When he saw the girl before him, with her face as radiant as the moon, he visibly froze.
Xun Zhou nodded in greeting. “Hello.”
Wen Xiao gave a brief introduction.
But Xun Zhou’s gaze remained on her face, drifting as if he were thinking about something.
When he wasn’t livestreaming, he would voice-chat with his fans. One of his top supporters was a woman known as Sis Jing Shi Wo Husband. Her voice was very similar to the girl’s in front of him, except that she deliberately put on a girlish tone, while this girl’s voice was sweet and clear, unmistakably her natural voice.
Xun Zhou collected his thoughts and asked the usual question. “May I ask why you chose to apply to our company?”
Wen Xiao: “Because you’re hiring.”
Xun Zhou choked. What a down-to-earth reason.
Xun Zhou: “Then, compared with other people, what would you say is your core competitive advantage?”
Wen Xiao answered with utmost seriousness. “I’m cheaper.”
Xun Zhou: “…”
He couldn’t argue with that.
After the interview, HR informed Wen Xiao that she had passed.
HR: This is our boss’s WeChat. Add him. We’re currently mainly running these two accounts, and the videos you edit will need to be shown to the boss.
Xun Zhou: I’ve accepted your friend request. We can chat now.
Wen Xiao: Hello, Boss.
Xun Zhou: HR has already told you about the job responsibilities. I usually livestream at eight in the evening. You can watch my stream to get familiar with my style.
Wen Xiao: Okay.
Wen Xiao knew his streaming style all too well.
After all, the original owner had spent every day in his livestream.
Wen Xiao left Xun Zhou’s chat and tapped the pinned conversation, sending Xie Shijin a twenty-yuan red envelope.
Naiyou Paofu: I passed the interview! I couldn’t have done it without you. Let me treat you to milk tea!
Naiyou Paofu: I won’t be gaming tonight. I have to watch my boss’s livestream TT
The original owner usually played games with Xie Shijin at eight every evening.
She had a bad temper and didn’t like playing with his friends, so it was almost always just the two of them.
Xie Shijin: Okay.
Just one word, yet Wen Xiao could somehow sense his relief.
When the original owner used to play with him, if she died in a game they were winning, she’d blame Xie Shijin for not coming to save her. If she didn’t get enough kills, she’d accuse him of stealing them. And when they were losing, that went without saying—she’d keep riding him, calling him useless and saying he couldn’t carry her. Even their teammates weren’t spared. Out of ten people, she’d flame nine of them from start to finish.
Xie Shijin really was patient. He never said a word in response to all that abuse.
Either you explode in silence, or you perish in silence.
No wonder things had ended so badly for the original owner. Xie Shijin must have been holding a grudge for a long time.
At six that evening, Wen Xiao posted the vlog she’d finished editing.
Then, remembering something, she sent Xie Shijin a message.
Naiyou Paofu: Are you on Douyin? Let’s add each other!
Three minutes later, Xie Shijin sent her a QR-code image.
Wen Xiao immediately switched to the account she used to film vlogs and blocked him. Only then did she switch back to the account the original owner had opened. The original owner was obsessed with gaming, so nearly all the posts on that account were gaming-related. It had no videos showing her face and only a few hundred followers.
She used that account to add Xie Shijin.
To her surprise, Xie Shijin had over a hundred thousand followers.
His videos never showed his face. Most of them showed him mixing drinks with complete concentration, sleeves rolled up to reveal well-defined, muscular arms. His hands were long and pale, with pink fingertips and knuckles.
A paradise for hand lovers.
One video had over a million views. In it, he casually stirred the ice in a glass with his hand. Meltwater glistened on his fingers.
Wen Xiao didn’t even have to open the comments to know what kind of mess they’d be.
Butter Bear: Just passing by and got cuffed. Help.
My Dream Is to Raise Eight Male Models: Showing off the kitchen utensils.
If You See Me, Tell Me to Go Study: Feel like he could reach my stomach.
I Got Up for Water at Midnight and Found My Husband Cheating with His Male Bestie: Make way, make way, make way! This is my seat!
Wen Xiao followed him, then sent him a cat-peeking-out sticker.
Before long, Xie Shijin followed her back.
Jinshi: What’s this?
Jing Shi Wo Husband: A little fire person! We’ve only just started raising it. Chat for three days and it hatches.
Yunding Imperial Residence, Beijing.
“I can’t take it anymore. Can someone please do something about my mom?”
Jiang Zimo lay sprawled across the sofa, looking utterly despairing. He took up the whole length of it, his feet flailing up and down like a shrimp being scalded.
Li Xiuchi found him annoying. “Do you have a hyperactivity disorder?”
Jiang Zimo grabbed a cushion and slammed it down several times. “You have no idea how terrifying my mom is. She’s actually forcing me to get married! And to that little demon princess from the Tan family! I still remember when she shoved a lizard down my pants.”
Xie Shijin held his laptop, not even looking up as he coolly piled on. “You were the one who put a dead mouse in her schoolbag first.”
“…I—I was just playing a little joke on Xiaoxiao.”
Li Xiuchi said, “I think you two are a perfect match. Let the two little demons get together and stop terrorizing everyone else.”
“Get lost! I’m not marrying that crazy woman. I like sweet girls! You know what I mean by sweet girls?”
Xie Shijin’s fingers paused on the keyboard. For no particular reason, Xu Xiao’s face came to mind. She was gorgeous, not the sweet-girl type, but her voice was sweet.
Jiang Zimo was so frustrated he could hardly stand it. He looked at Xie Shijin with a pitiful expression. “I’m so jealous of you. Auntie Jiang never nags you about getting married.”
At that, two people in the room wore rather complicated expressions.
Xie Shijin’s mother didn’t just never nag him. She didn’t care what he did at all.
But the oblivious Jiang Zimo didn’t notice. He just kept hollering.
Li Xiuchi kicked him and changed the subject. “Come play a game. Big Brother will take you to slaughter them in the Canyon.”
Jiang Zimo was in a foul mood and needed a distraction. “Let’s do it. I’ll wipe the other team out.”
Then, remembering something, he looked at Xie Shijin. “Are you still seeing your Puff Girl?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Zimo couldn’t sit still. “Come on, Brother. Her boyfriend’s practically right in front of you, and you still won’t break up with her? What are you saving her for, New Year’s?”
“Who she dates is her choice.”
Xie Shijin had gotten together with her in the first place to repay her kindness. There wasn’t much affection between them, so it was perfectly normal for her to date someone else.
It was just an online relationship. He didn’t care.
Even Li Xiuchi was dumbfounded. “Tell me the truth. Are you a cuck?”
Xie Shijin: “?”
Jiang Zimo: “Xie Shijin must’ve been cursed by that Naiyou Paofu. I’ll have my mom get you a talisman to ward off evil spirits.”
Xie Shijin: “I’ve just finished my work. Let’s play.”
Li Xiuchi stared at his perfectly calm face and pondered for a long time before finally reaching a conclusion: Xie Shijin didn’t like Naiyou Paofu at all.
Otherwise, he couldn’t think of any situation in which a man would accept his girlfriend dating two people at once—unless he really had a cuckold fetish.
Jiang Zimo said, “Hey, Xun Zhou’s online. Let’s hop into the big streamer’s team.”
Fanzhou was a famous Honor of Kings streamer. Jiang Zimo had sent him a few Carnival gifts, and whenever Fanzhou was free, he’d help him rank up.
Jiang Zimo had reached the Glory rank thanks to him.
Li Xiuchi said, “At this hour, he should be livestreaming, right?”
Jiang Zimo went over to the computer and pulled up Fanzhou’s livestream. “Do you think some girl might see my amazing skills in the stream and fall hopelessly in love with me?”