139: Chapter 139 Sister Mu took the initiative!

"We won!"

On the photo sent by Song Yaoshan, the bulletin board at Cuiyuan Middle School had a handling notice posted with red characters on a white background, the official seal stamped neatly.

Li Li handed his phone to Jiang Rumu.

She glanced at it twice and handed the phone back.

"Xu Qi's matter?"

"Yeah, the school has released the handling results."

She didn't press for details; when it was time to chase and scold, she wouldn't spare a single exclamation mark, and when it was time to stop, she wouldn't say a single extra word.

Li Li stuffed the phone back into his pocket and scanned the classroom.

The projection screen was pulled down, and the standby screen of the TikTok live stream was projected on the white wall. Two desks were placed side by side, piled with a mountain of snacks.

Spicy strips, potato chips, dried plums, and two bottles of sugar-free Fanta.

It didn't look like something a top-tier celebrity should be eating.

This was the plan discussed with the Production Team: use Jiang Rumu's TikTok account to open a "Second Site," with the program's main feature on the left half of the screen and real-time reactions from the two on the right.

Translated into plain language: A top female celebrity with 100 million followers and a male streamer with 99 million followers sitting in a welfare home classroom, munching on snacks while watching themselves on TV.

When the Production Team's business director heard this plan, it is said that he slapped his thighs three times on the spot.

At 7:50, the live stream started.

It took three seconds for the number of viewers to jump from zero to 100,000.

It broke one million in half a minute.

The comments exploded.

[Li Li and Rumu together!!! I'm not late, right?!]

[The two of them are sitting on the desks? What kind of youth campus setting is this?]

[There's only 20 centimeters between them!!]

Li Li chewed on a spicy strip and glanced at the comments.

"They say that us eating from the same pack of spicy strips counts as an indirect kiss."

The potato chip Jiang Rumu was holding shattered into three pieces.

"Can you not read that out loud?"

"It's fan interaction, basic operation."

[Sister Mu is blushing!!!]

Jiang Rumu pulled the brim of her baseball cap down by three centimeters.

"If you read another one, I'll kick you off the desk."

"Alright, I won't read them."

Li Li lowered his head, typed two words on his phone, and held it up in front of her.

The screen read: They also said your ears are red.

Jiang Rumu slapped the phone away.

A new wave of hahahahaha flooded the live stream.

—

At 8:00 sharp.

Episode 2 of "Brave Blue Friends" started streaming on TikTok on time.

The opening theme song played, and the freeze-frame photos of the nine guests popped up one by one.

Li Li's freeze-frame photo was the moment he was pulling a water hose sideways.

The first reaction in the comments:

[My husband!!!]

[I can look at this profile for ten thousand times]

Jiang Rumu chewed on the potato chips, chewing extra loudly.

The theme of the second episode was specialized training for Firefighters.

The director's editing was skillful, cutting boring subjects into several famous scenes and advancing them quickly.

Qin Xiaoshan was eating throughout the whole process, even fishing cookies out of his pocket while hanging in mid-air on a climbing rope; Su Nianzhi shouted "How do I untie this knot?" under the rope, and Qin Xiaoshan rushed out to teach her hand-in-hand, with the comments all spamming [Good brother!].

Then the screen cut to the water hose connection subject.

Li Li, 14.3 seconds, water gun spraying, splashed Ji Shen's pant legs.

The scene where Ji Shen jumped up was edited and played three times.

[14 seconds!! Human Firefighter cheat!!]

[Ji Shen: Who did I offend?]

Jiang Rumu put down the Fanta can.

"You did that on purpose back then, right."

"Precision fire extinguishing, completely controllable, how could it be on purpose."

"His pants were soaked, and you call that controllable?"

"Ji Shen has a good constitution, it dries after being in the sun for a while, it's been too hot in Pengcheng recently."

The comments were full of question marks and laughing-crying emojis.

Immediately after, the style of the program shifted.

The alarm sounded, the fire trucks swarmed out, the subtitles displayed "Four fires broke out simultaneously," and the empty Fire Station was left with only the guests.

Then, boom.

When that explosion sound smashed out of the classroom speakers, Jiang Rumu's shoulders tensed up.

She had seen clips in a passerby's live stream, but the program version added multiple camera angles, overlaid with real-time subtitles and sound effects, and the impact was completely different.

In the footage, Li Li was squatting alone next to the fire hydrant, unfolding a roll of water hose in two seconds, his movements so clean that there wasn't a trace of excess.

The comments stopped spamming memes.

[He carried it alone back then???]

[This isn't acting, this is really not acting, right?]

Shen Jue rushed out with his shoelaces untied, stepping on the heels; Gu Zeyan threw down the water hose and turned to move equipment; Jiang Shiyu ripped off his headphones to maintain order.

Each person's shot was cut into different camera angles and edited together, not to highlight one person, but to tell the audience that this group of people didn't come to play.

They were a whole, they were Firefighters!

Then the screen went to the battery pack explosion.

The SUV made a muffled sound, and the shockwave blasted out of the rolling door frame.

Li Li was blown three meters away by the blast, his back slamming into the ground.

In the classroom.

Jiang Rumu's right hand grabbed Li Li's left forearm.

Five fingers pinched directly onto the skin under the T-shirt sleeve. With enough force that her nails dug in, pinching it white.

Li Li looked down.

Her fingers were very cold, but she was pinching very tightly.

He didn't pull his hand away.

The comments went nuclear.

[Sister Mu grabbed his hand!!! It was proactive!!!]

[Li Li and Rumu together be like: Holding hands in front of 100 million people]

[This is called a stress response! But I shipped it!]

[Can't you guys pay attention to the program??]

Three seconds later, Jiang Rumu reacted and pulled her hand back.

After pulling back, her five fingers curled on her knee, then relaxed.

Li Li raised his left arm and shook it at the camera in the live stream.

Five light red crescent marks, neatly arranged.

"Evidence."

Jiang Rumu grabbed the brim of her hat and pulled it down, burying most of her face inside.

"Li Li, are you trying to make me suffer social death in the welfare home today?"

[Hahahahaha, a love with five nail marks!]

[Li Li's core mission: Make Jiang Rumu blush]

—

The program continued.

Rescuing children from a fire, a big guy kneeling on the ground, two men pulling each other in the middle of the road, neither willing to get up first; the atmosphere in the classroom switched from tense to hilarious in an instant.

Cheng Songyan brought the vehicle back, Zhong Ji scanned the scene and spat out four words: "The base got stolen."

Li Li laughed out loud, and Jiang Rumu couldn't hold it either; she held the Fanta to her mouth without drinking it, her shoulders shaking three times.

But Li Li noticed a detail.

The part about the driverless SUV was cut out.

The driver's seat was empty, the suspicious point of four fires starting simultaneously—not a single frame was left.

The Production Team only kept the narrative of "the vehicle rushed into the fire."

They had discretion; the military didn't want this line to be discussed publicly.

—

The main feature finished airing.

As the ending credits rolled, the screen popped up a preview for the next episode, a 30-second fast cut.

Catching snakes in a police station, a kitten trapped in a traffic cone, a child in a deep pit at a construction site, and crying in pitch darkness.

The last scene.

White school uniform, high eaves, two legs dangling in the air.

Black screen.

Subtitles floated up: Next Saturday, please look forward to it.

The classroom was silent for two seconds.

Jiang Rumu turned her head to look at him.

Li Li didn't turn back, tapping his right hand on the edge of the desk twice.

She didn't ask again.

[Is the last one jumping off a building????]

[Didn't you watch the live stream, Li Li saved a child who was committing suicide!]

[I have to wait until next Saturday?? Might as well kill me now!!]

—

After the program finished airing, the number of online viewers jumped from 7 million to 15 million.

After the comments spammed requests for a song, Li Li looked at Jiang Rumu.

She put down the Fanta can and jumped off the desk.

The brim of her hat was finally pushed back to its normal position, and the face under the baseball cap had returned to its usual coldness.

She walked onto the podium, a microphone in her hand.

She lowered her head and glanced at the lyric sheet at her feet.

She had memorized it three days ago when she got the demo, and had practiced it over forty times.

She kicked the lyric sheet to the edge of the podium with the tip of her toe.

With 15 million people online, the speed of the comments slowed down visibly.

"Some viewers know, some don't, this is a song Li Li promised a child, written for another child who passed away."

Jiang Rumu paused, "That child liked me very much, and I am also very honored to be able to sing this song for him."

"This song is called 'rose boy'."

She paused for a beat.

"Written for a boy named Xu Qi, I hope he can rest in peace."

The music prelude jumped out from the speakers behind her, and there was also a picture on the screen.

The words "rose boy" in plain text, sung by Jiang Rumu, lyrics, composition, and arrangement by Li Li.

Except for the venue rental fee, no extra money was spent.

Li Li clicked start.

The first note fell.

Jiang Rumu began to sing.

At the back of the classroom, seven or eight heads squeezed through the door crack; the children from the welfare home were lying on the door frame, not daring to breathe.

Li Li sat on the desk, his phone propped on the desk, the camera steadily aimed at the podium.

The comments changed from spamming to four words in various colors.

[rose boy]

[rose boy]

[rose boy]

When the chorus was sung for the second time, Li Li's phone vibrated in his pocket.

He didn't move.

It vibrated again.

After Jiang Rumu finished the last tail note, the classroom was silent for a full three seconds.

The children from the welfare home were clapping desperately at the door, and the gift effects in the live stream room with nearly 20 million people covered the entire screen.

Li Li took out his phone.

Two messages.

The first one was from Song Yaoshan.

A screenshot.

He was watching the live stream, the screen showed Jiang Rumu singing, and the bottom right corner of the screenshot revealed half of a photo frame, a funny photo of Xu Qi and him.

Caption: [He must have heard it.]

The second message was from that uncle.

Cheng Songyan.

[The SUV owner has been found, there is no purchase record of this car under his name, the VIN is forged, the criminal investigation department wants you to return to Pengcheng tomorrow, saying a leader wants to find you.]

Li Li sent a message to Song Yaoshan: Keep watching the live stream, there's a gift for you.

On the podium, Jiang Rumu was surrounded by children, a little girl hugging her leg and refusing to let go.

When she lowered her head to hug that child, Li Li saw her happy smile.

She really liked the children here.

Li Li smiled, went up to the podium, and shooed Jiang Rumu and the children off.

Amidst Jiang Rumu's confusion, Li Li picked up the microphone and adjusted the screen content with his phone.

He said to the live stream camera: "I also prepared a song, writing my own insights from these years into a song, for Xiao Song, for all the children in the welfare home, and also for all the friends who are about to graduate from university, about to take the college entrance examination, about to start working, for all the friends in the live stream."

Li Li looked at Jiang Rumu again, "And you."

"Now, the wind has risen."