Chapter 38 – Aiming for Top 100
Xu Lang “…”
Xu Lang “…?”
That was odd.
Sensing something was off, Xu Lang stopped walking and followed the person’s gaze, which led to a jianbing (Chinese crepe) stall.
…A jianbing stall?
It was past the peak business hours, and the jianbing vendor was squatting nearby, chatting happily with someone.
The person talking to the vendor was also wearing a hat. They seemed to recognize Xu Lang, slightly lifted their hat to look over, and waved.
Xu Lang: “…”
Xu Lang: “?”
Taking a closer look, he finally locked eyes with the pale gray irises beneath the hat’s brim and realized what was happening.
So, instead of heading toward the car parked by the roadside, Xu Lang abruptly changed direction and walked toward the jianbing stall.
The vendor thought a customer was coming and was about to stand up, but when he realized Xu Lang wasn’t heading toward him, he squatted back down to continue his conversation.
As Xu Lang approached, he could vaguely hear snippets like “market trends” and “spread the batter evenly.”
…It was hard to imagine what these two were talking about.
Noticing Xu Lang’s arrival, the person in the hat bid the vendor goodbye and stood up, lightly patting Xu Lang on the shoulder, saying, “Let’s go.”
The weight on his shoulder straightened Xu Lang’s back a little, and he called out, “Brother Bai.”
Walking from the jianbing stall toward the car, Xu Lang’s steps became a bit lighter, like many high school students heading home.
Once in the car, Xu Lang instinctively moved to the back seat and scooted further in to leave space beside him.
Chen Bai, appreciating the gesture, sat down next to him in the back seat.
The passenger seat was now empty, with only the driver remaining—Xu Lang’s brother, the famous actor turned driver. He glanced in the rearview mirror at the unusually well-behaved high schooler, then said nothing and returned his gaze forward.
The car started and smoothly merged into traffic.
Holding his backpack, Xu Lang turned to the person next to him and asked, “Brother Bai, what brings you here today?”
What had been an ordinary Friday instantly became brighter.
If his brother had told him earlier, he definitely wouldn’t have lingered in school for so long.
“I had some free time and thought I’d stop by,” Chen Bai replied, taking off his hat and revealing his messy hair. With a smile, he added, “I’ll be shooting a movie at your school soon, so I figured I’d check it out.”
“?”
Xu Lang immediately perked up, reflexively asking, “When?”
Chen Bai, still sporting his messy hair, said, “During summer break. You’ll be off school by then, right?”
They would indeed be on break, perfectly missing each other.
The excitement that had just sparked in Xu Lang’s heart instantly cooled down. He calmly took out his phone.
Chen Bai asked what he was doing.
Xu Lang replied, “I’m checking my ranking from the last monthly exam.”
He had put in quite a bit of effort recently, hoping to do well enough to earn a chance to play games with Chen Bai. He had worked hard for a long time.
But after finding out that Brother Bai had already joined the filming crew and no longer lived in the residential building, leaving him with little free time, Xu Lang hadn’t bothered to check his scores.
For the first time, the anonymous high schooler experienced the thrill of checking his grades.
Not knowing how many total points would be considered good, he skipped directly to the ranking.
[Ranking (Science): 273]
This was the first time Xu Lang faced his scores head-on.
It was somewhat surprising. His previous rankings had always hovered around 500-600, each time landing him in the teacher’s office. This was the first time his rank didn’t start with a 5 or 6.
Xu Lang “…”
Xu Lang stared at the ranking for a few more moments, unconsciously wiping his face.
…Was the top 100 for the entire grade, or were there separate rankings for Science and Humanities?
From the driver’s seat, his brother asked, “Did you mess up?”
Now that his scores had improved, Xu Lang spoke with confidence, sitting up straight and saying, “I jumped ahead by three or four hundred places!”
His brother gave a simple comment, “Impressive.”
Chen Bai gave him a small round of applause and a thumbs-up, generously offering praise. The atmosphere was perfect.
Xu Lang laughed, but there was a hint of unease in his smile.
Knowing that playing games together wouldn’t be possible anytime soon, he had slacked off last month. With the new monthly exam results due soon, his ranking would likely drop again.
Deciding not to dwell on the subject, Xu Lang put his phone away and turned to the person sitting next to him. He curiously asked, “What were you like in high school, Brother Bai?”
Chen Bai thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. “Me?”
The driver glanced over.
“I’d have to split my high school years into before and after sophomore year,” Chen Bai chuckled. “Before sophomore year, I was a bit of a mess. After that, I started acting like a normal person.”
He didn’t explain why sophomore year was the turning point, nor did he go into detail about how he had been a “mess.” With just that one sentence, he considered the topic closed.
Xu Lang glanced at him a few more times, still finding it hard to imagine that this person, who always seemed to be smiling, could have been so unruly in the past.
The school wasn’t far from Yulin Road, just a ten-minute drive away.
When they arrived, Xu Lang was caught off guard by the announcement that he’d be left at home alone to do homework. His brother dropped him off at the door and left.
Xu Lang protested, saying it wasn’t fair to abandon his brother after just picking him up.
His brother said he was helping someone move.
Helping Chen Bai move—just down one floor via elevator.
Xu Lang bent over and said, “Take your time, but please hurry.”
He glanced at his brother’s expression and added, “Brother.”
His brother nodded and left. Another person peeked out from behind him, waved, and said with a smile, “If we finish moving quickly, you can join us to play for a bit after you finish your homework.”
Clutching his backpack straps like he was holding onto hope, Xu Lang nodded eagerly, watching as the door closed.
Once the door shut, leaving him alone in the house, Xu Lang stood in the entryway. After debating between playing with his phone and taking a nap, he chose to open his backpack and pull out his homework.
After dropping off his younger brother at home, the two people got back into the car and headed straight for the old town.
Chen Bai had very few belongings, with the only significant item being his computer, which had already been moved. The rest were just daily necessities and various kitchen items.
All of it fit into one large cardboard box and a few smaller ones.
Packing was quick, but the most time-consuming part was cleaning up afterward.
He hadn’t planned to hire a cleaner. Chen Bai initially wanted to send his good neighbor, who had already helped move things, next door to rest. However, the neighbor insisted on staying to help clean up, so he let him stay.
It was obvious that his neighbor wasn’t used to this kind of work, and wasn’t very skilled at it. The mask and hat he wore at least helped keep the dust away.
Thanks to diligent Chen Bai, who didn’t have many items and regularly cleaned while living there, everything—moving and cleaning—was done by the end of the afternoon.
The landlord came over for a symbolic inspection, and Chen Bai took the opportunity to return the keys from the locksmith downstairs.
Taking the keys, the landlord sighed and said, “I originally wanted to bring Xiao Yang over to meet you, but he’s been sleeping nonstop and won’t wake up no matter how much I call him.”
Chen Bai sighed with regret as well, while the person beside him glanced over.
With the house officially handed over and everything moved, they headed back to the city center before it got dark.
On the way back, the good neighbor asked, “Who’s Xiao Yang?”
“The landlord’s grandson,” Chen Bai smiled. “He’s really cute and clingy. I held him once, and he wouldn’t let go.”
The neighbor, subtly adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and glanced sideways, asking, “Do you like him?”
“Of course I do,” Chen Bai nodded with a smile. “He’s really comfortable to hold. But he’s growing too fast, and it’s getting hard to carry him.”
Xu Sinian: “Growing too fast?”
Chen nodded. “He’s in a growth spurt—he gained six pounds in a month.”
“…”
Though a bit hesitant, Xu Sunian couldn’t help but ask, “Is this Xiao Yang a human?”
Chen was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
He laughed so hard that he slid down his seat, then pushed himself back up, saying, “No, Xiao Yang is the landlord’s dog.”
The landlord’s daughter raised the dog like her child, so the landlord considered it his grandson. He liked to show off Xiao Yang and would take him for walks every day, telling everyone that the dog was his ‘grandson.’ He’d even take him to the shops nearby to make the other shopkeepers envious.
“…”
The good neighbor fell silent for a moment, then quietly responded, “Got it.”
By the time they arrived at Yulin Road, the sky had already turned completely dark.
The new place had been cleaned once before, so it was pretty tidy and didn’t need much additional cleaning. After moving everything inside, the day’s tasks were temporarily done.
The high school student, who had stayed home all afternoon, finally got to have dinner.
Chen Bai personally cooked, making something extremely spicy but incredibly delicious.
The high schooler ate with chopsticks in one hand and a water cup in the other, alternating between eating and drinking.
While drinking, his eyes drifted to the white cup with a little dog face on it. He then looked down at the plain glass cup in his own hand, swallowed the water, and asked his brother, “Why is brother Bai’s cup different?”
He watched as his brother glanced at him, then picked up his phone and tapped a few times.
When Chen Bai put down his phone, the high schooler’s phone rang.
Putting down his cup temporarily, he checked his phone and saw a transfer notification.
[If you want one, buy it yourself.]
Xu Lang “…”
So this is what it’s like to have a real brother.
Knowing when to accept, the high schooler took the money.
After dinner, for the first time in a while, the high schooler received a one-on-one tutoring session from Chen Bai.
Instead of going to the study, they stayed in the living room, where the table and sofa were large enough to spread out textbooks, study guides, several test papers, and a mistake notebook.
Xu Lang had been serious when he said he’d do his homework in the afternoon. He didn’t mess around—he compressed two days’ worth of homework into one afternoon, ignoring his friends who invited him out to play.
He finished, but not completely—there were still problems he didn’t know how to solve, leaving them blank. It was perfect timing for Chen Bai to help explain them so he could finish up and relax.
Chen Bai wasn’t strict when teaching. He sat casually, on the carpet, with one hand holding a pen and the other leaning on the floor, explaining formulas as if he were just chatting.
His mind seemed naturally suited for handling complex things. The formulas changed constantly without causing confusion, and his thought process was clear and unblocked.
Kind old Mr. Xu Sinian poured two glasses of milk for them and sat nearby.
One problem took four pages of scratch paper, with several graphs drawn. Xu Lang followed Chen Bai’s train of thought, drawing graphs along the way and solving the problem step by step.
Formula after formula, three of them helped determine a range, and once another function graph was drawn to find the minimum value, Xu Lang glanced at the problem, realizing that the question was simply asking for the minimum value.
This was the last part of the final math problem—the kind that some students would give up on during class, knowing they couldn’t solve it.
But he had solved it. Even though it took four full pages of scratch paper, once the idea clicked, it didn’t seem as difficult as he had imagined.
The person beside him casually placed the pen behind his ear, took a sip of milk from his cup, and smiled, saying, “It’s not that hard, right?”
He continued, “Once you practice these kinds of problems enough, the solutions will come naturally.”
Compared to last time, the younger brother had clearly improved. This problem wasn’t too difficult, but the previous Xu Lang probably wouldn’t have been able to solve it.
Xu Lang rubbed his hair, which was now a mix of smooth and messy, hesitantly nodding.
He felt it wasn’t as difficult as he had imagined, but it still wasn’t exactly easy.
In any case, the problem was done, and who knew how many pages of scratch paper had been used.
After putting away the books and homework on the table, Xu Lang turned to look at his brother sitting beside him.
His older brother looked at Chen Bai.
Chen Bai, holding his cup, met the gaze of his good neighbor and said, “I promised your brother today that we’d play some games after finishing homework. Is that okay?”
The good neighbor asked, “Won’t it disturb your rest?”
Chen Bai smiled and waved it off.
Xu Sinian glanced at the high schooler and gave his approval.
Although Xu Lang didn’t quite understand, he could tell that the one with the most say here was Chen Bai.
Once he got permission, he quickly stood up and ran toward the study, calling as he went, “Bro, can I borrow your computer for a bit?”
Before his words had fully left his mouth, he was already inside the study.
A couple of seconds later, footsteps sounded again, and the people in the living room saw the high schooler peeking out from the hallway. In a lower voice, he asked, “Bro, what’s the computer password?”
“… Ahem.”
Chen Bai, in the middle of drinking milk, couldn’t help but laugh, choking slightly as he lowered his head to cough.
Once he had cleared his throat, he took a few more gulps of milk, said goodbye to his good neighbor with his cup in hand, and left for downstairs.
Upon returning home, he quickly posted an announcement about the livestream that night, then put away his phone and carried a box he had picked up that morning when going downstairs to the master bedroom.
His good neighbor didn’t usually play games, and Xu Lang would need time to download them anyway, so he used this opportunity to set up his computer.
Once the components were installed, he found a prime spot for his PC, connected the monitor and network cable, and the whole setup process, which he had gotten quite familiar with, was faster than the last time at the hotel.
After hooking up the streaming equipment, he leaned back in his chair and messaged his friends, letting them know that he wouldn’t be joining the team today.
Xu Lang had known since their first meeting that he was a streamer, and he didn’t mind joining voice chat during gameplay to help fill up some stream time.
After logging into WeChat on his computer, Chen Bai connected with Xu Lang via a call, then opened his streaming software, adjusted the settings, and finally launched the game, adding his younger brother as a friend.
For some reason, Xu Lang seemed oddly nervous when sharing his game account.
Chen didn’t overthink it, simply typed in the string of numbers Xu Lang provided.
The search was fast, and after pressing enter, the page refreshed. Chen saw Xu Lang’s account.
His username was [3XL], which felt oddly familiar.
Someone with that username occasionally popped up in his livestream, never saying anything but often sending gifts.
Chen started to think it was just a coincidence, but then again, it wasn’t impossible.
While he was pondering this, Xu Lang, after a brief pause, obediently called out, “Erbai Bro.”
“…”
No need to think about it anymore.
Chen Bai rubbed his face.
So it turned out that the game streamer Xu Lang had been watching after school was none other than him.
Xu Lang remained quiet during the brief silence that followed, showing a good sense of timing.
But in Chen Bai’s world, silence never lasted more than a few seconds.
With the game friend request accepted and the livestream start time approaching, Chen briefly returned to the main screen and hit the “go live” button.
‘Qingzhou’, who had already started streaming, was the first to go live, and the fans, who had long learned to scout out what was happening, already knew that Chen Bai had plans with someone else and would probably join Qingzhou for duo games after a few rounds. So they weren’t surprised when they didn’t see the familiar pink avatar right away.
[LOL, Qingzhou is soloing in another game, playing alone while his team is in a four-man squad. Chen Erbai, please come help him before he breaks (just kidding)]
[Haha, Qingzhou says it feels weird playing without Erbai around!]
[Wait a second, this ID—3XL?]
[Is that the same 3XL who used to fight for the top spot? Oh man, while we’re still competing for the leaderboard, you sneaked in to play with Chen Erbai!]
[I want to play with Chen Erbai too! Sob sob!]
Some regular viewers in the livestream recognized the username, having seen it before during heated leaderboard battles.
“He’s a friend’s younger brother.”
Chen glanced at the rapidly scrolling chat and explained, “He came over to play, so we’ll run a couple of games together.”
Xu Lang, right on cue, called out again, “Erbai Bro.”
[OMG, I thought 3XL bought their way into Erbai’s friend list. Turns out it’s a VIP connection!!]
[VIP, but in the gaming sense.]
[Erbai Bro! I’m calling you bro too! Can I get a friend request?]
[It’s bad enough that we can’t play with Erbai, but 3XL’s success is just rubbing it in.]
[Isn’t there really no way to buy a spot on Erbai’s friend list? QAQ]
No matter how much they spammed the chat, the rule-abiding Chen Erbai wouldn’t allow anyone to buy a spot on his friend list without earning it.
The other viewers just didn’t have a brother who happened to know Chen Erbai.
In any case, Xu Lang was already gearing up for a happy duo game with brother Chen.
His brother’s keyboard wasn’t exactly meant for gaming, and the mouse felt a bit different from what he was used to, but he was grateful just to borrow it and didn’t dare ask for more.
Some games feel entirely different when you play them yourself compared to watching someone else play.
Although Xu Lang hadn’t played in a while, he had spent a lot of time gaming before, mostly with friends. His skills were decent—good enough for his age group.
Chen Erbai always made duo games with Qingzhou look easy, chatting while racking up kills, only getting serious when up against professional players.
But once Xu Lang got into the game, he immediately felt the pressure of being in a high-level match.
Chen was ranking up during his livestreams, and his rank was already high. When they duoed, the matchmaking system placed them in a top-tier game.
After skydiving and landing, they started looting houses. As always, the player with the pink outfit chatted while looting at a speed that was hard to keep up with.
For the first time, Xu Lang felt like his brain couldn’t process fast enough, outside of academics. He did his best to follow along, moving to the next building to continue looting.
As long as you choose the right location, you’ll never be short of people. This otherwise unremarkable little spot somehow became quite popular this time. It was still early in the game, and on their way to loot a house, they had already run into three groups of people.
Xu Lang finally understood why so many people in Chen Erbai’s friends list still chose to play with him, even knowing they would most likely end up as bait.
Simply put, there was a strong sense of security. Although you might be the bait, the risk was far lower than moving around alone. If enemies were aiming at you, it meant someone else was already aiming at them. In sniper battles in the mountains, the enemy always fell first.
It was the first time Xu Lang had experienced the smoothness of someone sniping right next to him.
You could feel the tension and thrill of high-level play, but with the security of knowing you could still do what you wanted. Even if you made mistakes, no one would scold you, because someone would always help clean it up with just a laugh, and you could keep chatting the whole time.
This was probably the best gaming experience, completely different from when he played on his own.
Xu Lang felt genuine gratitude to his past self for working so hard in school just to play games together—it was worth it.
The game was a lot of fun, but reality was harsh.
After who knows how many rounds, when the results screen popped up, and before the next round began, Chen Erbai kindly reminded him, “Hey, little bro, it’s been about two hours.”
Objectively, he added, “If you don’t leave the room soon, your brother is probably going to come in.”
[Haha, victory and defeat all thanks to your brother! Has 3XL played enough now? (Is it my turn next?)]
[3XL, have you had enough fun? Is it my turn next? (Crying Cat emoji)]
[Never been so excited for a friend to show up. Dear friend, come and take him away already!]
[You’re too naïve, the line behind him still has Qingzhou holding a love number waiting in queue.]
The chat was filled with playful comments, and for the first time, the high schooler felt that two hours had passed way too quickly. He hesitated between continuing to play or stopping, and after careful consideration, he decided to take off his headset.
Wanting to secure another chance to play together in the future, he chose not to risk playing any longer.
—His decision turned out to be the right one, and Chen Erbai’s reminder was perfectly timed.
As soon as he removed his headset and exited the game, there was a knock on the study door.
The knock wasn’t too soft or too loud—more of a reminder than a request to come in, signaling that it was time for him to leave.
He couldn’t play on the computer anymore, but he could still use his phone. After shutting down the computer, Xu Lang stood up, took out his phone, opened the livestream platform, and walked toward the study door. After fumbling for a while, he finally found the door handle and opened the door.
Sure enough, the knock was only a reminder. His brother wasn’t waiting outside the door; he had already returned to the living room, quietly reading on the sofa.
Xu Lang walked to the dining table, put down his phone, took a sip of water from his plain glass, and then headed to the living room, intending to look for the earphones he had probably left in his schoolbag.
The person on the sofa set down his book and asked, “He’s not playing anymore either?”
It was clear who he was referring to. Xu Lang retrieved his earphones and replied, “No, he’s probably playing with Qingzhou now.”
The other person’s gaze shifted. “Qingzhou?”
Xu Lang nodded. “They’ve always played together. They’re closer than anyone else.”
Author’s Note:
Xu Lang, the innocent messenger.
