CH 12

As soon as the broadcasting time started, the comment area, which had been scolding endlessly, finally quieted down. Most of the netizens turned their attention to the television. Because the organizers like to edit interesting parts in the middle or the end of the show, the netizens patiently waited for the host to finish the long thank-you words for the sponsor, watch the women’s group competition, and then the men’s group competition started.

Su Ge, as the lead singer of TR’s male band, not only had decent singing skills, but the biggest reason for attracting fans was also due to his face—which was exquisite and handsome, with white and clean skin. At first glance, his face look stunning to the eyes, but at second glance, a feeling come over that the craftsmanship was just too strong.

Unfortunately, his fans did not think so. When Su Ge’s figure appeared on the screen, several top fans in the comment section were already sending flowers and started brushing the screen1. All floors of the comments section were filled with similar colors of shouting: “Ge Ge is so handsome.” Especially when he hit a nine-point with the arrow at the beginning, the rainbow farts2 were blown up to the sky.

[I would say that if it weren’t for being eliminated due to injury, Su Ge was most likely to win the championship. Now, it has become unknown who will win the championship!]

[Are all Su Ge’s fans elementary school students? How many years has it been since he debuted? Why can’t you get rid of this stinky bragging? Meng Qianlin’s chances of winning are also very good, okay?]

[Sorry, excuse me, Su Ge was eliminated, Meng Qianlin was third, where did you put second place Yu Fan?]

In the comment area, several parties fought in a scuffle, arguing over the title of the champion, but no one mentioned Xi Nian’s name. His fans had just gathered and formed, so the strength of sticking together as a group was not high. Even if some made comments in small fragments, they were suppressed after a while.

The crowd was still arguing when, suddenly, the camera on their screens turned to a man and coincidentally stopped there.

Netizens were not clueless about the name Xi Nian. Because he was involved with Su Ge, his identity information was basically hacked up all over. However, due to cold weather, the clicked pictures that were available in Baidu’s information column were pitifully plain and dim-lighted photographs. Other than that, when he first debuted, Xi Nian played a cameo role in a certain youth film, with a young face and immature acting skills, it was really hard to impress people and leave a lasting impression. The only frequently active recent photo was probably the fuzzy motion picture of Xi Nian’s cold face toward Su Ge, as it has been widely circulated on the Internet recently.

This was the first time they have truly met Xi Nian.

The high-definition camera was aimed at his whole body, and then slowly zoomed in to give a close-up of his face. The man’s facial features were handsome and smooth, like a meticulous painting3 sketched on paper, but extremely cold and stern. When he momentarily raised his eyes, he looked indifferent and unruly and appeared really captivating to the mind.

With such a face, it did not make people doubt the authenticity of the picture of his cold face toward Su Ge, but it also did not make people find it annoying.

The comment area was unusually quiet for a few seconds, and then instantly exploded.

[Ahhhhhhhhhh the groundhog screams!!!4 Hurry up! I want all the information on this man in three seconds!!!]

[!!!!! (Handsome to the point that I am speechless) Why didn’t anyone tell me that Xi Nian is so handsome!]

[Fuck!5 So cold and handsome, a direct hit to my aesthetic point!]

[I feel like the real person looks a hundred times better than the photo! A hundred times! Am I blind? After watching the show for so many weeks, how come I didn’t find such a peerless handsome guy!!!]

Su Ge’s fans turned the table angrily: Fuck your mother6, will you please sober up! This is Xi Nian!!

The voice of the commentator on the field still did not stop: “… Now it’s the turn of No. 9 player Xi Nian to shoot arrows. His previous ranking match was not very ideal. I don’t know if he can turn the tables against the wind7 in this game. It does make people feel sorry for him…”

On the screen, Xi Nian’s eyes were indifferent and did not change at all. It wasn’t until he took the arrow and opened the bow that his aura drastically changed, like a sword drawn from its sheath, suddenly revealing its sharpness. The audience saw a black shadow flashing past in front of them, and with the sound that pierced through the air, an arrow appeared on the target not far away.

The tail end was still trembling slightly, but it hit directly in the middle of the circle.

“No. 9 Xi Nian, the first arrow of the first group, ten points.”

His movements were neat and his aim was precise, which made those who had previously suspected him of being a blind cat encountering a dead mouse8 feel like their throat was blocked and they couldn’t say anything.

Nothing else but just Xi Nian’s confident and composed manner made it hard for others to see the slightest mistake or guess that the hit was just a coincidence.

A few passers-by were captivated by the brief seconds of the charm shown on camera just now, and they all covered their hearts and fell into a state of suffocation.

[Mom, with long legs and a narrow waist, it’s okay to have a good figure, but with such a good-looking face! This kind of mature handsome guy is hard to come by! Compared with Xi Nian, Su Ge is exactly like a little brat who just graduated!]

[Xi Nian’s bow strength is stronger than Su Ge’s at first glance, and he hit the tenth ring. Why do some people say that he was lucky to win? (Black question mark face)]

[Seeking seats in Xi Nian’s fan support group!]

At this time, the superb skills of Su Ge’s management team were revealed. Previously posted content of self-explosion injury on the official blog had become a Shàng Fāng9 sword. Now, no matter who criticized Su Ge’s strength, fans directly blocked it back with one sentence: Su Ge only lost because his hand was injured. What’s great about hitting the tenth ring? If Su Ge’s hand was not injured, he would still have been able to hit the ten points!

Others knew that they were exaggerating, but they couldn’t find anything to say back, so they could only comfort themselves in their hearts, and didn’t care about these brainless fans.

At present, Su Ge’s fans were still controlling the rhythm of the voices in the comment area. No matter what others said, they always had thousands of reasons to counter them. However, as the competition progresses, everyone looked at Xi Nian’s score column and fell into a state of shock.

Ten points.

Tenth points.

It was still ten points again.

With seven arrows in a row, he hit the yellow inner circle on the target without any mistakes, not to mention that he hit the target constantly without fail. Before that, although netizens knew that Xi Nian had won over Su Ge, they never expected such an all-around crushing victory.

Now, let alone Su Ge being injured, even if he was not injured, the victory rate was almost negligible.

Among netizens, there were also those who had sharp eyes, let alone those who could not bear to see Su Ge. Suddenly, public opinion quickly turned around and began to investigate the “injured and eliminated” incident posted some time ago.

[Forgive me for being blunt, but was Su Ge really eliminated because of an injury? (Dog’s head saves its Life10) With this level of Xi Nian’s strength, it feels like even Su Ge is a bit reluctant to compete during his peak period.]

[Upstairs, be confident and remove that bit!]

[Oh my god, I thought Xi Nian won by luck, but as a result… fuck—its all ten! How can these brainless fans have the face to say that people just got lucky?]

[Really don’t know where to go hide with this human face.]

For a while, opinions were divergent, and Su Ge’s huge fan traffic was a bit difficult to control and comment on.

Lu Xingzhe had been sitting in front of the computer watching the game. When it was the last group, he keenly noticed that the scene of Sun Ming gesturing to Xi Nian outside the court had been deleted. So, when Su Ge hit the seventh ring, Xi Nian was forced to lower his strength and hit the eighth ring. Seeing this, Su Ge’s fans jumped out again.

[Who said just now that Xi Nian has the tenth ring? Please come out!]

There were even Black fans11: [No, no, I just thought Xi Nian was so powerful that he could make ten rings again]

[Ah… this sudden drop in level caught me off guard. Could it be that the prior ten rings were really a piece of shit luck?]

Xi Nian’s fan support also directly yelled back: [What’s wrong with not hitting the tenth ring? Just look at the seventh point hit by your family’s deflated calf12!]

Perhaps because Xi Nian’s hit rate was too high before, which caused everyone to have too much expectation for his later results. When he suddenly hit an eighth point, they felt a little disillusioned. Moreover, those people, who expected him to hit Su Ge in the face severely, were even more regretful.

Xi Nian’s expression didn’t show any turmoil, it seemed that it didn’t make any difference to him whether the tenth point or the eighth point was hit. The only thing that changed was his aiming time, which became shorter and shorter, ultimately giving people a feeling of almost becoming perfunctory.

Su Ge scored the sixth point, and he scored the seventh point.

Su Ge hit the seventh point, and he hit the eighth point.

Within the same 30-second aiming time, Su Ge spent nearly 20 seconds, and Xi Nian took less than five seconds from nocking the arrow to drawing the bow.

Gradually, someone finally saw the clues.

[Is it my illusion? Why do I feel that Xi Nian is deliberately playing Su Ge, the expression on his face is so perfunctory hahahaha]

[0 acting skills to be spared, absolutely, Ge Ge is so attractive and I love it so much!]

[Xi Nian must be controlling the points, otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that he beats Su Ge every time? But, I don’t understand why, are all handsome guys so maverick!]

[Controlling points +1一 I thought I was the only one who found out]

[Controlling points +2]

…

Was there anything in the world more embarrassing than an opponent deliberately causing you humiliation? Obviously not. Xi Nian’s strength crushed Su Ge’s too much, and the latter’s fans were a bit uneasy in their hearts. However, because they had too thick filters for idols, they habitually continued to find excuses for him.

If Xi Nian was really powerful, then why were there so few ten-point hits in the later half of the game? Besides, why did he deliberately trail behind Su Ge for no reason? Clearly, it was a pretence of mystery.

Why did Xi Nian let Su Ge go?

No one could answer this question, so the comment section gradually shifted away from one to another discussion until a certain audience member who had been to the competition posted a comment.

[Xi Nian didn’t hit the ten points in the later half of the game. I personally guessed that it might be because he was injured as I was lucky enough to go to the second round of the knockout round and noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with his hand. I felt it was only my thoughts, but just watching the show now, it turned out that at this round, the hand is already a little bit uneasy.]

Many people were watching the game while crouching in front of their screens. Surrounded by high-definition cameras around, Xi Nian’s private rubbing of his wrist was exposed. In addition, his several bow-pulling movements seemed somewhat awkward, and a discerning eye could spot the problem upon closer inspection.

[Xi Nian was also injured? Really, it can’t be such a coincidence, can it?]

[It may be true, I just saw something wrong with his arm’s strength.]

[Oh my god, Xi Nian is actually injured!]

[My God, hitting so many ten points even after being injured is much better than certain fans crying everywhere! (Dog head)]

Su Ge’s fans turned blue with anger—they had a hunch that Xi Nian wanted to step on Su Ge to reach the top. Now, it was coincidentally exposed that he was injured, and it led the fans in believing that there must have been a water army13 bought behind their back. Although some rational fans warned against tearing it up irrationally, some fans had brain damage and went to war directly.

[Injured? Laughing so hard, so when is the funeral?]

[Su Ge competes, you compete, Su Ge shoots arrows, you shoot arrows, Su Ge gets hurt, you also get hurt! Does someone still have some face left? Do you really think imitating Su Ge will make you popular? The heat is not so easy to rub14!]

Seeing that they scolded Xi Nian so badly, Xi Nian’s fans were all furious and turned into keyboard warriors to retaliate. However, because the crowd number was too small, and they were not as experienced as Su Ge fans, they were not able to scold them.

Now, the comments section was being criticized for being biased, saying that Xi Nian was being attacked just because of his lack of popularity.

Upon seeing this, Lu Xingzhe chuckled lightly, logged into his account, and clicked a line of words to reply——

What’s wrong with rubbing the heat, we will just rub around it and won’t go in.

Brushing/Swiping the screen: it refers to sending a large amount of repetitive or meaningless information to occupy the screen in a short time.

Rainbow fart: A catchphrase on the Internet, it refers to how fans flaunt their idols, and whatever their idols do will always be good in the eyes of fans. It means something like even if the idol farts, the fan would call in a rainbow without changing their face.

Meticulous painting/brushwork, also known as “fine strokes”, belongs to the category of Chinese painting techniques. It often advocates realism and seeks similarity in shape, so these paintings are often neat and tidy.

There was once a video that became popular on the Internet. It was a groundhog standing on a hillside and making a sound like a human screaming “Ah–“. It became an internet meme; it still impresses many people. The comment here refers to this meme and the groundhog screaming.

The word used here is Gàn and it has the same pronunciation as another Chinese word Gan—people just use them as homophones and alternate between the two to avoid censorship and not appear too rude while cursing.

[tā mā de]: a highly offensive expression, which emphasizes you are quite furious about something or somebody.

Turning against the wind, an idiom on the Internet, its meaning is that the party that is at a disadvantage and is not optimistic finally turns defeat into victory. It has become a common inspirational phrase that implies that as long as you work hard, those things that cannot crush you or kill you will eventually make you stronger.

] [xiā māo pèng shàng sǐ hào zǐ]: blind cat meets a dead mouse. It means that a blind cat can not catch a mouse, so finding dead mouse is like free food due to luck, a wrong hit, or a coincidence. A blind cat is also a metaphor for an incompetent person and using it to refer to other only means that person have no ability, and just got lucky.

[shàng fāng bǎo jiàn]: (Shang Fang Sword) It refers to the sword collected by the ancient Chinese emperors; it is now used as a metaphor for the privilege of superiors. Since Shangfang swords could only be used by the royal family, this kind of sword was endowed with imperial power and privileges, or having an upper hand.

Goutoubaosheng (/Dog Head): it is a buzzword and emoji on the Chinese Internet, which is generally used for ridicule/irony. It expresses a dog with a dodging expression, the main purpose is to make the comments more hilarious, to show that ‘I am just joking’ in case they get attacked by others.

] [pī pí hēi]: This translates to some fans wearing black skin, which means that some black fans pretend to be fans and recruit black fans everywhere.

biě dú zi]: It is a derogatory term that means cowardly and spineless. A calf refers to a newborn animal, which is equivalent to a small animal here. The word deflated is self-evidently shrivelled and irregular in shape. Shrunken calves combine to form shrivelled, irregularly shaped brutes. It was already a beast and then added with a congenital disability, this shows the degree of cursing.

[shuǐ jūn]: It refers to paying people to post comments in someone’s support or engaging in the lowest-level work such as posting and reposting to get paid.

Hot in this context is referred to fame, rubbing someone’s heat means taking advantage of someone’s else fame.