Chapter 3: The Naive Young Girl Is Bewildered
At first, the viewers in Dumb Little Sister’s livestream were quite dissatisfied with Jiang Yun refusing to turn on his camera during their voice chat. In their eyes, Jiang Yun was just a small-time streamer. Being invited to chat with a top streamer was a rare chance to gain followers, yet he insisted on acting mysterious and wouldn’t turn on his camera—wasn’t this just blatant posturing?
“If you ask me, these small streamers just don’t know how to seize opportunities. Old Lady, swap him out,” someone complained.
“Yeah, totally. So many people on SharkStream would kill for a chance to chat with Old Lady and boost their followers, and here he is acting all high and mighty. Just hang up already.”
“Hang up! Get someone else!”
“Switch to a new batch!”
“We don’t welcome posers in our stream!”
...
While the audience was busy criticizing Jiang Yun’s behavior, his stream suddenly changed. The once-visible computer desktop disappeared, and in its place appeared Jiang Yun’s face—clear and direct.
He looked at the camera, asking tentatively, “Can everyone see me?”
The moment Jiang Yun’s face appeared, there was a split-second pause in Dumb Little Sister’s chat. Then, a flood of exclamations filled the screen.
“Holy crap! This guy is actually this handsome?”
“Damn, are you sure he’s not using a beauty filter turned all the way up?”
“Dude, with looks like that, why would you ever keep your camera off?!”
“As soon as he showed his face, even his voice started to sound better.”
...
Watching the chat explode, Dumb Little Sister rolled her eyes and said, “Can you all get a grip? It’s like you’ve never seen a good-looking guy before. I mean, sure, the guy is handsome, but there’s no need to lose your minds like this!”
On the other end, Jiang Yun heard her words and chuckled. He could guess what her chat looked like right now—his own chat was hardly any better.
“Bro, you’re actually this good-looking?”
“Man, if I’d known you were this handsome, I would’ve sent a super-fire ages ago!”
“Bro Yun, you’re in Chengdu too, right? Me too! Let’s meet up for drinks!”
“Hey, the person above, you’re a dude, right? Oh, it’s Chengdu, never mind then!”
“Bro Yun, I’m a girl—let’s get food together!”
“Bro Yun, with a face like yours, if you go up against Old Lady in a PK, I’ll vote for you with my real wallet!”
...
Seeing the barrage in his own chat, Jiang Yun could only explain, “Those who’ve been watching my stream know I like to mess around. I always feel a bit embarrassed turning on the camera, so I usually keep it off.”
Jiang Yun had managed, without anyone’s help, to go from zero followers to an audience of two or three thousand per stream in just a year. The main reason was his knack for entertaining antics and witty banter. Coupled with decent gaming skills, he’d managed to gather such a loyal following.
Hearing Jiang Yun describe himself as an entertainer, Dumb Little Sister’s eyes lit up immediately. “So, you’re the type who does funny bits on stream?”
Jiang Yun offered a shy smile. “Not exactly. I’m mainly a gaming streamer—just mess around for fun sometimes.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Then can you do something funny for our viewers right now?”
Jiang Yun waved his hand. “No, no, I’m a bit shy with the camera on. How about I sing a song for you? I’m not too bad at singing.”
Hearing him refuse to do a skit, Dumb Little Sister looked a bit disappointed. But she quickly regained her composure. She understood that some people do get self-conscious on camera. Her longtime rival, Tuanzi, was the same way. Still, Jiang Yun was willing to perform a song—a talent show of sorts. That would do. After all, she was only participating in this program to satisfy the platform and clock some hours. As long as Jiang Yun didn’t embarrass himself too badly, she could accept it.
“All right then, sing one of your best. Let’s see what my viewers think.”
Jiang Yun looked into the camera. “How about this—I’ll sing ‘Tears of a Dancing Girl’ for both streams.”
With that, he began searching for the song’s instrumental backing. The audience, hearing his choice, immediately filled the chat with question marks.
“?????”
“Wait, that song is ancient?! Late 80s?! Bro Yun, are you sure you’re really our age?”
“Look, I’ve been watching Bro Yun for over seven months, I’m basically an old fan. But this is the first time I’ve heard he can sing—and what shocks me even more is that he’d pick such an old song?!”
“I want to know what’s even on Bro Yun’s playlist. Songs from the ‘80s, really?”
“I just listened to the intro of that song. Not my thing—can’t you pick something else, Bro Yun?”
...
Jiang Yun didn’t answer the chat’s doubts. Instead, he squinted his eyes and gave a mischievous smile.
“Wait, why does that smile look so off?”
“This guy is clearly handsome, but that smile makes him look so sleazy!”
“I don’t know why, but when he smiles like that, it feels like he got uglier.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this...”
Amidst the viewers’ complaints, the intro to "Tears of a Dancing Girl" began to play in both streams. Soon after, Jiang Yun’s singing filled the air.
“One wrong step, a lifetime of mistakes~
Dancing for a living, forced by fate~
A dancing girl is human too~
Who can she tell of her heartache~”
As she listened to Jiang Yun sing, Dumb Little Sister was overcome by a strange feeling. How to put it? Every lyric he sang was perfectly in tune, yet she just felt... uncomfortable! It was like ants were crawling under her skin! Especially watching Jiang Yun’s utterly absorbed expression—the feeling only grew stronger.
“Driven by life’s hardships~
Silent tears swallowed down~
Is this my fate~
Condemned to live out my days in dust and haze~
Dancing, swaying, holding close in embrace~
Dignity long drowned in wine~
Every night, tangos and cha-chas~
Rumba, rock and roll—what can I do, I’m just a dancing girl~”
When the first half of the song ended, Dumb Little Sister was utterly dazed. She quietly looked up the song online. Reading the description, she fell into deeper silence.
[This is a song... describing the difficult lives of dancing girls of that era, forced by circumstance, whose work was far from easy...]
She set her phone down and looked at Jiang Yun’s camera, taking in his self-satisfied expression. Hardships? Forced by life? She couldn’t see a single hint of such emotion on his face! Yet she couldn’t clearly voice her inner thoughts. All she could do was glance awkwardly at the viewers and put the song’s description up for all to see.
The moment the viewers read the song’s backstory, they all wore the same strange expression as Dumb Little Sister.