Little Fool

"...The weather was nice today. We had barbecue yesterday, and it was a little greasy, so we planned to go into the mountains and dig up some wild vegetables to cleanse our palates. The wild roses happened to be in bloom right now, and they were beautiful."

An AI-generated mechanical voice played in the video, accompanied by subtitles.

The footage was beautiful and soothing to watch, making viewers feel as if they had entered the scene themselves.

The video was not very long, but it was pleasant to watch.

In this era where short videos reigned supreme, too many people preferred fast-paced content. They watched dramas at double speed, let alone scrolled through short videos.

Shen Rui'an was exactly that kind of impatient person. Whenever he came across a longer video, he would immediately switch it to double speed.

Yet this video made him unconsciously slow down. Though it was only a few minutes long, Shen Rui'an still watched it through at normal speed.

He recognized it as Su Tingbai's alt account entirely because he heard his own voice. Occasionally, his hands appeared in the frame, causing mischief, while cute lettering with a crooked arrow pointed in his direction: "Mischievous little fool."

Seeing "little fool," Shen Rui'an could not help squeezing Baisui's paw. "Who's a fool? It definitely can't be me!"

He was obviously so capable. He had helped Su Tingbai find so many wild vegetables!

Shen Rui'an angrily swiped the video away, watched several more videos, then secretly searched for Su Tingbai's alt account again and watched that video over and over. "Hmph. I'll stalk your account forever!"

Su Tingbai had called him stupid behind his back!

Shen Rui'an remembered this grudge.

When Su Tingbai walked over, he found Shen Rui'an glaring at his phone with a face full of indignation. He could not help wondering. Shen Rui'an had been perfectly fine at lunch, so what was wrong now? Who had upset him again?

"Shen Rui'an."

The man's voice sounded quietly behind him. Shen Rui'an, who had just been muttering about someone behind his back, nearly jumped out of his skin. Turning around, he saw Su Tingbai right behind him.

Sure enough, his mother had been right: he should not speak badly about people behind their backs.

Shen Rui'an felt a little guilty, but he forced himself to stay calm. "Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I finished up. You looked bored sitting here alone, so I came to check on you. What were you doing just now?" Su Tingbai found a seat near Shen Rui'an and sat down. Seeing Baisui yawning in Shen Rui'an's arms, he smiled. "He's so sleepy. Why not put him in his bed and let him sleep?"

Shen Rui'an lowered his head and met Baisui's listless eyes. He scooped him up, turned, and ran. "You're right. I'll take Baisui to bed right now."

This was too embarrassing! He had to run!

"..." Su Tingbai touched his face. "Am I really that scary?"

He did not dare chase after him, afraid he might scare Shen Xiaoyao into falling.

Xing Ying sent him a message on WeChat. He glanced at it.

Xing Ying: [Old Su, how about we do a camping barbecue this weekend? I'm craving it.]

Su Tingbai: [Get lost.]

Xing Ying: [Huo Dog lost a bet with me a few days ago. He's treating us to offshore fishing on his yacht. In a couple days, Huo Dog and I are going fishing. I'll bring you back a big catch!]

Su Tingbai: [Sure.]

Xing Ying: [Then it's settled. You'll have another video to work with! Gotta go, I'm busy. The old man's nagging me again?]

Su Tingbai: [.]

After chatting for a few lines, Su Tingbai exited WeChat. Seeing many little red notifications on Douyin in the background, he checked them and found that the video from his alt account had already received thirty-five thousand likes.

Though Su Tingbai felt that his alt account did not have many followers, it actually had two hundred thousand.

Some of those followers had come over from his main account, while others simply enjoyed his daily vlogs.

He had not actually promoted his alt account through his main account. Modern netizens simply had eagle eyes, and after comparing details, they figured out it was his alt.

Su Tingbai neither confirmed nor denied it, letting them speculate. The fact that this account was his alt had become an open secret.

Su Tingbai glanced at the comments section.

[Ohhh, little fool~ Pink mouse jpg.]

[You're not updating your main account, but you're updating your alt? Su Tingbai, did you forget your main account password?]

[Wow, the wild roses are so pretty. Where exactly is this? I want to take pictures there.]

[Perfect photo spot. Hurry up and tell us the location!]

[The other person in the video is the guest, right? He's really cute. Why did he pull up weeds too?]

[I'm dying, why is this little brother specifically picking poisonous mushrooms? Tingbai-ge, you guys aren't lying flat somewhere, are you?]

Su Tingbai replied: [No. We picked them out, and there was even one edible mushroom in the end.]

With that reply, netizens flooded his comment thread with laughter.

At the same time, it confirmed that Shen Rui'an really was exactly what the subtitles called him: a mischievous little fool.

As the video's popularity continued to grow, some fans from Su Tingbai's main account came across it as well.

They left comments beneath the video one after another.

[Why is this new guest so stupid? Tingbai-ge, why not let me go? At least I know wild vegetables.]

[→_→ I don't get why Tingbai invited such a pretentious young master. Are people really still this dumb nowadays?]

[I think this new guest is more affected than any of the previous guests. It's not like Su Tingbai has never invited anyone else before, so why is he the only one who needs to be waited on? He doesn't even know mushrooms. He's pretending, right?]

[Could this be some young master's tactic for seducing people? The dumb innocent flower routine is outdated already, okay?]

Passersby who came across the comments frowned at such remarks.

[What nonsense are you babbling about? Does it have anything to do with the video?]

[Isn't it normal not to recognize poisonous mushrooms? Is there really any need to insult him like that?]

Those accounts had profile pictures and usernames that were far too recognizable, and some people familiar with the situation could not stand it.

[Ignore them. These idiots really think they're Su Tingbai's partners. They attack anyone who has even the slightest ambiguous connection with Su Tingbai.]

Someone shared some gossip: [There was an event on the platform before where several influencers were invited to make food videos together. A few influencers were assigned to Su Tingbai's group. One of them was a fair-skinned beauty blogger named Young Master Locke. He merely said he was Su Tingbai's fan, and Su Tingbai's fans attacked him.]

Some genuine Su Tingbai fans frowned and replied to that comment: [Are you kidding? You can whitewash that too? Young Master Locke was obviously clout-chasing, okay? Su Tingbai treated everyone equally in the video, yet Young Master Locke's fans shamelessly lied with their eyes open and claimed that Su Tingbai had a crush on Young Master Locke? Excuse me? Where did you see that? Did you imagine it with your brains? By posting vague, inexplicable things one-sidedly, Young Master Locke made himself into a humble secret admirer and manipulated who knew how many fans into feeling sorry for him. After one show, he went from unknown to gaining three hundred thousand followers. Does anyone not know that?]

The comments began eagerly digging into the gossip again. There were too many comments, but Su Tingbai had already exited the app and had no idea that this video had brought both old grudges and new scores back into the open.

Meanwhile, Little Zhu and the others also sent the edited video to Su Tingbai for review. Once he approved it, they uploaded it to the account.

When Su Tingbai returned to the house, he saw Baisui sleeping soundly on the first floor. He quietly went upstairs and glanced into Shen Rui'an's room. Sure enough, that little piglet was asleep again.