Even though he had been caught red-handed, the chubby man still didn’t look repentant. After the initial moment of guilt, he regained his self-righteousness and shouted, “You’re lying! I was just passing by. I didn’t even touch anything in your field. You’re the one who forcibly dragged me over here and framed me for stealing your vegetables!”
Even Lin Yi, who had great patience, was almost amused by this brazen, truth-twisting scoundrel.
The chubby man was clearly banking on the fact that no one had witnessed what had just happened, and that there were no surveillance cameras.
He thought Lin Yi couldn’t do anything to him. With a sly glint in his eyes, he grew even more reckless. “There’s no one around to see anything. If you want to accuse me, you’ll have to come up with some evidence.”
Lin Yi glanced at him but said nothing. Thinking Lin Yi had backed down, the chubby man was about to start shouting again when he saw Lin Yi suddenly pull a dagger from his waist with a sharp clink.
The chubby man instantly went silent, as if his throat had been squeezed shut. Lin Yi toyed with the dagger in his hand, speaking slowly. “You’re right. There’s no one around to see anything. How about…”
Lin Yi paused halfway and gave a meaningful smile.
“Y-y-y-you, what are you doing?! That’s illegal! Aaaaaah—” The chubby man didn’t expect to dig a hole for himself. Terrified out of his wits, he let out a bloodcurdling scream and frantically tried to shrink back.
But Lin Yi’s hands, though slender and fair, gripped the chubby man’s wrist with the force of iron pincers. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free.
Failing to escape, the chubby man switched tactics, weeping and wailing as he confessed his wrongdoing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It was a moment of greed. I shouldn’t have tried to steal your things. You’re magnanimous, please let me off.”
“So you finally admit it?” Under the chubby man’s terrified yet hopeful gaze, Lin Yi put the dagger away.
He had only meant to scare the chubby man a little; he had never intended to actually do anything. He just didn’t expect the man to be such a coward, screaming bloody murder at the mere sight of a dagger, which was frankly annoying.
Of course, he had no intention of letting the chubby man off so easily. He tugged at the man’s wrist and pulled him to his feet. “Come on. You’re coming with me to see your brother.”
As a law-abiding citizen, Lin Yi’s first thought was to hand the man over to the police. But the desolate Blue Star had no such institution, so Lin Yi had to settle for the next best option.
After spending some time here, Lin Yi had come to know Du Hong, the chubby man’s older brother. Du Hong was stubborn by nature and couldn’t tolerate wrongdoing. He had long been frustrated with his good-for-nothing younger brother.
Leaving the chubby man to Du Hong was the most fitting solution.
Lin Yi dragged the chubby man to Du Hong, who was plowing a field, gave a brief account of what had just happened, and handed the chubby man over.
Before leaving, he shot the chubby man a warning glance and said to Du Hong, “Please keep him in line. Don’t let this happen again.”
“Right, right, right. Just wait till I get him home,” Du Hong said helplessly, apologizing on his brother’s behalf. The chubby man had long since lost his arrogant bluster, huddled behind Du Hong like a quail.
Lin Yi walked away. Du Hong looked at his worthless younger brother, raising his hand in anger. But seeing the pale-faced flinch from his brother, the slap ultimately didn’t land, loud thunder but small raindrops, and fell on the chubby man’s back instead.
He glared fiercely at his brother. “You heard him. If there’s a next time, I’ll kill you myself.”
The chubby man nodded repeatedly, forcing a smile. “Brother, those are vegetables growing in that field. Even just a few of them could sell for a good chunk of money. Our own vegetable seeds were a total loss, so I thought—”
“You still dare entertain that idea? If you want something, work for it yourself and grow it!” Du Hong roared. “You’ll pick a fight with anyone. Don’t you realize that man went easy on you?”
The chubby man didn’t know who Lin Yi really was, but Du Hong had heard the story, how Lin Yi had single-handedly killed two mutant beasts. As Lin Yi turned to leave, the dagger at his waist had still glinted with a cold light.
Du Hong looked at the retreating figure of Lin Yi, then at the pathetic excuse for a brother standing before him. His anger flared even more. “Go home today and lock yourself in for reflection. Without my permission, you’re not coming out!”
Having dealt with that matter, Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn’t know what the outcome would be, but he figured the chubby man wouldn’t dare provoke him again.
After a full day of labor, Lin Yi returned to his room and once again opened his wrist terminal. Thanks to the two trending topics, he now had many more followers. His account page was lively, mostly filled with excited squeals or words of friendly support.
Moreover, as Lin Yi gained popularity, interest in Blue Star, which he had been promoting all along, also rose. Searches for the keyword “Blue Star” doubled within just a few days.
At first, the overwhelming enthusiasm of his fans made Lin Yi, who had always been a loner, quite uncomfortable. But after a few days of adjustment, he had learned to accept their effusive praise with a calm mindset.
As Lin Yi scrolled through his account, a faint smile, one he didn’t even notice, appeared on his lips. He smoothly replied to a few highly liked comments and continued browsing the net.
Just then, he noticed that many people were tagging his account. He followed the tags and found a video posted by a fan:
【Attempting to recreate the crème caramel from the livestream a couple of days ago! PS: I should count as one of the few who actually paid attention in class and didn’t get distracted by the host’s stunning looks. Proud.jpg】
This video also had an impressive number of views. In the comments section, many excited fans tagged Lin Yi, urging him to watch.
Lin Yi clicked on the video and saw a young woman in her early twenties clumsily following his method to make crème caramel.
She clearly had no experience whatsoever, her movements were awkward, the egg-milk mixture in her mold hadn’t fully set, and her caramel was burnt. As a result, the final product looked exceptionally… disastrous.
Lin Yi: …That student is definitely not someone I taught.
The young woman in the video stared at the terrible mess she had made, clearly dumbfounded as well.
In the end, with a look of someone heading to their doom, she took a small bite.
Then her expression froze.
Is it really that bad? Lin Yi was quietly wondering when he saw her face light up with emotion, looking like she was about to cry. “Oh my god, it’s actually really delicious. I’m sorry, I misjudged it, boohoo…”
“Boohoo… Every time I’ve cooked before, I’ve practically set the kitchen on fire. But this time! It’s even better than the synthetic desserts they sell in pastry shops! Seriously, never mind that it looks a bit ugly…” The girl in the video was so excited she could barely speak straight. As she babbled, she kept shoveling big mouthfuls into herself, looking oddly hilarious.
This kid, has she never had anything good to eat? Lin Yi opened the comments with mixed feelings. He saw quite a few netizens making fun of the blogger:
“LMAO. Is this even the same thing from the livestream?”
“Crème caramel: Don’t come near me.”
“Can this thing actually be eaten? Is she faking it? LOL”
“I don’t think so. The host is eating it way too earnestly, no way that’s an act.”
The blogger was also quite stubborn, defending herself fiercely in the comments:
“It may be a failed attempt, but it’s still delicious! I can’t even imagine how good the real thing must taste.”
“Everyone has to try the host’s recipe! I’m just regretting not paying better attention during the livestream. Begging those who did listen to send me the full recipe…”
Behind her comment, a long thread of people begging for the recipe followed. Quite a few netizens expressed interest, reasoning that no matter how clumsy they were, they probably couldn’t end up with something worse than this blogger’s attempt, right?
It was only then that Lin Yi remembered he hadn’t yet posted the crème caramel recipe. He promptly shared it in the video’s comment section. He also pointed out some corrections based on the steps shown in the video:
【The ratio of egg to milk needs to be right. If you add too much milk, the crème caramel won’t set properly.】
【When making the caramel, control the timing well. Turn off the heat as soon as it turns brownish-yellow, and pour it into the mold before the syrup solidifies.】
…
Lin Yi had posted this casually, but he never expected that making crème caramel would turn into a new activity among his fans over the next couple of days. Everyone started competing to see whose crème caramel looked the best. For a while, replication videos flooded the internet.
Only after actually trying it did people realize that although the method seemed simple, producing a crème caramel with perfect appearance and texture was far from as easy as it had looked in the livestream.
Surprisingly, the blogger who had made the best-looking one was the very same person who had failed spectacularly at the start. After Lin Yi’s guidance in the comments, the crème caramel in her second video was vastly improved, earning her plenty of envy.
When tasting the second crème caramel, she had expected not to be as blown away as the first time. But after one bite, she couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement: “It’s really, really delicious! Soft and bouncy in the mouth, paired with the delicate aroma of caramel, absolutely incredible! Now I realize that what I made the first time wasn’t even crème caramel at all!”
Under this video, the comments were almost universally in agreement. Over the past few days, fans had all tried making the crème caramel themselves, and they had discovered, it was truly delicious! Simple ingredients had somehow been transformed into something with an entirely unique texture. Many people had already started recommending the recipe to others around them, and it had received unanimous praise.
Lin Yi gave the video a like and then logged off the Star Network. These past few days were the vegetable harvest, and he was so busy that his feet barely touched the ground.
As a result, he missed a new comment that had appeared under his account:
@Qingqing Grassland: “Heh. A cheap showman seeking attention. Feeling pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?”