Chapter 158: Xu Wenbin is a big troll
Xu Qing crafted a sample of "fabric" using small steel rings, then sketched a conceptual diagram on paper. Once satisfied, he shut off the cara and looked up, noticing Jiang He resting her chin on her hands, observing him.
Only Jiang He would find sothing so mundane interesting...
Xu Qing didn’t continue squeezing the steel rings with pliers. Instead, he opened his editing software to work on the video he’d just fild. He sped up the repetitive parts, cut unnecessary segnts, and compressed the ten-plus-minute footage into about five minutes. Then, he uploaded it to Lazy Lord Qing and sent Jiang He the link.
Jiang He preferred using WeChat over Penguin (Tencent's other platform). Her WeChat na and avatar were the sa as her Penguin handle, Graceful Dance. Sotis, seeing Jiang He with her hair down, sitting by the window bathed in sunlight, Xu Qing felt that her na suited her perfectly.
"Are you planning to livestream?" Jiang He asked after watching the video. It featured Xu Qing demonstrating how to squeeze the steel rings together to form a sleeve, explaining the process as he worked.
Turning one’s interests into a career sounded pretty good to her. She was beginning to understand Xu Qing’s emphasis on doing what one loved.
If she could earn money while learning to cook, it would an not having to pay tuition and even making a living in the process. The thought alone felt like a dream.
“This isn’t livestreaming,” Xu Qing corrected. “Livestreaming is when you turn on the cara and let people watch you do it in real ti. This is just recording a video.”
“That’s easy—I could do that too,” Jiang He said after watching the video. She eagerly grabbed the pliers to try her hand at it. “Can I help with this?” she asked expectantly.
“You…” Xu Qing hesitated before responding, “You can, but I wouldn’t recomnd it.”
“Why not?”
“Because all you’d do is make the sleeve. You don’t know how to shoot or edit videos. It’d just be grunt work for . Even if the sleeve turns out fine, you wouldn’t learn anything from the process except how to build hand strength.”
“Oh…” Jiang He looked at Xu Qing as he resud working on the steel rings. Without pressing further, she stepped back and plopped onto the couch, continuing to watch him.
Right now, Xu Qing reminded her of one of those ticulous craftsn in short videos, dedicated to creating random but oddly fascinating objects.
Lazy Lord Qing... it did kind of fit him.
If she helped, the work would go much faster, but as Xu Qing said, it would be pointless—just a waste of ti. Even if the outfit turned out well, it would only sit at ho, unworn. At most, they’d take a few photos of it.
Yet, Xu Qing managed to turn these activities into aningful videos. Why was that? Jiang He pondered this question and finally asked him.
“You need to develop concepts, knowledge, theories, and systematic problem-solving skills,” Xu Qing answered straightforwardly. “These abilities aren’t innate. They have to be learned. I went to school; you didn’t.”
“That sounds impressive.”
“Yeah. I can roughly predict the limits of my future and accept them. That’s the power of knowledge—knowing your destiny and still finding joy in life.”
Xu Qing flexed his hand. Working with the pliers wasn’t particularly difficult for soone who had trained for a long ti. Still, the prolonged grip was uncomfortable for his keyboard-worn fingers.
He glanced at Jiang He, who seed lost in thought, and added, “If you’re okay with staying ho to do laundry, cook, and take care of kids, you don’t need to work so hard to learn. I can support you.”
“Like you support Winter lon?” Jiang He tried to ignore the "kids" part. She knew if she argued, Xu Qing would use his usual infallible logic to stump her.
“Not the sa. Winter lon’s a freeloader. You’d still have to work, and after work, you’d—”
“Do what?”
“Do what?” Xu Qing repeated with a teasing smile, staring at her as if trying to gauge her level of awareness.
In ancient tis, people often didn’t understand these things before marriage. Families would hand over an erotic manual or give a private lesson on the wedding night.
Unfortunately, Xu Qing couldn’t read anything from Jiang He’s expression. She just stared at him with wide eyes, her long hair draping over her shoulders, looking adorably clueless.
He shrugged, picked up the pliers again, and said, “Stop staring. Spend this ti reading instead. Developing a habit of self-education is important.”
“Alright,” Jiang He replied.
She had no intention of being dependent like Winter lon. She needed to support herself. Winter lon, oblivious to the comparison, sauntered elegantly across the living room. Spotting Xu Qing’s steel rings and tools, the cat wisely kept its distance, rely casting a disdainful glance at the two "silly two-legged creatures" before leaping onto the computer desk to lounge.
The afternoon sunlight was still bright. It was far from dinnerti.
“Does reading this book help?” Jiang He asked, holding up A Brief History of Ti. She couldn’t fully understand it but believed in the adage that repetition would reveal aning.
“Read it if you want. The key is to develop a reading habit.”
“Got it.”
“Read seriously. The biggest difference between readers and non-readers is this: non-readers can only bla themselves, while readers can bla the heavens, the earth, and society—but not themselves.”
Xu Qing chuckled at the thought of the joke and smiled.
Although he could accept Jiang He being illiterate, it was better if she beca smarter. That would benefit both of them.
By evening, Xu Qing had finished crafting a palm-sized piece of the sleeve. He put away his tools and steel rings, pulled out his phone, and checked WeChat. Qin Hao had sent a series of voice ssages not long ago.
“D***, are you seriously making armor?!”
“Can you actually finish it? Make it bigger so I can try it on!”
“That’s aweso!”
Qin Hao’s voice was brimming with excitent. This was sothing they’d fantasized about back in the day—along with the idea of hamring out an Iron Man suit, though that was far more difficult, and Xu Qing had no intention of attempting it.
Listening to the ssages, Xu Qing laughed and replied with a voice ssage, “Why are you keeping tabs on every day?”
“Co on. I ca ho to find my dad glued to his phone, watching your videos and asking what you were up to. That’s how I found out,” Qin Hao replied quickly.
“Why’s your dad watching my videos?” Xu Qing was confused.
Could Qin Maocai really be glued to Bilibili every day? That’d be... wild.
“The thing is, your dad taught my dad how to use the app. Watch out what you post—those two are always watching,” Qin Hao said, clearly enjoying the situation. A mont later, he called directly.
“I passed by the complex’s benches today after work and saw our dads sitting together. One was watching dance videos, the other looking at antiques, nitpicking the content. Dude, I didn’t know your dad was an internet troll! He’s even been muted by people!”
What?!
Xu Qing was stunned.
Wait a minute... so the random guy in the comnts section constantly saying "post more" and arguing with Wenbin was probably Qin Maocai?
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