An explanation

At eight that evening, Yu Nian started his stream right on time.

He launched the game and greeted his viewers as though nothing had happened, even chatting with them about what he had eaten for dinner.

The haters who had been waiting to insult him had assumed Yu Nian would be too guilty to stream. Seeing him act as though nothing was wrong only enraged them further.

[You still have the nerve to stream? Enjoying that spot you stole? Nepo hire?]

[Unbelievable. I even defended you last time. Never thought you were this kind of person.]

[Care to explain yourself, nepo hire?]

[Apologize to Qinggang!]

His fans could not stomach those comments and naturally started arguing with the haters.

Yu Nian glanced at the insults. Perhaps his previous experience had toughened him up, because this time he was even calmer, leisurely taking a sip of water.

"What are you doing? Having a hater team-building session?"

[Oh, please. Still pretending? Don't tell me you know nothing about this.]

[Don't flatter yourself. Nobody would care about you if you hadn't brought this on yourself, okay?]

"You mean that thing with Qinggang? If you think it's unfair, appeal to the platform. Why come to me? I can't give him a contract."

[You're making me sick. You stole someone's spot, and you know perfectly well what really happened.]

"Thanks for watching my stream even though I make you so sick," Yu Nian said with a chuckle. "Since you're here, why not send a gift before you leave?"

[Fuck, how can anyone be this shameless? Why hasn't a streamer with this kind of misconduct been banned?]

[Send you a gift? I'd rather burn it as a funeral offering!]

"If anyone deserves a ban, I'm nowhere near the front of the line. Also," Yu Nian asked with feigned curiosity, "do your parents know you're this devoted to me? By that family hierarchy, shouldn't you be calling me Grandpa?"

The chat was stunned by how shameless Yu Nian could be. Insults flooded in, some so filthy that the platform automatically blocked them.

A chill flashed through Yu Nian's eyes. He stopped playing and decided to have a proper chat with them instead. "If I didn't do any of this, let's just say you're insulting yourselves, all right?"

"What I don't understand is, can't you make any judgments for yourselves? You believe whatever someone else says?"

"Crying makes it the truth?" Yu Nian could not help laughing. "So you have no evidence either. Whoever cries gets to be right, is that it?"

"Murderers cry on their way to execution, too. Why don't you go plead their innocence?"

[Stop changing the subject. Just answer this: don't you feel the slightest bit guilty about using connections to push Qinggang out?]

"Then let me ask you: did Qinggang identify me by name? Or does he have any concrete evidence proving I did anything?"

"The burden of proof lies with the person making the accusation. If you don't understand what that means, look it up."

[Then tell me why Qinggang has so many more followers than you, but you got signed and he didn't.]

[And the timing of your arrival on the site is off, too. You joined several days later than the other streamers in your batch. How do you explain that?]

[I heard Sea Star fired a few people recently, including an HR manager. You came in right after he left. Can you honestly say you didn't force him out?]

"They have to sign whoever has the most followers? Did you set that rule? Are you an interviewer for Sea Star?"

"Besides, I'm not the only person with fewer followers than him who signed with Sea Star. Why are you singling me out? Is Qinggang paying you on the side to get this worked up and bite everyone in sight?"

"And who did you hear that from? Go ask whoever told you. If I could force out the HR manager, why didn't I become the HR manager?"

[You're in the same niche, and you've had a feud with him. That still makes you a suspect, doesn't it?]

[Maybe that manager found out you were getting in through the back door and didn't want to hire you, so you used your connections to get rid of him.]

"If you're so good at making things up, why not become a screenwriter?" Yu Nian felt these people were beyond saving. "And about what happened last time, anyone with a brain knows who started it and who was in the wrong. Instead of questioning whether he's telling the truth, you're rushing to convict me."

He asked, almost amused, "Is it because I didn't cry?"

[Ahhh, off topic, but Nian darling, please cry for us. I want to see it /shy]

[This streamer can really talk. I was going to help defend him, but now I'm just sitting here watching the show.]

The haters could not outargue him, or simply refused to listen. All they could do was accuse him of being unreasonable and changing the subject.

"I'll say it again: the burden of proof lies with the accuser. Unless he personally names me and says I did it, all you're doing is spreading rumors."

[Why won't you explain why you joined several days later than the other streamers in your batch?]

"Your logic is flawed to begin with. If I had connections, I wouldn't even need an interview. They'd reserve a spot for me, and I might have joined earlier than the others."

"As for why I arrived a few days late, I already explained that to my viewers."

[Where's your evidence? Aren't you just making claims, too?]

"I wasn't talking to you. You're free not to listen. Leave my stream."

[Exactly. The stream recordings are right there. Can't you look through them yourselves?]

[You won't listen even when he explains. Why waste words on you? Get lost!]

Some people thought Yu Nian made a good point. His voice was completely calm and unhurried, too, suggesting he had nothing to feel guilty about. They began to believe him and stopped hurling insults.

Others, either set in their assumptions or diehard Qinggang fans, refused to let it go.

"So you've decided I did it, right? If it turns out he was the one spreading rumors, will you apologize to me?"

[With this many people calling you out, you're still trying to fool everyone? Why should we apologize?]

Yu Nian nodded. "All right, screenshotted. This viewer named 'Rational Hero'-pfft, is that username meant to mock yourself?"

"You'll be getting court papers when the time comes."

"Who else? Mods, please help me note down their IDs. You're all so righteous now. Don't chicken out, delete your accounts, and run away later."

[Is that really necessary? We're just standing up against injustice. We don't mean any harm.]

[You're a joke. Feeling guilty and out of things to say, so all you can do is threaten people with the law?]

Yu Nian actually laughed at their antics. "So regardless of the truth, I deserve to be insulted, while there's nothing wrong with you cyberbullying me?"

The next second, he dropped all pretense and launched into a tirade. "You come into my stream spouting snide bullshit, looking down on everyone like you're the most righteous people in the world. You won't look at evidence or listen to reason. You invent an enemy out of thin air and still insist you're right. One word from someone else and you charge into battle. You spread rumors without evidence, then demand the victim clear his name. When someone explains, it's making excuses. When you cyberbully them, you 'don't mean any harm.'"

"Your cerebral cortexes are as smooth as braised eggs, and your depth of thought is below sea level. People take one look between your ears and wonder how the Old Summer Palace's twelfth bronze zodiac head ended up here. Your verbal logic is like Mondrian, your hearts belong in medieval Europe, and opening your mouths is like belching up stale hydrogen sulfide. You can't tell right from wrong, yet you're so pleased with yourselves. You're shameless as hell, and you're still competing for first place?"

"Standing up for justice? You're just unrivaled idiots."

Once Yu Nian finished, the hater comments in the chat instantly dwindled.

Or perhaps they had not dwindled at all, but had simply been drowned out by his fans and actual casual viewers.

[Damn, streamer, are you studying for a postgraduate entrance exam?]

[I'm dying. But seriously, can they even understand him?]

[I just heard about the drama and came in to take a look. Now I'm genuinely impressed by this streamer's way with words, hahaha.]

[I'm here for the drama too, and I think he's right. The other guy won't even come out and confront him. One person drops insinuations, a whole crowd charges into battle, and they can't produce a shred of evidence. Verdict: a bunch of dimwits, lol.]

[You don't get it. Qinggang's afraid of retaliation. The streaming industry has too much shady stuff going on.]

[Mr. Shady Industry is acting like an expert again. Tell me how what Qinggang's doing is any different from inciting cyberbullying.]

[Been memorizing that script for ages, huh? Look at you showing off. Clear your name if you've got the guts.]

[The streamer was talking about people exactly like you. Never mind, you probably didn't understand... Anyway, your top priority right now is getting into middle school, or you'll never become a proper human being. Got it?]

[I was just introducing you to my bestie. She said your voice sounded really gentle, and then a second later she heard you cursing people out...]

[Hahahaha...]