His Venomous Former Boss Chased Him And Beat Him Fiercely Chapter 16

Be direct, as direct as saying you like him.

Learning from the morning’s lesson, Kong Xunwen dutifully followed the tutorial at noon and cooked two dishes, enough for two meals, with the remainder saved for the evening.

To avoid a repeat of yesterday’s situation, he specifically set an alarm on his phone.

However, after finishing the cooking, he still sighed with a hint of regret.

If cooking meant no freedom to improvise, where was the fun in that?

At 2:30 PM, Kong Xunwen woke up from his nap and prepared for the live stream. In truth, not much preparation was needed; he just had to set up the equipment at the same angle as yesterday.

The only difference today was placing his phone next to the easel. Some viewers yesterday said they would return, and while he wasn’t sure if they would, yesterday’s situation proved that his current streaming angle was at least acceptable.

As for other things, he would slowly figure them out. For today, he decided to incorporate interaction with the bullet comments.

To be honest, this made Kong Xunwen more nervous than yesterday. Although it wasn’t face-to-face communication, he had never done anything like this before, and he hadn’t even thought about how to handle it.

He decided to treat it as casual chatting.

Taking a deep breath, Kong Xunwen opened the live stream. No one joined immediately, and the bullet comments were empty. Since he couldn’t just sit idle, he picked up his brush and began further detailing his painting.

Xiaoxiao still remembered the new streamer she followed yesterday, named “Wen.” Driven by curiosity about how such a painting could be further detailed, and by the words she overheard yesterday, she clicked into the stream the moment she saw it was live.

However, the streamer had already picked up his brush and wasn’t looking at the bullet comments displayed on the phone.

She felt a little disappointed. Her conversation with the streamer yesterday made him seem quite interesting, and she genuinely hadn’t expected him to be such a handsome guy. Yet, today, the camera angle was the same, showing only his back.

Fortunately, she wasn’t initially drawn in by those things; the main attraction was the streamer’s painting skill.

The streamer was currently working on an Acrylic Painting, using acrylic paints. She recognized the brand of paints, which she could only describe as… very expensive.

Of course, price was usually commensurate with quality.

But besides those, there were many other art supplies visible in the stream, such as Watercolor, Marker Pen, and Oil Paint, all showing signs of use. She was quite looking forward to seeing the streamer use those in the future.

However, her biggest complaint right now was that the current angle was too far away. She couldn’t clearly see the details the streamer was adding; she could only spot changes when the brush moved away.

It wasn’t until several minutes later that Kong Xunwen suddenly remembered to look at the phone mounted beside him.

The viewer count had reached 187 and was slowly climbing. Although slightly fewer than yesterday, most were viewers who had found him yesterday and returned today.

Kong Xunwen was a little surprised that so many people had actually shown up.

The bullet comments were also very active, and some people were giving likes and small gifts. In a short while, the count reached 200.

He looked at the comments.

[Streamer, please look at the comments! Can you move the camera closer? I really can’t see clearly!]

[Look at the comments. It would be best if you could show your face while filming the painting. Please, please.]

[Look at the comments! And what about the story from yesterday? I believe there must be a sequel, right, right?]

[Hahahaha, what a lively stream. So what’s going on? I thought everyone was here to watch the painting.]

[Is there really a handsome guy? Then I’ll wait patiently.]

[Hey? Where are the honeysuckles from yesterday?]

Kong Xunwen read through all of them, momentarily unsure which to answer first. Seeing the last question, he decided to start there: “The honeysuckles were taken out to dry. I plan to dry them and brew tea.”

The moment he spoke, the bullet comments became even more lively. Some repeated previous questions, while others made new requests.

Kong Xunwen quickly said, “Don’t rush, everyone, I’ll read them one by one… Change the angle? I can adjust that.”

As he spoke, he took the phone and turned towards the equipment stand, and his face instantly came into view.

[Wow, wow, wow, he really is handsome!]

[A handsome guy who is also so talented?]

[What kind of stream is this? What does the streamer mainly stream?]

[The streamer streams painting. If you’re interested, you can follow him. Watch a handsome guy showcase his talent live.]

The last comment was posted by Xiaoxiao.

Xiaoxiao often frequented various painting streams and naturally understood the common phrases. She was mainly happy because the streamer had adopted her suggestion.

Kong Xunwen was also watching the stream while adjusting the equipment. Seeing the comment, he smiled. He didn’t seem to smile often; his smile was a little unfamiliar, but his eyes curved, revealing a noticeable dimple on his right cheek.

The full lower eyelids made this unfamiliar smile not strange at all, but rather quite beautiful.

“Thank you, Xiaoxiao. Yes, if everyone is interested, you can follow me. I usually stream around this time, and I’ll post the schedule in advance.”

[I’ve seen many handsome guys, and I can tell you with special responsibility: you are really suited to smiling!]

[Wow, who understands? It’s the kind that’s super genuine!]

[I’m in love, I’ve added another person to my durian husk heart.]

Kong Xunwen was a little embarrassed and flustered by such direct praise. He pursed his lips and continued adjusting the distance and angle. Sitting back down, he turned his head and asked, “Is this okay?”

[Yes, it is.]

[Yes, yes. It would be even more perfect if you showed your face again, streamer.]

[Hahahaha, yes, just maintaining this posture is perfect.]

“That won’t work,” Kong Xunwen said. He had slightly adapted to the atmosphere of chatting with the bullet comments during the stream. Perhaps because his stream had a good atmosphere, it attracted people who liked that kind of environment, and text communication also made him much more comfortable.

He even managed a joke: “If I do that, I won’t be able to paint. Isn’t everyone watching my stream because of my talent?”

The stream now had over 400 viewers, stabilizing between 400 and 450. However, the number of followers had reached 342. Although some were from yesterday, Kong Xunwen was already very pleasantly surprised.

After all, there were so many people streaming these days.

[Yes, yes, but it’s also because of your face.]

[Handsome guy, don’t underestimate your looks!]

[Hey? Am I the only one here for the streamer’s talent?]

[Hahahaha, we’re just kidding!]

Kong Xunwen resumed detailing his painting, though this time he occasionally chatted with the bullet comments, keeping the viewer count relatively stable.

The little incident from yesterday, mentioned at the start of the stream, was quietly forgotten.

Time passed slowly. In the early evening, his phone suddenly rang, startling both Kong Xunwen and the viewers in the stream.

[(&%￥)!!! You scared me! I almost thought I had to go back to work.]

[I was badly startled too.]

[Hahahahaha, the streamer jumped too!]

Kong Xunwen was indeed badly startled. He hadn’t been chatting with the comments; he was focused on detailing and explaining why a certain area needed that specific refinement.

For him, this wasn’t distracting, nor did it make the stream too boring.

Fortunately, he managed to control his hand movements in time, and the paper remained clean.

Seeing that the comments were all saying they were startled, the young man apologized: “I’m sorry, that was my alarm.”

“I cooked too much food at noon today, and I need to eat dinner on time. I was afraid I’d forget to eat, like yesterday.”

[Ah, you must eat properly, or what about stomach problems? Go ahead, streamer.]

[Speaking of which, I almost forgot. I haven’t eaten today either. I always forget.]

[Why don’t you take us with you to eat? Turn the painting stream into an eating stream, and we can chat while you eat.]

Kong Xunwen was seriously advising, “Everyone must eat properly…” when he saw that comment, and his face showed hesitation.

Below it, however, many comments followed, requesting to eat together.

He reluctantly agreed: “Then… alright.”

*

Qiu Zhijie looked down at the young man on his tablet. The man was showing his dinner to the camera, while saying with a somewhat serious expression, “You must eat properly. It will be too late once you discover you’re sick.”

“Being sick is very uncomfortable.”

He paused, picked up the tablet, and walked towards the kitchen in his suite. He had ordered food at noon, and there were many leftovers, which he had put in the fridge.

He also kept fresh vegetables and meat stocked in the refrigerator.

He heated oil and cracked eggs into the pan when the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

Qiu Zhijie held the spatula in one hand and answered the call with the other, glancing at the caller ID as he did so.

“Hello? Mom?”

His mother’s voice was somewhat cold and slightly hoarse, showing no emotion in its tone: “Mm.”

She suddenly paused: “What are you doing?”

“Egg fried rice.”

“Oh, your specialty.”

“That’s right.”

They chatted for a few moments. When Qiu Zhijie asked why she called suddenly, he heard his mother’s voice, though still flat, rise slightly in pitch, clearly indicating interest in the question she was about to ask: “I remember you said you were going to confess to your beloved when you returned from your business trip?”

“…Yes.” Qiu Zhijie paused for a moment before answering.

This surprised his mother: “Your beloved didn’t agree?”

“The situation is a bit complicated.” Qiu Zhijie wasn’t sure how to describe it.

“Alright, but I assume you’re not planning to give up just like that?” Although it was a question, his mother sounded quite certain.

Qiu Zhijie nodded, realizing she couldn’t see him: “Correct.”

“Then, do you need some advice?”

“…Yes, I want to know what my problem is.” Qiu Zhijie didn’t hesitate for long. He had only recently realized that he might have a problem.

He had always thought he was slowly warming Kong Xunwen up, approaching him step by step, but the other party’s reaction when he said similar things before was clearly inconsistent with what he had imagined.

But where exactly did things go wrong?

Qiu Zhijie didn’t know. He tried to objectively narrate the events of the past few days to his mother.

“You surprise me,” his mother commented after listening.

“But not entirely. You were like this with friends before. You wanted to play with someone, but you just walked around them a few extra times. We thought you didn’t like it, so we put it in the storage room—”

Qiu Zhijie realized something was off: “Wait, storage room? Friend?”

“Oh, that was when you were very young. It was a dinosaur doll. Who told you not to actively seek out friends after that? Everyone always liked being friends with you or making you their leader,” his mother said calmly.

“Getting off track. In short, you always beat around the bush, can’t you see? You’re doing the same thing with your beloved.”

“Son, be direct, as direct as saying you like him.”