It was their first time facing so many harsh words directly.
Shame and reason pulled back and forth. Even though they didn't do anything wrong, they kept wondering if they had done too much.
"Don't be afraid, watch me fight back."
Su Xiaocai liked the videos they filmed, probably because they strive for authenticity, and it's shot in such detailed high definition.
Su Xiaocai downloaded it, edited it, zoomed in, and added different audio.
It became a new video.
She didn't say anything to refute rumors, she just introduced the species of plants shown in the video, explained why businesses would throw them away, then talked about what the fruits taste like and what dishes could be made with the vegetables brought home.
The three roommates sat beside watching how Su Xiaocai gradually turned the tables. They watched the edited version and saw that the style and narrative were completely opposite to the original video.
It was completely unrecognizable as having been edited from the same video.
The original video was full of malice, but the edited version was like an interesting educational show that informed people that there's so much knowledge in picking up trash and that you can have so much fun doing it.
That wasn't enough; it needed a beginning and an end.
"Xiao Wanzi, help me make pumpkin pancakes, fruit pie, and a fried chicken covered in fresh tomato sauce. Make sure the video captures the color, aroma, and taste."
Xiao Wanzi blinked its electronic eyes, "Okay, Caicai."
Xiao Wanzi grabbed the ingredients and turned to the kitchen to start cooking.
Soon, the sweet-smelling pumpkin pancakes and fruit pie were done, all made using salvaged ingredients.
The chicken was bought, while the tomatoes were brought from Su's Farm.
The fried chicken's skin was crispy and tender, Su Xiaocai took a bite, erasing the raw crab meat's fishiness she had eaten today. The pumpkin pancake was crisp, glutinous, sweet, and the fruit pie was sweet to the heart, making one feel joyful.
"You all have some too. I can't finish this alone. We gathered the ingredients together, and sharing makes it more enjoyable."
When Xiao Wanzi was frying the chicken, Wu Qingqing could smell it and was already craving it, so she promptly took the fried chicken.
The chicken was marinated perfectly, with just the right balance of salty and sweet. The crispy skin had a hint of spice, slightly spicy, not greasy, making one want more, "I've eaten fried chicken before, but not as good as what you made."
"I didn't make it, Xiao Wanzi did. My Xiao Wanzi's cooking skills are the best."
Xiao Wanzi's eyes turned into red hearts, "Caicai said I'm the best, surely there's no one better than me, so why didn't you have lunch at home today?"
Su Xiaocai: "..."
What to do now, Xiao Wanzi isn't easy to fool anymore.
Feng Wansha curiously circled around Xiao Wanzi, living up to her genius title, she immediately spotted the uniqueness in Xiao Wanzi.
After watching for a while, "Xiao Wanzi, can you make a lot of dishes?"
"Yes, I'm an all-powerful chef. I can make any dish."
"Very smart, how did you manage that?" Feng Wansha asked Su Xiaocai.
"Don't ask me, all the operating programs were bought online, copied, and pasted. Then I randomly added some codes to create this."
The robots at Daddy Su's home weren't as evolved as Xiao Wanzi, they only had the initial settings, enthusiastic, regular, stubborn.
But Xiao Wanzi could change its personality according to the surroundings, more human-like.
Like now, having three peers of Su Xiaocai around, it felt a greater responsibility to take care of the kids, so it voluntarily reminded them to eat meals at home.
After dinner, Su Xiaocai edited the video. Once all the editing was done, she uploaded it to various social media platforms and added her social account ID at the bottom.
It wouldn't hurt to gain some followers too.
The original video criticized her for taking trash back to eat, while the edited video went the opposite direction, saying she found treasures and promoting not to waste food.
Su Xiaocai went all out, slyly commenting in the comment section, subtly mentioning the situation of being targeted.
These educational, environmental, serious-about-food videos, along with the free treasure hunting idea, suddenly went a bit viral online.
Especially when the salvaged ingredients turned into delicious dishes, it directly touched the hearts of city dwellers.
Very heartwarming, with educational meaning, much worthier of spreading than many attention-grabbing videos.
A large group of like-minded people flooded in, all saying they wanted to see more, wanted to see what else she could find.
Under the video, someone commented, sharing their experience. In the past, due to poverty, they were so poor they starved, with insufficient government subsidies on their planet. So they would rummage through bins for expired bread at a bakery and found lots of bread that wasn't spoiled to eat.
Fortunately, the shop owners saw and didn't say anything.
Because it was midnight then, no one would go buy bread, the bread brought back, if not for people, could at least be used as feed.
Comment: "I always didn't dare to say it out loud, never expected the blogger to make a video like this, it's very interesting, thumbs up."