197: Gaocheng hanging pot

Early the next morning, the three of them bid farewell to Chen Gang and his sister and left the lakeside cottage.

After finishing the livestream yesterday, everyone had a meal together and chatted for a while. They didn't drink any more alcohol and went to bed early after eating.

"Little Yuer, have you been watching videos? Those two Fat Balls got a public reprimand notification~" Gao Xiaofan turned to look at the back seat, feeling quite pleased.

Li Yuer nodded: "I saw it, but the punishment feels too light~"

Gao Xiaofan smiled: "I actually think otherwise. For people like them, a public reprimand is like cutting off their path forward. For those kinds of people, that's truly more unbearable than killing them."

After listening, Li Yuer tilted her head in thought, then nodded.

Last night, while browsing TikTok, Gao Xiaofan came across a video posted by the official Annan City TikTok account. The Annan City government had issued a public reprimand against the two for leaving their posts during work hours to go fishing. This made Gao Xiaofan happy, but also left him marveling at the terrifying power of fans.

They actually really went and filed complaints and reports, and it actually had an effect~ Those two probably still don't understand why going out to fish would result in a public reprimand.

"The route recently has been pretty smooth~" Gao Xiaofan rested one hand behind his head, glanced at Qiu Gu, who was grinning nonstop beside him, listened to the navigation announcement, leaned back in his seat, looking completely relaxed.

The seventh location drawn last night was Wanfo Lake in Gao City, only about 200 kilometers from the current Taiping Lake, just over two hours by car.

"By the way, Little Yuer, do you want to go back home and take a look?"

Li Yuer shook her head: "No, Brother Quan is in T City though, do you want to go see him~"

Intentional Punch and Li Yuer are from the same Annan. Last time, when he came to H City to meet Gao Xiaofan, everyone had introduced themselves.

Gao Xiaofan thought for a moment: "Let's not. He's probably busy lately. Visiting him would inevitably take up his time."

Li Yuer nodded and didn't say anything more. Gao Xiaofan didn't know what else to say either. He knew Li Yuer's father had passed away, but she had never mentioned her mother. But since Li Yuer said she didn't want to go back and visit, they would just head straight to the seventh location.

The three chatted along the way, and the two-plus hour drive to Gao City passed quickly. They didn't livestream the entire trip. After streaming all day yesterday, they deserved a break.

Although it wasn't mealtime yet when they arrived in Gao City, Gao Xiaofan still called for a stop.

"Let's eat first, then go fishing. The Hanging Pot here, *slurp*~ is absolutely the best."

H City is right next to Gao City, so Gao Xiaofan was somewhat familiar with some of Gao City's specialty foods. One of its signature dishes, the Hanging Pot, was something he had eaten a few years ago. Even now, just thinking about it makes his mouth water.

The other two had no objections. After finding a parking spot and getting out, the three strolled along the street.

"This Hanging Pot can have Pig Trotters, Pork Intestines, Beef, Pork... basically, you add whatever you like to it. It might sound like it wouldn't be good, like a messy stew, but the flavor, *slurp*~ I can't even describe it well."

Gao Xiaofan walked ahead, talking while looking around at the signs on both sides.

"Let's go with this one." Gao Xiaofan looked at the huge characters "Hanging Pot" on the storefront sign in front of him and walked in first. Qiu Gu eagerly followed. Gao Xiaofan's description had made him feel hungry too.

They ordered a Hanging Pot recommended by the boss, with Tripe, Beef Omasum, and Beef. Gao Xiaofan also asked him to add a portion of Pig Trotters. No choice, all three loved that stuff.

"Brother Xiaofan, your video is trending again~" Li Yuer brought her phone over. Originally, the three were sitting in a small private room, each on one side of the round table. With Li Yuer moving closer, it became Gao Xiaofan and Li Yuer sitting on one side, and Qiu Gu on the other.

Seeing the two of them huddled together, Qiu Gu couldn't help but grin mischievously.

Gao Xiaofan looked down at the phone Li Yuer pushed towards him. The screen showed the registration video they had posted last night.

After dinner last night, Gao Xiaofan used his TikTok account to jump to the registration website, entered all the information, and submitted the application.

He was about to wash up and sleep when Qiu Gu reminded him.

"Shouldn't you post a video about it? Otherwise, the Competition Organizing Committee might just keep using your situation to ride the hype."

Gao Xiaofan thought it made sense, so the three stood together in front of the camera and recorded a participation video.

"Chu Qiao Team, Gao Xiaofan~"

"Chu Qiao Team, Li Yuer~"

"Chu Qiao Team, Qiu Gu~"

"2023 Kings Battle, we'll be there~"

The three in the video had different expressions: Gao Xiaofan's confidence, Li Yuer's calmness, Qiu Gu's nervousness.

The video ended with a screenshot of the successful registration prompt. The video wasn't long, only 15 seconds, but it still went viral.

2 million likes, over 700,000 comments.

Gao Xiaofan clicked into the comments section. After reading the top comment, he couldn't help but laugh: "Brother Gu, what the hell are you nervous for? The fans noticed! They say you were coerced by me!"

Qiu Gu curled his lip and didn't say anything.

"Brother Gu, if you're being coerced, blink once~"

"Registered! Registered! The battle of the century is about to begin~"

"Only 28 days until the competition starts, I'm so excited~"

"Brother Wo Zi will definitely win!!!"

...After scrolling through the comments, Gao Xiaofan couldn't help but start pondering.

It's already December. The Preliminary Rounds start on January 1st, but the Competition Organizing Committee still hasn't released the detailed rules for the preliminaries. If this were ten days ago, Gao Xiaofan would have been very anxious, worried about potential issues in the preliminaries, since you could encounter all kinds of masters. But now, he wasn't worried at all.

He had already experienced the power of the title 'my livestream, my rules'. Although it couldn't add buffs to himself, it could apply debuffs to others~

Weakening your opponent is essentially strengthening yourself.

While he was still thinking, the private room door was pushed open. The boss came in carrying a pot the size of a washbasin, carefully hung it on a hook dangling from the ceiling, gave it a shake to make sure it was stable, smiled, and left the room.

Looking at the meat slices constantly churning in the pot, Gao Xiaofan shook his head, no longer thinking about those matters. The rich aroma began to fill the entire room.

The three only ordered one Hanging Pot, but they were all very satisfied. The boss even gave them a complimentary plate of vegetables to blanch: Enoki Mushrooms, Wucai (a type of greens), Fan, and Dried Tofu Sheets. They couldn't finish it all. They were already full before even blanching the complimentary Fan.

"Brother Xiaofan, what are we going to fish for at Wanfo Lake later?"

Seeing the two of them smoking with satisfied looks on their faces, Li Yuer couldn't help but ask.

"Don't know~ We'll see when we get there~"

Gao Xiaofan said indifferently. Whatever fish it is, as long as it increases the yun jian value, it's a good fish~