Chapter 976 - 995: Gourmet New Year’s Eve Dinner

"Hurry up, hurry up!" a young woman urged, hurriedly tugging at her husband. "Come on! It’s about to start!"

"I’m coming!" The slightly chubby man took off his scarf, looking helpless. "Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to go for a walk?"

"Well, yes, but you were way too slow coming back!"

"Alright, alright, I’ll be faster next time, okay?"

As they spoke, the two sat down in front of their home projector. The woman happily turned on her terminal and logged into her personal dashboard on the New Star app, where a short message lay waiting.

[Dear Lady Miao Miao,

Thank you for your long-standing support of the New Star app, Taobao Food, and our food factory. We sincerely invite you and your family to participate in this year’s annual New Year’s Eve Food Festival!

The event will begin at exactly 7:00 PM on December 28th. Please click the link below between 6:45 PM and 6:55 PM to enter the virtual New Year’s Eve restaurant. A wide variety of delicacies await your tasting!]

The couple logged into the virtual room, extremely excited.

Naturally, a room made of data wouldn’t be crowded. As they walked past a cluster of small rooms, a lit red light indicated a full house, while a green light displayed the number of empty seats remaining inside the private dining rooms. Lady Miao Miao and her husband walked for about ten meters before finding a room with three seats left. They quickly took their places inside.

Another wonderful thing about participating in this event was the chance to meet complete strangers.

In the private room where Lady Miao Miao and her husband sat, there was already a couple and a little girl. The moment the two of them saw the child, they muttered in their hearts.

"Ah, why are we so unlucky? We ran into a human cub! These little demons can’t be reasoned with!"

However, after spending some time together, they realized they were entirely wrong.

They thought, "Wow, how did they raise this child?! They’re practically tricking me into having one of my own!"

They took their seats and began to chat. At 6:55 PM, the bell tolled.

Just like last year, as soon as the bell rang, the entrance to log into the virtual restaurant disappeared, and dishes began to be served in every private room.

This year, as Qiuqiu was the undeniable top star of New Star, coupled with the fact that Little President Qian truly favored this "lovely partner," the virtual room they applied for was a level higher than last year’s. Inside the restaurant’s private rooms, aside from being able to eat, drink, and browse the internet, an additional live broadcast projection had been added.

This meant that while everyone ate in the virtual rooms, they could simultaneously watch Qiuqiu’s New Year’s Eve dinner live stream.

The moment the dishes were served, a warm and bustling atmosphere immediately filled the air.

The color, aroma, and taste, along with the crowd of people, created a profound mood. It was fine for those who shared a room with their relatives, but the lonely wanderers far from home couldn’t help but begin to miss their own families.

Inside the live stream.

The menu and ingredients had all been prepared in advance. Moreover, to upload the data to the virtual restaurant, Qiuqiu had already cooked the New Year’s Eve dinner once beforehand. Therefore, doing it again at this time, though a bit chaotic, was something she was very familiar with.

The camera robots circled her hands, capturing every movement.

The main event now was still the fish. Recently, Qiuqiu had discovered on Taotao Fresh that they had actually managed to source a species very similar to ribbonfish. In the 21st century, ribbonfish had been Qiuqiu’s absolute favorite. When she was very young, her grandparents would often make fried ribbonfish for her.

Today, frying up a plate of golden, crispy ribbonfish that tasted perfectly salty and savory at this time of the New Year was her way of remembering the past.

Her thoughts flashed briefly as she dropped the ribbonfish into the hot oil. She gently moved the skimmer around the pan as small bubbles gradually rose to the surface, scattering a mouth-watering aroma all around.

The ribbonfish was quickly deep-fried to perfection.

But simply frying it wasn’t enough. For the perfect pieces of ribbonfish, a slight stir-frying process was still required.