Bro, Being Ugly Isn't Your Fault

He Ji and his group stood outside Room 901, waiting for the owner to open the door.

After they rang the doorbell, the door opened almost immediately.

A young man wearing a gray mask stood in the doorway and nodded in greeting.

He Ji froze for a moment before asking, "Are you Gu Wen?"

"That's me." Chen Wen nodded. "Hello. Come in."

As they entered the apartment, He Ji asked, "Do you not plan to show your face in videos?"

"Not for now." Chen Wen took four new masks from a drawer and handed them to the four guests. "There's a lot of sawdust in the workshop, and I haven't cleaned it up yet. Remember to put these on when you go in later."

"Got it." He Ji accepted the mask, glanced again at the masked Chen Wen, and said nothing more.

There were indeed many excellent creators on Bilibili who had no real advantage in looks.

If they did not have enough loyal fans or some particularly outstanding trait in other areas, showing their faces could easily cause them to lose followers or become less appealing.

Of course, Bilibili users were fairly decent about this. They were more willing to appreciate a creator's talent than their looks.

That was why, after gaining enough followers, many average-looking creators were willing to take the step of showing their faces.

So He Ji understood perfectly well why Chen Wen did not want to show his face.

It was fine, bro. Being ugly wasn't your fault. In the handicraft category, skill was what mattered. You could do it!

Chen Wen, who had suddenly received He Ji's encouraging gaze, felt rather baffled.

He did not think much of it and handed another mask to He Ran beside him.

"Master Gu Wen, we'll be relying on you today~" In front of outsiders, He Ran had completely transformed into a well-behaved young lady. She gave a polite little bow, accepted the mask with both hands, and greeted Chen Wen.

After giving the remaining two masks to the other two human props, Chen Wen led the four of them into the living room. On the way, he discreetly glanced toward the bedroom—only to discover that the bedroom door was actually cracked open!

Jiang Qiuyi was peeking!

He Ji and the others did not notice anything unusual and proceeded to film some footage in the living room.

Remembering Jiang Qiuyi's instructions, Chen Wen cooperated fully with He Ji's filming requests. He gave a very brief self-introduction in front of the camera and had a fairly simple conversation with He Ji.

"Okay, that's it for the introduction. Next, let's go check out Gu Wen's workshop together!" After saying this to the camera, He Ji grabbed He Ran and Chen Wen, then jumped up and made a transition move.

The effect looked pretty good in the video, but doing it in real life without any sound effects was indeed a little awkward.

Fortunately, Chen Wen was wearing a mask and did not need to worry about his expression. Once everyone had put on their masks and followed Chen Wen into the workshop, they did the transition move again.

"Wow~" He Ji struck an extremely exaggerated pose and let out a sound of admiration.

The camera followed as the view shifted toward the fashionable gray wall on the left and the various handicrafts displayed on it.

Bracelets, necklaces, rings, bookmarks, wooden combs...

Every single one was exquisitely made.

Under the dim yellow glow of the decorative lights, it looked like an art exhibition hall.

"I've seen these two before." He Ran happily pointed at two pieces. "The Silver Filament Bracelet and the Silver-Inlaid Wooden Comb. They were in Master Gu Wen's previous two videos."

Chen Wen did not pick up their conversation. He took out a broom and swept up the black wood shavings on the floor, then tidied up the various tools on the worktable.

"Is this the Interpreter you said you were going to make?" He Ji leaned curiously over the table, his gaze landing on a purple-black sword blade.

"Yes," Chen Wen replied. "I only started yesterday. The blade is just roughly taking shape."

"That's impressive." He Ji reached out, silently asking Chen Wen for permission. Only after Chen Wen nodded did he place his hand on the sword blade and stroke it. "Once it's finished, can I borrow it to play with for a couple of days?"

Chen Wen nodded. "Sure."

Taking out the tools for making rings, Chen Wen looked at He Ran beside him. "Did you bring the materials? I'll show you how to do it once, and you should be fine afterward."

"Mhm, mhm." He Ran took out a paper bag and placed the things she had prepared onto the worktable one by one.

He Ji felt a wave of discomfort as he watched his younger sister acting so obediently.

But since he had decided to come film a video, he naturally could not just stand around doing nothing.

Taking a paper bag from his assistant, He Ji went to Chen Wen's other side and cheerfully pulled out some tools from the bag.

"Actually, I came prepared too. I was planning to follow the master and make a ring for fun."

He Ran rolled her eyes at him. Since outsiders were present, she restrained the urge to mock him aloud.

"Then let's begin." Chen Wen ignored the two cameras around him and swiftly entered work mode.

Making a Meal Card Ring Transformation required quite a few scattered tools.

To cut the chip out of a meal card, one needed a meal card and a pair of scissors.

Then there was the acetone solution for soaking the chip, which could separate the meal card's surface material from the chip inside without damaging it.

After that, it was necessary to prepare a ring mold by rolling paper into a cylinder that matched the size of the ring mold's inner circle.

Then copper wire had to be wound around the paper cylinder and secured with glue, forming a coil.

Next, the insulating paint at both ends of the copper coil had to be burned off with a lighter. Otherwise, it would not be able to form a circuit with the chip.

A soldering iron was also needed to connect the coil and the chip.

Finally, resin and colorant were mixed into a liquid, heated in a water bath, poured into the ring mold, and fitted with the coil and chip. Then all that was left was to wait for the liquid to solidify.

"Your memory is on par with a fish's." From across Chen Wen, He Ji mocked He Ran. "I told you to burn off the insulating paint with a lighter. How could you forget even that?"

Apparently, they had now found the reason He Ran had failed repeatedly before.

Like a little mouse with its fur standing on end, He Ran turned her head and glared furiously at her older brother. But Chen Wen's puzzled gaze made her suppress the anger in her eyes.

"Master Gu Wen." He Ran switched to an adorable smile. "Please continue the demonstration. We can just ignore that person."

Chen Wen did not get involved in the siblings' conflict. He continued lowering his head, explaining as he worked.

Every now and then, pointing out the mistakes of the two elementary schoolers beside him would trigger another round of snide remarks between them.

Of course, with Chen Wen, an outsider, present, He Ji clearly held the upper hand for once.

"This is the final step, so watch carefully." Chen Wen held up the container of blue liquid in his hand and bent down as he spoke slowly. "First, pour half of the liquid into the ring mold..."

He Ran leaned her head closer from the side, staring intently at the mold.

But when Chen Wen's magnetic voice sounded close to her ear, He Ran instinctively turned her gaze toward his eyes—he was wearing a mask, so she could not see the rest of his face.

At that moment, Chen Wen was carefully guiding the liquid into the mold. His eyes were focused and vivid, deep as whirlpools, instantly drawing He Ran's gaze into them until she could not pull herself away.

She did not even notice what Chen Wen said afterward.

[Pu Jie Ri Ji]: This novel has only one female lead, so rest assured. I have no plans to write some melodramatic soap opera. Today, I was sorting things out by the fishpond at the new house and got ordered around by my mom nonstop. Whether there'll be a second chapter depends on how things go... He Ji and He Ran will be important supporting characters later on. Jiang Qiuyi's position as the female lead is unshakable, so don't overthink it.