Chapter 34: Brother Xiao Chi, So Handsome
To appear on camera, Chi Zhen did a lot of preparation—or at least, what he considered a lot.
First, he gave his tiny room a thorough cleaning. It had already been fairly neat and tidy, but he was nervous. Then he called Luo Song over to give him some advice.
After looking around the room, Luo Song concluded that the webcam should be mounted on top of the monitor, pointed directly at him.
"With a face that handsome, you've got to show it head-on," Luo Song said. "More importantly, the door is on the left. It's one of those old dark reddish-brown wooden doors—way too tacky. It won't look good on camera. And that wardrobe on the right? You can tell at a glance the landlord bought the cheapest one in the furniture store. Don't let that get into the shot either. It looks too cheap."
"People online know most small streamers don't have great living conditions, but everyone likes things that look polished. If your background looks too outdated or shabby, your popularity won't grow, and you won't be able to keep viewers around."
Opposite the webcam were the window and Chi Zhen's bed.
Following Luo Song's instructions, Chi Zhen replaced his old floral curtains with solid-colored ones that matched the brown plaid bedsheets. Add in some lighting and a light beauty filter, and the room immediately looked much better.
Luo Song nodded approvingly. "The room's too small to fit much else. Ideally, you'd get a little cabinet and put some figures, toys, or plants on top to create some atmosphere. That's what other streamers do. But we're working with what we've got, so this will have to do."
Before going live, Chi Zhen checked everything over and over again. He stood up from his chair and paced around the ten-square-meter room several times, making sure there wasn't anything strange in view before finally clicking the Start Streaming button.
Today's stream title read: Twelve-Hour Streaming Challenge! Let's Push for the Annual Event~
It was the first day of summer vacation. Chi Zhen started streaming at ten in the morning and planned to go until ten at night. For the next week, he intended to keep up this brutal schedule to make up the streaming hours he'd fallen behind on and secure his guaranteed 3,000-yuan minimum payout.
His viewers clearly hadn't expected him to start this early. People trickled into the stream one by one, and every single one of them froze in shock.
[Handsome guy, who are you?!]
[Xiao Chi, were you worried we wouldn't survive if Endless Time wasn't streaming with you, so you actually hired a handsome stand-in?]
Chi Zhen scratched his head, then noticed that the tiny preview window in the lower-right corner showed himself scratching his head as well. Embarrassed, he hurriedly lowered his hand.
"Um... I'm participating in the annual event. The rules say I have to turn on my webcam, so..." Chi Zhen explained quietly. When he wasn't on camera, he could speak much louder, but now that he could see himself on screen, everything felt unbearably awkward.
[No, holy shit—seriously, handsome guy, with a face like yours, why aren't you in the entertainment industry? Why are you streaming games???]
[I'm actually in shock right now. Hold on, I need to notify all my friends and family to come watch!]
[Sorry, I have to go make a post on the Quest for the Azure Heavens forums right now. I can't hold it in anymore. Misty Autumn Rain, do you realize what you've been missing?!]
[No, guys, this has to be an actor Xiao Chi hired to lip-sync for him. It has to be! Handsome guy, don't fall for this game streamer's tricks! Tell me your own stream channel right now, I'll go shower you with gifts!]
[I refuse to accept that a gaming streamer looks like this. Streamer, you've betrayed the common people! Unfollowing! Becoming a hater!]
"...Let's just get into the game first."
Xiao Chi had no idea what to say anymore. He was panicking inside, so he forced himself to act calm and logged into the game.
It was a weekday, so no one from his guild was online. He started doing his daily activities—planting crops, watering them, hauling snow on Mount Guguan, and completing the capital city's daily quests.
He finished every daily task he could think of, checked the time… It was only eleven o'clock.
What the heck?!
After thinking for a moment, he headed to the Trading Hall to check today's market prices.
Nice. The stacks of Fragrant Blossom Grass he'd been stockpiling in the warehouse could finally be sold.
After skillfully listing the materials on the Trading Hall, he glanced at the chat.
[Wait... this handsome guy actually plays Quest for the Azure Heavens too? Look how practiced he is. #smile]
[I'm slowly accepting some horrifying truths.]
[Someone who's better at games than you... and even better-looking than you. #smile]
[Which door did God actually close on him?]
[Probably the door to studying.]
The comments embarrassed Xiao Chi so much that he didn't know how to respond.
[Handsome guy, why aren't you talking?]
[Damn it, now I'm worried about Endless Time. Please don't ever let me find out what he looks like in real life. This is the happiest I've ever been shipping a CP.]
[I got an emergency notification and rushed over. I came to the wrong stream, didn't I? Excuse me, everyone, where did that Pineapple’s streamer named CZ Xiao Chi go? #smile]
[Go join an idol survival show. I'm not even joking. Bro, the entertainment industry needs you to save it!]
"...Come on, everyone, don't exaggerate more and more." Xiao Chi laughed awkwardly. "The webcam window is so tiny. What can you even see?"
[Exactly—we can't see anything! Enlarge your face cam! Right now! Immediately!]
[Forget the game! Is this really the time to be gaming? Let everyone admire that handsome face!]
Xiao Chi started to panic. "Maybe it's just the filter. My roommate helped me set it up. I'll turn the filter off."
[He looks even better without it! That's real good-looking! The filter made him way too pale!]
[People from the forums are here!]
[Forum crowd +1!]
In an instant, the viewer count skyrocketed. When he'd first gone live that morning, there had only been one or two hundred viewers. Around eleven, a huge wave of people claiming they'd come from the forums flooded into the stream. By noon, his channel had already reached two thousand viewers.
Chi Zhen kept playing the game. After finishing his daily quests, he moved on to gathering materials.
But no one was paying attention to what he was doing in-game. The entire chat was focused on his appearance. Some viewers even complained that, with a face like his, he should have turned on his webcam from day one. How had it taken him nearly a year to finally show his face?
Then his phone started vibrating nonstop.
He picked it up and saw that the Little Veggie Guild group chat already had 99+ unread messages.
[Explosive Red: I'm stunned by Brother Xiao Chi's looks.]
[Blue Sky Beyond: Same.]
[Blue Sky Beyond: I used to think I was the second-best-looking person in the Little Veggie Guild. Looks like now I'm only third. #Crying]
[Thousand Feathers: Who are first and second?]
[Blue Sky Beyond: Our handsome Guild Leader Xiao Chi, and that damn Endless Time.]
[Thousand Feathers: Didn't you say Endless Time wasn't handsome last time?]
[Blue Sky Beyond: Is that really the important part here? That's not the point!]
[Xiao Chi: ...Guys, stop messing with me.]
[Sister Dog: Seriously, Xiao Chi, are you completely unaware that you're handsome?]
[Explosive Red: You didn't give us any warning that you were turning on your webcam! Did you never imagine how shocked we'd be?!]
[Xiao Chi: ...I really don't understand. Please stop teasing me.]
[Endless Time: Room number.]
Blue Sky Beyond immediately posted Chi Zhen's stream room ID. Startled, Chi Zhen dropped his phone onto the desk.
He was so nervous he couldn't sit still.
He looked at the barrage. It was full of people there just to have fun. Having no idea what to do, he pretended to stay calm and said, "I'm going to take a break and eat some lunch."
He grabbed his phone and pretended to order takeout, not even daring to raise his head.
A few minutes later, another WeChat notification popped up.
[Endless Time: Brother Xiao Chi, handsome.]
Smack. Chi Zhen immediately put his phone face down and hurriedly grabbed his mouse.
His character, The Light Boat Has Passed, started running around aimlessly in-game—left, right, up, down, spinning in circles.
The chat exploded.
[Why the hell are you blushing?!]
[Tell Mom right now—who are you texting?! Mom doesn't allow you to text anyone except Endless Time!]
[Wild guess: Endless Time is watching Xiao Chi's stream right now!~]
[Hurry up, hurry up! When does Endless Time get off work?! Get online and play already!]
The entire morning and lunchtime stream was complete chaos, with people constantly pouring in just to take a look.
Rumor had it that eight or nine different threads had already appeared on the Quest for the Azure Heavens forums, all discussing how handsome streamer Xiao Chi was. Some posters even joked that it was no wonder he had managed to defeat Misty Autumn Rain and win Endless Time's heart.
The viewers faithfully relayed all of it to Xiao Chi.
Xiao Chi was nervous. Confused. Completely bewildered.
Honestly, he really was.
He knew he wasn't ugly. But calling him an exceptionally handsome guy? That was going too far. Ever since middle school, he'd basically been invisible in class, with barely any presence at all. In college, a few girls had said he was handsome, and a couple had confessed to him, but... that was about it.
In the real world, getting people's attention took more than just a good-looking face. You also needed charisma.
He wasn't good at talking to people. He was introverted. Most of the time, people simply didn't notice him.
He figured it was probably just the game's filter coloring everyone's perception.
He looked at The Light Boat Has Passed on the screen—a young man completely unlike himself.
The Light Boat Has Passed stood tall and straight, his brows sharp and confident. During his carefully designed idle animation, he pulled the tree branch from his back, swung it twice, hopped lightly in place, and smiled with spirited eyes, radiating all the youthful vigor of a cultivation-world teenager.
He really was the kind of character people couldn't help but like.
Unlike him.
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Author's Note:
How everyone else sees Xiao Chi: A melancholy, aloof, untouchably handsome guy.
How Xiao Chi sees himself: Completely forgettable.
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