Xu Qian returned at noon the next day. Meng Ziqiu first gave him a full-body alcohol spa before letting him in.

"How is Fifth Master?" was his first question.

"It's alright." That was about it. Xu Qian didn't finish his sentence. Although he had done everything he could, whether it would work in the end depended on the reliability of that unknown senior's immortal remnant. Fifth Master was still lying in the hospital, his consciousness not yet fully recovered, and it was unknown when he would wake up.

"That's good." Meng Ziqiu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard him say that. Fifth Master and his grandfather were very good friends and comrades-in-arms. After his grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Fifth Master often visited him and also took good care of Meng Ziqiu, who was still in college at the time. Their relationship was naturally extraordinary.

Xu Qian patted him on the shoulder and then asked about the other two people, "Where are the other two?"

"Xiao Liang is washing clothes, Peng Fei... I just saw him," Meng Ziqiu called out, "Peng Fei—"

"Here I am!" Peng Fei ran over from the balcony, losing one of his slippers in the process and nearly slipping and falling head over heels into Xu Qian's arms.

"Why are you running? Be careful."

Peng Fei wiped his face, gave two thumbs up, and exclaimed, "My flowers...they've grown!"

“…Flowers?” Xu Qian turned to Meng Ziqiu. He vaguely remembered that Peng Fei was a programmer, right? How did a perfectly good programmer start tinkering with flowers and plants?

Meng Ziqiu gave an innocent look. People are like huskies that have been locked up for too long; they're always a little abnormal. You'll get used to it.

"……"All right.

Xu Qian followed Peng Fei to the balcony to see the flowers he had just planted. As for Meng Ziqiu, he obediently went to the kitchen to wash vegetables. Soon it would be Chef Xu's turn to shine, and it would also be the first step for them to improve their lives.

Meanwhile, Sheng Huai, who was slacking off on his live stream and had gone to the bathroom, unexpectedly came across a missing person on his WeChat Moments—Xu Qian!

Sheng Huai:

!!

You've finally finished your seclusion!

When Xu Qian saw the message from Sheng Huai, he replied with an emoji—an old man's smile.

Sheng Huai:

Let's play games! I'm so bored lately!

Xu Qian:

Wait until I get some food.

Sheng Huai:

Sure, call me when you're done!

Putting away his phone, Sheng Huai was satisfied. Finally, he had someone to play with; solo queue was really boring.

When Sheng Huai returned to the live stream, the chat went from being completely absorbed to being lively in an instant. During this special period, he couldn't forget to do his job.

"I have some great news to tell you all! My superstar is coming to carry me to new heights! It's so amazing! He's finally finished his seclusion!" Sheng Huai couldn't help but show off as soon as he got back.

[Just guessing who it is...]

[Just guessing, it's Xu...]

[Just guessing which one is prettier...]

[I'm in love with Xu Meiren!!!]

[It's starting, it's starting, it's starting~]

Sheng Huai chimed in with a few comments amidst the rapidly scrolling barrage of messages, chatting idly with his fans while waiting for someone to return from their meal. He waited and waited, nearly twenty minutes, before Xu Qian finally replied with a message – 111.

[Starting a game livestream!!!]

Sheng Huai looked up and saw the comment on the screen. He immediately nodded and said, "Arrange it right away!"

Sure enough, as soon as Xu Qian logged on, he heard Sheng Huai repeatedly asking, "Did you see it?" and "Is the screen wrong?" Because he found it strange, he asked, "What's going on? What do you mean, 'did you see it'?"

"Oh, that," Sheng Huai responded, explaining, "I'm livestreaming, a game stream."

No sooner had Sheng Huai finished speaking than a WeChat text message arrived, saying it was a company requirement that even on vacation, one should engage in some business. Xu Qian replied with a "miserable" comment after reading it, then focused on the game. He hadn't "slacked off" for a whole week and needed to relax his mind.

"I'll get another person, just wait a moment." Xu Qian said, calling over Meng Ziqiu who had finished washing the dishes. He didn't call over Meng Liangchen and Peng Fei because they didn't know how.

Soon, the three-person team began their first game of the day.

As a newly returned player, Xu Qian didn't have high expectations; he just wanted the opponent to die. He no longer had such a strong preference for headshots. However, in other people's eyes, he was already a walking "carry," and they could easily win another game without him having to lift a finger.

Are all you otaku guys this good at video games?

Sheng Huai looked up and saw the comment. He immediately smiled and asked Xu Qian on the other end of the phone, "A fan asked, are all you otaku guys this good at games? Can a pro answer that for you?"

Xu Qian snorted twice, "Sorry, we otaku are just that good at video games!"

"Hahaha—" Sheng Huai's laughter was transmitted behind the camera.

As the game between the three began, the number of viewers in Sheng Huai's live stream continued to rise, including quite a few 'pits' (players who spend money in the game).

Oh, 'Pen'er' is the name of Xu Qian's fans. It's common knowledge that his true love is lettuce bowls. It's all organized by the fans themselves. Who told their idol to disappear all the time? Even when he's trending on social media, he doesn't show up. If it weren't for Sheng Huai's fans tipping them off, they wouldn't even know their idol had appeared!

Speaking of trending topics, during the week that Xu Qian disappeared, the drama "The Legend of Zhen Huan" had already aired up to episode 21. Although the scenes about the master had ended, for those who appreciate good looks, the two episodes in which the master appeared are definitely worth rewatching. Every time there was a flashback scene with the female lead, the master would inevitably be trending that night.

As the hype continued, Xu Qian's Weibo followers surpassed five million, though he was unaware of it at the moment.

The three of them played games until 5:30 p.m., when Xu Qian had to go cook, and they finally stopped.

"Wait, you cook? You can cook?" Sheng Huai was stunned.

Xu Qian asked, puzzled, "Does that mean we have to eat his scrambled eggs with tomatoes every day?"

Meng Ziqiu volunteered to take the blame, saying, "Hehehe, all I can do is make scrambled eggs with tomatoes. My brother has to do the cooking!"

"Alright, that's all for now, I'm logging off," Xu Qian said, turning to Meng Ziqiu. "Blanch the pork belly, we'll have garlic pork belly for dinner..."

Alright!

Then, the two logged off, leaving behind the savory aroma of garlic-infused pork belly and Sheng Huai's drooling.

I think I heard the sound of someone swallowing...

[Ahhh, garlic-flavored pork belly! I'm so hungry!]

[I've been eating instant noodles for three days straight; I'm going to starve to death if the pandemic doesn't end soon!]

[My wife is amazing! So gentle and domestic – who else can compare!]

[I'm so envious of those who can't cook...]

[Am I the only one curious about who the third person is? Old Xu's brother?]

[I think so. They live together. Old Xu seems to live with his family.]

[Ah! I want a brother like that too!]

[Who wouldn't want a brother like Lao Xu, who's equally at home in public and in the kitchen...]

...

That evening, Sheng Huai updated his Weibo with a simple message: three lemons.

[Haha, he's so jealous! He's so jealous! He's so jealous!]

[Don't cry, kid! Once the pandemic is over, we'll go eat fried chicken, kebabs, hot pot, spicy stir-fry, cheese pizza...]

[Stop refreshing the page, I'm hungry...]

[New skill added for veteran cadre: cooking / kiss]

[I haven't even emerged from the sea of ​​Master's good looks yet, but the moment you mentioned "old cadre," I instantly came back to life. Thank you all, my lovely ladies...]

[If we don't mention Shizun, we can still be good friends. Why do you have to make me cry like this...]

[Damn it, thinking about my master makes me sad again. Why is it always our master who gets hurt?]

[I'm going to binge-watch episodes two and three now, see you later!]

Compared to the comments online, this was the first time Xu Qian had sat down quietly to watch TV. "Zhao Ye Hong" was currently the number one hot drama in China, and it was a regular on the trending searches every night. Unfortunately, Xu Qian was busy paying attention to Wulan's affairs at the time and wasn't particularly interested in his first drama, let alone watching it. On the other hand, his three little ones at home watched every episode from Monday to Friday without missing a single one.

The other three were very considerate and started watching from the first episode. They sat in a row on the sofa where Xu Qian was sitting, with fruit or potato chips in their hands, looking like they were binge-watching a TV series.

Xu Qian was also given a big bag of potato chips, the refreshing cucumber flavor, which seemed pretty good.

With a series of clicking sounds, the first episode of "Night-Shining Red" began—

...

Forty-five minutes later, Xu Qian reached for some potato chips, only to find that the second bag of chips in his arms was already empty. He couldn't help but click his tongue; watching TV really consumed a lot of potato chips, and two big bags were gone after just one episode.

"Want more?" Meng Ziqiu asked casually, already reaching out to take it, giving Xu Qian no chance to refuse.

"Okay." Xu Qian opened the third bag of potato chips without feeling any guilt. At this moment, the second episode of Zhao Ye Hong also started. The opening scene was of the master - standing on the immortal mountain with an ethereal air, looking worried about all living beings, and the melancholy in his eyes was almost tangible.

Meng Liangchen subconsciously turned to Xu Qian, only to see him crunching away on potato chips, his expression indifferent as if the person on TV had nothing to do with him. That's... impressive!

However, the popularity of "The Night-Shining Red" is indeed well-deserved. The script is a serious drama, with a small but significant romantic subplot between the male and female leads. The logic and main storyline revolve around the greater good of the opposing factions. In addition, the actors' performances are generally satisfactory, and the production team did not abuse its financial resources. Overall, the performance deserves a 7.8 rating.

Don't think this score is low. A score of 7.8 is not easy to achieve. For fantasy dramas, which are not easy to immerse oneself in, a score of 7.8 is already a very good result for discerning viewers. Looking at the entire film and television market, those that can reach 8.5 are all excellent films or CCTV dramas from previous years. The former has the strength to be free of capital investment, while the latter is a big production with a strong sense of national sentiment, which does not belong to the entertainment and leisure category.

Well... in summary, Xu Qian's first drama that aired was a success.

The four of us watched five episodes of a TV series in a row that night, and didn't turn it off until almost 3 a.m., since we didn't have to go to work the next day and could do whatever we wanted.

Okay, goodnight.

Author's Note: This is a lighthearted story, written in a relaxed, easy-going way, perfect for a laid-back writer...

***