During the National Day holiday, Jiang Ji and Lu Xingyan moved back home.
Their two bedrooms had been rearranged and combined into one, while a space beside it was converted into a gaming room for Lu Xingyan to use as his streaming room.
The streaming room was not large, only around twenty square meters, but it was exquisitely decorated and fully equipped. A door connected it directly to the bedroom, making it essentially a side room attached to their bedroom.
There were two computer desks: one for Lu Xingyan’s streams and the other for Jiang Ji.
Lu Xingyan desperately wanted Jiang Ji to play games with him. Unfortunately, Jiang Ji rarely had the time. Whenever a holiday came around and Jiang Ji was free to spend time with him, the two of them would get so wrapped up in each other that they practically wanted to spend the entire day in bed, completely forgetting that games even existed.
Now that they finally had some time off for National Day, Lu Xingyan at last put “play games together” on the schedule. A few days in advance, he posted an update telling his fans, “October 5, 8 p.m. We’ll have a very special guest. Look forward to it.”
Although Lu Xingyan had not been signed with the platform for long, he was already fairly well-known there. Anyone familiar with him knew he loved showing off his wife, yet to this day nobody knew who exactly this mysterious wife was.
Some people maliciously speculated that the streamer did not actually have a wife at all, and that his whole “I love my wife” routine was merely a devoted-lover persona designed to win favor with female fans.
Lu Xingyan was furious when he heard about it. But he had no marriage certificate, and he could not publicly reveal Jiang Ji, so a verbal denial alone carried little weight.
Lu Xingyan wanted to go public. He did not care how others judged him, but he and Jiang Ji had promised their parents they would keep things as low-key as possible. They did not want to attract unnecessary attention. A peaceful life was better.
More importantly, showing off their relationship was one thing, but actually putting Jiang Ji online for strangers to pick apart and judge was another. Lu Xingyan could not feel at ease about that. The quality of people online varied wildly, and he was afraid someone would insult Jiang Ji.
In short, the streamer was destined to be unable to publicly show off his wife.
But if he could not show off his wife, he could show off his brother.
After Lu Xingyan posted the announcement, his fans guessed he was probably doing some kind of collaboration with another streamer. What else could “very special guest” possibly mean?
Lu Xingyan denied it and directly revealed the answer. “Not another streamer. It’s my brother.”
Fans: “?”
Fans: “What’s so special about your brother?”
Lu Xingyan: “Heh. You don’t understand. My brother isn’t an ordinary person.”
Fans: “???”
Everyone was thoroughly confused and increasingly curious. There were plenty of skeptical comments too, saying Lu Xingyan was forcing content where there was none. If it were a pretty girl, maybe people would tune in, but who wanted to watch his brother?
Then October 5 arrived, and the moment Jiang Ji appeared in the stream, all the negative comments vanished—
It began with an accident.
It was not yet eight o’clock when Lu Xingyan started the stream early and sat at his computer adjusting his equipment.
Jiang Ji did not know the stream was already live. He walked over, leaned down to look at the screen, and asked, “Is there anything I need to pay attention to later?”
Jiang Ji was extremely close, almost cheek-to-cheek with Lu Xingyan. As he bent down, the already-loose collar of his pajamas slipped open, revealing the deep hollows of his collarbones.
Only then did he belatedly notice that the camera was on. He instinctively glanced toward the lens, and a clear close-up of his face appeared across Lu Xingyan’s enlarged stream window. The live chat, which had barely been moving before, instantly exploded with comments:
“Holy shit, who is that?!”
“That’s your brother?”
“Streamer, you never said our bro was this handsome!”
“Bro, Bro! I’m the little sister you never knew you had!”
“Holy shit, is he really just a regular guy?”
“Streamer, I want to be your sister-in-law [shy].”
…
Before Lu Xingyan could say a single word, the stream descended into chaos. He froze, then hurriedly covered the camera with his hand. “You’re not allowed to look! All of you, close your eyes!”
Jiang Ji: “…”
Idiot.
Jiang Ji was wearing pajamas precisely because he had never intended to appear on camera. The plan was simply to voice-chat and play games with Lu Xingyan; there was no need for him to show his face.
Getting caught on camera had been purely accidental. He moved out of frame and sat down at the other computer.
“Set up my mic for me,” Jiang Ji said.
“I already did. The game’s open too.” Lu Xingyan sounded vaguely resentful as he personally put the headset on Jiang Ji. Then he turned back toward his viewers. “That’s enough out of you. If you keep fantasizing about my brother, I’m going to get mad!”
Jiang Ji’s seat was outside the camera’s range, so he could do whatever he wanted without being seen. Not being able to see the chat made things less entertaining, so he opened the stream in a browser and left it running in the background. Whenever he tabbed out of the game, he could immediately see what the viewers were saying.
It would have been a lie to say he did not find it amusing. Jiang Ji lowered his voice and asked, “Do you have more female fans or male fans?”
“About the same, I think. Maybe a few more women.” Lu Xingyan instinctively explained, “But none of them are girlfriend fans. They all know I have a wife.”
Jiang Ji: “…”
Who asked you that?
Although Jiang Ji had deliberately lowered his voice, the headset picked up sound too well, and the viewers heard him perfectly.
Someone commented:
“Oh-ho, so the streamer knows he doesn’t have girlfriend fans.”
“Starting today, I’m the streamer’s brother’s girlfriend fan [rose].”
“I’m a sister-in-law fan [heart].”
“Bro’s voice sounds so good. Say a few more things.”
“Bro, switch seats with the streamer. I want to look at you.”
“Are you people done yet?” Lu Xingyan was furious. “Can you stop being so rude? My brother has a husband.”
The chat:
“???”
“(⊙o⊙)?”
“!!!”
“What????”
Lu Xingyan’s vision went dark. “I meant my brother isn’t single! You people made me slip up.”
“Enough. The more you explain, the worse it gets.” Jiang Ji cut him off. “Start the game. I haven’t played this in years. Can you carry me?”
“Of course.” Lu Xingyan jerked his chin toward the screen. “Look at my rank.”
Jiang Ji turned to look at Lu Xingyan’s monitor. The moment he leaned slightly closer, the camera caught him again, and Lu Xingyan hurriedly blocked the view. “Be careful. I don’t want them looking at you.”
The chat:
“???”
“What is wrong with this streamer?”
“Isn’t your brother our brother too?”
“We’re all bros here. What’s wrong with letting everyone look?”
“My fan badge is level 25. I get to look first.”
“Streamer has issues. Why are you so possessive of your brother?”
“Seriously, the streamer is acting weird.”
Jiang Ji changed the subject and jokingly remarked, “Your stream is very lively. There are a lot of comments.”
“They’re all chatterboxes,” Lu Xingyan said. “Probably because I’m pretty funny.”
Someone in chat immediately exposed him: “Whether he’s actually funny is debatable, but the streamer definitely is hilarious.”
“…” Jiang Ji laughed. “True. He’s hilarious in private too.”
“How am I?” Lu Xingyan refused to admit it. “Aren’t I a cold, aloof heartthrob in private?”
Jiang Ji laughed along with the chat. Lu Xingyan pulled a sour face and added “sister-in-law” to the stream’s banned-word list—any comment containing the term would no longer go through.
The chat finally became slightly more tolerable. Lu Xingyan relaxed, created a room, invited Jiang Ji to the team, and started the game.
They were playing a MOBA with 3v3, 5v5, and other battle modes, similar to Honor of K— and League of L—.
Jiang Ji was using an account Lu Xingyan had given him, ranked Diamond. Lu Xingyan took him into ranked matches, while the other three teammates were random players.
Lu Xingyan said, “Bro, pick whatever you want. Any role is fine. I’ll carry.”
Jiang Ji had long since lost interest in online games and was only playing to keep Lu Xingyan company. Although he had not played in years, he still remembered the most basic game mechanics. He chose a support hero with good entertainment value, transformed into a small animal, and attached himself to Lu Xingyan’s jungler.
“You take me around,” Jiang Ji said. “I’m counting on you, big streamer.”
“No problem. I’ll tear through all of them for you.” Lu Xingyan was overflowing with confidence. “I’ll leave them at low health later. Just basic-attack once and take the kills.”
The chat:
“?????”
“Is the streamer possessed?”
“The streamer, notorious kill-stealer, is actually giving kills away?”
“Holy shit, I’m moved.”
“I have a question, streamer. Is our bro your biological brother?”
“The atmosphere seems kind of… ambiguous…”
Lu Xingyan was completely focused on showing off in front of Jiang Ji and paid little attention to the chat.
Jiang Ji saw the comments but said nothing. His character was attached to Lu Xingyan and required almost no input, so while pretending to focus on the game, he quietly tabbed out, logged into the account he had once used to send Lu Xingyan gifts, and sent another one.
The stream had a paid-comment feature. Viewers could choose how much to spend, and the higher the amount, the longer the comment stayed displayed.
Jiang Ji entered one thousand yuan, giving the message a two-hour display time.
He wrote: “Streamer, long time no see. Do you still remember me?”
Expensive gifts came with a sound notification, and Lu Xingyan heard it. He glanced at the stream. He did not actually remember the account, but after thanking the sender, he put on a polite act. “Of course. User3575743593, hello. Come by more often.”
Jiang Ji suppressed a laugh and said aloud, “I’m losing health.”
Lu Xingyan immediately checked his health bar. “Heal yourself. Don’t fall off.”
Jiang Ji found the healing skill from memory and watched Lu Xingyan’s flashy gameplay. Kill announcements kept appearing in the center of the screen: double kill, triple kill… As Lu Xingyan closed in on a pentakill, Jiang Ji praised him. “You’re really good. Much better than you used to be.”
“Obviously.” Lu Xingyan was not modest in the slightest. “I have several heroes ranked among the best on the national server. Climbing ranks every day is as easy as drinking water.”
Jiang Ji nodded. “The fact that you never went pro is truly a loss for Chinese esports.”
Lu Xingyan practically floated from the praise. “I think so too. What a shame.”
Jiang Ji: “…”
The chat burst into laughter:
“The streamer’s getting drunk on compliments.”
“Streamer seems a little tipsy today.”
“Are you that happy duo-queuing with Bro?”
“Streamer, you still haven’t answered. Is our bro your biological brother?”
“I have a bold theory…”
Whatever the chat said, Lu Xingyan simply pretended not to see any question he did not want to answer. It was not that he did not want to show off their relationship; he was afraid that once he started, he would not be able to stop himself and might cause trouble for Jiang Ji.
—Heaven only knew how difficult it was for him to restrain himself.
Lu Xingyan poured all his pent-up desire to show off into the game instead, carrying Jiang Ji through three consecutive victories and getting more fired up with every match.
Jiang Ji never stopped praising him, going from “Your skill shots are so accurate” and “Your game sense is amazing” all the way to “You can tell just from his in-game character that the streamer is truly a dragon among men, dashing and uninhibited” and “You’re simply too charming.” The chat was filled with laughter, everyone saying Jiang Ji was excellent at creating entertainment.
But Lu Xingyan believed every word of his brother’s praise was sincere. Happiness practically bubbled out of his head as he sent his hero charging excitedly forward, as though he wanted to trample the entire Rift beneath his feet and take his brother to the highest point to admire the view. “Look. This is the kingdom I conquered for you.”
Jiang Ji grew playful and used his User3575743593 account to send another paid comment: “I don’t think the streamer is actually that good. Does Bro not understand the game? His mechanics seem pretty average.”
Lu Xingyan saw it and immediately pulled a long face. “Average? Me? My brother understands better than you do.”
Jiang Ji maintained two entirely different personas. Speaking into the microphone, he said, “Why are you snapping at them? Is that how you talk to a patron?”
“…”
Lu Xingyan choked, then turned toward him. “Then tell me. Am I actually good?”
“Hmm.” Jiang Ji pretended to think. “I think they have a point. You’re good, but maybe not that good.”
“What does that mean?”
“I haven’t played in too long, so I don’t understand the game anymore. Diamond isn’t even a particularly high rank.” Jiang Ji looked completely serious. “So I really can’t tell exactly how good you are.”
Lu Xingyan: “…”
So all that praise earlier could simply be taken back now?
Lu Xingyan immediately sent Jiang Ji a new account. “Log into this one. I’ll take you into King-rank games.”
“Is that really necessary?” Jiang Ji said. “We’re here to have fun, not prove anything.”
While Lu Xingyan switched accounts, Jiang Ji used User3575743593 to type in chat: “Is the streamer an elementary-school kid? Why does he get worked up after just a couple of teasing comments? Kind of cute.”
Jiang Ji was playing both sides of the conversation and assumed Lu Xingyan would never notice. But Lu Xingyan was sharper than he expected. He paused when he saw the comment, caught a faint sense of familiarity, and suspiciously turned toward Jiang Ji.
“Why are you looking at me?” Jiang Ji calmly switched back to the game.
“Are you watching the stream?” Lu Xingyan glanced toward the taskbar on Jiang Ji’s screen. “Let me see.”
“No.” Jiang Ji denied it without hesitation and held down the mouse.
Lu Xingyan reached over to grab it. His entire upper body moved out of the camera frame as he leaned over Jiang Ji’s chair.
From the viewers’ perspective, nobody could see what Lu Xingyan was doing. They could only hear the rustle of hands fighting over the mouse and keyboard and clothes brushing together. Then, abruptly, both voices disappeared. Thanks to the clarity of their headsets, faint, suppressed inhalations could be heard, slow like deliberately muffled panting.
The chat filled with question marks:
“???”
“Where did they go??”
“What are you doing??”
“Does that sound right?!!”
“What are you doing that I’m not allowed to see?”
“Turn the camera around and let me watch!”
About a minute later, Lu Xingyan returned to the camera frame.
The stream became even more chaotic:
“Holy shit, the streamer’s mouth looks like… uh…”
“AAAAAAAAAA!”
“I knew this wasn’t a normal kind of bro!”
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Lu Xingyan immediately turned off the camera. “My brother and I got into a fight. He was using an alt account to trash-talk me, and I caught him red-handed. Heh.”
Jiang Ji’s voice was slightly hoarse. After the deep kiss, he had lost some interest in playing games and wanted to switch to something else. He gave Lu Xingyan a look, exited the game, and said, “You keep playing. I’m going to rest.”
“Okay. Then wait for me.” Lu Xingyan answered automatically.
They had not revealed anything outright, but the viewers were extremely sharp—
“Holy shit, wait for you to do what?”
“What are you two going to do, huh??”
“I demand a live broadcast!”
“You’re not allowed to end the stream if you’re not going to show us!”
“Has anyone noticed the streamer hasn’t mentioned his wife once tonight?”
“Correction: he mentioned her once, but only once. Totally different from normal.”
“Is it possible that the streamer’s wife is actually—”
“No. Absolutely not.” Lu Xingyan pursed his lips, checked that nothing obvious could be seen, and turned the camera back on. “A brother is a brother. A brother can never turn into a wife.”
—As if.
Next
Leave a Reply