I'm Done Being Weird

Meng Le is a livestream sales host. The, well, slightly unhinged kind. Today, his livestream persona is a divorcé with two kids, working hard to earn money for formula. Tomorrow, he’ll be a canary who ran away after being used and discarded, earning money to support himself. The day after that, he’ll be an innocent college student with fifty million in debt, who has to hurry up and earn money or his heartless creditor will take him away to be their lover (x). Meng Le figures anyone can tell these are just memes. Surely nobody would take them seriously, right? [AAA Building Materials: Boss Qin]: "Little Le, you're starting your stream late today. Did your creditor threaten you again?" When Meng Le first saw this private message in his inbox, he thought the other person was joking around with him too. After all, that username really sounded like it belonged to a troll. He fired back a bunch of nonsense, then went live and acted crazy in the stream. There were only a few dozen viewers, after all. Without some entertainment, he wouldn't sell a thing. "This spicy snack is no joke. My baby stopped drinking milk three months ago and eats these instead. They're already two meters tall." "People keep asking if these chicken feet have ever had jobs. They're not me. Why would they get plump and juicy after getting beaten down by life?" As the chat filled with "hahahaha," Boss Qin, whose level badge had climbed thanks to his gifts in the stream, pinned a comment: "Kids really shouldn't eat spicy snacks." "I get it. You've got a lot on your shoulders." [User AAA Building Materials: Boss Qin ordered 40 servings of chicken feet] Meng Le: "?" Boss Qin of AAA Building Materials, you're even more unhinged than I am. - Then one day, after ending his stream, he lay in bed scrolling through his phone to help himself fall asleep. A short video with a clickbait feel caught his eye. "Shocking! It turns out there's a reason netizens act so unhinged! The handsome young CEO of a top-hundred company is worth over a hundred million, and his username is actually [AAA Building Materials: Boss Qin]! It's the exact same format as my meme-loving besties!" Meng Le, nearly dead from shock, sat bolt upright. He stared at the screenshot of the account in the video again and again... The name was the same as that of the unhinged big spender in his livestream, the profile picture was the same, and even the user level matched! He clicked into the big spender's profile, unwilling to believe it, and was horrified to see a blue verification badge: verified company CEO. He clicked back into his private-message chat with Boss Qin of AAA Building Materials. Two minutes ago. [LeLeLeMakeItBig]: "Hubbyyyyy! (screams, twists around, crawls everywhere, does sit-ups on the spot) Thank you, hubby-boss, for spending money in my stream today!" "." Meng Le fell into deep thought. Just as he pressed and held the message to try to unsend it... [The other person has read your message] And then they sent him a shy emoji. #So he really wasn't joking around #You're making me look like a total lunatic #Wait, Boss Qin, why are you asking when we can go register our marriage? A sweet, lovable bottom who spouts unhinged flirtatious nonsense and is always eager to help X A socially clueless, 2G-internet, innocent straight-laced CEO top who is pure-hearted and direct in love [Reading Guide] 1. The story involves livestream sales, so there will be some [livestream chat comments]. 2. A fun, sweet little story. Thanks for supporting the official release. Coming soon: Assistant Xiao Xu (About to Quit Edition) Blurb: My name is Xu Yi'an, and I'm a junior assistant. To outsiders, my boss is handsome and dreamy. A photo of him stepping out of a car at the airport, his long legs on full display, went viral for ages. The eight-pack abs revealed in his promotional photos are sexy and alluring, and his sharply defined face looks like it was made by a character designer. Not to mention his impressive family background and noble birth. His fans often squeal that he's "come down from heaven to save the entertainment industry." But when it comes to work... Once you've done it, you'll know to avoid it like the plague. My boss is handsome, sure, but he's got a terrible temper and is demanding about everything. His coffee has to have exactly seven ice cubes, and he even fusses over the coffee beans. To him, all clothes are disposable, and even custom couture gets the same treatment. When he's in a good mood, things are fine. When he's in a bad mood, he picks fights with us for no reason. I want to quit. I really do. If it weren't for the 25,000 a month he pays me, the four fully company-funded domestic and international trips each year, and a whole month of extra-long paid vacation, I really would quit. But... I don't think I can keep this up much longer. Slacking off at work is perfectly normal, especially when the boss is filming. I have absolutely nothing to do then. So I started playing games on my phone. I met a really skilled kid in a game, and he carried me up the ranks. After just a few days of happy gaming, my boss suddenly sent out a notice banning online dating and shared a bunch of public-account articles about people getting scammed in online relationships. I wasn't dating anyone online, but why should work have anything to do with someone's private life? What a weirdo. When filming wrapped, every actor prepared a little gift for the staff. I had my eye on a plushie from the actor playing the second male lead. It would make a perfect new toy for my dog at home. I had barely tucked it into my pocket when I was stopped. My boss put on a deadpan expression and said employees who hadn't been with the company for a year weren't allowed to take one. I was speechless. I'm the newest person in the whole studio, having worked here for ten months. Was he really singling me out? Whatever. I planned to get revenge by devouring all the crayfish my boss ordered for us. I'm the easygoing one, after all. The worst thing happened yesterday. I met up with a buddy, and we drank at the barbecue stand outside my place. Once we were feeling good, we threw our arms around each other and dreamed about becoming millionaires. My boss appeared out of nowhere and demanded to know what I was doing. I checked the date and told him it was my day off. Then he dragged me into his car, took me to his place, and tossed me a stack of documents to work on overtime. I'd already looked through them. There was no urgency at all. He was deliberately making things difficult for me! This is too much to put up with! The salary is good, but I can't live without my dignity! I'm not taking that 25,000 a month anymore... On my way home, my mom called to say our old family house had just been demolished and we'd been given three apartments. But that's not the point :D I decided I'd write my resignation letter as soon as I got home. Tomorrow, I'll slam it down on my boss's desk! ----A recommendation for my friend Jin Baiyu's book, Those Who Often See Ghosts Know. If you're interested, go add it to your collection! Blurb: Those who often see ghosts know that once certain things latch onto you, there's no getting rid of them... [One] Possession Seven years later, Chen Gu returned to the Chen family home. Back then, he had been a child fostered by the Chen family. This time, he had come back to see his older brother. Chen Shenzhi hadn't changed at all: handsome, refined, reserved, always looking at him with smiling black eyes. But somehow, his brother also seemed different. He ate half-cooked rice and bloody beef. He never slept at night and disliked the sunlight. His brother seemed to have become a monster... [Two] Paper Uncle Shen Zaixi returned from studying abroad to find his family bankrupt. He went from an idle rich second-generation heir to a penniless young man. Having offended too many people, he packed up and returned to the only place that would still take him in: his family's old ancestral home. Only after returning did he learn that he had a young uncle at home: learned, talented, rich, and handsome, but so rigid and old-fashioned that he was like an inflexible antique. At first, Shen Zaixi hoped to cling to his young uncle's coattails and mooch off him. But then he found that he could no longer stand his uncle's stubborn discipline and control. So he decided to run away. That night, he startled and shattered the oil lamp in the old house. The red candle flames burned hot, setting the cicada-wing-thin mansion ablaze. Everything turned into old paper. Even his handsome young uncle, with his refined features, had half his face burned away, yet he still stared straight at Shen Zaixi. As he burned to ashes, his expression remained gentle. Shen Zaixi fled in disarray. But after that, wherever he went, something followed him like a shadow. [Three] Fish Pearl Qin Sheng was ordered by the emperor to travel to a coastal fishing village in search of the fabled treasure, the Fish Pearl. The villagers welcomed him warmly. He liked the beautiful village and its kind people, but, unfortunately, there was no sign of the Fish Pearl. Later, a young man with disabled legs who lived by the sea quietly told him: The Fish Pearl wasn't in the village. It was inside a fish's belly. Every year, hoping to earn the emperor's reward, the villagers caught fish in great numbers and cut them open to retrieve the pearls. That night, Qin Sheng had a strange dream. Someone dragged him into the sea. In the deep water, the young man with disabled legs revealed a pair of strange, pearlescent fish tails. In the murky underwater gloom, the soft scales on the young man's lower abdomen were turned completely inside out, stretching up to his belly, where an ugly, strange scar ran across it. Theme: Through constant effort, one can grow and make one's dreams come true.