Ch 19: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

Later, when the interview aired on national television, the reporter included this particular exchange in the segment.

He concluded: Mu Xing is someone many people might find strange. But when I actually met him and spoke with him, I realized—it’s not that he’s strange, it’s that our way of thinking is too complicated. It’s hard to find any trace of ordinary worldly desires in him. He’s a child of the mountains, a rare treasure nurtured by the spirit of countless rivers and peaks.

If you saw him in person, it would be hard not to like him.

Many joked about the piece: Mu Xing must have put a spell on this reporter—this rainbow praise is way over the top.

But the truth was, just as the reporter said, this national TV interview introduced Mu Xing—and Xiaoxi Village—to far more people, including many who had never paid attention to online content.

By the end of autumn, the fruit had all been turned into orders sent across the country, bringing endless smiles to the faces of Xincheng County’s farmers.

---

Sitting in his study, Mu Xing stretched lazily and happily announced, “I’ve got good news—this year, all the unsold fruit in Xincheng County has been sold out. I’m taking a long vacation!”

He’d been running around non-stop lately and had even lost a little weight, making his fans cry out in distress:

[Xingxing finally came home.]
[Vacation’s good—rest well, Xingxing.]
[It hurt watching you run around every day. Eat more and put that weight back on.]
[Look how skinny the kid’s gotten—Mama’s sending a tip to buy you good food!]
[Your fruit shop is such good value. I checked a bunch of other stores and they’re all sold out. If I’d known, I’d have bought more earlier.]
[Let me educate you—that’s not his fruit shop, he’s just helping his hometown sell produce.]

Mu Xing looked at the screen and said, “I have something to tell you all. You know I only have one cameraman—Mr. Liu. He’s been running around with me every day and is exhausted, so I’ve given him a long holiday. That means outdoor streaming will be a bit inconvenient for a while…”

He hadn’t even finished before the chat exploded:

[Then don’t go outdoors!]
[You can stream from home—anything is fine.]
[Yeah, play games, or just chat with us.]

Mu Xing: “…”

The words Then maybe I won’t stream at all stuck in his throat, refusing to come out.

His frozen expression was immediately picked up on by viewers:

[I bet the next thing Xingxing was going to say was “Then I won’t stream.”]
[Same guess here…]

Right then, a golden light flashed across the public chat, and a banner appeared at the top of the screen:

Congratulations to the Xiaoxi Village streamer Mu Xing for reaching ten million followers!

[Wow—ten million!]
[Congrats, Xingxing!]
[Congrats, congrats.]
[That was so fast! Your stream hasn’t been going for that long.]
[Are you the fastest on Yunduo Video to hit ten million followers?]
[There aren’t many ten-million-follower streamers on the whole platform.]
[Xingxing, look—you have this many fans! Can you really bear to abandon us?]
[You’re the most “Buddhist” streamer I’ve ever seen. Ten million followers! You could get rich just by casually monetizing. Even if you didn’t monetize, you’d earn a fortune from tips alone—and yet you still want to skip streaming?]
[Exactly. Any other streamer would be dying to stream twenty hours a day to solidify their popularity.]
[Just stream a bit every day—we just want to see your face QAQ.]

…

Under the flood of pleading comments, Mu Xing gave in—but stressed very seriously, “Alright, I’ll keep streaming. But I’m on vacation right now, so I decide the content. I might just sit here all day. If you don’t like it, just leave—no complaining in chat.”

Just then, an odd “cluck cluck cluck” sound broke into the livestream.

[What’s that sound? Is your alarm a chicken crow?]

Mu Xing was puzzled too. He stood up. “It’s not an alarm, and I don’t keep chickens. Let me check—maybe one of Uncle Fang’s chickens wandered into my yard.”

He walked to the backyard and found an unexpected visitor.

A pheasant with a gorgeous tail.

If Mu Xing remembered right, that tail belonged to the same pheasant that Xiao Hei had chased into a panicked flutter on a past hillside stream.

The pheasant spotted him, tilted its head back to give a long call, then ran over on two quick feet and affectionately rubbed against him.

Mu Xing: “?”

Puzzled, he asked, “Who brought you here?”

From the look of it, no one had—it seemed to have come on its own?

How could it have found him?

It looked a bit dopey, but was surprisingly smart.

Still, the way it rubbed against people was undeniably cute. Mu Xing went inside, grabbed a handful of rice to scatter on the ground, and peeled a banana to put beside it. “Go on, eat.”

The pheasant called again, then obediently started eating.

Amused, Mu Xing couldn’t resist going back to his study, grabbing his streaming setup, and bringing it outside. “Let me show you all something funny.”

[Hmm? Is this your yard, Xingxing?]
[Those flowers are gorgeous.]

Mu Xing saw the comment and instantly picked it up. “Pretty flowers, right? I’m not bragging, but all the flowers and plants I raise grow especially well. The uncles in the village even came to ask me for tips.”

The pride in his voice was impossible to hide. “But I don’t really have any tips—it’s just a natural gift. Same as how animals like me.”

[Ahhh I love this smug look so much.]

[Before, when I saw other streamers showing off, I just thought it was so pretentious. Why is it that when this streamer does it, I just find it cute? And I’m a guy…]

[Bro, your thoughts are a little dangerous. (dog head emoji)]

[Bro, tell us your story.]

[What’s so strange about it? I’m a girl, and I watch pretty girls’ videos every day while screaming. Beauty doesn’t have a gender!]

The camera panned, revealing a pheasant pecking at a banana.

[What a beautiful pheasant.]
[Wow, Xingxing, you’re raising a pheasant too?]
[Why does this pheasant look familiar?]

Mu Xing chuckled. “Looks familiar, right? Remember the pheasant Xiao Hei chased on stream before? I have no idea how it found its way here from the mountain.”

[Wait, what?]
[Damn, this pheasant’s amazing!]

And then things got even more amazing.

Viewers watched as the pheasant, pecking away diligently, suddenly lifted its head at the sound of Mu Xing’s voice and rushed over to rub against his leg, refusing to leave.

[Wow!]
[Okay, I believe you really attract animals now.]
[This makes me want to cry. When will my cat ever be this clingy?]
[“Disney Prince on the Run” is no lie. (dog head emoji)]

Just as viewers were marveling, the pheasant suddenly leapt into the air. Before anyone could react, a dark blur shot into frame. The camera shook like something had blocked it, and the pheasant’s panicked cry rang out.

“Gaa gaa gaa!”

Mu Xing: “…”

He quickly called out, “Xiao Hei!”

The camera soon steadied again, now seemingly placed on a table.

What viewers saw was all too familiar—a half-grown monkey pinning down a pheasant half its size, looking ready to bite.

Mu Xing walked over, calling several times before Xiao Hei reluctantly let go.

The pheasant flew straight into Mu Xing’s arms, and Xiao Hei started baring its teeth.

[Huh? Why does this scene feel familiar?]
[Hahahaha, the classic reenacted.]
[Not only did Brother Chicken come back, Brother Hei showed up too.]
[This looks exactly like Xiao Hei glaring at a love rival. (the “cheap little homewrecker” pheasant)]
[That “cheap little homewrecker” comment is killing me—I can see the whole scene in my head now.]

The tussle finally ended under Mu Xing’s firm intervention, and this moment was turned into a highlight clip that spread widely online.

Mu Xing’s “Disney Prince on the Run” reputation became fully cemented.

---

True to his word, sometimes Mu Xing would just leave the camera running while sitting all day.

In Xiaoxi Village, winter snow came early, and the mountains would be sealed in deep snow, making it hard to go out.

But he never got bored—he found all sorts of things online that interested him.

And that was when fans lost their composure.

They watched Mu Xing develop an interest in painting, find beginner tutorials online, and go from a total novice to producing respectable figure drawings in under half a month.

They watched him, annoyed at not understanding foreign blockbusters, start learning a foreign language and, thanks to his near-photographic memory, manage to watch without subtitles in just a few weeks.

They watched him, after fans recommended a currently popular game, pick it up and, once familiar with the controls, play so well that opponents accused him of being a pro smurf.

Netizens: ???

If I hadn’t watched the streams myself—and seen how clueless he was at the start—I’d swear this was all an act.

His top-ranking donor, feeling both complicated and proud, compiled these moments into a video titled #What Kind of Human Cheat Code Is the Streamer I Follow?# and posted it.

The internet exploded.

At first, it was nothing but accusations—claiming Mu Xing was cheating and faking it.

His fans responded by posting stream recordings.

Then someone dug up his past from when he was in the entertainment industry—how haters had mocked him for his low education, lack of foreign language skills, and absence of special talents.

Back then, he really didn’t know anything.

Now, he really could learn anything in no time.

❣╰(⸝⸝⸝꒳⸝⸝⸝)╯❣