The public opinion reversal came as a complete surprise; the government had just recently advocated thriftiness among the people.
The reason is that Garbage Star cannot completely digest so much waste. When one Garbage Star is full, we need a second, and a third.
The best solution is for people to be mindful themselves.
This video perfectly aligned with the government's stance, garnering likes from several authoritative official accounts.
In this case, the wall of rumors built by the haters fell apart without a fight.
Keyboard warriors and well-intentioned individuals flocked to the original video to scold the uploader for having ulterior motives.
Thousands of haters were no match for hundreds of thousands of supporters.
Unable to sabotage it, the original video had to go into hiding.
The next morning, Su Xiaocai's roommates stared at her incredulously, "Did you know, we became a little famous."
As expected, once a video ties to people's livelihood and the government, no matter how malicious the haters are, they can't fight against the whole nation.
Su Xiaocai's blog circle skyrocketed from ten thousand followers to one hundred thousand.
More people demanded her to release recipes, with some even following the video to cook, finding the food so delicious they wanted to cry.
The key ingredients were simple, and it was hard to fail.
Su Xiaocai yawned, people live for food, and no one could resist the temptation of delicious dishes.
Yesterday's pickled crab meat mixed with fries was like a devilish dish, and it even got rated star level.
"Aren't you excited? Next time there's a big market, we should go pick things up again." Wu Qingqing was overjoyed; the haters backed down, and the fans grew tenfold, followed by heaps of praise.
Though mixed with some doubts, the future looked bright.
Su Xiaocai shrugged, "Don't think too far, make hay while the sun shines, the merchants who've contracted the garbage station won't like you gaining traffic off their station."
Those merchants might pity the poor, but if you're trying to gain more attention by going to the garbage station, they'd rather throw everything away than help you.
"Xiao Wanzi, make two grilled chicken sandwiches for lunch, and for dinner, I want stir-fried greens and tomato stewed beef." Su Xiaocai told her roommate, "If you want Xiao Wanzi to cook, buy ingredients for it to cook."
"Wouldn't it be too troublesome?" Xing Miao also thought Xiao Wanzi's cooking was pretty good.
The beauty loved sweets, and yesterday's mixed fruit pie suited her taste well.
"Xiao Wanzi, do you find it troublesome?" asked Su Xiaocai.
"Not at all." Xiao Wanzi spun its chubby body with joy, "I record all the dishes I make, and later I'll edit them for Caicai. Then I can support Caicai in turn, Caicai always gets pocket money deducted for being naughty, it's too pitiable."
Su Xiaocai: There's no need to reveal her embarrassing situation.
Roommates also chose their dinner dishes; they all had places to go at noon.
Students enrolled in Military Training were very self-disciplined, Feng Wansha went to the library, Xing Miao was meeting classmates, teaming up with early arriving seniors to study.
Their first class involved a simulation command course, crucial in the eyes of their mentors, so early preparation was necessary.
As for Wu Qingqing, she wanted Su Xiaocai's guidance all day.
But Su Xiaocai was a bona fide agriculture student; she was going to inspect the allocated fields, eager to plant the many plants she dug up yesterday.
Hence, she would only be free after three in the afternoon.
Wu Qingqing booked Su Xiaocai from three to six pm, and for the rest of the time, she found someone to compete against, learning Su Xiaocai's driving moves from yesterday.
Whether as she could learn, only time would tell.
...
The dorm's four members went their separate ways, with Su Xiaocai taking a ride to the farmland.
Since the Agricultural Research Institute only opened in the past two years, the school's so-called allocated fields for freshmen were utterly barren.
At a glance, it was overgrown with weeds.
Just clearing would take a considerable amount of time; to grow the plants she wanted, she'd need to tailor-fit the environment.
Besides Su Xiaocai, several other concerned freshmen stood by the fields.
"How do we deal with wasteland?"
Eighty percent of freshmen had never farmed before, flaunting theoretical knowledge, some lacking even that.
Their sole reason for applying to the Agricultural Research Institute was banking on the Military Training Program's prestige, plus it had the lowest entry scores.
Crucially, they read up on planting just before coming with hoes and shovels.
Su Xiaocai calmly pulled out a folding stool and sat down.
Then she retrieved a self-made mini soil-turning machine from the Space Button, marking the land scope, allowing the machine to recognize it, before placing it into the field.
The machine autonomously pulled the soil-turning drum, rotating within the demarcated area, avoiding boulders or stumps, and continuing its operation.
In ten minutes, the machine turned a third of three acres of dirt with a whirr.