FLME Ch47

Yu Wen started the livestream. Before going live, he briefly tidied up his appearance. Wearing the gold-rimmed glasses he had plucked off Xie Heyu’s face, the thin frames added a touch of scholarly flair to his look.

“Do I look good?” he poked Xie Heyu, fishing for a compliment.

Xie Heyu said thoughtfully, “Do you want to hear Manager Xie’s evaluation, or Xie Heyu’s evaluation?”

Yu Wen said, “Is there a difference?”

“Manager Xie is a professional. He would tell you that this outfit complements you well—it has a cozy, homey vibe while introducing a new element, making it perfect for an on-camera livestream.”

Yu Wen: “And Xie Heyu?”

Xie Heyu: “Xie Heyu has died of cuteness and cannot speak.”

Yu Wen was quiet for a second before he burst out laughing.

For once, he didn’t let out his signature cluck-cluck-cluck giggles. Instead, he rocked back and forth like a roly-poly toy missing its base.

“Teacher Xie, hahahaha… Don’t say such goofy things with such a deadpan face.” Yu Wen collapsed onto the sofa sideways, one leg kicked up, suppressing his laughter. “You’re too trendy, so trendy it’s giving me rheumatism.”

Xie Heyu wore an expression that clearly said: I genuinely wasn’t joking.

Xi Su hauled his livestreaming equipment out, found a good spot, and set up the fill light and reflector. Yu Wen had already collapsed laughing against Xie Heyu; the two were shoulder-to-shoulder, leaning in extremely close, whispering who-knew-what to each other.

“You two over there,” the blue-haired guy stood with his hands on his hips, speaking in an irritated tone. “I’m doing all the work, and you guys are over there whispering sweet nothings?”

Their faces were practically glued together—closer than when he used to do queerbaiting with others. To an outsider, they’d look like they were dating.

Yu Wen quietly expressed his gratitude to Xie Heyu for his continued accessory support, while Xie Heyu magnanimously replied that given how close they were, it was only natural.

Yu Wen mentioned that he hadn’t really worn those accessories out because he didn’t know how to style them. Xie Heyu told him that next time, he could just pick clothes directly from his wardrobe, since they were universally easy to match.

And so, the two continued their hushed conversation regarding each other’s fashion styles.

Sitting close by, Chu Han caught snippets of their conversation and couldn’t understand it. “Is clothing style a very private matter? Why do you have to speak so softly?”

He turned his head, looking at the two with genuine confusion.

Yu Wen realized that he had gotten used to whispering from spoiling the plot for Xie Heyu earlier, and hadn’t switched back to his normal volume yet.

He turned to Xi Su and said, “Thank you, Teacher Xi. I’m about to start the stream. Why don’t you sit over here?”

Yu Wen’s smile even carried a hint of sweet obedience. Combined with the words “Teacher Xi”—which Xi Su hadn’t heard in ages—it made Xi Su feel a long-lost sense of being respected.

Xi Su’s mood improved, and the resentment from doing all the work instantly vanished. In his heart, Yu Wen transformed back into a ride-or-die brother.

Teacher Yu was even letting him leech off his popularity for free!

Having a brother like this was a blessing earned over three lifetimes for Xi Su!

Yu Wen wasn’t very skilled at operating livestreams, fussing with it for quite a while. Because it was an impromptu broadcast, the viewer count wasn’t very high at first.

“Hello, hello, everyone. I’m Xiao Yu…” Adjusting the camera, he beamed and greeted the fans who were still dizzy from the sudden surprise. “This livestream was a spur-of-the-moment decision, so there was no advance notice. Since Battle Royale is airing tonight and my colleagues are watching too, I thought I’d start a stream to watch the new episode live with everyone. I’ve also prepared some little handicrafts for a giveaway later…”

He picked up a lifelike, crocheted little koi fish from the table and showed it to the camera, looking a bit shy. “I just learned how to do it, so the crocheting isn’t that great.”

[Holy crap! Baby, you are an incredibly adorable little cake, mwah mwah mwah mwah.]

[I fucking knew it! My left eyelid was twitching all day; I knew something good was going to happen! I fucking managed to catch Xiao Yu’s livestream!]

[Don’t swear! (Covers mouth) Don’t corrupt my Xiao Yu!]

[Just happened to be watching Battle Royale. Teacher, can you tell me why you kept staring at that dragon? I racked my brains and still couldn’t figure out what clue was there.]

[Stop, stop! Don’t say it! Pitchfork the person above out of here!]

[I’m standing right here today! Let’s see who dares to trick Xiao Yu into spoiling it! (Pitchfork Warrior)]

Yu Wen said, “I can’t give spoilers, let’s all watch it together. Besides, when we were recording, I was separated from the other guests, so there are some plot points I don’t even know about myself, hahaha.”

The moment the camera turned on, Xie Heyu consciously got up. He found a black mask from who-knew-where, and when he sat back down, he distanced himself slightly from Yu Wen. In the camera frame, only a pair of hands crocheting yarn and half a shoulder were visible.

The number of people in the livestream gradually increased, mostly consisting of fans. Since it hadn’t hit the trending searches yet, there weren’t many casual passersby; it was basically all hardcore fans. Yu Wen felt very relaxed chatting with them. After all, having lurked in his fan group chats a few times, he knew this was exactly how his fans chatted—raw and uninhibited.

[Wait baby, why is there a stinky blue man next to you? Tell him to roll away, he looks stinky.]

[Pffft hahahahahaha!]

[Holy shit hahahaha, Teacher Xi lost his name rights!]

[Is the one knitting in the corner Chu Han? Baby, play with Chu Han, don’t play with Blue Hair. Blue Hair doesn’t look like a proper guy.]

[Baby, Mama is telling you: people who dye their hair ride ghost-fire scooters (serious face), they aren’t good boys.]

[Hahahahaha why is this so funny, are you guys acting or being serious?!]

Xi Su had been sitting there elegantly for a while. Before he even got a word out, he was ostracized by the bullet comments. He grabbed his collar and sniffed, feeling greatly wronged: “I’m not stinky.”

The fans weren’t actually that exclusionary; it was just that Yu Wen’s fans were genuinely more familiar with Chu Han. After all, their good relationship was visible to the naked eye, and there were plenty of friendship-focused fan edits of them online.

Yu Wen tried to hold it in but failed, lowering his head to suppress a smile.

[Just kidding with you, Teacher Xi, everyone likes you a lot. PS: Can you have Chu Han sit closer to the front?]

[Actually, I really like Blue Hair. Blue Hair is my kink. PS: Don’t block my view of Xiao Yu.]

[Teacher Xi, I’ve seen your work! I really loved your performance in that whatchamacallit and that other whatchamacallit… Who is the teacher crocheting yarn next to you? His hands look so nice.]

Xi Su: “I really thank you. I haven’t even had two acting credits since my debut, and you just enriched my resume in one fell swoop.”

He huffed twice, hugged his snacks, and scooched to the edge of the sofa, resigning to his fate. “You guys play, I’ll just be a background prop.”

It had to be said that his experience at his previous company did bring him some advantages—such as a strong heart. Xi Su had once been point-blank flamed by anti-fans during a livestream, causing enough of a scene to land on the trending searches. His colorful experiences had taught him to ignore others’ malice. Every time one more person in the world disliked him, he just knew there was one more tasteless hack in the world.

Moreover, the fans in the livestream right now were just teasing and memeing, far from malicious. Xi Su accepted it well.

The camera focused back on Yu Wen. Xi Su and Chu Han each occupied a small corner, sitting there like two little cakes. In the bottom left corner of the screen, a pair of hands was crocheting yarn non-stop. The composition of the entire livestream was incredibly complex.

[I only have two eyes, but you’re giving me four main characters…]

[I don’t even know where to look.]

[Xiao Yu baby, is the koi that Teacher Hand is knitting for me?]

[Teacher Hand? What kind of BS title is that.]

[No, wait, I swear I’ve seen these hands somewhere before. This old lady is a hand-connoisseur, there’s absolutely no way I’m wrong.]

“This teacher is my manager. His surname is Xie, everyone can call him Teacher Xie.” Yu Wen held up two koi crocheted by Xie Heyu next to his cheeks, smiling so brightly his dimples showed. “The koi are giveaways for everyone. Some are crocheted by me, and some are crocheted by Teacher Xie. Teacher Xie learns things fast and crochets much better than I do.”

He figured that since Xie Heyu had shown his hands in a previous livestream, that hand-connoisseur fan had remembered them, so he offered an explanation.

He still remembered that Teacher Xie was wearing an incredibly nice pinky ring that day, looking cool and trendy. It was normal for people 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 waved his hand twice in front of the camera as a greeting.

The bullet comments immediately exploded with a few more hand-connoisseurs, howling in excitement.

Yu Wen grabbed Xie Heyu’s hand back, manipulating it like a lucky cat waving at the camera. “This is just his left hand… Come on, Teacher Left Hand, say hi to everyone. Why aren’t you speaking? Is it your nature to be quiet? Sorry, our Teacher Left Hand is shy, but it’s very big, bigger than my face hahaha…”

Xie Heyu let him grab and play with his hand, straightening it when told to straighten, relaxing it when told to relax. Although he didn’t speak, this silent interaction wordlessly revealed the intimacy between the two.

The bullet comments immediately derailed. Some were shipping them, some forbade shipping, some started writing explicit fanfic on the spot, and some demanded the manager grow a third hand and mail it to their house…

Yu Wen saw a few of them but didn’t pay much mind. He knew his fans; this crowd would take a bite out of anything, but it was usually just playful banter. Very few genuinely shipped any CPs seriously.

After chatting nonsense for a while longer, the topic returned to track.

Yu Wen said, “The first episode of Battle Royale took quite a while to record back then. There was also post-production dubbing and mini-theaters… In short, it’s a very moving story. I hope everyone likes it.”

The mid-show commercial break ended, returning to the scene where Yu Wen was wrestling with a suddenly appearing NPC. On the TV, his fair face was tense, his ears flushed red, doing a full split while struggling against a burly NPC.

[Hahahaha Teacher Melon is so stubborn.]

[Whenever he’s on screen it’s so funny. Just like Teacher Jian, did he come here to be a comedian?]

[Teacher Melon is funny and all, but when he stands there, he has an incredible sense of immersion. He feels more immersed than any of the other guests.]

[When Teacher Melon isn’t being stubborn, he is the Hero himself.]

[How could he not be immersed? This teacher clears levels like a bulldozer. Before I even understood what was going on, he already punched in the password.]

[Smart people get to enjoy the world first (not)]

Since it was TV bullet comments displayed to a national audience, everyone restrained themselves slightly, holding back from making dirty jokes on the spot. However, the vibe in Yu Wen’s own livestream was an entirely different story.

[Wifey, wifey, phantom limb getting hard.]

[At the age of maximum impotence, I met the man I want to violently stir-fry the most.]

[Heh, not bad (pulls up pants)]

Yu Wen crocheted koi, watched TV, and kept an eye on his own livestream’s bullet comments simultaneously.

“Everyone, please stop saying weird things,” he reminded them earnestly. “There are moderators in the livestream. When they round you all up later, I don’t have the money to bail you out.”

The fans burst out laughing, telling him that even with money he couldn’t bail them out, but they all had multiple accounts—a cunning rabbit has three burrows, after all.

[For those of us eating this bowl of rice, running into the cops is a daily occupational hazard…]

[Who hasn’t been caught by the mods before? So what? Food still needs to be produced.]

Yu Wen entered the secret room. Accompanied by eerie BGM, the Demon Lord NPC pressed up against the partition and executed a point-blank jump scare.

Yu Wen didn’t react much. Before entering, he had already engaged in a prolonged tug-of-war with this NPC, long becoming immune to his makeup. But on TV, the director inserted a massive close-up. The sudden appearance of a ghastly pale face scared the living daylights out of the audience.

Next came the main event.

The dialogue between Yu Wen and the NPC, intercut with Tong Li deciphering the Princess’s diary on the other side, played out sequentially on the screen. It felt like an exchange spanning across time and space, piecing the past and present together, as the sequence of events began to clarify.

Princess: “I must kill it.”

Demon Lord: “She killed me.”

Princess: “But my companions still came.”

Demon Lord: “The Hero’s squad still came.”

Princess: “They praised me for being smart and brave, because I destroyed the Demon Lord’s physical body. The various nations no longer had to suffer the oppression of evil magic.”

Demon Lord: “Having lost my physical body, someone must endure pain a thousand, ten thousand times worse! Therefore, I cursed this place!”

Princess: “Yet the Demon Lord’s soul trapped us.”

Demon Lord: “With a seven-day limit, if among them, no one is willing to sacrifice a companion’s soul to nourish the Demon Lord, then let them never be able to leave!”

Princess: “The seventh day is approaching. The Hero has gone to challenge the curse magic. I have two choices: First, wait for the Hero to return victorious, break the curse, and save me and the Dwarves. Second, sacrifice myself in exchange for the survival of the Hero or the Dwarves. …I choose the third.”

Demon Lord: “Once again, she made a choice beyond my expectations.”

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

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

The Demon Lord’s resentment-filled tone alternated with the Princess’s serene face as she wrote in her diary. Paired with the soaring soundtrack, it came to an abrupt halt after the final line: “This time, she killed my soul.”

The screen darkened. With a transition, Yu Wen’s dark, lustrous pupils reflected the incomplete form of the Demon Lord.

The camera pulled back, showing his face on the TV with an indescribable expression.

He was silently, quietly digesting the news of his friend’s death.

Yu Wen hadn’t known about the segment with the Princess’s diary. During his search for clues, he had learned of the Princess’s resistance directly from the Demon Lord. It wasn’t until the episode aired that he saw the Princess’s main perspective.

However, from a few earlier clues, he had deduced that the Hero and the Princess were good friends who had known each other for years.

Therefore, upon hearing the Demon Lord’s accusation against the Princess, he fell silent for a long time. On one hand, it was perhaps out of admiration; on the other, he had a faint premonition that the Princess’s ending wouldn’t be a happy one.

Because the information edited by the production crew utilized multiple perspectives, it was actually more comprehensive than what the guests found themselves. For example, Yu Wen was completely unaware of the Princess’s second assassination attempt. It was a clue found by Fan Xiangyang in the basement during the same timeframe, and because Fan Xiangyang’s perspective was incomplete, he didn’t realize what the second assassination implied either.

But when all the clues from the same timeframe were edited together, it became clear that the Princess’s second assassination attempt came at the cost of her life.

On screen, Yu Wen remained silent. Only after a long while did his eyelashes flutter, his gaze lowering.

What was he thinking?

Hero, the little girl who once needed you to travel thousands of miles to save her, single-handedly killed the Demon Lord twice.

What were you thinking?

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

Before this segment, the Princess’s diary depicted a scene: the Hero’s squad sitting in the Princess’s courtyard filled with irises, drinking and chatting.

The production crew filmed this scene. They talked about their travels, the holy sword, smiles on everyone’s faces. It was an incredibly ordinary night during the nine years they had known each other.

The Princess even picked an iris for the Grand Archmage.

With these scenes acting as a buildup, the audience could feel the bond between them even more authentically. As the memories faded, before the camera was the silent Yu Wen, and Yu Wen’s silent eyes.

This kind of silence felt like a grand, soundless elegy.

Viewers with a lower tolerance for tears burst out crying on the spot.

[Stop giving the Hero close-ups! The moment I look at his eyes, I can’t hold my tears back at all!]

[Wuwuwu, didn’t you say that even at eighty years old you’d still fight the Hero for buttered bread…]

[It feels like the Hero’s grip on his sword tightened. He wants to slaughter this Demon Lord.]

[Little Princess, turn into a little bird. In your next life, land in front of the Grand Archmage’s window and wait for him to pin an iris on you.]

[I have no grievances or enmity with you, Sir Director, why must you knife me…]

[Wuwuwuwu I’m just a very fragile little girl, there can’t be any more knives after this, I’m begging you.]

“…Ah?!!” Xi Su’s reactions were always half a beat slow. Yu Wen was feeling completely wistful, and the bullet comments were howling in grief, before Xi Su suddenly sprang up from the sofa.

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

Chu Han, whose emotions had just peaked and was holding back tears, had his tears abruptly halted by the shout.

“…Mm-hmm,” Yu Wen replied.

“Why?! Isn’t she the female lead?! Aren’t you two a couple?!” Xi Su launched three soul-searching questions.

Yu Wen understood now. Xi Su really hadn’t understood a single thing he just watched.

After taking great pains to explain to Xi Su that there was no absolute main character in the variety show, and that the Hero and the Princess were not a couple, Xi Su slumped back onto the sofa with an expression that questioned life itself.

The previously wailing livestream experienced a brief moment of joy due to Xi Su’s reaction.

[Give him a hug, he looks like he’s about to shatter.]

[He was already emo after finding out the Princess died, only to discover he shipped the wrong CP.]

[Our Teacher Xi is so messed up he can’t even eat his snacks anymore.]

[Hahahahahaha Teacher Xi is my face substitute. When I found out the Princess died, my expression was exactly the same.]

“Impossible, absolutely impossible.” Xi Su was in no mood to leech popularity right now. He pondered on his own for a while and reached a very rigorous conclusion. “This is a magical world, you can resurrect even if you die. Otherwise, why would there be a guest playing the Princess? The production crew couldn’t possibly just let you guys play dead people, right? Isn’t that Grand Archmage super powerful? He’ll show up later, resurrect the Princess, and everyone will live happily ever after.”

He felt his deduction was incredibly logical and said with absolute confidence, “That’s definitely it!”

[Logical! Too logical!]

[I support Teacher Xi writing the script for Battle Royale!]

Chu Han’s motion of secretly wiping his tears paused.

He looked up, scratched his head, and recalled blankly: Didn’t… the Grand Archmage die too?

Yu Wen withdrew his gaze from Xi Su and said nothing.

Xie Heyu had stopped crocheting yarn. He was watching Yu Wen bid farewell to the Demon Lord on TV, a polite yet cold smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

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

Xie Heyu knew that Teacher Xiao Yu was also feeling sad over this plotline.

So he reached out and gently rubbed the back of Teacher Xiao Yu’s head.