In the living room.
Chen Wen sat on the sofa. Knowing his place, he took out his phone, opened Bilibili, and found Jiang Qiuyi's account, "Qiuqiu yiyi."
Her latest video, "[One Million Followers Special]: Sword Art Online Series—Cosplaying Four Characters in One Go! Which One Makes Your Heart Flutter?" had been posted just two hours ago.
He tapped on the video and began watching. A flood of bullet comments immediately swept across the screen.
"Wifey, I'm here!"
"Asuna is the best!"
"The first one is loser Liz."
"A massive peach-stealing scene."
"Peaches for sale in the front row."
"No matter how I look at it, Qiuqiu's cosplays are still the most pleasing."
"So the special isn't a swimsuit? My youth is over!"
"Four characters, four times the joy!"
At the start of the video, the screen split into four sections, each showing one of Jiang Qiuyi's four cosplays.
Chen Wen recognized them at a glance. He had personally photographed them for Jiang Qiuyi over the past few days.
A few seconds later, the first Liz cosplay photo enlarged, and she began striking various poses, causing another barrage of bullet comments to clog the screen.
Then the camera shifted, cutting to the side of the piano and showing only Jiang Qiuyi from the neck down.
"Sure enough, the headless knight's final stubbornness."
"I thought she'd show her face after reaching one million followers."
"Qiuqiu said she didn't plan to show her face while she was still in school. Stop talking nonsense."
"What if she has a killer body but a killer face?"
"If she shows her face or skin, you accuse her of fishing for followers. If she doesn't, you make wild guesses. You people are impossible to please."
"I like this kind of content. Can't I just follow for the cosplay characters and the piano itself?"
Chen Wen was clearly used to the bullet comments on Jiang Qiuyi's videos. He simply listened quietly to the piano piece she had played countless times, hoping inspiration would strike and give him something he could praise her for later.
The video was very well made.
Besides the photos of Jiang Qiuyi showing off each cosplay at the beginning of every piano piece, clips from Sword Art Online related to the music were inserted throughout the performances.
Jiang Qiuyi had chosen four pieces in total.
One was the insert song from when Kirito and Liz were trapped overnight in the dragon pit. Another was the insert song from when Suguha learned that the person she liked in the game was her own brother.
The third was the insert song from when Kirito and Asuna spent the night together after kissing, followed by the ending theme from the second season of Sword Art Online.
As far as Chen Wen knew, besides practicing these four pieces at home, Jiang Qiuyi also sought guidance from her teachers at school and even asked for their opinions on adjusting the arrangements.
When editing the video, Jiang Qiuyi had also sought help from skilled creators in an uploader group chat who specialized in anime MAD videos, matching suitable anime scenes to the corresponding piano pieces.
Compared with Chen Wen's casual attitude toward uploading videos to Bilibili, Jiang Qiuyi was clearly far more invested in and passionate about this work—or rather, this hobby.
That was also an important reason why she had gradually accumulated more than a million followers in less than three years of university.
Even Chen Wen, who barely remembered anything about the Sword Art Online plot anymore, could still enjoy all four pieces with great interest, despite Jiang Qiuyi neither revealing her face nor wearing anything overly revealing.
After finishing the video, Chen Wen scrolled through the comments.
Besides people praising the uploader and lamenting that the special was not a swimsuit video, there were also discussions over whether music uploaders ought to dress sexily.
Of course, quite a few people were clamoring for Qiuqiu to show her face, and many comments reminisced about the Sword Art Online plot.
Chen Wen had never paid much attention to such comments. He read them and moved on.
But one highly upvoted comment caught his eye.
"Did any of you notice that Qiuqiu has an extra dark blue ring on the ring finger of her right hand?"
There were many replies beneath it.
"OP made me go back and watch it again."
"Holy shit, it's real!"
"A ring finger? Is she married? Did Qiuqiu get proposed to?"
"You're clueless. A ring on the right ring finger means she's in a relationship."
"Qiuqiu has a boyfriend?! For real?"
"Maybe it's just an accessory? You're overthinking it."
"Could 'in a relationship' mean she has a great relationship with her one million followers?"
"Now that you put it that way, Qiuqiu is really thoughtful."
"Touched to tears (eyes brimming with emotion.JPG)"
Seeing the replies gradually veer off topic, Chen Wen relaxed slightly.
Come to think of it, he was only a small uploader who had just crossed the ten-thousand-follower threshold. Nobody would probably connect the two accounts.
Jiang Qiuyi had already said that she did not want to tie her real-life identity to her uploader identity for the time being.
If their relationship was exposed alone, Jiang Qiuyi herself would not really mind.
But if Chen Wen's Bilibili account was exposed and dragged into it as well, there would inevitably be all sorts of trouble.
The video had already been posted. Taking it down now would only make people suspicious.
Since nobody had noticed the connection between the ring on "Qiuqiu yiyi's" hand and the video "Ill-informed Wen" had posted a few days ago, there was no need to worry too much.
They would just let nature take its course.
Just as Chen Wen finished watching the video, Jiang Qiuyi had also finished making tonight's noodles in the kitchen.
"Just pour the noodles from the pot into the bowl." Lin Meng finally ended her nerve-racking guidance. After confirming that Jiang Qiuyi was safe and sound, she at last breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Qiuyi lifted the pot with both hands and poured the beef, tomato, and egg noodle soup into the oversized bowl that had been prepared beforehand. After setting down the pot, she clapped her hands in satisfaction.
She picked up her chopsticks and slurped down a bite. Her eyes lit up as she gave Lin Meng a thumbs-up through the phone. "It tastes really good! As expected of the top food uploader~"
"Shoo, shoo. Just remember to treat me to a meal next time I come over to play." Lin Meng wore a disgusted expression, then asked in confusion, "Why did you only serve one bowl? Aren't you eating?"
"Hehe." Jiang Qiuyi put on oven mitts and lifted the bowl of noodles. "Of course I'm eating with my boyfriend~"
"..." Lin Meng's face darkened. In a fit of anger, she ended the video call. "Goodbye!"
Jiang Qiuyi walked out of the kitchen. As she set the bowl of noodles on the dining table, she called to Chen Wen, "The noodles are ready~ Come eat."
Chen Wen put away his phone and came over to sit at the table, unable to help staring. "Why is there only one bowl?"
"Why are you asking so many questions?" Jiang Qiuyi sat beside him, handed him the chopsticks, and urged, "Try it. Is it good?"
Slurp, slurp~
Chen Wen did not stand on ceremony. He lowered his head and took a bite of noodles, then picked up a piece of beef and bit into the fried egg.
"It tastes good."
Rarely hearing Chen Wen praise her, Jiang Qiuyi's eyes curved into crescents with her smile. She leaned her little head forward, opened her mouth, and went, "Ah~ I want some too. Feed me~"
Chen Wen turned his head and saw Jiang Qiuyi's enticing lips approaching. His hand froze at once.
Only after coming back to his senses did he awkwardly lift some noodles to Jiang Qiuyi's mouth and seriously feed her.
Jiang Qiuyi sucked the noodles into her mouth, deliberately sucked on the chopsticks as well, then nodded with mock seriousness and giggled. "Mm~ Delicious~"
[Public Information]: Lin Meng, a well-known food blogger with the Bilibili account "Mengmeng's Kitchen," had nearly two million followers on Bilibili alone. She was currently twenty-six years old and pursuing a PhD in food processing technology. She had been single since birth.
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