Chapter Ten: Remember to Dress Nicely

When it came to Gu Yin, Chen Yunjin’s impression was not bad. He was about her age and had a kind personality. During the time she was learning to drive last year, he helped her a lot. If it weren’t for his guidance, she would have found it difficult to get her driver’s license within two months.

But that was as far as her good impression went. Marriage demanded a certain social parity, and ever since she successfully settled down earlier this year, someone like Gu Yin was no longer within her consideration.

It was rather strange that Zhao Jinxia brought him up out of the blue.

“Did you know he’s on this show too?” Zhao Jinxia’s eyes sparkled faintly in the dim light of the rented room.

“This… is the first I’ve heard of it,” Chen Yunjin replied. She didn’t keep in close contact with Gu Yin, so she was unaware of this.

Just like Gu Yin didn’t know she was participating in the show.

“Guess how many viewers he has tonight?” Zhao Jinxia teased, deliberately keeping it a secret.

“How am I supposed to guess?”

Chen Yunjin lifted her proud head and removed the milky-white plastic hairclip from the back of her head, letting her glossy black hair cascade freely, releasing a subtle fragrance.

Though she didn’t want to show concern about Gu Yin, curiosity got the better of her. She asked, “Is it a lot?”

“A lot!” Zhao Jinxia opened a screenshot on her phone and showed it to Chen Yunjin.

“There are over three thousand viewers. I happened to check the local rankings today, and he’s in the top ten!”

Unlike big cities like Suzhou or Hangzhou, Quancheng had fewer internet celebrities and influencers. So, Gu Yin making it to the top ten with a few thousand viewers was quite impressive.

Chen Yunjin found it hard to believe. She took the phone from her roommate with her fair hand, her delicate brows furrowed slightly, feeling a bit unsettled.

In Chen Yunjin’s mind, she was far ahead of Gu Yin in work, life, social status, and environment. Ever since she settled down, they were no longer from the same world.

Even participating in such a show, with her good looks and remarkable temperament, she believed she should attract more attention than Gu Yin.

Yet now, after filming all day, she barely had enough clicks to count on two hands, while Gu Yin had over three thousand viewers.

Was this some kind of joke?

Why was that?

“Traffic accident?”

Seeing that Gu Yin’s traffic accident was what drew the viewers, Chen Yunjin breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that made sense.

“It’s just a coincidence. They’re probably just onlookers,” she said. “That kind of attention won’t last.”

“Exactly…” Zhao Jinxia replied foolishly, “If that kind of traffic lasted long, we’d have to have accidents all the time just to keep it up. That’s risking your life, and we can’t imitate that.”

Chen Yunjin was silent for a moment, then shook her head and said, “I’m going to take a shower,” before entering her room.

…

After chatting for a while, the mother and son ended the conversation with Gu Yin’s mother mentioning that she had been a burden to him because of her health. By the time they finished, the stir-fried noodles had gone cold. Gu Yin reheated them in the microwave, poured himself a soda, quickly finished his dinner, washed up, and came out to find his phone screen lit up.

A message had arrived.

At first, Gu Yin thought it was work-related, but when he picked up the phone, he saw someone had added him as a friend.

The pink ID suggested a female user, with a nickname featuring a golden star icon. Her avatar was an illustration of a rose, but it was a withered rose.

Her Moments feed was empty.

She had added him as a friend, noting that she was introduced by a previous student and wanted to learn driving from him.

Gu Yin’s eyes brightened. After a few official messages from the driving school reminding her to bring her ID and confirming a meeting time for registration the next morning, he thought for a moment and sent another message:

“Remember to dress nicely tomorrow.”

Before this message, their chat had been quite bland, just the official templates from the driving coach and her simple responses.

After that message, things seemed to take a different turn.

“Star Girl” replied with a question mark, then asked, “Why should I dress nicely?”

“Just trust me. Don’t worry, I won’t harm you.”

It was late, and Gu Yin was very tired. After replying, he tossed his phone onto the table and collapsed into bed.

Before sleeping, he had wanted to check the backend data for “Reconciliation with Life” but figured there probably wouldn’t be many viewers, so he didn’t bother.

That night, Gu Yin dreamed of someone singing—a song he had never heard before but found quite pleasant.

…

The sun rose in the east and set in the west. After a rainy and gloomy night, the morning sunlight was piercingly bright, dispelling the dampness in the house but bringing little warmth.

October was approaching, and the northern temperatures were dropping. This time of year was always the hardest to endure.

Because heating hadn’t started yet, homes were colder than outside. Those who stayed home often felt their hands and feet grow icy. Many idle people from Zhongdeng and Laodeng would head out early to bask in the sun.

…

Near the snack street, most stalls operated only at night. Only a few sold breakfast. The small county brimmed with local life. Upon going outside, Gu Yin saw vendors selling roujiamo sandwiches, Jianbing pancakes, burgers, as well as fried dough sticks, youtiao, and tofu pudding.

“Handsome, want some Jianbing?” the auntie from the pancake stall called out to Gu Yin.

He waved her off without looking, “Your Jianbing has thin crispy crackers, even dogs won’t eat it.”

The auntie was speechless.

A few steps ahead, Gu Yin wrapped his gray coat tighter and approached a stall selling fried dough sticks.

The stall was run by a young couple; the husband fried the youtiao while the wife sold them. Golden and crispy fried dough sticks and fried chive cakes were laid in an iron basket. Youtiao cost one yuan per stick, chive cakes two yuan each.

“Two youtiao, one tea egg, and a bowl of tofu pudding,” Gu Yin ordered.

Living costs in the small town were truly low; the entire order cost only five yuan. Gu Yin pulled up a small stool, sat at a little table, and started scrolling on his phone while eating.

“Oh, right…”

While eating, something came to mind. Gu Yin wiped his greasy fingers with a tissue, then took a camera from his pocket and hung it on his chest. He then took out his phone and connected it.

He almost forgot about the show recording today—it paid over two hundred yuan.

Perhaps because of the incident last night, Gu Yin gained some attention. When he went live this morning, dozens of viewers popped up instantly, and the chat scrolled gently:

“Hey, up early today?”

“You gotta admit, those youtiao look delicious. I’m craving one too! I’m heading downstairs to buy one!”

“Forget it, I’ll just order takeout. Can’t get up at all.”

…

Gu Yin hadn’t checked the backend data last night and didn’t know if anyone watched. He just kept the stream on and continued eating without interacting with the viewers.

At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind.

“Oh? Brother Gu.”