Chapter Index

    We’re shipping the real deal!!! Kiss

    The ear piercing kit wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon, and Kong Xunwen was currently live streaming when there was a knock on the door.

    Someone immediately asked about it in the comments. Before Kong Xunwen could answer, the door was opened from the outside.

    Yesterday, he at least waited for an answer before entering. Was he this brazen today?

    This person was adapting to his new role far too quickly.

    Kong Xunwen looked over, grumbling internally.

    Qiu Zhijie leaned against the doorframe, holding up something in his hand toward Kong Xunwen.

    Kong Xunwen subconsciously asked, “What is that?”

    Qiu Zhijie’s voice wasn’t particularly loud: “Didn’t you say you were going to pierce my ears? Did you forget?”

    He quickly shook his head, but Kong Xunwen also remembered the live stream. Turning back, he saw the curious questions popping up in the comments, having caught snippets of the conversation.

    Who is it? A friend? Doesn’t sound like the little kid from before.

    I feel like that voice… sounds a bit like the person who confessed before, the one who asked Wen to eat yesterday.

    Ooh~~ Something suspicious is going on.

    So, can you tell us? We’re a little curious.

    Kong Xunwen instinctively glanced at the man waiting for his reply, and didn’t hesitate for long: “There’s nothing I can’t say. He’s my boyfriend.”

    Wow!!!

    Wuwu, I knew it, but am I really heartbroken?

    Will your boyfriend appear on camera?

    Curious what he looks like.

    Maybe not. I came to the stream to watch the streamer.

    Kong Xunwen also quickly shook his head: “He won’t be on camera. Everyone doesn’t need to pay too much attention to this.”

    “What do you mean, don’t pay too much attention? Isn’t dating a very important thing?” A light, smiling voice drifted in from the side.

    Kong Xunwen quickly turned his head and glared at the troublemaker. When he was in a good mood, the man became a pest.

    Qiu Zhijie tilted his head and raised a hand to cover his mouth, signaling that he wouldn’t speak again.

    Hahaha, of course it’s important.

    He’s trying to get attention, isn’t he?

    I said before that this was great to ship, and now it looks like I’m shipping the real deal!!!

    Kong Xunwen didn’t dwell on the topic, only saying a few simple words before seriously continuing his stream. Yesterday’s sketch wasn’t finished, and he had some new ideas for the current painting.

    He quickly immersed himself in the work.

    Time passed slowly. After the sketch was finished, just as he was about to continue painting, Kong Xunwen suddenly remembered something and checked the time.

    It wasn’t too late, but it was already past five o’clock. He had started streaming shortly after dinner and had been broadcasting continuously for over five hours.

    This current painting was particularly taxing right from the sketching stage because he planned to use a larger canvas. This required him to perfect as many details as possible during the sketch phase, forming a basic image in his mind first.

    He actually didn’t want to stop once he started, but if he hadn’t stopped by the time dinner was ready, Qiu Zhijie would definitely come looking for him.

    It was better to stop now, and he didn’t want to miss dinner later.

    Kong Xunwen only realized how tired he was after stopping. He put down his pen and looked at the comments. Because he had been painting the entire time, there weren’t many comments, but the number of viewers hadn’t dropped significantly.

    “I thought everyone would find it boring.” Drawing out the images in his mind gave Kong Xunwen a feeling of inner fulfillment. Although tired, he was in a great mood.

    The young man looked a bit fatigued but was still smiling, looking down at the comments while turning to face the camera.

    Behind him was the large sheet of paper, which now contained a concrete image, though the brushstrokes in the middle were still somewhat rough and not detailed, just a simple depiction of the scene, enough to tell what it was.

    The light outside the window was already dimming. The sun had come out briefly this afternoon, and now the sunset was casting long, drawn-out rays of light that couldn’t quite reach the young man’s face, lingering only at his feet and on the canvas frame.

    The smiling young man’s face remained in the cool light. Qiu Zhijie had quietly turned on the studio light earlier, which Kong Xunwen hadn’t noticed at the time, though a few people in the comments had.

    More shipping material.

    The cool tone of the fluorescent light made the young man’s face look pale, resisting the faint yellow of the sunset.

    Under that cool light, the young man’s fatigue was even more apparent, yet the underlying excitement beneath the exhaustion gave the smiling, self-restrained young man an almost alluring beauty.

    Of course not boring, because Wen paints beautifully.

    Yes, yes, but I use it as white noise, hehe.

    Hmm, it’s actually great for sleeping.

    ? Am I the only one working while watching? If I get tired, I just look up, and the fatigue instantly disappears. Who understands?

    Hehe, same here. But I strongly suggest Wen adjust the camera angle. I really want to see your full face.

    I always saw your profile before and thought only your profile was handsome, but when you turn your head, your full face is even more authoritative.

    Kong Xunwen looked slightly helpless: “In any case, there’s still something worth watching, right?”

    That’s definitely true.

    “That’s good. I’ll start the stream a little earlier tomorrow. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.” Kong Xunwen scrolled through the records on his phone, thanking people for gifts one by one: “…Thank you all for the gifts.”

    “That’s all for the stream today. Goodbye, everyone.”

    The young man waved, and the live stream went dark.

    Xiaoxiao logged out of the stream, feeling satisfied, but when she scrolled to the next stream, she felt a little bored.

    Wen gave her a truly unique feeling, and she always felt comfortable in his stream. The fans were mostly similar people, gentle and easygoing. She was also like that, so she felt very comfortable.

    Perhaps it was because people who liked this kind of stream were like this. Even if occasionally a bad person came in and said strange things, no one paid attention, and gradually those people stopped coming.

    After browsing a few more streams, Xiaoxiao closed the app and opened the recording of Wen’s stream. Watching it again, she could still feel that sense of peace.

    Oh, right. She often saw clips of streams. Although Wen’s stream wasn’t that exciting, there were some fun snippets.

    With that thought, Xiaoxiao found something to do. She had recently become very interested in video editing and was looking for suitable material.

    After work, Xiaoxiao returned home, ordered takeout, and sat down at her desk to open her computer. She quickly edited a video.

    …It was a little strange.

    She frowned after watching it.

    But this was her first time editing a video herself. She would try again.

    After a while, the takeout had arrived. She ate dinner first and then started editing again, finally managing to cut a segment she was satisfied with.

    Just as she was happily admiring her work and smiling at how amusing it was, she suddenly remembered something.

    If she were to post this kind of edited content…

    She needed the streamer’s permission, right?

    She froze.

    Forget it. She would ask Wen later. It should be fine, right? The streamer seemed like a very nice person.

    Thinking this, Xiaoxiao’s excitement slightly diminished.

    She looked at her finished work and comforted herself.

    It’s okay. Even if Wen doesn’t agree, she can just treat it as practice.

    *

    Kong Xunwen was checking his account. The platform he streamed on was a well-known large platform with both live streaming and short video sections, and the live streams were further categorized into different types.

    He was categorized as a cultural live stream because his content was painting.

    By now, he had a fixed audience for every stream, about nine hundred people, occasionally breaking a thousand, and sometimes reaching two or three thousand when things were more active.

    Then there were the stream announcements he posted. Since the announcements always featured pictures of his paintings, they also attracted some people, though mostly they were his regular viewers. Sometimes they attracted new followers.

    In total, his account now had just over ten thousand followers.

    Ten thousand followers might not seem like much, but he had only started streaming less than a month ago, so he was quite satisfied.

    He even had advertisements reaching out to him through the backend, but Kong Xunwen didn’t even open them. He didn’t plan to make money this way.

    His teacher had suggested he stream while taking commissions, and that was what he intended to do, but for now…

    He hadn’t figured out how to go about it, and he was a little worried if he could even do it.

    What if… it was like his time at the studio again…

    Kong Xunwen took a deep breath.

    Even though he had tried his best to forget those foolish three years, three years was not a short time for anyone, and he couldn’t erase the impact that period had on him.

    “The timing is perfect today.”

    Kong Xunwen looked up. The man had appeared in the open doorway at some point and was smiling at him, clearly in a good mood.

    But Kong Xunwen wasn’t in a good mood right now, especially after thinking about those three years. Seeing the face that represented those three years made him feel a bit…

    Annoyed.

    “What’s wrong? Are you too tired?” Qiu Zhijie noticed the young man’s unusual expression and quickly approached him with concern.

    Kong Xunwen adjusted his mood, then looked at Qiu Zhijie and shook his head: “Nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

    “What is it? Tell me? Maybe I can help.”

    Kong Xunwen was helped up by the man and gave him a speechless look: “I’m not that weak, am I?”

    “No, you’re not, but I like doing this.” Qiu Zhijie hadn’t been able to disturb the young man all afternoon, only catching glimpses of the stream during breaks in his online work. Once he got his hands on the young man, he couldn’t let go.

    It wasn’t until he was caught again, accompanying Qiu Zhijie in the kitchen while he made dinner, that Kong Xunwen stared at the anime on the big screen and thought about it. Finally, after dinner, while Qiu Zhijie was preparing a fruit plate, hugging him from behind…

    Wait a minute.

    What the heck was this?

    Kong Xunwen blinked, finally snapping out of his thoughts completely.

    He hadn’t noticed it before, but he realized that ever since Qiu Zhijie started washing the dishes, he had been pulled along and hadn’t left Qiu Zhijie’s side for a step.

    Now it was even more excessive. The man behind him was taking advantage of his height and long arms. In this position, he only needed to turn his head slightly, and with his hands crossing over Kong Xunwen’s waist, he could smoothly cut the fruit and arrange it on the plate in front.

    And it looked particularly beautiful, too.

    “You need to do this just to cut a fruit plate?” Qiu Zhijie had finished arranging the plate and held a slice of starfruit to Kong Xunwen’s lips. The starfruit was juicy, and Kong Xunwen quickly bit into it. After chewing, he turned his head to ask the motionless person behind him.

    “You finally woke up.” Qiu Zhijie’s reaction was mild. He lowered his gaze to look at the young man’s strange expression: “Isn’t it disrespectful to your boyfriend’s hard work to ignore it like that?”

    Kong Xunwen’s eyes darted around, glancing at the man’s expression.

    Qiu Zhijie watched for a moment, until the young man seemed on the verge of exasperation, then lowered his head and kissed him directly.

    The sweet and sour scent of starfruit juice passed between their lips.

    Kong Xunwen was now facing Qiu Zhijie. In his slightly closed eyes, he saw the man’s long, downturned lashes, unable to discern the expression in his eyes, only the lingering softness and tenderness of his lips.

    Well, he was indeed in the wrong about this.

    After the kiss ended, Kong Xunwen pursed his lips and smiled at Qiu Zhijie: “I’m sorry.”

    A light kiss landed on his corner of his mouth again: “Alright, let’s go eat the fruit.”

    Note