Jiang Lele reached past Wei Xuan and handed Chi Li a bottle of water. "Thanks for the hard work."
"Thank you." Chi Li took the water, holding the bottle in his palm. As the intro to the next song began, he said, "I'll drink it after I finish this song."
[There's something indescribably sexy about wifey's singing. [lecherous]]
[If he can sound this good with that crappy karaoke equipment, I can't imagine how dazzling he'd be on a proper stage.]
[So why didn't you put such good stuff on display sooner, Starlight Entertainment!! [wailing]]
[After camping out in Raising House for so long, I finally got something good... [drooling]]
[Beautiful and talented. I don't know how this little Chi Li could possibly lose.]
[Holy crap, why is the viewer count going through the roof? This is a personal channel, not the main stream, right?]
[Feels like Chi Li can pull in tons of fans no matter what he does...]
[[crying][shaking fist] You're not allowed to fight me for my wife-]
In the space of two songs, another flood of paying viewers had entered Chi Li's personal livestream channel.
Most of the newcomers were fans of his performances. They started discussing his stage presence the moment they arrived, sharply reducing the concentration of "wifey" in the bullet comments.
"I don't have a second flower." Shen Xunye sounded a little regretful. "How about I transfer you some money and give you something to spend instead?"
There was no helping it. He really didn't have any cash on him.
"So cheesy." Chi Li put down the microphone, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "Where did you learn that trick?"
"Hmm..." Shen Xunye spread his hands, looking innocent. "Someone asked me for that before. They said if you like someone, you should give them money to spend."
Chi Li raised an eyebrow. "So you like me?"
[Oh my god, that straight shot knocked me out. Who confesses on the second day of knowing someone? I'm asking you!! [roaring]]
[Perhaps you believe in love at first sight?]
[I only believe in lust at first sight.]
[It's hard to say that about Shen Xunye... otherwise he'd fall in love with himself all over again every day when he looked in the mirror.]
[↑ That's even cheesier than Shen Xunye's "money to spend."]
"If I like your singing, isn't that liking you too? A particular quality of yours is still you." Shen Xunye's eyes were sincere as he spoke.
"So... what you're doing is actually tipping?" Chi Li raised a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful.
Shen Xunye said, "Tipping?"
"Like a street singer. If you think I sound good, you toss a couple of coins into my bowl." Chi Li gave him a simple analogy.
"Just two? That's way too stingy." Shen Xunye sounded disdainful. "Next time I'll prepare three."
Chi Li couldn't help laughing. "Well, thank you."
Wei Xuan leaned over and joined in. "I'll prepare two hundred for you."
Jiang Lele took the microphone in front of him and said expressionlessly, "Prepare two hundred for me first."
Jiang Lele sang two songs on his own, then two duets with Wei Xuan, before getting up and heading toward the dance studio.
Halfway there, they ran into Zhou Yang and Xie Weishui coming the other way.
"What are you two doing here?" Wei Xuan was a little confused.
Although he hadn't been assigned any part in it, he knew Xie Weishui was supposed to watch a movie with Zhou Yang that afternoon.
At this hour, the movie shouldn't have finished yet.
Zhou Yang's gaze landed on Chi Li before he withdrew it. Looking annoyed, he said to Wei Xuan, "What? Are we not allowed to come?"
Though he didn't know why himself.
Xie Weishui had said he was coming, so he had followed along.
"Sure you are. I was just asking." Wei Xuan sounded indifferent. "Forget it if you don't want to say."
A smile lifted the corners of Xie Weishui's mouth. "I haven't moved around in ages, so I suddenly felt like dragging Zhou Yang over to practice some dancing. Otherwise, I'll have forgotten everything my teachers taught me. I didn't expect you to be going too. Perfect-the more, the merrier."
As he spoke, the two naturally joined their group and walked along.
"Almost everyone's here now. Why don't we call Gao Yuan and Fang Jin over too?" Wei Xuan was a little annoyed as well.
He didn't really want these two to join them.
It was truly strange. When he followed Xie Weishui around to get some screen time, the number of paying viewers on his personal channel barely grew.
But just now, while he was beside Chi Li, it had actually gone up by several hundred for the first time ever.
Although those people were all saying strange things like "admiring wifey from another angle is delicious too," at least they had spent their money on him...
As for Xie Weishui... Wei Xuan was genuinely a little afraid the guy would jinx the viewers right out of his livestream...
"They're probably both writing songs. No need to call them." Jiang Lele stopped Wei Xuan.
Six people were chaotic enough. He didn't want to be reduced to nothing but a backdrop again.
"Chi Li," Xie Weishui called gently. "You're not upset, are you?"
"You seem a little more upset than me." Chi Li tapped the corner of his own eye, his tone teasing and regretful. "The light seems to have gone out of your eyes."
Everyone else turned to look at Xie Weishui, seemingly wanting to check whether the light really was gone.
"Why would I be upset?" Xie Weishui smiled, his tone sincere. "I'm really happy to see you fitting in so quickly."
"Your smile makes you look like a mannequin," Chi Li pointed out bluntly. "If you don't want to smile, don't force yourself."
[I've wanted to say that for ages too.]
[Does Chi Li have some kind of truth-telling system installed? The kind where he dies if he doesn't tell the truth?]
[Xie Weishui's practically turned this reality show into a fake-person show, all because these people won't tell the truth.]
[There's no obligation not to tell the truth.]
[Honestly, looking at this rationally, Xie Weishui's face really does look a lot worse than it did two days ago... Is Chi Li putting that much pressure on him?]
"Chi Li-" Zhou Yang suddenly came down with white knight syndrome and shielded Xie Weishui behind him. "Senior is innocent. Can you stop targeting him all the time?"
Wasn't he just still angry about me selling BL with Xie Weishui?
Or else he was jealous.
Other people might not understand what Zhou Yang was implying, but there was no reason Chi Li wouldn't.
Ignoring Zhou Yang as usual, he tilted his head and said to Xie Weishui behind him, "Keep your dog in line."
After that, he threw in an eye roll for Zhou Yang.
Zhou Yang was furious. "Who are you calling a dog?"
Walking at the front, Shen Xunye pushed open the dance studio door and stepped aside to let Chi Li enter first. He also kindly answered Zhou Yang's question. "Whoever barks the most."
"Fuck..." Zhou Yang wanted to roll up his sleeves and hit him.
"Junior." Xie Weishui caught Zhou Yang's wrist. "I'm fine. Don't get angry. Chi Li doesn't mean any harm."
"...He doesn't mean any harm." Watching Chi Li stretch and warm up in the middle of the room, Zhou Yang instead explained to Xie Weishui, "He's just habitually sharp-tongued... Senior, don't take it to heart."
A little nastiness in a beautiful person's personality only makes them more vivid-
Someone had once said that about Chi Li.
Back then, Zhou Yang had scoffed at it and very much hoped Chi Li would rein in his temper and obediently listen to him.
But now, Zhou Yang was beginning to agree with that statement.