Peaceful Livestream

Si You turned and was quite surprised to see Jiang Tingxu. "Why are you here?"

Jiang Tingxu said, "I came to see why you were running around instead of resting."

"Working out after dinner," Si You said with a smile, though he was actually so tired his voice had gone a little hoarse.

Jiang Tingxu gave the old man a slight nod, then asked Si You, "Finished talking?"

"Finished." Si You said, "Let's hurry down before it gets dark, or we'll be slipping with every step."

It was already slippery enough. On the way up, they had stepped into little pockets of dirt and moved fairly smoothly. But on the way down, the damp soil could send them skidding in a long brown streak if they were careless. When Si You spread his arms for balance for the fourth time, Jiang Tingxu finally couldn't stand it anymore and pressed a hand to his shoulder. "Walk behind me."

Si You blinked. "Okay."

At the last small slope, Si You couldn't stop himself. Even with his toes digging in, he still slid forward a stretch and bumped into Jiang Tingxu's back.

"Sorry, sorry!" Si You hurriedly said.

Jiang Tingxu turned around, a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

Night swallowed the last traces of dusk. In the scant light, a pale strip formed where day met night, hanging over Jiang Tingxu's head. The scent of burning straw drifted through the air. The sight struck Si You's heart like a tiny hammer, and all he could think was, This guy is really handsome.

In his previous life, a reporter had once interviewed Si You and jokingly asked whether some handsome actor he had worked with was actually good-looking. Si You had never been afraid of offending the other party's fans and immediately replied, "More handsome than me?" Over time, everyone got used to it, because Si You truly had the capital to say so. In an industry where anyone could make money after a little styling and touch-up, genuinely handsome men were becoming rarer and rarer. Audiences being sick of ugly men was no exaggeration. Si You protected everyone's eyes; he could make waves on his face alone.

But now, Si You felt Jiang Tingxu could still stand evenly matched with him.

The cameramen had stopped following them. They were tired after the whole day as well. Si You scanned the empty hallway, then openly entered Jiang Tingxu's room.

It was only eight thirty. With Jiang Tingxu's permission, Si You started a livestream.

[Sure enough, the streaming hours are getting more and more unholy.]

Then some viewers noticed that Si You had put up a shopping cart in the livestream...

That was something product streamers did. What was a horror streamer doing with one?!

The haters came rushing in after hearing the news, and the chat quickly became unbearable to look at.

[There it is, there it is. Finally showing his true colors and starting to rake in money?]

[A dog can't stop eating shit! I told you, no matter how much he changed, how good could he possibly become?]

[Let me see what kind of nonsense you're pulling this time!]

Then they clicked in... Red Mountain Peaches?!

For fuck's sake...

The big brothers went nuts.

[Big Bro isn't afraid of haters and knows you have to eat too. If you were selling keyboards or mice, Big Bro could understand. At worst, some skincare products would work too—your face is all smooth and shiny, so you'd be convincing enough. But you're selling peaches? What, did selling apples get you addicted?]

[I looked. Three kilograms per order, and there are only two hundred orders. What's that about?]

"What do you mean, smooth and shiny? If you don't know how to describe things, then don't." Si You interacted with the chat while downloading a game. "You knew I sold apples before? What, you say you don't watch variety shows, but you're actually pretty honest, huh? No one asked me to sell keycaps or cosmetics. As for the two hundred orders, I did the math and that's all there is. I'm helping an old man sell them. He has several huge peach trees at home. I ate one today—the fuzz that pricks your mouth was even full of moisture, and they looked pretty good too. Anyway, it's three kilograms. You can't lose out or get scammed buying them. It'd be best if you're in the same city. I'll pick them fresh for you then, though shipping might be a bit slow."

[You're wasting your talent if you don't go into sales.]

[Honestly, I've really wanted peaches lately.]

[I just asked my son whether he wanted any. He said no, so I raised my hand. Then he said yes.]

[I think your son might genuinely not want any...]

Si You knew his reputation was poor, and he had prepared himself to be cursed at. Even the image on the shopping cart was a random online photo he had hastily found that looked somewhat close to the real thing—not infringing on anyone's rights.

When someone had been trapped in the eye of the storm for too long, they gradually got used to it. According to Si You's plan, he would first show off in the game and win everyone over with his skills. Then, when he put effort into promoting the peaches, it would definitely have some effect. But once the game had finished downloading, Si You casually checked the shopping cart and found that over one hundred eighty orders had already sold...

Si You's expression immediately turned complicated. "You guys..."

"Are you really..."

"So full of it?"

Si You couldn't hold back. The chat was filled with [Hurry up, who the fuck wants peaches? I bought them for nothing!] Yet without him needing to say another word, they had almost sold out.

[Keep yapping and I'm applying for a refund. Turn on the camera!]

"Got it!" Si You immediately muted himself after saying that and turned to look at Jiang Tingxu.

Jiang Tingxu said, "Go ahead."

Si You said, "...You know what I was going to say?"

Jiang Tingxu said, "...You're someone who knows where to draw the line."

Fine!

Si You turned on the camera. The background was a white wardrobe, with nothing else in view.

[You scared Big Bro. I thought you lived in a woodshed.]

Si You smiled.

Though he had been tired lately, his schedule had been regular. With something to do, he looked more energetic. Sitting there in an oversized T-shirt, his exquisite collarbones were plainly visible. He no longer looked greasy at all; instead, he was exceptionally fresh and clean. For a moment, even the chat paused.

Some haters wanted to call him an "ugly freak," but the pain in their hearts stopped them. They silently deleted their messages.

How had this bastard changed so much?! At this close distance, without beauty filters, Si You's hair was slightly messy, but he looked so good he could have been in a poster at any moment.

But the most extreme haters were not so easy to handle.

Some accounts with random number IDs kept chasing Si You around the chat to curse him out. They no longer cared whether they made sense; they were clearly just there to vent. Whenever the mood struck, they launched another AOE barrage, insulting everyone in the livestream for watching trash like Si You. Si You caught sight of it and had just frowned when system notifications announced that people had been banned and kicked out.

One was the top-ranked VIP, Boss Jiang111. The other was someone who had spent money to become a moderator when Si You first started streaming and kept warning everyone not to be deceived by him... a fan of his rival? Her ID was "Chun Diandian."

Actually, that wasn't the case. Chun Diandian was just someone who enjoyed following entertainment gossip. She happened to watch Spring Heartbeat, and Si You's performance in the previous season had disgusted her. Since she also had a good impression of Shen Chuan, when Si You first started streaming, she had come in determined not to let him whitewash himself.

Chun Diandian was not the sort to believe every rumor she heard. On the contrary, whenever she followed gossip, she liked getting to the bottom of it and wanted solid evidence. Later, when Si You set a limit on the number of moderators, he still hadn't removed this person who had paid money just to "criticize" him.

Chun Diandian did not have much of a reaction to that, because she gradually realized that Si You might simply have forgotten...

Her guess was correct.

Si You wasn't surprised that Jiang111 stepped in, but Chun Diandian's actions left him speechless.

Chun Diandian's response was, I don't want to either!!!

She had originally intended to lurk around and catch Si You in something. After all, someone rotten at the core couldn't keep pretending for long, especially someone as sensitive and insecure as Si You, who would explode the moment his tail was stepped on. Who would have thought that she had gone from watching horror game streams with her eyes covered to having an absolute blast? As for Spring Heartbeat, she was shipping the couple so hard that she even dreamed about them... She told herself it was fine to ship a CP; it didn't mean she was a fan of Si You. But when Si You showed his face just now, she had snapped over a dozen screenshots in rapid succession, and had secretly opened Si You's Weibo profile countless times.

During the daytime recording, Si You had still been asking Grandpa about the peaches. That night, he had put them in the shopping cart. Chun Diandian didn't care whether Si You was putting on a show or acting from the heart. As long as the final result could help someone, it was worthwhile. Letting Si You gain a little good reputation from it wasn't unacceptable either. But some people in the livestream were just too disgusting. Chun Diandian, a mere gossip lover, grew angry as she watched and began exercising her moderator privileges.

Si You saved his game and saw that Chun Diandian had already gone on a banning spree. He couldn't help asking, "Uh, is Diandian here?"

Diandian...

Chun Diandian immediately banned and kicked another alt account, then coolly typed in the public chat: [Stream in peace.]

Si You said, "Thank you, thank you!"

In reality, a young girl in front of her computer was screaming at the top of her lungs. Then, unable to control herself any longer, she opened Si You's profile and followed him.

At the same time, Jiang Tingxu's fingers flew over the keyboard. It was the first time in his life he had become a moderator. He had spent a few minutes just now studying the moderator permissions. He had been a little awkward banning people for the first time, but what kind of person was Jiang Tingxu? By now, his eyes were razor-sharp. Anyone who dared make personal attacks got kicked out, without a single mistake or omission.

By the time Si You ended the stream, it was already eleven thirty.

He had performed normally tonight too, clearing two horror games of completely different styles in one go. Just as he finished the second one, there came a light knock on the bedside table. Si You turned his head and saw Jiang Tingxu pointing at his watch.

Si You understood and began thanking people for their gifts and saying goodbye to the viewers.

[Wait, are you using my husband's computer? Are you in his room?]

Si You said, "..."

"No." Si You's superb acting skills came into play at that moment. He even blinked innocently at the camera. "I moved it into my room."

[ok.]

Si You had just begun to relax when Jiang Tingxu knocked over a cup as he got out of bed. It hit the ground with a loud clatter.

Si You said, "Oh no, a stray cat came by the window. That's it, brothers, bye."

Then he muted the stream and ended it in one fluid motion!

Si You stood up and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Sorry." There was amusement in Jiang Tingxu's voice.

Si You waved a hand. "It's fine!"

Jiang Tingxu truly hadn't done it on purpose. At the same time, he found Si You rather adorable like this.

"It's time to rest," Jiang Tingxu said. "You need enough sleep."

After humming in acknowledgment, Si You headed into the bathroom to wash up. When he came out, he slept on one side of the bed.

Once Jiang Tingxu had finished washing up, he turned off the light as well.

In the darkness came the calm sound of a man's footsteps. Moonlight filtered in, and Si You could vaguely see Jiang Tingxu lift the blanket and lie down. He adjusted his position, and his breathing quickly became even.

Jiang Tingxu did not make Si You feel oppressed in any way. On the contrary, with him in this space, Si You felt more at ease.

In the darkness, Jiang Tingxu slowly opened his eyes. The moonlight was generous enough that, with a slight turn of his gaze, he could see Si You facing him, his sleeping expression gentle.