Chapter 493

On this day, Ying Jiang opened her livestream as usual, on time and punctual.

Lately she's been quite motivated~ because she feels her livestreaming career has real potential, especially after that time she picked "Bai Liang and Lu Han" as her gaming partner.

The explosive popularity of many clip videos has brought her a substantial amount of traffic and attention.

But unfortunately, after that, she tried several more times to find that magical gaming duo "Bai Liang and Lu Han," yet never succeeded.

When she picked other partners, the results were clearly nowhere near as good—indeed, vastly inferior.

Meanwhile, that sudden top donor who appeared that day has remained completely silent until today.

Fortunately, her livestream still has plenty of little trolls and silly viewers who provide some entertainment.

During this period, Ying Jiang swung her blade again and again, cutting down countless little trolls.

She originally thought today's livestream would follow the usual routine, but after opening the stream, she glanced at the viewer count, froze, rubbed her eyes in disbelief, closed them, then looked again.

"Is there something wrong with the data? How could there be this many people?" Ying Jiang said in disbelief.

But when she saw the wildly scrolling danmaku, she realized the viewer count might not be fake.

"Ying Jiang, you're famous now! Haven't you watched the new episode of 'Five Ha'?"

"Host, you've made it! You're trending #1 with Bai Liang—can this be your big leap to top-streamer status?"

"At this moment, Ying Jiang still doesn't realize that the 'Bai Liang and Lu Han' she picked that day were actually the real people. Her luck is insane! One click and she hit the jackpot!"

"As a long-time viewer, I remember Ying Jiang secretly told us she did it to save money—buy one, get one free, and the price was low."

"Is this Ying Jiang's livestream? Such an abstract name—does a Go player even use a stage name?"

"The Young Lady looks so cheerful—is she really a professional Go player? Did you lose to Da Xian? Hahaha!"

"Damn, Da Xian tricked us again—he actually beat Ying Jiang at Go, yet claimed his Go skills were average."

"I said it all along—how could Da Xian, with his IQ and learning ability, play Go for years and still lose to an amateur 2-dan?"

"Chang Wei, you still say you don't know Wu Gong!"

"."

After extracting some useful information from the danmaku, Ying Jiang finally understood what had happened.

But she still couldn't believe it. "Is this real?"

"The show already aired it—Ying Jiang, you're not a plant, are you?" A major fan sent her the most expensive gift and left a comment.

"Thank you for the gift. I'm not a plant—I didn't know anything! What show?"

Following the viewers' directions, she quickly found "Five Ha," immediately subscribed, and opened the episode.

At that moment, the moderator sent a reminder: Host, we don't have the rights—just watch the clips.

The viewers weren't happy: "Bold! Ying Jiang appeared in this episode—can't she even watch it in her own livestream? Unthinkable!"

"Exactly! Ying Jiang should demand appearance fees—they're free-riding on her!"

"."

If she listened to these people, Ying Jiang would have a lifetime of trouble—but luckily, as a professional Go player, her mind is sharp.

"Appearance fees? They didn't even charge me for advertising—today's influx of viewers is all because of this show. I've hit the jackpot! But the guy who made me cry—was he also…"

Obviously, yes.

Under the editing of the production team, this gaming segment was cut from two or three hours down to just over ten minutes.

This was already because Ying Jiang had decent entertainment value.

Fortunately, the highlights were preserved—especially the final Go match.

When Ying Jiang started her livestream, some time had passed since the airing of this episode of "Five Ha."

Some editing marketing accounts combined footage from "Five Ha" with Ying Jiang's livestream recordings and created a "complete version."

On the left: Ying Jiang sobbing, her Dao heart shattered. On the right: Bai Liang, expression cold and serious—actually just thinking deeply—but with filters added, he looked like a heartless killer.

It matched perfectly with Bai Liang's latest character image, Han Shangyan.

Under many clip videos, including the danmaku on "Five Ha," countless people claimed Da Xian had become Han Shangyan—whether in esports or Go, he saw no women, only the thirst for victory!

For the entertainment industry, this was a fun little incident—Bai Liang had broken out again and pulled another stunt.

But the Go community rejoiced!

Holy shit, this flood of traffic has finally come to the Go community.

A top celebrity who can't beat an amateur 2-dan is completely different from a top celebrity who can beat a professional 2-dan.

The former only proves Bai Liang is at most an amateur, a Go hobbyist.

But the latter is an entirely different matter.

Because a professional 2-dan can earn another title: National-Level Athlete.

Faced with this sudden surge of traffic, many in the Go community jumped in, proactively explaining Go ranking systems to the public.

Mainly to tell them: Ying Jiang isn't as weak as you thought—she's not just a small livestreamer who plays Go.

These things are common knowledge in the Go community, but outsiders truly needed this education.

Their explanations came at just the right time.

The idol fans' main focus was still on Bai Liang making the female host cry—some haters even began accusing him of being uncouth, ungentlemanly, bullying a girl.

But the new information and education brought by the Go community gave the idol fans a jolt of energy!

This was a professional-level competition—not some "boy cries girl and wins" story to prove Bai Liang is awesome!

Whether professional or competitive doesn't matter—what matters to fans is that Bai Liang is awesome!

So quickly hype him up~ Brother is amazing!

Even some entertainment fans were now confused.

"So Da Xian's Go skill is actually professional level? Who said we finally found something he's bad at?"

"I'm really impressed—this guy excels at everything? If I remember right, he only picked up this skill during 'We Were Young'—could it be that whatever role he plays in dramas, he actually masters it in real life?"

"The last person to release a statement like this was Peng Yuyan, wasn't it? Something about making a movie to earn a certification?"

"So here's the question: who has higher credibility between these two?"

"It's obvious, bro—this guy actually competed against professional players, not just mouthed off in a press release. We only found out after it happened."

"Every time you get fooled, it's a different flavor—men's words are deceitful ghosts. I actually believed he wasn't good at Go, then he turned around and made a professional 2-dan girl cry."

"Da Xian: I really only know a tiny bit."

"Why don't we talk about his singing and dancing instead, haha!"

"This is just neglecting his main job—he can't even sing or dance properly, and keeps chasing weird side paths."

"The guy upstairs is insane. Da Xian has been an actor since debut—he's not an idol. You'd be better off criticizing his acting instead."

"True, I prove Da Xian's acting is 'bad'—he's only ever won one Weibo Film Award."

"."

How should this breakout traffic be properly leveraged? This troubled the producers of "Qin Re."

Go doesn't seem to have much to do with TV dramas~

After thinking it over, the only thing that resembled Han Shangyan's gaming demeanor in the drama was Bai Liang's expression while playing Go—nothing else matched.

They even felt somewhat relieved: fortunately, the so-called "little streamer" Zhan Ying wasn't the flashy, glamorous type—otherwise, it might've damaged the current CP heat between Han Shangyan and Tong Nian.

There's no way around it—Han Shangyan is too hot right now!

Before the aerospace god Yu Tu had fully stepped offstage, the esports god Han Shangyan arrived—and completely overshadowed the previous one.

Though the character is antisocial, emotionally unstable, expressionless, has a terrible temper, and is even secretly flirtatious.

When they first met in the internet cafe in episode one, he ignored Tong Nian's enthusiasm, cold as ice.

When they met again in Guangzhou and learned Tong Nian liked him, he calmly rejected her, staring at her, frowning, and firing off the Han-style three questions: "Like me?" "Like me for what?" "What's there to like about me?"

He seems a notch below Bai Liang's previous "perfect" god roles, yet the fanbase fell hopelessly in love with this character.

Or rather, they love the process of the ice melting.

How popular is this character?

The two leads of the drama have opened Weibo accounts in real life—Han Shangyan even gave everyone a live demonstration. Instantly gained a million followers!

The follower growth looked like it was faked—but the exaggerated interaction numbers suggest the data has some authenticity.

Under such popularity, if "Han Shangyan" suddenly started flirting with some gorgeous female streamer, the sky would fall.

In fact, even those who had never cared which female streamer Bai Liang had tipped went specifically to check out Ying Jiang.

After watching, they felt much more at ease—pure Go, no issues.

Thus, Ying Jiang, thanks to her "looks," received a wave of sponsorship deals.

Though it was strange that a Go streamer got a sponsorship to promote a TV drama, she happily accepted it anyway.

Starting today, she's officially a fan of the Han Shangyan and Tong Nian CP! She'll enthusiastically promote it and lead the fangirling!

But during her livestream, promoting the drama was only part of the sponsorship deal.

"Who? Who's my requested playmate?" Ying Jiang said in disbelief.

"Han Shangyan and Tong Nian."

"Aren't they TV characters?"

"Bai Liang and Na Zha—say it like that, and it's clearer, right~"

Too damn clear! Ying Jiang was even a little scared—was she really worthy of this flood of traffic?

And she'd have to face Bai Liang in a "rematch." Thinking of it, she couldn't help asking, "Do I have to lose?"

The person coordinating with her replied strangely, "You can't win anyway."

At this, trembling Ying Jiang snapped!

Who says I can't win? Bai Liang's Go skill isn't much stronger than mine—I lost badly last time because I thought I was crushing a beginner and didn't take it seriously at first.

Who's saying he can't win? Bai Liang's chess skill isn't actually that much stronger than hers, okay? The reason she lost so badly last time was mainly because she thought she was just bullying a newbie, so she didn't take it seriously at the start.

Meanwhile, when Bai Liang learned he'd have a "rematch" with Ying Jiang, he laughed and asked, "Who came up with this promotion idea?"

Sister Yanzi grinned. "Of course me, Xiao Bai Ge! Originally, I just planned to connect with esports streamers for live-game matches. Now, with this added twist—I felt Zhan Ying really has entertainment value, and she's not the type who curses nonstop and is hard to control."

Bai Liang nodded. "After all, this is Go—we're dealing with people whose overall quality is definitely higher than those noisy gamers."

"Xiao Bai Ge, don't you dare say that on your livestream!"

"What? You afraid I'll make them enjoy being scolded?"

Bai Liang thought to himself: he himself was often uncivil online, especially during gaming—so he was projecting.

"Enjoy being scolded?" Sister Yanzi rolled her eyes inwardly—who'd enjoy being yelled at?

Bai Liang: "Hey, you're just narrow-minded!"

Among the girls he knows alone, at least two have this—or used to have this—"little hobby."

The world is vast, tastes are diverse—some things are hard to predict~

But this livestream promotion had one small problem:

"Xiao Bai Ge, you absolutely have to sweet-talk Na Zha Jiejie during this recording! I told her about the livestream—she agreed, but said she won't talk to you during it."

"Won't talk to me during the livestream?" Bai Liang scratched his head, feeling he'd somehow misunderstood Chinese.

Sister Yanzi sighed and spread her hands. "She said it herself—she's mad at you because of Sister Reba."

In fact, Na Zha only starting acting up today—Sister Yanzi found it incredible.

So even though this caused her some trouble, Sister Yanzi still understood Na Zha.

She had every right to be angry—she didn't cause a full-blown meltdown, which proves she truly loves him deeply.

Likewise, she had absolute confidence that her Xiao Bai Ge could successfully soothe Na Zha.

Similarly, she was especially confident that her little Bai brother could successfully soothe that Zha.

The planning for this trip of "Five Ha" to Xinjiang, let alone for Nazha, could charm even the most difficult Miss into a flutter of joy.

And for a love-brained person like Nazha, it's absolutely a critical hit!

So Sister Yanzi didn't care at all about Nazha's attitude right now. When they get back, if her attitude is still like that, she'll wash her hair standing on her head.

After all, her family's Brother Dou Xiao Bai was really playing a bit too big!

Speaking of which, Sister Yanzi still has one "insurance policy" to put in place.

She took out her phone and pulled up a contact she greets every holiday and who sends her gifts.

This is an important guest!

After the call connected, Sister Yanzi spoke first in a very affectionate tone: "Sister, it's me, Yanzi. Has your pickup arrived? Good that it's here. I've already spoken to the airline, don't worry."

——

"Pay attention to him, ignore him, pay attention to him, ignore him"

"Ignore him."

When the flower in her hand had been stripped down to its very last petal, by all rights, the answer should have been "ignore him."

But Nazha declared: best of three.

Deciding with just one round would be too childish — not something a responsible adult like her should do.

One minute later.

"Best of five!"

The little assistant beside her, holding the flowers, felt heartbroken: "Sis, let them off the hook, they look pretty nice"

"Out with the old, in with the new!" Nazha declared righteously.

Hearing this, the little assistant immediately understood what it meant, muttering inwardly: Brother Dou Xiao Bai, you absolutely must buy flowers! You can't show up to pick her up empty-handed.

Then, helplessly, she unwrapped another flower and handed it to Nazha so she could keep playing the wonderful little game of "pay attention to him or ignore him."

A perfectly good bouquet gradually disappeared into the trash can.

But in the end, Nazha still couldn't decide whether to pay attention to him or not.

Until she got on the plane, and even when the plane landed, her face was still taut.

"Sis, we're home!"

The little assistant was clearly trying to lighten the mood, but Nazha felt little joy of returning home right now; the dryness in the air made her mood a bit irritable too.

Reaching out to push a piece of luggage, "Let's go."

"Sis, wait for me"

After walking out of the corridor, Nazha, who had been walking very fast, finally slowed her pace and began looking around.

The "Five Ha" film crew had long been in position and directly switched on follow-shoot mode.

Nazha completely ignored them and walked forward on her own; her big eyes began to well up with a mist of tears.

Because Bai Liang simply hadn't shown up.

But just as she continued pushing her suitcase forward, a figure appeared beside her.

Without a word, he just gently patted the hand she had on the suitcase handle.

At that moment, Nazha just glanced sideways. The next second, the suitcase had changed hands — someone else was now pulling it, without the slightest pause or stop along the way.

All of this happened so naturally.

As if it were meant to be.

(End of chapter)