teacup and roared into the phone, “This is what you call foolproof? Do you even know what you’re doing?”

Zhang Kai was so angry his forehead turned red. Not only did he fail to adjust the direction of the content during the live stream, making it obvious to all viewers that someone was targeting Lin You, but the audience’s sympathy also turned against him. The crowd is usually sympathetic to the weak, so in front of the public, the last thing you can do is appear strong. Lin You’s vulnerability was almost predictable—some people would pity her and want to understand the whole story.

What was worse was how cleverly Lin You turned the situation around. That cow, whether by accident or not, not only changed the direction of the live stream but also contributed to the trending topic!

Originally, if people hadn’t been focusing on what Lin You was doing, then it would have been fine. As long as the negative rumors kept circulating, most people wouldn’t dig deeper and would just think, “Oh, Lin You is just creating hype.” But now, one of the trending topics was #MengmengWhatsWrong#, a simple discussion about the cow!

What did this signify? It meant that the content had started to ferment, and people were starting to pay attention to Lin You’s live stream itself!

This was scarier than anything else. Zhang Kai slammed the phone down, feeling completely powerless.

He felt like things were going wrong for him lately, and everything he did to target Lin You seemed to backfire. If this continued, once Lin You turned the tables, would he still have good days ahead?

Zhang Kai composed himself, took the SIM card out of his broken phone, put it in a new one, and dialed the number of another marketing company.

The previous one hadn’t worked out, cheap services never bring good results.

Fortunately, Lin You had only just started her live stream, so he still had time.

Zhang Kai licked his lips, this time, he would be more careful.

After finishing the live stream, Lin You gave Mengmeng a light tap on the head. It wasn’t hard, it was just that after the calf had finished eating the egg cakes, it got sleepy and staggered back to the cow pen to sleep.

No matter how mad Lin You was, she could only tug at the calf’s big ears a few times.

Yao Jiu, still shaken, asked, “Why don’t you have Aunt Chunling swap it for another one? It was really scary.”

Lin You shook her head. “It probably just wanted to eat, it never had any before. Sorry for making you worry.”

Yao Jiu said, “I wasn’t really worried, I just… forget it, you’ve made up your mind. I think she listens pretty well.”

Lin You gave the calf a small scolding and then let it go.

She changed the subject, “Earlier, I let you appear on camera. How did you feel about that? If you’re not comfortable with it, I can always just live stream by myself next time.”

Earlier, Yao Jiu’s voice was caught on camera, and later, her face had also appeared on the screen.

Yao Jiu froze for a moment and shook her head vigorously. “It’s fine!”

She patted her chest. “I don’t mind at all!”

Moreover, if she hadn’t appeared on camera just now, wouldn’t she have to wait until Lin You finished the live stream before she could eat the egg cakes?

She definitely wasn’t willing to do that!

Lin You saw that she truly didn’t mind, so she felt reassured.

The two of them were busy around meal time and were now preparing to have lunch.

Lin You had specially asked Yao Jiu to buy a pig’s head and some ribs earlier that morning. Lin You thought Yao Jiu would be full after eating ten egg cakes, but when she heard that Lin You was making a stew in an iron pot, she said she could eat a little more.

The sugar was fried to a caramel color in the pot, and the ribs were added to the pot to soak up the color. A small bundle of spices was added with the ribs to stew. When it was half-cooked, Lin You added the prepared potatoes, carrots, green beans, and corn, then shaped the dough into flower rolls. The flower rolls were placed on top of the vegetables and stewed for another ten minutes. Once the lid was lifted, it was ready to eat.

The tender ribs that fell off the bone, the potatoes and corn infused with the flavor of the ribs, and the flower rolls soaking up the vegetable juices at the bottom of the pot made for a satisfying meal for the two of them.

After they finished eating, Lin You packed the egg cakes into several baskets, preparing to send them by express mail tomorrow morning. She gave the remaining egg cakes to Yao Jiu to help distribute them to the people in the village.

Once the house was tidied up, Lin You took the cooked pig’s head she had bought in the morning, along with two trays of egg cakes, and headed up the mountain.

The evening sky had an orange hue, and the sun hung low on the horizon like a round egg yolk.

Lin You carried the basket up the mountain, walking along her land for ten minutes. Not far from the dilapidated temple, there was the graveyard of the original owner’s grandmother.

There were quite a few graves in the area, but the grave mound of Lin You’s family was still clearly visible.

Two large mounds, two medium ones, all connected in a line.

Lin You first placed the pig’s head and egg cakes as offerings, then took out a small iron hoe from the basket to add dirt and remove the weeds from the four graves.

Out of breath from the work, she cleared most of the weeds, covered the graves with fresh soil, and only then set the hoe down.

The yellow offering paper was set alight, and Lin You burned it while speaking softly to the original owner’s family.

“Although I don’t know why I’m here, or where your daughter or granddaughter has gone, please rest assured that I will live well.”

“These are the egg cakes I made, I don’t know if they suit your taste.”

“Every year, I will come here to burn paper and tend to the graves. If your daughter comes to my side and you know about it, please ask her to add some soil to my family’s grave…”

Lin You stayed on the mountain for a long time. Only when the lights in the village below began to glow did she gather the offerings and head down the mountain.

After Lin You left, a figure appeared behind her in the mountains.

Bo Chuan watched her leaving figure for a long time without saying anything.

A light breeze blew, and a faint fragrance lingered.

Bo Chuan stood in place, feeling the breeze pass over his fingertips, as if it was telling him something.

Bo Chuan: “Alright, I understand. This person is the one you saved.”

Bo Chuan’s sharp eyes gazed at the lights now shining in the distance. Since he had such a connection with this new neighbor, he would naturally keep an eye on her.

However, it seemed that she was living quite comfortably and didn’t need his help.

The egg cakes were quickly sent out since they couldn’t be kept for long. Yao Jiu helped Lin You register the addresses of the winners in the backend, and the next morning, they were sent to the county on the earliest express delivery truck in town.

The egg cakes Lin You made were distributed around the village and received numerous compliments.

Aunt Wang, while eating, praised, “It’s not any worse than your grandmother’s skills.”

Some even suggested that she set up a stall in town: “These past few years, there are people who still like this kind of thing. If you go to town, you won’t have trouble selling.”

Lin You understood that the villagers were concerned for her. Although the elderly people weren’t very familiar with smartphones, they all knew she was an actress making money outside. The fact that she returned to the village at such a young age must have some reason. They didn’t ask because they were considerate, and now, suggesting a business for her was their way of hoping she could find something stable to do.

As soon as one person suggested it, others immediately responded, “Youyou’s skills are so good, forget about selling egg cakes, she could easily set up a stall and sell anything.”

“Exactly, Youyou, would you like to open a shop in town?”

To the remaining villagers, being able to settle down in town was already considered an admirable achievement.

Lin You didn’t mind their advice, which came from their personal perspectives. Instead, she seriously shared her plans with them.

When Aunt Wang heard that Lin You could make money just by using her phone, her gaze became even more admiring. “I knew it, Youyou, you’re definitely going to succeed!”

Lin You was open about it because, in the future, her live streams would inevitably take place around the village, and rather than have everyone unknowingly appear on camera, it was better to be upfront about it.

Lin You: “If anyone has anything they want to sell, or any content that can be shown on live stream, I’ll definitely help broadcast it.”

“Great, great!”

“Youyou, you’re really helping us. Now we can even be on TV.”

“I’ve got to show off to my daughter. She definitely doesn’t know about this.”

With the village matters settled, the online disputes, however, had not stopped since the day before.

Zhang Kai had parted ways with his former marketing company, and without anyone guiding them, all sorts of things were being said online.

Aside from Mu Qingqing’s fans who still insisted on promoting the scandal theory, many other bystanders had different opinions.

【Sunny Girl Sakata Gintoki: Forget everything else, this calf really has a great variety show vibe, hahahahaha, that little eye expression is so funny. Is it really that delicious, Mengmeng?】

【Bald Boss: And that egg cake, ah, even though the person isn’t exactly good, they really have good hands. The way it’s made is really old-fashioned, instantly bringing back childhood memories.】

【Knight and Prince Ran Away: Really speechless. I saw you all cursing so harshly, thinking that I wouldn’t win the lottery. I was sure I had it. But in the end, I still didn’t win… Does the unlucky person really have no chance with the prizes?】

【Eat the Dumpling but not the Skin: Stop being foolish, who would focus on cursing someone? Normal people just don’t care or show interest. That scene just suggests someone might have hired fake online support.】

【18-Year-Old Divorced Man with Two Kids: Yeah, probably Mu XX’s fans causing this.】

【35-Year-Old Single Mother with a Child: Big leak, Mu XX’s fans are already crying out, saying they won’t even give Lin You a glance.】

【Ice Milk Tea with No Calories: So Lin You really retired, huh? I saw that kitchen and yard, it really looks like it’s in the countryside. PS: the couple’s ID above, please get married.】

【Can’t Diet on Vegetarian Food: Am I the only one curious if that egg cake is tasty? Any winners who can give feedback on the flavor?】

—

Amid a flurry of noisy comments, just as the topic was about to die down the next day, a comment with real substance finally appeared.

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: Ahhhhhhhh! My dears, I’m here! As one of the people who won the egg cakes, I must give you all some feedback. Wait for me, my mom’s calling me.】

Immediately, a bunch of question marks flooded the comments.

【Cat doesn’t drink water, forcing its head does no good: ??? What’s going on? Did you open a thread just to fish for comments?】

【Iced Americano goes perfectly with spicy sticks: OP, come back! I’m really curious!】

【Coco and Yang Yang are a perfect match: Don’t tell me ^[1]“You’re just fishing for comments” means someone is intentionally posting something vague, intriguing, or incomplete to provoke curiosity or reactions from others, encouraging them … Continue readingyou’re just fishing for comments and running away?】

A short while later, the OP finally replied.

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: No, everyone, really, it’s my mom calling me. I’m not fishing for comments.】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: Back to the main topic, winning the egg cakes was a total coincidence. I don’t follow idols, I’m just a casual spectator who enjoys gossiping. But that day, I happened to be searching for egg cakes, so I decided to give it a try.】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: Then tonight, the courier said my package had arrived. Just a little rant, if Lin You can see this, please switch to another courier next time! It took two extra days just within the province—please, I’ll be so grateful!】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: The key point—at this time, I was still at school. After I received the egg cakes, I just went home. Yes, my home is close to the school, so I’m that spontaneous!】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: My mom loves egg cakes, so I was just going to taste a bit of it. But!】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: These egg cakes are SO GOOD! Especially the milk flavor, so fragrant and sweet! The skin is slightly crispy, and the inside is moist. The egg flavor is really pronounced! I had just eaten, and I still ate three more without any filling!】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: My mom said it tastes just like when we were kids. Trust me, dears, it’s really delicious. It’s that simple, authentic kind of good, and it’s not at all worse than the desserts from a cake shop!】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: Also, I have this annoying relative at home who used to say egg cakes were low-end. Guess what, this time my dad specially sent her one to try, and now she’s secretly asking my dad where he bought it from, hahahahaha.】

【Xiao Yu is not a fish: Anyway, my mom’s calling me. She wants to know when the next live stream is so she can add the yellow cart to her shopping list.】