ALL NOVEL Chapter 78
Chapter 78
After a full meal, Ling Meng sat in front of the computer and got ready to fight in the game in order to help his digestion.
It wasn’t time for Shan Zhu’s stream, so Shan Zhu opened a broadcast room but didn’t start it. He grabbed a book for himself, scrunching up on the sidelines and reading. His temperament alone made it seem like he was reading “A Hundred Years of Loneliness.” Only Ling Meng knew he was looking at “300 Home-Cooked Recipes.”
Shan Zhu had moved to his new home and come up with reasons not to turn on the camera for days. His powder had to run to beg Ling Meng to indirectly save the day, asking him to beg his husband to hurry up and return to streaming.
“Why don’t you turn on the camera? You powder is going to blow my broadcast room up.”
Ling Meng glanced to the side and found the barrage on the screen was not very harmonious. Looking at it, either RNM (extremely vulgar way to say ‘fuck your mother’) or CNM (normal way to say ‘fuck your mother’), it was just too dirty.
“What kind of public wrath did you provoke, these trolls scolding like this are vulgar and offensive, is this how you all also pay respects to your family?” Ling Meng thought back carefully. He couldn’t think of any big rhythm in the e-sports circle lately.
Shan Zhu shifted his eyes from the book to Ling Meng, staring at him for a moment: “You’re right, it’s a little too much.”
He turned on the mic: “Is there a housekeeper here? Ban all those who brushed ‘fuck Lemon’ at Lemon.”
The random collection of letters and characters disappeared in an instant. Everyone collectively changed the line to “Lemon Dad, I’m sorry.”
Ling Meng: ???
Like I’m responsible for you not turning on the camera, Daddy is really mad!
The furious pufferfish Ling Meng clicked on the link recommended by the boiling water friends. Everyone knew that Ling Meng loved to watch B-station videos and that it was okay to recommend some funny ghost beast videos, so they sent some to make him relax while he was queuing up.
But today the video wasn’t a funny ghost beast; on the contrary, it was a little warm and cozy. The UP owner cut a candy-sprinkle9 MV, using two people’s live footage – from when the two people live streamed for the first time, to Shan Zhu took Ling Meng away for surgery; from the cake shop opening birthday event, to bits and pieces of daily broadcasts. Ling Meng never knew that someone had so carefully collected each of their live images. After watching, it seemed like a complete review of the two’s love experience, with a moving BGM. Ling Meng admitted it was sweet.
He turned into the sweet little lemon from his original streams and couldn’t help the rising of the corners of his mouth. His dimples were full of sweetness.
“Thank you, UP Lord. UP Lord is very considerate.”
— Thanks to UP Lord for sprinkling candy! My family’s MengMeng ate cute and grew up10 online again!
Ling Meng quibbled: “When did I go offline? If I’m not sweet enough, it must be because I haven’t had enough cute to eat lately!”
— I’ll give you all the cat food! Take it and buy cute to eat!
Laughing so his little tiger’s teeth showed, Ling Meng said: “Thank you, boss! I’m going to eat a pound!”
— Help me! I’ll have to make an appointment with my dentist again!
“Don’t be sad, I heard that pulling teeth can make your face lean.”
— I’m worse! Diabetes is 250+!
“Have you recorded your case?”
(t/n: blood sugar level of 250 mg/dl would be pretty deadly, he’s joking it’s a miracle they’re alive)
……
There was also blowing for the UP Lord’s choice of song.
— Highly praise for the BGM, this song fits perfectly with the feeling of Mang God and MengMeng in my mind.
“I like it too,” Ling Meng opened Baidu, “What’s the name of the song?”
— My male god’s “Just Happened to Meet You”. Highly recommended!
— Same! The first time I heard this song, I thought it would suit the two of them!
Ling Meng searched the name of the song, setting it directly to play on a loop. The melodious sound floated out, as if it were sweet perfume, dying every air molecule lemon yellow. Both broadcast rooms were filled with the song filled with the mix of mango, mangosteen, and apple fragrances.
“We cried, we laughed, we raised our heads to the sky, a few stars still shine bright…..”
Ling Meng bobbed his head along with the music, lip-synching. He didn’t want to kill off such a beautiful song with his singing.
— You have the ability to lip-sync, do you have the ability to sing?
— MengMeng forgets his past love with a new love, Peerless Little Shou is bitterly crying, ‘I’m not your main song anymore.’
— The music anchor is lip-syncing, reported.
Everyone was listening as the music suddenly came to a halt. Those with OCD suffered on the spot.
— It sounded good, why did the anchor pause?
“I didn’t pause,” Ling Meng was depressed too, “maybe it’s the network card?”
Ling Meng poked around the network diagnosis and couldn’t even reconnect the internet. But there was a voice in his ear.
“We sing the song of time, and in doing so understand why we embrace each other……”
Shan Zhu was still leaning lazily back in his chair, all his attention focused on “300 Home-cooked Recipes,” while murmuring the lyrics very casually.
Ling Meng was also hearing Shan Zhu sing for the first time. Even though he never sang, he unexpectedly still sang like a male god. The idol burden didn’t fall in the slightest, surprising him.
He was the only one who could see Shan Zhu because of the camera angle. The others watching through Ling Meng’s stream could only see his profile turn to one side.
— Who’s singing?
— Warm and lonely, the wind scatters flowers, tears like rain, because I don’t want to part from you.
— Seamless connection?
— It can’t be that my Mang God is singing?
— Would it be okay for Lemon Dad to turn the camera? We want to see Mang God singing too, please!
— Can’t you see MengMeng’s focused gaze, I’m afraid he can’t pay attention to you right now.
After a brief moment, the internet reconnected and the original song played again. Shan Zhu also finally noticed the attention from next to him.
He raised his head. In the air dyed lemon yellow, in the mix of mangoes, mangosteen, apple, the combination of those fruity fragrances within the singing voice, the two people’s gazes locked. There was confusion in Ling Meng’s eyes, he was puzzled; there was also the illusion that his soul was being sucked away, just like when he saw Ling Meng take the championship on the race track.
The chorus and Shan Zhu’s humming properly synced up. He gazed intently into Ling Meng’s eyes and accompanied the singer. He completed the second half of the song:
“Because I happened to meet you, I left behind the most beautiful footprints, the wind scatters flowers, tears like rain, because I don’t want to part from you;
“Because I happened to meet you, I leave behind me a decade of eager expectation, I trust if we meet again I will remember you.”
Ling Meng listened in a daze, silently turned back, and quietly said to the camera:
“Oh man, it turns out that people really can shine.”
—
Footnotes:
1. small V face (锥子脸): a conical face type popular in China, also called awl or snake face; tapered from cheekbones to chin with a pointed chin (google for examples) ↩
2. Challenge the Impossible (挑战不可能): an “inspirational” reality TV show, where contestants compete in all sorts of physical and mental challenges, the taglines are “challenge yourself” and “know yourself” ↩
3. little black house (小黑屋): internet slang for a mod banning someone in a chat ↩
4. SSR: Super Super Rare, classification for card rarity in games ↩
5. GANK: gaming term for a big group (or a very high level player alone) ganging up on a low level player who can’t defend themselves in order to kill them ↩
6. boyfriend perspective (男友视角): a photo/video taken in a first-person POV (usually by one half of a celebrity CP) so that fans can image the idol is their boyfriend, usually showing domestic activities ↩
7. Krypton Gold (氪金): term from WOW for a rare mining material called krypton gold; slang for coupon/payment for services aka pay-to-play ↩
8. dark-faced achievement (非酋成就): Slang from the mobile card game Yin-Yang Division, this made-up achievement is for people who have never drawn an SSR card, so each time they draw, their face gets darker and darker (more depressed) ↩
9. sprinkle candies (撒糖): to give out candies; slang for PDA or sharing details of love in public ↩
10. ate cute and grew up (吃可爱多长大): slang phrase used to praise someone for being super cute; might be related to Cornetto ice cream (可爱多) ↩