Chapter 80: Fighting to the Bitter End

After Zhao Jing finished telling the story about Little Four, she let out an evil laugh. Huang Guolun and Huanzhi were left stunned on the spot.

Huang Guolun simply couldn't understand why young beautiful women nowadays seemed to enjoy such jokes. Sun Yanzhen was like this, and Zhao Jing even more so! There was a saying that unattractive women were often secretly dirty-minded, but beautiful women were not secretly dirty-minded—they were truly dirty-minded!

Huanzhi drew a cross in front of herself, purifying her soul, and disdained Zhao Jing, saying, "That joke you told is way too much. If anyone else heard it, they'd definitely be disgusted by you."

Zhao Jing snorted, "Only unattractive women telling jokes like that would disgust people. If a beautiful woman says anything, people will laugh. That's the way of this face-valuing society. As long as Little Four himself doesn't hear it, I think everyone else will cheer me on."

Huang Guolun found it hard to accept such jokes, so he advised, "Don't tell jokes like that during a livestream. You'll ruin your sister's reputation."

Zhao Jing, clearly experienced, replied confidently, "No way. Don't worry, Professor Huang. I've livestreamed before. The dirtier the jokes I tell, the more the audience loves it. I tell these to liven up the atmosphere and attract more viewers."

Huang Guolun pinched his fingers to show a very short distance and gestured, "Still, try to restrain yourself a little. Don't tell such dirty jokes."

Huanzhi chimed in, "Exactly. The stuff you tell isn't even funny, just gross. Let me tell a proper joke—it's bound to be funnier than yours!"

Zhao Jing grumbled, "Go ahead, let me hear how funny you can be!"

Huanzhi wiped her hands with a napkin and washed down the nuts clogging her throat with coffee. Energized, she began, "Let me tell you a story about a priest and a nun playing golf."

Zhao Jing interrupted, "Golf, what does that have to do—?"

Huang Guolun nearly threw out his back, his expression exasperated, almost led astray by Zhao Jing.

Huanzhi didn't understand what Zhao Jing meant, but Huang Guolun clearly did.

Zhao Jing glanced at Huang Guolun with a suave, teasing air and whispered, "Professor Huang, you're not as upright as you seem—you actually get it."

Huang Guolun sighed helplessly, "Don't interrupt, let Huanzhi finish."

Zhao Jing covered her mouth, laughing like a songbird, and refrained from interrupting.

Undisturbed, Huanzhi began her joke in earnest: "One day, a priest was playing golf, with a nun watching nearby. The priest's first shot went wide, and he cursed, 'Damn, missed again!' He tried again and cursed, 'Damn, missed again!' The nun couldn't take it anymore and reminded him, 'As a priest, if you curse, you'll be punished by God.' Just as she finished speaking—crack!—a bolt of lightning struck and killed the nun. The priest was terrified, wondering, 'I was the one cursing, so why did the lightning strike the nun?' Then a voice boomed from the sky: 'Damn, I missed again.'"

"Pfft."

Huang Guolun laughed obviously, finding this joke much more interesting than Zhao Jing's.

Zhao Jing, seeing Huang Guolun laugh, was dumbfounded. "Really? You find this kind of joke interesting?"

Huang Guolun replied honestly, "Personally, I think it's quite amusing."

Zhao Jing nearly fainted, clutching her chest in distress, "Oh~~~! You two are so old-fashioned!"

Huanzhi, pleased by Huang Guolun's support, grabbed a piece of cake and ate it, saying to Zhao Jing, "We're not old-fashioned—you're just living too far ahead of your time."

"What ahead of my time? I'm just keeping up with the trend! None of you could manage to be a streamer, so I'll have to liven things up when the time comes."

Seeing Zhao Jing so confident, Huang Guolun asked, "Have you been a streamer before?"

"Not officially. When I was in school and bored, I played around with a senior from our Broadcasting University, but I quit soon after because it wasn't interesting."

Huanzhi asked with interest, "Did you make any money doing it?"

Zhao Jing brushed her hair aside, "Not much, really. I did it for about two months, made just over a hundred thousand, and stopped."

Huanzhi's mouth twitched, "How much? Over a hundred thousand?"

"Yes, and that's considered little. That senior made several hundred thousand a month just from streaming while she was still a student, and now she's doing it full-time, probably earning even more."

Huanzhi suddenly looked as if she saw a beam of light from heaven, excitedly asking, "Streaming makes that much money? How can I become a streamer? I want to try!"

Zhao Jing looked Huanzhi up and down, evaluating the cake crumbs at her lips, "You... better not."

Huanzhi insisted, "I may not be as cute as you, but I could tell stories from the Bible! I can make the Bible really entertaining and humorous!"

"People who watch livestreams don't care about the Bible," Zhao Jing replied, crushing Huanzhi's hopes, though it was the truth.

Huanzhi frowned, "Then what do they listen to?"

"They watch handsome guys and pretty girls sing, or gamers commentate. If you're a beautiful woman and can flirt, act cute, and tell jokes, that's fine—there'll definitely be an audience."

Huanzhi sized up Zhao Jing in return, snorting, "You're pretty good at flirting, acting cute, and telling jokes yourself."

"Who's flirting and acting cute? I can tell jokes, but I've never flirted or acted cute. If I had my senior's thick skin, I'd be a better streamer than she is. To be fair, I'm prettier than her, sing better, and tell funnier stories, but I just can't bring myself to flirt and ask people for gifts."

Huanzhi doubted, "You made over a hundred thousand in those two months without flirting or asking for gifts?"

"Of course," Zhao Jing straightened her back proudly, "Sisters earn their money standing tall. I never stoop to beg for gifts."

Huang Guolun hadn't noticed it before, but Zhao Jing was quite principled.

Huanzhi started cracking sunflower seeds again, teasing Zhao Jing, "You just say that, but deep down you must envy your senior who makes millions a year."

"You're wrong. I honestly don't envy her. In fact, I think if she hadn't become a streamer, her future career prospects would be better. But streaming is such easy and quick money, she got hooked right away and even quit school. She was the absolute star of the Broadcasting University, really beautiful and elegant, top scores in her courses, also from our hometown Qingdao, personally nurtured by the college. But because of streaming, she didn't graduate and only got a certificate of incomplete studies."

Huang Guolun frowned with regret, "That's a bit of a loss."

"Exactly. Everyone around us thought it was a shame she quit school to stream. But her ambition was to make a lot of money while she was young, retire early, and travel the world. After she became a streamer, I guess she forgot her old dream of being a famous broadcaster, like Jing Yidan or Bai Yansong, known by all. It's a pity the college invested so much in her. But everyone makes their own choices. If she feels livestreaming fulfills her life and makes her happy, then that's okay. As long as she can be responsible for her own decisions, that's all that matters. Besides, she's very successful as a streamer now. Doing this is still better than those other girls in our college who are kept by men—it lets her stand tall."

Huanzhi was shocked, touching her cross, "You mean 'kept' as in being someone's mistress? Amen, your school is wild!"

Zhao Jing explained, "That's just an isolated case, don't exaggerate. Most people at our school are decent, like me—self-reliant and well-fed!"

Huang Guolun suddenly grew curious and asked Zhao Jing, "Hey, what did you do during your livestreams? Jokes plus singing and impressions?"

"No, I wasn't really into singing or impressions back then. I mainly did outdoor streams."

"Outdoor streams?" Huang Guolun was a bit surprised.

"Yes, I rarely streamed indoors. I'm the type who can't sit still. If you put me in a little room alone, singing to a computer, I'll be bored in five minutes. I prefer being out and about. In my streams, I'd take viewers to find good food, fun places, explore all the hidden treasures in the city. I also liked doing street interviews. My undergraduate major was Communication Economics, which is a branch of journalism and communication. I liked playing reporter, exploring society through streaming—a mix of education and entertainment."

Huang Guolun was interested, "That's a great idea, why didn't you stick with it?"

"Because it's exhausting! Plus, there are too many trolls online, and I didn't feel like dealing with them. I was busy with my thesis and graduation, so I stopped."

Zhao Jing continued, "But last week, I logged into my streaming account again and did a little experimental stream outside my sister's shop. Lots of old friends came to watch."

Huanzhi asked, "So that day you set up your phone across from our shop, you were streaming? I thought you were filming for our shop."

"No, I was filming my sister's sign, and streaming the hustle and bustle of Houhai Street. Even so, at peak times, over five thousand people came to watch, and quite a few friends sent gifts. I was pretty embarrassed, since I didn't even show my face that day—just narrated off-screen and told a Little Four story. They recognized my voice, got excited, and warmly welcomed me back."

Huanzhi seemed fascinated by the gifts and asked Zhao Jing, "How much did you get in that half-hour stream?"

"Not much, just over eight hundred yuan. That's the value of a single joke."

Huanzhi exclaimed, "What kind of story did you tell that could make people send so many gifts?"

"It was nothing special, just something off the top of my head."

"What exactly was it? Tell us!" Huanzhi pressed for details.

"Oh, it was a story about Yao Ming and Little Four. One day, Yao Ming was flying with his daughter. His daughter leaned against the window, excitedly shouting, 'Daddy, daddy, the plane is so high! Look, the people down there are as small as Little Four!' Yao Ming smiled, stroked her head, and said, 'Silly child, the plane hasn't even taken off yet—that is Little Four.'"

Huang Guolun laughed speechlessly—Zhao Jing was really determined to roast Little Four!

Was there some unresolved feud between them?