Chapter 29
With Ying Youyou’s reminder, Lin An’an searched for “Tong Qiuxia” in the SinNet livestreaming section.
The account avatar that popped up was indeed that round-faced young man with whom he had once shared a certain “water-balloon connection.”
At this hour, Tong Qiuxia was not livestreaming, so Lin An’an opened one of his past replay videos to see what kind of “entertainment related to traditional pharmaceutical arts,” as Ying Youyou had described it, it really was.
The result opened his eyes.
The little cub watched an entire stream at double speed, and by the end, his little tentacles had twisted unconsciously with anger.
Tong Qiuxia was not seriously practicing medicine-making at all. He was merely using the name of “traditional pharmaceutical arts” as a gimmick to recklessly waste herbs and medicinal materials that were already scarce to begin with.
Feng Wu, who was watching the replay with him, recognized Tong Qiuxia. “Should we tell Old He?”
Lin An’an thought for a moment, then shook his head. [No, we can’t tell him.]
If Old Master He found out about this, no one could say how furious he would get. At his age, it was best to spare him one upsetting thing whenever possible.
Feng Wu nodded, only to hear the little cub suddenly let out an yingji.
He asked, “What’s wrong?”
The little cub gestured with his bean-like eyes toward one of his little tentacles. “…Yingji!”
The soft squishy tentacle was bent at a strange angle, not like normal, and even trembling slightly.
Feng Wu said, “Cramp?”
The little cub: “Yingji qaq!”
Feng Wu laughed softly, picked him up again, and began gently massaging the little tentacle with the callused pads of his fingers.
Not too light, not too heavy. The pressure was just right.
The soreness and tightness of the cramp gradually faded, and before long the little cub had spread himself flat into a cub pancake in Feng Wu’s palm and fallen asleep.
The Rising Star Showcase competition began very soon afterward.
There was nothing much to pay attention to during the first three days of preliminaries. Lin An’an lived as usual: livestreaming farming in the mornings and selling vegetables in the afternoons.
The only difference was that the place where he farmed had changed from the small courtyard at home to the newly opened farm.
[Aaaahhh An Cub joined Rising Star too!]
[An Cub, An Cub! Rush for first place forever!!!]
[[Deep Sea Torpedo x1][Dominating Starship x1]]
[If An Cub doesn’t take first, everyone here shares the blame. [charge forward jpg]]
Lin An’an’s livestream was already extremely popular, enough to rival many veteran streamers who had been broadcasting for years. Naturally, it was easy for him to advance from the preliminary round into the finals of Rising Star.
What Lin An’an had not expected, however, was that Tong Qiuxia, who had only become a streamer not long ago, had also just barely squeezed into the finals in fifth place.
Lin An’an had not wanted to tell He Yinghong about Tong Qiuxia’s livestream, but things did not go as planned. Old Master He found out anyway.
He Yinghong stumbled across Tong Qiuxia by accident.
Ever since learning that the little cub livestreamed every day, watching An Cub’s streams had become one of the things He Yinghong did daily without fail.
During these past few days of the Rising Star competition, he had not missed a single stream, and every single time he had contributed some popularity votes to the little cub.
And it was precisely when the early preliminaries ended and the livestreaming section announced the final list of five selected contestants that He Yinghong saw Tong Qiuxia’s name.
Ranked fifth, with that familiar round-faced young man’s avatar beside it, smiling that harmless smile.
The moment He Yinghong saw that face, he felt annoyed—but when he noticed the short profile text next to the avatar, his eyes paused slightly.
The young man’s profile was simple, only two short lines—
Want to know what traditional pharmaceutical arts are like? Come to my livestream room, and let us witness this ancient and magical craft together!
It caught He Yinghong’s attention at once.
His instincts told him that Tong Qiuxia could not possibly have turned over a new leaf so easily, but He Yinghong still could not help clicking into his homepage.
Tong Qiuxia had become a streamer only recently, so there were only a few livestream replays on his profile.
He Yinghong opened the most recent one, and the moment the pharmaceutical tools came into view, a faint light rose in his eyes.
But as the video played on, that light vanished quickly, and in only a few short minutes his expression shifted from anticipation to disappointment, and then to boiling anger.
On the screen, the round-faced young man casually laid herbs out on the pharmaceutical worktable, wearing a friendly, approachable smile that easily won people over. All the while he chatted cheerfully with the audience in the livestream.
“As everyone says—whichever herb gets the most votes, that’s the one I’ll add.”
“This red one? It’s called Autumn Red Leaf. It’s a pain-relief herb…”
“That’s right, I’ll be putting in ten kinds of herbs total. As for what kind of potion the final result will produce, I don’t know either.”
“Once it’s done, I’ll feed it to a small experimental exotic beast. But don’t worry—every herb I prepared is harmless and non-toxic, so even if the beast drinks it, there won’t be any danger to its life…”
No danger to its life…
How could that wretched disciple of his even say such a thing?!
He Yinghong became so angry that his face turned red, his chest rising and falling violently.
Even if the herbs themselves were all mild and non-toxic, different herbs had different medicinal properties and different compatibility. Once combined, the final potion would not necessarily remain harmless.
Every existing potion formula had been preserved through repeated experimentation and trial-and-error by pharmacists across the ages. They were the refined results of generations of work.
What Tong Qiuxia was doing now—casually dumping herbs together—no, this could not even be called combining them. It was simply throwing a whole pot of herbs together in a chaotic stew—
Not only was he wasting already scarce and precious medicinal plants, He Yinghong could not see even the slightest trace of respect for traditional pharmaceutical arts in Tong Qiuxia’s actions.
This ancient and dignified craft, which He Yinghong held in such reverence, was in Tong Qiuxia’s eyes nothing more than a gimmick for attracting attention.
He Yinghong did not know when Tong Qiuxia had become this sort of person, and now there was no way to investigate it.
Anger boiling in his chest, he dug out Tong Qiuxia’s account from his terminal and made a call at once.
Only after the other side picked up did He Yinghong realize that in his agitation he had accidentally made it a full holographic video call rather than a voice call.
The terminal screen automatically resized to the proper dimensions, and the round-faced young man’s slightly surprised yet faintly amused smile appeared before him.
Since his true colors had already been exposed, Tong Qiuxia no longer had the slightest intention of pretending in front of He Yinghong.
The moment He Yinghong saw that face, his mouth opened and closed. “You—you—livestream—”
He could not even form a complete sentence. The fury and disappointment surging in his heart were so violent that even the finger he pointed at the screen was trembling nonstop.
“Oh, the livestream?” Tong Qiuxia said as if he had just realized. “Did you watch my stream?”
He Yinghong’s voice shook slightly. “H-how dare you—”
Tong Qiuxia, however, cut him off with a smile. “How did it feel?”
That question caught He Yinghong completely off guard.
“How did it feel after watching?” Tong Qiuxia’s smile grew even brighter. “My livestream has great traffic. Every extra person who comes in means one more person learns about traditional pharmaceutical arts.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you always wanted to see? Traditional pharmaceutical arts being seen by more people, understood by more people, even loved by more people—”
“Look, Teacher. I’ve done it now. There are so many people in my livestream room. They’re very interested in traditional pharmaceutical arts, aren’t they?”
“This kind of scene—this is the flourishing golden age of traditional pharmaceutical arts that you always wanted to see, right?”
“Are you happy?”
He Yinghong’s lips trembled violently, but for a long time not a single word came out.
It was at that exact moment that Feng Wu and Lin An’an pushed open the door and immediately saw He Yinghong sitting in the living room.
Ever since they had come to Old Master He’s house for dinner once before, He Yinghong had given the little cub a spare key and told them they could just let themselves in from now on.
He had already arranged in the morning for them to come eat at his house that evening, so after the little cub’s stream ended, Feng Wu and the others packed up and came over.
They had arrived at an unfortunate moment. Lin An’an only heard Tong Qiuxia’s final two lines.
But those two lines alone were enough to fill the little cub with rage. He grabbed something from his terminal storage and hurled it over without even checking what it was.
A dirt-colored potato struck Tong Qiuxia squarely in the face, making the hateful face on the holographic screen flicker and blur.
Tong Qiuxia jumped in surprise, but when he saw the familiar little black blob, he smiled again.
Yet before he could say a single word, the little cub beat him to it.
“Yingjiji apu pupu pu—”
A rapid stream of monster-cub language came pouring out of the little cub’s mouth. Even though no one present understood a word, everyone knew very clearly that the little cub was cursing him out.
Tong Qiuxia gave a snort of laughter and was about to say that it did not matter since he could not understand it anyway, when the little cub suddenly shoved the juvenile terminal’s screen right up to the camera.
The screen was packed full of enlarged text, and at a truly astonishing speed, new lines kept appearing.
[Whether we’re happy or not, what the hell does that have to do with you? Who even are you, and how huge is your face? So huge it blocks out the whole sky—damn, that’s impressive!]
[The moment I walk in, I see a pile of trash stuck in the screen. Interstellar society has had waste sorting for years now, so can’t you be a little self-aware and go lie down in a hazardous-waste bin?]
[What the hell are you yapping on and on about here? So what, you’ve got a mouth and that makes you special?]
[Haven’t brushed your teeth or had any oral care since the day you were born, have you? The second you open your mouth it reeks so badly that even through the screen it gives me a headache!]
[If I fed a bone to an exotic beast, at least it would remember the favor. But you? You’re not even worth as much as the gas that comes out of an exotic beast’s backside!]
[…]
The screen full of profanity stunned everyone present.
Not only was Tong Qiuxia struck speechless, even Xiong Yingjun and the others stood frozen in place, their eyes full of disbelief, shock, and—somewhat surprisingly—a trace of admiration.
Feng Wu quietly lowered the hand he had been about to use. He had originally intended to shut off Old Master He’s terminal directly, but now it seemed there was no need to rush.
The white cat siblings in Si Youlin’s arms were also stunned. Bai Yue curiously tried to lean closer to see what the words on the screen said, but Bai Yang let out a meow of alarm, bit the back of her neck, and firmly covered her eyes.
No way, absolutely not—little kids could not be allowed to see this!
Even He Yinghong had gone blank with shock, his eyes moving back and forth between the juvenile terminal screen and Tong Qiuxia’s face on the holographic call.
Tong Qiuxia’s expression was truly spectacular, as if red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet had all been mixed together—like a paint palette overturned by a child.
He Yinghong blinked once. The heavy frustration lodged in his chest immediately dispersed. His hands stopped shaking, strength returned to his body, and he even found enough energy to smile at Tong Qiuxia and say:
“So precise. Tomorrow I really ought to buy a pet beast and let it guard the house for me.”
Tong Qiuxia’s face darkened instantly. Of course he knew that He Yinghong was saying he was worse than a beast. He let out a cold laugh and began, “You—”
Click.
The holographic call went black. Lin An’an, quick as lightning, had hung up the video before Tong Qiuxia could get another word out.
The little cub waved a tentacle and pointed accusingly. “Yingji yingji!”
If he had not been worried that Tong Qiuxia would say something even more infuriating and upset Old Master He again, he would absolutely have thrown out a few more lines.
Old Master He’s terminal started ringing, as expected. Tong Qiuxia was calling back.
He had swallowed a whole mouthful of anger and obviously would not feel better unless he spat it out, but Lin An’an had no intention of letting him feel better.
He neither answered nor rejected the calls. After muting Old Master He’s terminal, he simply let Tong Qiuxia keep calling and calling.
When Tong Qiuxia reached the fifth call, Lin An’an finally tapped accept.
But before Tong Qiuxia could speak, the little cub moved first and hit play on the music app on the juvenile terminal.
It was a song he had just downloaded. He set the volume to maximum and even linked it to a virtual loudspeaker placed right in front of the virtual microphone on Old Master He’s terminal.
The instant he accepted the call, a bright, cheerful, bouncing melody rang through the entire room:
“You’re an idiot~~ where did this idiot come from~~ let me take a look at this idiot~~”
Click.
The call was ruthlessly hung up from the other side.
The little cub regretfully stopped the music. “Yingji!”
The song had only gotten through three lines before he cracked. What a sore loser!
Inside the room, the word “idiot” was still echoing lazily in the air. Lin An’an turned around and found several pairs of unblinking eyes fixed on him.
The little cub: “…Yingji.”
He felt a little guilty.
Oh no. Had he gone too far?
The very next second, He Yinghong burst into hearty laughter. “Well cursed!”
Lin An’an let out a breath of relief and looked toward Brother Wolf. Feng Wu picked him up. “Well done.”
“Well done?” Xiong Yingjun gave the little cub a huge thumbs-up. “That was beyond well done! That was absolutely brilliant! Exquisite!!!”
Si Youlin let go of Bai Yang’s ears, and Bai Yang in turn let go of Bai Yue’s.
The little kitten still did not quite understand what had just happened, but seeing that everyone was so happy, she started swishing her tail too, her beautiful blue eyes shining brightly.
He Yinghong’s mood was clearly much better now. He reached out and rubbed the little cub’s wonderfully soft head, saying with feeling, “If only this old man had eloquence like yours!”
Lin An’an replied seriously: [That can be learned.]
He Yinghong froze slightly.
[I can teach Grandpa He.] Lin An’an’s bean-like eyes shone with a serious and solemn light. [Grandpa He should memorize a few lines. In the future, when he runs into filthy scum like that again, he can curse them right back! Curse them so hard they won’t dare open their mouths!]
[People like that only bully the weak and fear the strong. The softer you are, the more energetic they get. But the moment you harden your attitude, they shrink like quail and don’t even dare fart!]
He Yinghong’s eyes curved in a smile. “Alright then, I’ll trouble An Cub with that.”
The little cub puffed out his chest and accepted this very important mission.
Still, he could not help feeling confused. Why did Tong Qiuxia harbor such intense malice toward Old Master He?
Lin An’an glanced at He Yinghong, full of puzzled thoughts, yet did not ask a single question aloud.
What he had not expected was that He Yinghong would bring it up himself.
“He was once my student,” He Yinghong said. “He had good talent, learned the techniques of traditional pharmaceutical arts very quickly, and his mind was agile too.”
There was a trace of nostalgia in his voice, as if he were remembering the earlier days when their teacher-student relationship had still been good.
“What a pity…” He Yinghong sighed. “That cleverness of his was never used in the right places.”
He had always liked to study strange and unusual things. That alone He Yinghong could still understand as childish temperament.
Until one day, by accident, He Yinghong discovered Tong Qiuxia’s secret.
Tong Qiuxia had actually been secretly researching banned drugs behind his back.
Banned drugs were called banned for a reason—they were extremely dangerous, and could even bring about serious disaster.
Naturally, He Yinghong had stopped him. Right in front of Tong Qiuxia, he deleted all of his research records on those banned substances and strictly forbade him from ever touching anything related to banned drugs again.
“After that, he seemed to rein in his behavior and stopped researching banned drugs. I really thought he had recognized his mistake.” He Yinghong gave a bitter laugh. “But looking back now, perhaps that was exactly the moment he began to hold a grudge against this old man.”
Lin An’an looked up at him.
There was disappointment in Old Master He’s expression, and a sense of sorrowful reflection, and also that sort of anger toward someone for failing to live up to expectations. But thankfully, he did not seem quite so furious anymore.
Good. Anger harmed the body, and for trash like that, it simply wasn’t worth it.
That was what the little cub thought to himself as he gently patted He Yinghong’s arm with a small tentacle to comfort him. “Yingji!”
For scum with antisocial personalities like that, the farther away one stayed, the better. Cutting off the teacher-student relationship was, for Old Master He, a truly excellent thing.
Three days later, it was time for the final round of the Rising Star Showcase.
During the finals, the five streamers who had advanced were required to go live at the same time within a fixed time limit. Whoever ended with the highest popularity would take first place.
An outdoor plaza in the outer district of C City.
It was high noon. With no shade at all, the plaza was unbearably hot, and no one in their right mind would willingly go out there at such an hour.
Inside a nearby dessert shop, a girl sitting by the window suddenly let out a surprised eh and tugged at her friend beside her.
“Look, look—that’s Brother Wolf, isn’t it?”
“Brother Wolf who?” Her companion was bent over eating cake and had not reacted yet.
“Brother Wolf, the silver wolf from An Cub’s livestream!” the girl said, trying to lower her voice, but because she was too excited, it still came out loud. “He has that scar on his face. I remember it super clearly!”
Her companion finally came to her senses and turned to look toward the plaza. “Holy shit, it really is Brother Wolf!”
In the blazing heat of the plaza, the silver giant wolf had changed into human form and taken out a huge, strange-looking piece of equipment from his terminal space, setting it up right there in the middle of the square as if no one else existed.
Beside the silver-haired man stood a huge burly guy and a thin, tall old man.
“If Brother Wolf is here, doesn’t that mean An Cub is here too?” The girl was beside herself with excitement. “Today is An Cub’s Rising Star final. It’s almost time—they wouldn’t be planning to livestream right in the plaza, would they?”
Her friend looked shocked. “In weather this hot? Streaming outdoors?!”
“Forget all that!” The girl shot to her feet. “Let’s just go first! What if An Cub is going to sell fruits and vegetables during the stream? Those apples he grew still haven’t gone on sale. He must be saving them for the finals, so he can sell them live and pull a big wave of popularity!”
That sounded very reasonable, so her companion immediately stood up as well, and the two of them dashed toward the plaza.
Plenty of other people had also recognized the giant wolf. Their reactions were more or less the same, and before long the previously empty plaza began filling up with people.
What surprised everyone a little was that once they stepped into the plaza itself, they realized that large constant-temperature regulators had already been installed there. The temperature inside the area was actually quite comfortable.
The girl and her companion had been fast, so they successfully squeezed to the front and ended up nearest to Feng Wu and the others.
Xiong Yingjun had already pulled up a line of warning barriers in advance and was calling to the surrounding crowd, “Please leave some space for An Cub! An Cub is about to start livestreaming!”
The girl asked curiously, “Isn’t he selling produce?”
“Nope.” Xiong Yingjun shook his head mysteriously. “You’ll know soon enough.”
Her friend grabbed the girl’s sleeve, her lowered voice trembling with excitement and anticipation. “I have this weird feeling An Cub is going to do something huge. What do I do? I’m so nervous!”
“I’m nervous too!” The girl stamped her feet excitedly. “Nervous and excited. This is the first time I’ve ever watched An Cub livestream from this close up!”
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, “Everyone remember to go into An Cub’s livestream room later! Don’t just watch in person! Today is the Rising Star final—go into the stream and help boost An Cub’s popularity!!!”
Xiong Yingjun threw a shocked glance toward the kind-hearted person in the crowd and muttered to himself—why did this all start to feel more and more like a superstar opening a concert?
The girl still had her terminal clenched in her hand, but her eyes kept searching inside the barrier line.
“That’s weird. Why don’t I see An Cub anywhere?”
Her friend also looked puzzled. “I don’t see him either.”
Hearing the two of them whispering, Xiong Yingjun stepped slightly aside and pointed behind him toward the enormous black machine. “Over there! See that? The little thing moving around is An Cub!”
Moving around… The girl widened her eyes and searched for quite a while before finally finding, hidden in a gap in the machine, a little black blob almost completely blending into it.
She could not help murmuring, “He’s really so black…”
Her friend elbowed her immediately, and the girl instantly corrected herself. “Black is good! I love dark, adorable, squishy, bouncy little cubs!”
Xiong Yingjun almost laughed at that, but in the end he managed to hold it in.
Once the pharmaceutical equipment had been set up, Lin An’an hopped onto the worktable at the very front, waved to the people around him, and opened the livestream room.
Before the final officially began, there was still a five-minute livestream warm-up period.
The moment Lin An’an’s livestream room went live, a huge crowd of people flooded into it immediately.
[Aaaahhh An Cub! Finally, I’ve been waiting forever! Good thing I didn’t give up!]
[Holy shit, so many people! Where is An Cub streaming from? [pupil earthquake jpg]]
[Looks like an outdoor plaza in C City…]
[It is there! Not talking anymore, family—I’m heading to the scene right now!!!]
[I’m in D City and I’m officially jealous. I want to watch cubby’s livestream in person too. [rolling washing machine spin-crying gif]]
[What is cubby streaming today? This setup doesn’t look like farming. Is he going to sell fruits and vegetables?]
[Blind guess: Is An Cub maybe planning to give us a lesson? Basic planting techniques or something? [excitedly rubbing hands jpg]]
[Really? Immediately pulling out my little notebook. Even if I can’t grow anything without abilities, becoming an online farming expert would still be pretty good. [cat peeking jpg]]
All kinds of guesses flooded the bullet comments. Lin An’an adjusted the virtual camera angle, making sure the entire pharmaceutical apparatus was visible in the shot.
[No farming today, and no selling vegetables either.] the little cub typed in front of the camera. [Today, we’re livestreaming medicine-making.]
More and more people were gathering in the plaza, and the noise around them was growing louder and louder.
Feng Wu had already installed sound-isolation equipment near the warning line, making sure the little cub’s livestream would not be affected by so many people.
[Medicine-making?]
[Do you mean the kind of medicine-making I’m thinking of? Traditional pharmaceutical arts? [scratching head in confusion gif]]
[I remember there’s a new streamer doing traditional pharmaceutical arts recently.]
[I know! His name is Tong Qiuxia. He also made it to the finals!]
[Wait, doesn’t that mean cubby and he are colliding head-on? [shocked cat jpg]]
[Why is An Cub suddenly livestreaming traditional pharmaceutical arts? Couldn’t we just play it safe in the finals? [I don’t understand jpg]]
[I smell gunpowder… Could cubby and that Tong Qiuxia guy have some kind of grudge?]
[Oh wow, is this about to turn into a showdown? [pupil earthquake jpg]]
[Cubby, listen to Auntie! Why don’t we just stick to farming and selling vegetables? You’re so tiny, you can’t even hold the stirring rod for medicine-making. [deeply worried jpg]]
[Changing the livestream theme to medicine-making now will cause people to unfollow! An Cub, please think carefully!!!]
In the blink of an eye, the screen was overflowing with comments. Lin An’an could see everyone’s worry and attempts to persuade him, but he had no intention of changing his mind.
[I’ve already decided on today’s livestream theme. It won’t change anymore!] the little cub typed firmly. [Today’s livestream theme is traditional pharmaceutical arts.]
An Cub: [I’m going to show everyone what true traditional pharmaceutical arts really are.]
At the side, He Yinghong’s pupils contracted sharply.
Lin An’an had never told him what the day’s livestream theme would be. When he had invited He Yinghong to come watch the livestream in person, He Yinghong had only assumed that the little cub wanted to bring him out for a walk and lift his spirits.
The moment he saw that pharmaceutical apparatus—so familiar to him—his heart had already skipped once.
Only now did he finally understand the little cub’s true intention.
A strange warmth began spilling out from his heart, flowing through his torso and limbs, surging upward with overwhelming force.
It was like a passionate tide rushing toward him, and also like the very first ray of sunlight falling on him at dawn.
An Cub: [However, before the livestream officially begins, I want to introduce a special guest to everyone.]
The virtual camera turned toward his side. Sitting there was a thin old man with graying hair at the temples.
An Cub: [The elderly gentleman sitting beside me is named He Yinghong.]
An Cub: [He is a master of traditional pharmaceutical arts, and also the greatest inheritor of those arts in the entire Empire.]
He Yinghong’s nose stung, his eyes turned hot, and he almost burst into tears in front of the livestream’s tens of millions of viewers.
Too embarrassing, he thought.
And yet he could not stop himself from showing the lightest, happiest smile he had worn in all these years.
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