FLME Ch47

Yu Wen started his livestream. Before going live, he tidied up his appearance a bit, wearing the gold-rimmed glasses he had taken from Xie Heyu’s face. The thin frames added a touch of scholarly air to him.

“Do I look good?” He poked Xie Heyu with a bit of vanity.

Xie Heyu pondered and said, “Do you want Manager Xie’s opinion, or Xie Heyu’s opinion?”

Yu Wen asked, “Is there a difference?”

“Manager Xie is professional and will tell you this outfit is well-matched, with a cozy vibe and new elements, suitable for livestreaming.”

Yu Wen: “And Xie Heyu?”

Xie Heyu: “Xie Heyu is too charmed to speak.”

Yu Wen was silent for a second, then began to laugh.

For once, he didn’t let out his usual giggles; instead, he rocked back and forth like a wobbling toy without any support.

“Teacher Xie, hahaha… don’t say such bizarre things with a straight face,” Yu Wen said, leaning over on the sofa, one leg crossed, trying to suppress his laughter. “Too cool, so cool that I’m getting rheumatism.”

Xie Heyu had that “I really wasn’t joking” expression.

Xi Su moved his livestream equipment out, set up the position, and placed the fill light and reflector. Meanwhile, Yu Wen was already laughing while leaning on Xie Heyu, their shoulders touching closely, murmuring about something.

“You two over there,” Blue Hair stood with his hands on his hips, annoyed. “I’m working, and you’re over there whispering to each other?”

Their faces were almost touching. Closer than when he used to pull someone to wheat bran, it looked like they were dating to those unaware.

Yu Wen whispered his gratitude to Xie Heyu for his constant support with accessories, while Xie Heyu generously said, “We’re so close; this is what I should do.”

Yu Wen mentioned he hadn’t really worn those accessories out yet, as he wasn’t good at matching them. Xie Heyu said, “Next time, you can just pick my clothes to wear; they go with anything.”

So, the two of them quietly discussed their clothing styles for a while.

Chu Han, who was nearby, overheard part of their conversation and was confused. “Is clothing style a very private matter? Why are you whispering?”

He turned his head, sincerely puzzled, looking at the two of them.

Yu Wen realized that he had gotten used to whispering after leaking some future plot details to Xie Heyu and hadn’t switched back yet.

He said to Xi Su, “Thank you, Teacher Xi. I’m ready to go live. You can sit over here.”

Yu Wen smiled, almost with an obedient air, and added the rarely heard words “Teacher Xi,” which made Xi Su feel a sense of long-lost respect.

Xi Su’s mood improved a bit, and the resentment from working for half a day vanished. In his heart, Yu Wen once again became a life-and-death brother.

Teacher Yu even let him ride his coattails!

Having such a brother was Xi Su’s blessing for three lifetimes!

Yu Wen was not very familiar with livestreaming operations, so he fumbled around for quite a while. Because it was a sudden livestream, the viewer count in the beginning wasn’t very high.

“Hello, hello, everyone! I’m Xiao Yu…” He adjusted the camera, smiling as he greeted the fans, who were pleasantly surprised, “This livestream was a sudden whim, so there was no notice. Since ‘Battle Royale’ is airing tonight and my colleagues are watching it, I thought I’d do a livestream to watch along with everyone. I also prepared some small crafts for a giveaway later…”

He picked up a lifelike crocheted little koi on the table and showed it to the camera, a bit shy. “Just learned it, not very good at it.”

「OMG! Baby, you are such an adorable little cake, mwah mwah mwah mwah.」

「I swear! I’ve been having a twitchy left eyelid all day; I knew something good would happen! Damn it, I caught Xiao Yu’s livestream!」

「Don’t swear! (covers ears) Don’t corrupt my Xiao Yu!」

「I’m watching ‘Battle Royale’ right now. Teacher, can you tell me why you keep looking at that dragon? I’ve thought about it endlessly but can’t figure out what clue is there.」

「Stooooop, stoooop! No spoilers! Throw the person above out!」

「Today, I’m standing right here to see who dares to spoil Xiao Yu! (harpoon warrior)」

Yu Wen said, “I can’t spoil it; let’s all watch together. Plus, when recording, I was separated from the other guests, so I don’t know some parts of the plot either, haha.”

As soon as the camera was on, Xie Heyu got up consciously, somehow found a black mask, and when he sat back, he distanced himself a bit from Yu Wen. In the camera, only a pair of hands crocheting and half a shoulder could be seen.

More and more people joined the livestream, mostly fans. It hadn’t made it to the trending topics yet, so there were few random viewers. Most were die-hard fans, and Yu Wen was relaxed chatting with them. After all, he had lurked in the fan groups a few times and knew his fans’ chat style was rather bold and uninhibited.

「No, baby, why is there a blue-haired stinky man next to you? Make him go away; he looks smelly.」

「Pffft, hahahahaha!」

「OMG, hahaha, Teacher Xi has lost his name!」

「Is the one knitting in the corner, Chu Han? Baby, play with Chu Han, not Blue Hair; Blue Hair doesn’t seem serious.」

「Baby, Mommy tells you that those who dye their hair ride ghost bikes (serious), not good boys.」

「Hahaha, is this an act or are you serious?!」

Xi Su sat properly on the side for a while, and before he could say anything, he was already squeezed out by the bullet comments. He grabbed his collar, sniffed himself, and felt very wronged. “I don’t stink.”

Fans weren’t that exclusive, but Yu Wen’s fans were indeed more familiar with Chu Han since their good relationship was obvious to the eye. There were also many fan-made edits of their friendship online.

Yu Wen tried to hold back his smile but couldn’t, lowering his head to hide the corners of his mouth.

「Just kidding, Teacher Xi. Everyone really likes you. P.S.: Can Chu Han sit in front?」

「Actually, I really like Blue Hair; Blue Hair is my kink. P.S.: Don’t block my view of Xiao Yu.」

「Teacher Xi, I’ve seen your works. I really liked that one you did and that other one… Who’s the teacher knitting next to you? Such nice hands.」

Xi Su: “I really thank you. Since my debut, I’ve only had two works, and you just made my resume more impressive.”

He chuckled twice, holding his snacks and sitting at the edge of the sofa, resignedly saying, “You guys play; I’ll just be a background.”

One must say that the experience from the previous company did give him some advantages, like a strong heart. Xi Su once had a livestream where a black fan launched a full-on attack, which caused a stir on social media. Such colorful experiences taught him to ignore malice. Every time someone didn’t like him, he knew there was one more tasteless person in the world.

At this moment, the fans in the livestream were just teasing and joking, far from malicious, so Xi Su took it well.

The camera returned to Yu Wen. Xi Su and Chu Han each occupied a small corner. Sitting there, they looked like two small cakes, and in the lower-left corner of the screen, there was a pair of hands continuously crocheting. The entire livestream had a complex mix of elements.

「I only have two eyes, and you’re giving me four main characters…」

「I don’t even know where to look.」

「Xiao Yu, baby, is this koi knitted by Teacher Hand for me?」

「Teacher Hand? What kind of nickname is that?」

「No, no, I’m sure I’ve seen these hands somewhere. I’m a hand enthusiast; I definitely wouldn’t mistake them.」

“This teacher is my manager. His surname is Xie. Everyone can call him Teacher Xie.” Yu Wen held up two koi fish that Xie Heyu had crocheted and placed them beside his cheeks, smiling with two small dimples. “The koi fish are a giveaway for everyone. Some were crocheted by me, and some by Teacher Xie. Teacher Xie learns things quickly and crochets better than I do.”

He figured that the fan who was into hands probably remembered when Teacher Xie’s hands were shown in a previous livestream, so he explained a bit.

He still remembered that day Teacher Xie had worn a very nice-looking tail ring on his pinky finger, which looked cool and trendy. It was normal for someone to remember.

Xie Heyu didn’t show his face, but when Yu Wen introduced him to the fans, he put down his crochet hook and stretched his hand in front of the camera, waving it a bit as a greeting.

The bullet comments were flooded with a few more hand enthusiasts, who started shouting and cheering.

Yu Wen then pulled Xie Heyu’s hand back, waving it like a lucky cat in front of the camera. “This is only the left hand… Come on, Teacher Left Hand, say hi to everyone. Why aren’t you speaking? Is it because you’re naturally not talkative? Sorry, our Teacher Left Hand is shy. But it’s quite big, even bigger than my face, hahaha.

The commercial break was over, and now on TV, it showed Yu Wen wrestling with a suddenly appeared NPC. On the screen, his fair face was tense, his ears were flushed red, and he was doing a split, fighting against the bull-headed NPC.

「Hahaha, Teacher Melon King is really stubborn.」

「Every time it’s his screen time, it’s so funny. He and that Teacher Jian are probably here to be comedians, right?」

「This teacher is funny, but when he stands there, he’s very immersive, more so than the other guests.」

「When Teacher Melon King isn’t being stubborn, he really is the hero himself.」

「How could he not be immersed? This teacher clears levels like a bulldozer. I couldn’t even figure out the code, and he’d already finished pressing it.」

「Smart people enjoy the world first (just kidding).」

Since it’s a TV barrage and is being shown to a national audience, everyone was a bit more restrained and didn’t make any inappropriate comments, but the style in Yu Wen’s livestream was quite different.

「Wife, wife, my phantom limb is hard.」

「At the most powerless age, I met the man I most want to stir-fry.」

「Hmph, nothing special (pulling up my pants).」

While hooking a koi, Yu Wen watched TV and kept an eye on the barrage in his livestream.

“Everyone, don’t say weird things,” he reminded seriously. “There are admins in the livestream, and they’ll catch you all. I don’t have money to bail you out.”

The fans burst into laughter, telling him that even if he had money, he couldn’t bail them out, but they had many accounts and could always make a comeback.

「In this line of work, we might run into the police at any time…」

「Who hasn’t been caught by an admin? So what? The content still gets produced.」

Yu Wen entered the secret room, where the demon king NPC, accompanied by eerie background music, approached close to the panel and delivered a close-up jump scare.

Yu Wen didn’t have much of a reaction. He had been tussling with this NPC for a long time before entering, and was already immune to his costume. However, on TV, the director gave a big close-up, and the sudden appearance of a pale, ghostly face was enough to scare the audience out of their wits.

Then came the main event.

Yu Wen’s conversation with the NPC and Princess Diary being deciphered by Tong Li on the other side were cross-cut on TV, like a dialogue across time and space. The past and the present pieced together, and the whole story began to clarify.

Princess: “I must kill it.”

Demon King: “She killed me.”

Princess: “But my companions still came.”

Demon King: “The hero squad still came.”

Princess: “They praised me for being clever and brave because I destroyed the demon king’s flesh/body. The countries would no longer suffer from the oppression of evil magic.”

Demon King: “I lost my flesh/body, so someone must endure pain a thousand times worse! Thus, I cursed this place!”

Princess: “But the demon king’s soul trapped us.”

Demon King: “With a seven-day limit, if none of them is willing to sacrifice their companion’s soul to nourish the demon king, they shall never leave!”

Princess: “Seven days are approaching. The hero went to challenge the cursed magic. I have two choices: First, wait for the hero to return victorious and break the curse, saving me and the dwarf; second, sacrifice myself in exchange for the survival of the hero or the dwarf. … I choose the third.”

Demon King: “Once again, she made an unexpected choice.”

Princess: “If I could kill it once, I can kill it a second time.”

Demon King: “This time, she killed my soul.”

The demon king’s voice was filled with resentment, alternating with the princess’s calm face while writing her diary. Coupled with the stirring music, it all stopped abruptly after the final sentence, “She killed my soul.”

The screen darkened. With a transition, the reflection of the incomplete form of the demon king appeared in Yu Wen’s dark, moist pupils.

The camera zoomed out again, and his face, with an indescribable expression, fully appeared on the screen.

He silently and quietly digested the news of his friend’s death.

Yu Wen didn’t know this part of the story in the Princess Diary. When he was searching for clues, he directly learned about the princess’s struggle from the demon king’s mouth. It wasn’t until the show aired that he saw the princess’s perspective.

However, based on some of the clues earlier, he could deduce that the hero and the princess were long-time friends.

So, after hearing the demon king’s accusations against the princess, he remained silent for a long time. Perhaps he felt admiration, but he also faintly sensed that the princess’s end wouldn’t be good.

The information edited by the show, because of multiple perspectives, was more comprehensive than what the guests themselves could gather. For example, here, Yu Wen didn’t know about the princess’s second assassination, which was a clue found by Fan Xiangyang in the basement during the same time period. Fan Xiangyang, due to an incomplete perspective, also didn’t know what the second assassination meant.

However, when all the clues from the same period were edited together, it became clear that the princess’s second assassination was at the cost of her life.

On the screen, Yu Wen was silent. After a long time, his eyelashes moved slightly, and his gaze dropped.

What was he thinking?

Hero, the little girl you once had to travel thousands of miles to rescue, single-handedly killed the demon king twice.

What are you thinking?

Are you proud of her, or do you feel regret? Regret that you’ll never have the chance to praise her for being clever and brave again?

Before this segment, the Princess Diary described a scene where the hero squad was sitting in the princess’s courtyard filled with irises, drinking and chatting.

The show shot this scene. They talked about their travels, about the holy sword, with smiles on each of their faces. It was an unremarkable night in their nine years of acquaintance.

The princess even picked an iris for the great magician.

With the buildup of these scenes, the audience could more genuinely feel the emotions between them. Memories faded, and in front of the camera was the silent Yu Wen, and Yu Wen’s silent eyes.

This silence was like a grand, silent elegy.

Those with a lower emotional threshold immediately started crying.

「Don’t give the hero any more close-ups! The moment I see his eyes, I can’t hold back my tears!」

「Boohoo, didn’t they say they’d still fight over buttered bread at eighty…」

「Feels like the hero’s grip on his sword tightened, wanting to slay this demon king.」

「Little princess, turn into a little bird. In your next life, perch in front of the great magician’s window and wait for him to place an iris on you.」

「I have no grudge against you, sir. Why do you stab me like this…」

「Boohoo, I’m a very fragile little girl. Please, no more knives after this, I beg you.」

“…Ah?!!” Xi Su’s reaction was always a beat slow. Yu Wen watched, feeling full of melancholy. The barrage was full of wailing, and he suddenly jumped up from the sofa.

“She died?!” Xi Su pointed at the princess on TV, asking in disbelief.

Chu Han was in the middle of feeling emotional, holding back tears, but Xi Su’s shout abruptly cut off his tearful mood.

“…Yes.” Yu Wen replied.

“Why?! Isn’t she the heroine?! Aren’t you supposed to be a couple?!” Xi Su asked three soul-searching questions.

Yu Wen understood; he really didn’t get it at all.

After finally explaining clearly to Xi Su that there was no absolute protagonist in the variety show and that the hero and the princess were not a couple, Xi Su returned to the sofa with a look of doubt and disbelief.

The previously crying and wailing livestream had a brief moment of happiness due to Xi Su’s reaction.

「Give him a hug; he looks like he’s about to break.」

「I was already emo after finding out the princess died, but then I realized I shipped the wrong CP.」

「Poor Teacher Xi, he can’t even eat his little snacks.」

「Hahaha, Teacher Xi, I feel you. I had the same expression when I found out the princess died.」

“No way, absolutely no way.” At this point, Xi Su was in no mood to ride the trend. After pondering for a while, he came to a very rigorous conclusion, “This is a magical world; even if someone dies, they can be resurrected. Otherwise, why would there be a guest playing the princess? The program team wouldn’t make you all play dead, right? Isn’t that great magician very powerful? He’ll show up later, resurrect the princess, and everyone will live happily ever after.”

He thought his reasoning was very sound and confidently said, “It must be like this!”

「Makes sense! So reasonable!」

「Support Teacher Xi in writing the script for a battle royale!」

Chu Han’s sneaky action of wiping his tears paused.

He looked up, scratched his head, and recalled with some confusion: Wasn’t the great magician… already dead too?

Yu Wen withdrew his gaze from Xi Su, not saying a word.

Xie Heyu had already stopped knitting and was watching Yu Wen say goodbye to the demon king on TV, with a polite yet cold smile on his lips.

When Xie Heyu turned his head, Yu Wen met his gaze and instinctively pouted a little.