Compiled by TEH ATHIRA YUSOF and C. ARUNO
AN owner of a chicken hotpot shop in Guangdong, China, is pleading with customers to refrain from visiting his establishment after experiencing a surge in business due to favourable reviews from online influencers, China Press reported.
The owner, referred to only by his surname, Mo, originally established the shop as a semi-retirement venture, serving about 10 tables each day.
In March this year, Liu Yuxin, an online food influencer with 16.3 million followers, visited the shop and praised the dishes.
Shortly thereafter, another influencer named Gao Yuyu, boasting 11.5 million followers, also visited the shop and provided positive feedback on the food.
Thousands of foodies then flocked to the shop in Foshan city, queuing as early as 6am, although the shop opens only at 11am. In just one month, Mo was serving as many as 200 tables a day.
However, Mo’s life changed for the worse.
In the past, he said he would enjoy himself at a karaoke bar in the evening after work.
With the surge in customers, Mo worked non-stop from morning until night with almost no rest.
He pleaded with customers to give him a much-needed break, even resorting to posting negative reviews about his own food online.
A photo of an exhausted Mo lying on the ground went viral online and amused social media users.
In an interview later, Mo jokingly blamed the online food influencer for his predicament.
“If Liu Yuxin comes again, I’ll beat her up,” he quipped.
> A woman in Jiangsu, China, suffered from a fractured wrist after her cat, which weighed 7.5kg, slept on her arm throughout the night, China Press reported.
When she woke up the next morning, her arm felt sore and numb. Over the next three days, the pain became severe and led to her seeking treatment.
She was diagnosed with a fractured wrist, and doctors were taken aback that it was caused by an overweight cat.
The woman reminded fellow cat owners to pay attention to their feline’s weight and ensure their pets remain within a healthy range to prevent owners from suffering a similar injury.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
