144: Fellow travelers

After parting ways, both of them had quite a lot on their minds.

On Gao Xiaofan's side, he stared at his phone, occasionally opening his chat window with Zhao Yuling. On the screen were the photos of the two of them taken over the past two days that she had sent him.

"She even held my hand, so she must like me, right?"

"But what does she like about me?"

"It's hard to say... Little Yu's personality is naturally a bit carefree and tomboyish."

"Could it just be the affection between friends?"

Gao Xiaofan tossed and turned, feeling completely out of sorts. He had been young when his parents passed away, still naive and ignorant. Since then, he had been busy surviving and never had the chance to fall in love, nor would anyone have looked twice at him.

After thinking for a long time without finding a clue, he blinked and stared at the ceiling.

"According to how it goes in TV dramas, shouldn't I go and confess?"

...Zhao Yuling was driving, her mouth occasionally curling into a smile and her eyes curving like crescent moons, then her brow would furrow, her lips would pout, and she would even gnash her teeth from time to time.

"Dummy! Big idiot! Blockhead!"

"We've already held hands, why hasn't he confessed yet? Scumbag!!!"

"Pah, looking at that dazed expression of his, I can tell he's never been in a relationship before~"

"Ugh~~~ Driving is so tiring~"

"But I'm so happy with Xiaofan, yay yay, yay yay yay~"

"Does he not like me?"

"Is it because my chest is small? Sister Yuer's is really big~"

"Shallow man!!!"

"I don't ever want to hang out with him again!"

...Gao Xiaofan tossed and turned for a long time without figuring it out. He simply decided to start a livestream to chat and distract himself. Otherwise, this feeling of being stuck in limbo felt way too much like being a simp.

After thinking about it, he first sent a message to his hardcore fan group, stating that anyone who tried to stir up trouble again would be banned. After receiving responses from several people online, Gao Xiaofan started the livestream.

"Hello everyone! Did you miss me? The Streamer is always here. If you like the content, give me a follow~"

As soon as the broadcast started, the viewer count began to skyrocket.

"Always here my ass! As soon as the little reporter arrived, you just slacked off, didn't you?"

"Good grief, on the surface he's giving Brother Gu a vacation, but he's actually giving himself one~"

"I don't care about any of that, I want to see the little reporter~ Where's the little reporter?"

Gao Xiaofan looked at the bullet screen and scratched his head.

"Oh, a guest is a guest after all~ Little Yu just left~ Besides, those are all side details, they're not important. The point is that I've started the livestream!"

Unfortunately, the audience wasn't buying it, and they all expressed their disdain for his slacking behavior over the past two days.

In the end, everyone reached a consensus: Brother Wo Zi had forgotten his 'fathers' once he got a wife.

Gao Xiaofan didn't mind and continued to chat and laugh. He was used to joking around like this normally.

However, after only a few minutes of chatting, yesterday's scene reappeared. The troublemakers were back.

Seven or eight accounts kept copying the same message, flooding the livestream room's bullet screen.

"Are you even an Angler? You don't even dare to sign up for Kings Battle. Coward!"

The moderators, who had been waiting for a long time, swiftly took action.

"User 'My Kun has been two and a half years' has been muted."

"User 'Battle Cock 45214' has been muted."

"User 'Do you love me my baby' has been muted."

...The direction of the bullet screen in the livestream room instantly returned to normal. After waiting for several minutes, no more bots appeared, which allowed Gao Xiaofan to breathe a sigh of relief.

It seemed Kings Battle was just trying to leech off his popularity, pure clout-chasing. Their bots' combat power was so weak~

Although this bot-driven narrative didn't do any real damage, it was like a toad sitting on your foot—it didn't bite, but it was disgusting.

Now that things had quieted down, Gao Xiaofan, who had been feeling a bit emo after parting with Zhao Yuling, began to feel better.

"The fifth stop of the fishing tour? I haven't even started fishing here in Jiangcheng yet~"

"Thanks to the Wo Zi Army - Independent Regiment Commander for the Carnival!"

"'Always chasing... your footsteps... still on the road from Chacheng in South Guangdong Province to Jiangcheng right now?'"

"Holy crap, brother, you haven't been following me the whole way, have you?"

After livestreaming for a while, Gao Xiaofan was getting ready to end the broadcast and have dinner when a knock came from the door.

Gao Xiaofan's eyes lit up. Could Zhao Yuling be back?

He trotted over and pulled the door open abruptly.

"Ta-da! Did you miss me, Xiaofan?"

Qiu Gu stood at the door, holding up a bag containing several takeout boxes.

Gao Xiaofan's face went dark, and he turned to walk back inside.

"How old are you, still doing 'ta-da'? Besides, why are you back?"

Qiu Gu carried the plastic bag and followed him in.

"Hehe, work is important. It was enough just to go back and see them. What's the point of staying at home all the time?"

He placed the bag on the table, opened the packaging boxes one by one, then broke apart a pair of disposable chopsticks and tossed them in front of Gao Xiaofan.

"Let's eat~"

Then he turned the phone around to face the camera and greeted the audience.

"Hello! Your Brother Gu is back!"

Gao Xiaofan took a bite of food and glanced at Qiu Gu beside him.

Has this guy found a second spring? Why does something feel off?

After returning home once, Qiu Gu's mindset seemed to have improved. Previously, he had been passive when interacting with the fans in the livestream room, but now he was excitedly taking the initiative to chat, and he was even making some off-color jokes.

"Hey, watch yourself! Don't get my livestream room banned!"

Gao Xiaofan quickly called for a stop. This guy was completely letting himself go now.

After messing around for a bit longer, Gao Xiaofan clicked to end the broadcast. If they used up all their topics now, what would they talk about later?

Qiu Gu straightened the quilt on the bed while saying,

"These are dishes from lunch, but they were packed in advance. My aunt originally said it wouldn't be good to bring them to you, but I said you wouldn't care about that. How is it? The taste is okay, right?"

Gao Xiaofan had a cigarette in his mouth. Hearing Qiu Gu's words, he nodded.

"It's fine. I'm used to eating out, so it's nice to have a taste of home occasionally."

Qiu Gu smiled, took the cigarette tucked behind his ear and put it in his mouth. After lighting it, he took a deep drag.

"Xiaofan, thank you! I will work hard to become someone like you!"

Gao Xiaofan glanced at him. Smoke drifted between them, but it couldn't hide Qiu Gu's bright eyes.

In those eyes were hope, gratitude, and rebirth.

Gao Xiaofan smiled and didn't say anything, instead playing with his phone and scrolling through TikTok. He understood the look in Qiu Gu's eyes.

Qiu Gu was grateful to him for openly speaking about the past that had been so hard to mention, shedding that heavy coat of shackles.

Qiu Gu's hope came from this visit to his home, which made him realize that he had his own friends and that his life didn't just consist of his family.

Qiu Gu, who had always lived in the past and lived for his family, was reborn.

Since he couldn't redeem himself, he would redeem others.

With a guide like Gao Xiaofan walking ahead and traveling together, how wonderful it was.

Gao Xiaofan's hand scrolling through the phone suddenly jerked, his face turning pale. Noticing this, Qiu Gu quickly leaned over.

"Major Streamer with tens of millions of followers mutes fans for no reason!"

Little Yu was right; the Kings Battle Tournament Organizing Committee really did have a trick up their sleeve.