Not Being a Clown Means Winning Big

Hanging up the phone, Ma Mingfan slumped onto the bed.

Damn it, after being asked by that bastard Shen Nian, he didn't even have the mood to play Naruto anymore.

Depressed, Ma Mingfan started another match. Although his mechanics were a bit sloppy, he luckily won. After making his opponent wait for sixty seconds, his mood finally became as relaxed as before.

Although the game hadn't had any major updates, he always felt that after coming back to it, it wasn't as fun anymore.

Crossing his legs, Ma Mingfan scrolled through QQ. When he reached Liang Jing's page, he quickly swiped up, skipping to the next page where she wasn't there.

Haha, I totally don't care about Liang Jing at all.

...Below were some thousand-member gaming groups and gossip groups that he had already muted. Ma Mingfan would only click into these to take a quick glance once a day.

What exactly was he deliberately avoiding...

Ma Mingfan muttered in his heart, a bit confused by his own psychology. He had just messaged Liang Jing a few days ago, after all.

It must be a lack of willpower training recently. Tomorrow, he would listen to the Mandarin version of Lemon ten times, something he hadn't done in a while.

He numbly opened his sticker panel, wanting to send something. As he scrolled, he accidentally tapped a sticker and sent it, scaring the crap out of him.

[Ma Mingfan]: (The person above is an idiot.jpg)

[Ma Mingfan]: You recalled a message.

[Liang Jing]: Why are you swearing at me?

Ma Mingfan felt a bit dead inside. This was the exact moment he didn't want an instant reply.

[Ma Mingfan]: I tapped it by accident.

[Liang Jing]: Oh, then what did you originally want to send me?

[Ma Mingfan]: Launch MC?

[Liang Jing]: Launch!

MC is so great, I love MC, saving me from disaster.

Ma Mingfan was already kowtowing to MC in his heart. This was something Naruto couldn't do; Naruto was completely trash now.

Since things had come to this, he might as well play the game first.

This save file was already completed. They had defeated the Ender Dragon. Having nothing better to do, Liang Jing connected two villages and built a bunch of pretty little wooden cabins, making it look like a town.

Ma Mingfan didn't even know where the fun was. After beating the Ender Dragon, he lost his goal. When Liang Jing needed ores, he would go down to the mines. The rest of the time was just harvesting, planting, and building houses. It was clearly meaningless, but he still played it up to now.

It was a bit boring.

But also quite fun...

If it weren't for Liang Jing, it would be absolutely impossible for him to play on this save file for so long.

Although Ma Mingfan didn't think he was as impressive as Shen Nian, he definitely wasn't one of those dense male protagonists from anime. He understood his own feelings better than anyone.

Liang Jing's voice came from the ongoing QQ voice call:

Why aren't you moving?

Uh, I'm watching videos on a mini-screen.

Oh. Liang Jing ran to find a furnace to smelt iron. After being quiet for a while, she spoke again, You don't seem like you really want to play. Are you unhappy?

No, it's just that we have to fill out our college applications soon. I'm thinking about what major to apply for. The videos I'm watching are major introduction videos. Don't you watch them?

I did. I've already decided to apply for Chinese Language and Literature at Nanjing Normal University.

To become a Chinese teacher?

Yeah.

Being a teacher is good. Nanjing Normal University... seems pretty far away.

It's just the neighboring province. Only two and a half hours by high-speed rail, it's not that far.

Oh, right, right...

Liang Jing's purple blocky girl character stood in front of Ma Mingfan's drooling blocky character, sticking her butt out and waving her hand.

I feel like you don't have the mood to play games today. How about you take a rest?

It's fine, it's fine, let's play!

As if to prove he was fine, Ma Mingfan controlled his blocky character to hop around Liang Jing.

A very light laugh came from the other end of the voice call, making Ma Mingfan's face feel hot and his speech a bit clumsy.

Shaking with anger and cold, what did Clown Boy do to you?

I've used up all the birch wood at home. Let's go chop some together. The surroundings are almost hollowed out; we need to find a place to plant trees.

Okay, over here, over here.

Coming.

The two blocky figures hopped along. Liang Jing's controls weren't as smooth as Ma Mingfan's; her feet would always get stuck on blocks, always one step behind him.

After mining a stack of wood, Ma Mingfan's drooling figure paused. Are you busy lately?

No. I'm waiting to finish my college application before taking my driving test, so I don't have anything going on these few days.

Ahem... Then, do you want to go hang out in the city?

...Classmate Ma Mingfan, look at you, actually inviting a female classmate out to play. Liang Jing lowered her voice. For a moment, Ma Mingfan couldn't analyze what kind of mindset Liang Jing had when saying this.

So confusing.

... Ma Mingfan quieted down. I finally gathered the courage to be bold once, and you made me lose so thoroughly. Damn it!

(Throws Pepsi)

What are we going to do in the city? You have to think about where to go first, so we don't end up meeting and not knowing what to do.

I'll look up what's fun to do tonight!

Mhm.

...

You have to walk me home, okay.

Sure, we're on the same way anyway.

Ma Mingfan's mood became very active. He even played the game with renewed energy, building two gorgeous little wooden cabins in a row.

Full of excitement, he finished playing MC with Liang Jing and then started lying on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling until spots of light appeared in his vision.

Classmate Liang Jing actually agreed to hang out in the city with him.

Is-is-is this considered a date?

No matter what, not ending up as a clown was a massive win.

...

In the town.

Shen Nian had just turned off his computer, and the colorful lights of the computer case suddenly went dark.

He had just run a short half-hour livestream. Originally, he was just doing it for fun, but many fans remembered what he said last time and sent several super chats asking him to connect on mic and explain questions.

The key was that there was actually a guy retaking his exams who got on the mic and screen-shared two final physics questions for him to explain live.

Shen Nian had no choice but to explain it to them bit by bit. He finally understood why teachers started getting headaches when they saw certain students.

Being a teacher really wasn't an easy job. Whether you could teach them was one thing, and not dying from anger was another.

It was worth mentioning that in just a short half-hour livestream, he made a net income of three thousand yuan. As soon as he started broadcasting, a bunch of gifts poured in, and super chats came one after another.

Many people in the livestream room were students coming to listen to the lesson. He was really afraid that one day they would request underage refunds.

Feeling drained, he needed to find Chunbao for some comfort.

After all, it was already bedtime.

Shen Nian smoothly slipped into Xia Yanchun's room. No other reason, just practice makes perfect.

Opening the balcony window, Chunbao's room light was still on. Xia Yanchun was lying on her stomach, happily scrolling through videos. When Shen Nian arrived, she only gave him a glance, seemingly not wanting to pay him much attention.

Not sleeping yet? Shen Nian tiptoed over to turn off the light, lifted the blanket, and slipped in. His large hand automatically found its way to the other side of Xia Yanchun's slender waist.

Let me finish this episode first, this is too good.

Did you finish that previous show?

Finished it ages ago. Xia Yanchun snuggled into Shen Nian's embrace, comfortably turning her back to him, lying on her side with her phone in one hand. She said softly, Hug me.

You know I've always been a good listener. Shen Nian wrapped his arms around the soft and obedient Chunbao, rubbing against her fair neck.

Good listener my foot.

"Who says I'm not obedient? I just don't listen to every little thing. If you told me to eat crap, I definitely wouldn't listen, but if you told me to touch you, I'd be more than happy to oblige."

"Excuses! I'm gonna hit you!"

"...Chunbao, you're so cute."

"..."

"Hehe, your ears are getting warm. Someone's feeling shy."

"Get lost!"