One of the great appeals of short videos was that they documented life.
From a passerby's perspective, a video of a "waiter" playing the piano in a restaurant naturally drew people's interest and attention.
120,000 likes on Douyin probably meant at least five million views.
Across all of Douyin, that might not have been much.
But the key was that the video had a location tag in the bottom-left corner—
Qingzhou · SWING Restaurant
When a video with 120,000 likes was brought into real life, brought close to home—especially within school circles—
That was already an incredibly impressive level of popularity!
"Let me see!"
Lin Tian hurriedly took the phone.
In the video, he wore his work uniform and sat before the restaurant piano, playing "Wedding in My Dream."
Beside him, numerous restaurant patrons watched and took photos.
It was such a simple, completely unedited video.
Yet the comments section already had several thousand comments!
Holy shit, is this a high school student? He's incredible!
I've studied piano for three years, and I might not even have that kind of technique.
This Piano Brother is so handsome! Where's this restaurant? I want to check it out!
A handsome guy playing piano—I don't even know how delicious the food must taste!
Am I the only one curious about the name of this piece?
.
Before opening the comments, Lin Tian had assumed that people would mostly be discussing "Wedding in My Dream."
After all, in his previous life, it had been a world-class piano piece.
No matter how he put it, this was the piece's first appearance in this world. It should have been enough to shock people!
Unexpectedly, comments discussing the piece accounted for less than twenty percent.
For most people, it seemed they only knew that it sounded good. That was all.
Many probably even assumed it was some piano piece that had existed for a long time but that they simply had never heard before. There were so many pleasant instrumental tracks out there—nothing strange about that!
That gave Lin Tian a bit of a headache.
As for the other eighty percent of the comments—
Some described the shock brought by the video, while others were doxxing Lin Tian!
They gave Lin Tian a very cool nickname: Piano Brother.
Then they began celebrating wildly in the comments.
I want all the information on this Piano Brother within ten minutes!
He's this handsome, so he must have a Douyin account, right? Secretary, investigate him for me!
Hurry, hurry! If I don't learn Piano Brother's name today, I won't be able to sleep tonight!
Other than finding wives, netizens were lightning-fast at everything.
Soon, someone in the comments started spilling information.
Not completely sure, but I think he's Senior Student Lin Tian from the senior year at neighboring Qingzhou Seventh High School.
He really is handsome. At our school, lots of younger girls recognize him.
He's not just handsome—his grades are excellent too. He's always in the top ten of the year.
We're screwed!
They really doxxed him!
Lin Tian immediately felt dead inside.
What he had not expected even more was—
How did so many people know him?
Ever since starting high school, Lin Tian had lived an extremely energy-efficient life at school. He was the kind of peripheral figure who would never casually wander around if he could stay in his seat.
He might not even remember all his classmates' names properly.
He had always thought his marginal existence at school had been fairly successful.
At the very least, hardly anyone ever came up to strike up a conversation with him.
So had he just been fooling himself?!
Still, considering Xu Yong as an example, it made sense.
After all, Xu Yong even knew Gan Yan Yu, who had taken a year off from school.
As long as a girl was exceptionally beautiful, guys like Xu Yong would know about her even if she was not at school.
High school students were usually overwhelmed by their studies. A little unsubstantiated gossip now and then was enough to become conversation material for a long time.
A handsome boy whose name had long appeared near the top of the rankings—
It did seem unlikely that no one in the grade knew him.
However, the revelations were not over yet.
But... Senior Student Lin Tian seems to have resting bitch face. When he's expressionless, he looks a little scary. He's always alone at school, and he gives off the impression that he's hard to get along with.
There have long been rumors that Senior Student Lin Tian has a very pretty girlfriend outside school, so he isn't interested in girls at school and always wears a sour expression.
Sisters from other schools, if you're interested and want to make a move, my advice is to save yourselves the trouble. None of the senior girls at our school have dared to go for him. Us younger girls are even less likely to dare. No matter how you line up, you outsiders won't get a turn.
Seeing this—
Lin Tian raised his head and looked at Xu Yong.
"Brother Yong, do you think my face usually looks that sour?"
"What do you mean, sour? You've got a standard, authentic deadpan face."
"Isn't that still a sour face?"
"There's still a difference between having a dead mom and not having a dead mom," Xu Yong said solemnly.
"You're right. My mom really is dead."
Lin Tian nodded and looked back at his phone.
When he refreshed again, the comment that had just exposed his information was already gone.
There were still occasional doxxing comments appearing in the section, but before long, they gradually sank out of sight too.
Lin Tian guessed—
Was this probably Douyin's protection mechanism?
Comments that directly doxxed people would be suppressed, or even deleted.
It was a form of protection for the people in the video, preventing their personal information from spreading.
Especially since the protagonist was a high school student.
Still, seeing so many people in the comments searching for Piano Brother's Douyin account—
That might not be a bad thing.
In any case, he would think about making short videos tonight, then discuss it with Gan Yan Yu tomorrow.
After school that afternoon, Lin Tian left the classroom.
It was right during the after-school rush, and the athletic field was packed with people coming and going.
As he walked through campus, Lin Tian could clearly feel far more gazes focusing on him than usual.
So it really had spread.
Lin Tian felt somewhat helpless.
"H-hello!"
Just then, two girls stepped in front of Lin Tian.
One of them looked shy and fidgeted as she said,
"Excuse me, are you Senior Student Lin Tian?"
When everyone heard that someone had actually made the first move—
The many girls nearby who had already been watching deliberately slowed their steps.
"What is it?" Lin Tian asked.
"I-I wanted to ask... are you the 'Piano Brother' on Douyin?"
"What Piano Brother?" Lin Tian frowned.
That slight change in expression instantly made the girl who had spoken tremble in fright.
"N-no, it's nothing!!"
The friend beside her immediately wanted to curl her toes into the ground.
She gradually edged two steps away, desperately putting on an act as though they were not acquainted.
"Is there anything else?" Lin Tian asked.
"Y-yes!"
Then the girl gathered her courage and shouted,
"Senior Student Lin Tian, do you have a girlfriend?!"
The moment those words came out—
All the female passersby around them miraculously fell silent at the exact same moment.
Before you continue