YABE - 45

On the first official night of moving into Jiang Xu’s apartment, Wen Siyu filled his previously pristine fridge—stocked only with beer and cola—with all sorts of snacks.

The kitchen counter was piled high with fruits, the mini-bar was stacked with chocolates and candies, and in the corner sat twenty Wangwang Snack Packs.

Wen Siyu: “….”

For some inexplicable reason, Zhou Yi had actually packed and brought them over for her.

After a moment of hesitation, she walked over, picked up one of the packs, and settled onto the couch to open it. Inside were milk candies, jelly, small cookies, and various other snacks.

She pulled out a bag of Langweixian (a popular snack brand), grabbed her phone, and opened WeChat.

Her social media feed exploded.

She gasped and clicked through the comments. Amidst a sea of playful and silly remarks, Wen Siyuan stood out with a single [smiling face] emoji.

Wen Siyu: “….”

She had forgotten to block her family members.

After three seconds of contemplation, she decisively dialed Wen Siyuan’s number without hesitation.

It was 8:30 PM, and Wen Siyuan was in the middle of a lively evening activity. On her end, she heard laughter and chatter—and upon closer listening, even children’s voices?

The word “Brother” on the tip of her tongue instantly morphed into: “Where are you?”

Wen Siyuan hesitated.

Without wasting a second, the girl tossed aside her Langweixian , sat up straight, and asked sternly: “You’re not in some weird place, are you?”

Wen Siyuan struggled to respond: “…I’m at an amusement park.”

Wen Siyu: “???!!”

Before she could ask follow-up questions like, “What are you doing at an amusement park?” her brother cut her off impatiently: “How dare you ask where I am? I haven’t even asked where you are yet. Where are you now?”

Wen Siyu raised an eyebrow: “I’m at home.”

“Ohhh,” Wen Siyuan drawled sarcastically. “Now you’re just calling it ‘home’? Whose home?”

“The home you already know about,” Wen Siyu replied nonchalantly. “I thought you’d suddenly turned so adorable, leaving me a comment but not even texting. I was expecting ten consecutive calls from you. Now that you’ve become so understanding and considerate, I feel uneasy.”

Wen Siyuan sneered: “That’s because I know your Uncle Jiang is filming halfway across China. Otherwise, do you think you’d still be answering my call? I’d have gone straight to his house and blown it up.”

Wen Siyu rolled her eyes: “Why are you calling him ‘Uncle Jiang’?”

“Oh, should I say ‘Grandpa Jiang’ instead?”

Wen Siyu ignored him.

“By the way,” Wen Siyuan continued relentlessly after mocking her, “Make sure you change the locks on his bedroom door. Then block him. A middle-aged man gets swapped for a downtown apartment—this deal doesn’t seem too bad for you.”

Wen Siyu: “….”

She really wanted to ask why he harbored such hostility toward Jiang Xu.

After bantering for a while, the real purpose of her call surfaced: to ensure Wen Siyuan wouldn’t tell their father, Wen Jingyao. Upon hearing this, Wen Siyuan mocked her: “Do you really think Dad’s vision is that bad? Your social media post was so blatant, so full of passion. And now you’re trying to tell me not to tell him?”

Wen Siyu remained unfazed: “It’s fine. I already blocked him from seeing my posts.”

Wen Siyuan: “….”

He fell silent for a long moment before speaking in a tone of feigned concern: “Wen Siyu, Mr. Wen Jingyao has been raising you for over twenty years.”

Wen Siyu felt no guilt whatsoever: “Stop exaggerating. I’m only fourteen.”

Wen Siyuan: “….”

Jiang Xu’s apartment was in a prime location—everything was convenient. A ten-minute walk led to a large supermarket, and it wasn’t far from her school either. After moving in, Wen Siyu found that streaming here was much more convenient than in the dormitory.

Initially, since her room hadn’t been set up with internet yet, she simply used Jiang Xu’s computer to stream.

When she opened his computer, she was shocked. All the games she regularly played were there, as well as every streaming software imaginable. On the wooden bookshelf next to the desk were even more games—including two limited editions that she didn’t own.

At this point, Wen Siyu finally accepted the fact that the actor she had idolized for over a decade was, in fact, a hardcore gamer.

Without hesitation, she picked out a game she had long coveted but was now out of print and decided to stream it that night.

First, she posted a quick update on Weibo, then started her livestream. She didn’t bother looking up again, fully engrossed in studying the game she had been drooling over for ages.

After a while, she figured the audience must have arrived by now. When she finally looked up, she was startled by the barrage of comments flooding the screen:

[OMG OMG OMG MY MOMMY!!!]

[WIFE WIFE WIFE WIFE WIFE WIFE!!!]

[THE WIFE IS SHOWING HER FACE!!!]

[DIEFISH’S EYECORNER AH AH AH!!!]

[SI YU’S SO PALE AND HIS EYES ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!]

[LICK THE WIFE’S EAR!!!!]

[COME ON, AT LEAST USE A BEAUTY FILTER, YOU’RE A FEMALE STREAMER!!!]

[MY DEAR LOOKS THIS GOOD WITHOUT EVEN USING A BEAUTY FILTER!!!]

[I’VE BEEN FOLLOWING YOU FOR FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, FINALLY SEEING SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOUR KEYBOARD!!!]

[IS SI YU’S ROOM SUPPOSED TO LOOK THIS ASCETIC? I SUSPECT HE’S A CROSSDRESSER.]

[WHAT DO YOU MEAN CROSSDRESSER? DIDN’T YOU SEE THAT PINK HELLO KITTY CARPET?!]

Wen Siyu froze. She quickly disabled the chat and realized what everyone was reacting to: her temples and a quarter of her face were visible on the live broadcast screen. The camera captured her right eye halfway, showing half the outline of her right cheek, the outer corner of her eye, and a glimpse of her iris.

Startled, Wen Siyu immediately shifted her body out of the camera’s range and frantically turned it off.

Had Jiang Xu’s camera been on this whole time??

Wen Siyu nearly broke out in a cold sweat. Her heart pounded wildly as she took a deep breath to calm herself. Smiling awkwardly, she tried to steer the conversation back to the game. She dared not reopen the chat.

Fortunately, the game was genuinely fun, and she quickly became completely absorbed in it. The earlier awkward incident was deliberately flipped past, and she managed to bring the stream back on track.

However, this was only the beginning.

The speed of netizens was frightening, and their power was immense. By the next day, someone had already posted two photos online.

One was a screenshot of the quarter of Wen Siyu’s face from last night’s stream. The other was an old photo dug up from Jiang Xu’s Weibo account.

It was likely one of the few casual photos he had ever posted. In it, the man appeared to have just finished exercising, wearing sportswear, a white towel around his neck, and holding a can of cola by the bedside.

His expression was neutral, with slightly furrowed brows.

A handsome athlete, no doubt.

But comparing the two bedrooms in the images, aside from the addition of the Hello Kitty carpet, they looked… eerily identical?