Chapter 15: Socially Anxious Star 15
Jiang Kong dragged his feet on telling Jiang Yi about the livestream until noon on the sixth.
Jiang Yi, who had just finished lunch: …
After a long pause, she finally confirmed, “A livestream?”
Jiang Kong nodded.
“For half an hour?”
Jiang Kong nodded again.
“Answering questions over a video connection?”
Jiang Kong hesitated for a second, then nodded. “Mm.”
Right after saying that, he felt a twinge of regret and immediately adjusted his phrasing. “Do you want to participate? If you don’t, I’ll just mention it to the director. It’s really not a big deal.”
“I can skip it?”
Jiang Kong paused for a beat, then gave a decisive nod. “I’ll just let the director know.”
Jiang Yi hesitated. Remembering the online backlash against Jiang Kong when he had missed a red carpet event before, she gritted her teeth and nodded anyway.
“Just…”
“I can be in the same livestream room as you, right?”
Jiang Kong’s eyes lit up, and he gave a rapid nod. “Yeah! I’ll do my best so you can just coast through it.”
“Okay.”
Jiang Yi nodded again and again.
She had already survived one episode of the show; doing a half-hour livestream now should be… manageable, right?
At 7:30 PM.
Jiang Kong adjusted the livestream camera, and after ensuring everything was in order, he took a lap around the room to double-check the environment.
The windows were securely closed, and the curtains were drawn. This was the third-floor study, so the audience shouldn’t be able to tell where they were recording.
At 7:45 PM, the director began urging everyone to check if all guests were present.
Jiang Kong waited patiently in the study. With seven minutes to go before eight o’clock, Jiang Yi appeared at the doorway.
Jiang Kong patted the chair beside him. “Sis, sit here.”
Jiang Yi glanced at the camera in front of Jiang Kong and asked in a low voice, “Is it on?”
Jiang Kong glanced at the computer screen. Just now, the director had asked everyone to debug together, so he had turned the stream on early.
However, minor detail.
“I’ll turn the camera on in a moment.”
As Jiang Kong spoke, he reached out and turned off the camera directly, letting Jiang Yi come over and get settled first.
Faced with a suddenly pitch-black livestream room, netizens:
【 ????????? 】
【 Jiang Kong, you’re so high and mighty, turning off the camera like that 】
【 Ahhhhhhh it’s just your sister! What could there possibly be that we can’t see? 】
【 What are you turning the camera off for? Kongkong, you’re acting like an outsider now, huh? 】
【 Let Sister see her sisters-in-law! 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Jiang Kong has more or less got a sister complex going on 】
…
Jiang Yi looked at the pitch-black computer screen. Only after sitting down beside Jiang Kong did her voice grow slightly louder.
“Will people be able to see us in a little bit?”
Jiang Kong let out an “mm.” “Once I turn on the camera in a moment, we’ll pop up on the screen.”
“Over here.”
He pointed with his finger toward the bottom right corner. “Over here, you can see the netizens’ bullet comments.”
Jiang Yi nodded, took a deep breath, and heard Jiang Kong ask again, “Are you ready?”
“Ready.”
She nodded.
Jiang Kong reopened the camera.
The moment the camera turned back on, both of their faces immediately appeared on the computer screen. Unexpectedly seeing herself on screen, Jiang Yi was stunned for a moment, her eyes instinctively darting away to dodge the view.
“Is it… this big?” she inquired.
Facing her own face taking up half the screen made her feel a little self-conscious.
Jiang Kong connected his mouse and clicked around a few times. Before long, the other guests’ livestream rooms appeared on the screen one after another.
There were eight in total.
Aside from Jiang Yi and Jiang Kong sharing a single stream, everyone else had an individual livestream room. There was also one stream reserved for the director.
Once the eight streams filled the screen, the portion belonging to Jiang Yi’s face finally shrank considerably.
Her awkwardness eased slightly.
Jiang Yi lifted her eyes to look at the other guests’ livestreams.
The first one was the director’s, which was exceptionally unconventional—he was right in his own bedroom, and you could even see clothes scattered on the bed.
The second belonged to Teacher Chang Ximing. He seemed to be in his living room, with an exceptionally beautiful ink wash landscape painting hanging behind him as the backdrop.
The third was Pei Wusi…
Before Jiang Yi could look closely, she heard the director’s voice.
“Welcome everyone to our livestream… party, haha.”
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I can tell you ran out of words, Director 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA What kind of godforsaken party 】
【 Old Pei is now a man who has attended a party too 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Why is this so funny 】
The director cleared his throat and continued, “Welcome everyone for taking time out of your busy schedules to join the livestream. Let’s first greet the audience.”
“Teacher Chang, you go first.”
Teacher Chang Ximing waved his hand. “Hello everyone, I’m Chang Ximing.”
“Old Pei, you’re up.”
Pei Wusi offered a helpless smile. “Hello everyone, I’m Pei Wusi.”
There was no need to call out names after that, as everyone took turns introducing themselves in succession.
When it came to Jiang Kong’s turn, he introduced the sister beside him along the way.
“Hello everyone, I’m Jiang Kong, and beside me is my older sister, Jiang Yi.”
Jiang Yi raised her hand and gave a tiny wave, her ears turning bright red beyond her control.
So… so awkward…
Once the self-introduction segment wrapped up smoothly, the director began asking everyone small questions, bringing up most of the guests. Of course, the main responders were the four industry insiders: Pei Wusi, Jiang Kong, Shen Ping, and Luo Jiajin.
“I’ve always been really curious, Jiang Kong—how did you come up with the idea of working as a wedding host?” the director asked.
Jiang Kong answered, “That was pretty easy to come up with. Plus, that day happened to be an auspicious date for weddings, so I thought I’d give it a shot with a test-the-waters mindset.”
“As for how…”
Jiang Yi lowered her eyes, listening intently, occasionally glancing at the screen.
After Jiang Kong finished speaking and the director offered a few brief replies, the director turned to ask Pei Wusi.
“When our post-production team was editing footage, we noticed Old Pei stepped out once around noon. May we ask what you went out to do?”
Pei Wusi lifted his eyelids and looked toward the director’s livestream feed, his expression laced with helplessness.
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Old Pei: My unfortunate friend. 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHA Looks like the director of ‘Different’ is good friends with Old Pei, keeping a super low profile 】
【 WHAT! Old Pei actually went out right at noon? Why did he go out? 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You can just feel Old Pei is different on this show 】
【 AHHHHHHH When is the edited first episode going to drop? 】
“Went to the supermarket,” Pei Wusi answered.
Jiang Yi’s two perked-up ears quietly folded back down. She stole a cautious glance at Pei Wusi’s camera frame, terrified that he might bring her up.
Fortunately, he didn’t mention it, nor did the director probe any further.
Once the individual Q&A wrapped up, they moved on to comprehensive group questions.
Director: “During our previous time together, what was the event that left the deepest impression on everyone?”
Teacher Chang Ximing spoke first: “Sleeping together with Teacher Shen Ping.”
Teacher Shen Ping followed right behind: “Hahaha, the director making us pay five hundred yuan for room fees.”
Everyone else mentioned that incident as well. Blending into the crowd behind Jiang Kong, Jiang Yi added a quiet, “Me too.”
Pei Wusi was the last to answer, saying, “Eating rock sugar snow pear soup.”
“Rock sugar snow pear soup?” the director inquired.
Pei Wusi nodded. “It tasted great.”
Jiang Kong paused for a beat, then couldn’t help breaking into a laugh. If he hadn’t been mindful of his public image, he could have bragged to everyone: Hehe, my sister made that!
Shen Xiangcheng immediately chimed in as well: “Yes, that was the first time I’ve ever eaten such delicious rock sugar snow pear soup.”
This topic came to a temporary close. The director glanced at Pei Wusi and switched to a different question.
“Please introduce your current locations to everyone.”
Chang Ximing was in his living room at home, drinking tea.
He shifted his camera to show everyone the layout of his living room—antique and elegant, filled wall-to-wall with landscape paintings and calligraphy.
【 Wow, wow, wow, so pretty 】
【 Teacher Chang is a master of Chinese traditional culture after all, his calligraphy is especially gorgeous 】
【 I love this kind of living room so much 】
Pei Wusi was in his study, where the glass cabinets behind him could be seen packed to the brim with books of almost every category imaginable.
Watching him shift his camera, Jiang Yi’s eyes couldn’t help lighting up slightly.
Behind Pei Wusi was an entire wall of books, looking remarkably grand. Near his hand on the closest desk surface lay some half-copied Buddhist scriptures.
【 !!!!! Who’s jealous? I won’t name names 】
【 An entire wall of books! I considered that before, but I felt like I’d never finish reading them 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Wildly tempted 】
【 HAHAHAHAHA Old Pei actually copies Buddhist scriptures 】
【 On the surface, some people look like they party harder than anyone, but in reality, they stay at home cultivating their mind and copying Buddhist scriptures 】
Pei Wusi glanced at the bullet comments, pursed his lips into a smile, and explained, “Just a little hobby.”
Luo Xia was in her art studio, which was quite spacious, its walls covered with her paintings.
Luo Jiajin was in her bedroom, seated beside a desk whose small bookshelf was packed with books from the health preservation series.
【 HAHAHAHAHA We already knew Teacher Luo is a health fanatic 】
【 So many?! 】
【 Teacher Luo pushed herself really hard when she was young, and later her health deteriorated, which was why she gradually began putting work aside to focus on wellness 】
【 Ah, health is the prerequisite for everything! 】
Shen Xiangcheng was in a lounge, though he didn’t specify which one. Plenty of items featuring traditional opera elements were visible in the frame.
Shen Ping wasn’t home either; he was inside a car.
He was currently the only one in the vehicle, and the lighting wasn’t great. The overhead light shone down from above, making him look a bit bald.
Once he noticed it, he fumbled around for a hat and put it on.
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Don’t cover it up, we all saw it 】
【 Heartbreak 】
【 Balding, the sworn enemy of a lifetime! 】
Jiang Kong and Jiang Yi were together, so they answered last.
Because they were using a computer webcam, they simply moved out of the way and rotated the camera.
Jiang Yi finished her half-glass of water and used the excuse of getting a refill in the living room outside to temporarily flee the camera like a fleeting ghost.
Jiang Kong backed up a bit and introduced, “We’re in the study at home.”
“It’s pretty ordinary, nothing special.”
As he spoke, he slightly turned the camera around in a full circle.
【 The interior decor style looks pretty similar to my house! 】
【 Right, looks like it was decorated a long time ago. The carved woodwork on that shelf behind was a popular style ten years ago. 】
【 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Aside from being huge, it actually feels pretty familiar. 】
【 Sister left! Why did Sister leave? 】
【 Lacks some greenery. 】
【 !!! That one… middle of the shelf, third row, sixth item… isn’t that my goddess’s movie disc? 】
【 What what? 】
【 AHHHHHHHHHH Yes, it’s Jiang Lan’s movie disc! Sobbing! 】
【 Jiang Kong, are you selling it? I can pay money to buy it! 】
【 Me me me me me! I can too! 】
【 Back when she unexpectedly passed away, I genuinely cried my eyes out 】
【 Jiang Lan?! My ultimate idol!!!!! Sobbing! 】
The livestream room instantly exploded into bustling excitement.
Jiang Kong froze for a moment upon seeing the bullet comments, then stood up to carefully take down the movie disc displayed on the shelf.
“It’s Teacher Jiang’s As Fair as Jade.”
The very work that had earned Jiang Lan two Film Queen awards back in the day.
She had originally been on track to win a third Film Queen title, becoming the first female star in cinematic history to achieve a grand slam with a single work. But…
【 AHHHHHH It’s As Fair as Jade! 】
【 Sobbing, it’s the goddess’s final movie before she passed away. 】
【 Ah, such a massive shame! She could have won three Film Queen titles 】
【 Yes, sobbing! If Jiang Lan hadn’t passed away in a car accident before the award ceremony, that year’s Warner Best Actress Award would have been hers too. 】
【 Is Jiang Kong really not selling this disc? I want to collect it, name your price 】
【 I sincerely want it, is 500,000 yuan okay? 】
【 Whoa, a big shot spotted in the bullet comments 】
Jiang Kong shook his head. After looking down at the disc for a moment, he raised his head and replied:
“Not selling.”
Holding a cup of water as she walked back over, Jiang Yi paused when she saw the disc in Jiang Kong’s hands before walking up beside him.
“Why did you take it down?”
Jiang Kong: “The viewers in the stream spotted it, so I brought it out to let them have a look.”
As he spoke, he stood in front of the lens and carefully displayed the disc to the livestream audience, including the signature on it.
Only after finishing the display did he carefully put the disc back.
“It’s not for sale—my dad collected it.”
“He loved her very much and collected everything about her.”
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