Chapter 223: Disdain

Li Xiao considered this carefully, then slowly nodded.

“Alright. Since you’re showing such sincerity, it would be rude of me to refuse.”

Li Xiao smiled faintly.

“However, I hope the red rice rolls are prepared more meticulously this time. Let’s not have any similar issues.”

The floor manager breathed a sigh of relief, hearing that Li Xiao was letting them off so easily.

He had expected the other party to make some outrageous demands, but he never thought it would be resolved so simply.

This floor manager had dealt with a few famous streamers before. While they all acted harmless on camera, every single one of them was incredibly difficult to deal with in private.

He nodded eagerly, his smile now a little more genuine.

“Of course, of course. I’ll go to the kitchen right away and remind them to make sure every order of red rice rolls meets the standard.”

With Li Xiao’s approval, the floor manager quickly returned to the kitchen to start handling the situation.

Meanwhile, Li Xiao readjusted his camera and smiled at his viewers.

“That manager handled things pretty well. Taotaoju’s compensation plan for this little mistake is quite sincere.”

“Every table of fans here today will get a free order of red rice rolls. Looks like everyone will get to eat their fill today.”

The viewers in the stream immediately erupted with excitement.

“This must be the VIP treatment you get as a top streamer. Problems get solved so efficiently.”

“The streamer is a good guy, and he handles issues fairly. Go, Brother Li!”

“Sigh, if I had that many fans, I’d definitely squeeze them for some cash.”

…

After chatting with his audience for a bit, Li Xiao picked up his chopsticks again to examine the chicken feet.

Taotaoju’s chicken feet were small, but their delicate appearance hinted at the tender meat within.

Li Xiao gently prodded a chicken foot, and the meat fell away from the bone, showcasing its incredible softness.

The skin was tender and the meat succulent, thoroughly soaked in sauce. Every bite was full of rich collagen.

Ordinary chicken feet are deep-fried at high temperatures and then steamed. This process often causes them to absorb a lot of oil, resulting in a greasy texture.

But these All-Purpose Sauce Chicken Feet avoided that common pitfall. The oil must have been drained exceptionally well after frying, effectively removing any excess grease.

Clearly, after being fried, the excess oil was thoroughly removed from the chicken feet.

It’s not actually that difficult to achieve. You can just put the fried chicken feet into a food-grade centrifuge and spin the oil out.

Of course, they could have also used a special technique during the steaming process.

For example, using a steamer with larger holes to steam out the grease first, then adding the sauce and steaming them a second time.

Between the two, the first method would be easier.

At the same time, the system’s notification sounded in his mind.

[Congratulations, you have unlocked the 88th entry in your Food Guide.]

[Food Guide entry unlocked: All-Purpose Sauce Chicken Feet]

[Food Rating: 82/100 [Good]]

[Rating is ‘Good.’ Reward x3.]

[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward: 400,000]

[Congratulations, you have received a cash reward: 400,000]

[Congratulations, you have received a recipe reward: All-Purpose Sauce Chicken Feet Recipe]

…

“Not bad, delicious!” Li Xiao commented.

“The chicken feet are both fall-apart tender and non-greasy.”

“The sauce is complex and layered. I can taste shacha, seafood, sesame, chu hou, XO, zijin, and peanut—at least seven distinct flavors woven together. Of course, there might be even more sauces used, but these seven are the main ones.”

“However, there’s a slight lack of attention to detail. The nails on the chicken feet weren’t completely trimmed, leaving little tips that make them awkward to eat. For a germaphobe, that’s a major turn-off.”

As he spoke, Li Xiao lifted a chicken foot with his chopsticks, showing it to the camera.

Just as he said, there were still traces of nail at the tip of the chicken foot.

“Overall, this is a commendable dish. I give it an 82. If the nails had been trimmed more thoroughly, I would have gladly given it an 85.”

「In the kitchen.」

After the incident earlier, the floor manager had already pulled out his phone and tuned into Li Xiao’s livestream.

Now, he and the head dim sum chef were anxiously watching Li Xiao’s review, terrified that another problem would crop up with the dim sum.

Hearing his suggestion, the manager, Minister Huang, turned to the head chef beside him.

“Old Yu, did you hear that? Next time, have your people clean the chicken feet more thoroughly.”

Hearing this, Old Yu frowned slightly.

“Of course, it’s easy to trim them. We can just chop the tips off. The problem is, if you chop off the nails completely, the whole chicken foot looks smaller and less appealing.”

“Besides, most customers don’t really notice the tiny nails anyway.”

Minister Huang wavered. “Well…”

Seeing the hesitant look on his old friend’s face, Old Yu knew the man wasn’t convinced.

He quickly tried to persuade him.

“You’d better believe me. If a lot of people really cared, we’d have been buried in complaints by now.”

“You know what these food streamers are like, don’t you?”

“They’re just reading from a script. If they really knew anything, they’d have opened their own restaurants by now.”

“We’ve been doing it this way for years. What’s the problem? If we change things according to them, this restaurant is bound to go under.”

Hearing his old friend’s seemingly logical argument, Minister Huang swallowed the words of persuasion that were on the tip of his tongue.

Li Xiao had no idea that his well-intentioned advice was being met with such scorn. If he knew, he’d probably be furious.

At that moment, he picked up a piece of black pepper short rib and held it up to the camera.

Seeing this dim sum item, many people in the stream were baffled.

“Wait, aren’t those black pepper short ribs??”

“Yeah, isn’t that a Western dish? How did it become dim sum?”

“This is so interesting!”

“But aren’t these black pepper short ribs a bit on the small side?”

“I’d heard before that Guangdong-style morning tea has a huge variety, but today I’m really seeing it for myself.”

…

Watching the discussion in the chat, Li Xiao chuckled softly.

“These black pepper short ribs are indeed a main dish, but they’re also a dim sum item.”

“And in Cantonese-style dim sum, there are many examples like this.”

“In some of the larger tea houses, the dim sum menu might even include things like fermented red bean curd pork knuckles, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, mock shark fin soup, papaya with stewed bird’s nest, rice noodle rolls, and steamed pork rib rice.”

“So, seeing black pepper short ribs in a Cantonese breakfast is perfectly normal.”

“Alright, everyone, let’s not make a big fuss, or people will think the viewers in our stream are unsophisticated.”

“Let me try these black pepper short ribs for you and see how they taste.”

The short rib pieces were quite small, but that’s because it was dim sum, not an entrée.

If they were any larger, you’d need a knife and fork to cut them. This size was perfect for eating in one convenient bite.