Live Streaming Food Stall… But in Dog-Blooded Novels – CH29

Chapter 29

Paparazzo Hou Mianbao had been in a slump ever since he live-streamed the scandal about Ming Ruogui.

It was as if something had cursed him—no matter what he did, he constantly felt a chill down his spine. Even in his sleep, he was haunted by the same recurring nightmare:

A pair of dark golden beast-like eyes staring at him—bloodthirsty and cruel.

And in every dream, there was always a massive, gaping maw, terrifying and inescapable. No matter how he ran, he could never escape.

“Ah!”

Drenched in cold sweat, Hou Mianbao sat up in bed, his face ashen.

How strange.

Why had he been so foolish back then? What had possessed him to try exposing Ming Ruogui and Gu Xingzhou’s rumored relationship?

No—going back even further…

Why had he even become a paparazzo in the first place?

The exact reasons were blurry now. He only remembered the thrill of the first time he exposed a celebrity scandal online—the rush of being praised by thousands, the exhilarating sense of holding the sword of justice in his hands.

Originally, he had worked a mundane 9-to-5 job. But after that first scoop, he realized how lucrative this industry was and dived in headfirst, unable to pull himself out.

Just then, his phone rang. It was his colleague, Old Ma.

“Hey, Xiao Hou, we’re chasing a huge scoop over here. You in?”

Normally, just hearing the words “huge scoop” would have excited Hou Mianbao.

But today, the phrase made him shudder. Those golden eyes flashed through his mind again.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Hou Mianbao hesitantly asked, “W-what kind of scoop? Where?”

“It’s about a rising young actor. His mother has cancer, right? We’re planning to stake out the hospital to see if we can dig up some juicy details,” Old Ma said eagerly. “Her cancer is cervical cancer, you know? Who knows, maybe it was caused by a messy private life—”

Unexpectedly, a wave of disgust surged through Hou Mianbao.

Before he could stop himself, he snapped, “Cervical cancer has nothing to do with a ‘messy private life’! You’re not thinking of spreading false rumors, are you?!”

That would be way too unethical!

Old Ma paused for a moment before letting out a chuckle.

“Xiao Hou, you’ve changed,” he said. “This is our job, remember? This is how we make money.”

“You talk so righteously, but weren’t you the one live-streaming at an award-winning actor’s father’s funeral? You had no respect for the dead at all.”

Yeah…

Hou Mianbao clutched his phone, lost in thought.

Spreading rumors, making things up out of thin air, invading people’s privacy—wasn’t that exactly what he had been doing all along?

Why was it that today, all of a sudden, he felt so… uncomfortable?

No, rather than discomfort, it was more like… fear.

It felt as if no matter what he did, those golden eyes were watching him—lazy, indifferent, just waiting for him to slip up. The moment he made one wrong move, they would tear him to pieces.

Hou Mianbao hung up the phone in a daze and wandered the streets aimlessly.

He had no idea where he wanted to go.

People passing by noticed something off about him, stepping away while whispering to each other:

“That guy looks weird. Should we call the police?”
“Must be mentally ill.”
“So young and already lost his mind. What a pity.”

Hou Mianbao let out a bitter laugh.

Lost his mind? Maybe, from an outsider’s perspective, he really had.

Suddenly, a crisp, childlike voice rang in his ears:

“Friend, I see darkness gathering around your forehead—you seem to be haunted.”

Who—who was speaking?

Hou Mianbao blinked and focused his gaze, but there was no one in front of him.

Then, he felt a small tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw—

A breathtakingly beautiful little girl.

She looked like a porcelain doll from a store window—her large, glistening eyes shining like glass lanterns.

But in stark contrast to her adorable appearance, she was dressed in a pale cyan Taoist robe embroidered with intricate cloud patterns and a Taiji symbol. Her long, jet-black hair was tied into two small buns with red string, and she even carried a peachwood sword on her back.

“You’re haunted,” the little girl repeated in her crisp voice when Hou Mianbao remained silent. Her big eyes locked onto him. “Do you need me to take a look?”

Hou Mianbao pointed at himself. “Who, me?”

At first, he wanted to laugh—was this just some kid playing a game, pretending to be a Taoist priest?

But then, the little girl’s next words completely froze him in place.

She stepped closer, lightly touching his wrist. Closing her eyes in concentration, she mumbled something under her breath…

A moment later, her eyes snapped open—flashing with a brief red glow.

She looked at Hou Mianbao and said,

“You keep seeing golden eyes staring at you, don’t you? And a massive, jagged mouth chasing after you?”

Hou Mianbao: “!!!”

He looked like he had seen a ghost. “How do you know that?!”

The little girl smiled mysteriously.

There was something oddly mature about that smile, a charm that didn’t match her young face. It made people instinctively believe whatever she said.

“You’re haunted by a Taotie,” she declared, forming a hand seal with her fingers and murmuring softly. “Unlucky. That being only meant to scare you at first, but since you’ve done so many things that harm your karma, you ended up losing three of your soul flames instead…”

At the mention of “Taotie,” the little girl herself shuddered. A flicker of fear and frustration crossed her face.

Most of what she said went over Hou Mianbao’s head, but he understood one phrase loud and clear—

“Harming karma.”

She hit the nail on the head!

After years as a paparazzo, he had made a lot of money, but he had also done countless unethical things—live-streaming from a funeral, blocking ambulances outside hospitals, fabricating scandals that ruined careers…

Tears streaming down his face, Hou Mianbao dropped to his knees. “Master, what should I do?”

So this was it—his bad deeds were finally coming back to haunt him!

But to his surprise, the little girl just shook her head and sighed. “Sigh, it’s too late.”

Hou Mianbao’s face instantly turned ashen.

Was he… beyond saving?

“Master, what do you mean by ‘too late’?”

The little girl patted her empty stomach and pouted. “You took too long to find me. I’m hungry now and need to go eat dinner. I don’t have time to help you.”

Hou Mianbao: “……”

Stop throwing around idioms you don’t fully understand!!!

How could he dare waste time? He immediately pulled out his wallet. “Master, I’ll treat you to a meal! We’ll go to Tang Banquet, the most expensive restaurant in the city. Order whatever you like!”

The little girl flashed another mysterious smile. “You said it.”

—One hour later.

Inside a private VIP room at Tang Banquet, the table in front of the little girl was stacked with empty plates—over twenty dishes, including squirrel fish, braised pork, and sweet-and-sour ribs—all devoured.

The little girl rubbed her now full stomach and commented, “Meh, just average. Not as delicious as I expected.”

From the memories she had glimpsed, this guy had recently tasted something truly divine. So why had he taken her to an average restaurant instead?

Was he holding out on her?

She narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Hou Mianbao.

Meanwhile, Hou Mianbao was staring at her in absolute horror.

What kind of stomach did she have?!

And how long had it been since she last ate?!

This meal alone wiped out six figures from his savings, yet the little girl merely commented, “It was just average.”

Hou Mianbao clutched his wallet in pain.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but when he looked at the little girl, he sometimes saw sharp fangs in her mouth and several fluffy golden tails swaying behind her.

However, given his current state, he had been seeing illusions frequently, so he chose to stay silent.

“Master, now that you’ve finished eating, can you please tell me what I should do?” Hou Mianbao asked cautiously. “I don’t ask for much—I just want to stay alive.”

“Hold on a second.”

The little girl downed an entire bottle of cola and let out a burp.

Then, she took a deep breath, pulled out her peachwood sword, and began waving it at him.

“Ruler of spirits and ghosts, commander of the underworld, by decree of the heavens—banish evil, purge malevolence… By the power of the law, I command thee!”

Hou Mianbao watched her with reverence.

Five minutes later, the little girl put down her peachwood sword. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

“Heh… totally useless,” she said with difficulty, picking up a towel to wipe her sweat.

Hou Mianbao: “……”

“Oh well.” The little girl waved a hand dismissively. “After some consideration, I don’t think that being has any real malicious intent toward you. As long as you acknowledge your wrongdoings and make amends, you probably won’t die.”

“Make amends?” Hou Mianbao was stunned.

The little girl nodded. “Yes. All the money you earned from unethical means needs to be returned—either directly or through charity donations. If you fabricated lies that harmed others, you must publicly apologize and set the record straight. That’s basically it.”

Her words were like a wake-up call.

All the ill-gotten gains he had made selling people’s privacy had to be returned. He had to apologize and reveal the truth about the rumors he had spread.

With the fog in his mind suddenly cleared, Hou Mianbao felt enlightened. He bowed repeatedly to the little girl. “Thank you, Master! I understand what I must do now! Thank you!”

“Since you know what to do, I’ll be off. I have urgent matters to attend to.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a flash of golden light flickered before Hou Mianbao’s eyes. A gentle breeze swept past, rustling the bamboo leaves.

In the blink of an eye, the little girl was gone.

All that remained was a table full of empty plates and bowls.

Hou Mianbao trembled violently.

—He had encountered a real deity!

Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed several times toward where she had been.

“Divine being, please bless me! I will change my ways and become a new man!”

*

The entertainment industry was thrown into chaos when paparazzo Hou Mianbao suddenly went on a rampage, exposing all sorts of insider dirt and shady practices about his own profession. He also issued public apologies to every celebrity he had ever stalked or slandered.

The impact was massive. His revelations unraveled much of the entertainment media’s dark side, leading to a major shake-up in the industry.

Moreover, some stars who had been forced out of the industry due to false rumors were finally able to clear their names. With overwhelming support from fans, they returned to the spotlight…

.

Multiverse Live Stream Room

[What’s going on with this paparazzo?! What happened to him?! Why did he suddenly reform himself?!]

[He probably got scared out of his mind by the Taotie, LOL. Everyone in the Shan Hai realm knows of Taotie’s fearsome reputation.]

[Wait a second… did you guys notice something?]

[WTF =?= A new achievement badge?????]

On the Plot Progression Leaderboard, ever since Jian Yunlan’s live stream surged into the top ten, his completion percentage had remained stuck at 45%.

But 45% was already impressive. After all, reaching 60% meant achieving a basic level of world completion. And Paranoid Possession had never been fully completed before—no streamer had ever crossed the 60% threshold.

Because of that, Jian Yunlan’s stream had maintained its top-ten ranking—not falling, but not rising either.

But now, his stream was drawing massive attention again because…

Next to the “Character [Ning Sheng] Plot Completion 75%” achievement badge, a new light blue badge had appeared in the top-right corner of his stream:

“Author’s Shared Universe Side Story Unlocked” Achievement Badge

Light blue meant it was a hidden badge, and this was its first-ever unlock—no other streamer who had challenged Paranoid Possession had ever achieved this before.

[What does ‘Author’s Shared Universe Side Story Unlocked’ mean?]

[Alright, I did some research. Here’s the deal: The brilliant singer who was forced into retirement because of paparazzo Hou Mianbao’s fabricated scandals was actually one of the protagonists in another novel by the author of Paranoid Possession. That novel is called Rebirth: A Star’s Shining Path…]

[Paparazzo Hou Mianbao suddenly betrays his peers, exposes the truth, and directly accelerates the entire plotline of Rebirth: A Star’s Shining Path!]

[This is way too much of a coincidence??!!]

Indeed, no one could look at this and not marvel at the sheer coincidence of it all.

In Paranoid Possession, the fact that Hou Mianbao’s false rumors led to a singer’s forced retirement was only briefly mentioned in the background lore. Who would have thought that the slandered celebrity was actually the protagonist of another novel?

And even if someone had guessed that, who could have anticipated that Hou Mianbao would, by sheer chance, have a change of heart, repent, and inadvertently trigger the crossover plot between the two stories?

However, fans of Jian Yunlan, led by their ringleader Mashu, were absolutely thrilled.

[We’ve been saying it all along—God Jian has everything under control~]
[This was all part of God Jian’s grand plan!!!]
[You ignorant mortals, hurry up and join my cult! Kneel before God Jian in reverence!]

Other viewers: “……”

These guys are so cult-like.

But while the hardcore fans were losing their minds, the general audience was more focused on another major event.

This development had the longtime viewers hyped, and many of them were ready to throw down serious cash.

And that was—

[AAAAH! The academic prodigy from Beijing University has finally discovered Jian Boss’s new food stall!!]

[That means Ning Sheng is heading to the Yuanzhou Group building… to line up for fried rice… And… Gu Dog didn’t get to eat fried rice yesterday either, so he’s probably going to line up today too?]

[…]

[Wait, are they… going to run into each other at the fried rice stall?!]

[This is getting exciting.]

It was strange.

In other streamers’ broadcasts, the main couple, Ning Sheng and Gu Xingzhou, had already run into each other multiple times. After all, most streamers’ primary objective was to push the storyline forward! And how do you advance the plot of a classic melodramatic BL novel?

Simple—get the protagonists to meet frequently, mend their relationship, and strive toward a happily ever after.

That’s how a normal story-progression-focused streamer thinks.

But Jian Yunlan was different.

His top priority was running his food stall.

And because of that, he had accidentally derailed many of the novel’s major plot points. Since the stream’s camera followed him around, the audience mostly saw… grocery shopping, cooking, and running the stall.

As a result, the main couple had never even met once in his stream.

But now, due to sheer happenstance, Ning Sheng was actively heading to Yuanzhou Group’s entrance just to get a taste of Jian Boss’s fried rice. Meanwhile, Gu Xingzhou, still bitter from having his fried rice stolen by his father yesterday, was determined to finally get his share today.

At this rate… it really seemed like the two of them were about to meet?

The audience was beyond thrilled.

What kind of intense confrontation, heart-wrenching drama, and love-hate entanglement would unfold at Jian Boss’s humble little street stall?

[Dog-blood drama lovers, assemble! I’ve been waiting so long for this moment! Finally, FINALLY, the angst is coming! (wipes tears)]

[They love so deeply, hate so passionately—this meeting is guaranteed to be full of emotional turbulence! Hehehe~~]

[Crap, why do I suddenly feel kind of bad about this?]

Jian Yunlan’s stream had sidetracked so much that people had almost forgotten why they were watching Paranoid Possession in the first place.

Other streamers might not guarantee anything else, but dog-blood drama? They had it in abundance.

But in Jian Yunlan’s stream, there wasn’t even a single dramatic encounter between the leads! Not even once!

That was just… tragic.

[But no matter what, we finally made it.]

[Once Ning Sheng and Gu Xingzhou meet, the classic melodrama we’ve all been waiting for will finally happen, right…?]

[…Right?]

Viewers stared at their screens.

Remembering everything that had happened so far, a sudden, uneasy feeling crept up on them.

Jian Yunlan… wouldn’t find a way to derail this too, right?

No, no, NOOOO!!

*

At 4 AM, Jian Yunlan woke up to the sound of his alarm.

The patter of rain drummed against the window.

…It was raining.

That was a bit concerning.

Jian Yunlan never let the weather stop him from setting up his stall, but rain often meant fewer fresh ingredients available at the market.

He only had two days left to operate at Yuanzhou Group’s entrance.

Even if it was just two days, he would give it his all and serve the best food possible!

Jian Yunlan covered his tricycle with a rainproof tarp and set off. He planned to check out the market selection first before deciding on the day’s fried rice menu.

Just as he was about to leave, his butler walked in.

“Young Master, Madam Ning is here to deliver chili sauce for you.”

Jian Yunlan: “!”

“Let her in!” Jian Yunlan’s face lit up in surprise.

Madam Ning hadn’t been able to deliver chili sauce for the past few days because her mother had been hospitalized. Now that the elderly woman had safely been discharged, she was finally free.

He hadn’t expected her to show up so early—and in the rain, no less.

Jian Yunlan was deeply touched.

“Boss Jian.” Ning Menglian removed her raincoat at the door and handed over two large jars—one of chili powder and another of freshly made chili sauce. These were both ingredients Jian Yunlan had specifically asked for before.

Jian Yunlan activated his Chef’s Eye.

The chili powder and oil-poured chili sauce shimmered with a faint golden hue beneath their soft lavender glow.

Previously, the regular chili sauce made by Ning Menglian was already of high-quality purple grade, but these two jars were even better than all the chili sauces before!

Ning Menglian smiled. “I figured you’d be setting up early, and I didn’t want to be late, so I came ahead of time. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“How could it be a bother?” Jian Yunlan took the jars of chili sauce, inspecting them from all angles, visibly delighted. He sincerely said, “Thank you so much! You came just in time. I won’t let—”

Ning Menglian waved her hands. “Ah, no need to be so polite~”

“—I won’t let these two jars of delicious chili sauce go to waste! I’ll make the best fried rice with them!” Jian Yunlan finished his sentence.

Ning Menglian: “……”

She had thought he was about to say he wouldn’t let her efforts go to waste.

Turns out, it was the chili sauce he was unwilling to let down.

…Just how much does this guy love chili sauce?!

Ning Menglian was both amused and exasperated.

Jian Yunlan clutched the chili sauce like a priceless treasure, as if he wanted to kiss it twice, and said,

“Butler, settle the payment with Aunt Ning.”

The butler stepped forward with a check in hand, but Ning Menglian quickly waved him off. With a mix of sincerity and mild embarrassment, she said, “No need to pay, just take these as a gift. Mr. Jian, you’ve helped our family so much…”

The day after they moved out, Ning Menglian saw news of a falling debris accident in her old neighborhood, right on her usual route to work.

She didn’t even dare to imagine what could have happened if they hadn’t moved in time.

If that falling brick had hit her, it would have been bad enough. But what if it had hit her mother? What if it had hit Ah Sheng? Every possibility sent chills down her spine.

Because of Jian Yunlan’s help, they had been able to move in time. In a way, he had saved their lives.

Not to mention, even the once-sullen Ning Sheng had been smiling more lately, his relationships with classmates had improved, and he had even made friends. He no longer returned home with bruises and wounds like before.

When Ning Menglian asked why, she found out it was because of Jian Boss’s wontons.

For all of this, she had endless gratitude toward Jian Yunlan.

“Our family isn’t wealthy, and there’s not much else we can do to repay you. This chili sauce really isn’t worth much—please, just accept it.” Ning Menglian said earnestly.

Seeing her firm stance, Jian Yunlan didn’t insist further. Instead, he thanked her sincerely: “Then I’ll gratefully accept it. Thank you, Aunt Ning.”

Then, turning to the butler, he said, “Arrange a car to take Aunt Ning home.” His expression was filled with genuine concern. “It’s raining so hard today. Next time, if you’re coming to deliver chili sauce, let me know in advance—I’ll send a car for you so you don’t have to risk anything on the way.”

Ning Menglian was touched. She hadn’t expected Jian Yunlan to be so considerate. She smiled sheepishly. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’ve got thick skin, I’m not afraid of a few bumps—”

Then she saw the serious concern in Jian Yunlan’s eyes.

She suddenly paused.

A realization hit her like lightning. Memories flashed through her mind.

Jian Yunlan… wasn’t worried about her at all.

He was worried about the chili sauce.

Ning Menglian facepalmed and let out a helpless laugh. “Mr. Jian, don’t worry—I promise I’ll keep the chili sauce safe.”

Jian Yunlan visibly relaxed, smiling in relief. “Of course. And you should also take care of yourself.”

Ning Menglian: “……”

Yeah. Sure. Thanks.

With an exasperated yet grateful look, she watched as Jian Yunlan pedaled away on his tricycle, heading toward the market.

The chili sauce had sealed his decision for today’s fried rice special.

He was making Spicy Potato Fried Rice!