Chapter 15: You Can’t Be Serious, Can You?

Seeing the audience in the livestream getting serious, Jiang Yun explained, “Journey to the West is a mythological tale, after all. It's impossible to explain it scientifically. I was just telling some jokes to amuse Little Sister Dumb. Don’t take it too seriously.”

After speaking, Jiang Yun glanced at the clock. Unknowingly, he had been streaming for nearly an hour. The scene felt strangely familiar to him. Yesterday, when he ended his call with Little Sister Dumb, it was about this time as well.

He looked at the camera and said, “Well, it’s late at night, so let’s do something quiet—maybe play some games. What do you all think?”

But the viewers didn’t agree.

“You spent the whole day resting, and now you want to play games when you finally start streaming?”
“Do you think we’re here to watch you play games?”
“Did you forget? You can still connect with viewers!”
“Exactly! After connecting with the old lady yesterday, now you won’t connect with us, your fans?”
“I want to see the segment about fans’ relationship problems! Hurry up!”
“…”

Seeing the barrage of comments, Jiang Yun rolled his eyes. Did they want to see him connect with his fans? No, they just wanted to see his fans stir up trouble. Fortunately, Jiang Yun himself was half a ‘content creator’ and wasn’t bothered by this, so he nodded, “Alright, alright, I’ll fulfill your request. Let’s connect with fans again tonight.”

He then activated the livestream’s fan connection feature. As soon as it opened, dozens of requests popped up. Seeing the enthusiasm, Jiang Yun smiled, “Let’s pick a few fans whose profile pictures look like women. I can see the brothers in the livestream are very concerned about my female fans’ relationship issues.”

The audience agreed.

“That’s right, we do care!”
“We’re just concerned, nothing else!”
“Yeah, we’re just caring. Why does the streamer sound like we have ulterior motives?”

At this moment, Jiang Yun’s gaze fell on a fan with the ID “Past Clouds and Smoke.” The profile picture was a silhouette of a woman. Jiang Yun guessed she was most likely a female fan—and had a story. Without hesitation, he accepted her request.

But as soon as he did, a deep male voice came through his headphones.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me, Brother Yun?”

Jiang Yun’s expression instantly collapsed. Damn! He guessed wrong! Not only was the person not a woman, he was a Northeast guy!

The viewers noticed Jiang Yun’s change in expression and began teasing him.

“Oh, guessed wrong!”
“Told you, Brother Yun doesn’t have that many female fans!”
“Yesterday’s two female fans were just a coincidence. Which normal girl would watch Brother Yun?”
“Exactly, which normal girl would watch him?”
“…”

Looking at the teasing comments, Jiang Yun helplessly addressed the fan, “Hello, brother. Is there something you want to talk about?”

“It’s like this, Brother Yun. I have a relationship problem I’d like your advice on.”

Relationship problem! Hearing those familiar words, Jiang Yun perked up. Yesterday, Sister Phantom Dragon had fooled him with this topic. He asked cautiously, “Relationship problems? Inflatable, Phantom Dragon? Or her husband doesn’t agree?”

On the other end, the fan sounded a bit resigned: “Brother Yun, I’m not here to make trouble. I really have a relationship problem. Just listen to me; you’ll understand after I finish.”

“Really? I don’t believe you!” Despite the fan’s sincerity, Jiang Yun, having been tricked before, remained skeptical.

The fan seemed to understand and said, “I get your concerns, Brother Yun. Just listen, and let the brothers in the chat offer some advice.”

Jiang Yun lifted his chin slightly, “Go ahead. Let’s see if you’re here to stir things up.”

The audience was amused by their interaction.

“Brother Yun’s caution is obvious!”
“Once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of well ropes—especially when last time it was a dragon!”
“It was indeed a dragon, just shouldn’t have been a Phantom Dragon.”
“I don’t know why, but seeing Brother Yun like this makes me laugh.”
“…”

Amidst the banter, the connected fan began his story.

“I met a girl in college. When we first met, I was still studying, but she was already working. She told me she worked night shifts. I thought she was a network admin or maybe a nurse. I was pretty naive and didn’t think further, and she didn’t tell me the details.

After we got close, she’d ask me two things most often: first, if I had money. If not, she’d transfer me some. Back then, I’d just started college, and she’d been working for years, so she cared about that. Second, she’d ask what I wanted to eat and bring food over. That touched me most, because she lived in Tongzhou, and my school was in Haidian—really far apart.

Just those two questions, she’d ask over and over, more than my parents ever did. She truly cared.

Later, I was scammed out of six thousand yuan in Beijing. My living expenses weren’t much, so six thousand was a lot. After that, I could barely eat.

On the first floor of the school, there was a tomato and egg noodle place—five yuan a bowl, cheapest meal there. I ate it for a month, one meal a day, until I was sick and questioning life. Even now, seeing that stuff makes me nauseous.

When she found out, she called me up and scolded me, crying as she did. She asked why I didn’t tell her about my troubles. She cried so hard—it sounded like she truly felt for me.

But I couldn’t comfort her; I was so weak. She realized this, so after that call, she brought me meals twice daily—noon and evening. She feared I wouldn’t eat, so each time, she’d make me sit in her car at the campus gate and watch me finish before letting me go.

The first few times, I ate in the passenger seat while she watched from the driver’s, tears streaming down her face.

After that, our relationship deepened. There were plenty of opportunities for intimacy, but she always refused. I asked her if we could be together, but she rejected me outright.

I didn’t understand—she was so good to me, obviously liked me, and I liked her. Why reject me?

She never answered, not even before I left Beijing.

Until last October, the night before I left, she called me. She asked if I was leaving. I said yes. She asked if I’d return; I said probably not. She asked which station; I said Chaoyang. She asked what time; I didn’t tell her. I said don’t come—it’d be too sad, no need to see me off.

Next day, at eleven, I arrived at Chaoyang Station. I saw her car there and went over. I asked why she was there. She said she checked all the tickets, didn’t know which train I’d take, so she’d been waiting since five in the morning until eleven.

She didn’t want to let me go, crying as she chatted.

I asked her, after all this time, I felt she was hiding something from me—about our relationship, about her job. She finally told me she was working as an escort. Because of that, she’d lost her family—her hometown knew what she did, and she couldn’t face going home for New Year.

She said she didn’t want to deepen our relationship because she felt unworthy due to her job. She only wanted to stay by my side as things were.

Hearing this hurt me so much. I told her I didn’t care what she did, no matter what others said, I wouldn’t say a word against her. If she ever got tired of Beijing and didn’t want to return home, she could come to the Northeast. Even if I was penniless, I’d take care of her.

She smiled and just told me not to miss my train.

After that, we lost contact until a few days ago, when she called and said she was getting married.”

When the fan finished, the livestream fell silent, and even the chat was sparse. Jiang Yun said nothing, quietly turning off the camera.

Click.

The sound of a lighter echoed, and everyone knew what Jiang Yun was doing.

“Let’s share a cigarette of Liqun.”
“Let’s share a Huanghelou.”
“Let’s share a…”

Hoo~

Jiang Yun exhaled deeply into the mic.

In a low voice, he said, “Brother, why’d you come here late at night to tell me this? Trying to sting my throat and trick me into smoking?”

The fan gave a bitter laugh, “Brother Yun, I just want to know: do I still have a chance? I can’t let her go, can’t forget her. No matter what others say about her, I truly love her. But I’m afraid if I go to her, she’ll refuse.”

Jiang Yun fell silent again, this time for a full five minutes. Only his breathing could be heard, noticeably quicker.

When he finally turned the camera back on, the room was hazy with smoke.

He looked at the camera and said, “Brother, life is short. If you want to do something, do it. If you don’t, you’ll regret it forever. No matter if it’s unfair to that man, at least you’ll be true to yourself. People can be selfish sometimes—just don’t regret it.”

He finished with a bitter smile.

The fan asked, “Brother Yun, have you experienced something similar? You seem pretty upset.”

“Heh.” Jiang Yun smiled bitterly again. “Everyone’s had unrequited love in their youth. I’m no saint. Regret is the norm of life.”

This time, Jiang Yun wasn’t joking. He was a living person, had once loved a girl. But regret is the norm; after so many years, he only remembered her name—her appearance had faded from memory.

The viewers agreed.

“Yeah, regret is the norm of life. Who hasn’t had a few unrequited loves?”
“It’s because we’ve all loved and lost that we don’t want you to regret.”
“It’s unfair to the girl’s fiancé, but as Brother Yun said, people are selfish.”
“Another day of losing virtue, but even so, I support you going to find her.”
“…”

Jiang Yun smiled at the barrage. Sure enough, everyone thought the same.

Just as everyone was immersed in the bittersweet mood, the fan said in an oddly strange tone, “But I made up the story, Brother Yun. You didn’t really believe it, did you? You didn’t really get into character, right? You don’t truly believe your fans are that deep, do you? Did you really trust me that much?”

Jiang Yun: ????

Shock, silence, anger, distortion—his face cycled through dozens of expressions in an instant.

He shouted at the camera, “Beast! Animal! Damn you!!!”

He’d guarded against everything, but never imagined this guy would fabricate such a long, vivid story just to stir things up!

The worst part was how convincing the story was—it had drawn Jiang Yun in completely!

Even worse, the guy’s fake story had tricked Jiang Yun into sharing half of his real one!

At that moment, Jiang Yun only felt lucky he hadn’t said more, or he’d have been an even bigger fool.

The audience exploded with question marks.

“?????”
“No way, damn you!!!”
“Damn, are you messing with us?”
“Fine, Brother Yun’s fans are even more creative than Bao’s!”
“Honestly, respect! I never expected this.”
“I considered every possibility, but never thought such a real, emotional story was fake!”
“Brother Yun’s defenses are down, but I won’t laugh at him, because mine are down too! Damn!!!”
“From now on, not a single word in these fan connections can be trusted!”
“…”

Favorite livestream: ‘A Dancer’s Tears,’ dumbfounded Little Sister Dumb. Please bookmark: () Livestream: ‘A Dancer’s Tears,’ dumbfounded Little Sister Dumb.