Swollen from the Spice

Shen Rui'an was drawn in by his words. He lowered his head to look at the dipping dishes, nodded, picked up a piece of grilled meat with his chopsticks, dipped it in the dried chili seasoning he had been looking forward to most, and copied the others by wrapping it in lettuce before stuffing it into his mouth.

The moment Su Tingbai saw him dip that grilled meat into the spiciest seasoning, his hand moved faster than his mouth. He grabbed Shen Rui'an's wrist. He did not dare use too much force, afraid that even a little pressure would hurt him. Feeling the bony wrist beneath his fingers, Su Tingbai frowned. How was he this thin?

Shen Rui'an looked at him in confusion, his face blank. "What's wrong?"

"That's really spicy. Are you sure you can handle it?"

Shen Rui'an lowered his head to look at the seasoning in his bowl, which was paler than Little Zhu's and the others'. A question mark slowly rose in his mind.

"Is it spicy?" Shen Rui'an eyed the wrapped grilled meat suspiciously.

Afraid that it would be too spicy for him, Su Tingbai had only added the tiniest bit of chili when preparing it.

Shen Rui'an had some common sense. He knew that people trying spicy food for the first time should eat only a small amount, so he had not insisted on having the same thing as everyone else.

This is much lighter in color than theirs. It probably won't be that spicy, right? Shen Rui'an thought.

"I heard from your brother that you usually eat bland food. I figured you probably rarely eat spicy things, so I picked out a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce for you. Why not try this instead?" Su Tingbai was still holding Shen Rui'an's wrist as he picked up a sweet-and-sour sauce with his other hand and placed it in front of him.

Little Zhu and the others exchanged glances, then looked at the livestream that had already started. They wondered whether they should remind their boss that they were live now.

In Su Tingbai's livestream, the entire chat was filled with question marks.

[It looks so delicious...]

[I'm starving, I'm starving! Bro, you finally started streaming! Do you know how I survived the days you didn't stream?]

[Wow, sweet-and-sour sauce! I hereby declare sweet-and-sour sauce the best!]

[Not allowed! Dried chili seasoning is the best!]

[I choose cumin seasoning wrapped in perilla leaves!]

As soon as the stream began, Little Zhu first aimed the camera at the grilled meat still sizzling with oil, then slowly raised it toward Su Tingbai and the others. He remembered that Shen Rui'an did not want to be on camera, so he adjusted the angle so that only Su Tingbai's hand holding Shen Rui'an's could be seen. His broad back completely blocked Shen Rui'an from view.

So everyone in the livestream saw that scene from before, and the chat suddenly veered in another direction.

[Hello? Is that really you? Didn't get hacked?]

[Did Su Tingbai get possessed by a ghost? Being this gentle is a little unscientific.]

[I'm not used to this. Su Tingbai is actually the gentle type??]

[No, who's on the other side? Why is Su Tingbai treating them so differently? Why isn't he this gentle with us, his honored viewers?]

[111 Go ask around—what food blogger lets someone else eat before the viewers? Why does he get to eat before us?]

[Is this a new member? Why won't he show his face? Su Tingbai, move aside, you're blocking the newcomer!]

[@Su Tingbai Move aside, you're getting in the way of my grilled meat!]

[Am I the only one who thinks Tingbai is really nice to the newcomer? I still remember how reserved Little Zhu and the others were when they first appeared on camera. Tingbai looked pretty aloof then too...]

[Am I the only one curious about the newcomer? @Su Tingbai Aren't you going to introduce him?]

Su Tingbai's personal account ID was Tingbai the Cabbage. He had been in this line of work for a long time, and after his real-name verification displayed that name, everyone remembered it. At first, it had been a homophone joke, but later his fans began teasingly calling him Su Tingbai.

Originally, Su Tingbai had run the account by himself. After the team joined, its members gradually went from cautiously showing only parts of themselves to appearing openly on camera. Little Zhu in particular had now become the account's unconventional mukbang streamer.

Little Zhu had even opened an account of his own and occasionally did mukbang streams. He treated the money he earned as extra income. Su Tingbai did not stop him; as long as it did not interfere with his work, he had always been generous.

Little Zhu did not want to give up his current job either. To him, it was far more stable than running his own mukbang channel, and the monthly income was substantial.

The others felt the same way.

After all, Su Tingbai had recognized their potential. To them, he was no longer merely a boss or supervisor, but also a friend and benefactor.

Su Tingbai occasionally streamed outdoors too, going fishing or checking out restaurants with friends, or inviting friends to his estate as guests. Those were all content as well. Some of his friends were willing to appear on camera and would show their faces in videos. Those who were not would usually only show a body part or their back.

As the saying went, birds of a feather flocked together. The friends Su Tingbai invited to his estate were all especially close to him, with family backgrounds and social standing similar to his own. And many of them were handsome.

As a result, most of his friends showed their faces openly. Only those who were truly inconvenienced chose not to. But modern netizens were practically modern-day Sherlock Holmes; with only a few exposed details, they could quickly guess who the people in his videos were. They might not be certain and the guesses might not be reliable, but that did not dampen their enthusiasm.

Now, naturally, the newly arrived Shen Rui'an had caught their attention too.

And most importantly, there was Su Tingbai's attitude.

Su Tingbai could not be bothered to hide himself in front of the camera. He did not care to create a persona. He was the same online as he was in real life. With his friends, he was always in teasing mode. He could cook for them, sure, but waiting on those bastards was out of the question.

Therefore, Su Tingbai's livestreams and videos with friends had absolutely never shown him being this "gentle."

[If I remember correctly, when someone visited Tingbai's place last time, his childhood friend Xing Ying asked him to make a different flavor. What did Su Tingbai say?]

[Your hands broken?]

[Your hands broken?]

[Your hands broken?]

[...]

The chat began flooding with messages, and the longtime fans laughed themselves silly.

[I'm dying. Has President Xing seen this? If I remember right, he's online twenty-four hours a day, right?]

[@Xing]

Amid the netizens' frantic calls, Xing Ying appeared with sparkling special effects.

[Xing: ...]

Xing Ying had just finished working when he picked up his phone and saw countless people tagging him. Curious, he opened it and discovered that Su Tingbai, that son of a bitch, was livestreaming. He just did not know how they had gotten onto the subject of him, to the point that everyone was tagging him.

Were they talking trash about him again?

Xing Ying did not dare delay. He hurried into Su Tingbai's livestream and happened to see the scene of him taking a dipping dish for Shen Rui'an.

Xing Ying rubbed his eyes in disbelief and even looked around to see whether his signal was poor. Why did he feel as though Su Tingbai had become a different person?

Xing Ying posted a comment in the livestream.

[Xing: Whoever you are, get off my brother right now!]

"Pfft—" Meng Meng failed to hold back and burst out laughing. She pointed at her phone. "Boss, Boss Xing says you've been possessed."

Su Tingbai took the phone and glanced at the screen. The chat had begun flooding with Xing Ying's comment: [Whoever you are, get off my brother right now!]

"Heh." Su Tingbai gave the camera the middle finger. "Xing Ying, if you're itching for a beating, why don't you come over and spar?"

He and Xing Ying had become acquainted through fighting when they were young. Later, the two of them spoke to each other as if their mouths had been coated in herbicide; a lick of their lips could poison the other to death.

While Su Tingbai was not paying attention, Shen Rui'an tilted his head and directly stuffed the lettuce-wrapped grilled meat into his mouth. He chewed once, and his eyes began to shine.

Delicious!

The spiciness slowly kicked in afterward, and he could not stop himself from hissing. Su Tingbai immediately turned to look at him and saw Shen Rui'an's empty hand.

Su Tingbai said, "? It's spicy, and you still ate it?"

Shen Rui'an's lips had turned bright red from the spice, while his face remained pale, making him look like a little vampire.

Su Tingbai handed him the fruit tea beside them, took away the dried chili seasoning, and pushed the sweet-and-sour sauce in front of him. "You're not allowed to eat that anymore. Eat this."

Shen Rui'an pouted, unwilling.

"I want it!" he said loudly, his voice unusually full of strength.

"No." Seeing that Shen Rui'an's lips were already a little red and swollen, Su Tingbai immediately moved the chili far away. They were swollen from the spice already; if he ate more, his stomach would definitely hurt.

Shen Rui'an pursed his lips, his watery eyes silently accusing Su Tingbai.