Chapter 42: Watching the Fun

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Watching the Fun

At this moment, the screen displayed Chen Jingle, still chewing on a steamed bun, being interviewed by students from Teacher College.

But why did he look so funny? Chen Xiuyun couldn’t stop cracking up as she watched.

"What are you watching?"

Lin Yaoheng came out of the bathroom and leaned in. "Did I hear you mention Brother Le?"

Chen Xiuyun covered her mouth, giggling, and tilted the phone screen toward Lin Yaoheng. "Didn’t I tell you that Chen Jingle goes to our new campus every morning for his runs? Well, I was scrolling through our school’s short video channel, ’Master’s Words,’ and saw an interview with him. It’s hilarious! Look at what he said to the interviewer."

Lin Yaoheng chuckled after watching it. "’Things will get better.’ That’s quite a response."

"Turning the tables on them was so funny, HAHA!"

"He hadn’t even finished his steamed bun."

"The interviewer is an absolute genius, too."

"..."

Lin Yaoheng smiled, though a little confused. "Is it just me, or does Brother Le look different? He seems a lot more handsome. Or is it just a beauty filter on the video?"

Chen Xiuyun took her phone back and inspected it closely. "There shouldn’t be any filters. Looking at all their past episodes, they never use them. When I visited him last time, I did notice a slight change, but it wasn’t as obvious as it is here."

She felt strange about it, too. It really seemed like Chen Jingle had changed quite a bit recently. At first glance, his facial features hadn’t changed much, but it felt like every detail had been fine-tuned, sending his overall attractiveness skyrocketing. If she hadn’t seen him with her own eyes, she would have assumed he’d gone and gotten plastic surgery.

Not overthinking it, Lin Yaoheng asked, "What has Brother Le been up to lately? Is he still staying home every day?"

Chen Xiuyun nodded. "Yeah. I went back to the village to see him a few days ago. He’s living the comfortable life right now. He has a rocking chair on the first floor, scrolls on his phone, and always has snacks and fruit by his side. He’s even planted a lot of flowers in the yard. His mental state is much more stable than when he was working in the provincial capital."

"Do you really think it’s okay for him to just lie flat and give up the rat race at such a young age? You have to realize he doesn’t even have a girlfriend yet. What if he never gets married? What will he do when he gets old? Sure, it’s fine while he’s young, but once he ages, a lot of things won’t be as easy as they are now." Lin Yaoheng looked deeply worried.

Hearing this, Chen Xiuyun gave him a look of utter disgust. "Ugh, here you go again. Put away your patronizing tone. Chen Jingle is a smart guy. He certainly won’t starve to death. It’s just a matter of how much he earns and the quality of his life. But from the looks of it, he’s living much better than you or me. Both our savings combined aren’t even as high as his alone.

"And as for getting married, does marriage grant you immortality? This is his own choice. If there’s no suitable partner, why should he marry? If he really followed my grandpa’s logic—that any woman who can bear children will do—he wouldn’t have waited until now. Besides, not getting married now doesn’t mean he won’t get married in a couple of years."

"That may be true, but..." Lin Yaoheng instinctively retorted.

"Stop! I don’t want to hear your long-winded lectures," Chen Xiuyun interrupted, putting her hands on her hips in a huff. "Before you start worrying about others, could you solve your own problems first? When are you finally going to be transferred back to the city? You’re on standby twenty-four hours a day at the township power supply station, climbing mountains, crossing rivers, and braving the wind and rain. You’re tanned as dark as charcoal, and no matter how much sunscreen I buy you, it’s useless!"

At the mention of this, Lin Yaoheng’s expression immediately turned awkward. He muttered softly, "Well, it’s not like there are any vacancies at the municipal bureau."

Chen Xiuyun huffed twice but didn’t harp on the issue. She wasn’t an unreasonable person. She knew that the current economy was truly bad, and a position at the municipal power grid was a highly sought-after commodity with far too many eyes on it. If Lin Yaoheng hadn’t graduated early, majored in a power-affiliated college, and been the son of a power grid employee, there was no way a junior college graduate like him could have easily secured a permanent position at the grid.

Now, trying to get promoted from a township to the city was incredibly difficult. His competitors were all master’s degree holders, including big shots from top-tier universities. Although his old man had some connections, he wasn’t influential enough to move mountains. Lin Yaoheng’s younger brother, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree a couple of years ago, also had to test for a township position. Even the county bureau was out of the question, let alone the municipal one.

However, a township was a township, and climbing utility poles was climbing utility poles. It was still better than being an outsourced contractor. Plus, the township he worked in wasn’t exceptionally far from the city. Without traffic, he could make it back in just over forty minutes. It wasn’t easy for anyone these days. The priority was simply surviving; as for the rest... they would figure it out later!

Seeing that Chen Xiuyun wasn’t truly angry, Lin Yaoheng immediately relaxed, joking around and getting all affectionate with her. Chen Xiuyun rolled her eyes at him and huffed a couple of times, letting the matter slide.

Meanwhile, Chen Jingle was genuinely stunned when he received the video from Chen Xiuyun. It was... very hard to judge.

"How did you even find this?" Chen Jingle felt his face grow hot.

It felt just like the time his teacher had praised his essay and made him stand up to read it to the entire class. That wasn’t a compliment at all; it was a public execution!

Chen Xiuyun replied, "I follow this channel. It’s quite interesting. Back when I was doing my undergrad at Teacher College, a classmate of mine got interviewed, and I started following it then. Occasionally, you get to see some pretty amusing interviews. Series like ’Epic Comebacks’ and ’High Attractiveness’ are both pretty good."

She followed it up with a roaring laughter emoji.

Chen Jingle sweat-dropped. He felt like he would have to wear a face mask the next time he went to Teacher College. It wasn’t that he was afraid of being recognized by the students, but rather by the security guards, who might block him from entering.

"I just hope this video doesn’t spread too widely," he muttered.

As a result, when he opened the Doushou app to search for it, his vision nearly went black. He thought, "Damn it, how does it already have a hundred thousand likes? Seriously, can this kind of video really get a hundred thousand likes so easily? Can’t modern netizens have a little more standard for video quality? A video lasting less than thirty seconds with a hundred thousand likes... It makes me sick!"

With a darkened expression, Chen Jingle skimmed through the comment section and silently closed the app. "Superficial humans!" he thought.

"Tell me, what was the situation like back then?" Chen Xiuyun asked curiously.

"I had just finished my run and went to your school’s cafeteria for breakfast. As soon as I came out, I was stopped, and they said they wanted to interview me with a few questions or something."

"And then you ran away?"

"I ran, but I was stopped again. In the end, I answered one question."

"What question? I didn’t see it in the video."

"They probably cut that part out," Chen Jingle said vaguely.

"So what did they ask?"

"Just a pointless question. Not even worth mentioning."

"Yeah, right."

She felt that Chen Jingle wasn’t telling the truth. But it didn’t matter. If there was a follow-up, the production team would definitely release it. Then, Chen Xiuyun suddenly thought of something very amusing.

"When we head back to my parents’ home for Mid-Autumn Festival in a couple of days, we’ll definitely have plenty to talk about," she sent.

MWAHAHA!

Hearing this witch-like cackle beside him, Lin Yaoheng could only silently pray for Chen Jingle. He thought, "Good luck, Brother Le. You’re on your own."