Don’t be a Kept Man – Chapter 124

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Chapter 124: Black Yang, White Yang

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Moving was a big hassle, and Wen Chuo followed the agent around a few times before finally settling on a place that he was satisfied to rent. The original owner had left some furniture in the space and they didn’t bring too much luggage with them, but to move in and clean up, it still took quite a bit of time. In no time at all, half a month had already passed.

Two bedrooms, one living room, one bathroom and one kitchen. Wen Chuo set up one of the bedrooms as his streaming room: a computer and a background poster on the wall along with some other simple decorations, and it was done. He then finally went live again, ending the waiting period for all his screaming fans lying in wait for him to come back.

He had not updated his status in a long time and there were a million DMs piled up in his inbox. Wen Chuo looked over each one and found that the video and livestreaming platform, DK, had sent him an invitation to an event. It was mostly aimed at the big streamers in their gaming category, and the aim was to hopefully get them to interact with each other. After that, there would be some highlights cut out of their co-op stream, and using the view count and like ratio as the decider, letting the audience vote for their favorite, the event would end in a competition for a prize of a few thousand dollars and a promoting spot on the homepage.

No need to look into the details any further as with << Jue Jing >> as DK’s sponsor, this was just another advertisement campaign.

This event was only for seven days, and today was the fifth day. Money was one thing, but the ability to be pushed onto the homepage as a gaming streamer was what caused a lot of fuss. Quite a few streamers banded together to pair up and did some wacky things to attract viewers. Only the top few popular streamers did not do anything.

Most of them already had quite a lot of popularity and made a name for themselves very early on. Being on the homepage, to them, was not a big deal. Whether they could be or not, it didn’t matter to them. Wen Chuo had purely seen the news too late, as otherwise he would have really gone all out for that money prize.

Each streamer in their section actually had a lot of private interactions with each other. Some even specifically started group chats, but Wen Chuo at that time had not been too into socializing, so the streamers he knew were nil. Now that they would have to stream together, he didn’t know who to find.

Without putting a lot of thought into it, he sent out a status in a call for help:

Today’s friendly competition stream, any streamer who looks kindly on me, please DM me. The homepage will be yours, money’s all mine (nibbling on melon seeds).

Wen Chuo was truly poor at this time. To rent the apartment, he had to pay half of the rent as a deposit upfront, so his wallet was now practically empty. Previously, all his status updates had been serious and few, as if they were gold, pasting on a very honest and earnest propriety to them that the sudden switch to this mischievous side, it did break his image a bit.

— K-Da you finally showed up. I thought you disappeared into the wind. If you need money, just holler. We’ll spare you some change!

— Omona, that was so funny. Pretend all you want to be so cold and high up normally, but when it’s desperate times, you can’t even find someone huh. Wait a bit, I’m just creating a streamer account to help you. Hold up, wait for me!

— @Wan Ye @Chuo Dao Duan Shui @Mao Zi Shen Shi,¹ come take a look, come take our family’s main streamer, our child’s too pitiful. Help out a little bit please, he only wants money.

These @’s didn’t matter much, but a few minutes passed and an unimaginable person suddenly popped up……

Wan Ye: Already DM’ed. Whenever you want to go online. You set the time.

Fans: meowmeowmeow??

The comment section paused for that one second before suddenly exploding and going haywire. A few who had great imagination immediately set up their own scene, thinking that Wan Ye was issuing a battle, where each word and action seemed to be about to ignite into flames. After all, before this, fans had been split into two sides and fighting nonstop wherever they met, despising each other on sight.

To be honest, streamers didn’t have a fight to the death relationship, and both fights or issues were usually started by anti-fans. When it had gotten to a very serious point, Wen Chuo had even specifically slowed down his level progression, specifically dropping down a few in the ranks from Wan Ye, which anyone could see that he meant to on purpose. Otherwise, if he had used this to jumpstart his exposure and fame, his popularity would definitely be higher than it was today.

Fans immediately followed the statuses to get updates quickly and they kept refreshing and refreshing, until they finally saw Wen Chuo’s response to Wan Ye: (bow/hold fist) 7pm tonight. See you there.

The night was darkening, and from the large window spanning from the top to the bottom of the floor, they could very clearly see the sunset and its beautiful colors. After Wen Chuo replied, he went offline, and found that the apartment had already been cleaned up to the tee by Bai Yang. All the miscellaneous items had been organized, with nothing left behind, and Bai Yang was lying right by the tatami by the window, looking far off into the high rise buildings.

“Is it beautiful?”

Wen Chuo went over and hugged him from behind, before kissing those soft lips. He hooked up his tongue, playing a while before lightly letting go. With a loose pair of pyjamas on him, almost pulled off and revealing a supple shoulder, Bai Yang first said “beautiful” before tightly sticking to Wen Chuo, looking out from behind him and examining their new home.

Wen Chuo followed his gaze and then said, 

“There are times, I feel, it’s like a dream. Yesterday, we were still in Lin Xian, and in a blink of an eye, we are here.”

Deep into fall, there are many days of rain. Sprinkling and fast droplets of rain fell onto the window and then gathered into little pearls. They split the light shining from far away, glistening through the glass, as like millions of stars twinkling away.

This was a clean and gentle rain, with no thunder or lightning, and there were no gusts of cold wind. But it was a lot, falling from the sky, almost endless.

When it’s a rainy day, Bai Yang’s mind gets easily distracted and hazy. Wen Chuo pinched his cheeks, squeezing and rubbing before saying, 

“I’ll be livestreaming in a bit, for maybe one or two hours. Don’t run away when I’m not paying attention ok?”

Half kneeling on the tatami, Bai Yang obediently nodded his head. Wen Chuo held up his waist, thinking that he was so stupid in his past life, how could he have been such a useless piece of shit. But thinking more deeply, perhaps dying from a car crash was a good death, as without death, how could he have lived.

He kept thinking, to be reborn once again, that was the luck of the century, a blessing from the heavens. He could only live each day as if it was his last, putting his life that he lived as the last life he will be given, as no one knows if in their next life, if they would still be able to meet again.

Bai Yang originally was sitting on the tatami, but now he petulantly and silently flipped over, lying quietly on top. Wen Chuo could see that something was wrong and scooped him back up. He patted his pants to check and then said in a low tone, 

“Still a bit swollen.”

But his hands never retracted back.

Bai Yang wrapped his arms around Wen Chuo’s neck and slowly tightened them. Whatever happened then, his breathing began to get out of control, and his waist began to tremble. His normally calm expression began to slightly change, perhaps from pain or from discomfort, and his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

After a while, Wen Chuo stared at his black inky eyes, and he saw a layer of tears. His eyes seemed to have begun to redden from the overstimulation. Only then did Wen Chuo retract his hand back, and Bai Yang shivered all over, purring once like a cat.

Wen Chuo scooped him up and walked over to his streaming room. He sat on the chair, taking a while before unloosening something. Sitting in his embrace, Bai Yang shifted in discomfort, but then he was held down by Wen Chuo and he didn’t move an inch afterward.

Humans will always need something to hold on to; people can die when there is nothing to do all day long. So Wen Chuo bought an easel and then taught Bai Yang step by step how to create an account: 

“I bought some drawing lessons online for you. When you have nothing to do, then learn. After you learn, upload a video. Perhaps you might even have some fans….. what name do you want?”

Bai Yang’s lips twitched, but he covered his stomach instead, unable to speak a word out. His entire body was tense and he lifted his eyes to give Wen Chuo a look. But the other was not blushing and without even a breath out of place, even gave him a kiss in return, 

“Then let’s just use Bai Yang, that sounds pretty good.”

He changed the display picture to a cat, and within a few seconds had already finished setting up the account.

Hugging Bai Yang tightly, he used his own KKK account to follow him. The corners of his eyes hooked up, and there was an enchanting smile about him as he said, 

“Do you remember, when you were this tiny, I was hugging you like this, learning how to draw.”

Bai Yang subconsciously glanced down and then honestly shook his head, wanting to say that there was actually a very big difference.

It was currently 6pm, and he still had about an hour left before the livestream started. Using the same position they were in, Wen Chuo brought Bai Yang all the way to the bedroom and then closed the door. After a very long while, he brought a worn out Bai Yang all the way to the shower.

Technically speaking, to be participating in the online event, he should be showing his face. Wen Chuo had been unwilling before as Lin Xian was too small; everyone knew each other, and it was all too easy to arouse rumors and gossip. But there was no need for such consideration now, so with his hair still slightly wet, he went online.

Wan Ye was about thirty years old, and she was a woman with great capability and skill. Her looks only added to her image of a power woman. She had just been fixing her camera before she looked at her monitor, and she never expected that Wen Chuo would suddenly reveal his face just like that. After a brief moment of surprise, she exclaimed with astonishment.

Liu Ruo Qing was a beauty of a woman, and Wen Chuo’s looks came from her. With his wet damp black hair brushed back, in his causal tee shirt, a handsome face that was definitely above average and a pair of peach blossom eyes that were honestly a bit too alluring yet didn’t make him seem feminine at all, he looked a bit bad and wild especially with the corners of his mouth slightly hooked up. A bad boy type that was handsome, charismatic and a bit too seductive.

Fans were pouring into the room, and then exited out with doubt and shock. They took a look at the channel name, no it was not wrong, it was K-Da and Wan Ye! And then they entered back in……

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK WHO ARE YOU HANDSOME MAN!! WHO ARE YOU!! WHO ARE YOU!!

Female fans immediately went crazy in the comments and most of them were Wan Ye’s fans. They thought that those who played games would be NEET type fatties, but they could not believe that he could be this handsome. K-Da, how could you make it hard for us to be your antis!! You have to give us some mental preparation if you’re going to reveal your face!!!

Wan Ye coughed twice, as if a bit speechless, and then gave Wen Chuo a big thumbs up, 

“Wow, you’re quite handsome, young man. No wonder why you weren’t willing to reveal your face before. With a face like yours, you could be a celebrity. What’s the point of stealing our livelihood in the gaming category huh.”

Wen Chuo never did realize how handsome he was; even if he were bald, it wouldn’t look bad on him. But now that he found how the comments were going crazy for him, all complimenting and screaming about his attractiveness, he happily went closer to the camera to take a look at himself, 

“Don’t compliment me. I’m going to get too cocky?”

Fans: Get cocky! Get cocky! Go, go, go! We’ll let you do so! The face of the gaming category rests on your shoulders from now on! The face, the visual you know!

Too many people were concerned about his visuals that not a lot were focused on the game. When it was spread that K-Da revealed his face, more and more people poured into the livestream room, just to glance at this one in a lifetime unbelievable truth.

No matter what fans urged him to do before, he was not willing to reveal his face. Quite a few antis had privately spread that he was one of those whose careers would be killed once his face was revealed, thinking that perhaps he was a middle-aged man who had a dad’s belly, bald and greasy, but now all their faces were slapped back and forth immediately.

His handsomeness was way above their expectations and fans were almost crying from happiness, 

“Yeah that’s right, gonna be killed when he reveals his face! But the one who would be dying isn’t K-Da, it’ll be us wu wu wu! We’ll all get slaughtered by his handsomeness!”

Even if they started five days later than the others, Wan Ye and Wen Chuo’s popularity was enough to increase the viewer count. When the event was over, both of their VODs were pushed up onto the first spot of the top viewing charts. After his ranks from last time, Wen Chuo’s popularity started to explode exponentially again, so much so that even he himself felt that it was a bit weird.

Compared to the days where he was living his life and rising up with a bright future, the Wen family was beginning to fall, putting them in perfect contrast.

Wen Tian Hao had been clinging onto his life in the hospital for a long time, but in the end, his body failed him and the hospital pronounced him dead. Perhaps Wen Jin Cheng had suffered too much of a shock from his beloved son passing away that he himself began to fall ill. Immediately, all the debts and the financial troubles began to be pressured upon Fan Qiu Yun’s shoulders, and their projects had to be forcefully put on pause. A few days ago, the paparazzi even got some pictures of Fan Qiu Yun leaving the auction house deep in the night, and she looked like she had aged a million years in a blink of an eye.

When Wen Chuo saw the news, he couldn’t really say what his feelings were. Perhaps it was a relief, a kind of schadenfreude, a moment of release from the anger, envy and much more. But more than what he thinks, it’s probably an emptiness, a cloudiness of disappointment. But these things aren’t related to him anymore.

Pushing open the bedroom door, he saw Bai Yang leaning over the table, drawing with a sincere seriousness. Wen Chuo took a look and then pointed at a line with his pencil, 

“It’s crooked here.”

Bai Yang erased the drawing and re-sketched the lines. Right at this time, there was suddenly a shadow by his hand, and looking over, he saw a young shorthair cat curling up on the desk. Its big dark murky eyes were staring at him as it kept meowing.²

A human and a cat stared at each other.

Wen Chuo thought that this scene looked too funny, and he leaned against the desk, chuckling, 

“Ah, do you like it? I took a long time to pick him out.”

Bai Yang carefully hugged the cat in his embrace, quietly saying, 

“I do.”

He could see that Bai Yang really liked it, as his eyes wouldn’t leave the cat for even one second.

Wen Chuo took the cat away from his arms, putting it back onto the desk. He knelt on the ground, facing him while shamelessly saying, 

“How intimate. You haven’t even hugged me like that.”

Word entirely pulled out of his ass.

Bai Yang leaned over, wrapping Wen Chuo into his embrace. A pair of eyes that usually looked dark and heavy had a smile in them, 

“Cat, name?”

Wen Chuo thought about it, 

“You’re called Bai Yang, he’ll be Hei Yang.”³

Bai Yang: “……”

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Click here to bypass all the footnotes!

Notes:

^*1 These are account names obviously, but Chuo Dao Duan Shui means to take a knife and stop flowing water; it’s an idiom that comes from a poem and it basically means that you are trying to stop something, but you actually make it worse. Mao Zi Shen Shi is a gentleman wearing a hat.

^*2  Shorthair Cat (藍短貓) – I originally had it as Chartreux cat, as I was just pairing pictures up, trying to find the best fit, when I first searched the name (and hoped it was right), but the more I looked, I think it might actually be a shorthair cat, which would make more sense given the name (and more pictures seemed to be of the British shorthair, but I’m not sure)… If anyone knows, please let me know! I’m not sure about cat breeds (or any animal breeds for that matter…) : )

^*3  Like the title, Bai in Bai Yang means white, Hei = Black, so he’s making a play on the color words here.

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Edited and Proofread by Plum

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