【??】
【Holy crap, five Carnivals! I’ve never seen so much money in my whole life!】
【Where did this rich guy come from? Never seen him before.】
【I’m gonna fight you, rich people!】
【Dropping money directly just to make him buy a skin… so handsome, so domineering! Streamer, are you in love yet?】
Whether he was in love or not, Wen Xiyu didn’t know; he was simply stunned for a split second, stuttering for a good while before finding his voice again.
“…Thank you, ‘Rain,’ for sending five Carnivals! Boss is so generous! Is this Boss’s first time coming to my live stream room? You can click follow in the top left corner and join the fan group~.”
Five Carnivals, at three thousand yuan each, added up to fifteen thousand yuan. Although Wen Xiyu couldn’t keep all of it, a bright smile instantly lit up his face, and his eyes sparkled quite a bit.
【Haha, this streamer is truly eye-open to money!】
【The streamer is already being very restrained, okay! If someone were willing to tip me ten thousand yuan, I’d kneel and call them daddy on the spot!】
【Streamer, the big boss is telling you to buy a skin!】
“Oh right, buying a skin…” A request raised by the boss naturally had to be fulfilled. Wen Xiyu winked his right eye toward the camera. “Alright, Boss, after I finish this raid instance, I’ll go buy it.”
【Rain: Mm.】
This boss is pretty cold and aloof…
Wen Xiyu pressed the keyboard to hit monsters, thinking silently to himself.
The ultimate boss of this large-scale raid instance was a huge Nine-Headed Bird. When it raised its wings, the sky turned dark, and a terrible storm stirred across the entire mountain range.
The mountain terrain was complex. Wen Xiyu maneuvered his character to dodge the Nine-Headed Bird’s attacks in a flustered manner. His clumsy skill was completely incapable of dealing with the boss, so he could only squeeze into openings to hit a few of the minion monsters it summoned.
The team’s strategist calmly called out coordinates, while Yijianshuanghan charged right at the very front. The Silver Dragon Blade he held was a top-tier weapon, rumored to require a five-figure top-up; with a single slice, a sky full of silver radiance burst forth, and the boss’s health instantly dropped by a huge chunk.
【Team】Zhizhitoutou: Brother, you are way too handsome!
【Team】Yijianshuanghan: Cut the nonsense, heal me up.
There were quite a few healers in the team, but Zhizhitoutou spun around Yijianshuanghan the entire time, so the others didn’t crowd forward to make fools of themselves. As a new player, although her stats for equipment and clothing were high, her healing output was still subpar, and her skill accuracy was mediocre. Fortunately, Yijianshuanghan had a thick health pool and great skills, so he never died even once all the way through beating the boss.
The Night Rain Lamp players in the live chat basically all recognized Yijianshuanghan, and they were discussing merrily in the chat.
【Big boss Yijianshuanghan is indeed super awesome! This Nine-Headed Bird was insanely hard to fight; our guild fought it for several days and still couldn’t pass it.】
【How can I join Shuangtian Xiaojiao? Xiao Yu, open a back door for me!】
【I dare not say it, but I’ve been shipping big boss Shuanghan and Xiao Yu all along… it can’t be heading for a Bad Ending, right…?】
【What kind of thing is Yijianshuanghan? Just a dog by the roadside! Is he as awesome as Zhusuixin and Ye Lan?】
【Is there any point in stepping on one while lifting another above?】
The live chat temporarily broke into an argument. Wen Xiyu didn’t pay attention to it; he was busy picking up the dropped rewards.
He had bad luck, and the things he pulled were all very ordinary. Just as he was cursing secretly in his heart, Yijianshuanghan walked up in front of him.
【System】Yijianshuanghan gifted you Top-Tier Water Jade Lute X1.
【Team】Yijianshuanghan: Pulled a top-tier magic weapon. I can’t use it, so I’m giving it to you.
It was the Water Jade Lute! How could such a rare magic weapon be pulled by him?
Wen Xiyu: “I share the same sky with the Emperor of Luck as mortal enemies!”
Even as he said so out loud, he quickly typed a thank-you to Yijianshuanghan, praised him a few more times, and happily walked out of the raid instance holding the lute.
【I’m shipping them again, ahhh! Selling a Water Jade Lute you can’t use could fetch four figures, but he actually gave it directly to Xiao Yu!】
【What if the big boss isn’t short of money?】
【Rain: ?】
Boss Rain’s chat message was submerged within the enthusiastic discussion and shipping chatter. He tipped two more Carnivals, finally catching Wen Xiyu’s attention.
【Rain: How much is this lute? Throw this one away, and buy another one.】
“Thank you, Rain, for sending two Carnivals…” Wen Xiyu was a bit bewildered. “Ah, this lute can’t be bought, Boss; whenever one hits the exchange market, it gets snatched up in a second.”
【Rain: …】
【What’s going on? How come I smell a strange atmosphere?】
【Oh oh oh oh oh!】
“I almost forgot to buy the appearance outfit.” Wen Xiyu remembered this and quickly opened the mall. After topping up money, he started spinning the wheel, and then, living up to expectations, he hit the pity system at two thousand yuan to get this set of clothes.
His heart bleeding, Wen Xiyu immediately opened his inventory and put on the outfit, deciding to wear this set every single day from now on until he got his money’s worth back.
The slender fairy character changed into the deep blue shark-silk ensemble. The fish tail sparkled with flowing colors as the character stood quietly in the game.
【Rain: Very pretty.】
That day’s live stream revenue reached its highest peak since Wen Xiyu became a streamer, exceeding ten thousand yuan even after deducting the platform’s cut.
After going off-stream, he quickly followed back this wealthy tycoon nicknamed Rain. The guy’s main page had nothing on it; his avatar was pure black, and no information could be discerned at all.
This person seemed never to have watched his live stream before, so why did he suddenly tip him so much money?
Wen Xiyu didn’t dwell on it for too long, and with the joy of having earned money, he went to sleep soundly.
However, his good mood came to a screeching halt the following afternoon.
When he went out in the morning for class, Wen Xiyu noticed that the neighbor across the hall had changed their door lock and placed a new doormat at the entrance, thinking that the other party had probably already moved in.
However, he didn’t like socializing and had no intention whatsoever of saying hello to the new neighbor; whether someone lived across from him or not had zero impact on him.
In the afternoon, after finishing class, Wen Xiyu returned to the apartment. Just as he pressed open the elevator doors, a large black German Shepherd bolted out from inside, scaring him so much that his face turned deathly pale, and he backed up several steps.
Because of a childhood shadow of being chased by a dog, Wen Xiyu was a bit afraid of dogs. Suddenly seeing such a huge dog made his heart almost skip a beat. However, looking closer, this German Shepherd was wearing a muzzle and tied to a leash, so his heartbeat gradually settled down.
“Looks like your bad habit of being afraid of dogs hasn’t changed one bit.”
A lazily toned voice came from up ahead. Following the dog leash on the German Shepherd, Wen Xiyu looked toward the dog owner, and then he saw that very annoying face again.
Ji Jinghan walked out leading the German Shepherd, maliciously tugging at the leash to bring it a few steps closer to Wen Xiyu’s side.
Wen Xiyu stared at him coldly, not wanting to say a single word to him, stepping around him to walk into the elevator.
“Seeing an old classmate, you don’t even say hello?” Ji Jinghan didn’t seem inclined to let him off so easily; he took a step back and reached out to press the elevator door shut. “Isn’t that a bit too impolite?”
“Are you and I that familiar?” Unable to hold back his temper any longer, Wen Xiyu turned his eyes and glared viciously at Ji Jinghan. “Young Master Ji is being a bit too self-passionate.”
In his youth, he loved calling Ji Jinghan “Young Master” in a sarcastic, passive-aggressive tone, using it to mock the other’s overbearing attitude. And to retaliate, Ji Jinghan quickly gave him the nickname “Princess,” later adding “Your Highness” after it, thick with mocking intent.
“Is that so?” Hearing what he said, Ji Jinghan’s face suddenly darkened, and the lingering smile in his eyes completely vanished. Taking a step forward, he forced Wen Xiyu almost against the wall, his tone icy yet lingeringly deep: “I will make you remember whether we are familiar or not.”
After dropping this line that sounded like a threat, Ji Jinghan led the dog and left, though by the sound of it, he did not plan to let him off just like that.
Wen Xiyu could actually guess why Ji Jinghan was holding on to him and refusing to let go right now; it was nothing more than hating him too much, seeing that he had finally suffered a decline in family fortune and fallen into the mud, and thus rushing over to throw stones down the well to vent the resentment in his heart.
Wen Xiyu had seen too many people like this since his family went bankrupt, and he had long stopped taking it to heart. But Ji Jinghan’s status was too special, making it impossible for him to be completely unbothered.
Bumping into Ji Jinghan in the apartment building twice in a row, Wen Xiyu could no longer deceive himself and had no choice but to accept the fact that the guy really seemed to have moved in here.
It was just… before entering his front door, he glanced once more at the door across the hall, making a wish in his heart that it wouldn’t be this worst possible outcome.
Regrettably, every single time Wen Xiyu made a wish, things turned out disagreeable to his expectations.
The next morning, when going out, Wen Xiyu saw a pair of black sneakers left outside the opposite door that had been forgotten to be brought inside, looking somewhat familiar.
His eyelids twitched. Taking a photo with his phone, he searched the image online, and a link popped up with a price in six figures: 12 followed by four zeros.
Alright, besides a flexer like Ji Jinghan, who else would spend one hundred and twenty thousand yuan to buy a pair of sneakers?
Heaven was probably determined to torture him relentlessly, deliberately arranging for his biggest arch-nemesis to move in right across from him.
All the way to school, Wen Xiyu’s expression was overcast with gloom, silently cursing in his heart that Ji Jinghan’s shoes had been stolen.
After the morning classes ended, Wen Xiyu and Tan Jingzhi rarely went to the university cafeteria together. One was from the College of Fine Arts and the other from the College of Liberal Arts; their class schedules were vastly different, but today they happened to be in adjacent classrooms and had plenty of time at noon, so they planned to enjoy a nice meal.
Tan Jingzhi had a face as elegant and dignified as an ink wash painting, with chestnut-colored long curly hair. As soon as the two of them entered the cafeteria, they received quite a few glances.
“This newly opened Malatang spot on the second floor is exceptionally delicious,” Tan Jingzhi led Wen Xiyu to the second floor, declaring with absolute certainty, “Trust me! My treat today.”
Over this period of time, Wen Xiyu had long since become fully accepting of any pre-made dishes or roadside stalls. The two picked and chose for a long time, finally paying a huge sum of forty yuan, and brought back two brimming bowls of Malatang to their seats.
Seeing Tan Jingzhi burying her head and eating heartily, Wen Xiyu teased her with a smile: “Can’t you pay some attention to your image? You’re a campus belle, after all.”
“Don’t bring that up, alright?!” Tan Jingzhi stepped on his foot. “Next time there’s a campus belle vote, I will definitely cast all my votes to blast you away.”
As the two chatted along, Wen Xiyu brought up that mysterious top donor on his leaderboard who had tipped him twenty thousand yuan.
“Twenty thousand yuan?” Tan Jingzhi said in disbelief, “Could it be that the video I filmed for you was actually useful?”
“What are you talking about?!” Wen Xiyu said discontentedly, “What if it was my sincere, kind, and beautiful character that attracted him?”
“Mm mm mm.” Tan Jingzhi nodded with her mouth full of rice. “Your temper is genuinely terrible, but your face makes up for it quite nicely.”
Wen Xiyu: “…”
“Did you add his WeChat?” Tan Jingzhi spoke eloquently as if she were very experienced: “This kind of top-tier big boss brother needs to be added on WeChat and well maintained. Chat with him more often in your daily life, speak a bit more sweetly, and he might keep watching you and tip you even more.”
“There’s even this kind of knack to it?” Nobody had ever tipped him so much money before, and Wen Xiyu had no experience being a streamer, completely unaware of this aspect.
“Of course!” Tan Jingzhi urged him, “Go ask him quickly; you must firmly grasp this big fish!”
Wen Xiyu quickly succumbed to the temptation of money.
He opened Douyin, found that account named Rain among his follows, and sent a private message over to the other party.
【CatCatYu: Is Boss there? >< Good afternoon~】
He had prepared himself to wait a long time for a reply, but unexpectedly, just a few seconds after sending it, his phone chimed.
【Rain: ?】
【Rain: What’s up?】
【CatCatYu: It’s like this, Boss, you tipped me seven Carnivals yesterday and are currently my top donor on the leaderboard, so you can add my WeChat~ Do you need it?】
The notification that the other party was typing flashed repeatedly at the top of the chat box for a long while before Rain finally replied to him: 【Did you also use to add the top donor’s WeChat before?】
Wen Xiyu didn’t quite get the point, but still answered: 【No, oh, you’re the first one】
Rain replied very quickly this time: 【Send your WeChat ID; I’ll add you.】