054. inancial Independence
Peng Yuhao read the post sent to him and said: “I’m flabbergasted...This group of women really are a pain in the ass! I mean, why did your fan meter took tremendous fall recently? Turns out, the problem is here!”
He used to think that Qin Yu’s fan meter fell because he suddenly had a wife, causing heartbreak of many female fans; or because he abandoned his audience twice not too long ago, making the audience angry. But, he also thought something didn’t feel right. The fall only happened recently, if it was caused by those matters, the gap in timeline is too big!
Qin Yu: “Drop in fan meter?”
Peng Yuhao: “Yes, did you not pay attention to your fan meter? Your fan-meter in Fly Tour network’s homepage has lost forty to fifty thousand!”
Qin Yu: “Oh.”
...... Oh? Forty or fifty thousand drop and he only said “Oh”!? Peng Yuhao was mad at Qin Yu’s reaction!
Looking at his distorted face in the projection, Qin Yu laughed: “If those fans were the ones who called me ‘ husband’, then it’s a good thing that their number dropped a bit.”
Peng Yuhao sighed. Indeed, the reason Fly Tour Network originally asked Qin Yu to do live broadcast was not based on how many women he could attract, but because of his strength.
Although his ability to later become a gold mine was an unexpected joy for Fly Tour Network, for Peng Yuhao, the most admirable thing about Qin Yu was his personality. No matter how favored and popular he grew, he never got lost in fame and fortune.
As far as Peng Yuhao knew, Qin Yu himself was born in a family gifted with money. The most fundamental reason he agreed to do live broadcast was because he also enjoyed the work. Otherwise, according to his character, he would never do something he hated for money or riches.
Because he was famous now, many people forgot that Fire Ruthless was a God level player in Demon God. His main charm was not his voice, nor the way he explained things, but his skill. He was never arrogant about his fame, so even if the number of those female fans dropped, there would still be people who appreciated him for his strength.
Peng Yuhao: “How do you want to solve this? Official clarification?”
Qin Yu’s hand holding the cigarette stilled, he looked a little lost in thought...
Making an official clarification to appease gossip wasn’t really necessary, because it would only make it more talked about instead. In fact, as long as one had a clear conscience, these kind of storms would pass over time.
Qin Yu was afraid He Jin’s psychological burden would increase if he knew about it, and the young man would take the initiative to just quit the game altogether. This stupid thing... that guy was certainly capable of doing it.
Peng Yuhao: “I think you have to keep some distance with that Flower girl. Otherwise, as long as you keep being seen together, these gossips will always follow you and your wife.”
Qin Yu smoked his cigarette and said, “I think so too.”
No matter who made that post, the protagonist in this whole situation Fire and Ah Jin had been dragged into was Flower Yiyi.
Flower Yiyi and Fire Ruthless were both characters prone to attract gossip. Putting two gossip attractions together was equivalent to creating a cosmic big bang.
If he knew there would be so many troubles surfacing, he would’ve never accepted Flower Yiyi as his apprentice.
Peng Yuhao: “I can also hire some people to help you drown that post. How do you want to change this situation? Have you ever told your friends that there is no ambiguous relationship between you and Flower Yiyi?”
“Add one more sentence.” Slowly blowing out a thin layer of smoke, Qin Yu crushed the one half of his cigarette butt and lowered his hand,”tell those people that Ah Jin and I are a couple in real life.”
Peng Yuhao: “...”
What should be spread? Since the plan was to hire some people, why not just spread some fake news!
After hanging up the phone, Qin Yu pulled out the notebook where his team members’ names were listed and scanned it again. He soon found the name “Flower Yiyi” and crossed it.
***
Because of their kiss in the game, He Jin was a little embarrassed to see Fire. He only calmed down and went online after two days.
Fire also didn’t say anything and continued to take him to do the husband and wife mission. Fortunately, there was no more embarrassing task than that kiss. Then again, that kiss was mouth-to-mouth, this game couldn’t possibly go any lower right?
But these tasks were indeed very complicated. After the 50th one, the tasks were all about looking for things. For example, making them pick up 99 lian li[1] branches, or asking them to catch 99 lovebirds – these missions really exercised patience.
One night, they were once again asked to find something. Fire not only took He Jin to run around the game’s map, but also from time to time asked him thoughtfully whether he felt bored or not.
He Jin didn’t.
He had not been online for such a long time, so there was some kind of freshness he felt towards the game. He was excited and interested to go to any places in the game. To tell the truth, He Jin was actually more worried about Fire being bored. Such a big God, yet he did not do anything important and went with him everywhere instead. Thinking of this made He Jin felt guilty again.
Today, they had just received a task to collect 99 bellflowers.
“It’s getting late. We’ll continue tomorrow.“ Qin Yu knew that every day He Jin went to sleep at 10 o’clock, so these days he took the initiative to cut their online time earlier.
“Okay, good night.” At the same time, in real life He Jin also received a message from Qin Yu, asking him to jog.
Qin Yu seemed to know that He Jin played games at night, so they tacitly adjusted their running time just before sleeping. When they met in the evening, hearing Qin Yu’s voice –that same voice which was very similar to Fire’s– somehow made He Jin confused reality with the game a little.
While running, He Jin suddenly thought: Fire seemed to be younger than him by one year. He remembered Fire telling him he was one grade below him in their chat when they were children.
He looked at Qin Yu’s silhouette from the corner of his eyes. For the first time, he began to think: Is it possible that Qin Yu is Fire....
But the first time they met, Qin Yu told those girls that he did not play games. Also, on several occasions, He Jin was out with Qin Yu when Fire did live broadcast... Furthermore, Qin Yu often sent him text messages while Fire was playing in the game with him. So, from these details, they simply couldn’t be the same person. With this analysis, He Jin quickly dispelled his doubts.
After two laps, Qin Yu suddenly asked, “Are you free this weekend?”
He Jin: “Eh? What’s up?”
Qin Yu: “If you are free, I’ll take you to buy a new racket.”
He Jin: “Oh, yes...”
A while ago Qin Yu mentioned about He Jin’s racket handle being too thick for him, and suggested that he change his racket into a smaller size. Now that He Jin’s tennis practice would soon begin, buying one was necessary.
He Jin asked, “How much does it cost to buy a racket?”
Qin Yu: “There are ordinary and good quality types. Ordinary rackets would only cost about hundreds. But the better-quality ones would cost about two or three thousand, even goes up to three or four thousand each. The Wilson Ni-ne I lent to you before is about 2800 yuan on the market.”
He Jin shocked: “So expensive! Can I just buy an ordinary one?”
“It’s fine if you used an ordinary one from the beginning, but since you used mine before, using an ordinary racket now might leave an uncomfortable feeling on your hand. If you can, I suggest buying the slightly better quality racket, the one costing at least 1000 or so,” Qin Yu paused, then said jokingly, “I heard you get scholarships every year with at least two thousand or three thousand, It should be enough to buy a racket.”
Qin Yu had been trying to gauge He Jin’s financial condition. Looking at his usual lifestyle, his eating and clothing conditions were quite good, so it did not seem likely that he came from a poor family. But then, when the talk about holographic helmet arose in the game, why did he look so worried about money?
He Jin smiled wryly: “Alas, the scholarship money were all given over.”
Qin Yu: “Given over?”
Feeling a little embarrassed, He Jin explained quietly: “Yes ah, all was given to my mother. I have to report to her every year. If I got a scholarship, she also has to know and all the money will have to be given over.”
Qin Yu was surprised: “No way! You are no longer a child, yet your mother still controls you? Or does your family have a bad situation? ”
“No, all of them are working and have steady income,” He Jin touched his nose, feeling a bit shameful, “but my mother has always been like this, controlling everything. I also think it’s very annoying.”
He Jin rarely talked with others about these kind of things, not even with Tong Xuan. He didn’t even dare to tell his mom about his previous relationship with Tong Xuan. Because of that, a lot of expenses he needed had to be taken from his own living expenses, causing many of his needs unsatisfied.
But to Qin Yu, He Jin unknowingly opened up. He also felt weird about it, why did he seem to put so much trust in this brother who he had only met not too-long ago?
He Jin sighed and looked towards the endless night sky: “I really want to understand, I’m financially independent, yet it does not feel like true independence. I may still have to wait until I’m working to spend money freely.”
Qin Yu sneered: “No, you are wrong, your problem is not that.”
He Jin was confused: “Ah?”
Qin Yu: “How can you not be financially independent? Scholarship money is something you earn with your own effort. You said you’ll have to wait until you work to be free, then what if your mother asked for all your wages to be given over? She may say that she is afraid you’ll overspend, or that she is saving them to buy you a house for when you are married, will you still listen to her then? ”
He Jin was thoroughly stunned...
Qin Yu: “When you get married, if your wife is a strong-headed woman, more than likely your money would be in her hand, but if you are both weak, then all of it would be given over to your mother. What home appliances to buy, what car to use, all will be your mother’s decision... You can never have real economic freedom.”
The more he listened, the more He Jin felt scared. Qin Yu didn’t mean to scare him, but he already guessed that the thing He Jin most worried about was the development trend that could happen in his future.
“So, your problem is not that you are not financially independent, but your relationship with your mother.” Qin Yu hit the nail on the head.