At 8:25 in the evening, Tan Janglin checked his phone for the seventh time and still hadn’t received a new message.
The last message in his conversation with Mu Nianwen was sent by him an hour and a half ago.
—Are you home? Do you like the gifts?
Based on Mu Nianwen’s usual style, even if he didn’t like them, he should have said a few polite words.
Could it be that something he said or did inadvertently today accidentally touched on the other’s sore spot?
Tan Janglin recalled his performance, which was indeed not good.
Most streamers use beauty filters, and there’s always a slight difference between real life and what you see through the camera. Tan Janglin had mentally prepared himself in advance, but when he actually saw Mu Nianwen, he found that there was indeed a slight difference from the livestream.
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the difference was, he just felt that the boy in front of him was lively, his smile bright, and every expression was charming and seductive, much cuter than when he was seen through the screen.
For an Alpha who had suddenly developed feelings, it was difficult to remain calm and composed.
Tan Janglin was tense the whole time, became more silent than usual, slow to react, his mind blank, unable to come up with topics, causing a bit of an awkward atmosphere.
Then just before they parted ways, Mu Nianwen asked him if he would come to see him in his livestream tonight, then nodded satisfactorily and smiled at him before saying goodbye.
No matter how you look at it, it didn’t seem like he was already fed up with him.
Could it be that there was a problem with the gifts?
That shouldn’t be the case.
Tan Janglin put a lot of thought into those things he prepared, even if they didn’t impress the other person, they shouldn’t be so off-putting.
He couldn’t help but worry, wondering if Mu Nianwen had encountered some accident on his way back.
In his anxiety, his phone beeped with a notification.
Picking it up and checking, it was a push message.
- The streamer you follow, Mu Nianwen, is live now, come take a look.
It was time for hardworking Xiao Wen to start broadcasting at 8:30.
Tan Janglin clicked on it, and Mu Nianwen was sitting in front of the computer, typing away on the keyboard.
At the beginning of the broadcast, the number of viewers was relatively low, and Mu Nianwen would usually chat with everyone for a while to warm up before getting into the main topic.
Audience members who activated the Guardian mode would have entry effects when entering the live broadcast.
Every time a viewer with special effects entered, Mu Nianwen would warmly read out the person’s name and greet them with a smile.
Tan Janglin didn’t like flashy things too much and didn’t activate the Guardian mode, so his comings and goings were always quiet.
“Clothes? I wore them when I went out at noon, do they look good? Went out to eat with friends, just got home not long ago,” Mu Nianwen casually chatted with the barrage, “We ate the crab roe fish roe noodles that have been very popular recently! To be honest, it’s quite average, a bit fishy, I don’t really like it. But the free pickled vegetables they gave were delicious!”
So he had just arrived home. Maybe he was in a hurry to start broadcasting and didn’t have time to reply.
Tan Janglin breathed a sigh of relief and opened the gift list. At the top of the recommended gifts was one he hadn’t seen before, a limited-time gift marked with “additional increase in streamer’s romantic value”.
It was probably another new event. Tan Janglin didn’t have much desire to explore these complex and repetitive settings, but he thought it would probably help the streamer, so he casually sent a set.
The entire screen was instantly filled with pink starlight effects, and Tan Janglin’s account appeared in the center of the screen.
Mu Nianwen clearly paused for a moment.
It was unclear whether it was because of this exaggerated effect or his ID.
“Thank you to the lovely TJL for the romantic flower set,” Mu Nianwen quickly adjusted his smile, “Good evening, Boss TJL, have you had dinner?”
New viewers who didn’t know him laughed in the barrage and asked what kind of weird name it was.
Tan Janglin was already very used to this and didn’t mind.
What surprised him a little was that after a simple thank you, Mu Nianwen fell into silence.
This was very unusual.
As a streamer, Mu Nianwen was the type to have a sweet mouth. Even if it was a small gift of a few dollars, as long as he had time, he would always thank them sincerely. In the past, every time Tan Janglin sent a gift, he would blow it up with praise. If someone in the barrage criticized Tan Janglin’s ID, he would deliberately praise the ID, giving emotional value full recognition.
Just after dinner, his attitude suddenly changed drastically, which was really unsettling.
In his confusion, he suddenly received a private message. Opening it, it was from Xiao Xiao.
- Thank you, Boss, for the snacks and scarf! You’ve been so kind!
Tan Janglin replied.
- You’re welcome, as long as you like it.
After pressing send, he hesitated whether to probe a little and see if he had inadvertently done something inappropriate today, causing Mu Nianwen to be unhappy.
But soon, he dismissed the thought.
Once people start to care, it’s easy to become anxious. Maybe Mu Nianwen just forgot to thank him properly after receiving the gifts, and that’s all there was to it.
Being overly suspicious was too sensitive.
Tan Janglin had developed a habit recently. Whether relaxing or working at night, he always kept a tablet nearby, with Mu Nianwen’s live broadcast as background music. Occasionally glancing back, it would lift his mood.
Mu Nianwen usually ended his broadcast just after midnight.
At this point, Tan Janglin would always feel reluctant to leave, but today he was somewhat waiting for it.
Maybe after finishing the livestream, Mu Nianwen could spare some time to open the gifts and reply to his messages.
The gifts weren’t actually prepared specifically for this meet up with Mu Nianwen. Before coming to this city for work, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of meeting him.
After unexpectedly making plans to meet Mu Nianwen, he remembered the things he had collected intentionally or unintentionally during this time, so he specially had his assistant package them up and send them over by plane.
Rather than risking any mishaps with delivery, he didn’t mind spending a little extra money for security.
Most of the gifts were things Mu Nianwen had mentioned in his live broadcasts. The only seemingly unrelated item was the one Tan Janglin had put the most thought into.
That watch, designed by Tan Janglin himself, was not yet on sale and couldn’t be bought anywhere.
When he was drawing the sketches, he was once confused and couldn’t sort out his thoughts until he inadvertently entered Mu Nianwen’s live broadcast and suddenly got inspiration.
It was a watch designed to match Mu Nianwen.
Tan Janglin was really looking forward to his feedback.
If Mu Nianwen said he liked it, he would immediately tell him it was designed for him.
However, until late at night, Tan Janglin had not received a reply.
A week later, back at his residence, Tan Janglin had to face reality.
It seemed like he was disliked.
Mu Nianwen didn’t reply to his messages, and his attitude toward him during the live broadcast was lukewarm. He seemed polite, but as the person himself, Tan Janglin could clearly feel the indifference.
After thinking it over, there was probably only one reason: Mu Nianwen sensed his intentions but didn’t respond, so he took the initiative to create distance between them, allowing Tan Janglin to retreat gracefully.
This was indeed a sad assumption.
In short, he had been rejected.
Although heartbroken, Tan Janglin increasingly felt that Mu Nianwen was a very good person.
Clearly, in front of the audience, he never shied away from showing a greedy appearance, but deep down, he had principles. If he didn’t like something, he would be straightforward about it. Although his way of dealing with things seemed a bit ruthless, it was still better than selling oneself for money or deliberately keeping someone hanging.
Tan Janglin pondered whether taking the initiative to fade out of Mu Nianwen’s view would make him appear more respectable.
However, in reality, he still conscientiously entered the live broadcast room every night. Seeing Mu Nianwen falling behind in rankings, he couldn’t help but send something.
He hoped Mu Nianwen would realize that this meant he didn’t want to force anything.
Feelings and likes were all real and couldn’t be hidden. But from the beginning, everything he did wasn’t in order to get a response.
Watching live broadcasts was essentially entertainment, and being willing to tip was just a form of self-satisfaction.
Tan Janglin believed he had adjusted his mindset, but watching Mu Nianwen’s smiling face in the live broadcast room, he couldn’t help but sigh. He kept replaying the scene of their meeting, regretting that he had exposed his greedy thoughts in a moment of nervousness.
Until he saw a condom in Mu Nianwen’s live broadcast room.
After a brief panic, Mu Nianwen quickly calmed down and explained to everyone with a smile that it was just a disposable glove, and even openly showed the packaging to the audience.
The vast majority of people believed his explanation, and this little episode was quickly forgotten.
But Tan Janglin was shocked and couldn’t recover.
He was very sure that Mu Nianwen was lying. That thing was definitely not a disposable glove.
After all, the pattern on the outer packaging was designed by him for a friend’s company’s new product a while ago.
The style was unique and instantly recognizable.
Tan Janglin had done a lot of psychological preparation over these days, repeatedly reminding himself to adjust his mindset, but the thought of the person he couldn’t get was using such a thing with someone else still caused him chest pains that he couldn’t stop.
He left the live broadcast room, in his quiet room, after spacing out for a while, Tan Janglin suddenly felt like messaging Mu Nianwen. But when he opened their chat interface and saw the message he had sent a week ago without getting a response, he dismissed the thought.
What’s there to say? He was just a rejected, one-sided admirer, and any probing would be unnecessary and offensive.
Putting down his phone, he still couldn’t stop his thoughts.
What kind of person was the one favored by Mu Nianwen? Was this person also an Alpha?
What does Mu Nianwen like about this person?
These annoying speculations crowded his mind, making him restless and ultimately, impulsively, he picked up his phone again.
He didn’t disturb Mu Nianwen directly, but instead opened the conversation window with Xiao Xiao.
After Xiao Xiao thanked him for his last message, they chatted for a few more sentences, exchanged contact information, and then had no further communication.
It might be a bit presumptuous to reach out now, but Tan Janglin couldn’t restrain his curiosity.
“Will today’s livestream accident have any impact?” he asked.
Xiao Xiao quickly replied, “You mean that glove incident? Hahaha, it should be fine, at most it’ll be a joke for a while, he’s used to it.”
Looking at this line of text, Tan Janglin pondered silently, wondering if Xiao Xiao genuinely didn’t know the truth or if she was intentionally hiding it for Mu Nianwen.
After weighing it, he replied, “So it really was a glove? I thought he had a partner.”
This kind of probing was quite straightforward, and Xiao Xiao indeed caught on.
“Hoho~ So you’re in a hurry?” she teased, ending with a laughing emoji.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Tan Janglin was contemplating how to reply when Xiao Xiao sent another message.
“I wonder why you suddenly contacted me instead of asking him directly? Don’t worry, he doesn’t have a partner, so that must have been just a glove~”
Well, it seemed she was also unaware of the truth.
Since his intentions had been exposed, Tan Janglin gave up pretending and asked again, “Are you sure?”
The laughing emoji appeared again.
“What’s wrong? Could it really have been a condom, and was it yours?”
Tan Janglin hurriedly clarified, “Of course not!”
Before Xiao Xiao could reply, he added, “Did he mention me after I left last time?”
After a while, Xiao Xiao sent a voice message: “You seem a bit unlucky, huh? Maybe you’re not being proactive enough? We did talk about you that day when you left. As a thank you, I’ll let you in on a little secret! You resemble his ex, who completely captivated him, at least in appearance.”
Her voice carried obvious amusement, and after hearing it, Tan Janglin’s heart skipped a beat.
So that’s where the problem lies. His appearance hit a nerve with Mu Nianwen, so he kept his distance.
As someone involved in a family business related to fashion and luxury, and being an Alpha, Tan Janglin always took care of his appearance. He didn’t consider himself outstandingly handsome, but at least it wasn’t a flaw.
He never imagined that he would incur Mu Nianwen’s displeasure simply because he resembled the scumbag ex, sparking the disdain of the person he admired.
He thanked Xiao Xiao and felt even more despondent.
It seemed Mu Nianwen was keeping his significant other well hidden, and even his close friends were completely unaware.
Was he hiding the relationship because he valued it and didn’t want external influences, or was it just a casual fling, not to be taken seriously?
Tan Janglin’s rationality split in half, with one part hoping for the former—that Mu Nianwen wasn’t the type to play with emotions recklessly—and the other part hoping for the latter—that in such a case, he might still have a chance.
As time passed, the latter thought became increasingly strong.
Tan Janglin couldn’t help but want to self-mock. Love was supposed to be a beautiful thing, yet in his mind, it gave birth to the darkest and most despicable thoughts.
