Huayu: Starting from retirement, sweeping across the domestic entertainment industry

On the evening of January 14th, the winter night in Beijing was bitterly cold.

Li Ran sat in the e-sports room, adjusting the live streaming equipment in front of the screen.

The camera angle, lighting brightness, microphone volume—every detail was adjusted to its optimal state.

At 8:00 AM sharp, he needs to start his first live stream since becoming an artist, to promote "So Cute Us," which will air on Kiwi TV the next day.

In the adjacent bedroom, Tian Xiwei was also ready. She leaned back in her chair and practiced smiling at her phone camera.

Although the platform increased its promotional efforts for "So Cute Us" due to Li Ran's involvement, it is ultimately just an A-level drama and cannot be compared with those big-budget S+ productions.

But she still values ​​it.

It's exactly eight o'clock.

Li Ran opened the live stream.

The live stream announcement was posted on Weibo in advance, and a large number of fans quickly flocked to it.

As he waved to the camera, the live chat was already flooded with comments.

"Hello everyone, I'm Li Ran..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the number of online users had already exceeded 20.

In the adjacent bedroom, Tian Xiwei's live stream had also started.

Although the number of viewers wasn't as exaggerated as Li Ran's, it was still close to 20,000, with comments scrolling by and all sorts of questions coming at you.

She selectively answered some of them.

"Yes, this is my second collaboration with Li Ran. In 'The Dragon's Roar,' I was just a minor supporting character, but this time we are the male and female leads."

"Is the Wildfire CP real? I don't know about Li Ran and Zhou Ye's issues; you should ask them directly."

"What's Li Ran like in private? He's a good person, we're all good friends."

Her smile was sweet, and her tone was steady. She simply ignored the malicious comments in the live stream.

……

The number of viewers in Li Ran's live stream has exceeded 50.

He was answering some questions about esports when he suddenly remembered something and glanced at the time.

"It's about time I did a live stream with Oda."

He activated the live chat function and waited for the other party to answer.

Soon, Tian Xiwei's face appeared in the corner of the screen.

"Xiaotian, Tian Xiwei."

Li Ran said to the camera, "This is Tian Xiwei, the actress who plays Huang Chengzi, the female lead in 'So Cute Us'."

Tian Xiwei waved to the camera and smiled sweetly.

Li Ran continued, "By the way, Xiao Tian is also a contracted artist with Wajiji Entertainment now."

The moment the words were spoken, the live chat was instantly flooded with comments...

"Wajijiwa has gone bankrupt!"

"Bankruptcy +1"

"Bankruptcy +10086"

Li Ran looked at the comments and smiled helplessly: "Wajijiwa Entertainment owns shares in the company, so stop spamming."

The comments section was filled with laughter.

The two began officially promoting their new drama.

Without giving away any spoilers, we chatted about some fun things that happened during filming, shared a few sweet moments, and created a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. The comments were also very friendly.

Just as Li Ran was speaking, a rustling sound came from outside the door.

Then came the sound of claws scratching at the door, and Ta Xue was whimpering outside.

Li Ran sighed helplessly and got up to open the door.

The door opened a crack, and a ball of black and silver fur squeezed in, followed by a calico Maine Coon cat, now a size larger than Ta Xue, who strolled in gracefully.

Flower.

Li Ran was stunned for a moment, but he didn't think much of it. He bent down, picked up Taxue, and brought her to the front of the camera: "Say hello to everyone."

Ta Xue tilted her head, looked at the screen, and stuck out her tongue, looking adorably silly.

The comments section was instantly charmed by how adorable it was.

"Ahhh, snowflakes!"

"Celebrity Puppy!"

"More fans than some minor celebrities, hahaha"

Li Ran smiled and put Ta Xue down: "Alright, go play by yourself."

After landing in the snow, I turned my head and glanced at the flowers beside me.

Then it started chasing.

Hua Hua was chased until she bristled and turned to run away.

A dog and a cat darted around the room, and finally Hua Hua rushed out of the e-sports room, with Ta Xue in hot pursuit.

Li Ran didn't pay attention and continued the live stream.

But what he didn't know was that Hua Hua ran towards the second bedroom.

The door to the second bedroom in Tian Xiwei's live-streaming room was ajar.

Hua Hua burst through the door and darted inside, followed closely by Taxue, and the two little animals began a new round of chasing in the room.

Tian Xiwei paused for a second.

She instinctively looked at the camera.

The live chat exploded.

"Is that snow?!"

"It's Ta Xue! Li Ran's dog!"

"They're living together???"

Holy crap!!!

"All that talk about wildfire and 'heart's desire' is fake; this is the real deal!"

"???"

Tian Xiwei's mind went blank.

She watched the frantically scrolling comments, her lips moved, but no sound came out.

She subconsciously glanced at Li Ran in the corner of the screen. His live stream was still running, and he was still talking, clearly unaware of what had happened.

Li Ran noticed her expression.

He glanced at the comments and immediately understood what had happened.

He did not hesitate.

He got up and walked out of the gaming room; the camera only captured an empty chair.

A few seconds later, he appeared in Tian Xiwei's live broadcast room.

"Turn off the live stream."

His voice was calm, devoid of any emotion. "Go live on my end."

Tian Xiwei nodded, then immediately closed the live stream.

The door closed, and the room became quiet.

Tian Xiwei looked at Li Ran, her voice tinged with panic: "I left the door a crack... and the two of them just came in..."

Li Ran looked down at the snow-covered ground at his feet.

The little guy, unaware of the trouble he had caused, was looking up at him with his tail wagging like a little motor.

Li Ran bent down and gently flicked the dog's head.

Ta Xue let out a pitiful "woof".

Li Ran straightened up and looked at Tian Xiwei: "It's okay. I'll explain. I happened to be live-streaming on my computer, so the two of us were in good frame."

Li Ran's live stream room has completely exploded.

The number of online users has exceeded 100 million, and this is a genuine figure without any inflated numbers.

The barrage of comments was so dense that the content was completely obscured; all you could see was a blur of white text scrolling by.

The top trending topic on Weibo has now become #LiRanLivesWithTheFemaleLeadOfNewDrama#.

Countless fans and casual viewers who hadn't watched the live stream flooded into the live stream room, and the number of viewers was still rising rapidly.

Li Ran's phone rang.

My aunt, Long Danni.

He answered the call, said a few words briefly, and then hung up.

"Okay, I understand. I'll explain it clearly."

He took a deep breath and walked back to the e-sports room.

Tian Xiwei, already holding Huahua and Taxue, pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

Li Ran smiled at the camera: "I originally wanted to give my fans a surprise, but I didn't expect Ta Xue to expose it beforehand."

The screen was flooded with question marks.

"???"

Is this a prelude to an official announcement?

"Li Ran, how could you do this to Zhou Ye? How could you do this to Zhang Jingyi?"

"How can you treat your good buddies like this? Eating so well!"

"Explain yourself!"

Li Ran looked at the comments with an innocent expression: "There's no need to guess anymore. Xiao Tian and I live in the same neighborhood, and our accommodations are arranged by the company."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Today, you're here at my house to do a live stream together to promote our new drama."

"I originally planned to call her over after the promotion was over, and we would play some games together as a surprise for everyone."

He glanced at Tian Xiwei beside him: "I didn't expect Ta Xue to have seen through it beforehand."

Tian Xiwei smiled, saw a comment on the screen, and read it aloud: "Are you sure it's a surprise, not a shock?"

Li Ran chuckled awkwardly, "Shall we play some games? The new drama has already been promoted quite a bit."

Tian Xiwei nodded: "I'll do whatever you say."

Li Ran got up to get the game controller.

The comments section started flooding again.

"Burning God, is the game you're playing serious? I don't watch serious games!"

Tian Xiwei looked at the comment and laughed out loud.

"Hey, are you the God of Burning's girlfriend?"

She shook her head: "Female...friend, that's it."

Do you often get together privately?

"I often come to Li Ran's house for meals. You guys should have seen him on 'Mao Xue Wang', right? Li Ran's cooking is really delicious and goes very well with rice."

"Is that cat also owned by Li Ran?"

"You mean Hua Hua? She's a calico Maine Coon, and she's my pet."

She answered the friendly comments with a relaxed tone, ignoring the insults.

Li Ran returned with the controller and handed one to her.

He said to the camera, "Alright, the recently released 'Double Ride' is really fun. Let's show you a speedrun guide."

……

The live stream ended, it was almost 10 o'clock.

Tian Xiwei let out a long sigh and leaned back in her chair. She looked at Li Ran with some worry: "Li Ran, what do we do now?"

Li Ran smiled and said, "It's alright. Wasn't Zhou Ye in the same situation back when 'The Dragon's Roar' was airing? Look how popular he is now."

Tian Xiwei glared at him: "If it really gets exposed, won't you be finished?"

Li Ran knew what "exposure" meant: it wasn't about her relationship with Li Ran, but rather his entire complicated romantic history.

Li Ran chuckled awkwardly: "Why not just deny it? Besides, I'm not an idol, can't I even date?"

Tian Xiwei punched him lightly: "You know what I'm talking about."

Li Ran looked at her and said, "It was all consensual, and I didn't break the law."

Tian Xiwei scoffed, "Heh. You're the only one who's willing! I'm not."

She paused for a moment, then said, "You should think about what to do this time."

Li Ran leaned back in his chair: "What should we do? Just make it cold. Want some cucumber for dinner?"

Tian Xiwei snapped, "Get out of here! It's still trending on social media!"

Seeing that she was really anxious, Li Ran put away his nonchalant expression and explained seriously, "Just don't admit it. It's just a promotion for the new drama, and it's normal to create hype for the CP (couple pairing)."

He thought for a moment and said, "Right, let Hu Lianxin move into this community in a few days. If she gets photographed in the future, just say it's the staff dormitory of Wajijiwa."

Tian Xiwei was taken aback for a moment: "You're really something..."

"Isn't Chu Ran also going to terminate her contract? She can sign with Wajijiwa and move over there too."

Li Ran continued, "Let Zhou Ye and the others move over too, that will make things easier to explain."

Tian Xiwei looked at him suspiciously: "Are you really not afraid of things going wrong?"

Li Ran smiled confidently: "You just don't understand, do you?"

He leaned back: "Right now, my only publicly known rumored boyfriends are Jingyi and Yezi. I might add you tomorrow."

"Will there be no more scandals involving Xiao Hu, Chu Ran, and Cun Zi in the future?"

"You all live in the same neighborhood, how could netizens possibly imagine that you're both my girlfriends?"

A smirk played on his lips: "This is just a futile attempt to cover up the truth. Let them guess!"

Tian Xiwei rolled her eyes, mimicking Wang Churan's gesture.

"Only you could say that."

She was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Li Ran, I don't understand, why can they accept you like this?"

Her expression was somewhat grave as she looked at Li Ran, a hint of worry in her eyes: "Aren't you afraid they'll expose you?"

Li Ran countered with, "Then what is your purpose?"

Tian Xiwei was stunned for a moment.

Yes.

Given my personality, how could I possibly accept such a thing?

But now, she seems to be... slowly accepting it.

She looked at Li Ran and shook her head: "I don't know either. Maybe it's just that I like you."

"It's that simple?"

"Otherwise what?"

Tian Xiwei stared at him.

Li Ran didn't say anything, he just looked at her.

There was a few seconds of silence.

Tian Xiwei finally spoke up: "Li Ran, I'm not sure either, whether I like you now, or... I can't help liking you."

Li Ran asked with a smile, "Why do you say that?"

Tian Xiwei pursed her lips and softened her voice: "I like you a lot. But deep down, I also feel repulsed by your behavior."

She paused, then said, "But I can't leave you."

She looked up at him and said, "After leaving you, I feel like I can't love anyone else."

Li Ran looked at her, a soft light in his eyes.

"That's normal. How could a woman who's been protected by a lion possibly fall in love with a cat?"

Tian Xiwei punched him lightly: "Where did you get this nonsense copywriting from?"

Li Ran shrugged: "Wang Churan shares with me every day. I've picked up a few phrases by chance."

Tian Xiwei was speechless: "What does she send you all day long?"

"Just some lame jokes and some weird copywriting."

Tian Xiwei said calmly, "This copywriting is really energetic."

She thought for a moment and said, "You shouldn't meet someone too amazing when you're young. This sounds so beautiful!"

Li Ran smiled: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

He stood up: "Alright, go to sleep! We have an audition the day after tomorrow, so you should come practice with us tomorrow."

Tian Xiwei nodded.

In fact, she knew in her heart why she couldn't live without Li Ran.

In this cutthroat world, Li Ran has enough power to protect her.

Moreover, Li's mother liked her very much, and she was confident that she could become Li Ran's "Lu Chengyan" and the main wife of the Li family.

However, this time the buzz is greater than ever before, and the "senior and junior" theory is mostly speculation among netizens.

No substantial photos of Li Ran and Zhou Ye have been taken. There are only photos of Ta Xue and Zhou Ye in Hengdian, which netizens generally believe is a publicity stunt.

Although this was also a promotion for a new drama, it gave off a sense of unavoidable acknowledgment...