When Yun Manman opened her shop today, she never imagined so many customers would come!
She had prepared the usual popular desserts and opened for business as normal, even though it took quite a while to bake everything fresh that morning, despite preparing ingredients the day before.
So she usually didn't open until 11 AM, or 10 AM at the earliest.
Each day, she would close up and go home once most of the desserts had sold out.
Customers typically came in the afternoon for teatime or to take desserts home. Online delivery orders also mostly came in the afternoon.
But today, just as she stepped out to flip the "Open" sign, a female beastkin called out to her.
The female beastkin wasn't alone - two others were with her.
Who knows how long the three of them had been waiting outside. Their foreheads were covered in sweat and their cheeks were flushed red.
In such hot weather, standing in the sun for even a short while would make anyone sweat profusely.
She asked, "Excuse me, are you the owner of the Perfect Sweets Shop? Are you open now?"
Yun Manman was startled by their appearance and quickly replied, "Yes, I am. We're open now. Would you like to come in?"
The three nodded in unison.
So Yun Manman hurriedly ushered them inside.
The three beastkin finally let out a sigh of relief as they felt the air conditioning, but before they could even wipe their sweat, they were captivated by the desserts in the display case.
They started chattering excitedly about what treats and drinks to order.
Yun Manman placed some tissues on the table, inviting them to wipe off their sweat.
By the time they finished ordering, several more customers had arrived before Yun Manman could even start on the drinks.
She became completely swamped with work.
Yun Manman was so busy she barely had time to breathe, wishing she could split into three people.
One to make drinks, one to serve desserts, and one to listen to customer feedback and handle various small emergencies.
To make matters worse, the hot weather drove everyone to crowd into the air-conditioned shop. The small space was soon packed full of people.
At a glance, it was a sea of colorful heads and ears all squeezed together.
There were quite a few beastkin grumbling, "Stop pushing!" "It's too crowded!" "Where's my sparkling water..."
Yun Manman was so flustered she started sweating. Why had so many people suddenly shown up?
But she had no time to ponder that now. Her hands were a blur as she shook drink mixers at lightning speed.
All she could think about was finishing the customers' drinks as quickly as possible.
At that moment, she began to regret not being an octopus beastkin - surely with eight arms she could handle all this!
As it was, she was completely overwhelmed on her own, and customers' moods were bound to be affected.
Just as she finished delivering two drinks to customers and rushed back behind the counter to package the next order of desserts into boxes,
Suddenly, a pair of tanned hands reached out and took the box, along with the order number from Yun Manman's hand.
"Order number 20, your desserts are ready!"
Yun Manman looked up in surprise and was delighted to see Yuan Qing: "Sister Qing!"
Ever since that day when Yuan Qing came to thank Yun Manman, she had become a frequent customer at the dessert shop.
Yun Manman knew she still wanted to repay her kindness.
Although she told Yuan Qing it wasn't necessary to spend so much, Yuan Qing would always reply, "Your dessert shop is just really good, that's why I come often."
With this back-and-forth, the two had become friends.
Yuan Qing, with her stylish short hair, held the tray with one hand and turned to Yun Manman with a playful wink: "I'm here to help you out."
Yun Manman was almost moved to tears: "Thank you so much, Sister Qing!"
Aww, friends really are the most reliable!
With Yuan Qing's help, Yun Manman felt much more at ease and could finally focus on making drinks.
It wasn't just the in-store customers - there were also many online orders, with delivery drivers already waiting outside. She needed to speed up.
Huang Youcai was an online content creator, mainly live streaming exposés and debunking frauds.
He covered all sorts of topics - whether restaurants were giving full meat portions, revealing police working hours, exposing how many girlfriends a certain celebrity had in a year...
Whatever grabbed the most attention is what he'd make content about.
Many netizens felt his content was lowbrow and sensationalist.
But just as many thought his videos were at least original and could capture public attention and satisfy people's curiosity.
Clearly, he had also caught wind of the buzz around the new "Perfect Sweets Shop," and here he was, equipped with his livestreaming device and communication gadget.
The livestreaming device was a miniature lens that could connect to the internet and upload video and audio to the livestream in real-time.
Made to look like various decorative accessories, it was very portable and discreet when pinned to clothing.
Huang Youcai had once used the livestreaming device to enter the kitchen of a chain restaurant, allowing tens of thousands of viewers to see how these supposedly "safe and reliable" big establishments were actually untrustworthy.
In fact, the latest laws had confirmed that secret filming without the owner's consent was illegal.
But Huang Youcai repeatedly pushed the boundaries of the law for the sake of views. He was lucky that the shops he secretly filmed all had actual problems, which helped him avoid jail time.
"Alright everyone, I've arrived at the entrance of the Perfect Sweets Shop. Now, let's see what this legendary shop that can supposedly alleviate mental power disorders looks like, and whether their food really can soothe mental power..."
"Wow, this shop is quite small, and it's so crowded..."
Huang Youcai excitedly spoke to his livestreaming device as he saw the dessert shop packed with beastkin.
A crowd was good! Crowds meant excitement!
He wiped away some sweat and squeezed his way in.
Amidst a chorus of angry shouts, he shamelessly pushed his way to the front of the dessert display case.
The leaf-shaped livestreaming device pinned to his collar diligently captured the scene before him.
The "Youcai Reveals Secrets for You" livestream already had many viewers waiting, and now seeing the desserts in the display case, they flooded the chat with comments.
"So these are the desserts? They look so pretty!"
"Host, host, get that blueberry cheesecake! I love blueberries!"
"What's cheese? Is it safe to eat?"
"I saw a video saying it's made from milk."
"What's pudding? It looks all soft and wobbly, can you eat it?"
"Host, host, try that pork floss bun! They're almost sold out!"
Huang Youcai glanced at the livestream chat on his communication device amidst the crowd, then quickly looked at the dessert called "pork floss bun" in the display case. Indeed, there were only three left.
The pork floss bun was the best-selling item in the dessert shop, the most popular among beastkin.
Probably because it had meat on top.
Huang Youcai hesitated a bit. Although he wanted to try the shop's desserts, that wasn't his main purpose today.
He whispered to his livestreaming device, "Everyone, don't rush. Let me go check out the storage room first..."
He squeezed back out of the crowd. Wearing gray clothes and a hat, he was quite inconspicuous among the people.
Taking advantage of the busy shop where no one noticed him, he slipped into the small room behind the dessert shop.
This small room stored Yun Manman's dessert-making ingredients, essentially a mini warehouse.
The livestream chat was filled with question marks.
"The host isn't buying anything to eat??"
"Why did he just leave?"
"Where is this? It's so dark, can't see anything."
"Newbies above, be patient."
"Youcai's trick is to first see if there's anything fishy about the shop."
"So he's going to the storage room to look for what?"
The small, cramped storage room was dimly lit. Huang Youcai didn't dare turn on the lights for fear of attracting attention.
He searched the small storage room with difficulty, using the light from his communication device's screen: "This shop's popularity comes from its desserts that can allegedly alleviate mental power disorders."
"As we all know, for food to have a soothing effect, they must have added something to it."
"Now, let's search and see if this shop has any questionable ingredients they don't want people to know about..."
Huang Youcai, true to his reputation as the number one host for exposés and fraud-busting, was very skilled at secret filming and infiltration.
In just a few moments, he had the curiosity of the beastkin in the livestream chat at its peak.
"So exciting!"
"It feels like we're on an adventure with the host!"
"I'm scared the owner will suddenly come in, but I can't help wanting to watch."
"This is the charm of Youcai's livestream channel. If you like it, don't forget to follow!"
"I'm so curious what he'll find. Mental power soothing drugs?"
"Wouldn't soothing drugs make it taste bad? That stuff tastes really weird."
Huang Youcai was both excited and nervous, his forehead covered in sweat as he bent over, rummaging through the small storage room.
"Flour... sugar... eggs... red beans..."
"What's this? Compressed... compressed carbon dioxide? Is this used for food?"
"High-pressure jet machine?? What's this for?"
The more he searched, the more alarmed Huang Youcai became, and the mystery in his mind only grew larger.
He spoke confidently into his streaming device, "What kind of legitimate food store would have these things? These must be weapons!"
"This store definitely has something fishy going on!"
Just as he was taking photos for evidence, the door to the small storage room suddenly swung open.
"Who's in there?!"