Chapter 34: Little Taotie at the Buffet

After drawing the UR-level employee card, Yun Tao was very happy, but he didn’t summon Bifang immediately.

Bifang was the omen-of-fire bird, and legend had it that wherever it appeared, strange fires would always break out. Yun Tao rarely interacted with Bifang, but its fierce reputation was well-known, comparable to his own.

Not wanting Taotie Delicacies to burn down, it was best to make thorough preparations before summoning the new employee.

Yun Tao happily decided to wait for the system to refresh the mission before activating the barbecue area and summoning Bifang.

Yun Tao went to bed on time, and Granny Meng had recently sent another box of Nine Nether Spring Water lotus seeds, which were stored in a special refrigerator. Yun Tao thought about having lotus seed white fungus soup and lotus seed cold cake tomorrow and quickly fell into a sweet dream.

When he woke up, Yun Tao smelled the fragrance of lotus seeds, and when he went downstairs, he saw lotus seed soup and various breakfast items on the dining table.

Tai Sui glanced at him, saw his hair tips were wet, and brought a clean towel, covering his head and rubbing it vigorously: “Alright, go have breakfast.”

Yun Tao, with his hair ruffled into messy little curls, sat at the dining table, picked up a steamed bun, took a big bite, and asked with his mouth full, “Did you guys notice anything different about the house?”

Feifei raised her hand: “Reporting, little boss, I noticed! The rooftop has turned into a barbecue area, and there are lots of tables and chairs.”

Tai Sui: “There’s a new elevator in the kitchen, going straight to the basement and the rooftop.”

The space of Taotie Delicacies had been thoroughly figured out. This elevator was very cleverly arranged, not crowded at all, and it would be very convenient to bring dishes to the rooftop in the future.

Yun Tao nodded: “We can buy Shanhai Pork now. After the barbecue area opens, I’ll have a new employee report for duty.”

Tai Sui raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling that the newly hired employee wouldn’t be easy to deal with. Otherwise, why wait until the barbecue area opened to have them come?

Yun Fenghe’s focus was elsewhere: “Will the new colleague live in the basement bedroom?” That would make them his roommate, wouldn’t it?

After the last renovation, the basement bedroom had been cleaned up very comfortably and was ready for occupancy.

Yun Tao: “That’s the plan, barring any unforeseen circumstances.”

If Bifang needed a bird’s nest or treehouse, he wouldn’t mind putting in the effort.

Yun Tao finished two big buns and took a big gulp of lotus seed soup. The fresh Nine Nether Spring Water lotus seeds weren’t as fragrant as the dried ones, but they had a tender texture and a unique refreshing aroma. The lotus seed soup had white fungus and peach gum added, stewed to a thick consistency, with a suitable sweetness, soothing to the heart.

Yun Tao looked at Tai Sui: “Brother Sui, your cooking skills have improved.”

Tai Sui curled his lips: “Come to the kitchen at ten o’clock, there will be lotus seed cold cake.”

It was too early in the morning to eat cold food.

Yun Tao immediately turned into a praise machine: “Brother Sui is so nice, brother Sui is awesome!”

Feifei picked up a fish skin dumpling and took a bite: “Little boss, do you know you’re famous online?”

The little boss went to bed early and might have missed the hottest period of discussion about the food live broadcast!

Yun Tao started drinking his second bowl of lotus seed soup, shaking his head: “I don’t know.”

Feifei handed him her phone: “You were trending on a certain social media platform last night.”

Yun Tao looked down, the trending topic was: Little Boss’s Same Style Little Black Dragon Chinese Style Outfit.

Clicking on the topic, it was all his live broadcast screenshots. The most popular post was titled: Within a minute, I want to know all the information about my son, and—where can I buy the little black dragon outfit?

There were a lot of comments.

“Your son’s information? You’re asking me? That proves the little black dragon is my son, not yours.”

“So cute, so cute, the little boss even has little tiger teeth when he smiles!”

“This outfit is really good-looking and comfortable, the material looks great, I want to buy the same one for my nephew.”

“My internet son has been discovered by everyone. I still have a set of his Hanfu photos from the Chinese style market.”

Some netizens found Ruan Ruan’s Chinese style clothing online store and posted it in the comments section. In the replies, many netizens said they had bought the same outfit for their children at home.

Yun Tao: “Ruan Ruan must be very happy.”

As soon as he mentioned Ruan Ruan, her phone call came.

Ruan Ruan was indeed very happy, her voice full of laughter: “Good morning, Taotao!”

“Good morning, sister Ruan,” Yun Tao greeted obediently.

“Taotao, you’re too good to me, actually wearing my clothes on the live broadcast!”

Yun Tao: “Because the clothes you gave me are very good-looking.”

Ruan Ruan was happier than making money: “Thanks to you, all the children’s styles in the store are sold out, and the second batch of pre-orders is almost finished. I’ll send you a big red envelope as pocket money, please accept it.”

Yun Tao had just woken up and received a big sum of pocket money.

Yun Tao touched the Heavenly Dog, who was eating, and yawned: “I feel like today will be very lucky.”

The Heavenly Dog moved its ears: “Mew!”

The live broadcast of Greedy Charm was unexpectedly popular, and it wasn’t just Yun Tao’s same style Chinese style outfit that caught everyone’s attention.

The Wind Rabbit and Old Pu also became minor celebrities.

Although the 111,568 viewers who witnessed the Wind Rabbit’s confession and breakup promised to keep it a secret, the live broadcast replay was still available, and his embarrassing moment spread widely.

Netizens commented:

“Although it’s a bit mean, I really want to laugh at his embarrassment.”

“Oops, I’ve used up all my good karma for today.”

“Will the fairy who rejected him see this video?”

“The Wind Rabbit is moving off the planet overnight after seeing the comments above.”

This video was included in the “Human Embarrassment Compilation” and actually appeared on the homepage of the dolphin who rejected the Wind Rabbit.

Watching the video of the lop-eared rabbit youth with wide eyes and red ears, the dolphin remembered how his ears were also red when he confessed, and he stammered when he spoke… kind of cute.

Old Pu’s interview clip was cut out separately by a funny editor master, with the caption: I feel like I saw the old age life of a socially anxious person.

At first, netizens commented: Same, same.

Until one netizen revealed the truth: Socially anxious people like me probably don’t have 500,000 in savings at this age.

Later, the topic went off track, and the focus returned to the various magical stories of Taotie Delicacies.

In this thread, even an anonymous member of the Greedy Charm crew appeared.

“After visiting this restaurant, a heavyweight guest who refused our interview suddenly changed his mind and gave us a chance. A colleague who is learning to swim made rapid progress after drinking the Sand Pear Dragon Well Tea. And I also received good news of a bonus today. This is really a lucky restaurant!”

There were too many highlights in this live broadcast, and everyone was curious about this restaurant. The popularity didn’t decrease but increased.

Throughout the day, Yun Tao received many invitations from live broadcast platforms, all hoping he could join their platform, preferably signing an exclusive contract.

Among them, Carrot Live Broadcast was the most generous, offering irresistible terms. The commission was high, the minimum monthly broadcast time was only 20 hours, you could cancel the contract at any time without paying a penalty, and the terms were unbelievably good.

Yun Tao replied: Hacked account? Scammer?

The person in charge replied awkwardly: It’s the official account, not hacked, the boss’s wife is a fan of Taotie Delicacies.

It turned out to be the love of a big fan!

Broadcasting 20 hours a month, without requiring any broadcast content, was too easy. Yun Tao had planned to start a live broadcast anyway, so he had no reason to refuse.

Yun Tao asked the person in charge to send over the electronic contract, and after the system checked it and found no problems, Yun Tao signed it online. The whole process was very smooth.

Carrot Live Broadcast had a very good attitude towards Yun Tao, treating him like a big streamer, and even gave him a set of live broadcast equipment, saying: If you need it, we can arrange for a specialist to come to debug the equipment.

After Yun Tao received the equipment, the system hadn’t refreshed the mission yet, so he was happy to relax. Recently, the delivery business to the underworld was quite good, and he was well-fed, so he wasn’t in a hurry to develop new areas.

Tomorrow was the shop’s day off, and Yun Tao bought tickets for the wildlife park, arranging a Taotie Delicacies team-building activity. Except for the Wind Rabbit, who had work and couldn’t go, everyone else participated.

The wildlife park was in the suburbs, and from Shanhai Street, you could take the subway directly, but the journey was a bit far.

This was the first group outing, and Yun Tao was especially happy. He changed into the little Taotie outfit Ruan Ruan sent him, put on his little backpack full of snacks, and urged his older brothers and sisters to leave.

But as soon as they reached the subway entrance, he was tired, and even the little antenna on his head drooped. He didn’t know why, but today the demon energy in his body was a bit disobedient, running around in his body, making him a little tired.

Tai Sui picked him up: “What’s the rush? The zoo isn’t going to close.”

“This is my first family trip, I’m excited,” Yun Tao muttered softly.

His older brothers and sister heard him and couldn’t help but smile. The group was already eye-catching with their good looks, and their smiles were even more dazzling, attracting a lot of attention.

Yun Tao didn’t have to walk, so he had nothing to do. He simply pulled up the system screen and logged into his social media account.

As soon as he went online, he saw a dense array of private messages and tags. Yun Tao sometimes interacted with his fans, and he scrolled through the messages, attracted by one post.

“Beautiful Little Operator: Thank you Taotao for the Sand Pear Dragon Well Tea. My friends and I have been drinking a cup a day, and our swimming has improved rapidly! @TaotieDelicacies”

Yun Tao recognized it as the personal account of the Greedy Charm operator.

Even the staff confirmed it, and netizens were even more curious about the Sand Pear Dragon Well Tea, leaving messages saying they would definitely try it if they had the chance.

Yun Tao thought for a moment and posted a reminder to his customers and netizens: “Cherish life, prevent drowning. Pay attention to swimming safety, please practice swimming in a safe environment.”

He silently thought: The summer here is beautiful, and if the food sold by Taotie Delicacies can help everyone, he would be very happy.

On weekends, the subway was very crowded. However, their aura was so strong that they weren’t pushed around. After passing the central station, the carriage became less crowded.

Yun Tao poked Lin Jiuyuan’s shoulder: “Xiao Lin, do you have a driver’s license?”

“Yes.” Lin Jiuyuan revealed the cruel truth: “But driving on weekends is also very congested.”

Yun Tao: “…” Next time, he should ask Tai Sui to make a teleportation array, the distance was a bit far, he didn’t know if it would work.

While they were chatting, Yun Tao suddenly noticed that the nearby passengers weren’t playing on their phones anymore, they were all secretly looking at them.

Yun Tao was puzzled and asked Tai Sui softly, “Why is everyone looking at us?”

Tai Sui raised his chin: “The subway TV is playing the Greedy Charm program, you’re on it.”

Yun Tao turned his head and saw that it was true!

It turned out that Greedy Charm was officially broadcast today, and it was being broadcast simultaneously on Anxi subway TV.

Passengers who discovered that the guests from the food program were right in front of them were inevitably curious, but they didn’t disturb them, they just smiled and waved hello.

Greedy Charm played all the way, and along the way, citizens greeted Yun Tao, and Yun Tao returned sweet smiles.

The subway finally arrived at the wildlife park station. After entering the park, Yun Tao took a hand-drawn map. He had done his research before coming, and his goal was clear.

He opened the map and pointed to the giraffe area: “Let’s go feed the giraffes first!”

His older brothers and sisters had little interest in the wildlife park, they were here to accompany Yun Tao, and he could go wherever he wanted.

The group ignored the best sightseeing route and took the sightseeing bus directly to the giraffe area.

All the children in the park were wearing decorative animal tails sold in the park, and Yun Tao also quietly let his tail out. He had specially worn pants with a tail hole today!

A child who was about to get on the sightseeing bus saw Yun Tao’s tail and said enviously, “Little brother, your tail is so beautiful, it looks real!”

Yun Tao’s ears turned red: “Your tail is also beautiful!”

The child immediately smiled so hard that his eyes disappeared. If there hadn’t been no space next to Yun Tao, he would have sat right next to him!

Yun Tao had promised the Carrot Live Broadcast operator that he would go live today. This was his debut, and Carrot Live Broadcast would give him a homepage recommendation.

Yun Tao went live on the sightseeing bus. He thought it was too much trouble to bring equipment, so he did a mobile live broadcast. Tai Sui dutifully acted as the cameraman.

After a while, people started to enter the live broadcast room. Yun Tao waved at the camera: “Welcome to the Taotie Delicacies live broadcast room. I’m Taotao. Today is our day off, we’re playing at the wildlife park, on our way to the giraffe area.”

As soon as he spoke, the tourists on the sightseeing bus looked over curiously.

There were still few viewers in the live broadcast room, but they were very enthusiastic.

“Taotie Delicacies’ first live broadcast, and it’s not a food broadcast?”

“Weekends don’t sleep in, there are benefits, my son is live!”

“So smart and generous, just like the little male lead in a rebirth novel!”

“Are you going to feed the giraffes?”

Yun Tao leaned closer to read the comments, his eyelashes fluttering: “Yes, yes, we’re going to feed the giraffes. We’ll wander around and go to the buffet, so it’s also a food broadcast!”

“The buffet restaurant in the zoo? That place is super expensive, no one has ever eaten their money’s worth! But there are only two or three restaurants in the zoo, the boss is making a killing!”

Yun Tao smiled, his eyes curved, with a bit of cleverness: “Don’t worry, I can not only eat my money’s worth, but also eat the restaurant bankrupt.”

The chat was full of laughter, and no one took the child’s words seriously.

After arriving at the giraffe area, Yun Fenghe bought two portions of leaves for feeding and handed them to Yun Tao.

Tai Sui handed the live broadcast phone to Lin Xiao and carried Yun Tao to feed the giraffes.

Just as they approached the fence, a magical scene occurred. The giraffes, who were leisurely interacting with the tourists, retreated in unison, looking at Yun Tao in fear.

They looked like they were about to huddle together and tremble.

The tourists were all shocked: ???

What happened?

Tai Sui also felt something was wrong and whispered, “You’re leaking demon energy.”

Yun Tao was extremely depressed. He had felt something was wrong with his body when he left the house today, but he didn’t expect to mess up at a crucial moment. He tried his best to restrain his demon energy, but he couldn’t control it.

Animals were very sensitive and avoided him from afar.

No giraffes came to eat his leaves.

Yun Tao lowered his eyelashes in disappointment.

“Is it an illusion? These giraffes seem to be afraid of Taotao?”

“Did he put on something to repel mosquitoes, animals don’t like that smell?”

“Sweetie, don’t be sad, we’ll feed them next time!”

Yun Tao raised his eyes, looked at one of the giraffes, held out the leaves, and said pitifully, “Just take a bite.”

The giraffe was a little afraid of his aura, but it was still captivated by those clear eyes. After observing for a moment, it took a few steps forward, standing far away, and stretched its neck to take the leaves he offered.

The tourists were amazed and wanted to applaud! What a good child, how could they ignore him!

The viewers in the live broadcast room also breathed a sigh of relief.

Yun Tao smiled and waved at the giraffe: “You don’t have to be afraid, I’m leaving.”

Yun Tao hugged Tai Sui’s neck and said softly, “I don’t want to scare the animals, let’s go home after we eat.”

“Okay.”

On the way here, Yun Tao was really looking forward to interacting with the animals. Lin Xiao wanted the child to have fun, so he suggested, “I have a fellow villager who works here, let’s go play at his place, he won’t mind.”

Yun Tao’s eyes lit up: “I want to go!”

Before leaving, Feifei deliberately released her spiritual energy to soothe the giraffes.

They were no longer nervous and watched Yun Tao leave. The giraffe that had been fed never took its eyes off him, its dark, moist eyes filled with a hint of regret.

They took the sightseeing bus to the fox enclosure.

The fox enclosure wasn’t very popular, there were few tourists, and the foxes were lazily lying in the shade of the trees, only two show-offs were arguing in the sun.

“Little red fox: ‘Eek eek eek—'”

“Big red fox: ‘Eek eek eek eek!!!'”

The two foxes opened their mouths wider and wider, their ears flying back, neither giving way to the other.

Lin Xiao, holding the live broadcast phone, glanced at the comments.

“Little foxes arguing are so cute!”

“Aren’t you going to find your fellow villager? Is your fellow villager a fox keeper?”

“Cute?” Lin Xiao chuckled: “They’re swearing so much, I don’t dare to translate for you.”

The audience thought he was joking!

When they approached, the foxes sensed Yun Tao’s demon energy and all stood up, even the two arguing ones stopped.

“Little Red,” Lin Xiao raised his chin towards the big red fox and introduced Yun Tao: “Don’t panic, this is my boss.”

The big red fox nodded at him and walked over slowly: “Eek eek eek…”

“You kid, it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

Lin Xiao: “I changed jobs recently, I’ve been too busy. Come to the store to play when you have time, I’ll treat you to Guanguan chicken.”

“Big red fox: ‘Eek eek eek eek.'”

“It’s a deal.”

Seeing that the big red fox wasn’t avoiding him, Yun Tao asked Tai Sui to put him down and squatted on the ground to chat with the big red fox.

“How’s the salary and benefits here?”

The big red fox said it was okay.

Yun Tao: “If you want to quit, you can come work at my store, our benefits are also good!”

Lin Xiao laughed: “Little boss, are you poaching from the zoo?”

The audience was stunned.

“How come I feel like they don’t have a language barrier? Didn’t they say that monsters aren’t allowed to become spirits now?”

“Wait… is Lin Xiao’s fellow villager this fox?”

“The little fox didn’t avoid Taotao, that’s good, Taotao looks happy too.”

“The kid’s mood should have improved, he’s even poaching from the zoo, hahaha.”

Yun Tao and Little Red chatted happily. Little Red’s attitude influenced the other foxes’ perception of Yun Tao. Before they knew it, all the foxes gathered around, peeking at Yun Tao.

After chatting with the foxes to his heart’s content, Yun Tao reluctantly said goodbye and headed to the buffet restaurant.

The buffet restaurant was very spacious, with both Chinese and Western food, a wide variety of dishes, as well as various fruits, desserts, and drinks, a dazzling array.

Yun Tao’s eyes sparkled: “Buffets are more suitable for a baby Taotie’s diet!”

The seafood area had many kinds of live seafood, and customers could choose their own and give it to the chef to process. Yun Tao picked up the tongs and grabbed prawns, hairy crabs, scallops, abalone… Yun Fenghe followed him with a plate, and seeing that the seafood was about to fall out, he reminded him gently, “Taotao, let’s take these to be processed first.”

Yun Tao nodded obediently, handed the full plate of seafood to the chef, and couldn’t move, standing beside him and watching eagerly.

The chef had never seen anyone grab such a big plate of seafood right away, and he was shocked speechless. After a while, he asked Yun Fenghe what flavor they wanted.

Yun Tao tiptoed: “Uncle, uncle! The prawns should be boiled, the hairy crabs steamed, and the rest all with salt and pepper! My sister likes boiled prawns!”

Feifei ruffled his little curls: “So good.”

The chef was also amused, the little boy was too short, and he leaned forward to see the boy’s face, and was charmed by his cuteness.

“Little friend, are you the head of the family?”

Yun Tao nodded: “Yes!”

Yun Fenghe and Feifei stayed there to wait for the seafood to be cooked, Lin Jiuyuan went to find a table, and Tai Sui and Lin Xiao took Yun Tao to get other food.

Yun Tao went straight to the barbecue area, two portions of chicken chops, pork chops, and beef chops each, pork skewers, beef skewers, chicken wings, chicken legs… he wanted them all!

Fox and Yun Tao stayed there to wait for the barbecue, and Taotie silently went to get some stir-fried vegetables, cold dishes, and some glutinous desserts.

Little Taotie’s feeding rules number one: nutrition must be balanced.

When all the food was processed, they gathered with plates of delicious food, the table was almost full, very spectacular.

The diners at the next table were envious: “It’s good to have a lot of people, you can eat a variety of food!”

A tourist sister cheered Yun Tao on: “Little friend, go for it, eat this restaurant bankrupt!”

Yun Tao smiled at the tourist sister: “Okay!”

They ate together every day and had long formed a tacit understanding. Tai Sui and Lin Xiao put on gloves and started peeling shrimp and cracking crabs, Lin Jiuyuan and Yun Fenghe started removing fish bones.

Yun Tao and Feifei waited obediently to eat. But Feifei couldn’t sit still, and occasionally fed Yun Tao desserts or fruit.

He ate whatever she fed him, not picky at all.

The phone was fixed on the edge of the table, and Tai Sui put the peeled shrimp meat in front of the camera, smiling softly: “The main show starts.”

His deep voice was so captivating that the audience’s ears tingled.

Then they saw him put two full bowls of shrimp meat in front of Yun Tao and Feifei.

“Thank you, Tai Sui!” they said in unison, burying their heads in the food.

“So spoiled, I want to join this family too.”

“The main show starts! I’m hungry, these shrimps look so plump!”

Yun Tao ate half a bowl of shrimp, finally remembering that he was a streamer, and forked a big, plump shrimp: “These very fresh shrimps are especially suitable for boiling, the brother has removed the shrimp lines, they don’t taste fishy at all, just a little soy sauce is delicious!”

Then he swallowed it in one gulp: “Boiled shrimp disappearing trick!”

They got a lot of food, and by now the live broadcast room had been recommended on the homepage, and there were more viewers, inevitably some who liked to nitpick.

Some people sarcastically said that they deliberately took more food for the live broadcast effect, and would definitely not be able to finish it, and it was too immoral to waste food at a buffet.

Yun Tao didn’t even see these comments, he was busy eating! The food on the table quickly disappeared, and they cleared all the food on the table, not even a grain of rice left.

“Where are the people who said they were wasting food? Apologize.”

“This is their normal appetite, they didn’t break the restaurant’s rules!”

“Okay… I admit I was too loud before, sorry.”

“Everyone’s a big eater, it’s so satisfying to watch, Taotao has a big appetite, he looks so relaxed, he’s not full, is he?”

Yun Tao wasn’t full at all, he was still a little hungry, this was nothing!

He wanted to eat more, but he decided to end the live broadcast first.

“Today’s live broadcast is over, thank you for your company, I had a great time today.” Yun Tao waved his hands: “See you next time!”

The audience reluctantly said goodbye, Tai Sui closed the live broadcast room, and looked at Yun Tao knowingly: “What else do you want to eat?”

Yun Tao: “I saw a hot pot area over there!”

After trying everything he wanted to eat, Yun Tao felt that the trip was worthwhile, and he left the restaurant satisfied.

The restaurant manager watched them leave, his eyes full of admiration: “This is the first time I’ve seen anyone eat so much since I opened the restaurant!”

The employee next to him looked at the time: “The time limit hasn’t been reached yet, I think they held back.”

The restaurant manager pointed forward: “You’re right, they left the boss a way out. Look, they’re still buying candied haws!”

The boss should be glad they didn’t really plan to eat the restaurant bankrupt.

That night, Yun Tao’s live broadcast trended on Carrot Live Broadcast’s hot search list—”I woke up and saw a real beastmaster.”

This time it wasn’t a recommendation from the platform, it was naturally trending. But the video was edited by Yun Tao’s editor, putting together the clips of him feeding the giraffes and chatting with Little Red, and adding cute subtitles.

These subtitles, combined with the animals’ reactions, were very interesting and effective.

After watching it, Yun Tao had to admit: “Editor, your translation accuracy is quite high, you have a talent for being a beastmaster!”