As the conversation on that topic died down, the aroma of lotus root and glutinous rice began to waft out, mingling with the scent of the crab roe meatballs.

Jiang Qiuqiu opened the lid of the stew pot and began to add sugar to season it. Originally, this recipe called for brown sugar, but since Jiang Qiuqiu hadn’t seen any commercial brown sugar on the market yet, she used white sugar as a substitute for now.

"The amount of sugar you add depends on your personal preference. If you like it sweeter, add more; if not, add less."

The white sugar quickly dissolved in the hot water. After covering the pot and letting it simmer for a little while longer, Jiang Qiuqiu removed all the lotus root and placed it on a plate. Once it was all neatly arranged, she took out a new kitchen knife and cut the glutinous rice-stuffed lotus root into slices.

Since she hadn’t used brown sugar, the lotus root took on a natural, faint reddish hue after being stewed with white sugar. It was filled with moon-white glutinous rice in the center. Forget the taste for a moment—its beauty alone was a perfect ten.

After cutting it all into slices, Jiang Qiuqiu took out the jar of yellow osmanthus flowers. She sprinkled them lightly on top, then drizzled a spoonful of the braising liquid over it. In an instant, everything became glistening and translucent.

"And that’s how you make Sweet Osmanthus-Stuffed Lotus Root. Simple, right?"

"We can have this dessert before the main meal; no need to wait for the meatballs. And yes, for those of you asking, that means I’m about to upload the dish."

"I have seventeen sections of lotus root in total, and I’m dividing them into 51 small plates. Get ready, everyone. There’s no limit on the number of spots this time, so everyone can try to grab one."

After saying this, Jiang Qiuqiu called over the steward robot to help her portion out the lotus root slices. To prevent everyone from rushing at once, she uploaded one plate as soon as it was prepared.

By the time all the lotus root slices were portioned out, the great ’spot-snatching war’ was already over.

[WAHHHH, I didn’t get one!]

[I know impatience gets you burned with hot lotus root slices, and it did hurt a bit when I turned on my sensors, BUT! It’s not like it could actually injure me, so I toughed it out and ate it without even blowing on it! It’s a little sweet, but still so delicious!]

"I’m glad you all like it."

After finishing the lotus root, it was time for the stir-fried pork with garlic scapes. This dish required less technique. As long as you had a decent grasp of the temperature and cooking time, it was hard to make it taste bad.

She was also running a bit short on time, so Jiang Qiuqiu picked up her pace and finished making the stir-fried pork with garlic scapes and rice. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

As everyone was eating, a fan brought something up—

[Hey Juju, isn’t this the same dish that appeared in your food showcase yesterday?]

"Yes, it’s the very same dish."

[Oh, so were you entertaining guests yesterday, Juju?]

"I was. I just happened to think of it while I was hosting, so I opened the showcase on a whim."

[So who were the guests! What a lavish spread!]

"My neighbors."

[Online query: where exactly does the streamer Jiang Jiujiu live? I’ll award 1,000,000 Star Coins to anyone who can provide a detailed address. If you don’t agree, I’ll keep raising the price until you do. And if you do agree, then forget it, because I’m going to move there and become Juju’s neighbor!]

[@GrandpaDangDangDang, do you see this? The reason you don’t get to eat delicious food every day is because you’re not her neighbor!]

[@RealEstateDevelopers, why aren’t you tracking her down and using Juju as a selling point already?]

[What are you guys thinking...? How could it be ordinary neighbors? Juju lives alone and has no relatives. It’s highly unlikely she’d invite regular neighbors over for a meal. Besides, haven’t you guys noticed something?!]

[...Is the person above me a bullet-chat detective? What did you notice?]

[The portion sizes!]

[?? They’re huge, we know that.]

[Naive! Look at yesterday’s spread: six dishes, one soup, and one dessert. I saw everyone’s pictures in my social circle yesterday. Every single serving was huge, and with that many different dishes, there’s no way she was just hosting one or two people!]

The bullet-chat Sherlock was laying out the case.