Chapter 38: You make 70% of the breakfast for your roommate, I make 30% (heart emoji)...
Xing Lan ate breakfast and left early; he had an interview today and couldn't be late.
After leaving her previous company, Xing Lan has been constantly submitting resumes online, looking for a new job.
He has excellent academic qualifications and a great resume, so he shouldn't have trouble getting job offers. But for some reason, every time he sends out his resume, it seems to disappear into thin air, with no response whatsoever.
I finally have an interview opportunity today, I have to make the most of it.
Just as he was about to leave after tidying himself up, Li Baidong hurriedly grabbed him and placed a small, cool object in his hand.
Xing Lan looked down and saw a very clear raw stone necklace, strung on a black leather cord, which looked very high-quality.
"This is a citrine necklace I had someone buy for me. I heard it's very helpful for your career." Li Baidong raised his eyes, his dark eyes sparkling. "Brother, shall I put it on for you? I wish you a successful interview today."
Without waiting for Xing Lan's reply, he went around behind him and carefully helped him put on the necklace.
Xing Lan's nape was long and slender, with a small, barely noticeable mole. After Li Baidong finished putting the necklace on Xing Lan, he couldn't help but raise his fingertip and gently touch that small mole.
It was just a light touch, but the icy temperature made Xing Lan's body tremble.
“…Don’t touch it recklessly.” He turned his head and gave Li Baidong a slightly warning look.
The small silver clasp made a soft click. After Li Baidong helped him put on the necklace, Xing Lan looked down at the yellow gemstone hanging around his neck. He was about to step out the door when Li Baidong pulled him back by the wrist.
Before Xing Lan could say anything, Li Baidong hugged him, lowered his head and gently kissed his neck, then smiled and let him go.
Xing Lan slightly tugged at the corner of her lips, but did not dodge. She calmly lifted her eyelids and said to Li Baidong, "I'm leaving."
"Bye-bye, bro." Li Baidong smiled and raised his hand, blowing him a kiss with a laugh.
Xing Lan glanced at him, slowly looked away, pushed open the door, and walked out.
-
Xing Lan drove to the company for the interview, and at first, everything seemed normal.
HR asked several questions, which Xing Lan answered fluently.
He has been a model student since childhood, with top-notch grades in all aspects. This kind of challenging interview is a piece of cake for him.
He answered calmly and logically, and put forward some new ideas that are highly forward-looking and feasible for the current industry.
After a brief chat, the other person's eyes clearly showed their approval and appreciation for him.
At the end, the man politely said goodbye to him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. But, I'd like to confirm one more time, you are... Xing Lan? Right? Xing as in criminal investigator, and Lan as in magnificent waves?"
"Yes." Xing Lan nodded, but felt a little strange. He wondered why, after talking for so long, he was still fixated on his name.
The man smiled slightly at him, but for some reason, his eyes revealed a hint of helplessness and regret.
Regardless of his true intentions, he still addressed Xing Lan formally, saying, "Thank you very much for coming to the interview today. Just wait for our notification. We will get back to you within a week."
"OK."
Just as Xing Lan was about to leave, she was accidentally splashed with juice by an employee who was rushing past her.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" The employee looked at Xing Lan's expensive shirt, which he had stained, and turned pale with fright. He kept bowing and apologizing, and hurriedly looked around for tissues.
"Paper, do you have any paper? Quickly, lend me a piece..."
"It's nothing." Xing Lan glanced down at the water stains on her shirt and asked, "Excuse me, where is the restroom here? I can take care of it myself."
“Ah, it’s over there—” The employee raised his hand and pointed in a direction.
Xing Lan followed his instructions to the restroom door, but just as she was about to step inside, she overheard the interviewer talking to someone else inside.
"There was this really handsome guy who came for the job interview just now. What was his name? I think his surname was Xing?"
"Xing Lan? Yes, he's great in every way, it's a pity we can't use him."
"Why can't we use him? Are you afraid he's too handsome and will steal your thunder at the company? Hahaha."
"Get lost! I'm not that petty. Don't judge others by your own standards."
"Tsk, then why don't you dare to want him?"
The man paused for a few seconds, then lowered his voice and said, "It's all because of his messy affairs with his former company."
"You know what? He didn't actually resign voluntarily. He was fired by his previous company. He even had a huge argument with his boss when he left, and things got really tense."
"I heard that his former company almost got sued because of his report. His former boss spread rumors in the industry that he was bitten by a carefully trained employee and was so angry that he almost had a heart attack."
"Holy crap? This guy looks so fair and refined, I didn't expect him to be such a troublemaker?"
"Yes. What's the use of a good resume? If someone lacks ability, the company can train them gradually after they join. But if their character is bad, that's a real problem. Who knows when they'll suddenly turn on you and do the same old thing again?"
"Indeed, I wouldn't dare gamble on that... Oh, what a pity."
Xing Lan stopped in her tracks, her expression freezing on her face.
Only then did he realize that the reason his mass applications hadn't received a response was because his former company had been spreading unscrupulous rumors behind his back, distorting the truth and shifting all the blame for that incident onto him.
He unconsciously clenched his fists, his handsome brows furrowing slightly.
The two people inside finished using the toilet and went to the sink to wash their hands.
The instant they glanced casually toward the door, Xing Lan paused, then silently turned and left.
-
After the interview, when they got home, Li Baidong keenly noticed that Xing Lan was in a bad mood because the interview hadn't gone well. He quickly took out the food he had just made from the kitchen, trying to distract him.
Li Baidong made three dishes and a soup today, including tomato ribs, Xing Lan's favorite dish, and braised prawns.
He rolled up his sleeves and quietly peeled shrimp at the table, placing each shrimp he peeled naturally into Xing Lan's bowl.
Seeing him busy with his hands, Xing Lan said, "I can do it myself."
"Let me peel them for you," Li Baidong said with a grin. "Brother, these shrimp are so oily. If your hands get oily, you'll have to wash them later, which is inconvenient."
Although Li Baidong is young, he is surprisingly good at taking care of people. He is very meticulous in his work, and he peels shrimp very carefully, making sure that each shrimp is clean and neatly arranged in a bowl.
"Brother, can I ask you for a favor?" Li Baidong asked cautiously, glancing up at Xing Lan as he quickly peeled shrimp.
"you say."
“Recently, short videos have been very popular, platform traffic has dropped, and my video data isn’t as good as before,” Li Baidong said slowly. “So I’m thinking about whether I should try something new to attract a new audience.”
"Something new?" Xing Lan frowned, looking somewhat puzzled.
He doesn't go online often and doesn't know much about the self-media industry that Li Baidong has been working in. He doesn't know why Li Baidong suddenly brought this up with him. He might as well ask AI. After basic model analysis, at least it has some professionalism.
"Brother, if you have time, could you film a video with me?" Li Baidong hesitated for a moment before finally stating his request. "This morning when I was filming, I accidentally captured your back view, and there were a lot of comments. Everyone is very curious about you."
"I think if I could do a new series about cooking with my brother, I think the response would be great."
Xing Lan paused, then, understanding what he meant, looked at Li Baidong with a hint of disbelief: "...You mean, you want me to film a video with you?"
After peeling the last shrimp, Li Baidong diligently placed it in Xing Lan's bowl and winked his bright black eyes at him.
"Think about it, brother." Li Baidong smiled, put his hands together, and said expectantly, "If we join forces, we will definitely succeed."
"I'll split the earnings 70/30, you get 70% and I get 30%, is that okay?" Li Baidong earnestly invited. "I'll do all the post-production editing, you just need to appear on screen. I'll teach you the specifics of how to do it later."
This offer was truly sincere and tempting. Li Baidong seemed to have completely disregarded his own interests, or rather, he had put Xing Lan's interests before his own.
“…Who said you and I are twin swords?” Xing Lan glanced at Li Baidong, who was standing with his hands clasped together and a devout expression, and couldn’t help but scoff. She pursed her lips and said calmly, “Let’s talk about it later. Let me think about it.”
-
That evening, Li Baidong was taking a shower, while Xing Lan lay in bed looking at her phone.
He vaguely remembered that Li Baidong had mentioned before that the place where he posted videos was called C-site. This website has become very popular online in recent years, and top streamers can even have tens of millions of fans.
Xing Lan had never used C-site before, nor had she ever seen Li Baidong's videos. But after Li Baidong mentioned it today, she decided to download C-site and take a look.
After spending a few minutes registering an account on C-site, he casually browsed a few local videos.
In today's big data era, push notifications are very precise, and he quickly came across a food blogger whose username was a little tree emoji.
The kitchen in the video has a simple and elegant style that is very similar to his home, and the handsome and alluring abs of the blogger who doesn't show his face are exactly the same as Li Baidong's.
This blogger's videos had been getting average views for the past few days, though not few, but they were stuck at a plateau. The only exception was the video posted this morning, which garnered the most likes, reaching hundreds of thousands in less than a day – a minor explosion.
In the video, Li Baidong is making breakfast for him attentively. Although he is very quiet and doesn't say much while filming, he adds a lot of small subtitles in white font to express his inner thoughts after filming.
Today is another day of making breakfast for my roommate ^_^
[I see my roommate sleeping every morning lately, it's so cute (o^^o)]
Ta-da! Delicious fried eggs are ready!
[I'll save the good ones for my roommate; I'll eat the burnt ones myself later -v-]
The innocent young man had a lot of rambling thoughts, chattering like a little bird.
Xing Lan watched the video without realizing it, and then clicked to read the comments.
【No?? I thought you were just randomly using tags, I didn't expect you actually have a roommate??】
Am I the only one who thinks my roommate is very fair-skinned and beautiful? Just looking at her from behind, she's so alluring and captivating...
[Please let my roommate appear in more videos in the future, they're good-looking and I love watching them.]
[Does my roommate need a husband or wife? I have a bold idea... (drooling)]
Of all the comments, the blogger only replied to one: the one asking Xing Lan if she had a boyfriend.
(Tree): [I've got it. It's me. (Smiling)]
His comment immediately caused an uproar in the comments section.
Netizens have been quoting his comments.
【？？？】
[The air is thick with the cloying scent of romance!]
Suddenly I was bombarded with dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).
[Did she actually get him? I remember she clarified last time that we were just ordinary roommates?]
[OMG!! So, are you going to switch careers and become a couples blogger??]
Xing Lan watched all of Li Baidong's recent videos. His "Making Breakfast for My Roommate (Heart)" series has been updated to episode 38.
Xing Lan was somewhat surprised when she saw the number.
He had no idea that Li Baidong had actually been living with him for so long.
Before he knew it, he had eaten so many free breakfasts from Li Baidong.
Although he provided Li Baidong with a house to live in for free, this was out of his own selfish desire to get medical treatment.
Compared to him, Li Baidong's selfless dedication seems even more pure and kind.
Xing Lan closed the comment section, moved her finger to the plus sign below Li Baidong's profile picture, and followed him.
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