Chapter 648: Home, Country, and Humanities

"Why do I have such a sense of substitution when listening?"

Under the song, the most liked comment said so.

They all say lick dogs don't have a house, but there are never a few people who are willing to pay everything in a relationship.

In the eyes of outsiders, this is self-moving, it is stupid.

However, things like feelings are like drinking water; only you know whether it is cold or warm.

Still that sentence, if it is not true love, who would be willing to be a lick dog.

Everyone curses "simps," yet everyone is a "simp."

After this song was released, it resonated with fans to an extent beyond imagination.

On platforms like Bilibili, Weibo, and Some Zhihu, many comment sections were filled with fans sharing their own bitter experiences; it was like a massive storytelling convention everywhere you looked that night.

For a love song to achieve such an effect, it can already be considered to have perfectly fulfilled the mission of its birth.

What is a love song?

It is a pastime, a comfort, and a remedy for the voids in one's emotions.

If it can move those lovesick men and women, then it can be called quite successful.

Luo Quan's "Endless Weariness" achieved this effect, and without any suspense, it began to explode across the entire internet, with a momentum even more ferocious than her earlier release, "Thousands of Songs."

"Single sales for 'Endless Weariness' break 20 million!"

The next day, this news reached the conspicuous third spot on the Weibo trending list.

The song with the highest domestic single sales is "Nocturne," with a record of over 48 million—a result that was unprecedented and will be very difficult for anyone to surpass in the future.

However, the appearance of "Endless Weariness" has given everyone hope that they might get close.

Surpassing it is likely still not very possible; "Nocturne" sold so incredibly well back then that Tencent Music's servers even crashed on the night of its release, and its popularity was truly exaggerated.

But the influence displayed by "Endless Weariness" this time seems to be not much worse than "Nocturne."

It's just that short-form videos are too developed now; if there are too many videos editing "Endless Weariness," it might end up affecting sales.

But regardless, just one day later, following "Thousands of Songs," Luo Quan has produced another annual blockbuster; the title of Diva of the Chinese music scene is now truly well-deserved.

Come to think of it, she actually quite wanted to release a song called "Next Station, Diva."

But it felt too much like "the melon seller praising his own melons," so she gave up on that plan.

According to her usual practice, she rests for two days after releasing two new songs, letting the fans take a breather as well.

Being bombarded by hit songs in succession easily leads to aesthetic fatigue, so it's more scientific to space them out by a couple of days.

Of course, most people prefer "diarrhea-style" updates and hate the "squeezing toothpaste" approach; they want to see all the good stuff the moment it's available.

It's just that everyone also knows Luo Quan's habits, so they didn't urge her too much.

The next morning, Luo Quan was livestreaming as usual.

But this time, she was out on the street with a camera on her head, preparing to buy some groceries to cook a good meal for lunch.

Walking onto the street, the livestream feed moved along with Luo Quan, and the chat was scrolling constantly:

"I'm so envious of people like Luo Quan who have a camera growing out of their head; I don't have one."

"By the way, where exactly is this camera installed? The perspective feels a bit high; a lot of it is a top-down view."

"That's because Luo Quan is tall; she's almost 1.8 meters, so of course she's looking down at most people."

"It's hard to imagine what it's like for a girl to be nearly 1.8 meters tall; I've never seen Luo Quan in person."

"Someone like me would hit her knees if I jumped."

"Are you a Yordle or a Hobbit?"

………………

A bunch of silly guys were discussing the perspective in the chat, while in reality, Luo Quan had a camera on her forehead and a mask on her face, looking like a sewer repairman.

It's the New Year, and the streets of Shanghai are very bustling, with people shoulder to shoulder; although they tried their best not to bump into others while moving forward, it was still unavoidable.

Fortunately, Luo Quan still had some advantages as a girl; the men nearby were quite gentlemanly, deliberately yielding to her and making some space.

Luo Quan also took this opportunity to quickly pass through the most crowded area of the road.

She originally thought the road ahead would be more spacious, but it turned out to be even more crowded, and the crowd seemed to have stopped in place and wasn't moving.

"Even though it's the New Year, isn't there too many people here?"

"If a stampede happens here, we're done for."

"Don't be a jinx; say something auspicious on New Year's."

"It looks like something really happened up ahead."

"Ooh, drama! Let's go take a look."

………………

It needs to be emphasized that Luo Quan didn't have time to look at the chat at this moment; her behavior of squeezing into the crowd to watch the drama was entirely voluntary, and no one forced her.

Because she was tall, she squeezed in a little and saw what was happening.

It turned out to be an international emotional dispute: a fashionably dressed girl was holding the arm of a black man, while a boy nearby was questioning the two of them with a face full of rage.

"Uncle, what's the situation here?" Luo Quan asked an uncle nearby who was watching the drama.

"Heh heh, young people these days." The uncle shook his head and smiled, saying: "This girl is that boy's girlfriend. She didn't go home with him for the New Year, saying she had work and couldn't get away. It turns out the boy had been suspicious for a long time and followed her here, only to discover that the girl's 'work' was shopping with this foreigner."

After hearing the uncle's account, Luo Quan didn't speak.

But the fans in the livestream were outraged:

"Damn, do these 'sheepdogs' really exist?"

"To be honest, I can understand the 'sheepdog' mentality, but at least go for a white guy; you're really not picky at all, huh?"

"Easy girls are like this, but in a few years, she'll still be a 'good girl,' right?"

………………

The netizens were all being sarcastic, while the boy and girl were still arguing.

And as the two sides became more intense, the things they said were increasingly refreshing everyone's worldview.

"Look at your style all day long; it's so tacky. I'm often laughed at by my sisters just for being with you."

"Look at how stylish John is, and he treats me well too. This is the gap, do you understand?"

The girl looked at the boy with disdain, belittling him while praising the foreign companion beside her.

"Then if he's so good, why did you ask me for money yesterday? Why don't you just break up with me?" The boy was full of rage, but he still didn't yell at the girl, and his tone was relatively gentle.

The girl rolled her eyes: "I haven't been well-off financially lately; just consider it a loan from you, okay?"

As soon as these words came out, Luo Quan's eyebrows were almost knitted together.

This kind of thing is obviously intolerable; even outsiders like them felt angry and disgusted just hearing it, let alone the victim himself.

Of course, there's no solid proof yet that he has officially become a "victim," but looking at it, it's probably doomed.

In any case, the looks from the onlookers around were already full of sympathy for the boy.

And after arguing for a few sentences, the boy finally got angry, grabbed the foreigner by the collar, and asked him what exactly had happened with his girlfriend.

This foreigner didn't understand Chinese, but he got angry immediately after being grabbed and swung his fist at the boy.

Although the foreigner was tall and strong, the boy wasn't a pushover either; the two were actually similar in physique.

Once the fuse was lit, the scene exploded immediately.

The two were wrestling intensely, while the girl on the side only knew how to scream and didn't dare to go up and pull them apart.

People around were taking out their phones to call the police, and some were attempting to step forward to mediate.

Two young men held the foreigner's arms from left and right, shouting: "Stop fighting, let's talk this out properly."

As the saying goes, the more you know, the deeper you can hurt; this person used a big move as soon as they attacked.

Having suffered a major loss, the foreigner wouldn't let it go; he immediately broke free and lunged again, and then the two rolled on the ground; the scene was very intense.

Finally, when both were exhausted, the onlookers rushed up to separate them.

The police arrived quickly, briefly understood the situation, and took all three back to the station.

Both the boy and the foreigner had injuries, with blood flowing from their noses and corners of their mouths; the final handling would likely be a slap on the wrist for both, spending seven days in detention together.

Once the drama was over, the crowd dispersed, and Luo Quan didn't look into how it was handled afterward.

Only then did she open her phone to check the livestream, finding the chat was incredibly dense:

"Damn, I saw such a big drama as soon as I woke up; it's so exciting."

"The boy wasn't ruthless enough. If it were me, I'd have gone straight for the groin kick and eye gouge; if I didn't take half his life, I'd be showing mercy today!"

"You go to the hospital if you lose, and to jail if you win; you still have to handle it calmly."

"Can any man stay calm in this kind of situation?"

"Indeed, if my girlfriend did something like two-timing, I think I'd go crazy."

"This girl, and this foreigner, neither of them are good people."

………………

In the chat, there were also quite a few politically incorrect remarks and very nasty adjectives.

But this is China, where we don't care about political correctness; people can curse as they please, and no one will hold them accountable.

However, Luo Quan knew that if this incident were livestreamed, even a small matter would likely blow up, because the popularity of the livestream was already over 50 million.

"Luo Quan's livestream features a fight!"

It was hanging high on the Bilibili trending list, and who knows how much traffic it drew.

But there was a slight disappointment: Luo Quan wasn't one of the people fighting.

It had been a long time since anyone saw her take action, but no one could forget her invincible heroic posture of taking on a dozen people on the streets of Shanghai back then; it was as blood-pumping as an action movie.

Although the two people fighting were taken away, this incident had only just begun.

After Luo Quan bought her groceries and went home, related trending topics had already appeared on Weibo.

"Fight breaks out on the streets of Shanghai."

In a metropolis like Shanghai, anything that happens easily trends, let alone a fight involving a foreigner, and with Luo Quan's involvement.

The elements related to popularity were basically all there. Since it was the New Year, netizens had nothing to do, and with online "melon-eating," the attention skyrocketed instantly.

A fight is actually a small matter, and beating up a foreigner is no big deal either.

What everyone was more concerned about was the essence behind the incident.

Worshiping foreign things is actually a cliché problem; it's not hard to see from the girl's words that it seems her circle has similar behaviors.

Even to the point of treating having a foreign friend as something trendy, or something that gives you "face."

Although teachers have taught us since childhood that worshiping foreign things is shameful, it's clear there are still quite a few fish that slipped through the net of quality education.

However, the path one takes is one's own business; worshiping foreign things isn't illegal, and others don't really have the standing to criticize.

Soon, the handling of the matter came out. Because it was quite a big deal and caused a bad social impact, the Shanghai police station specifically issued an announcement explaining the ins and outs.

Come to think of it, the foreigner John was quite unlucky this month; he had been law-abiding since coming to China.

While drinking at a bar, he met this "good girl."

From beginning to end, the girl told him she was single and didn't mention a word about having a boyfriend.

John could be said to be quite innocent; he was out on the street with his date to feel the New Year atmosphere, only to be beaten up by her boyfriend.

The police criticized and educated all three of them, didn't favor anyone, and handled it as they should.

But what made the onlookers drop their jaws was that the boy later expressed that he could forgive his girlfriend's mistake, and the two reconciled as if nothing had happened.

Truly an elite among "green-hatted" turtles.

If Luo Quan hadn't livestreamed this incident, it might not have caused such a big stir; it would have just been a fight.

But through Luo Quan's livestream, this matter became big news known to the whole internet, and the related discussions were very heated.

In addition, there were people with ulterior motives deliberately stirring the pot, leading to many unrelated matters being dragged in for discussion.

And what made netizens most angry was, first, the girl's behavior of "eating from the bowl while looking at the pot," and second, the boy's bottomless tolerance.

She's already done this, and you can still forgive her? Green really must be your lucky color.

As the wave of discussion grew higher, some people started stirring the pot and directed it at Luo Quan.

They said why did she have to livestream when she had nothing better to do; if it weren't for her, the matter wouldn't have caused such a big impact.

The young couple could have reconciled, but now it's known nationwide; if they break up and the girl jumps off a building because she can't handle it, you'll be held fully responsible.

A series of assumptions directly pinned such a big crime on Luo Quan.

Many people even liked these kinds of comments.

After seeing this, Luo Quan used her main account to reply with two words under the comment with the most likes:

"Idiot."

Whether they were passersby or fans, they burst into thunderous laughter after seeing the reply, one after another saying Luo Quan had stolen the words right out of their mouths.

"I was just livestreaming to record my life and happened to film a street fight; that's my problem too, right? You're purely sick in the head.

I originally wanted to rest for two days, but I think I still need to work overtime."

Soon, she posted another Weibo like this.

The fight incident was already very big, and everyone was constantly piling on firewood and lighting it, making public opinion burn fiercely.

And the two songs Luo Quan released in the evening poured the largest canister of high-octane fuel onto this pile of firewood.