YA Ch113: Straight Man

The next morning, Ximen still hadn’t contacted them, but it was Zheng Wuqiong who brought news first.

He said that the people from the AI Data Alliance had toured the area, chatted with a few of those who were interested in buying, and asked some vague questions. They didn’t give a clear answer or offer any suggestions for improvement. The group simply patted their backs and left for M Country, saying they needed more time to study the situation and would announce their final decision later.

“I submitted the collaboration plan with Chenyu and all that, but I don’t know if it will work,” Zheng Wuqiong said anxiously. He talked for quite a while, just hoping Lu Yu could help him gather some information.

He also sent Lu Yu a questionnaire, saying it was required by the AI Data Alliance for his partners to fill out.

Lu Yu opened it and saw that it didn’t involve any technical secrets, but it did contain some professional questions about intelligent brain manufacturing. Luckily, he had crammed on the subject earlier, so he quickly filled it out and submitted it, doing one last favor for Mr. Zheng.

As for gathering information, Lu Yu definitely wasn’t going to ask Li Moqiao; the two hadn’t even exchanged contact information.

Zheng Wuqiong earnestly said, “Even though you’re always modest, if we get the permit, our collaboration will still stand.”

Lu Yu knew this was bait from Zheng Wuqiong, hoping he’d continue to help. But Lu Yu really couldn’t help any further, so he said no more.

His current focus was Hua Wenyuan, and he needed to bring this “kid” back to reality as soon as possible.

The livestream continued.

Without Shen Ying, the top-ranked viewer had no interest in continuing to play as a minor character and instead hung out in the main hall, sending gifts and snacking.

Hua Wenyuan left Shen Ying in the village of deer hunters under the guard of his personal soldiers. Then he led the main army through the snow, marching fast with the goal of catching up to Duohe and destroying the Tatar royal court.

He seemed to have entered some kind of berserk mode, becoming a killing machine and personally shooting down eighteen Tatar generals of various ranks. Hua Wenyuan had once again transformed into the War God General Hua from the previous life, making enemy generals tremble at his name. At the sight of his red armor and silver helmet, they would hide, too afraid to show their faces.

They pushed through easily, reaching the royal court, but the Tatar nobility had already migrated north, leaving the palace empty.

Lu Yu pretended to search the halls and “accurately” found a formula that could prevent corpses from decaying.

Hua Wenyuan, expressionless, put it away and ordered his men to continue looting. The wealth that the nobles hadn’t managed to take with them was divided up on the spot. After finding enough food, the soldiers ate well in the palace, had a good sleep, and woke up the next day to continue the pursuit.

“My lord, heavy snow has sealed the mountain ahead, and the horses can’t get through,” the scouting team returned to report.

It was the middle of winter, and fast raids outside the pass were never ideal. The nobility had fled in a sorry state, abandoning their carts and horses. In front of the mountain was a pile of near-frozen horses, along with heavy armor, old servants, and slaves…

Hua Wenyuan glanced at the shivering slaves, huddled together like livestock, their clothes in tatters. He ordered his men to take them to the nearby mines for resettlement.

Most of these slaves were from small, low-status Tatar tribes or captives from the war. They would first be sent to work in the mines; those who proved themselves as good, law-abiding citizens could become commoners and be given land after some time. Those with issues would keep working in the mines.

“My lord, I am Han Chinese,” someone ran out from the crowd, trying to approach Hua Wenyuan, but was pinned to the ground by his personal guards.

Hua Wenyuan remained unmoved. So what if he was Han Chinese? Li Lin was Han Chinese too, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a spy. In the last life, even the great general defending the border had defected to become a Tatar lackey—no one could be trusted.

He ignored the slave trying to gain special treatment and signaled for him to be dragged back to the group. He raised his hand and said, “Soldier, stay here. Infantry, follow me. We proceed on foot.”

Xu Changshan tried to dissuade him: “Let me lead the troops, my lord. You should rest in the royal court.”

Hua Wenyuan gave General Xu a cold look. His tone was slow but chilling, making others tremble: “This is a military order, not a discussion.”

Xu Changshan shivered, lowered his head, and said, “Yes, my lord.”

The snow made the road slippery, and even though the soldiers ahead were clearing the way, it was still difficult to walk.

Ming Yan’s waist and legs were a bit uncomfortable, and walking this kind of path was tough. Lu Yu directly carried him on his back, secretly using a “fleet-foot” ability, moving swiftly even with someone on his back.

Hua Wenyuan looked at Ming Yan obediently lying on Lu Yu’s back and sighed, “If A-Ying were still here, he would have to be carried as well. Scholars are always so frail…”

At this point, he suddenly stopped. In the last life, Shen Ying wasn’t a frail scholar at all. He was in good health and could even wield a sword in battle—a scholar-warrior, top of the imperial examination.

It was this grand undertaking, and it was him, Hua Wenyuan, that ruined Shen Zixia’s health.

Ming Yan wanted to reach out and pat the little third child’s head, but he couldn’t quite reach, so he settled for patting Lu Yu’s head instead. He casually grabbed some snow and shaped it into a chibi version of Shen Ying, quietly handing it over.

Hua Wenyuan took it and smiled: “Second Aunt’s craftsmanship is truly exquisite.”

“Just a little trick,” Ming Yan said softly, then sneakily slipped his snow-cold hand into Lu Yu’s collar.

The bullet comments, which had been discussing the storyline, now shifted back to Shen Ying.

[Wah wah wah, my dear friend, I will remember you for the rest of my life.]

[Baby, it’s okay. Daddy is making a snowman to comfort you. Oh my God, our dear President Ming is such a good father, unlike some fish (Yu) who abuse children.]

[See, Shen Ying had to die. Look, even the soft-hearted Hua Wenyuan has finally become strong.]

[When was he ever soft-hearted? He’s always been the War God, okay? He’s just kind.]

[That’s how rulers are. That’s why they’re called the “Lonely Ones.”]

[If Shen Ying didn’t die now, he’d have to die after founding the empire. Dying now is better than being killed by Hua Wenyuan after turning against him.]

Ever since Shen Ying died, his popularity had skyrocketed geometrically. Whenever his name was mentioned, the screen would be filled with crying tombstone emojis. Among all the “wah wah wah” comments, one colorful one stood out particularly.

[A Song of Red Silk Countless Times: Please, make Shen Ying into a AI assistant. I’m begging you, it’s really important to me.]

As soon as this was said, it immediately garnered a ton of responses. People even started a petition and a poll on NiaoShu, hoping Chenyu would consider making the popular supporting character into a product as well.

In Hua Wenyuan’s livestream that day, he fought from the frontier all the way to the far north, and finally, on the icy river where pearl hunters worked, he shot and killed the highest-ranking Tatar general, Duohe. With his own hands, he erected a new border marker, enclosing the pearl hunter tribes within the nation’s territory.

After doing all this, he rushed back, bringing Shen Ying’s coffin with him as he headed south towards Chu Ping.

That day’s livestream yielded quite the harvest.

The AIBrain assistant modeled after Hua Wenyuan, named “Xiao Yuan,” had a pre-order bonus of a Hua Wenyuan-themed electronic desktop. Pre-orders had already surpassed ten million. Additionally, the petition to make a Shen Ying assistant had over three million votes, an astonishing figure that left the industry in awe.

It’s important to note that a AI assistant is just a tool, and Chenyu’s assistant isn’t cheap. Reaching the pre-order levels of a popular game was truly out of the ordinary.

Fan-created works online were also emerging one after another, attracting an even larger audience. When the original story was serialized, there were already plenty of people shipping Hua Wenyuan and Shen Ying as a couple. Now, with the livestream, even more people were into it.

In the afternoon, during a post-livestream meeting, Lu Yu was talking so much his mouth went dry, while Ming Yan was happily engrossed in fan art.

When the meeting ended, Lu Yu leaned over and gave the person still looking at the screen a kiss. “Caught you slacking off during the meeting, didn’t I? Tonight, you’re getting extra homework as punishment.”

Ming Yan pushed away Lu Yu’s big head, glanced at Lao Yang, who was pretending to look up at the ceiling, then lightly coughed and asked, “So, was there actually anything between Hua Wenyuan and Shen Ying?”

After seeing so much fan art, he was almost convinced.

Lu Yu shook his head vigorously like a drum: “Absolutely not! How could there be anything gay in a male-oriented novel? Do I not want to stay in the industry?”

Ming Yan raised an eyebrow: “Then aren’t you selling fu?¹“卖腐” (mài fǔ) refers to “selling fu,” which means subtly or overtly hinting at homoerotic relationships between male characters in media, even if there isn’t any explicit romantic or se-xual content between them. It’s often done to attract fans of BL, without the story necessarily being a full BL work.“

“What selling fu? That’s brotherhood!” Lu Yu’s hair bristled. “You gay guys, you just see everything as gay!”

“Pff—” Yang Chen spit out the mouthful of water he had just been drinking.

The employees in the meeting room all covered their mouths to stifle their laughter, quickly hurrying out.

Ming Yan pointed at himself: “Oh, we gay guys, huh?”

Yang Chen glanced up and down at Lu Yu and said speechlessly, “You talk like you’re a straight man.”

Lu Yu puffed out his chest: “Of course I am. I’m straighter than a telephone pole.” (1)

“…” Lao Yang clenched his fist in the air, pursed his lips, and nodded. “Right, right, even though you chased after a man, married to a man, and have three kids with a man, you know deep down that you’re a straight guy.”

Straighter than a mosquito coil.

__

Author’s Note:

(1): There’s no intention to pretend to be a straight man. Lu Yu is just joking around. Of course, there’s no implication that straight men are more noble than gay men either _(:з」∠)_

Footnotes:

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  “卖腐” (mài fǔ) refers to “selling fu,” which means subtly or overtly hinting at homoerotic relationships between male characters in media, even if there isn’t any explicit romantic or se-xual content between them. It’s often done to attract fans of BL, without the story necessarily being a full BL work.